Oh my gods, I am so sorry! I've left you in the dark for so long . . . and now I only have this measly chapter. But I shall post another by Wednesday! It's just I-have-a-freaking-instrumental-exam-and-my-teacher-will-kill-me, and I lost some inspiration! So, I had to sit down and look at the drawing board. Read some books, drew some pictures, listened to some music-I'm one of the few people that tend to draw their ideas and get them from music.
So, I'm so sorry! And I swear upon the River Styx that I shall work harder! I just got that all-clear-and-I-won't-fail-as-bad-as-I-thought-I-would from my music teacher, so I can spend some more time on this!
I have found inspiration! Need not fear! And I have figured out a plan for this.
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Blackjack or anything except the spoiler, which is for Secrets by Cat, so technically I own that. And of course I own Opal. Yes, that is the spoiler!
Chapter 7: We Meet Lord Smug-Head All Over Again
I was hanging upside down. Ropes were lashed around my hooves and a long leather belt was around my wings. I could see I was in a cavern. Below me the ground faded to a clack void, but I could see huge, sharp rock spires around me. A deep, ear-splitting voice echoed through the cavern I was in, sending daggers to my ears.
Hello, little Night Pegasus, it said.
I cringed, "I don't know who you are, but I want to go!"
The voice seemed to find this entertaining. Oh, you're free to want to go, but that doesn't mean that I will let you, Pegasus of the Night.
Why is it that every monster, or god or whatever I met called me a Night Pegasus? I didn't know. All I knew was that I wanted out. The Voice mused at this. You can help me, you know, and that will get you out of here.
Help them? Who were they? They weren't working for Olympus, I knew that, but I desperately wanted to get out of the dark. I wanted to use my wings. "Who are you? And what do you want?"
The voice's laughter resonated throughout the cavern. I need to you to be my steed, carry the leader of the army to victory. Or . . . if you refuse, I can make sure that you lose so much, you know. So, choose.
"No! I choose no!"
Dear me, then I shall have to show you what you can lose . . .
I could see images swirling in the cavern, and I felt them rise to me. I closed my eyes and ground my teeth. It was like I was being submerged in water. When I opened my eyes, I was in my stall, in the stable, at camp.
There was a guy sitting on the bench reading something on those electronic readers. He must've been and Aphrodite kid, because he looked like he had about a litre of gel in his hair and his clothes were so clean it wasn't funny. Then another guy came in.
"Hey, Mark," he said. The guy reading—Mark—looked up, "Oh, hey Sam. I'm reading."
"Yeah, I figured," Sam replied. "Anyway, what are you reading?"
"A fanfiction," Mark said back, barely looking up from his—was it called an e-reader?
"On what?"
"Spectacular Spiderman."
"Oh yeah? I read a really good one the other day. It was where Spidey kept on getting the Sinister Six In jail for robbery. You know what they were stealing? Styrofoam pellets. Spidey also, had is, ah, secret discovered by three certain girls, but then, they had saved his life when they took off his mask. Then Spiderman then realised that all the Sinister Six wanted to get into jail. But, before he could figure it out, there was this huge escape, and every single one of the inmates escaped, all working for a certain . . . uh . . . something, I can't remember that bit . . . has a funny name . . ."
"Really? Can't be that bad. What's it called?"
"I think it's like Secrets or something . . ."
"Huh."
Then a huge shadow walked through the door. I saw Opal walk in with Silena on her back. I watched as she carefully folded away her gold and chocolate wings and toss her mane. She looked at me, and I saw the golden sparkle in her eye as she looked at me. She winked.
Then it all contorted and I was hanging in the cavern again. I can make sure that you lose all of that, especially that so-called hero that your life will forever be entwined with.
"I don't care! Leave me alone!"
It laughed. So amusing . . . and their lives are so short, and yet so painful . . .
And then I woke up.
I got to my feet groggily as the train lurched to a stop. I shook the pain of the dream I'd just had out of my head. Next to me Porkpie stood up. We tried to get Guido up, but the Pegasus just kept sleeping. So we decided to get him up the harder way.
It took a while to get him out of the carriage. I mean, pushing a horse is a big deal. The bad thing was that he woke up just as we pushed him off the edge of the carriage. Then we ran for our lives. Rule number 1 about Guido: never, ever, ever, wake him up.
That's probably why we did it, in the end.
So, as me and Porks ran for it, being chased by Guido, we saw the kids get off the train. We were in Denver. They couldn't go any further. Well, that sucked. We could've given them a ride, but Ares-butt-for-brains—[Oh, that can't be good. Stop laughing! Hey, I don't do that when you offend the gods. Yeah, 'cause you've already done it too much!]
So, we followed the kiddos—Guido had left us alive (thank the gods)—and they went to a car wash of all places. Us pegasi aren't really the IM'ing type, so when Annabeth threw a drachma into the rainbow that had formed from the spray, we expected in to plummet right through and hit the concrete.
We didn't, in all honesty expect it to go straight through and disappear like the rainbow had become a metal-eater. Then Annabeth said, "O Goddess of the Rainbow, Accept my Offering."
The rainbow began to swirl like the mist was forming a liquid which looked like it was being pulled down a drain, but it never went anywhere.
"Half-Blood Hill," she said politely.
The colours merged and began to form a picture. It was that kid with the scar. Luke.
He looked genuinely surprised and happy to see them, but us pegasi know better than to fall for that. In his blue eyes there was a slight cloudiness. Most people ignore that, but horses in general have bigger eyes, so we see eyes better, and what can be in them, so when you scale the eye down, you can see it anyway. Behind the colours of the irises, you can see them darkening, like the thoughts their having are so bad that it's causing that.
They talk. Then some guy starts playing music, and Annabeth gets goat-boy and goes and yells at the guy doing it, leaving the message with Percy. Annabeth definitely has a crush on that guy. And I can't tell her. The only person I have a chance at telling would be Percy, because his dad was the creator of horses, which meant that Zeus was just adding his own touch to give us wings. Gods are so unoriginal!
They talked, and then Annabeth got the guy turns off the music, and the connection times out. She came back, hauling Grover with her—yes, Goat-Boy has a name, so shocking, I know—and then they left.
We followed them as they went to this burger place. The waitress walked over with her notepad, and asked them what they wanted, and they could only stare up at her. No money, no nothing, basically.
She was about to say something, but then a guy rocked up on this huge Harley Davidson. A guy we'd had one too many encounters with. Lord Ares the smug-head.
[I wish he'd stop getting offended; we all know that he's an idiot—dude, that was un-called for!]
Yes! Look, I'm sorry, and if I ever met you in public I would beg for your forgiveness if you're disappointed in this.
Okay, my plan is t do the Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters in this, then the next two in one, and then the Last Olympian in it's own.
Would you guys liked your names mentioned in my A/Ns?
Until then, please hang in there! School sucks . . .
Your hopeful and idiotic author,
Owl.
