AN: sorry I took so long to update. I have been very busy. I started high school this year and the my workload has increased. Hope you like this chapter. I enjoyed writing It. If anyone is actually reading this story. On the bright side... THIS IS CHAPTER TWENTY! Read, Review, Follow and Favorite! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.
Samantha's POV
As soon as I separated from Sarah and went on into the room. I regretted my decision. The room was covered in mirrors. I didn't really need to look at myself to see how horrible I was sure that I looked. But something drew me to look at myself. What I saw was not my reflection. Instead I saw my greatest fear.
[Flashback- 7 yrs old]
I look up at my parents. "You mean my real mommy and daddy didn't want me." I cry softly.
"Sweet pea, I'm sure they had a reason that they had to give you up. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but there it no way someone would give up a girl as wonderful as you." My mother says calmingly.
"No! They didn't want me and I don't like them. They are mean and I hope I never have to meet anyone like them."
[9 years old]
My adopted grandpa looks at me tenderly. "You will be okay, Samantha. I believe in you. You are a strong young lady already."
"Don't talk like that you can't leave me. I love you. You can't die. There has to be a cure for cancer. We need you, Grandma needs you. I need you Papa." I am sobbing.
"If you can find a cure sweet girl, I would take it in a heartbeat. But I have to tell you bye just in case. You stay strong. Grow up and make me proud." He says wiping my tears and holding me close.
"I love you Papa." I hug him tight, never wanting to let go. He is leaving me, forever.
[11 years old]
"I'll miss you so much Juniper. Thanks for staying with me these past couple years."
"I wish I didn't have to leave." Juniper tells me. "But my family needs me. And with your expulsion record I probably won't see you again."
"Wait, I'll give you my email address."
"I don't have a computer, Sam."
"Duh, phone number then."
"Won't be allowed to make very many calls."
"At least promise me we can write letters."
"Sam, you have dyslexia."
"I know, but I will find someone to read them and scribe for me. Please." I say handing her a slip of paper with my address.
"I'll try. Now I'm leaving. Good bye Samantha." As my closest friend of two years walks away I feel like crying.
[12 years old]
"You betrayed me! I trusted you and you betrayed me!" I scream at my once best friend.
"How in the heck did I betray you Samantha? You should know me better than that." He tries acting offended.
"Oh I know you alright. You saved your sorry butt by getting me expelled. We both know that you were the one who set that up. And now you will get to keep up your oh-so-perfect record, while I get kicked out of yet another school. I can't believe that I ever thought you were different than all the other kids."
"Samantha, you are the idiot here. Only stupid people would think that an innocent friend would betray them." He said, and that shoved me over the edge. I slapped him on the face and ran back into my house while he stood there looking smug.
[13 years old]
"So, I told your little crush that you liked him for you. Since you were too much of a chicken to do it yourself."
"Mandy, you promised that you would keep that a secret."
"Well, you have to stop being so secretive. Besides, nothing bad has ever come out of me sharing your other secrets with people."
"What all have you shared with people?!"
"Only a few things, like the fact that you are adopted, that you still sleep with a nightlight on, that you are dyslexic, that you hate Sierra."
"I never told you that I hated Sierra!" I say, outraged that my friend would tell a lie like that.
"Ok so maybe you didn't, but she will most likely never hear that rumor."
"It still was wrong, Mandy. I trusted you and you broke that trust. Maybe you should learn how a friendship works before you find a new best friend." I walk away slowly, trying to hold back tears, having lost another friend.
[14 years old, before school started for the year]
"Samantha, we found a school for you finally." My dad says, seeming really edgy.
"Thank goodness. I was beginning to think that I was never going to find a school that would accept me. How long is the ride every day this time?" Last year it was an hour drive each way every day.
"Well, actually, sweet pea. It is a boarding school in Pennsylvania, around Pittsburg." My mom tries to break the news softly.
"I thought I said no boarding schools!"
"I know, but I have tried every one of the schools in this area. Besides, this particular school has a really strong academic program."
"Yeah, like I could ever excel when I can't even read my textbooks. I can't believe you even considered this as an option. Let alone chose it. You promised that you would let me live at home until I graduated at least."
"Samantha, listen this is the best thing right now. Your mom and I don't want to send you away either. But you will see us a Christmastime and in the summer. Just promise us that you will try not to get expelled." I solemnly nodded and walked off to my room to sulk.
[End of Flashback]
I am terrified of drawing close to people. Of trusting them. In my experience people just leave you (intentionally or not), they betray your trust and fail you. And I am afraid of failing them.
I have drawn close to Sarah this year, but I worry that I will wake up one day, and things will be different. I worry that she will betray me or have to leave.
In the mirror I see myself as a weak person. Unable to defend herself against people and their barbs. I saw myself getting closer to the other people on this quest. Leo and Jordan included. But then I saw them betraying me and leaving for me for good. I saw Leo die, and Jordan walk away of his own free will. I don't know why, but it hurt even more to watch Jordan.
Finally I snapped out of my trance, tears spilling out, and saw that the others had made it into the room as well. I guess that they were in the same sort of trance because they were all entranced in the mirrors in front of them.
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Sarah's POV
I stare at the mirror where my reflection is speaking to me. (AN: What do you even call that...Me? Me2?)
"You'll never be good enough you know. Everybody just tolerates you. Jordan? He just finds you annoying, and Samantha is only your friend because she's a nice person. You're just, unlikable..."
"Shut up!" I scream at me...wait, what? Me2 keeps talking anyway
"Oh, come on Sarah, you don't really think anyone actually likes you do you?"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" I pull out my knife and point it at the mirror, but my reflection just smirks.
"Tut-tut-tut, you wouldn't hurt yourself, would you?" Me2 disappears and I sigh, but then I hear her voice behind me. I spin around to find her standing in the mirror again.
"Ha, you do know there's no way to get away from yourself, right? Anyway, remember this?" she gestures to the mirror to my right and I turn.
It's me, when I was younger, after my dad left. I'm in my old house and my dad's car is speeding away and I'm curled up in a ball on the couch, asleep.
I try to look away but I can't. I can't move at all. All I can do is stare.
Little me suddenly wakes up and walks into my dad's bedroom. But I already know what's going to happen.
Little me comes out of the room calling, "Daddy?" But he isn't there. I watch myself as I run around the house, frantically searching for my father. I want to call out to her, tell her he's gone, and that it's going to be okay, but my voice won't work.
The image disperses and another one pops up. This time it's of me coming up to half-blood hill. I walk in with my satyr friend but he soon leaves. Says he has to go help Grover with something. Though at that time I had no idea who the heck Grover was. I watch as I walk around awkwardly, speaking to no one until I get to the big house.
Me2 speaks again: You see? Even when you were new, no one cared about you.
I give her a death glare and another image pops up in front of me. This one is not a memory though.
I see myself, same age as I am now, lying on the ground covered in bruises and scratches, with blood all over. I see a deep gash in my leg and another near my eye. And no one else is there, not Samantha or Jordan or Leo or anyone...I'm not moving and my breath is shallow. The image disappears and Me2 comes in front of me again.
"Don't you see? Nobody cares. Not your so called friends. Not your dad. No one."
"No! If no one cares why should I?"
"Because you need to stop lying to yourself. You care and you know it."
I glare at her, "Shut your freaking mouth..."
"Fine, I guess you'll just have to watch this," she says and another image pops up, not a memory this time either.
First I see a dark room, it's pitch black except for one light coming from a crack where I expect a door is. The door suddenly opens and a figure walks in, dragging something large behind them. A light comes on and I see all of my friends in some sort of cages. Every time they try to get out something seems to burn them. Samantha is curled up in a painful looking ball in hers and Leo looks like he's trying to comfort her from his. Jordan has a defeated look on his face. I stare at them and the figure pulls the object it was carrying forward and I realize that it's me. It's dragging my limp body by my ponytail and it throws me into a fourth cage then flips a switch and the image disappears as I hear the screams of Samantha, Jordan, and Leo sound from it as it fades away.
"You did it you know, since you weren't strong enough to take it, they died there. If you don't step up they'll be killed, by you."
"Be quiet! That's not true! It can't be true!" I throw my knife at the mirror but it bounces back at me and catches my cheek before clattering to the ground behind me. I don't move. I just stand there staring...thinking about if it is true...the glass shatters around me but I'm still staring. I hear someone next to me, shaking me and I suddenly snap out of it.
"What the? Samantha!" I hug my friend tightly.
She sighs sadly and I look around. Leo and Jordan are still both entranced in the mirrors around them.
"This is bad...she's trying to take away our courage, trying to despirit us...and doing a darn good job at it." I shiver slightly and notice a sad look in Samantha's eyes too. We run to the boys, first Leo, and try to see what he sees, but we can't. We run to Jordan's and the same thing happens. We only see ourselves. Neither of them seemed to realize we were there. We only heard parts of their conversation.
Jordan was getting angrier and angrier by the second, I could see it in his face, he screamed at the mirror. Leo kept clenching and unclenching his fists, fire burning but then quickly extinguishing as he yelled at the mirror.
"We gotta help them," I say to Samantha, "Those mirrors..." she and I both shiver slightly then go to help the guys.
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Leo's POV
I was sucked into the mirrors' spell as soon as we stepped into the room. At first all I saw was my reflection. I was looked fairly good for being gone from camp as long as I had been. But soon the reflection changed. Instead of seeing myself, I was in my mom's old workshop.
"Watch this, you puny little hero." I hear an oddly familiar voice tell me. But I can't put a finger on who it is.
I was pulled to look at the mirror once again. In the workshop I saw my mom working hard on her drill bit. I try to look away, knowing where this is going but my eyes stay fixed on the image.
I see a younger version of myself in the next room over working on my own project for her. He knocks on the adjoining wall in Morse code. {I love you. Need anything?} I wait for a response and hear a series of knocks. {I love you, too. I'm fine.} Little Me finishes up the project he is working on... a rubber band car. He quickly wraps it up in a nearby oil cloth and runs into the other room.
"¡Mamá! ¡Mamá! Te hice algo. Hurry! Unwrap it!" (**Translation: Mom! Mom! I made you something.**) My mom laughs before she dramatically removes the cloth. She sees the little car and carefully picks it up.
"Thank you, mijo." She says while examining the car. "This is beautiful workmanship."
She wraps Little Me up in a hug and he smiles. I want to leave the moment like this. Leave off with a good memory of my mom. But I know that isn't where this is going.
The image ripples and my mom smiles at Little Me triumphantly. She holds up the drill bit. "Now all I have to do is get the patent. But for tonight, you and I should head home. You need to get to sleep if you are going to be alert at school tomorrow." They start to make their way to the front of the warehouse.
As they make it into the break room, he reaches in her pockets to find the keys for the car. "Hmm... I must have left the keys back in my area. Leo, why don't you wait here while I go back and get them."
I want to call out to her. Tell her not to leave him there. But of course, I can't speak. I stand there and watch as the rest of the events of that horrible time unfold, my hands lighting on fire and me quickly extinguishing it, until Little Me blacks out.
Finally the image fades, and changes to the battlegrounds of the Giant War. I see Harley, my little half-brother fighting a monster. I don't even take the time to figure out what it is that he's fighting. But next thing I know he is crumpled on the ground. And I was too far away to help. By the time I made it over to him, his skin was cold. He was dead.
The image fades and changes again. This time though it does not show me a memory. I see Jason and Piper walking unknowingly into this place. They are captured and place in a cage. I am forced to watch as they are tortured and then killed.
Next I see Jordan fighting Khione. A woman who probably knows all of his weaknesses. She covers his hand in burning ice, which makes him drop it. She magically creates a ice patch underneath him and he slips. He tries to drag himself back up but he traps him. And then she creates a funnel of snow around herself. She brings herself over him and strikes his chest with her sword.
That images fades away as well and I see Samanatha. She is alone in a dark room. She is curled up in a ball silently crying. A tall dark clothed figure comes in carrying a boy limp in his arms. With a second glance I see that the boy is without a doubt, me. The shadowy figure throws me down the on the floor. When Samantha sees me, her eyes go wide. She whispers something I can't understand and tries to come over to me, but a gust of winds pushes her back against the wall. I slowly come to, and the dark figure pull me to an upright position. He points at Samantha and grunts. She slowly tries to pull herself up but you can tell she is in pain. Before she can even make it halfway up, the man drops me and I fall to the ground again. In the time it takes to blink he has a gun pulled out and has it aimed at her head. I lunge for the gun, but he shoots and a celestial bronze bullet flies across the room. Samantha crumples to the ground, dead. I can tell that fire is flaming all over my body. But I do nothing to stop it.
"You see, you never will be able to save anyone you care about. Not your mom, not your brother, not your best friends, or even that girl you are becoming so enamored with." As I start to snap out of the trance, I finally recognize the voice, Kihone.
I felt arms on my shoulders and I flip around, ready to attack whatever is on me. When I turn I come face-to-face with Samantha.
She looks at me warily. "Umm... Sorry about that. I thought you were a monster or something." I say.
She gives me a sad smile, "I guess I did that with you my first day at Camp." I nod and look around. Sarah is over beside Jordan who is engrossed in a mirror. Huh, never thought I would think that about any guy who wasn't Aphrodite's child. His fists are clenched up in anger. "Is she trying to help him?" I ask Sammie.
"Yeah," she says quietly. "We should probably go help them now." I can tell that she is feeling down. But honestly, I don't think I can find a way to cheer her up. Kihone is messing with our minds, and it is destroying us. I resolve that lady is going DOWN as I walk over to Jordan.
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Jordan's POV
Sarah and Leo are pursuaded to look at the mirrors as soon as we walk in. I fight that urge and try to find an exit to no avail. I notice that Samantha is in the room as well caught up in one of the mirrors. I have no idea what those mirrors are showing them but it cannot be good. I fight the spell, hard, but inevitably I get sucked in.
"Well, well, well. I see you finally decided to come to talk to me. Now watch this you worthless boy." An evil feminine voice says to me and instead of seeing myself in the mirror I see the house that was in my dream.
Little Me is sitting on a couch playing with a baby. Who I am assuming is Samantha. The little boy is playing with her tiny little fingers.
"Jordan," a man calls from the other room. As he walks in I place him as my father. He reaches down and gently picks the baby up and cradles her in his arms. "Why don't you go grab a book and I will read to you."
The little boys jumps off the couch and runs over to the bookshelf. He pulls off "There's A Monster At The End Of This Book" from the shelf and carries it to his father. As he starts to read the book I notice a shadow out the window. As my father turns the last page, Jordan, who is now holding his sister, screams.
My eyes dart over to the window and I see the unmistakeable figure of a fire-breathing dragon. I try to close my eyes, not wanting to see what will happen next, but they refuse to shut.
"Jordan, look at me. You have to be a brave boy for Daddy, okay? Hold Samantha and take care of her, but don't leave this couch." The little boy nods silently, his terrified face still turned toward the window. His father grabs a gun out of a case and walks outside. The police arrive as the house is beginning to catch fire. They pull the children out of the house and put them in the back of the car. I look over and see why I grew up in foster care, my father was dead.
The image changes and I see myself being put into my first foster home. The little boy is resisting badly and the people around are hardly able to constrain him. I always have hated knowing that I have lost my freedom. I guess you could call it my greatest fear.
Next thing I know the image disappears and all I see is myself.
"How did you like that? How about another helping?" The cold voice taunts me.
"Stop it!" I scream, my fists clenched tightly. "You can't break me."
"Oh, but I can." Evil Lady says and a new image appears on the screen. It is me when I first get to camp. I am getting a tour from Chriz, son of Apollo. They are currently standing in front of cabin 6.
"And this would be the Athena cabin. Athena is the goddess..."
"Of wisdom and battle strategies." 9 year old Me interrupts.
"Yeah," Chris says looking a bit baffled. All of the sudden that expressing morphs into one of awe. "Well kid, looks like we need to interrupt our tour for a minute while I introduce you to your cabin mates." I look up and their is a hologram of an owl on an olive branch. I am claimed, and any chance I being able to do things MY way is gone.
The next thing I see isn't a memory. It is me, being thrown into a cage next to my friends. "Kill them," says a deep voice out of the shadows. "Or I will kill you." The chance at freedom is gone. There is no way I would hurt my friends, the only other option is death.
"You see boy, you will never win. No matter how hard you try."
I snap out of my daze with a pair of arms shaking me furiously. I flip around grab one of the person's arms and put them into a classic arm bar. My vision clears and I look to see who it was. Sarah. She is trying hard not to cry, but tears are glistening on her cheeks. I've hurt her. Marvelous. I let go of her arm and then help her to her feet pulling her into a hug. "Sorry, Sarah. I didn't know it was you and I kinda freaked."
She pulls herself out of my arms. "It's ok. Now let's get out of here. Kihone is toying with us. I want to get out of here as soon as possible."
She grabs my hand and pulls me toward the exit, where Leo and Samantha are waiting.
We walk on for a bit, silently, before we decide that none of us can stay upright anymore. We don't know how long we have been awake, but we are all exceedingly tired. We close our eyes as the girls change into new camp shirts, seeing as theirs were totally destroyed.
"I'll take the first watch." Samantha volunteers. We all nod the affirmative and Leo and Sarah are out within minutes. I make sure that they are fast asleep and them crawl over to where Samantha is sitting to talk to her. I am almost 100% positive that she is my sister I just need to confirm it.
"Samantha?" I whisper quietly.
"What do you want Jordan?" She snaps back sharply.
"I need to talk to you." She doesn't say anything so I keep going. "You see I have been reliving memories that I didn't know I had lately. They all include a baby girl. Samantha Nicole." Samantha gasps and I continue. "I think it's you. The girl is my full-blooded sister. I saw the other night the day that Athena left you in the care of your father."
"You mean the father who gave me up." She says bitterly.
"No. I do believe that he didn't give you up. I think he just died trying to protect us from a monster. He left you in my arms before he went out to fight. Telling me that I needed to protect and take care of her." I pause. "Samantha, I saw his dead body."
She remains silent for a bit pondering the information. "What did the baby girl look like?"
"Almost exactly like you with just a bit more baby fat."
Samantha chuckles. "Were you ever adopted Jordan?" She says suddenly serious again.
I purse my lips. "No, I was the kid who was bounced to a bunch of different foster homes. But none of them lasted very long."
"Okay. I want to believe you but this is just way confusing. I need to think about this for a bit. Don't tell anyone else yet. Not even Sarah."
I nod and crawl back over to my space. Laying my head on my backpack I am out in an instant.