Super sorry for not posting in forever! I've just been lacking motivation lately and have been way lazier than lately. But I will definitely make up for it and stay more diligent :P
Enjoy!
A flurry of emotions ran through Cleo's head, ranging from elated, to guilty, to angry all within seconds. She was happy about what had happened with William. Yeah, yeah, hand holding is elementary, but it opened Cleo's eyes to her feelings of him. They had been close friends for the longest time, and this felt like a dream. She was guilty because she had been the one to give Tara the ring, which was the cause of her current state. Then anger would come next. Cleo and Tara were never on the best of terms, it pretty much went all the way to her first day, but she had taken a leap and trusted that Tara would do the right thing, they even both kinda reconciled, and then she went and got her soul destroyed. Cleo looked in the back row and felt the guilt rush back to her as she saw Tara's comatose state.
Since Tara took up a whole row, and Quinn joined the quest there hadn't been enough room for everyone to ride in the van. So, the car that the other group had rented when they were separated served as another mode of transportation. Everyone alternated where they sat at each stop, but currently, Alec was driving the other car with William, Nata, and Jose; while in the van, Drey was driving, Chase in the passenger seat, Quinn and Ace in the first row, Charlotte and Cleo herself in the second, and Tara in the back.
Charlotte must've noticed Cleo's discomfort as she spoke up. "You okay Cleo?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just thinking and all…" She wasn't exactly in the mood to talk about the current events.
Charlotte suddenly looked around the van before turning back to Charlotte and whispered, "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked. Her light blue eyes were wide with excitement.
"Yeah sure," Cleo said raising an eyebrow.
"Well, uh it's about Will," Charlotte said so quietly that Cleo barely heard her. Hearing his name Cleo got a lot more interested, and nodded for her to continue.
"Well… I've been wanting to get this off my chest for a while… buuuut, I kinda have a crush on him," Charlotte said looking down at her hands, which she were nervously wringing.
Cleo was silent. She didn't know how to respond. Charlotte was a good friend of hers, but talking and expressing her feelings wasn't her strong suit so if Cleo told her the truth it just might prevent her from sharing anymore.
"You okay? You… you don't like him too do you?" Charlotte asked, her voice raising in fear a little bit at the end.
Cleo smiled and looked into Charlotte's eyes, her years of lying paid off, as she responded without a single hitch, "of course not, we are just friends."
"Oh okay, oh yeah! I think I know someone who may have eyes for you-" Charlotte was cut off by Drey making an announcement.
"Hey guys, look at that billboard," he said pointing out the window, and slowly pulling over. Cleo looked out her window to see.
It read, "Tonight, for the first time come and see this up and rising star, Paul Oh! He has the voice of a god and will be performing hit new singles at the Kentucky Music Center. Buy your tickets now at , or call at 1-800-THE-BEST." Below the words was a picture of what looked like an ancient Greek statue holding a microphone and with sunglasses on.
"Wow, isn't he supposed to be in hiding?" Chase asked incredulously.
Everyone turned when they saw William open the door. "Why'd we stop?" he asked.
"I think we found a lead on one of the 'clandestine gods" Drey said pointing at the billboard.
Will read over it and shook his head. "It's either the biggest coincidence ever, or Apollo is performing a concert in Kentucky. Here, let's meet up at the next exit and we'll plan what to do there."
"Okay, sounds good, see ya," Drey replied. Will left and they drove off to the meeting point.
Luckily Chase turned the music up, making it too hard to have a conversation.
Ten minutes later, they were parked in an empty parking lot, as Alec was on the payphone, buying tickets. Earlier they had all decided who were to go. They only had enough money for three tickets, which was quite the coincidence with that being a divine and lucky number in Greece. Everyone chose Will to go, Cleo was voted next, and Alec volunteered.
"I bought three VIP tickets for the next show, which is in an hour," Alec said walking over. "We just have to pay there in cash and show ID's and they'll give us the tickets."
"We should get going now than," Ace said getting into the van. No one disagreed as they drove to the concert.
When they got there the parking lot was packed. They were lucky to find two empty spots next to each other in the middle.
"We'll just stay here than," Drey said leaning back in the seat.
"We'll be back soon, hopefully it won't be too hard…" Cleo said with a small smile.
As they started to walk off Chase yelled, "Bring me back a T-shirt!"
"The show already started, but we only need to get to the end to Paul Oh," Alec explained as he got the money out to pay. As he talked to the cashier Will turned to Cleo.
"So, is this your first concert?" he asked.
Cleo smiled, "Yep, yours?"
Will nodded, "Same, of course though I wouldn't have expected it to have turned out anything like this," he said grinning.
"Okay, I got the tickets," Alec said turning around to them. He handing Will and Cleo VIP tickets and they all walked right in, since they were late there wasn't a line. As soon as they stepped into the doors Cleo heard the most melodic singing ever, it made her want to just stop what she was doing a dance with a random person.
"Come on, we need to make it to the front," Alec urged, it even looked like he was having trouble resisting the urge. As Cloe listened to the words she was surprised to hear that the song was about stopping and dancing with random people.
They walked up to the VIP section in the front and saw Apollo. He had sandy blonde hair, baby blue eyes, and a golden tan. He looked like a hot surfer, which was pretty out of place in Kentucky. After that he sang another song that was something about losing the love of your life and even though it wasn't even that good Cleo found herself crying and felt like she just had her heart broken. The same thing went for all of Apollo's songs. Whatever he sang about she seemed to be feeling the same thing, and it seemed that way for everyone.
"This will be the last song of the night," he announced, collective groans were heard all around. "It's called; The Truth is All I Need."
Cleo gasped at the title; the truth was never good, not for her at least.
"I'm gonna go... uh bathroom," Cleo said running off before Alec or Will could say anything. Even in the bathroom she could still hear the song. She jumped when she heard a toilet flush and a teenage girl walked out.
"I'm a daughter of the titan Tethys," Cleo found herself blurting to the stranger.
The girl looked really confused, the song in the background the only thing breaking the silence. "You're weird," she muttered, looking a little shocked at herself, before turning and leaving.
Cleo was embarrassed, but was glad she wasn't still with Alec and William when she had that outburst. She found herself spilling everything, to herself at least.
"I know it should be easy for me to choose to help the gods, but I can't help but feel loyal to my mom. She was the one who saved me and she treats me like, well a daughter. I've seen how the Gods can treat their kids. Especially to Will," Cleo would've kept talking to herself, but luckily the song ended. Running out of the bathroom she met up with the others. They were both angrily staring at each other, which Cleo would've asked about if she didn't feel so guilty.
"You're lucky you missed that song," Alec huffed before going to the backstage door as Apollo waved and left the stage. Cleo and Will followed, but Will walked way behind them. Whatever they had said when she was gone was not good.
Walking to the backstage Apollo was signing pictures of a bunch of screaming girls. He looked up and saw the three of them, and with a small wave he pushed his way through the crowd to them, nodding at some bronze statues to take them away, which didn't surprise Cleo as much as it should've when they walked over and ushered the group out the door.
"Hey guys, whatcha doing here?" he asked with an amused grin.
"I'm pretty sure you know why Paul Oh," Will replied.
Apollo looked down at them and started to laugh, "Why did you think choosing me first would be the best idea?" he asked. "I'm not known for my willingness to jump onto causes."
"So you're saying you are not going to help us?" Cleo asked shocked.
"No I will, but unless you can get Zeus himself to join I'm staying here in Kentucky."
"How is having this as your cover up helping at all? You literally have a sign pointing to exactly where you are at. The Titans are definitely going to find you," Alec said incredulously.
"I'm pretty sure I'm good, Artemis will warn me if the titans are onto me," Apollo said waving his hands dismissively. "I'll give you one hint though; Prometheus Global Media just got a new CEO." As soon as Apollo finished talking the bronze statues ushered the three out the door just as they had to the group of people earlier.
The door shut closed behind them leaving Cleo, William, and Alec in an empty alley.
Tara Evander
Tara could only remember bits and pieces of what happened. There was the searing pain, trying to not scream, and killing Hyperion, which was probably the only good thing. She slowly blinked her eyes opened and sat up. There was a terrible pain in her hand, and looking down she groaned upon seeing a burn going up her wrist, it must've been from the scythe.
Standing up she looked around. She must be dead; it's the only thing that would make sense. She was in what looked like a forest of some sort, but there was no moon or stars, and the only light was from a dim glow from the white river near her. Everything stunk of death; the only problem though was that it was empty. Tara thought the underworld would be bustling with souls since so many people die every day. Nothing felt right.
Tara had no idea where she was, or what she was supposed to do, but she knew one thing, rivers usually led to something. She was relieved to see she still had her watch on; a shield could come in handy. With newfound determination to find anything at all, Tara started to follow the river to who knows where.
It had seemed like hours had passed, and she was starting to get hungry and thirsty. Few what seemed like the thousandth time she looked down at the river. Underworld Rivers were never good news, but if she was dead than it shouldn't make a difference, something was nagging at her though. Finally she couldn't take it and Tara stopped walking and crouched down next to the water.
The closer she got to it the less she was remembering on why she didn't want to drink from it in the first place. One sip couldn't do any harm. Just as she was about to touch the water she heard a voice behind her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, that is unless you wanted to lose all of your memories."
Tara whipped her head around, all thoughts of drinking from the river left as she saw who spoke.
"That's the River Lethe," he continued. The boy had strange red skin with pitch black eyes, but at the same time a sort of handsomer appearance. Strangely enough there were horns above his ears as well.
"And who are you?" Tara asked confidently standing up.
Ignoring her, the person continued, "you don't look like a monster, or have an aura of an immortal, so what exactly are you doing in Tartarus?"
Tara was shocked, did he just say…
He must have noticed her alarmed expression as he laughed, "you don't know how you got down here did you? Are you a mortal? Wait a demigod."
Tara regained her composure, "And what are you? You don't look like any monster I know."
"I'm Damon," he introduced walking over to her.
Tara responded hesitantly, she wasn't sure if she should tell him her name, "I'm… Tara."
"What are you doing down here? Not here for a field trip I presume," Damon said amused at his own little joke. "But lucky for you, I have nothing better to do down in this put."
"And how is that lucky for me?" Tara asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I'll help you. My sister is gone on some mission at this camp so it'll be a little while before she grabs me from here, so I'll help you get out of here."
Damon didn't seem exactly like a trustworthy citizen, but he was Tara's best bet. If she really was in Tartarus she didn't have much of a chance. The only other known demigods to have survived down here were Nico Di Angelo, a son of Hades, and Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase, and they were together.
"What do you want from me?" Tara asked.
"Oh nothing, we would just have to help each other out of here."
"Help each other out… what does that mean?"
"Well, escaping requires two people," Damon explained.
"Okay, fine lead the way," Tara said, who know what he had up his sleeve, but she was prepared, she had almost forgotten about her powers.
Damon smiled, revealing pointed teeth, "First things first, we are gonna need to slay a dragon."
Also, throughout this week I will be revising the previous chapters, adding a little more and correcting grammatical/spelling mistakes. Every time I fix a chapter I'll announce it through the SYOC story so make sure to check that out too :P