Hello! I would like to thank trustingHim17 for Beta-ing this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO
Chapter 10- Oopsy Dae-sy
Joselyn's POV
"Dae! Why are you on top of Cole?!" I say half serious half laughing. When I walk into the arena, Dae has Cole pinned, a dagger at his throat, his spear 20 feet away, and Cole's sweat plastering his hair to his face. Dae only has a few little droplets. Cole looks up at me.
"She hit the dummy's bull's eye on her first throw! Then she almost killed a student, so I told her if she could beat me then I would bump her up to a higher class!" Cole calls to me, astonishment in his hot Spanish accent that I love. I chuckle at the two.
"Cole, how could you let a BEGINNER GIRL beat you?" I mock. Then I notice the victorious gleam in Diona's eyes and start to feel scared.
Is she capable of killing a demigod? I think to myself.
"Diona? Kacey wants to see you, so could you please get the dagger away from his throat and come with me?" Diona looks up at me, the viscous look draining from her eyes. I relax when she sheaths her daggers.
"What does Kacey want to see me for? I still have half an hour to beat up these peo-"she stops for a second "I mean I still have half an hour of Combat class left!"
I shrug.
"It's Kacey. Who knows what she wants?" I say nonchalantly. That seems like a good enough answer for Diona, so she gets off of a breathless Cole, heading for the door. I help Cole up, and give him a peck on the cheek.
"Really? You let her win?"
I tease but am met by a look of total seriousness.
"That girl may be a trypanophobic, but she is viscous!" I stare blankly at Fireboy, not quite sure how to reply.
"Joselyn?" Diona calls from the door, her voice sounding childishly annoying.
"I'm coming" I call back while looking from Cole's (not normal) serious face to Diona's expectant one. I run out of the door leaving Cole not himself.
Dae's POV
Kacey's office is crowded when I enter. Chiron and Kacey are standing near the window, the exact same stance and facial expression on-concerned- while most of my brothers are goofing off. I take my place near the only brother I really know; Greg. We make small talk- Hi, What's up? , how are you, what do you think Kacey wants us for, etc...- until all of my brothers are here.
"Quiet down, quiet down!" Chiron commands, but not many people listen to him.
"SHUT UP!" Kacey yells, everyone obeying her instantly. Chiron gives her a stern look, then one of approval.
"I know you all are wondering why I have called you here. I have some bad news and you should all be the first to know." Chiron says to us. "Dionysus sent me a distress call last night. The only things he could tell me are that a god has captured him, and he has these magic handcuffs that drain away his immortality and powers. If he turns into a mortal, his years will catch up with him and he'll die.-" Chiron takes a deep, shaky breath as dread spreads through the crowd "He doesn't know where he is, but thanks to a GPS signal, we know the area he is located."
"I thought you don't like Dionysus!" One of my brothers yells. Chiron rolls his eyes.
"I have worked with him for most of my life. When he wasn't drunk, or sleeping with your mothers, he was a really good guy."
No one yells out a rude comment this time. The grief suddenly hits my brothers like a ton of bricks, and almost everyone starts freaking out. The older ones start cursing and swearing, while the younger ones start to cry. Although Greg over powers all of the voices with his Greek cursing. To tell you the truth, I am the manliest in the room. I know I should be freaking out right now-like a normal person when they find out their father was abducted- but I'm mostly in shock. While all my chaotic brothers are showing their vulnerable side, I stand off to the side and gape at the sight before me. Chiron and Kacey try to calm them down, which works for everyone except Greg (of course).
"WHY SHOULD I BE CALM? YOU TELL ME MY FATHER IS MISSING THEN TELL ME TO KEEP CALM?! I'VE KNOWN HIM SINCE I WAS FIVE! FOURTEEN YEARS WITH HIM- MORE THAN THE AVERAGE DEMIGOD GETS!" Greg yells- his face turning as red as a tomato- and then storms out of the office in a huff. Pure silence follows, but Kacey ruins it with a sigh.
"I guess I better go find him and calm him down before he causes the world to end..." She states dryly. Kacey starts to head towards the door, but I stop her in the doorway.
"Perhaps I should go. I've plenty experience calming people down. My mother would get pissed off, and I learnt how to approach someone and all that stuff." I say hopefully. Kacey thinks about this, glancing from me to her father and back again. Chiron shrugs.
"It's worth a try"
I mentally high five myself while heading to the spot my mother would go... her bedroom.
I find Greg lying down on his bed, his head in the pillow with his black hair spread out like nerves from the spinal cord. I approach him slowly, cautiously. He must sense me because he makes a shooing gesture in my direction.
"Go away Derek!" he whines into his pillow.
"Um, actually it's me, Dae." I softly whisper while sitting down in a space on his bed. I start to gently rub his shoulders and upper back, attempting to unintenify them. He groans.
"Uhhhh don't give me that Dae crap. You were named after our father, so honor it!" He snaps at me. I start rubbing a bit harder, causing a wolf-bear groan to come from deep in his throat. He relaxes a smidgen more.
"Anyways, I came to ask if you're okay." I tell him, getting back to why I'm here. He gives me an incredulous sideways look, propping himself up on one elbow.
"No I'm not okay little miss ray of sunshine!" Greg childishly exclaims at me. I look at him sympathetically.
"Tell me what's upsetting you." I command lightly.
Greg spills about his waitress mother who fell in love with Dionysus, how most of Dionysus' children are 'accidents' and how his mother kicked him out at age five, not wanting him in the first place. He tells me how lucky he was that she dropped him off at camp instead of letting him fight monsters without training. In the end, he ends up sobbing into my shoulder while I rub his back in a circular motion, saying 'there there' and 'you just cry all you want'.
The weird thing is, after Greg finishes crying he starts playing with my long raven curls.
"Thanks for, erm, letting me get that out. Most of our siblings would tell me to suck it up" He says in a horse tone. I shrug while inhaling deeply.
"It's nothing." I say nonchalantly. Suddenly, Greg's arms wrap around my waist firmly. He repositions himself so that his legs are in a V, pulling me to sit in between his legs. He leans back against the bed frame, forcing me back with him, but I pull away and look at him.
"Greg, what are you doing?" I ask cautiously, but my brother doesn't reply. He turns my head so it's facing forward. Then he places a hand to my forehead, pushing it so the crown of my head is on his collarbone. I start to get nervous.
"Are you in one of your mood/temper swings?" I ask alarms in my gut "blaring get the hell out of there!"
He starts playing with my hair again. "This is what I call brother and sister BONDING." He replies innocently.
We lay there in the Dionysus Cabin for about ten minutes. The minutes seem like hours due to the heavy silence of the messy cabin. I can feel that Greg is still playing with my hair when a group of brothers come stampeding in.
"IT'S SUPPER TIME!" They all cheer, but stop dead in their tracks when they notice the position we are in.
"What the Hades? Is this some gross brother-sister relationship?" One of the older boys asks. In response, I quickly attempt to get away from Greg, but he anticipates my move and grabs my waist firmly. My other brothers must realize that I didn't mean for this to happen since Greg was being emotional. A few of them start looking SUPER nervous.
"I'm showing my sister who runs this cabin, and how strong I am- just to make sure she doesn't try anything." Greg tells my brothers from behind me, making the group look even more nervous. One of them steps forward, eyes bulging and a forced-calmness on him face.
"Greg? Let Diona go please." He says, trying not to let the nervousness out of his voice, but failing. From behind me, Greg shifts and stiffens up.
"What if I say no?" He replies darkly, my common sense kicking in and letting me know how this could end. The brother confronting Greg looks back mumbles something to one of my siblings, who bolts out the door. The confident brother turns to face us.
"Did you take your medication today Greg?"
Medication?! I didn't notice him take any medication! I think as I feel another arm slip around me. Through the window, I can see three silhouettes- one centaur, two humans- running toward the cabin.
"No I didn't. There wasn't any left!" Greg says through gritted teeth. I feel Greg's strong arms start to squeeze me. Greg is taller and larger than me, so I get pulled into him a little bit. At this point, Chiron and the boy burst through the door. Chiron hands an older brother some equipment, while the some brothers position themselves behind Greg and I. The 'leftovers' make a barricade around the bed. The brothers behind us hold Greg down- almost the same way they did with me- except Greg still has a hold on me. A boy approaches the bed with a needle in his hand. Even though it's not pointed at me, I still start to tremble. Greg senses this movement.
"It's okay little sister, I won't let them hurt you!" He whispers, hysterically protective, sending shivers down my spine; like icicles slowly creeping downward making sure to touch each vertebrae.
I look over to one of my siblings, mouthing What do I do? Help me!. One of my brothers mouths: One our cue, leap as far away as possible!
I nod slightly letting him know I agree. Jump off the bed? I think. Hopefully someone is going to be ready to catch me if I fall.
The boy stabs the needle into Greg's arm, causing him to shriek, curse in Greek, and let go of me. Guessing that's my cue, I leap from the bed as far away as I can. The bad news is: I fail at landing and trip. The good news is someone caught me.
Sandra helps me regain my balance.
"He is lucky I didn't shoot him in the head with an arrow!" she exclaims jokingly. I look back at the group. They somehow got Greg to stop cursing and he is now passed out on his bed. I turn back to Sandra.
"I feel bad for him. He didn't exactly ask to be a psychopath! Our bonding time was good until the cabin came in." I explain to Sandra sympathy in my voice. Her face turns serious, and she looks at me astonished.
"You do know when we came in his butcher knife was in his hand ready to strike?!"
"What!?" I reply in shock.
"Greg was going to kill you! We THINK it is because of him being a psychopath, so Chiron has orders the Apollo Cabin to administer him some medication that weakens his psycho-urges for 24 hours. With the pill in him, the worst he can do is torture." The last part she says pointedly at me. Sandra's eyes go sad, and she frowns. "The Greg, who isn't a psychopath, the way he was before he got abducted, was very nice and caring and sweet." Sandra explains as we head to supper.
"Wait, he was abducted?" I ask still a bit shocked.
"Yes. A few years back, someone kidnapped him on his way to camp. He was missing for ten months, and when he came back, he didn't exactly 'come'. His captor dumped him on the side of the road in a bag unconscious. Apparently, he was unconscious the whole time, so he knows nothing about what happened. After that, he was never been quite the same. He doesn't remember anything from his experience with the captor, and we believe the captor did something to him-something that changed him from loved one of the whole camp to psychopath. The Apollo cabin has tried everything we could, but to no ado." Sandra almost sounds heartbroken.
"Wow" is the only thing I can say. We walk in silence for a few minutes towards... the Aphrodite cabin?
"Uh, Sandra? Where are we going?" I ask as I stop dead in my tracks. I seriously don't want to have another makeover done by them EVER again.
"Well no offense, but you are starting to smell weird and you are still wearing clothes from two days ago." She notices the panic in my eyes, and immediately says "This time, you are in charge of who does what." I sigh in relief.
A few girls run up to us as we walk in.
"Diona! You are going to be all cleaned up and smelling nice by the time we are through with you!" Brittany tells me.
Through with you, Brittany said, she actually called me by my real name. I think as a bad feeling enters my gut.
"Okay, so you are scheduled for a fitting, cleansing, and haircut."
"HAIRCUT!" I yell. I look over to Sandra but she just shrugs.
"I don't need a haircut." I say while turning back to face Brittany. She makes a tsk noise with her mouth while circling me, and stops behind me. I feel some hair being lifted off my back.
"When curly, your hair is down to your waist-imagine how long it would be straight! What are you, Rapunzel?" Brittany rudely informs me.
"Actually, we call her Snow White." Sandra counters through a giggle fit. Brittany rolls her eyes, walking back to face me.
"Sandra you may leave now" She says, not making eye contact with Sandra, and flipping her shoulder length blonde hair. Sandra leaves muttering something about Aphrodite kids being like the dark side of the moon to her.
Brittany grabs my wrist painfully, and I wince a bit- she is stronger than she looks.
"Come on; let's go get some random strangers to touch you in places you won't like."She smiles evilly at me. I remove my wrist quickly from her grasp.
"No! I won't go!" I yell rather childishly. Soon after, hands grab my arms from behind me. Brittany laughs at my surprised expression.
"Too bad, because you seriously stink!" The people with me in their grasp lift so my feet are off the floor. They ignore my protests, and don't seem to be hurt from my kicks as we all enter the bathroom.
We come to an agreement about my hair length- it is now to my waist when it's STRAIGHT. They bath me (luckily they let me wear a bathing suit) and also draw up a new wardrobe approved by me- I admit, most of it is purple and some crazy outfits for parties. We finish just when someone opens the door. A sweet aroma of food enters the cabin, causing my stomach to growl.
"You missed supper, so I brought you some food." Aelix says while setting the tray of food on a table. He looks at me, his blue eyes raking me up and down and a smile curves onto his lips.
"What happened to Dae?" He jokes, but nods approvingly while sitting down on the pink sofa.
"They cut my hair!" I playfully whine, and then pout for dramatic effect. He stands up from his seat, walks over dramatically, and then takes a whiff of my hair.
"Smells like…artificial grapes?" Aelix looks at me questioningly. I roll my (mascara filled) eyes and point to Brittany.
"She put it in there, not me. They are the ones stereotyping me up." I say in defense. Brittany chuckles as all eyes fall on her.
"I just HAD to make her smell like grapes! She is the only Dionysus kid we can actually experiment smells on!"
I don't like how she said 'experiment'. I let it pass, turning my gaze to the food Aelix kindly brought.
"Thank you so much for bringing my some food," I tell him with as much gratitude I can muster. He blushes deep red—the only real color in his face for now- puts his hands in his pockets and shrugs.
"It was nothing" He says casually. He turns to leave, but when he goes to open the door, it is locked.
"You can't leave the Aphrodite cabin until y'all do something for me!" Brittany calls in a sing-song voice to Aelix. Not moving he calls back/
"That depends on what I have to do."
I look over at Britt, and see a sinister look in her innocent blue eyes.
"You have to kiss Diona, full lip-lock"
I shouldn't have taken a sip of grape juice. First of all, it is most likely a joke, and second of all because I do a spit take, causing purple juice to go EVERYWHERE.
"What did you just say?!" Aelix and I command in unison. Britt rolls her eyes while sighing loudly.
"I know you two like each other. I can FEEL it-LITERALLY. Now show me some lip action, or you're not going to be able to leave."
I glance to Aelix while wiping the juice from my chin, and find his whole face red- with anger or embarrassment I don't know.
"Come on! Y'all do want to get out of here right? Get moving!" Brittany sing-song tells us. Without a warning Aelix strides over, places one hand at my waist the other behind my neck, dips me, and our lips collide. His soft lips caress mine passionately. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling myself into him. When we part- what seems like 5 minutes of bliss- we both stand arms-width a part with our shoulders up near our ears, and a look of mesmerisation painted on.
"Wow" is all Aelix can get out, making Brittany laugh evilly then gives us a look of satisfaction. There is an awkward silence for about ten minutes while I finish the supper of pasta, Brittany dumps detergent on the purple stains, and Aelix contains his composure. Aelix doesn't dare meet my eyes and I don't meet his due to the fact Brittany was right, and we might kiss again. Ten more minutes pass, I decide to go to the bathroom-which is very PINK- but when I come out, Aelix looks me in the eyes and chuckles.
"You mouth tastes like grapes." He cheerily informs me.
"No s*** Sherlock!" I say while stifling a laugh.
"Okay lovebirds, I gotta boot ya out. The rule is no one is allowed in a cabin that isn't their own after 8:30 pm. It is-" she glances at her watch "8:25. See ya later!"
Aelix gives her a skeptical look.
"Did you open the door?"
Brittany nods. Aelix grabs my hand, dragging me out of the Aphrodite cabin, but then swings me around to face him. I don't dare meet his eyes, but he cups my chin forcing me to look at him.
"Do you like me for real? Sometimes the Aphrodite cabin plays tricks on your heart when you are in there."
I clear my throat of an air bubble that forms as he talks.
"Yes, yes I do. Do you like me?"
He pushes the hair out of my eyes, making sure I can see his sincere gaze on me. Aelix finishes the move with pulling my head towards his smoothly. His lips taste like grape juice from earlier, and when we kiss we are in sync as if each of us knows what the other will do next. Our faint little peck turns into make-out, and I move my hands to ruffle his hair while Aelix moves his to the small of my back.
We hear a gasp, loud and dramatic, then a squeal of excitement. We break away and turn to see Sandra,-who is blushing and covering her mouth with both hands- Joselyn, -who is jumping up and down- and Evaline- who is not looking at us but I catch her smile a couple of times. I feel my cheeks start to heat up, and notice that Aelix's are fuchsia pink.
"What are you doing here?" Aelix demands lightly.
"We came to fetch you two Kacey says she want the older kids to come to the amphitheater once the cabin leaders have put the little ones to bed." Sandra explains through her hands. I start to say something, but Evaline guesses what I am about to say.
"All cabins are already done except for the Aphrodite cabin."
We all look into the Aphrodite cabin to see that the younger ones are just getting into bed now. We watch Brittany take a group of older girls and boys out of the cabin. Joselyn and Brittany exchange wicked glances of hatred. After all of them are out of the cabin, we all head towards what I'm guessing is the amphitheater. Along the way there, Joselyn leans over to whisper
"I hate that kid" distaste crisp in her voice, her gaze on Brittany.
Chiron and Kacey are in a heated discussion on the stage while we pile in. Joselyn spots Cole—who is sitting with Ammon and (who I am guessing is) Ajax—and runs up to sit directly behind Ammon, Ajax and (now) Aelix.
Everyone is a buzz, chatting away. Joselyn starts playing with Cole's hair, which causes the ends to turn orange.
"Make sure you don't have another skull ring in, ok?" Cole jokes, not turning his head. We all giggle, even Joselyn.
A hush suddenly goes over the crowd, turning our attention to the stage. Chiron, Kacey and another centaur-around Kacey's age- walks up to the microphone. The other male centaur kisses Kacey on the cheek, in return receiving a harsh look from Chiron. Kacey smiles at the boy, and then faces the crowd.
"I know you all are wondering why we have called you here, but don't worry, no one is in trouble."
She pauses, waiting for dramatic effect. She hands the microphone to Chiron.
"Mitchell Bishop is going to do the honor of issuing the quest. But before we do that I shall ramble on about it and let you guys feel the suspense." Chiron takes a big breath. "This quest isn't like any others. This one is to save Mr. D. Now, I got a distress call from him asking for help- and we all know that he doesn't like showing his vulnerability. He told me that we don't have much time to find him, but more details will be given to our heroes embarking on the quest. The heroes will hitch a ride to the first location in Percy's van at supper time tomorrow." Chiron pauses for about ten seconds, everyone leans in closer in anticipation. Chiron hands the microphone to the Mitchell Bishop. From my seat, all I can see of him is dirty blonde hair that looks like it has been smoothed back by hairspray, along with dark olive skin.
"Thank you Chiron" Mitchell says with a strong Turkish accent that's not too thick. He has a smile dancing on his face as he scans the crowd. He stops in my direction, making my heart start to hammer against my chest and my hands get wet and clammy. It's going to be me; It's going to be me I think.
"The quest leader is Joselyn Hunt!"
My heart sinks as I watch Joselyn bolt up to the stage. I am proud of her, but I just can't help feeling envious of her. It is MY father she is going to try and rescue, so I should be allowed to go! Evaline and Sandra are cheering along with everyone else- everyone except the rest of the Dionysus cabin.
"Who is going to be coming with you?" Chiron bellows in the microphone, trying to be louder than the cursing from my brothers. Joselyn looks into the crowd with a Cheshire cat smile.
"Evaline Malone-Poseidon Cabin- and Sandra Anderson- Apollo Cabin" Joselyn exclaims like she has done this multiple times before.
"You girls shall start packing in the morning and then head out at supper. Since you are all Cabin leaders, you will be expected to assign someone to take over while you aren't present." Kacey yells over the triumphant cheers and protests of displeasure.
"Okay, that concludes this get together. Please start to make your way to bed." Chiron orders, but no one listens, so Kacey grabs the microphone from him.
"GET OUT, LEAVE, AND SHUT UP!" Kacey yells at everyone. On cue, the demigods start filing out of the amphitheater making sure to congratulate Joselyn, Eva, and Sandra on the way out. I keep my head down to hide in the crowd-which is easy because most people are around my height. As soon as I get outside, I dash to the Dionysus cabin.
All of my brothers are in a circle around my bed (All except for Greg who is still passed out on his bed). I stop dead in my tracks and cock my head to the side. They all move aside revealing my bed.
My daggers are hanging up on the wall; the bed spread is purple with a black vine pattern on it. A suit case is under the bed.
"Ta-daaaaaa!" They all cheer. I am stunned speechless, the only thing I am able to say is thank you. I then eye the suit case.
"What's in the suit case?" I ask tilting my head.
"Its girl's clothes. The Aphrodite Cabin brought them for you." The brother-whom I have come to realize, is Derrek- explains, putting emphasize on 'girl'.
"Well I certainly am not going to wear some of your clothes now am I?" I joke. They all laugh quietly not wanting to disturb the little ones. All twelve brothers come in for a group hug with me in the middle. I try to hide the fact that they're choking me with Axe cologne.
Once the hug breaks, I take a deep breath of non-axe filled air, and then jump on my bed. While waiting for the supposed girl's bathroom I decide to play with my daggers. My hands fumble, and the fancier dagger lands near the weird birthmark but not without cutting me there first. The cut is really small but I feel an incredible pain shoot from the mark to my heart and back again multiple times. I let out a little cry of pain, but try not to draw attention to myself. Derrek hears it and comes rushing to my side. His eyes widen at the site of my arm.
"What the hell? What's wrong?" I lie down and thrust my arm in his direction.
"I…don't…know…Make…it…STOP!" I am just able to say. Derrek pulls out some rubbing alcohol and quickly pours it all over my arm. The cut heals immediately along with the pain, but it doesn't help this odd feeling in my gut. I release a breath I didn't realize I am holding, and thank Derrek. He kisses my temple while getting up off the floor.
"No problem little sister." He throws some pajamas onto my lap. "Go get changed little sister." He orders.
"Little sister? I think I'm older than you!" I reply. "I will be seventeen on June 20th which is in almost a week."
"Oh yeah?" He says while cocking an eyebrow "I turned seventeen on June 7th, making me older than you." Derrek says matter-of-factly. He straightens up. "Now, go get changed and into bed, or else."
"Or else what?" I demand jokingly.
"Or else…the whole Dionysus cabin will team up with Hermes and play a prank on you! Trust me you don't want that," He jokes.
"Fine." I say while I get off the bed and head to the bathroom. Before I enter, I hear Derrek say
"Oh and Diona?" Don't play with daggers anymore, okay?"
I stifle a laugh as I walk into the axe-scented bathroom.
When I get to bed, sleep comes easily, but at the price of nightmares…