TWELVE
I would've died if it weren't for Aphrodite. Am I lying when I say that? Sadly, no.
I scrambled up and limped away from the monsters as fast as possible before they turned to me. Holding the tree for support, I turned my head back. The monsters had given up on the others; They were heading for me.
Part of me was relieved.
The other part was panicking.
Monsters. So many monsters. I was not going to catch up to Nikki with a few broken ribs and a patella fracture(knee fracture). Slowly they were catching up to me, gaining speed as I stumbled away as quickly as possible.
I tripped. As I landed on my knees, I hissed and clutched the fractured one, trying to ease the pain. I had to immobilise it. Of course, after eating a bit of Ambrosia. But that was impossible with the huge group of monsters advancing on me.
"Problems?" A voice came from behind me. I jumped, then yelled at the pain in my leg. Black dots danced around my vision for a second, then seized.
"Who...?" I began. A soft, feminine laugh gave away her identity, "Oh. Venus."
She laughed again, "Oh, no. It's Aphrodite, dear." I mentally groaned.
"My apologies."
"Anyways, would you care for tea? We have a few things to discuss."
I looked at her questioningly, "What about the monsters?"
"No worries, dear." She clasped my hand while I stiffened, "Close your eyes."
I glanced at the goddess uncertainly, my hand moving uncomfortably in her warm hand. After a few seconds of hesitating, I reluctantly shut my eyes.
Pink light surrounded us, then faded half a second after.
"You can open your eyes, honey." I slowly let my eyes focus on the surrounding.
We were in my father's temple. The golden walls displayed his weapons and photos of himself. At the centre of the room was his statue, a golden lyre was placed on a pedestal next to it.
"Hey, love." Someone ran into the room, "Oh! Hey, Ray! Ha, get it? Hey, Ray?"
I mentally facepalmed, "Hello, father. But, by the way, that was so not cool."
Apollo looked at me slightly confused, "I thought that was pretty funny..."
Aphrodite walked up to him and laid a hand on his chest.
I looked between the two of them, "Are you two...? I thought you were dating Mars, I mean, Ares..."
"Can't a goddess have some fun?"
"But that's a bit..." I trailed off. The gods and goddesses had so many affairs that it's hard to tell what was right and wrong.
"We're going off topic." She said. What was the topic? Oh yeah. Discussion.
Dad walked to me and clasped my back as I winced slightly, "Ray! You look..." Horrible? Hurt? Painful? "Like you ran into some monsters!"
I would've facepalmed if my ribs could move, "Yeah, I have."
His eyes lit up, "Oh! I have a Haiku coming up!"
"I thought you moved on from that."
"Nah. Why does everyone say that?"
"Um... 'Cause you said so last year?"
Apollo scratched his head, "Did I?"
And I'd be grateful if you fixed me.
"Why haven't you fixed yourself?" He asked.
I felt myself become hot, "Um... I... Can't?" I said as quietly as possible.
"I don't know what you said, but I'll heal you!" Dad announced. And after a few minutes of healing, I was back to normal.
"Right. Thanks." I said as I stood up straight.
Aphrodite and my father sat at a table and gestured me to sit. I uncomfortably sat down, my feet shuffling underneath the chair. Aphrodite's appearance changed, shifting quickly.
"Have some tea." She poured tea in a teacup that wasn't there a second ago. I stared at it. Aphrodite pushed the tea forward, "Come on."
Passing my vision between Apollo and Aphrodite, I took the cup in my hands. They looked at me expectantly. Even the thickest person could see something was wrong.
"I have a question." I said, setting the cup down without drinking it.
"Do you?" Aphrodite asked.
"Actually I have a few."
"Okay, hun. Ask away."
I glanced at my father, "Why's dad here?"
The gods' expressions froze as the two immortals sat there doing nothing. I mean, nothing.
"Um... Father? Lady Aphrodite?" I asked them.
Silence.
More silence.
Then, as if snapping out of a trance, they started talking at once.
"Yes? I'm sorry, honey. I've got to go."
"Yeah, yeah? Oh, sorry, son. Someone's called."
The two abruptly stood up and rushed out without another word.
So much for discussion.
Then, dad came back.
"Oh, yeah. Close your eyes."
I closed my eyes in a rush, as dad's hand touched my shoulder.
By the time I opened my eyes, I was in front of a hotel, on someone.
"Do I look like a cushion?"
Hurriedly, I jumped off the person below me.
"My apologies, Ria." I mocked a deep bow.
"Is that how you apologise all the time?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah." I replied, laughing.
"Guys! We're not invisible, are we?" Demi said.
I finally noticed that besides Ria, there were Demi, Analia and Aaron.
"Glad you noticed. Seems like Aaron's not the only dude here anymore." Analia nudged Aaron. He looked up but said nothing.
After a bit of catching up, I found out that they:
- Already ate
- Didn't run into a single monster
- Got in contact with Nikki and Angel
"What're the Doors of Darkness?" I asked after a while. Everyone looked at Aaron.
"It's rude to stare." He said, "And you should really pay attention during Mythology class."
Don't blame anyone for not being able to listen to Annabeth drone on and on about the same things.
"Not everyone has the concentration of Aaron Beyer." I replied, "You're lucky you can concentrate without someone annoying you."
Aaron shook his head, "Whatever. The Doors of Darkness are doors—"
Demi interrupted, "Noooo... They're—"
"—Which keep the most dangerous monsters from being released." Aaron cut her off, "Only three immortals can open it: Erebus, Janus and Hades. These monsters are way stronger than normal monsters, even though they look the same. Also, they only follow the orders of the person who opened the door, or something like that.
"There's two main 'Black Doors'. They're the Doors of Death and the Doors of Darkness. I'm thinking they work the same way, that they have to be closed by both sides. I'm not exactly sure where this 'other side' is, though."
Analia's eyes lit up, "Yeah, I heard of this somewhere! And there's a single 'White Door' somewhere as well. No one's really heard much about the White Door because nothing's happened around it and no one knows what it's done. I suppose that since it's a 'White Door', it's the opposite of the 'Black Doors', and the effects of it would be the opposite as well."
Aaron nodded, "Maybe, just maybe, through the 'White Door' there's a way to banish the monsters from the Doors of Darkness."
"But we're going to the Doors of Darkness, yeah? Not this 'White Door'. So why don't we find out where the Doors of Darkness are." Demi suggested.
Ria mocked a surprised look, "Demi said something smart! Gasp!"
Demi gave her a sideways look, "Offensive! Oh, was this yours?" She asked nonchalantly. Demetria pulled out a rubber snake and stuck it out to Ria.
Ria held the snake in her hands, staring at it silently. We stood there awkwardly, looking between Demi and Ria.
"Um..." I started after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"Are you alive?" Analia asked.
Quiet.
Suddenly, Ria shrieked and threw the rubber snake back at Demi's face, "Snakes... Snakes... I hate snakes..." She muttered under her breath.
I laughed uneasily, "So... Why don't we get moving."
"But where?" Analia asked.
"You're suppose to be the smarter one." I replied.
"How about..." She trailed off.
"The library?" Ria said, finally recovering.
"Yeah, 'cause normal books would tell us the location of the door." Aaron said sarcastically.
"Oh, come on. You've gotta try." Ria groaned.
"How about... We go eat something and think!" Demi exclaimed.
Demi said think. Demi said think. What has the world come to?
"You said think! What has the world come to?" Ria yelled.
Just what I said.
"I'm starved. Let's find somewhere to eat."
As we walked around, we found a small cafe.
"In we go."
"So..."
We sat in a cafe, stuffing our faces with food. Demigods can never eat too much.
"So..."
We sat in silence, trying to think about what to do next.
"Where did you even get the snake?" I asked. All eyes turned to me, "What? I'm just wondering!"
"I got it from the supermarket." Demi replied. We looked at her, "Okay, I stole it from the supermarket. Happy?"
"Not really, but anyways, where were you?" Analia questioned.
"Yeah. Nikita Iris Messaged us at least ten times before you arrived. She said that Iris said that you weren't found." Ria added.
"Me?" I asked, surprised.
Demi nodded, "She looked pretty pissed off."
"I was only talking to dad and Aphrodite." I countered.
"Aphrodite?" Aaron questioned, "Why do I feel that something's wrong there?"
I shrugged, "She said she wanted to discuss something, but we never got the chance to."
"What do you mean?" Analia asked.
"They suddenly froze and then they said they had to go somewhere." I replied, "Wait, I have a question. You know Gaea opened the Doors of Death a few years ago, do you think Hades opened it this time?"
"Probably." Ria answered, "Unless Erebus or Janus or both joined Gaea as well."
"That'll be bad."
Ria looked at me sideways with a look that said 'Duh' which she probably was thinking.
"But doesn't that mean we have to make him close the door?" Demi asked.
We fell into silence.
Slowly we kept eating, thinking about it in silence.
I took a sip from my bottle of coke.
"RAY, YOU STUPID, IDIOTIC, ANNOYING, IRRITATING, FRUSTRATING, INFURIATING PAIN IN THE ASS!"
We jumped, tripping over chair legs, and sliced a hand through the IM in a rush. I rubbed my head, "Not now, Nikki."
The mortals looked around and to us, wondering who had exploded.
"Should we go?" Aaron asked awkwardly.
"Yeah... We should."
Apologising for the slight mess we made on the table, we ran out of the cafe before anyone could IM us again.
"That was bad timing." Demi said as we entered a narrow alley. We all nodded in agreement.
"She always has bad timing, if you ask me." Aaron grumbled.
"I agree with you." I stated.
Then, someone cleared their throat behind us.
"Agree with him about what?"
I spun around to face an irritated Nikita(which, by the way, is always not a good sign for anyone).
"Um, uh, nothing?" I grinned sheepishly.
"Nikita, next time, don't start yelling before you take in the scene." Analia said.
"More like don't start yelling when it's not my fault." I mumbled.
"Excuse me?" Nikki looked at me annoyed.
"I was with dad and Venus, I mean, Aphrodite!"
"How does that not make it your fault. You could have Fleecyed me!"
I stared at her, "Fleecy... ed? What?"
"You know Fleecy. Iris' assistant or whatever. Somehow IMs don't work anymore."
"Somehow."
"Yeah. I'm Fleecying you right now."
Aaron came in front, "Wait, does that mean that Iris could have been captured or something?"
Nikita shrugged, "Possible. You're the smart one here."
"Where are you guys?" Demi asked.
"Uhm... Somewhere inside a forest." Nikki said, looking around.
"Oh, that helps so much!" I muttered sarcastically.
"I apologise that there's no landmarks in the middle of nowhere." She countered.
"Touche."
"Whatever."
"Weirdo."
"Idiot."
"Stupid."
"Showoff."
"Annoying."
"Jerk."
"Irritat—"
The Fleecy message wavered.
Nikita's eyes widened, "I just remembered something." She left the FM for a few seconds. I caught a few words unintentionally as she talked to someone off screen.
"I forgot..."
"NIKITA! You were suppose to..."
"Sorry... Who... Send..."
"... Okay?"
"How... Too?"
"Okay, now that's done..." Nikita spun away from the FM as fast as a bullet, "Oh, shit. We have monsters. See ya."
She sliced her hand through the FM.
"... And look, Ray." Ria said as I turned around.
Demi looked to her right, "We also have company."
Hey! I'm back! You can see that I haven't added an AN at the top. I think I'll stick to not adding ANs at the top from now.
I hope you guys haven't gone off and completely forgot about my story(I mean, I can't blame you if you're having a lot of fun).
This chapter might've been a little confusing so here's a list-summary of what happened.
1) Ray got saved by Aphrodite.
2) He spent 8 hours in Olympus unknowingly.
3) Apollo healed him and sent him to Group no. 2 which he will from now will be talking about.
4) They have 6 days left.
5) Iris has supposedly been abducted by Gaea's forces.
6) IMs don't work. They will now use FMs.
7) Nikita remembered that they had to send people to rescue Sage (In the FM condo with Ray)
8) They are both being attacked by monsters.
If you're wondering what the group with Angel's doing, you'll see soon, so don't worry. And stay tuned(?) because in the next chapter, a lot of things happen.
(Mwahahahaha~ JKJK)
Okay here's a reply to an Anonymous review:
Thaliamadd34: It's possible to add your OC, but I need more information. Which camp is she from, how tall is she? What's she good at? Her weapons? Things like that need answering. I'm also planning on doing another OC contest in here for Huntresses, so you can stay tuned for that if you'd like.
SCY
PS I'm not sure if my English has gone down during the holidays. Please CC :)