Percy Jackson & The Case of the Missing Campers
XI
It was late when anyone woke up, except for Elysia. You'd think she'd have dropped her weird quality of always waking up at six thirty, especially with the one day she slept in, but no. For her, sleep worked in mysterious ways. If she were to have fallen asleep at four, she'd still wake at six thirty. For some reason, if she were to fall asleep earlier than normal, for example, eight, she'd wake up later than usual.
With her spare time, she tried to fall back asleep. She honestly did. She knew that she'd need the sleep to keep up her strength for the rest of their quest, but her mind was too busy. That was something she hated about having ADHD. Her mind was always working.
Elysia eventually fell back asleep, probably around seven thirty.
Okay, Elysia was accustomed to getting nightmares at night. She'd been having them since she was little. Only now… well, her luck ran out. She was having a nightmare during the morning, which wasn't cool.
It was Chaos again, no surprise. "Alexandria of Sparta, I cannot wait for you to watch your friends suffer and die. Only when I decide to be merciful will I let you die. You will regret not joining me those millennia ago."
"I don't even remember that life!" Elysia said. "You can't hold me accountable for that."
"You don't realize how wrong you are, daughter of Hades. Now, for your attitude, you shall suffer greatly."
She woke up in a cold sweat. She hated Chaos with all her heart, and she was terrified about the last part of her dream. No one was in the room with her anymore. She was completely alone. Nervously, she stood and began to walk out the door.
"I can't believe…" Rhea's voice trailed off.
"I know," Annabeth's voice replied softly.
Elysia stood there, in the doorway, utterly confused at what they were talking about. She decided to listen more to their conversation.
"We can't let Elysia know yet," Rhea said, sounding upset. "She needs to rest up."
"You got that right, but she deserves to know that…"
"Stop! We don't know for sure, anyway. Let's just go back and check on her."
Elysia decided to come clean. When they walked towards her, she said, "Deserve to know what?"
"Elysia…" Rhea said, trailing off.
"Zayne's missing. The last he was seen was at four this morning."
Elysia sighed, but she didn't show any surprise or anger. She knew what Chaos was doing. Chaos was trying to break her spirits, trying to beat her down emotionally. Elysia wasn't going to let it happen easily. If it came down to it, she wouldn't show any emotion. It would be hard, yes, but it wasn't like she had much of a choice. It wasn't like Elysia wanted to seem emotionless and careless, but she probably had to.
"You're not surprised," Annabeth mentioned.
"I knew something happened. I was right," Elysia replied.
"Did you see what happened in a dream?" Rhea asked.
"No, but Chaos warned me that she would do something. She's trying to torture us, make us weak…" Elysia muttered softly. She hated it that her friends were being used. "I'm going to kill Chaos for this."
"Elysia, calm down. You need to rest."
"I don't need to rest, okay? I slept in. I've been healed. What I need is something to eat," Elysia said, completely disregarding their concern for her. She didn't want to be weak and have to rest all day. It wasn't what a leader should do. Elysia needed to be strong, to be their strength.
"Elysia, it's okay to rest. You were poisoned yesterday and you were stabbed in the leg," Annabeth said.
"I'm fine. We should get going immediately," she said, walking back to her room to change.
"No," Rhea said bluntly. "We're staying here at least until tomorrow. I'd say all of us need to rest up."
"Fine," Elysia said reluctantly. "I guess I'll see you later."
"Where do you think you're going?" Rhea asked suspiciously.
"I'm going to change and then get something to eat, Rhea. Relax," Elysia said, closing her bedroom door and locking it. She went to the wardrobe and glumly looked over the clothing. She grabbed out a black slim fit t-shirt, black skinny jeans, thick wool socks, and her combat boots. In the back of the wardrobe, a dark purple jacket caught her eye. It was an expensive windbreaker jacket, one of her personal favorite types. She tugged it from its hanger and put it on.
Deciding her hair was an absolute mess, she went and brushed it out. "Damn, it's too long," she muttered under her breath. She twisted her ring so Iroida, her sword, emerged. She took the blade to her hair. She cut off about one third of it. Surprisingly enough, the haircut looked pretty good. Her hair now went just under her shoulders.
Once she was ready, she sat down on her bed, glancing out her window. The sun was beautiful against the Canadian trees. She went and stood next to the window to get a better view. Suddenly, a knock at her door caught her attention.
Elysia walked over and answered the door. "Hey, how are you doing?" Jay asked.
She didn't know what to say. "I don't know. Everything is just a mess, it's hard to think through it all. I'm not sure how I feel about Zayne going missing, how I feel about my death, how I feel about having a past life, and how I feel about… you."
"How about I tell you how I feel about you?"
"Please, because I don't know if I can handle another thing I can't figure out."
"I really like you, Elysia. I want us to be together, but… I know a lot's going on," he said.
"I don't know how long I'm going to live, Jay. I don't want to hurt you when I'm gone."
"That's not your decision, Elysia."
"But I feel extremely guilty because I'm the reason everyone's hurting. My sister was crying for me when I was poisoned. She won't even talk to me now because I said outright that I was going to die. I'm just not sure what to do, Jay. I don't want you to hurt, either," she said, her eyes showing true concern, but no tears.
"Jeez, Elysia, do you even worry for yourself?" Jay asked.
"Of course I do. There's a difference between worrying, though, and giving in to misery. They need me to be strong. If I broke down and let everyone know just how worried I am about this whole situation, they would fall apart."
"Elysia, I admire your strength, but keeping everybody in the dark may not be such a good idea. I think the main reason Lucie's not talking to you is because she might feel that you don't care enough for your own safety."
"You're probably right," she said softly. "Jay, I want to tell you that… I like you, too. I really do want to be more than just friends."
He roped her into a hug that she took with a smile on her face. "Nice haircut, by the way."
Elysia laughed as she pulled away. "My hair was just too long. It could get in the way of fighting. I will admit it feels weird to have shorter hair again."
He smiled and they both walked out of her room to get something to eat.
That day was relatively boring. All the entire group did was sit around and feel sad about Zayne's disappearance. Elysia found out that Rhea used a spell to send Aviander to some abandoned island off the coast of Mexico. Nobody would be seeing him for a while.
Of course, everyone did notice Elysia's closeness with Jay, but nobody really said anything. Tensions were high. They didn't talk much at all. After everyone ate, they all split off to do other things. Elysia and Jay decided to walk around the castle. Jason and Reyna decided to do the same, only going different directions than Jay and Elysia. Percy and Lucie went to visit the pegasai. Rhea just sat alone up in her room, and Annabeth tried to coax her out to no avail.
After they ate dinner, they just decided to go to bed early.
The next day, they all woke up bright and early. Uncle Mason gave them all extra clothes to wear because he knew they were planning on travelling farther north, where it would be colder. All of them had a nice, hot breakfast before heading down to the stables to get their pegasai. Before they set off, they all gave their thanks to Uncle Mason for everything. They left Zayne's pegasus, Frostbite, behind because they thought he deserved a break, and there wasn't anyone to ride him.
Elysia lead them where she thought was towards Alaska. She wanted to cover as much ground as possible. They wasted so much time at the castle. It was hard to believe the events of the Masquerade. Too much happened in just one night.
Anyway, they didn't talk much. It was still too tense for friendly conversation, and with the wind being so loud and the air so cold, they didn't feel like talking. Elysia's gaze stayed far ahead of her, and Jay couldn't help wondering what she was thinking about. Her expression wasn't the happiest he'd ever seen it. He didn't dare talk, though, because he didn't really want everyone hearing it.
After about three hours, Elysia began to descend and everyone followed. She could tell that the pegasai were already tired, despite their few day break. Once she landed, she looked around to make sure it was safe.
"We'll rest for an hour. The pegasai are tired," Elysia said, stroking Jinx's mane. She already loved this pegasus. After all, Jinx saved her life from that fall. She opened her satchel and gave Jinx a few sugar cubes.
A loud noise to their right got everyone's attention. It didn't sound like a normal animal sound. Elysia grabbed out her bow and arrow. She bit back a curse that she didn't have as sharp vision in the day as she did in the night.
Suddenly, a horde of small hooded figures burst out of the trees, screeching loudly. They were carrying small weapons and they tugged at everything. "What is this?" Reyna shrieked as she kicked one away.
"Kobaloi!" Annabeth yelled. "Goblins!"
Elysia traded her bow and arrow for her sword. She kept swinging and swinging, but more and more kept coming. They were being overwhelmed, and the kobaloi tried to steal some of their things. One of them grabbed Elysia's necklace from behind her, almost choking her. She whipped around and hit the kobalos down to the ground in one blow.
After a minute or so of more fighting, Rhea must have cast a spell that scared them off.
"Jeez," Percy said, wiping blood from a cut on his leg. "Those things are annoying."
"They're goblins. They like to frighten mortals and steal their things," Annabeth explained, also wiping blood from her various cuts. "They're usually harmless, all show and no harm, but…"
"They still attacked," Lucie said, cradling her foot. "I think I have one of their spears stuck in my foot…"
Elysia moved to her sister. "Gods, Lucie that looks painful. How did that happen?"
Lucie looked away from her sister. "I was about to kick one of them and it took off my boot. Another stabbed my foot."
Elysia pulled the arrow out, took out her canteen, and poured a little nectar onto the wound.
"Thanks," Lucie said in a monotone.
Elysia looked to the ground before she stood. "You're welcome. Anyway, I think all of us need to drink a little nectar to heal the minor wounds we received." She walked away from her sister and towards Jinx. "Also, we should eat lunch while we have time. We should only stay here for an hour or so."
Nobody said much. Their emotions were still all over the place, and nobody was attempting to try and break through this awkwardness. Elysia was honestly sick of it. When she'd had enough of their unbreakable silence, she gave in to her frustration. "Are we honestly not going to talk? This is terrible," she said.
"What is there to say?" Lucie asked, very standoffish. "We all know you're going to die. Why should we act like nothing's happening?"
"Because I don't want my last memories of all of you to be this depressing. If this is how it will be from here, I'm going alone."
"Don't do that! It would be suicide!" Annabeth said, grabbing Elysia's arm.
"Well, apparently, I'm going to die anyway. I really don't want to be the cause of any more misery. I just can't do it. It's the only thing I ask of all of you. Please, just let my last couple of days be pleasant, at least, or I'm gone."
"There's no way you can stop us from going with you," Reyna said, looking to Elysia seriously. "We won't leave you alone."
"You don't realize that I'm already alone. I haven't been this lonely in my entire life," Elysia answered sadly. "I don't want to deal with this anymore."
"We don't want you to feel that way," Jay said, grabbing her hand, trying to reassure her.
She sighed as he gave her a hug. Elysia didn't know what to do whatsoever. Was she supposed to say anything more? Was she supposed to just vanish in the night? With Jay holding her, she felt terribly confused, even more than usual.
When she pulled away, she looked to the ground. "Elysia, we don't mean for you to feel that way," Jay continued. "I know I don't."
"Neither do I," Percy said. "I don't think any of us want you to feel that bad over something you can't control. I'm sorry for making this worse for you."
Everyone except Lucie apologized. Elysia didn't know what to feel about that. She'd never fought with her sister before this. She hated it that their sisterly bond was coming to such a sad ending. She hated it that she was going to die with her sister hating her.
"Thank you," Elysia said when they'd all finished, though, she didn't feel any better.
Lucie stared at her sister and knew point blank that her sister was still feeling hurt, and yes, she did know why. Lucie, in her own way, was just as stubborn as Elysia. Of course, Lucie felt bad about her making her sister feel terrible, but she wasn't sure how to apologize to her. Also, it wasn't that she resented Elysia, it was that she resented her ensuing death. It made her want to cry, but she wouldn't do that to her sister. She'd already caused enough damage. Crying would only make things worse.
When Elysia began to grab out something to eat for lunch, Lucie was tempted to go talk to her. She didn't only because she didn't think the words "I'm sorry" would cut it.
Lucie sat alone in the corner, watching as everyone tried to cheer Elysia up. When she saw the way Jay looked at her sister, she felt happy that at least someone could lighten her up other than just herself.
She began to eat her lunch in silence. She would apologize to her sister when she got the chance. She just plain had to. The tension wasn't something she enjoyed. As a matter of fact, she hated it. It wasn't fair to Elysia that she was going to die, and Lucie was just making things much worse by acting so selfishly. It couldn't be easy to keep up the façade she was. She was tricking everyone into thinking she was fine with it, but deep down, Lucie knew she was terrified.
Lucie would miss her terribly when she dies. If there was any way possible, she would take her sister's place. Regardless, she knew it couldn't happen. The prophecy was absolutely clear: despair without a hero's hand to be lost in unfamiliar land. Elysia was a hero, for sure. Lucie didn't feel she would be defined as hero.
Lucie felt terrible while they looked pretty happy. She finished her food in a somber silence, almost unpleasant. Why did she have to screw up so badly?
In momentary anger at herself, she stood up abruptly and walked over to her sister. "Ely," she addressed with regret in her voice. "I need to talk to you."
Elysia looked away from her sister's eyes. "Fine," she answered.
They both began to walk away from the group, with their eyes on their backs.
This is such a filler... I just realized that now. Hahah. Anyway, I want to say... I challenge you all! By the time this story ends, if I have at least 200 reviews (or very close to it) I might make this a trilogy. I haven't actually begun writing the second one yet, but I have the basic idea planned out, with ideas for a third. Or I could stop it at two. I just need to know that I have reviewers who will most definitely read the stories I have set in store. They take up a lot of my time. Even when I'm not writing, I'm planning. So, I just want to see if you all can pull of 200 reviews by the time this story ends. I guess if I don't get that many, I could limit it to just the sequel.
Oh, and I have ideas for the name, but we'll see. I promise that once I've decided (and that it doesn't have any spoilers) that I'll post the name soon.
Oh... and... does anyone want to submit more OC's? I'd like the ones who didn't recieve a major role in this to be more involved, so RESUBMIT YOUR OLD OC'S with any changes you may have made. If you have a major or semi important character (Lucie, Jay, Zayne, Rhea, or Aviander) you can just give me another character, but yours will most likely come up only if I need them to. THESE OC'S WOULD BE FOR THE SEQUEL, NOT THIS STORY. I want to make that clear.
Just so you know, this actually will have a clear yes or no. I made a list of major, semi important, and mentioned last time. That won't be the case. There will be very few that I'll accept. It ultimately depends on how well your character suits the story.
That being said... let us begin.
Name (first, middle, last):
Nickname:
Age (between 18 & 13):
Gender:
Immortal parent (preferably minor gods or titans. NO VIRGIN GODDESS KIDS or BIG THREE):
Skills:
Fatal Flaw:
General Weaknesses:
Story (include how you got to CHB):
Personality:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Appearance (Height, skin tone, eye color, hair color, hair length, hair type, highlights or no, makeup, ect.):
Camp Clothing:
Regular Clothing (in detail, please.):
Formal Wear (with jewelry, hairstyle, shoes, etc.):
Swimwear:
Hunter/Amazon:
Weapon:
Mortal Family (who raised you? NO STREET STORIES, PLEASE. Brothers or sisters? Step siblings? Half mortal siblings? Family life?):
Other (tattoos, piercings, etc.):
Good or Bad side? (this is strictly your preference. I still may need to change things later.):
Romance (any particular non-cannon OR Major OC you want):
Example. (Another real life friend of mine submitted an OC. Not JadelieraWatkins, who changed her name to JadaWatkins, I think...)
Name (first, middle, last): Lessa Lee Keth
Nickname: Les
Age (between 18 & 13): 17
Gender: Female
Immortal parent (preferably minor gods or titans. NO VIRGIN GODDESS KIDS or BIG THREE): Pan, deceased god of the Wild.
Skills: Manipulating nature, calming down wild animals, identifying plants, animals, "communicating" with animals, archery, blending in with nature.
Fatal Flaw: (undecided as of yet)
General Weaknesses: Not good in one on one combat, not very fast, small.
Story (include how you came to CHB): [Classified.]
Personality: Nice, sweet, funny, quiet. Prefers to only have a few friends. Quiet. Bit of a bookworm. Enjoys watching anime.
Likes: Forests, anime, books, music, animals, the zoo.
Dislikes: Bullies, cities, crowds, animal abusers.
Appearance (Height, skin tone, eye color, hair color, hair length, hair type, highlights or no, makeup, ect.): Roughly about 5'4, tanned skin, brown eyes, dark dark brown curly hair that reaches her shoulders, no highlights, no makeup. Sometimes wears her hair in a braid.
Camp Clothing: Camp t-shirt, of course, jeans, and tennis shoes.
Regular Clothing (in detail, please.): A green and gold t-shirt, regular blue jeans, a grey sweatshirt, black tennis shoes. Wears no jewelry except a friendship bracelet.
Formal Wear (with jewelry, hairstyle, shoes, etc.): A white floor length dress with blue accents. She wears her hair up in a bun with some hair loose. Depending on temperature, she'll wear a baby blue shawl. She wears light blue topaz earrings, necklace, and ring. She wears white plumps that are only about 2 inches on the heel.
Swimwear: A plain and simple blue one piece.
Hunter/Amazon: No.
Weapon: A bow duisguised as her friendship bracelet. She brings along her own quiver of arrows. It was enchanted to never run out of arrows.
Mortal Family (who raised you? NO STREET STORIES, PLEASE. Brothers or sisters? Step siblings? Half mortal siblings? Family life?): [Classified.]
Other (tattoos, piercings, etc.): Nope.
Good or Bad side? (this is strictly your preference. I still may need to change things later.): [Classified.]
Romance (any particular non-cannon OR major OC you want): Sure, she's open for it.
There's your example. Sorry that some of it's classified, it's only because she's an OC for the up and coming sequel I keep talking about. Oh, and I'll tell you this: you have a higher chance of getting in if your OC is a guy. I don't get many of them... xD
NOTE TO ALL: OCs and CANNON CHARACTERS MAY BE KILLED. (I didn't think I needed to warn people, but... I don't want people offended if their OC or fave PJ cannon gets killed.) This rule applies to both this story and its sequel. Keep that in mind, please!
Also, don't forget about your newest challenge: help me reach 200 reviews!
So, with that in mind... click that review button, please!