Mortals and Divine Intervention

Life was normal, considering the reincarnation. It all came to a screeching halt when her father started dating a woman named Sally Jackson, and she realized that, in her past life, she had read a series dedicated to her son's life. Yeah, so much for normal. (SI/OC)

Chapter Eleven: Dead Man Walking

They were sitting on a chair the Big House, Honey glued to Eleanor's side like she was afraid the two adults - presumingly Chiron and Mr. D - would rip her away.

"Thank you, Travis," Chiron said to the boy who brought them inside, which meant she was right, he was a Stoll. "You may return back to your cabin," he eyed his pockets, "but please return the items you stole from the Ares' kids."

Travis mumbled something about horse eyes, but left without a further complaint. Honey blinked once, then twice, and eyed Chiron in his wheelchair like at any moment he would jump out and eat some grass, "You're a horse?"

There was a moment of awkward silence. Eleanor bumped her with her elbow, "Manners, Hon,"

"Oh," she at least looked sheepish, "sorry."

Chiron smiled at her good-naturally, "No worries, I am part horse," then, as if magic (which it probably was) he walked out of the chair, showing off his bottom half, that of a white stallion.

Honey looked ready to pass out, but she managed a weak smile, "Cool."

"May I ask for your names?"

Honey looked to Eleanor first, and when she gave a nod, she nodded back, "Honey Adams."

"Ella Blofis." Ah, back to her good-old real name. Hopefully, no one would mention her fake persona around these guys. She really didn't want to be accused of a spy, or at least a liar.

"Any idea as to who your parents are?" There was a yawn, given by the God of wine himself, but she figured he was probably bored of his game of solitaire.

"Hebe," she pointed at the girl beside her, "and," she hesitated, "Apollo."

Chiron raised a brow, "You don't seem so sure?"

"I uhm… not claimed, but, yeah." That made zero sense, but Chiron accepted her excuse with a nod, he then grinned, as if to say, Hey! No biggie. It did feel like a biggie, she was lying to a Greek God and Chiron. Who lied to Chiron?

(Her, apparently.)

But, he had these eyes - horse eyes, maybe - but it felt like he saw her. Saw right through her, saw her lies and how she felt and how she was so anxious and so in the middle of something bigger than her, and before she could even stop herself, she word vomited out: "I can see the future."

Dionysus looked up from his cards. Chiron's tail flicked. Honey stared at her like she had two heads. Her throat felt like it was clamming up, her lungs shuttered and it felt like there was something around her chest, squeezingandsqueezingandsqueezing until it felt like every ounce of oxygen was forced out of her lungs.

Asthma? Right now? She hadn't had asthma since she found out about being reborn into a book series, and neither time did she do copious amounts of exercise beforehand. Why now?

"You're panicking," oh, yeah, that'll explain it. Maybe it wasn't asthma, just a panic attack. Understandable, have a nice day.

She wasn't sure what was happening. There was a hand on her shoulder, which only freaked her out more, and then it was like someone had put a cloth over her eyes. Then her ears were buzzing, her eyes were unfocusing and focusing again, and then it was dark.

"I told them you were all right," Sally Jackson's voice was around her in the darkness, and for a moment, she thought she was speaking to her. Before Eleanor even opened her mouth to respond, the darkness faded into the Jackson's apartment, where Sally had a tired-looking Percy in her arms and Annabeth was beside the two.

They sat in the kitchen, eating Sally's blue cookies (that made her mouth water - god, she missed them) and talking about Percy's quest. Sally made a joke about cleaning rooms, "I can't get him to clean his room, but he'll clean a hundred tons of horse manure out of some monster's stables! I remember complaining to Ella about it -" She trailed off, face solemn.

Percy didn't catch onto her sadness, "Oh, yeah, Ells. Is she at her mom's?"

Sally sat down the blue cookie she was in the process of eating, "Percy, you didn't happen to see Ella, did you?"

"What?" He looked taken aback, "no! Why? Where is she?"

"She's been missing, about three days after you went with Annabeth. She was in the basement of the theatre and never came back."

Percy visibly paled, "The dream."

And then she woke up.

Eleanor was in a pretty comfortable bed, and she could faintly hear someone snoring. She pulled her eyebrows together and looked around, finding herself lying in some sort of medicine room - oh, the Infirmary.

Her head felt like someone had dropped a boulder on it, and, strangely, she felt hot. Like, burning hot. A small cry left her lips as she shifted, trying to lessen the heat.

"Sorry," a male voice said, and she turned her attention to a boy about a few years older than her, blonde and blue-eyed with a seemingly natural tan, "I, uh, tried giving you nectar."

"Oh," so that explained the heat - she was mortal, she was lucky she wasn't ash, "I guess it's known then, right?"

The boy, presumingly one of Apollo's kids, raised a brow, "That you're a mortal? Yeah."

She offered a hand, "Ella Blofis."

"Lee Fletcher," he shook her hand.

Eleanor's heart skipped a beat, her eyes going slightly wide at the sight of him. She saw flashes of the vision, the one Sally comforted her after, of him dying - crushed by a giant foot. And to think, she was talking to a dead man walking.

To think, she's to another, Luke. He was to be dead soon, as well.

"I'm a mortal," she started, "but -"

Lee raised his hand, cutting Eleanor off, "I don't care, you brought a demigod with you, she said you saved her from the Army." He eyed her like she was interesting, "how were you even there?"

Well, she had two ways to go. Lie or tell the truth. She decided in the middle.

"Apollo," she started, "he uhm, came to me -"

"What?" Lee looked as scandalized as Percy did days ago when she told him the same, "How old are you?"

"What?" It was Eleanor's time to looked put off, "I'm thirteen, why does it matter?"

Realizing he must have mistaken her, he shook his head, "Never mind. Continue on."

"Well, Apollo came to me in my dreams and stuff, said that I was supposed to be the next Oracle, or something. Uhm, he kinda bothers me… a lot."

Lee stared at her. She stared back. Then, without warning, he jumped out of the chair he was sitting in, "The next Oracle?!" His eyes were wide, "I've got to get Chiron," he waved his arm at her, "wait here!"

"Wait, wait, wait -" she grabbed a hold of his wrist before he left, "there's something else." Lee was staring again, "Uhm, Percy Jackson is kinda my step-brother." Well, kinda.

I had two different versions of this chapter, one where Eleanor literally lied through her teeth and, this one, where she told as much of the truth as she could.

The original idea was for Ella to get stuck in a web of lies and such, but, looking back at who her character is, I think being honest would be most like her. She knows that CHB is safe, so there wasn't any reason for her to lie, anyway.

Not sure if I ever mentioned this, but I attend school for writing. I can't write fanfiction all the time because I have to also write for class, plus I also get published in a few journals for my writing, so that takes time up too. Writing this story is a hobby I do for myself, which is why updates are sporadic or have a tendency to differ in length.

In all actuality, when I first started writing, I had no idea what I was going to do, let alone if I'd get this far. I have a tendency to give up on stories after a month or so, but every time someone reviews, follows, favorites, etc., it reminds me that other people enjoy my work and motivates me. I finally figured out my main goal with the story plotline, at least till the Last Olympian, so that's good!

This is just a long-winded way of saying thank you so much for your support of this story. Both on AO3 and ffnet, this is my most popular story up and it is one of my favorites. It really feels like the story just writes itself when I get a moment to, and I'm glad everyone likes it.

I'll answer reviews next chapter! This author note is getting long.