(Chapter uploaded: July 23, 2022)

Chapter 24: "Who are you?"

(Author's Note)

Hey guys, gals and non-binary pals! Welcome back to chapter 24 of Daughters of Olympus Book 1! This chapter takes a step back from the Astraea x Sacniete romance and follows the major plot more, but you might not be able to see it until later on.

As I'm writing this, I've just finished ch23 and finished/wrote chapters 21 & 22 as well today. I am on a roll!

A major part of this chapter(and its title) was inspired by the Netflix show called 'Ragnarok' that follows a teenage boy named Magne that has abilities that resemble Thor's. It's a Norwegian show, and acted in Norwegian, but the same actors did the English dub if that's more your thing, it's not too shabby. Go check it out, there's only two seasons out right now, and they're really short, and season three will be the final season, sad woop. But if you're like my dad and have a problem with lesbians or Loki 'randomly being made gay', don't watch it. If you have a problem with either of those, I don't know what you're doing here, honestly. As I have both canonical lesbians and a gay Loki. Anyway, I'm a little loopy from writing four chapters today. Read and enjoy!

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Chapter 24: "Who are you?"

[Recap: Following suit, Astraea found what had drawn all the attention: It was Bubba and Hope.

He was pushing her in a wheelchair, and there were a dozen 'Get well' balloons tied to the arm of her chair. She looked tired and sick and weak, and so, so weary. Bubba wasn't much better, his face was drawn into a tight façade of calmness that Astraea could see through easily. He gripped the handles with just a little too much pressure to be normal.

Everyone had heard what had happened, of course. Hope had fallen at home and gone unresponsive for a few hours over the weekend and had to go to the hospital. And while there, the doctors had discovered that Hope suffered from a neuromuscular disorder that was slowly weakening her. It was the reason for her weakness and dizziness, and why she had to quit the cheerleading squad and gymnastics team. According to the message in the group chat Astraea saw, Hope was expected to lose her ability to walk by the end of the school year, and would have to eat through feeding tubes after repeated surgeries. Hope said the doctors had been stumped, that they couldn't figure out exactly what she was suffering from, but that it would stay with her for the rest of her life, however short that was. …

…She was doing better, she said. Said she would make the best with what hand she had been given, and had asked everyone to keep her in their thoughts.

And for the entire time, Bubba hadn't said one word, and hadn't taken his eyes off of her.]

~Recap~

[Spring break, mid April. Two months later]

It was a stupid idea, Aurora had said. Really stupid. Even Sacniete had tried to talk her out of it, but Astraea had done it anyway.

It just so happened that her parents would be out of town for the weekend at one of her mom's work functions, which left the three girls with a mansion all to themselves.

At school, Astraea had overheard that all the most popular kids were throwing parties over spring break, and, not one to be left out, decided to throw one herself.

Astraea started spreading the news Friday morning, and before she knew it, it seemed like the entire school knew about the party. And that evening, she watched as the entire football and wrestling teams, cheer and dance squads filed into Stonewall Farm.

"This is a stupid idea." Aurora said for what had to be the hundredth time.

"Completely loco." Sacniete agreed.

Astraea had of course invited both girls, but was now beginning to regret it. They both just wouldn't stop saying how this was such a bad idea. But Astraea didn't see the problem, her parents were gone all weekend, they'd never know about the party.

"You two worry too much." Astraea said as she opened the door for a few seniors wheeling a keg of beer in.

"And you don't worry enough!" Aurora said. "I'm calling mom and dad."

Astraea wheeled around like a blur. "Do that," she said. "And I'll tell them this was your idea too."

Aurora glared, and Astraea was thankful looks couldn't kill. "You wouldn't."

"Try me, half-pint."

"Fine." Aurora huffed. "But when this eventually goes wrong— and it will go wrong— I'm not going to help you."

"Fine."

"And I'll say 'I told you so'."

"Fine." Astraea said, watching a DJ come in. She hadn't even gotten a DJ.

"Fine." Aurora huffed again, before walking further into the house. She glared at a senior who was inspecting one of their moms' priceless Greek vases. "Don't touch that!"

"Huh?" The boy looked around confused, before finally finding Aurora. "Hey," he said looking at the party-goers. "Who let this kid in?"

Aurora's eye twitched. "I live here!"

The boy had a dumb look on his face. "But I though this was Astraea's house?"

Astraea could tell Aurora was resisting slapping her forehead. "Astraea's my sister!" She yelled exasperated. "Now get out of here!"

The oaf wisely ran off, not wishing to incur her wrath any more.

"Hey," a boy said, walking up to Astraea. "Where do you want us to set up the beer pong table?"

"Um…" Astraea had absolutely no idea. "In the game room?"

"Oh, that makes so much sense." He said with a dumb look on his face, waving as he and his buddies carried a ping pong table in. "See ya later, Astraea."

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Okay, Astraea thought. Maybe this wasn't a good idea.

It was a great idea.

The party had only been going on for an hour— or was it two? She didn't know— and everyone was having fun. Astraea had mostly just directed people where to go, but, as it turns out, high schoolers are natural house party planners.

Even Sacniete was having fun. She was talking to another girl from the track and field team— a really pretty redhead with naturally long eyelashes that Astraea wanted for herself— and Astraea was not at all jealous. Okay, maybe she was a little jealous.

She and Sacniete had made up and become friends again back in February, and things had mostly gone back to normal, they hung out again, went walking around town, even saw a few movies, but something still felt off.

Whenever Sacniete would catch her looking at her for too long, or when Astraea would compliment her appearance, or give her a hug or whatever, Sacniete would pull away like she was the plague. And the annoying thing was that Astraea wasn't even trying to flirt or treat Sacniete any different. But the girl was still weary of her, she could tell. Sometimes, when she thought Astraea wasn't looking, she'd catch Sacniete looking at her, and, just for a moment, Astraea would let herself interpret it as Sacniete liking her back, or at least being interested, but would let it go the next second. She knew it would never happen.

So, while Sacniete was talking to the pretty redhead, Astraea felt the desire to punch something.

"Hey, babe," a boy came out of nowhere and leaned against the wall in front of her. "You single?"

"Sorry," she said, starting to walk away. "Not interested-"

The jerk grabbed her wrist. "Hey now, that wasn't very nice. I was just being friendly."

And here was her opportunity.

Astraea gave him her most vicious smile, the one she wore when she decimated straw targets with her sword. She pulled her hand free. "Touch me again, and I will castrate you."

His eyes wide wide and he bolted out of there like his life depended on it, or his balls.

"Was he bothering you?" A low voice sounded behind her that she easily recognized.

"Bubba!" She greeted the giant guy with a hug. It had been a few weeks since he and Hope had been at school, she was just getting too sick to always come to school. And Astraea had heard that Hope had a compromised immune system, which made things more difficult. Astraea released Bubba and bent down to carefully hug Hope as well. "Hope, how are you doing?"

The girl was looking sicker than ever, her skin was pale and clammy, and her once beautiful hair was dulling. She was in her wheelchair as was the norm now, and had a Hello Kitty blanket over her lap and a red solo cup duct taped to her armrest.

Astraea raised a brow at the drink. "I thought you said your doctor didn't want you drinking anymore?"

Hope shrugged. "Well, he did, but I figured that you only live so long, so why not have fun?" She said with a genuine smile. She put a long silly straw in the red solo cup. "I don't even have to hold my booze, or walk anywhere! I'm the laziest girl in the world."

"I still don't think you should be drinking." Bubba expressed, but was also tired or arguing with her.

"And I said I'm a grown woman and I can do what I want," she said with a laugh, putting a hand on his. "I'm fine, Mahbubur, really."

Bubba didn't look happy about it, but didn't say anything further about it. Instead, he looked to Astraea, "So, girl, this is your place?" He said, looking around.

"Yeah," Astraea said. "We just moved in last summer."

"It's cool." He nodded. "Fancy."

"Well, this has been a really thrilling conversation," Hope cut in, voice dripping with sarcasm. "But I want to dance now. Boyfriend," she pointed off in the distance. "To the dancefloor!"

Bubba broke out in a chuckle, and Astraea was happy to see him smile again. He had always been so depressed since Hope started getting really sick, so Astraea was glad he was here and could have some fun.

"We'll see you later, Astraea." He said as he started to wheel Hope through the crowd towards the deafeningly loud music. "Stay out of trouble, alright?"

Astraea grinned. "Oh, you bet."

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Astraea did not, as it turned out, 'stay out of trouble'.

It started with a guy from the basketball team trying to get her to dance, and ended with her challenging him to an arm wrestling match.

Yeah, it was a weird turn of events, and Astraea wasn't really sure how it happened, but she suspected the alcohol was to blame. Aurora tried to talk her out of it, of course, but Astraea had decided 'what the hell?', grabbed a red solo cup, and downed it in one go. It nearly killed her. Beer tasted like shit, and she couldn't understand why everyone liked it, but, as the party went on, she found herself drinking more and more.

"Alright, I'll tell you what," she said to the boy who had been following her around for the last twenty minutes asking her to dance. "If you can beat me at arm wrestling, I'll dance with you. But if I win, I get to punch you anywhere I want." It probably wasn't a good idea, but hey, sue her. She knew she could destroy this guy with a pinky toe.

"You're on, blondie." The boy grinned, gods, she could not wait to take him down a few pegs.

They went into the backyard and sat down at a modern concrete bench and table, facing each other. Astraea slammed her elbow down, hand outstretched. The guy tried to do the same, but winced and rubbed his sore elbow. Astraea stifled a grin.

Tyler, the varsity quarterback, acted as referee. "Alright," he said. "Rules are simple: You can only use one hand. You have to stay seated. And no holding back."

No holding back? Astraea thought. Shit. This is going to be fun.

The guy grabbed her hand and settled into position. "Ready to dance?" He asked, smug. He thought that since he was three years older, and a boy, that he'd win easily. Oh, was he wrong.

"Aaaand begin!"

Astraea grinned. She slammed his hand back with one quick motion, nearly making him fall over. She threw his hand down. "Ready to get punched, asshole?"

The small crowd around them cheered, and it made Astraea's tipsy mind proud and eager for more. She had only had a few drinks, but she had never drank before, so she knew it would affect her more than most people.

The boy climbed to his feet gripping his hurt arm and sagged. "Yeah, right. Like I'd let you punch me over something so stupid-"

A punch to the kidney dropped him like a sack of potatoes. She stood tall, flipped her hair back and gave him a smug smile as she looked down at him. "Told ya you didn't have a chance in hell of dancing with me."

More cheers, and Astraea felt herself loosen up.

"I'm next!" Stefan announced, sitting at the concrete bench and putting his arm in position.

Astraea raised a brow, Stefan was on the wrestling team with her, and he was a good guy. "I don't wanna punch you-"

"No, no," he said, wiggling his hand. "I want to see how strong you are."

Astraea grinned. "If you're that eager to lose."

"Astraea," Aurora said from next to her. "I don't think that's a good idea-"

"You're on." Astraea said, dropping into her seat and taking his hand.

Tyler set their hands up before leaning back. "Aaaand begin!"

Stefan was stronger than the idiot from before, that much was obvious, and Astraea wondered if she could beat him just using her mortal strength. Their hands moved back and forth, neither giving in. But luckily, Astraea had strength to spare. Summoning her half-blood strength, she slammed his hand down.

The crowd cheered again and red solo cups were handed out. One was handed to Astraea, and she downed it in one go before slamming it to the table. The crowd cheered again.

"Who's next?!" Astraea yelled, throwing her arms up in the air. The drunk and tipsy crowd cheered along, and a few boys got in line.

"Astraea," Aurora hissed in her ear. "Take it easy. You're using too much strength-"

"You worry too much," Astraea waved her away, taking the hand of the next boy in line. "We're just having fun."

Astraea took down challenger after challenger, most she could beat with just her mortal strength, but a few of the stronger guys she had to dip into her half-blood strength just a bit. None of them stood a chance against even a fraction of her power.

Bubba and Hope joined the crowd at some point, when, Astraea hadn't the foggiest, but Hope cheered louder than anyone when Astraea slammed back arm after arm. "Wooo! Astraea! You go, girl!"

The cheering was addicting, and soon, Astraea found herself using more strength to put on a good show. The crowd cheered whenever she beat a guy twice her size, yeah, but they cheered whenever she destroyed them in a second.

Even Bubba looked impressed, he had been watching her like a hawk since he arrived, a cool, calculating look in his eyes. Like he was evaluating her for something she didn't understand-

"Astraea," Sacniete's voice brought her out of her thoughts. She sat down next to Astraea, whispering in her ear, "You need to stop. People are going to find out you're a half-blood."

But in her drunken state, Astraea didn't recognize Sacniete's words, her breath in her ear only made her skin tingle.

"Who wants next?!" Astraea yelled to the crowd, red solo cup held high in the air.

"Me." Bubba's rumbling voice cut through the ecstasy of the crowd. He slowly made his way through the mass of bodies like Moses parting a sea.

The crowd started to "oooh" and Astraea saw some money exchanging hands eagerly. He sat down heavily across from her, his massive bulk contrasting her smaller— by comparison— frame. He dropped his elbow on the table and Astraea swore the concrete shook.

"Do you truly believe you can best one such as I?" A voice scoffed. "What folly."

For a second, Astraea didn't know where the voice had come from. It was old and radiated with authority, and she didn't recognize it. She slowly looked around the gathered crowd until her eyes landed on Bubba who was looking at her, intrigued.

That… couldn't have been him, could it? No, Astraea thought, the beer must have been just getting to her. Bubba didn't sound anything like that, and he sure didn't talk like that, either.

Shaking her head, Astraea put her arm out. "You ready to embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriend?" She joked.

But Bubba didn't say anything, he only regarded her with a foreign, calculating intelligence as he slipped his glove off and took her hand.

"This one is the one you've been waiting for!" Tyler announced to the cheering crowd. He set their hands. "Readyyyy-" he pulled his hands back. "BEGIN!"

Astraea went to slam his hand back in one quick motion, but found her arm locked in place. "Da fuck?" She looked up to Bubba, who had his eyes boring deep into hers, the golden rings around his irises nearly glowing in the dim light. She grit her teeth and poured more power on, but again, nothing happened.

What was going on? She knew Bubba was strong, I mean, just look at him, but this was ridiculous!

Astraea was already at the limit of her mortal strength and he hadn't even budged. He watched her with mild interest, as one would a fly that landed on a table nearby. He wasn't even applying any force to push her hand back, only using his considerable strength to keep his hand in place.

"Shit, Bubba," Astraea tried to joke. "You haven't been messing around in the gym."

Again, he didn't say anything, only keeping his gaze on her. Bubba had always been a nice guy, sweet and friendly, but now, his gaze was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

So she dipped into her half-blood strength and poured on the power. His hand twitched slightly, but quickly regained its original position. Astraea gripped the edge of the concrete table with her other hand and started to twist her body to add more torque. Bubba's hand moved back a few inches, but she could feel him slowly begin to push back.

"No you don't!" Astraea yelled, pouring on more power.

"Yah! Way to go, Astraea!" Someone in the crowd yelled, and more cheers followed suit.

Astraea's hand was nearly purple now, and her muscles ached, but she refused to lose. She'd win, by any means necessary. She summoned more strength and felt adrenaline start to course through her veins, increasing her strength even further.

Astraea pushed and pushed, but it was like the more strength she used, the stronger he became and the weaker she became. She could feel herself getting lightheaded and woozy, and lethargy washed through her entire body, like a calming wave of serenity.

Bubba's arm started to fall back, and Astraea looked up to taunt him, but found a giant, bearded, muscular and ancient-looking man with golden eyes and beads in his long beard and hair in Bubba's place and she jerked in surprise.

That momentary loss of focus was what Bubba needed, and he slammed her arm back like a trebuchet, the concrete bench under them cracking and splintering in two.

Astraea bolted to her feet and stumbled back, finding the ancient-looking man gone and Bubba back in his place, silently putting his glove back on. She dropped to a knee and found Aurora and Sacniete at her side the next second, each holding her under an arm.

The crowd broke out into thunderous applause, the crowd of drunk teenagers too inebriated to realize what they just saw was impossible.

"Are you okay?" Sacniete asked, worry clearly spread across her face. "What happened?"

"Did-" Astraea sucked a breath, completely winded and feeling like she had just run a dozen marathons with no break. "Did you not- see that?"

"See what?" Sacniete asked. "The table? Was it already broken?"

Astraea tried to shake her head and explain what she saw, but couldn't find the strength. She wondered if the alcohol had made her see something that wasn't there-

A high feminine scream cut through the drunk applause, and as if they were a single entity, the entire crowd turned as one.

Hope's friend from the cheer squad was kneeling next to her wheelchair, holding a convulsing Hope in her arms. "SOMEONE!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face. "HELP ME!"

Bubba pushed past Astraea and the crowd like the lineman he was, at Hope's side within a second. He carefully put a gloved hand on her face. "Call an ambulance!" He bellowed to the frozen crowd. "NOW!"

And just at that moment, red and blue police sirens illuminated the crowd.

Most of the partygoers ran, hopping feces and climbing over hedges. While some were just too drunk to react in time. Before anyone knew it, police were surrounding them, and worse, Astraea's parents.

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"What were you thinking?!"

Her dad was in her face, looking angrier than she had ever seen him before. He had started yelling five minutes ago and had yet to lose any steam.

The three of them— her, her mom and dad— were in her dad's office. An officer had just left, and her dad was nearly shaking with anger.

"What were you thinking about throwing a party in our home? We trusted you to be responsible and act your age while we were away. When you asked if you, Aurora and Sacniete could stay over, I didn't have a problem with it. What were you thinking?" He asked again, pacing back and forth and trying to calm himself as Astraea stood ramrod straight against his desk, wanting more than ever to turn invisible.

"The act of throwing a party aside," he said. "We have dozens of ancient artifacts and priceless treasures in our house. Your mom has one of the biggest Ancient Greek artwork collections in the country, what if they had been stolen or broken?" He let out a breath and continued. "Not only that, but we have your mothers' —Eos'— couch in the library. That couch was the most prized thing your parents had, and it's over four thousand years old." He gave her an astonished look, pretty much all of his anger gone. "What if someone had destroyed it, huh? Astraea, that is the last surviving thing we have of your parents."

"...I- I-..." But Astraea didn't know what to say. She knew her parents had valuable historic objects, but she had said upstairs was off-limits. But, she thought with hindsight, it was stupid to trust everyone to listen to her. "...I'm sorry," she said finally, sagging her shoulders.

Her dad lost all of his anger, and it was replaced by something far worse: disappointment.

"You're grounded for a month," he said, and Astraea didn't fight him on it, she knew she messed up.

"Okay." She stumbled a little bit, trying to keep her balance.

Her dad's eyes went laser focused, and he was nose to nose with her within a second. He sniffed, and his face went dark. "Are you drunk?"

Astraea wanted to say no, that of course she wasn't, but she knew lying wouldn't get her anywhere but in more trouble. With a slight nod, she said, "...Yes." Her voice was soft and low, subdued.

All of her dad's silent anger seemed to come back all at once. "Not only did you bring alcohol into my house, but you drank it too?"

"Astraea," her mom said, cutting in for the first time in a few minutes. "You know better than to drink while you're underage."

"...I know," she croaked. "I'm sorry."

"Percy," she said to her dad. "Why don't you go out and talk to the officer in charge again? Check the house and see if anything was stolen or broken?"

Her dad nodded. "Alright." He said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. "They better not have stolen Riptide…"

Her mom took her dad's place in front of her, but it was almost worse. Her dad could yell and had a pretty decent disappointed parent look, but her mom was something else. Astraea felt more ashamed than ever for what she did, especially as it was her mom who convinced her dad to let them stay home alone for the weekend.

"First things first," her mom began. "I agree with your grounding, and your first hangover tomorrow morning will be more than enough punishment. First thing tomorrow morning, you and Aurora will be cleaning up all the messes. The trash, the broken furniture, the stains in the carpet, everything."

"Yes, mom." Astraea whispered.

Her mom let out a breath and dropped her shoulders. "You really messed up, Astraea. But I understand why you did it." Astraea snapped her face up. "Throwing parties and having fun and rebelling against your parents is a natural part of being a teenager. Hades, your dad and I did the same when we were your age, but there was absolutely no excuse for you to bring alcohol into the house."

A thought popped into Astraea's head, and she was speaking before she could think. "Why does dad hate alcohol so much?" She asked suddenly. "I mean, uh," she paused, but her mom didn't stop her, only giving her a look to go on. "Well, I guess I've just never thought about it, but I've never seen him drink before."

"And you never will." Her mom said, her voice slow and serious. "For as long as I've known your dad and eventually lived with him, he has never drank. When we lived together at Camp, when we lived in Chicago, or when we moved here."

"Why?" Astraea asked, thinking. "I know you said you drink at work parties, right?"

"Yes," she said evenly. "But never when your dad is around. He knows about it, of course, but it's just one of those things."

"Dad seemed angrier that I had alcohol at the party than me throwing a party." Astraea said, thinking out loud. She looked up to her mom. "That doesn't make any sense, does it?"

Her mom was silent for a moment and a harsh, sad, furious look spread across her face, and for a moment, Astraea thought she had said something wrong. But her mom, jaw clenched in anger, sat down and motioned for Astraea to join her. She did after a second.

"Astraea," she said, like this was going to be the most painful, most gut wrenching, most vile thing she could ever say. "I think you're old enough now for me to tell you the reason your dad hates alcohol." She let out a slow, calming breath that didn't seem to help.

"His name was Gabe," she spat his name like a slur. "He was the man grandma Sally was with before grandpa Paul, and the person your dad grew up with. He… was an alcoholic, and he was abusive to your dad and grandma Sally…"

To be continued

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(Author's Note:)

Well, that chapter ended on a sour note, didn't it? I hope no one is thinking Percy was too harsh on Astraea. She broke his trust, lied, threw a party in their house and brought alcohol. And I think it makes sense for Percy to hate alcohol because of Gabe. My family is full of alcoholics and I've sworn off alcohol for life, so at least it makes sense to me.

Anyway, this was a shorter chapter, and I apologize for that, but I didn't want to fluff it out just to add length to the chapter.

All I gotta say about the next chapter is… oof. All I'm gonna say.

Fun Fact: The arm wrestling match in this chapter was inspired by an arm wrestling scene in the Netflix show 'Ragnarok'. Check it out, I highly recommend it. It deals with Norse mythology set in the modern day, but has some interesting twists. It's in Norwegian, but is subbed and dubbed by the same Norwegian actors.

Question of the Day: What do you think happened this chapter? With Astraea and Bubba? WIth Hope? What do you think will happen next?

Next time: Abandon all Hope