radoddish- hermes has entered the chat
read94- maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't :D i got some curveballs planned!
LovelyAstorxia- hmmmm you might be onto smth ;))
all about hope- thank you! and the motivation to write definitely comes and goes...my biggest piece of advice would be to write even when you don't feel like it! make it routine, and you'll thank yourself later. and AWWW what kind of dog? i love the name rosie for a dog, my best friend has a dog named rosie!
i hope to update more regularly- my semester is finally over, and i have a brief break. Not much goes down in this chapter imo, but we got a christmas chapter next (percy will be making an appearence) and then it's into the real action of the hiddle oracle! more leo chapters later as well.
"Okay," she muttered to herself, jumping up and down in place. "Okay, okay, okay, okay…."
The Pegasi in the stable were all looking at her with curious, albeit slightly mocking eyes. Even some of their comments bordered on being….hurtful.
What is it, her fifth time this week?
At least she got into the stable this time.
"Hey!" She protested, standing in place and glaring at the Pegasi. "I can do this, alright?" She wasn't afraid- at least, she kept telling herself that.
A lot of talking, not a lot of doing.
"Pipe down peanut gallery!"
She walked up to a Pegasus- the white one, the one that had caught her eye when the Pegasi first came. Keaton- that was what she had started to call him. She couldn't help it, she had been watching a lot of Family Ties lately.
"We're doing this," she said, giving him a serious look. "I mean it this time."
Your shaky hands say otherwise.
She looked down at her hands, which were sure enough shaking.
"Damn it!" Her own body had betrayed her.
"Rosie?"
She turned around, seeing CJ lingering at the stable door, looking extremely concerned.
"Hey," she said, groaning inwardly.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting heckled. How about you?"
"Breakfast," CJ said. "You could come, unless the whole heckled thing is your priority right now."
Ring around the Rosie, the Pegasi chanted. A pocket of poise.
"Shut up!" She exclaimed suddenly.
CJ frowned. "Sorry?"
"Not you," she said with a defeated sigh. "Let's get breakfast."
They joined Nico and Will at the Hades table, the idea of assigned tables being thrown out the window. Across the way, she could see Jake, Nyssa, and Harley at the Hephaestus table. She made eye contact with Jake, as the two of them both hurriedly looked away. It had been two weeks since Halloween night, and neither of them had been too eager to discuss it.
"I don't do scarfs," Nico grumbled, shoving another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
CJ raised his eyebrows. "Weird thing to have a vendetta for."
Will shook his head. "I keep telling him he's going to get sick without one." Will kicked Rosie gently under the table. "You can knit him one, right?"
"My needles are packed away."
Two weeks since Nico passed out.
"Rosie?"
Julia Feingold, from the Hermes cabin, stood before them, nervously fidgeting with something in her hand. She flipped it once more, and Rosie recognized the distinct scrawl of her own handwriting. Rosie cursed out loud, taking the letter from Julia's hands.
Two weeks where every day since, she had tried to get in contact with her friends in LA. Empathy link, letters, phone calls...nothing had worked.
"You're kidding."
"I'm sorry, Rosie."
"Again? I don't understand what's going on." She looked at her other friends. "We haven't been able to talk to anyone outside of camp for two weeks. Jason and Piper-" She cut herself off, not willing to go down that road. "Something is happening."
"No letters are getting anywhere," Julia added. "They all get delivered back to camp."
Nico's face had become stony, as he looked down, avoiding Rosie's gaze. Will gulped down the rest of his orange juice.
"Have you tried calling?" CJ asked.
"Every day," Rosie answered, feeling frustration deep into her tone. "I get a blank signal, everytime. Iris messages are down too. Something- something is going to happen." She sighed. She felt the same way she did when Gaea was coming- on edge and in anticipation. "I can't even use my empathy link, I hear nothing."
"No, Rosie," Will quickly interjected with an annoyed look.. "Nothing...Nothing is wrong. We already did the whole world ending thing. Gaea is gone...we're back to normal."
"And you believe that?" she shot back.
"Guys, come on-" CJ began with a nervous laugh.
"You're being paranoid," Will said bluntly. "You don't have to suspect danger all the freaking time, Rosie."
She knew Will wouldn't understand. He wasn't there, on that ship, feeling like danger was around every single corner...because it usually was.
She glanced over at Nico, frustrated that he wasn't coming to her defense. Of all people, he should've understood.
"Right," she said tightly, tucking the letter underneath her arm. "It's nothing- I'm sorry."
She dropped the issue, and for the rest of the day, minded her business, going through the motions of a normal camp day.
It wasn't until later that day, returning to her cabin, where she found Nico, lurking creepily outside her door.
"Jesus, Nico!" She jumped back upon seeing him, placing a hand on her chest.
"Sorry," He said darkly, no trace of emotion on his face. "I wanted to be inconspicuous."
Rosie gulped, trying to bring her heart rate back down. "Next time maybe just knock?"
"We have to talk," he said abruptly, turning around and entering her cabin.
"Yeah, make yourself at home," she muttered, following him in.
He sat down on Rosie's bed, kicking off his shoes and tucking his feet underneath himself.
"I wanted to say that you're right."
She gasped dramatically. "You mean I finally won the pineapple on pizza debate?"
Nico's face faltered. "Rosie, I'm not here to joke. What you said at breakfast about things being off...they are."
Rosie paused, a huge lump arising in her throat. "I'm just paranoid, according to Will."
"I don't remember what happened on Halloween. Will changes the subject everytime I ask. I...I remember you talking to me….and then I woke up in my bed. But ever since then…." He trailed off nervously.
She sat down across from him. "It's just us, Nico. You can trust me."
"I know." Nico rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Ever since Halloween...I haven't been able to talk to them. Erhm….the dead."
She closed her eyes. "You haven't?"
"No. Not a single word, I can't see ghosts, I can't hear them…"
"You said something about not hearing them. That night, I mean. And...you mentioned- um, something about the forest." Those words had lived in her head.
"The forest?" Nico asked. "What do you mean?"
"You said something... sleeps in the forest. You certainly had the creepy factor down."
Nico faltered, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. "I...I have no idea why I would say that."
"I have this weird...spidey sense."
Nico smirked. "Spidey."
"Shut up," she said. "I can't shake the feeling that...something is going down."
"I know what you mean."
"I...I can't do it again." She knew he would know what she meant: get wrapped up in saving the world again.
"I know. I...I still have nightmares."
Rosie nodded in agreement. "All the time. The others...they don't get it."
"I see his death every night- Leo's." Nico said this so nonchalantly, she didn't believe it at first.
She said nothing. When it came to Leo? She felt...nothing. It was a tired cause, something that just drained her everytime she thought about it.
She was so tired of feeling nothing.
"Look at us," she said with a slight laugh. "The two Negative Nancy's."
"I prefer Debbie Downer."
Rosie laughed, and Nico looked taken aback.
"What?" She asked.
"Nothing...it's nice to see you….you know, laugh. Rosie Reiger without humor in her life isn't the same."
"There's not much to laugh about lately," she said honestly.
Her empathy link. His ability to communicate with the dead.
What was happening?
The camp was alive with a nervous buzz the next morning. She found a small group of people congregating outside her cabin.
She spotted CJ lingering towards the edge of the crowd. She made her way over, tapping him on the shoulder. "What's going on?"
"Cecil Markowitz is gone."
It took her a minute to place the name. She didn't know Cecil that well. He was a Hermes kid, and it was pretty evident to her- he had once left a dead frog on her pillow, a weird prank that he somehow thought was funny.
"Gone? What do you mean gone?"
"His bunk bed was empty this morning. No note or anything….he disappeared."
"That...that doesn't make sense. Cecil...his idea of humor is crap. Maybe this is just some prank?" It was just a coincidence. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with...what was going on.
"I don't think so," Nyssa said, suddenly appearing with Jake. "Cecil is many things but he's not dumb. I'd think he would know that now is not the best time for a dumb prank."
"We're talking about the kid who put a dead frog on my pillow," Rosie reminded her.
"What does Chiron say about all this?" Jake asked.
"He's locked up in his office," CJ said. "No one's seen him all morning."
"He knows more than he's letting on," Rosie muttered under her breath. Chiron sightings were rare these days, and Rosie wanted to know why he was avoiding everyone.
She didn't want to be kept in the dark.
"What?"
"Nothing," she said. "Forget it."
"Children of Hermes sneak around all the time," Jake offered. "Cecil probably just wants everyone to get all riled up."
She wished their oracle- Rachel Elizabeth Dare- was here. But she knew that would be no help- it was on their quest to defeat Gaea that the magic of prophecy had been blocked. The future was...blocked off.
"What are you fools doing?" Sherman Yang appeared, his voice booming at the congregation of campers. "Training begins in five minutes, so scram!"
"And there's our cue," Nyssa muttered, giving them a wave as she walked away. CJ followed her, nodding a goodbye.
As the group slowly dispersed, Rosie quickly grabbed Jake's arm.
"Wait," she said. "Could we talk?"
Jake hesitated, but nodded. "Yeah."
"Um...about that night," she started. "I really am sorry. I...I haven't been here. Present, you know? I feel like I could've been more...firm on what we are."
She might be at camp, but her mind was far, far away.
Jake shrugged. "I misread the situation- badly. It...it was way too fast. I know….you and Leo were kinda-"
"We were friends," she reminded him. "And I didn't pull away because of him." She couldn't forget how Leo rejected her. "It's just not fair because...I can't fully be in it. I'm not myself. And right now...that's my focus." Maybe, in another circumstance, she could see Jake differently. She knew one day she would have to move on and date someone.
You and Leo never dated, she reminded herself. You kissed him in a memory he doesn't remember.
He rejected you.
"And that's fair. I...can we just forget about it? I...I'd like my friend back."
Rosie grinned. "I'd really like that."
"Well, come on then. I'll catch you up on Harley's latest inventions."
Frank Zhang was in her dream.
She wasn't sure why- out of all the people in the world, Frank Zhang seemed like the least likely to show up in her dream. She hadn't seen or talked to him since August- since the battle.
And yet, there he was, pacing the hall. He was in his praetor uniform- Rosie has to admit, he looked good.
A door swung open, and Frank's tall stature blocked the figure from Rosie's view.
"Hey. Are you alright?"
"N-no," she heard the teary voice and immediately recognized it: Hazel. "It happened again."
"Oh, Hazel," Frank wrapped his arms around her, embracing her. "It's alright. I'm here."
"I can't keep it from her. She hates me, Frank, I know she does. It's why she hasn't come to visit."
"No, she doesn't."
"After everything she's been through, she deserves to know."
"You can't tell Rosie, Hazel. It would just hurt her more. It wouldn't help her move on."
She gasped awake, her eyes flashing open as she felt the chill of the night on her skin.
Her eyes focused in the nighttime, and she realized she wasn't in her cabin, tucked into her bed.
She was standing at the edge of the forest, staring straight into the darkness of the woods.
Rosie…came an eerie voice.
The forest wasn't talking to her - no way.
It was just the wind, she reminded herself.
Just the wind.
