(A/N: I'll be making several edits and/or alterations to the beginning of the story because I'm converting it to Instagram because my followers voted that they wanted to read the story on there as well. The story will mostly stay the same, but there'll be more details. Therefore, updates might be late so I'm really sorry about that. Thank you for reading though and sorry this is late! Remember to stay safe, healthy, and enjoy!)
Since we freed Ella and the rest of the harpies, she decided to leave her sisters and join us on our quest. She also gave Hazel some advice on her blackouts that she didn't want to tell anyone else for some reason.
We were just sailing away from Portland on the Pax when it started to spring some leaks.
"Uh, Percy, you do-" I began.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm just holding it together by my own willpower," he replied.
I glanced over at Frank and Hazel, who were whispering together and sat rather close.
Hazel had an uncomfortable expression on her face as she talked to Frank as if the topic was somewhat difficult to talk about.
Then, they held hands before simultaneously passing out.
"Oh, great, now they're both passing out," I remarked sarcastically, scooting over to see if they were fine or not.
Judging from the fact I didn't feel them die, and their breathing seemed to be normal, they were both alive and well. The only thing I didn't understand was why they passed out.
"Uh, Ella, does this have to do with anything you told Hazel?" I asked the harpy as she circled above us.
"Yes, Ella confirms," she squawked in reply.
I moved back to my spot in the middle of the boat, fiddling with my charm bracelet absentmindedly as I mulled over my dream about that camp filled with kids like us.
I wonder if Percy has had any dreams like that? Maybe he can make sense of some of it.
"Hey, Percy, have you had any dreams about... a camp or something?" I inquired, resting my head on the edge of the boat and looking up at the starry sky.
The sky was beautiful that night, not a single cloud or plane in sight to disturb the lovely spectacle of stars.
All the constellations glittered alongside each other, making each one of them stand out. There was the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, the Hunter, Aquila, Capricorn, a handful of them were surprisingly visible. It nearly took my breath away just looking at them.
"Um... yeah, but it was pretty fuzzy."
"Anyone familiar in it?"
"Um... there was this blonde girl and this centaur too. The girl said to stay where I was because... Tyson and Mrs. O'Leary were going to get us," Percy said, a look of confusion crossing his face before disappearing.
"Well, the blonde and the centaur sound familiar to me, I don't know about the other two though."
"I think some of my memories are coming back since I drank the Gorgon's Blood," he admitted.
"Lucky, guess I'm just stuck with dreams."
Silence followed that, neither of us knowing what to say next most likely.
You see, Percy and I got to know each other fairly well during our training together. Therefore, there wasn't much left to talk about if we both barely recall our past.
What is there to talk about anyway? The weather? The fact our memories got wiped? Did that. Favourite food/colour? Done.
As we arrived in Seattle, the Pax fell apart. We were lucky we were near the shore so we could swim to it.
"Agh! Ella doesn't like boats! Titanic! Now Pax!" she exclaimed, flying over top of us to the shore.
Fortunately, shortly before Hazel and Frank woke up so we didn't have to deal with two unconscious teens while in Seattle waters.
"You won't have to deal with me blacking out anymore," Hazel reassured us as we walked onto the beach.
All of us were soaking well besides Ella and Percy, the latter being able to keep himself dry.
"Thanks for keeping us all dry Percy, you're such a lifesaver," I stated sarcastically, wringing out my hair.
"No need for the sarcasm and I was kinda distracted by keeping the boat together."
"If you kept it together longer the rest of us won't be soaking wet."
"We'll just drop by a place and get new clothes if you want."
"Oh, I don't care, I'm just complaining about how you didn't keep us dry."
Frank cleared his throat, interrupting us. "We should get going to the Amazon's headquarters."
We both nodded before walking with the others towards the address Reyna gave Hazel.
"Ella, you can wait here if you want, we probably won't take that long," Hazel advised, the harpy nodding in reply before taking off into the air.
We went down several streets, no one even batting an eye by the fact we were all soaking wet. We eventually ended up a big building with a large black sign, the words ' ' written on it.
"Uh... is my dyslexia acting up or does that say-" Percy began, squinting at the sign.
"Yeah, it says ," Frank answered before I could.
Huh, guess Frank might not have dyslexia either.
We walked through the glass front doors, encountering an empty lobby besides a young woman sitting behind a desk.
"State your names and business," she said, not looking up from her computer.
She had dark hair and olive skin. Her hair was down and she wore a black bodysuit, nothing else from my vantage point.
"Um... we're looking for Hylla-" Percy started before the lady stood up, pointing a sword at Percy while several other black-clad women appeared basically out of nowhere.
"Men do not speak unless directed by us," she spat.
She just asked us a question though-
"Drop your weapons," one of the other women on the sides ordered coldly.
I glanced at the others, all of them begrudgingly agreeing before we handed our weapons over to the women.
Then, we were forced into this side door I didn't notice.
We began walking through a factory, boxes being moved by cranes and such. However, the people packaging all the boxes were men only, all of them wearing chains and orange jumpsuits like cliché prisoners.
Another lady came up to us who looked a lot like Reyna, but older and more mature, if that was even possible considering I barely saw Reyna smile.
She wore a sleek black suit like the others but had this odd belt around her waist. It was golden and had interlocking chains that went around her waist.
Her eyes narrowed once she saw Percy. "You, you ruined everything for my sister and I!" she exclaimed.
Percy looked even more confused. "Uh, Ms..."
"I am Queen Hylla of the Amazons, and you can't speak unless I order it," she spat, glaring daggers at him.
He looked at me, his eyes pleading for me to step in to do something.
"Um, Queen Hylla, we've been sent here by your sister, Reyna," I said, stepping forward.
Another lady appeared followed by many Amazons. She had greying hair and a sinister look on her face. As well, something about her seemed unnatural, I could feel something off by her just standing there with her cruel smile.
"Is there a problem?" she inquired.
"Nothing, there are just these demigods," Hylla replied, clenching her fists.
"Oh, well, in that case, I say we kill the boys," the other lady suggested.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt your little standoff here but, nobody's killing anybody. We're here by request of our praetor and the god Ares," I stated, glancing at both of them.
Hylla regarded me. "Put the boys in cages, I'll deal with the Roman and the Greek girl," she ordered, motioning for Hazel and I to follow her.
"Fine, but my soldiers will guard them," the other lady said before waving her entourage behind her to the boys.
Hazel and I glanced back at Percy and Frank, who were both being led away roughly by some Amazons.
"You think they'll be alright?" I asked.
"Um... hopefully? And what did Hylla mean by 'Greek'?" she inquired.
"I'm... I'm not sure."
Octavian did mention something about Greeks before, like how Percy's and my names were of Greek origins. Percy's full name meant to destroy, and mine meant peace.
Pretty different, right?
Hylla walked us through other parts of the factory containing cages of all sorts of animals and monsters alike. They were all inside varying sizes of imperial gold cages.
The creatures inside ranged from horses to even hellhounds, which pleaded to me to let them loose mentally.
"What are you doing with all of these animals and monsters?" I inquired, looking sympathetically at a small cage of kittens with white and black fur.
"Gods and mortals request them; we ship it to them legally," she responded.
Hazel's eyes lit up when she saw a cameral brown horse with a black mane and tail. She walked up to it carefully, producing a golden bar and feeding it to it, much to Hylla's and my surprise.
"How... how did you do that?" I asked.
"Huh? Oh... well," she began sheepishly, turning away from the horse.
"No one has been able to get close to that horse without it trampling them. Legend has said that the strongest female warrior will be able to tame it, but no Amazon has been able to. The prophecy also says whoever can tame him will bring a new era of prosperity to the Amazons," Hylla remarked, staring at Hazel.
"What's his name?" I inquired, intrigued by the legend.
"Arion."
"Um... why did you want us to come with you?" Hazel questioned, turning back to Hylla after petting Arion.
Hylla sighed, resting her hand on your belt. "I wanted to have a word in private with both of you. Why did my sister send you here?"
"There's going to be an attack on Camp Jupiter in a couple of days, a Giant and his army is going to attack us to be exact. Reyna thinks we need your assistance or else we'll be overwhelmed," I explained.
She sighed once more. "I would love to help my sister, but there's a problem. Othera, the other lady who was formerly queen, has challenged me to a battle to the death, and since she will regenerate after she dies, I don't know if I'll be able to last long enough."
"But we're going to Alaska to free Thanatos! If we free him, you'll be able to kill her," Hazel pointed out.
Hylla's expression lifted at the mention of this. "If you do succeed on your quest, I'll be able to defeat Othera and assist in the battle."
"Great! So how do we get our friends out of those cages? I'm guessing Othera's not going to just let them out," I stated.
"I cannot let them out myself- I'll appear weak to my fellow Amazons. However, if Othera's followers let them escape, it would make her look bad," she stated.
"Oh, and how would they 'escape'?"
"Let's say someone 'accidentally' let loose Arion, and he wreaked havoc, causing a diversion."
Hazel and I smiled.
"Yes, that would be a terrible 'accident'," I agreed.
"And where would our weapons be located? Hypothetically, of course," Hazel questioned.
"Hypothetically, they'll be guarded by some of Othera's followers as well." Hylla smiled. "Well, I will see you two later, if we both succeed." She turned on her heels, walking through one of the side doors.
I glanced at Hazel. "You'll get the boys and I'll get our weapons?"
"How will I fight?"
"You can do the rock summoning thingy and you have a horse."
At this statement, Arion snorted, possibly glaring at me for calling him just a 'horse'.
Hazel nodded before working on freeing Arion while I shadow travelled back to the main area where we entered.
I kept to the shadows, using my powers to keep invisible. Soon, I spotted our weapons and shadow travelled over to them.
With a swift uppercut and a spinning back kick, both guards were knocked unconscious so I easily grabbed our weapons before shadow travelling away.
I followed the noises of screaming and found Hazel breaking Frank and Percy's cage before mounting Arion on a chariot nearby.
I ran up to, throwing them their weapons after making myself visible once more. Fortunately enough, they caught them easily.
"Arina! Behind you!"
I turned just in time to block a strike from an Amazon. I swung my blade at them before backflipping towards the chariot.
Once we were all on the chariot, sans Hazel who was riding Arion, we took off, swerving around cages and Amazons.
"Run us towards that cage over there! The one with the big shadow!" I yelled.
"What?" Frank exclaimed in shock.
"I have a plan just do it!" I replied.
Hazel glanced back warily but complied and directed Arion, who seemed quite reluctant, towards a cage with several lions in it.
I focussed on the shadows surrounding the cage and imagined us appearing at the docks where we first came from. I felt the shadows drawing towards me just as Hazel was about to hit the cage.
We ran straight through the park as I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me, threatening to knock me out of the chariot if it weren't for Percy who caught me in time from behind.
"Arina? Are you okay?"
"Y... yeah..." I murmured as my vision blurred in and out of focus.
"Hazel! We should stop!" Frank yelled, making me wince because the noise worsened my oncoming headache.
The chariot eventually slowed to a halt near a cluster of trees. I'm not sure if any mortals were around, but hopefully, they weren't or else they saw three kids in a chariot being pulled by a girl on a horse.
Percy helped me out of the chariot and sat me down near the trees, digging in his bag for something.
I felt dizzy and disoriented from travelling with so many people. I was close to blacking out basically from my headache and dizziness.
"What was that?" Frank inquired, looking somewhat shaken up.
"Shadow travel," I mumbled, rubbing my head with my left hand while I used the other to prop myself up.
Percy pulled something out of his bag, a small parcel. He unwrapped it and handed me half of a square inside. "This should be enough."
"I'm fine, I don't need ambrosia," I insisted.
I glanced to the side and saw Hazel produce several more gold bricks for Arion before coming over to us, sitting down beside me.
"You were literally going to collapse a minute ago," he argued.
"I'm good now, okay?" I replied, pushing away the godly food.
"Okay, stand up then and walk towards the chariot."
I narrowed my eyes at him, but I stood up anyway. However, once I did, my vision went green and my legs gave out from under me again. Fortunately, Hazel managed to grab onto my arm and eased me back on the ground.
"Fine." I snatched the ambrosia out of his hand and ate it reluctantly.
Once I bit into it, I started feeling better as a wave of warmth passed through my body, lessening my headache and refocussing my vision.
The ambrosia tasted like warm spanakopita, fresh from the oven and hot enough to burn your tongue. Fresh spinach, crumbly feta, the works.
"Imagine if I did pass out though, that'll be a new record, two times in like two days," I remarked, "hopefully this isn't a thing now."
"Well, hopefully not." Percy helped me into a standing position easily before looking at Arion with an uncomfortable expression.
"What?"
"I can read the minds of horses and pegasi... I'm not sure if it's a blessing or a curse with him though."
Arion snorted in indignation, whipping his mane around and replying with neighs that made Percy look increasingly uncomfortable.
"Uh, thanks for the advice, I guess?" Percy responded, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"So, Arina are you okay to continue or do you want to rest?" Frank inquired.
"I think I'll be fine, we don't have much time left anyway, do we?"
He nodded before we all clambered back onto the chariot, Ella flying down from above and landing inside.
"Where are we going now? Hylla said she might be able to help us if we free Thanatos," I stated.
"We could stop in Canada before going all the way to Alaska," Frank suggested, "I t-think I'm going to ask my grandma about my... gift."
We nodded in understanding.
"Off to Canada then."
The ride to Canada by Arion was incredibly fast. When I mean incredible, I mean really incredible. We could probably run across water or vertical axes if we wanted to. That's how fast we were going.
Of course, this meant we nearly fell off the damn chariot like four times.
We eventually arrived at Frank's grandma's house in Vancouver just as the sun began to rise.
As we came up to his house after dismounting, I stopped the others from going any further. I sensed something, something that reeked to be exact.
"Over there," I whispered, gesturing to a cluster of rocks near a cliff.
We crept over there carefully, peering over the edge and seeing a group of Laistrygonian giants around a fire, laughing and messing around.
Laistrygonian giants were big. They ranged from around eight feet or up and had disgusting yellow, pointy teeth. They were also man-eating and heavily tattooed.
"What are those things?" Frank questioned.
"Canadians," Percy responded.
Frank turned to him, looking offended. "What?"
"Laistrygonian giants, they usually live in the north," I rephrased, elbowing Percy in the ribs for his response.
We quieted down as one of them stood up, boasting about something.
"We will eat the boy and gain his gifts! Then we will bring the sacrifices to Gaea!" he exclaimed, his voice booming over us all.
"Yes! Hurrah!" they all cheered in response, pounding their chest and tearing some sort of meat a part with their bare hands.
"Uh... are they talking about me?" Frank asked nervously, paling.
"Well, you're the boy with the gifts," I agreed.
"How'd we get to your grandma's house? They have the place surrounded," Percy pointed out.
"Well, I could shadow-"
"No, you can't shadow travel to places you haven't been anyway, remember?" Percy disagreed.
I rolled my eyes. "I hate that you're right."
"Wait, I can summon Gray and use him as a distraction," Frank offered, pulling out his spear.
"But then you'll only have one charge left," Hazel pointed out.
"Well, if Frank finds out what he needs, he won't need that anymore," Percy stated, "but it's your call."
Frank hesitated for a second before turning around and driving the spear into the ground. A small fissure appeared in the ground before a skeletal hand appeared out of it, pulling itself out.
Gray was a typical skeleton with no skin or organs. He had ragged clothes, a tank top and ripped pants that went to wear his calves were supposed to be.
"Uh, go distract those giants," Frank ordered.
Gray nodded, pulling out one of his ribs and running around the other side of the cliff towards the monsters.
Soon, we heard the screams of giants and saw them chase after Gray as he ran away from the house.
The others and I then ran around the opposite way, running up to the house.
The door was oddly unlocked, so we got in with ease before broke apart. Frank went upstairs while the rest of us waited downstairs, looking around the living room uncomfortably.
"Is Arion going to be alright out there?" I questioned, leaning against the wall.
"Yeah, he's more of a free spirit anyway. I think if I'd called him, he'll come to me," Hazel responded, standing awkwardly in the doorway.
The living room was somewhat spacious, having two couches and one recliner. The place seemed spotless and high-class as well, doilies lying on the table with coasters and some antique items. On the walls were an old-fashioned clock and a portrait of animals sitting as if posing for the photo too.
We stood around the living room awkwardly for who knows how long, Hazel trying to talk to Ella who was spouting off random facts.
"Wait, if you drank the gorgon's blood and you got your memories back, does that mean I won't unless I drink gorgon's blood too?" I questioned, turning to Percy, who was playing around with his pen.
"Hopefully not," he responded.
"Maybe I can just a god to restore my memories," I joked.
"Ha, imagined if they gave you the wrong ones."
"How the Hades would they do that?"
He shrugged, laughing.
Several hours passed after that, all of us waiting for Frank to come down the stairs when we heard yelling outside again.
"They're back?" I questioned, peering out of the window and seeing giants assembling outside.
"Get Frank, I'll distract them," Percy said before slipping out the side door.
Hazel nodded, rushing upstairs and whisper/yelling his name.
Shortly after, I heard more explosions outside while Frank and Hazel raced down the stairs, running into the living room.
"What was that noise?" Frank asked, bewildered.
"Percy," I answered just as the boy in question ran back inside.
"I blew up their canons, but that's not gonna last long, we need to get out now," Percy stated.
Frank led us out the back door on the other side of the house, away from the giants. Along the way, Ella started reciting something.
"To the north, beyond the gods, lies the legion's crown.
"Falling from ice, the son of Neptune shall drown," she continued before stopping.
"Wait, is that a prophecy?" I inquired.
"It sounds like it's for our quest-" Hazel began before being cut off by a loud boom that shook the ground.
I tried stabilizing the ground as we looped around outside. Fortunately, it worked long enough for Hazel to called Arion to reach us and bring the chariot.
We all climbed aboard before Arion took off, nearly knocking Ella, Frank, Percy, and I off.
"Where are we going?" I yelled over the wind and explosions.
"My grandma told me to head to this airfield! We need to take a plane to Alaska!" Frank responded.
Arion seemed to pull us harder as we got away from Frank's old house, which was now engulfed in flames and smoke. However, the odd thing was I didn't feel anyone die inside.
I did notice a buzzard fly out of a window though.
We soon came up to an airfield, and after Frank did some talking with the pilot, they agreed to fly us to Alaska. However, there was one minor problem.
"Ella is afraid of planes! 'A plane crashed down in a field 150 miles south of Lake Ontario at 3 A.M'!" she quoted, backing away from the plane and hiding inside her wings.
A weird expression passed over Percy's face before he shook his head. "Okay, just stay here then. Find someplace safe and... and I'll send someone to find you."
She nodded, turning and taking off towards a cluster of trees on our left.
"Who do you have in mind?" I inquired, raising my eyebrow.
Hazel sent Arion off before boarding the plane with Frank and the pilot, waving at us to get inside.
"Um... I'm not sure yet," he said uncomfortably.
I snorted. "You'll think or someone, Barnacle Boy." I turned away from him and climbed inside the plane, sliding into the back row.
The plane had two rows of seats and a small area for the pilot. It wasn't that big but seemed fairly new, only having a few tarnishes on the sides. There were only five windows, one for the pilot, obviously, and two for each side of the plane.
"You think Zeus will kill us?" Percy asked, sitting down beside me.
Our knees bumped together as I fought a blush. "Uh... hopefully not? If we get close enough to Alaska, he won't be able to reach us."
He nodded in response before leaning back in the leather seat and resting his head on the top of it.
I looked out the window as the door slammed shut and we started to move. The plane started off in a slow roll, gradually gaining momentum before taking off into the sky. Soon, we were soaring over the clouds in Vancouver.
(Dreams)
I appeared in a flowery meadow, cherry blossom trees lining the sides and their petals falling gently to the ground. The flowers on the ground ranged from daisies to poppies of all sorts of colours. The air smelled rich of intoxicating perfume, smelling briefly like roses before switching to soothing lavender.
I walked forward through the meadow, being pulled by some sort of urge to go forward.
Up ahead were two women sitting beside each other on a lounge chair, arguing. They both emitted a godly aura, so I automatically kneeled.
One woman had straight, black hair and multicoloured eyes that shimmered in the light. She seemed quite tall as well. She wore a simple faded dress that appeared to shift colours in the sunlight.
The second woman was extremely attractive. She had strawberry blonde hair and amber eyes. Her hair was wavy and had some sort of shine to it. She wore a simple white dress with a golden belt around the waist and six-inch heels that would've killed me if I wore them.
"Oh, there's no need to kneel, Arina," the black-haired goddess reassured, motioning for me to rise.
"Um... not to be rude, but who are you two?" I questioned uncomfortably.
"We just met two years ago! Of course, with Hera's little trick you wouldn't remember," the blonde goddess remarked, making a mirror appear before adjusting her flawless makeup.
"I am Persephone, your step-mother, and this insufferable-" the black-haired goddess began before being interrupted.
"Now, now Persy, that's no way to treat family, now is it? I am dating your brother," the other goddess pointed out.
"Half-brother, and you're cheating on my other brother too. You're supposed to be married," Persephone stated, crossing her arms.
"Dear, what's the fun of having a closed relationship? Open relationships are the way to go, you can have so many options instead of staying with your grouchy man," the goddess said.
"Wait... sorry to interrupt," I began, "but are you, Aphrodite?"
"Yes, and have I mentioned how bad I feel about your love life?" she inquired, waving her hand and making the mirror disappear.
"Uh... what?"
"Oh yeah, stop messing with my step-daughter's love life! And I thought you liked Perseus' relationship already?" Persephone questioned, turning to the love goddess.
"I do, it is one of the most romantic love stories ever, and what they have in store in a few weeks will be spectacular," Aphrodite squealed, "but being faithful is boring, isn't it? Why not spice things up for a change?"
"Then do it with one of your own kids." Persephone glared, the flowers around her shrivelling up and dying.
"And to think, you were mad at Hades for cheating on you-"
They continued arguing while I stood there awkwardly and confused.
So Percy is in a relationship, I realized, I should be happy for him... right? I knew he must've had someone back home for him, but why does it still hurt? Maybe Aphrodite just messed with my emotions or something, I rationalized.
"Uh... not to interrupt, again, but why am I here?"
Both goddesses stopped, looking at me and making me feel more self-conscience.
"Well, I'm here to help get your memories back, I'm not sure why she's here, though." Persephone pointed to Aphrodite with a look of disgust on her face.
"Dear, do we have to be like that? I'm just here to help with Arina's love life." Aphrodite shrugged, examing her well-manicured nails.
"Messing with her subconscious is consider helping?"
"What do you guys mean? How are you going to help me get my memories back?" I asked Persephone.
"Well, I simply can't just give you them back, that's against Ancient Laws because it directly helps you along with your quest. I was thinking maybe you could perform some sort of meaningful task and they'll come back to you," Persephone elaborated.
"And I had a splendid idea!" Aphrodite exclaimed, grinning and nearly blinding me with her pearly, white teeth.
"No, it was anything but splendid," Persephone spat.
Before Aphrodite could continue, the scene started to get staticky, the flowers glitching like old-fashioned televisions do. The smells in the meadow also started to get choppy, an intoxicating smell to the scent of dirt in a second.
Persephone swore in Ancient Greek under her breath. "You're almost in Alaska, we won't be able to contact you anymore once you get there."
"Wait, how'd I get my memories back then?" I questioned.
"I can do-" Aphrodite began.
"We're not going with that stupid idea!"
"Say the goddess who ate only six pomegranate seeds to get away from her mother."
I was hit by a headache then, making me stumble back into a pile of daffodils. The headache started as a dull throb, but slowly grew strength until I had trouble thinking straight.
"Ugh! Fine! I'll go with your idea! But if my husband gets mad-" before Persephone could continue, the whole meadow was cast in darkness.
I free-felled through the darkness, spiralling around in the pitch black for who knows how long before my black landed on something relatively soft and comforting.
"Ah... Arina, so nice to... see you again," a voice said from the darkness around me.
I swerved my head towards the noise, but I still couldn't see anything in the dark. The only thing I could see was that fact I landed on crumbling dirt.
"Who-who are you?" I questioned, glancing around.
A cruel laugh was my reply, their voice reminding me of crumbling dirt, which seemed vaguely familiar.
A face appeared out of the darkness, literally. They had green and black eyes, like an empty void, and curly black hair to compliment it. They emanated a powerful aura, but it wasn't godlike. It seemed far older for that matter, maybe old as time perhaps.
"I am Gaea, the first Protogenoi to emerge from Chaos," the face introduced.
"Wait, you're the one behind the attack, aren't you? You tried kidnapping me!" I exclaimed, backing away from the face before hitting something.
I glanced behind me and saw their face appear, making me jump back and worsening my headache.
"Yes... all those statements are true. I find you a much better asset than the other demigods in the prophecy."
"What prophecy?"
"Oh, right, that meddlesome goddess has erased your memories of it. I can, however, enlighten you on it." A crumbling, dirt hand emerged from the darkness and reached for me.
"Stop! Get away from me!" I yelled jumping up and backing away before hitting her face on the other side again.
"Oh, you're in a dream, I control what happens here."
"It's my dream, I'm in control!" I yelled, the walls of shadows trembling.
The primordial narrowed her eyes. "Oh, my son was right for making you one of his strategists, you have a certain... fire that I can use." She smirked before melting into the shadows again.
(Dreams over)
I sat up, panting.
What was all that? Why were those goddesses and Gaea visiting me? I asked myself internally, the throbbing in my head lessening.
"Arina? You okay?" Percy yawned from beside me, sitting up and stretching.
I looked ahead and saw Hazel leaning against Frank as she slept, making me smile.
"Uh... just a... dream," I replied nervously, looking out the window and seeing us slowly descend into an airfield.
There was some snow, but mostly it had already melted and left large puddles of water on the black tarmac. Beside the track was a forest of snow-trimmed trees and a road.
"Where do we need to go exactly?" I inquired as Frank and Hazel woke up.
"Uh... Hubbard Glacier," Hazel answered as Frank stifled a yawn from beside her.
"Where are we then?"
"We're landing in Anchorage, you'll need to take a train to Seward from here," the pilot answered just as we hit the airfield.
The plane rumbled down the tracks for a few seconds before lurching to a stop. Once it did, we all clambered off, saying our thanks before setting off again.
"Do any of you guys know where the train is, or are we supposed to wander around like idiots?" I questioned.
"I used to live here, so I'm pretty sure I know where," Hazel responded.
Hazel led us down the road as the snow started to fall again, which I found unfortunate because we were all dressed for California weather. Tee-shirt, shorts, and track pants were totally the perfect outfit for snow-covered Alaska.
Soon the train station came up, which was where we bought some jackets and Percy made a phone call to someone.
Frank was trying to find a way onto the train while Hazel and I talked on the sidelines.
"Are you and Frank a thing now?" I questioned, tying my messy, auburn hair back into a ponytail.
Hazel blushed. "Um... no?"
"You don't sound certain."
"It's complicated," she responded, "but what's happening between you and Percy?"
"Nothing's happening between us."
"I may be new to some of this stuff, but I'm pretty sure you're flirting."
"Since when did you learned about flirting?"
"A daughter of Venus introduced me into the legion, she thought I was a daughter of Venus too so she gave me some information."
"I'm not flirting," I insisted.
Percy and Frank came back then.
"We can go on now."
We walked towards the train, slipping into a passenger car on the train easily. We wandered through the train before finding a booth for us to sit in.
Not long after, a worker came by for our tickets.
"Tickets please?" the attendant requested.
We looked at Frank, who had grown a sudden interest in his shoelaces.
"If you don't have tickets, I would like you-" she began.
I snapped my fingers, standing up and putting on a fake smile. "Oh, but we do, we gave them to you earlier, don't you remember?"
The attendant's eyes glazed over before they nodded. "Yes, I remember, sorry about that," she responded dreamily before walking to the next passenger.
I slid back into my seat, earning some stares from Frank and Hazel.
"How did you do that?" Hazel questioned.
"What was that?" Frank asked instead.
"I used the Mist to trick the attendant into thinking we had tickets, it's not that hard once you learned it. The Mist is already there to hide mythical junk from mortals because their brains can't understand it," I explained with a shrug.
The train ride was anything but pleasant. For starters, we were attacked by gryphons so we had to get off the train and Frank had to use his last charge for his spear. After, we ran into a forest and encountered a herd of peaceful hyperborean giants. We then hid under one of them and waited until the gryphons were frozen by the giants. In the end, we ended up walking to Seward on foot.
Hyperborean giants were these thirty-foot giants that inhabited the north, hence their name. They were quite peaceful and typically had blue skin. They also had ice powers too.
We were travelling along the road when our luck ran out, again, but it wasn't like we had much to begin with.
We're demigods, the Fates hate us, modern society doesn't understand us, and our parents/gods make us do their bidding.
Percy made a wrong step onto something, slipping into a boggy muskeg and getting trapped in it.
"Percy! Stay still I'll try getting to you!" Hazel exclaimed, glancing around before freezing and falling backwards.
"Hazel!" Frank looked at me, fortunately catching her in time before she hit the ground.
Percy was soon fully submerged in the muddy water. I saw faint bubbles come out the top, but otherwise, I couldn't see him anymore.
"Frank! Bow!" I ordered.
He held out one end of the bow. "You want me to-"
"Hold onto it, I'm going in. Pull me out when I pull on it." I grabbed the other end and dived straight in.
The muskeg was freezing cold and kind of disgusting. There were mud and decaying plants everywhere, from what I felt because I couldn't see, but I pushed through it in search of Percy's body.
I reached out blindly, grabbing onto something and pulling it towards me, praying it was Percy's body and not someone else's that met the same unfortunate demise in the muddy waters.
Once I wrapped one arm around their waist, I tugged on the bow before being pulled out.
I collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily and coughing. I rubbed the mud out of my eyes and was relieved to see I grabbed the right body.
Percy was kneeling over, coughing and wiping mud from his face. He was shivering from the cold and had this unrecognizable expression on his face as he gulped for air.
Frank and Hazel, who had just woken up, had towels and was helping us wipe down the mud. They also wrapped some towels around us as well.
I was shaking from the cold, my hands feeling like they were ready to fall off.
"This is all my fault... if I remembered about the muskegs and warned you guys-" Hazel began, looking upset.
"No, it's not your fault, we should've paid more attention," Frank reassured her.
"Are you guys okay?" Hazel inquired, looking at Percy and I respectively.
"I... I'm not sure," Percy said. He had a troubled look on his face, even sweat appearing on his forehead despite the freezing temperature.
"My old house is near here, we'll stop there and rest," Hazel advised, offering me a hand.
I accepted and was pulled up smoothly, despite her small size.
Hazel led us down a more reassuring-looking path towards an abandoned-looking house. Along the way, she informed us about how Gaea had shown her a vision about what her life would've been like if she hadn't died-
Okay, let me backtrack. Turns out, Hazel died like seventy years ago in Alaska while trying to raise a giant, which she didn't know she was doing. She was then sent to the Underworld and blah, blah, blah. Nico brought her back to life and she was then sent to Lupa to begin her journey.
"Nico was kidnapped?" I exclaimed.
Another thing she learned was that Nico was kidnapped by Gaea and her giants, but we don't know where he was taken or anything else.
"Yeah." She nodded before pushing open the door of her old house.
The place seemed to only have three rooms, the main one with the kitchen and junk, a bedroom, and a bathroom on the side. It looked like an old lodging cabin with the designs and the size.
The main room had some basic items, a fireplace, windows, couches, a table, and a simple kitchenette. There were also some black-and-white photographs taped to the walls in one corner, weathered with age.
"I'll try getting a fire started," Hazel suggested before walking back to the front door.
"Um, can I go with you?" Frank inquired.
She blushed. "Uh, sure."
I sent a not-so-subtle wink before she and Frank exited the cabin, leaving Percy and I alone in the dusty old cabin.
He paced around the room, seeming to be deep in thought and contemplating something important by the way his eyebrow creased.
"Hey."
He stopped and looked at me.
"You okay? You seem kinda jumpy and antsy since the muskeg."
He sighed, leaning back against the wall while rubbing his forehead. "I don't know what happened in the muskeg. I'm a son of Poseidon, the literal god of water, but I nearly drowned..."
I walked away from the old fireplace, moving beside him and leaning against the wall too. "Nerves?"
"No, it wasn't like that. It felt like I was actually drowning, but that's impossible, right? I can't drown." He looked at me for some sort of confirmation.
I sighed. "Maybe you're not as immune to water as you previously thought. Like, I'm utterly terrified of snakes, but my dad's Hades. Despite the fact these are our parents' realms or representations, we can still be afraid of them, in my opinion."
"Wow, I was hoping for something more uplifting and awe-inspiring," he remarked with the shake of his head before sliding down the wall into a sitting position on the ground.
I sat down beside him.
"Percy, how much do you remember of your life now?" I asked, fiddling with my charm bracelet.
He looked puzzled by my question before responding. "Um, bits and pieces of my childhood mostly and a bit more. I remember my mom, who I tried calling at the station, then there's my half-brother, who I told about Ella. There's still a handful of blanks, but I'm sure they'll come back soon. Why?"
"Um... Aphrodite and Persephone visited me in my dreams." I began explaining to him what happened in my dream, leaving out the part about Gaea because even I didn't understand it completely.
"Oh... okay." He nodded.
"I was wondering if you had any idea what she's referring to, you have any ideas?" I inquired.
He sat there, thinking. "Um, I'm not sure, gods are very cryptic and unhelpful, you know that. Maybe you need to complete a special task or something?"
"I wonder what Aphrodite wanted me to do though, must've been something pretty bad if my step-mom was against it," I admitted.
"Maybe she wanted you to become a model or something?"
"Pfft, as if I can walk in heels. Those things are basically chopsticks stuck under a shoe."
He laughed, shaking his head. "Well, we'll figure something out, we always do."
I nodded just as the others came back with firewood, starting a fire quickly and warming us up. Surprisingly, I didn't feel that cold while I was in the cabin.
We sat around the fire, discussing the next course of action on our quest. It was almost the deadline, so we had to act fast.
"So how much longer to the glacier, do you think?" Percy asked Hazel.
"Um... I don't it's that far," she replied uncomfortably, "you guys stay here while I'll go check." She stood up from the couch and walked towards the door.
"Do you need-" Frank began.
"I'm sure I'll be fine, I won't take that long," Hazel reassured before pushing open the door and leaving.
We sat awkwardly in silence after, just watching the fire.
"So... you learned what your family gift is?" I questioned, leaning onto the foot of the couch.
"Uh... yeah," Frank answered.
Silence followed that.
"You're gonna tell us or?" Percy raised his eyebrow, leaning against the wall.
"Oh, right uh... apparently I'm descended from this demigod who could shapeshift, so I can too."
"Ooh, cool, does that mean you can turn into any animal?" I inquired, sitting up straighter.
"Yeah."
"Ostrich?"
"Well, it'll be better if I knew the animal better."
I paused thinking. "Percy!"
Frank had to stop himself from laughing while Percy glared at me, shaking his head.
"I'm insulted you'll call me that."
"Dude, I just said your name, it's not my fault we descend from animals. Humans are a species of animals, just saying," I pointed out.
He rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure that was just an excuse to insult me."
"Maybe," I replied with a smirk.
Just then, Hazel burst into the lodge, telling us we had to move fast because the gryphons had found us and we were farther than anticipated.
We ran outside and managed to get a couple of yards from the lodge when the gryphons appeared. They surrounded us in a circle, clawing at us and cawing at us.
"Why do these things keep on attacking us?" I exclaimed, summoning my blades and holding them out threatening.
"I've should've crushed their eggs when I had the chance," Percy grumbled under his breath, glaring at the bird-lion hybrids.
Gryphons were about the same height as us, not counting their wings though. They were a hybrid between a lion and an eagle. They had a lion's body, but their head and wings were all eagle. They may appear to be very noble creatures, but their cries were annoying as the hyenas in the Lion King, the psychotic ones to be exact.
"Gryphons are used by Camp Jupiter, why would they attack us this far away?" Hazel questioned, swivelling her head to the right before gasping.
"What?"
She called out Arion's name and for a moment, nothing happened. However, soon the horse came galloping up, kicking at the gryphons and coming to a halt in front of us.
"Get on!" Hazel yelled, jumping onto the horse's back.
We followed, somehow all fitting on the horse's narrow back, before we took off.
We raced away from the gryphons, who couldn't chase us because of how fast we were going. They remained a blur miles away behind us.
In a matter of seconds, we appeared on a glacier. It had an abandoned-looking camp, which I would like to mention, reeked of death. There was also a decaying archway further on the way, which had a statue where a certain god was chained.
Thanatos, who looked familiar to me, probably because my dad works with him, was a very handsome god. He had long black hair, honey gold eyes, and was muscular. His skin was teakwood colour and he had wings that shimmered different dark colours like black and blue as well.
"Ah... Arina Morales, how nice to see you again," he greeted, staring at me which such intensity that made it harder for me not to blush.
"Uh... hi, I guess, um, how'd we release you?" I inquired, rubbing the back of my head uncomfortably.
"Why would you, daughter of my master, want to release me? I was quite sure you wouldn't want me leading any more shades to the Underworld after what happened last year," he responded cryptically.
I stood there, perplexed at what he meant. Did someone I know died last year? Was I mad at him before?
Hazel, thankfully, jumped in then. "Please, we need to know how to release you or else our camp would fall! The monsters keep on coming back after we tried killing them and we'll be killed!"
Thanatos sighed. "Only one thing can free me from these chains, and that is the fire of life." He met Frank's gaze then, some sort of understanding passing between them.
Frank motioned for Hazel to pass him something, which was some sort of cloth wrapped around something. He took it and unwrapped it, revealing a stick about the size of my hand.
"Frank, are you sure about this?" Hazel questioned worriedly.
"Yes, it's the only way," he answered.
I felt something stirring, something that shouldn't be stirring. A quick glance to the right revealed I sensed hundreds of shades appearing out of the tents, all hungry for a battle.
"Heh, you simple demigods think you can free this god?" a booming voice exclaimed, laughing.
A figure, bigger than Polybotes, appeared from behind a large shadow. They had red hair with stones braided in it, goldish skin, and red dragon legs for, well, legs. His body was mostly covered in gems and stones as well.
"Alcyoneus," Hazel gasped.
"You demigods really think you can free this minor god?" He scoffed. "I will kill you, and then my brother's army will destroy that precious camp of yours!"
"Frank, you free Thanatos, Percy and Hazel deal with the big ugly, and I'll hold off the shades," I ordered, summoning my blades once more.
"No way, there's way too many shades. I can handle the giant by myself," Hazel pointed out.
"Nope!" I replied before running over to the shades, summoning shadows and crushing the shades with.
The others began going off on their own, Frank lighting his stick on fire while Hazel and Percy took on my dad's bane or whatever.
For some reason, I couldn't control the shades despite the fact I've controlled the undead before.
"Ugh! Die already!" I screamed, firing shadows right through some of their bodies while trying to hack off their limbs, which automatically regenerated.
The shades advanced, circling me while some headed over to Frank. I had to think quickly or else he'll be overwhelmed in seconds.
Then it hit me, a terrible, utterly dangerous idea, that might just work.
I shut my eyes, reaching out mentally for the undead souls, sensing them by how they moved and breathed. I focussed on their decayed bodies, trying to forcibly push them into the Underworld.
I could feel the temperature drop around me further than it already was, the sky darkening as I willed the shades to enter the Underworld.
I opened my eyes, letting out a cry of anger before a tornado of darkness surged around me, engulfing all the shades and pushing them off the cliff nearby. I pushed every emotion I could feel into the tornado, hatred, anger, jealousy, sadness, everything I could remember from my life now and the vague recollections I had of before.
I remembered feeling an immense amount of pain from a year ago, but I couldn't stem where it came from, I just focussed it into my powers, willing it to kill the shades.
With one final push, the shades fell over the side of the glacier, plummeting to their deaths, I hope.
I fell to my knees, exhausted. I was so tired I didn't notice the figure behind me.
"ARINA!"
I turned just as something jumped on me, pushing me off the cliff edge as well.
The shade glared at me as we fell towards the icy waters below.
They had dark hair and eyes that fit the dead. They had an ice-covered armour, but underneath it, I could see the unmistakable design of a Camp Jupiter shirt.
My eyes widened in shock as I realized who this was. "You're Michael Varus! The guy who lost the standard in-"
"Yes," he spat, "and I plan to seek revenge against the gods for choosing you Graecus over my esteemed cohort! We will kill your friends, but Gaea has requested you for... your assets."
"What the Hades does that have to mean?"
His head swivelled behind, muttering something under his breath before letting me go. "We will meet again, daughter of Pluto, but mark my words, you won't be as lucky." He jumped onto a piece of ice jutting out from the glacier, clinging onto it while staring at me fall.
A second after that, I hit the freezing cold water and nearly blacked out from the sudden jolt. My whole body was shocked by the cold, which made me idiotically gasp out. Then, I tried swimming back up but my body wasn't understanding what my mind was telling it.
My vision blurred as something splashed down from above, pushing towards me. A moment later, I was coughing up water and shivering.
"Are you okay?"
I looked at Percy, who was the person who jumped in the water and managed to create an air bubble around us, enabling me to breathe.
"How-" I began, confused before my previous exhaustion hit me, making my head droop and the rest of my body to go weak.
"Woah! Hey, I got you." Percy wrapped his arms around my waist and rested me on his chest while I tried to regain my bearing.
"Ugh... my head's killing me," I mumbled groggily.
"That might be from the hypothermia."
"Really? I had no clue."
"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or you hit your head harder than I thought."
"Sarcasm, you idiot."
Silence followed my reply.
"Can you swim back up? I can easily do it for the both of us but I'm wondering-"
"I-I think so." I pulled away from him and somehow leaned against the wall of the bubble.
My breathing was shallow and slower than normal, and it was hard for me to form a coherent thought as I shivered from the cold. Apparently, Percy hadn't dried me with his weird water powers.
He looked at me skeptical from his side of the bubble, tilting his head the side before looking up. "We better get back up, I think Frank and Hazel can handle that giant, but they'll get worried if we're down here for too long."
I nodded before pausing, a thought passing through my muddled brain. Without thinking any further, I grabbed Percy by the shirt and kissed him, straight on the lips.
That's when I knew I fucked up, like, really bad.
A surge of memories coursed through my mind, erasing my hypothermia somehow. Flashes of my worthless mother, Camp Half-Blood, New York, the Underworld, my friends, and most importantly, Annabeth Chase, the girl who's boyfriend I just kissed.
Percy and I pushed away from each other at the same time, a look of shock on both of our faces.
"What was that for?" he exclaimed, his expression either between anger or shock.
"I-I don't-" My eyes widened in realization as it finally hit me why I kissed him. I swore under my breath. "Aphrodite, of, fucking, course."
"That still doesn't explain-"
"She said she had an idea for how I get my memories back, which my step-mom disagreed with and said my dad will hate it, and my dad hates you. She must've controlled me or-"
"Arina, we're in the land beyond the gods, this was all you."
I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment and shame. I kissed my best friend's boyfriend, I'm a horrible person...
I hate the gods so much right now. Hera must've been the one who erased my memories... if she didn't do that I wouldn't have kissed Percy- wait I'm blaming the gods again... this is my fault...
"Let's... let's just get back up there," he said, not making eye contact with me.
"Uh... I'll shadow travel-"
"No," he sighed, "I'll get us up there..."
I nodded, biting my lip uncomfortably as I grabbed onto his arm.
He used his abilities over the water to shoot us straight up, breaking through the surface and landing us on the edge of the cliff once more.
I let go of him and moved away, looking at the ground awkwardly.
A couple of minutes later, Hazel and Frank came up to us, both breathless. Frank was holding this weird golden staff that had an eagle on the top of it.
"Hey guys," Percy greeted, turning to them.
"Are you guys okay? That shade pushed you off the cliff and Percy jumped-" Hazel began.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Uh, I can't tell if that was a lie or not but I'll just stick with it for the most part.
"Anyway, we found tons of imperial gold armour and weapons in the camp! We should bring them back, it'll help the legion!" Hazel stated, gesturing towards the ghostly camp.
The ride back to camp was silent, which was good because I passed out the moment I got in a comfortable position on an imperial gold chariot we managed to get.
Let's just say, I didn't sleep well.
(Dreams)
I appeared near a large chasm that seemed bottomless. It was almost pitch black, but I could see the vague outlines of rocks and the walls around the cave, or whatever, I was in.
"Ah, Arina, we meet again."
A familiar face emerges from the chasm, staring at me.
"Gaea." I clenched my fist and wished I could punch the primordial.
She let out a low chuckle. "Well, it's rather unfortunate you have received your memories back."
"What's that 'pose to mean?" I snapped.
"If you had no memory of who you were or your past, you'll be the perfect demigod to manipulate and use in my army. You nearly destroyed the Olympians, after all. Too bad my granddaughter restored your memories along with your... friends..."
I felt a sliver of dread go down my spine when she said that.
She wanted to control me, brainwash me, make me into her loyal follower and destroy the gods as I tried to do a year ago. She wanted me to hurt my friends that I barely have any left of, she wanted me to destroy the only home I've ever truly known.
"Hm... too bad Lethe won't be able to erase your memories, if she did you'll be a useless child with the mind of an infant."
I stepped away from the chasm, not wanting to even think about what she was describing.
The ideas she was suggesting twisted my gut in ways I couldn't explain, but I could tell one clear thing, I wanted nothing of it. I didn't want to be manipulated again, and the thought of it made me sick.
"Get out of my head!" I yelled.
She laughed. "Oh, you think it's that easy, demigod? I'm an all-powerful-"
"Y-you've haven't fully risen! You can't control me!"
"Oh, but I can haunt you."
(Dreams over)
I sat straight up, hitting Frank in the face with my elbow.
"Ohmygods, sorry, Frank," I apologized.
"No, no, it's fine, I was standing behind you," he replied, clutching his nose.
I decided to sit right behind Arion on the chariot because I wanted to put as much distance between Percy and I as possible.
We soon arrived at the camp, just under four hours apparently, which was great considering the enemy's army was attacking the camp as we rode in.
Once there, Percy took charge and started ordering people around while we gave out all the weapons and armour we could from the chariot. Then, we struck back.
I ended up fighting a group of storm spirits and Gegeines, which by the way, sucked.
Storm spirits were these horses made from clouds and electricity, but they could also turn into human-like beings with smoky wings.
Gegeines were these six-armed, seven-foot-tall, clay monsters. They also only wore loincloths, so I found that rather... unpleasant when the storm spirits blew wind in a certain area if you know what I mean.
"Need some help?" a voice said from my right, which surprised me enough to nearly slice their head off.
"Oh, sorry, Quilo," I said, firing shadows at the monsters before rolling to the other side.
"It's totally fine, not the first time I'm nearly beheaded," he responded with a grin.
I rolled my eyes, slicing the arm off of one of the gegeines. "Enough flirting and more fighting."
"I am not flirting, for starters, and you're not my type."
I snorted, swiping the legs out from under a clay monster. "Wow, thanks for the compliment."
"Well," he began, pushing back the storm spirits without touching them somehow, "I thought you and Percy were a thing."
I avoided eye contact, stabbing the clay monster in the chest and watching it melt into liquid clay. "He has a girlfriend."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
Silence followed that as we continued fighting back to back, taking down monster by monster in a flurry of blades, shadows, and limbs. Soon, we were standing in the wreckage of clay and dust.
There was a crowd circling Percy and Polybotes. From the looks of it, Barnacle Boy challenged the giant to a one on one duel.
"You think you can defeat me, the bane of your father, son of Neptune?" Polybotes mocked.
Percy's gaze hardened. "I am the son of Poseidon." Then he struck.
He leaped into the air, making several strikes to the giant's abdomen before making a downward arc on the back of the thigh, slicing it wide open. However, the wound automatically healed itself.
"Ha, ha, you cannot defeat me without the help of a god, stupid demigod!"
He raised his eyebrow, smirking. "You think I don't have a god?"
Percy made a run for a broken statue on the side, holding up the head of Terminus, who was yelling.
The fight continued on. The final blow that ended Polybotes was Terminus' detached head smashing into his, killing him from the blow.
The camp cheered in excitement, a group of campers coming forth and lifting Percy upon a shield, chanting his name and proclaiming he should become the new praetor. They carried him all the way to a smiling Reyna, who asked the question. Percy accepted the role, receiving a purple cape before being brought back down.
After all the excitement died down, injured campers were tended to and burial rites were made for the ones who died. Anyone else helped clean up the messes and tried to rebuild the camp, which went by surprisingly quickly.
Unfortunately, I was ordered by my friends to stay in the infirmary overnight because I looked like the living dead, literally.
"I'm fine!" I insisted, "I didn't even use my powers that much, and I already got ambrosia and took a nap on the way here!"
"You nearly passed out," Percy argued.
Percy and I were now on awkward speaking terms.
"Okay, that was one time."
"You nearly passed out three times on the quest," Frank corrected, "once when the karpoi kidnapped you, the second in Seattle, and the third when you nearly died."
"I nearly die all the time."
My friends deadpanned. "That doesn't help," they said in unison.
"Pfft, Percy nearly died at least four times, a year," I pointed out, "and he's the one who fought the giant, he should be the one forced into the infirmary."
He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "As your praetor-"
"Are you seriously pulling that card on me?"
"As your praetor," he continued, "I hereby order you to rest in the infirmary, or else."
"Or else what?"
"I will give you a better reason to be-"
I snorted. "You're actually threatening me, Barnacle Boy? You do realize I'm far more powerful than you."
"As if, I easily defeated you when we sparred-"
"How 'bout this," Quilo interrupted, pushing us away from the entrance of the infirmary because we were blocking the front door, "Arina has to rest in her cohort and not do anything else. We can't do much for her in the infirmary anyway, we have every medic working right now, even our junior ones. We won't have room for her anyway."
"Thank you, Quilo," I responded, smiling.
My friends complied, agreeing to let me rest in our cohort instead.
Before I went with them to our barracks, I stopped to speak with Quilo for a second.
"Uh, Quilo, you have a minute?"
He had picked up a large crate with a first aid symbol on the side when I asked this. "In a minute. Dennis! Can you get this?"
My brother ran out of the infirmary, dodging injured people.
"Arina!" he exclaimed, running up to me and nearly tackling me in a bear hug.
"Hey, nice to see you too, little bro, you're not injured right?" I lifted up his arm to check for any scrapes, bruises, or anything that could cause pain.
"Yes, I'm fine, mom," he replied sarcastically.
"I raised you basically, I'm practically your mom-"
Quilo cleared his throat. "Hate to ruin the moment but two things: how'd you two know each other? And, help me with this box Dennis."
"We're siblings," I answered as Dennis grabbed the other end of the box and took it with ease.
"See ya later, sis!" he stated before running back into the infirmary, bumping into three people.
I turned back to Quilo once my brother was out of sight.
"Huh, I kinda see the family resemblance."
"Uh, thanks."
Awkward silence.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" he questioned.
"Oh, right, uh..." I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably. "How'd you push back those storm spirits without touching them?"
"Oh, that, yeah, I can control winds and stuff, one of the perks of being a child of Aquilon."
I stifled another laugh. "Wait, wait, wait, you're name is Quilo and your godly parent is Aquilon? Pfft-"
"Yes, yes, I'm named after my father, big swoop. It was either that or Thaddeus, my... my mom couldn't decide." He hesitated when he mentioned his mom, a look of pain crossing his face.
I fidgeted uncomfortably, unsure how to continue judging from his tone. "Um, thanks for the help in battle, I guess."
He nodded, looking a little distracted.
I waved goodbye before heading towards my barracks, encountering my friends talking inside. Well, Percy was fast asleep on a bunk while Hazel and Frank talked to each other awkwardly.
I quickly found my bunk and passed out on it.
The next day, Percy ordered a meeting in the Senate and for the whole camp after receiving a dream message. Before he could say the message, Reyna ordered Octavian to give Percy and I the tattoo that symbolized us joining the legion.
Percy's tattoo was a simple trident with SPQR and one line for a year of service while mine was the planetary symbol of my dad with the standard stuff.
"Outrageous!" Octavian exclaimed.
Percy had just revealed that a ship would be flying to Camp Jupiter from Camp Half-Blood holding some campers for there, Piper, and Jason Grace, the previous praetor. This met a negative reaction from Octavian.
"The Argo II is harmless, also, it has some of Camp Jupiter's campers," I pointed out.
I was also appointed to defend the case of the ship, which was called the Argo II.
"How do we know they're not captives? And how should we trust you graecus?" Octavian countered.
"He's your praetor." I pointed to Percy. "And do you want to doubt our loyalty?" I gave him a glare that made him jump back.
"Try to avoid threatening people?" Percy whispered.
I smirked. "Not my fault."
He rolled his eyes before focussing on the camp. "We shall welcome them into the camp as allies, with the oncoming war against Gaea, it's what we need. This was Hera's plan all along, to unite the two camps by sending two leaders to one another. I swear on my life that the Argo II will be harmless."
He seemed to have the whole camp captivated by his speech by the way they nodded along, agreeing with him.
"Wait- I'll like to make this clear- the Greeks must behave or else you, and all of them, will be killed," Octavian said, making eye contact with Percy.
"Of course," he replied, a glint in his eyes.
Soon, the ship was spotted over the horizon, and we had to stop Octavian again from blowing them up. Good thing the camp's defences were already weakened, I suppose.
"C'mon guys." He swung his arms over Frank and Hazel's shoulder while I popped on at the end.
"We'll like to introduce you to our other family," I finished, smiling up at the ship.
(Sorry if that fight scene kinda sucked, I might change it, later on, to make it nicer. I'm bad at fight scenes but I'm trying to improve.
Again, sorry that this is late. I had a math test and other junk, hopefully, everything will be easier once summer break starts or when I finish online school in August. Thank you guys for all the views and follows btw! I love reading your supportive comments and junk.)