Chapter 1
I loved papa. He was sweet but strict. But he always found the beauty in things. Sometimes he would look at me with his deep, dead eyes but it made me feel like the most loved person in the world. Papa didn't let me go outside though. He only let me see the housekeeper, who didn't really talk to me much but always smiled. I also sometimes spied on the neighbors but they didn't do much. I figured that I liked spying. One morning I saw papa opening the door to our housekeeper.
"Hello, Persephone," Papa said. I was confused because I had never heard her name before.
"How's Ashten?" She questioned.
"Well, it seems that Ashten will need to be leaving soon. It's starting to get dangerous." Me...leaving. Why would I have to leave? As far as I knew this place was perfectly safe. That was a year ago we had moved 3 times but today was my last day seeing papa. We had moved to a new apartment a month ago. I didn't like it. It always felt cold in my house like something was there. The day started like any other. I woke up and got dressed and read for around an hour. But this morning felt odd it was also unusually quiet dad had the news on at this time. I walked out of my room.
"Papa?" I asked. No answer.
"Papa?" I walked around and it was so quiet when finally I walked in his room and I screamed. There sat papa lying on the floor. I reached down to him and he felt cold and his skin was paper-thin. I started to cry. As I hugged him I felt something. I pulled it out of his clenched hand and there was a piece of paper and a drop of kunzite, his favorite crystal. I then heard a knock on the door. Not wanting to leave I reluctantly walked over wiping my tears and stuffing the piece of paper in my pocket. I opened the door to a lanky black-haired boy who wore an aviator jacket with the Italian flag patched on.
"I heard crying," He said. I nodded and his eyes widened "What the." He pushed me aside and rushed to Papa's room.
"Wait-please d-on't go in there," I begged. He walked in and stared at papa sprawled on the floor. I started to cry and tried to muffle with my shirt.
"Did you do this?" He asked, glaring at me.
"No, I lo-ved papa." I stuttered, gasping for words I spoke.
"I foun-d him li-ke this." I started to sob.
"Well um was there anything with him when you found him?" he spoke in a hushed tone .
"There was a piece of paper and a shard of kunzite." I mumbled. He started again. This made me uncomfortable. I've never seen anybody my age before and him staring at me made me feel like an outsider.
"Can I see the paper?" I gave the piece of paper and he stared. I know where this is, "I'll take you there." He declared.
I didn't like this idea. I wanted to cradle papa for a million more years. I want to listen to his news shows while he tells me what's going on in the world. I wanted to make him our special hot cocoa recipe every winter's night. Papa's life couldn't be over. I looked up at the boy. He had a sad look on his face but it looked trustworthy. I stood up and walked to my room. I got out a backpack and packed clothes, money,a book, and my sketchbook. I walked over to the boy and quickly asked him his name
"Nico.. Nico Di Angelo." I took out my hand.
"Nice to meet you Nico." I said he shook my hand. His skin was cold and rough. He felt like a corpse. I looked over at papa. I still couldn't believe he was dead. But I realized that if I didn't accept his death then I couldn't live my life. I looked over at Nico and he put his hand on my shoulder
"Get ready." He exclaimed.
"For what-."
When I blinked I was somewhere different. I looked around amazed but then I heard a "thump"I looked over and saw Nico laying on the ground unconscious. I blonde haired boy rushed over to Nico.
"I told him not to shadow travel its not safe for is body right now." He looked up at me. "Well urhm welcome to Camp Half Blood."
Chapter 2.
Nico was rushed off by the blonde-haired boy. I was left confused, amazed, and helpless. I started to walk around not knowing where I was going but admiring the landscape. It was bright and sunny even though it was fall. The sun beamed down on my face. Some people stared at me but didn't offer to help, it was like nobody could see me. I finally decided I needed help. I saw a little boy. He was short and stubby. He looked around 12. I went up to him
"Excuse me? Can you help me?" he looked up at me and walked away. Actually, he didn't walk away, he walked through me. I froze. A boy no a ghost had just walked through me. He turned around and glared at me. "Child of Melinoe, You are a Mistake. Always remember that." he walked off. The world felt dizzy. My arms felt like they were a hundred pounds. I collapsed.
The next time I opened my eyes I was in a bed I was surrounded by cloth curtains. I had the taste of rich chocolate in my mouth. I felt dizzy and weak but also strong.
"Hello?" I stammered "Hellooo?" I repeated.
My curtains were whisked open.
"Thank gods you're awake." A blonde-haired boy stood in front of me smiling slightly. It was the same boy who took Nico away. "Some campers found you on the ground completely pale." He said, sounding a bit worried. I looked down and realized I looked sickly pale.
"What happened?" he asked, "What should I tell him? That I was a mistake? Who was Melinoe?
"Well um….. I saw a boy. And he- uh I don't know how to word this. He Walked through me." His eyes widened. " Ok so um im going to leave you for a second I'm going to go get someone." He said and then proceeded to rush off. I was trembling. Maybe I said something rude? A few minutes later The boy came back in the room. He had Nico with him
"Tell him what you saw or more…...experienced." He mused.
I told Nico what had happened.
"Did it speak to you? A ghost never acknowledges a demigod and simply walks away." He said obviously knowing the ghost talked to me.
"Well um, he called me the child of Melinoe and said I was a mistake…. I suddenly wished I didn't tell him that. Then a red light appeared it shown like the world was covered in blush. I looked up at a picture of a howling dog that shined above my head. I stared.
"A child of Melinoe that means-." Nico stuttered
"We Have to take him to Chiron." The blonde said in a serious tone.
"Can you stand up? We need you to walk over to the big house." I got out of my bed my legs were weak but I could still walk. The blonde boy then introduced himself
" My name is Will and this is Nico and you are?"
"Ashten." I responded not really wanting to talk because i was well… I was scared. Did I do something wrong? I started to feel my hands tremble my breathing heavied. When I looked up from my feet there was a huge house around 2 stories. The blue wood looked almost 200 years old I was amazed the roof was dark charcoal. Will and Nico showed me in. There was a man in a Hawaiian shirt. And A guy In a blue sweater vest and gray sweater. he had his hair tied in a ponytail. His golden eyes seemed to glow.
" Ugh, who is this another newbie? Im so sick of these little demigods trotting into MY peace and quiet and ruining it!" I glared at the man. His patterned shirt was bright and basically asking for all of the attention. His brown hair was wispy and had some grey hairs in it.
" Chiron I think Ashten should watch the orientation film while I and Nico tell you well um the problem." Will spoke in a rushed tone. Chiron directed me to a room with a super old tv and a sofa. I sat down and Chiron turned the tv on. The man in the Hawaiian shirt appeared on the screen.
" Hello, my name is Dionysus blah blah blah. Welcome to camp half-blood yada yada, where little problem children stay in this hell of a place. You see kid when a god and a mortal love each other very much they have a little demigod. So you see you are half-god that's it goodbye and I need some wine." My eyes widened half god? No that must be a mistake. I wasn't half god. But papa never told me about my mother and….. I walked out of the room and saw Chiron, Nico, and Will huddled together mumbling. I Also saw Dionysus pouring a glass of wine but it turned into coke? I then remembered where i had heard the name Dionysus I pointed at him
"Your a-a God? I stammered not believing it.
"That's right kiddo im the stupid greek god of wine But I won't be if I CANT EVEN DRINK WINE!" The wine glass in front of him shattered. I backed away not wanting to get close to a fuming god. Chiron turned around and looked at me.
" I know this might be a lot to take in Ashten, but you are a child of Melinoe you will learn your strengths and abilities you will be staying with Nico since you do not have a cabin yet. I started to tremble. Everything was going so fast I missed papa. Would anybody even like me or should I just stay sheltered like papa made me do? I breathed heavily I felt like a cloth had been thrown over me I felt invisible. I ran out of the house trying to find a place where I could hide. I rushed into a cabin I ran in and crawled under a cabin bed. I started to sob. I missed my apartment in New York I missed papa I missed everything about my old life but now I have nobody. Footsteps A boy with brown hair and sea-green eyes poked his head in the opening of the bed. And a puzzled look crossed his face.
"Is anybody there?" he said
'Ye-a cant you s-ee me?" I responded confused. His face washed over with astonishment.
'You were invisible and um um well yea.." he spoke. Me invisible? That's ridiculous. I brushed it off and squirmed out of under the bed. He was slim and fit around maybe 18." Im Percy." I didn't respond "Are you ok? I've never seen you before did you get here recently?" he asked sounding a bit worried.I nodded. "Do you know who your parent is?" not wanting to answer i held my breath but something forced me to say it "Me-linoe." I stuttered "Oh. Do you know well um what's going on? I shook my head. Well, earlier this year after Apollo finished his quest and was sent back up to Olympus a prophecy was spoken.
A child of Melinoe will face a great lose
As he travels through the shadows he will find a great boss
As he parishes, he will find the one he loves most and face impending doom
This concludes the prophecy of the groom.
Chapter 3
I walked out of Percy's cabin. He had explained everything to me. He had said something like this had happened to him when he first came to camp. He said he was scared confused and lost. I felt sympathy for him even though he seemed like he was thankful for all these terrible events that had happened to him. I wanted to go find Nico and Will to say sorry for running out of the big house like that. I searched for it felt like an hour. I finally saw a fluffy black-haired boy.
"Nico!" I rushed over he turned around But instead of his face, there was white smoke. The words mistake started to taunt me mistake mistake mistake mistake mistake. I was terrified I blinked and everything around me was misty black. The figure pointed at me and the words got louder. Then an evil cackle filled the air. I started to cry. What was happening? Was I going insane? Then a woman with long black and white hair appeared. She wore a long dress that fell to the misty floor. She was tall and lanky but had a beautiful bone structure. She was crying. As black tears fell down her face she spoke
"I miss you my Love." She strode over and gave me a hug. It felt warm and I felt at peace when her long arms wrapped around me.
"ASHTEN. ASHTEN!" The blue sky came into view. I felt terrible like somebody had spilled boiling hot tea right on me. Nico had huddled over me a look of terror in his eyes.
"What happened?" I croaked having very little energy left to speak.
" You came up to me and then once I turned around to look at you smoke surrounded you and it looked like you fell into a trance….. You screamed and cried and you didn't respond to me when I called your name. I-t ii-ii-i." I thrushed my arms around him. His skin was cold and bumpy with goosebumps running down his arms. He started to cry his tears ran down my back. A complete stranger was crying on me. I didn't know anything about Nico. His family, his godly parent, and why did he decided to help me? The sun started to set the blood-orange sky seeped into a pink Aura of light.
"I mis-s her I ne-ve-r got to sa-y go-odb-ye." He kept hiccuping and sniffling.
"Shhhhhhh." I comforted him wiping his tears off his face. He looked up at me his eyes were red from crying. I held my hands to his face stroking his cheeks when he looked up at me he seemed to realize what he was doing. His cheeks turned as pink as the sky. He jumped up and ran off. I felt red creeping on my cheeks. What. just. Happened.
AN:
Hello readers! (I know there's not much of you but whatever) sooooo I wanted to note that I might start making the chapters a bit shorter. So that I can start posting weekly! This story will probably be the shortest out of all of them soo yea dont expect 2 min chapters lol. This is my first ever story and I want to grow my fanfiction! So if you enjoy the story please spread the news! Tell them to look up "Sleeping Spirits" on Wattpad and maybe other websites (Im working on that) so um. Im still building a story and adding lore sooooo here's Leo being a badass.( I just want to write about Leo but he's later so I made a side story that'll be important later so take notes!)
Side Story:
The sweat trickled down my face. I was breathing heavy huffing and puffing as they would call it. See I was riding fetus to California when I got into well- urhm some trouble… I ran into 4 big ugly ogres
"There's nowhere to run boy." The 4th one said he seemed like the leader of the pack.
"Are Ogres immune to fire by any chance?" I asked hopefully.
"If we even were fire immune then how would you get any? Are you stupid boy?" he snorted. The other ogres all howled. I burrowed my eyebrows "Well I could beat you, with this." I pulled out a simple white candle. I had made this tool around a month ago and waiting for a time to use it and I figured a 1 on 4 would work
"HAHAHA, he actually thinks he can light it! Go On boy Try!" Everybody laughed but I smirked
"Got It, boss." I set aflame on the candle " My name is Leo Valdez son of Hephaestus, Fire born." I threw the candle adding a little bit more firepower with it. The candle hit one of the ogres he grabbed it and stared at it his face to the candle. At that moment the candle exploded and yellow dust filled the air like confetti. My hands set aflame. The other ogres were standing there shocked I thrust my arms sending a ball of fire toward the leader. He caught it but in return, his hand melted off oops-. I kept rapidly firing fireballs I eliminated 2 ogres with them but there was one left, the leader...
"Well, boy your stronger than I thought be a shame that I have to kill you..." He cackled. I threw my hand out expecting a red normal fire but a green firey flame came out. It hit him with a big blow he screamed and disappeared. I looked down at my hands dumbfounded. I had just summoned greek fire. Could a fire born even do that? I could summon greek fire I smiled and kicked the yellow dust away.