Chapter One
My head spun as I reached for my brush, quickly combing through my dirty blonde hair. I'd just had a dream of when I'd been claimed at Camp Half-Blood and it had really messed up my thoughts. I should've been glad that it wasn't a flashback in the middle of the day, but those barely happened anymore. Every once and a while, sure. But they had just stopped for reasons I couldn't explain. Something about the dream I'd had felt like a warning. The two signs of my greek and roman godly parents hovering over me; Jupiter and Poseidon. Since I was seven and my mom died, I'd been running between the roman and greek camps without anyone to tell me where and when to go somewhere. Now, I'd decided to stay at the roman camp for a while.
My praetor -and friend-, Hazel Zhang had disappeared this morning and I'd become annoyed, seeing how she'd asked me if I could do something for her, then just off the bat left camp. Luckily, our other praetor, Frank, was waiting for me to arrive so I could look over a scroll or something.
Slowly, I reached for my clothes and pulled out some ripped jeans, a dark blue shirt, a leather jacket, and some black combat boots. When I'd put it all on, I pulled my hair into a low ponytail and stretched my back out, grinning in satisfaction when it cracked loudly. My bunkmates were already gone doing their morning chores, so basically, I was all alone.
I slipped on my belt of a huge assortment of double-bladed daggers and made sure my sword-ring was on before I grabbed a piece of bread off my bunk that my mate had obviously left for me and stuffed it in my mouth. Slowly, I made my way to the door and opened it, only to be greeted by lots of demigods heading in all directions, getting their everyday stuff done.
Pushing through the tons of people, I made my way to the praetor's office, my ponytail blowing in the slight breeze.
"August! Hey! Over here!" Frank's huge form began running toward me, but he nearly tripped on his cape, making me smile slightly.
"I'm coming, coming!" I hurried over and helped him back into standing mode.
"Sorry about Hazel. She's getting some demigod of some sort. Not sure where. She didn't give me all the details. Powerful I guess." he shrugged.
"Oh, huh. Interesting," not, "guess we'll see who it is later. What can I help you with?"
"I just need you to write some notes from this scroll. Just so that we don't lose the important information," he handed me a scroll and hurried off calling back, "you can go into my office and work! I have to do something!"
"Wait- Fra-" he was already gone, and I shook my head before I got to work, ignoring my still-sleepy brain.
Sighing, I began to work on the scroll.
A Roman Gladius is one of the weapons that every Roman demigod uses in the modern-day era. The full length of the weapon is about 60 to 85 centimeters, and the blade length is 45 to 68. The width varies between 5 to 7 centimeters and…
I was bored already.
Groaning, I slammed my head on the desk repeatedly, until I gave up and shook my head. Obviously, I wasn't going to get to this today. Not with the way my mind was exhausted. I pulled one of my double-sided daggers out and flicked it between my fingers over and over again, just staring at the scroll and my pencil. Finally, I wrote down the length of the stupid Gladius.
"Forty-five to sixty-" I was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Instinctively, since I wasn't facing the door, I snapped my fingers together and my dagger went spinning quickly right behind me, where surely whoever had opened the door would be.
Suddenly, the paper in front of me caught on fire and I screeched, pushing back my chair and watching as it fell on the ground. As I pushed back, a glass of water spilled and I quickly used my powers to spiral all the water toward me, putting out the fire and drenching myself in the process. Picking up the soaking paper, I turned around, kicking the chair out of my way.
"You. Ruined. My. Paper." I stormed up to the guy next to Hazel and gave him the death eye.
My blue eyes flashed dangerously and the air around me crackled with electricity. The water flew off me and pushed the cup back up before dumping itself into it.
"Say sorry." I snapped, angrily pulling my blade out of his shirt and stuffing it back into my belt.
He just stared at me.
"Fine. Don't say anything." I threw my hands in the air, a small lightning bolt coming out of my arm and zapping him.
Not sorry, I stalked off, Hazel shaking her head behind me. I could barely make out what she said to him.
"Be careful with that one- She's got fast reflexes."
I grabbed my papers and headed toward the door, stuffing my wet notes into his mouth as I passed. At that moment, I decided I didn't want to deal with the rest of this today. Today would be the day I'd escape for a while. I walked and walked, heading toward the tunnel to the streets.
After crossing the Tiber, I jogged through the tunnel and sighed when I successfully got to the entrance.
"Seriously August? Again?" a boy, Aiden, turned to me, his horrible black cowlick glinting in the sun.
"Morning Aiden." I dug out five denarii from my pocket and tossed it at him.
"I never saw you." he grinned and pocketed it, turning a blind eye as I walked toward the street.
I focused on my powers of Jupiter for a moment, then teleported to a large building, where I stared down into the car-flooded streets. From where I was standing, there were dark storm clouds above me, and the wind was blowing hard. I stumbled slightly before I was able to get control of my brain.
Thank the gods for the Mist.
As my ponytail swirled around me, I took a breath. A few steps back and I was nearly on the edge of the building.
'Here goes…' I thought to myself and began to run for the other side of the building.
My feet left the side of the structure and suddenly, I was free falling and flailing through the air. I only had a couple minutes to be able to fly before I'd die. This was the pressure I'd been wanting. The pressure I needed. The problem? Apparently falling from a skyscraper wasn't working out for me. I screamed. Not out of fear. But because I was angry. Angry that my father wouldn't give me what I needed. As I was screaming, something hit me from underneath, catching me. The pressure from the fall made me pass out.
A moment later I awoke in an unknown place with the boy from earlier in front of me passed out. I climbed away from him and sat next to a wall, shaking violently. When I looked to the side of me, there was a silvery woman. Not any woman though… My dead mother.
Soon enough, the boy had awoken and seemed to be talking to himself for a while. I hung my head, embarrassed of my situation. It would look like I'd committed suicide to everyone else… I'd be stuck.
The ghost flew over to me and my breath froze in my throat.
"Hello love… Been a while, huh? Please don't go jumping off buildings. You're needed for future quests and things I cannot explain right now," she held her hand out toward my face and I began to breathe hard. "I feel your anxiety and depression. Hiding it won't do any good- You're already being affect-"
I pushed the hand away, but it went through my skin, sending shivers down my spine. Mom got the idea though and pulled her hand back.
"I'm. Not. Depressed." I snapped back.
"I've only come here to tell you that you need to be aware… I must go now." Mom took a step back and I began to violently shake again.
"No, no, no, no-" I reached for her, tears flowing down my face, but she floated away, leaving me to crumple against the wall, still shaking and crying.
Anger shook my body soon enough and the tears disappeared when some other people appeared. Not bothering to see who they were, I pulled out one of my daggers and was at the boy's side in a second, my dagger pressed to his neck.
"What. Did. You. Do?!" my breathing was ragged, and I could feel the air around me crackling with electricity again since he didn't answer. "STOP NOT TALKING TO ME! YOU WERE TALKING EASILY ENOUGH TO YOURSELF!"
My fingers were digging into the dagger, and I could feel blood dripping down them, but I didn't care. My mind was flashing back to the moments when I watched my mother die. Watched her body get ripped apart piece by piece and then eaten.
"What's your problem?! You don't get even a little scorched by lightning and it's like you can't feel pa-" my angry words were interrupted by Hazel's voice.
"Augusta?! What are you doing?!" I could feel her next to me, so I flinched and pulled the dagger away from his neck.
Last thing I needed was for them to think I was even more psycho.
The rest of the people came over and Hazel's eyes widened when she saw the blood on the dagger and my fingers.
"Um, Augusta- What happened?" Frank asked, stunned.
Suddenly, I realized that two of the boys in front of me were Nico and Will, two of my good friends from camp. Those two already knew all of my problems… They'd think I was crazy for sure.
"August, did you do that?" Will asked, his own eyes wide as he pointed to the boy's neck.
I glared at the boy and pulled myself back on my legs, ready to pounce if any of them tried to tie me back.
"Why August? He did nothing to you-" Hazel stepped forward, her own glare causing me to flinch back again.
"He did plenty." I answered quietly.
He should've just let me die. At this point, I was useless to this world. It was too big and I was too small. I didn't fit correctly in any puzzle piece.
Will muttered something to the boy and then said a little louder, "you cut him really deep. I might have to stitch it."
"Not my fault, he totally deserved it." I answered, glaring at my bleeding fingers, then hiding them behind me.
Frank and Hazel came over to me and began to scold and tell me off for jumping off a building, but I just stared at the wall beside me.
"August- You really shouldn't have done that. Are you okay? You've been off lately ever since you came back from camp half-blood-" Hazel frowned and her hand touched my face, feeling for a fever.
I pushed it off.
"I think she needs to go back to camp. Mr. D and Chiron will watch over her better than us. They've got more time to keep a close eye on her." Frank commented and Hazel nodded.
"Don't hurt people to take your anger out on them. We know you can teleport, so just go… Go pack. Then come back. Orders from your praetor. Consequences will be dire if you don't."
Sighing, I walked over to my friends and the boy, turning and talking to Will.
"I have to go with you guys back to camp, so if you could wait here, I'll be back in, like, three minutes."
Will nodded, so I concentrated my powers and disappeared on the spot, teleporting back to my bunk. When I got there, I smacked my fist on my bed, my hands shaking violently.
I hated stupid stuff like this.
Slowly, I brought myself up again and began to collect all my things. It all fit into one small duffle bag, only because I didn't ever live on much. I tried to stop the tears running down my face as I grabbed hold of my last pair of shoes and stuffed it in.
"Stupid life."
Sighing, I took one last look around my room before disappearing out of thin air, back to the group of boys.
"Can we go now?" I grumbled, and laid my hand on Nico's shoulder, scowling.
It was only a moment before we were put into a tree. Everyone somehow ended up in a nice place. Me however, fell back onto a lower branch, hitting my back hard. When I saw that Paxton had fallen off the tree instead of being set nicely, it brought a grin out of me. Snickering, I dropped off my branch and walked right toward him, casually stepping on the taller boy's back as I strolled past.
Ignoring the voices behind me, I jerked to the side, dropping my duffle bag behind me and bolting for the ocean, where I would be able to escape. Their fault for not paying attention if they hadn't been.
The ground flew underneath my feet as I whipped through the trees, disappearing from sight as I headed toward the line of water in the distance.
"Get back here! You do NOT get to leave yet!" Nico cried out from behind me, but I smiled.
I was too far already.
When I reached the water, I dived in, completely clothed and disappeared beneath the surface, breathing hard from my running. I could feel the tears pressuring out of my eyes and mixing into the salt water around me. My hair floated everywhere, and looking up, I could see the sun shining through the surface of the water.
Nico's muffled voice stopped from somewhere and I hugged my knees.
I could've escaped right then.
Left camp forever.
But something was holding me back…
The fact that I had people that thought I was crazy.
I had to prove them wrong.
Slowly I pulled myself to the surface, only to find that Nico was for sure gone. He probably went back to camp to tell Mr. D that I'd run away. I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated. I wasn't sure how I was going to convince everyone that I wasn't a psychopath. Sighing, I searched for my duffle bag. It took a couple minutes for me to realize that Nico had probably grabbed it on his way to catch me. Just more evidence for them…
If they found my letter that I'd gotten from my dad a long time ago...
I'd be in huge trouble.
With that thought I raced back toward camp, my feet quickly flying underneath me. My breathing was rattled and as I ran, I thought about the horrifying moment when I'd realized I wasn't going to be able to fly. As I reached the Big House, I collapsed in front of it, using my elbows to hold me up as I balled up on the ground, gasping for air and tears falling down my face. A frustrated scream came out of my throat, and I slammed my fist onto the ground, digging my fingernails into the dirt.
The stuff that was being thrown at me was bringing me down. From my mother's death to my best friend's death, I'd been having plenty of bad luck. It seemed as though everyone I loved at one point in my life was disappearing. Being taken out one by one in front of my face.
Sobs shook my body, and I felt my knees begin to burn from when I'd thrown myself onto the ground. Anger coursed through me as I thought of my mother. Just leaving me again to think about how she'd been killed. Suddenly, arms wrapped around me and the dizziness of today tired me out enough that I just clonked.
Chapter Two
I woke up in my cabin, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. Surely nothing had happened yesterday, right? No one thought I was psycho… It was just a normal day… My hands shaking violently, I pushed myself off of the sleeping bag I always slept with, seeing how no one else was in my cabin.
Staring up at my large father-statue, I let out a deep breath.
Hold it all in…
I held back all my emotions and looked around the place. For some reason, I felt unsafe. Like something at camp wasn't right. Then again, I always felt that way. Changing into black sweatpants and an oversized dark blue hoodie, I walked out of my cabin, only to be greeted by Will.
"Oh, hey- I was just coming to check on y-"
"I don't need your help. I'm fine." I snapped, turning to leave.
"But people've been saying-"
"Yeah. I've gone crazy."
"Listen… August-" Will took my arm. "I really think that they're right. I mean, you tried to run away, you were sobbing on the ground like a crazy person, you've been screaming in your cabin late at night, and of course, you tried to commit suicide."
"I. Didn't. Try. To. Commit. Suicide!" I growled, wrenching my hand out of his grip and smacking him hard on his arm. "Dang it, Will. Don't you get it? Some people LIKE to be left alone. For example, me."
Will stared at me for a long time, looking stunned and rubbing his arm.
"A-August- Stop being difficult. If you never let people help you… Then- Then your life won't get any better." he said softly, taking another step towards me.
"I don't need anything. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you." I responded, taking a step back and crossing my arms.
"Really? Then what was that period of your life when you were four years old at camp and you refused to get help, then you didn't eat forever? You say you don't need help, but you do. I see it. You hide your emotions deep down most of the time and it bubbles you up. Stop and get help…"
"You aren't my therapist and, well, lately, Μου'χεις κανει τη ζωη πατινι'!"
He looked offended when I responded, which made sense seeing how I'd basically called him a horrible person. He wasn't, though… That's what hurt me deep down, but I decided to shove it so deep I wouldn't need to worry about it anymore. I stormed away, leaving Will in the dust and spilling out a great deal of Greek curses.
"Jerks, they just don't think right… I mean… Me? A psychopath? I don't look like one! I don't act like one! Maybe if they'd seen drunk psychopaths like I've seen, they'd know what one looked like…" I began to talk to myself, doing little voices in my fake conversation.
"OMG's… Did you see that girl over there?"
"Yeah, the one everyone says is a psychopath?"
"That one… Such a weirdo, right?"
"HAHAHA! I CAN HEAR YOU, IDIOTS!" I laughed in my normal voice, ignoring all the crazy looks I got from the campers I walked past. "I'M NOT SOME PSYCHO!"
As soon as I reached the point of the strawberry fields, a voice came from the side of me, making my eyes narrow, "You sure sound like one for a girl who's screaming, 'I'm not a psycho! Just talking to myself and screaming!'"
I turned around to find the guy from yesterday, Parker or something, standing next to me.
"Go away, or I'll kick your gluteus maximus. Next, it'll be up front if you bother me again. Maybe a punch would be a better deal. What would you say, Parker?" rolling up the sleeves of my hoodie, I stood into a wrestling form, not bothered by the height differences.
He raised a finger, "First off, my name is Paxton, not Parker. Second off, I say, no thanks. I'm thinking about not getting hurt again by you, especially when you obviously want to prove you're not a psycho. I don't think that will help your case, will it?"
I blinked. Oh. Paxton, of course. I'd totally forgotten! Mentally, I slapped myself then began to talk.
"Okay, well, give me one good reason I shouldn't punch you in the face, dork! I don't really like all of this reasonable stuff-" I was speaking straight off the bat without thinking prior to doing so. "Sorry about calling you the wrong name. But you can see how similar they are." I forced myself to back down and gave him a strained smile.
If I murdered him, people might think I was a psycho… And I didn't want that.
"It's fine, I've been called worse. But you might want to try not talking to yourself, if you want to pass yourself off as you said, 'not some psycho'." he responded, shrugging.
"Oh. I thought that was what normal people did…" I muttered, frowning.
At that moment, there was the clicking and clacking of hooves behind me and suddenly, Chiron was next to me.
"I enjoy seeing you making friends, August, but we do need to speak." he waved his arm to the side, gesturing me to follow him away from Paxton.
"Whatever you have to say can be said in front of him." I crossed my arms stubbornly and frowned. This was what normal people did, right?
He sighed and shook his head.
"Fine… What you said to Will this morning was unnecessary. He was simply trying to help you and there was no need to make a large deal of it. You'll be placed on bathroom duty for the next week, along with DAILY checkups."
Suddenly, my face was burning as Chiron walked off.
"Have a nice day, kids." he called back as soon as he disappeared.
Paxton turned to me, "So, did you really want me to hear that?"
If possible, my face grew a darker red.
"N-No- Not really…" I responded quietly.
"Okay, because I don't know what to think of that."
I blushed harder and decided to change the subject.
"How long have you known about the gods? And have you been claimed yet?"
"About a day, and no, I have not." he responded to my question, looking at me for a moment.
"Oh. I've known about them for… For a long time. Let's say that…. You got to camp really late for your age. Most kids get here around eight to thirteen. Except for me- Who do you think your godly parents will be?"
He shrugged, "I don't know, other than the fact it's my dad."
"Oh. I hope we aren't half siblings," I made a face, "I already struggle being alone in all of my cabins… I don't need you around. No offense. I just don't want any half-siblings. I'm fine being an 'only child'."
"Huh. No other siblings? Who's your godly parent then?"
"Godly parents," I corrected him, "Poseidon and Zeus."
"Two? Must be weird having two dads and one mom then." he said, looking slightly awkward.
"Not really. I don't have emotional connections to anyone. I try not to make them. I always hurt everyone I love. Besides, my mom's dead. My dads don't ever contact me… I've got no foster family. No orphanage. No friends. What does it matter?"
"So then why do you talk to people, or, for a matter of fact, do you stay here? If you don't make any emotional connections to anyone then why stay here where it's just full of people you can hurt."
I stayed quiet for a moment. I really didn't want to tell him what I felt like, but honestly, he gave off a vibe that made me want to tell him everything and anything.
"I… Well… Anywhere else… I guess I feel useless… I hurt mortals. No one likes me at camp, so how will I hurt them? I'm only here to clean for them in my mind… I just… I also have nowhere to go- I'm a legit monster magnet, so I can't really… Really put mortals in danger like that. It isn't fair to them… To throw away their lives for some girl who thinks she can barge in and try to fit in when in reality, she doesn't. At all," I glanced down and took a step back. "Camp just gives me a place to stay. Somewhere where people could care less if I fell off a cliff. It's either this or dying. And at this point, I want to be dead. But people like YOU always find me. Take away my chance to rid myself from a world that doesn't need me."
He quietly looked at me for a moment then spoke, "Can I show you something?"
"That sounds like a line from some weird, romance movie, but okay- As long as it's not romance. If it's romance, you can go ahead and go by yourself- I'd rather lick a dog's tongue than kiss you." I responded, regaining my snarkiness from my emotional state in a snap.
"Um, no, I don't really know you, but I think it might help if you see this." I screeched as he suddenly grabbed my wrist and we slipped into a shadow.
While traveling, I lost my stomach due to the weird feelings and lost my brain with his hand around my wrist. All adrenaline was screaming throughout me, making my heart beat quickly, but my brain kept yelling 'NO! LET GO!' It was all making me incredibly frustrated.
Suddenly, we appeared in a blackened, destroyed piece of land. Immediately, I wrenched my hand out of his and puked on the ground. After I spilled out my guts, I wiped my mouth off, shivered, and turned back to him, retching.
"You can shadow travel?!" I felt the spit on my chin, so I wiped it off quickly and glared at him. "Well, now we know what your godly parent is: Hades."
He shook his head, "Maybe, but I don't think so."
"Well, only Hades kids can shadow travel, idiot. Also, if this was supposed to make me feel better…"
I looked around and suddenly, the world went topsy turvy, making me crumple and black out into a whole other scene. My mom was standing in front of me, laying on the ground while a monster circled her. I couldn't see the creature perfectly, but I sensed it was bad.
"MOM!"
From the sound of my voice, I was about four… The year my mom died, and I was directed to camp.
"Listen- People outside- Go-" her voice was cut when the thing pounced on her, ripping her to pieces in front of me.
I panicked as the monster turned on me.
"G-Go away! I-I don't l-like m-meanies!" I stammered, hurrying back, my small hands clutching a doll my mother had made for me.
Trying not to cry as I looked at the fractions of my mother's dead body scattered, I closed my eyes and poured out my anger into my fingertips. At the time, I'd only done this once before and it hadn't gone so well. This was what I wanted though.
Suddenly, all the outlets next to me burst into flames and I could feel electricity swarming the house, only feeding the monstrous fire. They grew around me, burning my back and catching the doll on fire. The creature screeched loudly and disappeared into thin air. Suddenly, arms were wrapped around me, and I was pulled out of the fire, shooting me back to where I was at the moment.
I sat up, hyperventilating and looking around the ashes. Of course… I passed out because this had reminded me of how my house had ended. And my mother. After shakily breathing for a second, I lassoed all of my emotions and shoved them deep down.
Standing up as though nothing happened, I walked over to where Paxton was standing, staring at the destroyed piece of land.
"So, Parker, what is this place?"
"An old home, burned down to the ground by a lunatic who had no idea what he was doing, only frightened by someone who asked for shelter." he sighed.
"Oh. You sure seem to know a lot about this lunatic… Where's he now?"
"Lost, very very lost."
"Oh, hm…" I caught on quickly. It was obvious that he was the lunatic. "He seems pretty fine to me. Nice, sort of shy, a good head on his shoulders, and doesn't seem to be bothered by a whole lot. Which is sort of a superhuman thing. Plus, he's got good hair." I mentally groaned. Had I just complimented someone? Said something nice?
He looked over at me and I met his eyes, catching the small smile on his mouth and giving him a small, real, one back.
"Well, I think he would be touched by what you have said, especially the hair part." he responded, bringing a little bigger smile to my face.
"Huh. I'm glad he is." I really had nothing else to say, so I shut my mouth, forcing myself to look away from his green eyes.
Ew. Emotions. I totally wasn't attracted to him though. Just thought he was nice. But I wasn't about to make a friend, right? I'd just get him killed or something in the end. With those thoughts, a small blush came over my cheeks so once again, I mentally slapped myself.
"Aw, how adorable. The two outcasts getting along." I turned around to face some person I'd never seen before. My hand quickly went to my ring and the sword became a full grown thing. I had a bad feeling about this man… I positioned myself between Paxton and the man, my sword tip pointed at his chest.
"No need for that, I don't intend to make a big fuss." he snarled, rolling his eyes.
A god. Of course. From the way he talked…
"No big fuss or big fuss, I'm not moving. You better go away you fat μεγάλο πισινό." I threatened, the air around me crackling with moist electricity.
The god sighed and waved his hand, making Paxton's knees buckle behind me. I heard his choking and swiped my sword toward the god. When it missed, I dived onto him, trying to tackle him to the ground.
"STOP THAT! QUIT IT ΚΑΝΕ ΑΡΙΘΜΟΣ!" I cried out, screeching.
The god sighed again, unbothered by me and flicked his hand, sending me flying off of him and smacking into the ground groaning ten feet away from them. Paxton seemed to stop choking. Good. He was fine. As for my bones, I wasn't sure.
The god seemed slightly annoyed again. He glared down at Paxton's unmoving body.
"Come on." waving his hand, he somehow made Pax get swooped back into consciousness.
Forcing myself up, I nearly blacked out from the pain, though pushed through. I felt like many ribs were broken and definitely my foot and arm. I hobbled over to Paxton and flew my ring back onto my finger. Ignoring the god, I frowned down at him.
"You okay?"
"Not sure yet." he wheezed.
I turned to the god.
"Who do you think you are to just drop into someone's conversation like that! You have absolutely no right to do that, god or no god. You just showed up and disrupted everything! Are you the god of idiocy or something, because you really match all the qualities that one would have! Get out of here! I don't want to see your ugly face ever again in my life. I'd rather hug Tartarus than ever have you around me again."
Paxton crumpled behind me, and I turned, picking him up and letting him use my broken bones to lean on. It hurt. A lot. Blinded by pain, I couldn't see two feet in front of me.
"Now if you'll excuse us, we've got to go," I frowned to the god then whispered in Paxton's ear, "Maybe you can show me another time. I'll just teleport us back to camp."
Concentrating the last of my energy on teleporting I waved to the god with my free hand.
"See ya, sucker."
Suddenly, the world spun, and we were in the middle of the camp training grounds, being trampled by surprised, charging warriors.
Chapter Three
I woke up with hundreds of bandages on me. So many, that I felt like a sore, broken, mummified, depressing looking goddess. Glancing around, I spotted Paxton next to me on a cot. Seeing all the medical stuff, I figured we were in the infirmary.
"Wake up," I demanded a little croakily. When he didn't answer, I pulled my pillow out from under my head and threw it at his face. "Wake up!"
He groaned and put his face between his knees, doing something. I glanced to the side and spotted my hoodie, which should have my dagger in the pocket.
"Hey, pass me my hoodie, will you? Please? Pass it? Please? Just throw it over here? Throw it at my face, I don't care? Just nicely hand it to me? HELLOOO?!" I was probably incredibly annoying…
He didn't answer so I sighed and soon, the ripping of the bandages that held my legs to the ceiling was sounded. I bit my cheek to get rid of the pain and reached over with my non-broken arm best I could to grab my hoodie. Making do with what I had, I found my dagger and flicked it open, dropping the hoodie onto the floor. Did I care that I was wearing an old, ratty Queen tee-shirt? Nope.
I slid the dagger onto the thick bandages and began to saw them apart. It caused a lot of pain, but I decided that I'd rather have that than be trapped in a bed for a few months. Finally, the cast popped open, and I let out a quiet grunt as I shifted my entirely broken leg to the side of the bed and put on my shoe before working on the other the best I could, keeping my broken arm out of the way. After another five minutes of intense sawing, I was able to get it off with my one hand, only splitting open my knee a little bit with the dagger. Finally, I was able to grab my other shoe and put it on my broken ankle. How had I broken all my bones? Probably from that stampede of campers…
I lifted my shirt enough, so my ribs were showing and began to work on the bandage around that. As soon as it was off, I put down my shirt, sucking in a deep breath of air. It rattled everything in my body, which probably wasn't good, but I could live with it. Or die with it. I glanced over at Paxton for a moment. Still with his head in his knees…
As soon as I was able to get my arm's cast off, I got off of the bed, shakily beginning to force myself to take teeny steps toward the door. I got about halfway when I crumpled to the ground, my fingernails of my broken and non-broken arm digging into the floor, trying to keep me upright. Suddenly, a voice came from behind me, making me panic.
"AUGUST! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Will came storming towards me and I got up as quickly as I could and punched him in the stomach hard to get him away from me. I watched as he stumbled back into a bin and fell into it, a stunned look on his face.
I let the tears of pain wash over my face, my hand throbbing. Slowly, I turned and began to shuffle away again. I felt nauseous, but I ignored it, stopping at the door, panting. There was no way I'd make it to the beach on my own, but I was going to try. Wiping my non-broken hand on my sweatpants, I began to hobble toward the beach. A couple steps in, I fell again, shooting pain up all of my body, though there were no campers around to help me. I doubted they would have if they were around. Grunting, I attempted to push myself up, though failed, landing flat on my face.
Arms suddenly picked me up and I almost blacked out from the pressure.
"The- Gods- Let- Go-" I groaned, weakly pushing them as hard as I could.
I suddenly sensed water near me, so I began to feel a little better, just smelling the salt.
"Drop me-" I mumbled.
Whoever was holding me dropped me and I dizzily rolled on the sand and into the water. As soon as I hit it, I felt my bones begin to mend. Slowly, I pushed myself deeper into the ocean, laying on the ground and breathing as I slowly healed. My hair floated around my face, and I willed myself to get soaked. I didn't care…
Ten minutes later, I stood up, stretching and glancing around, my eyes catching a person staring at me from the beach; Paxton. A little more relaxed and feeling a whole lot better, I strolled over to him.
"How come you brought me here?" I asked quietly.
"You said Poseidon was one of your dads, I just assumed water helped you."
I nodded, "Nice observation. It does… A lot," taking a breath, I shook my head. "Who was that guy?"
He glared at the ground. "I don't know, but I've seen him before, unfortunately."
"Well, he was definitely a god…" I started pacing back and forth, thinking hard. Suddenly, I came to a stop. "I forgot to ask… You okay? You seemed a little," I did the coo-coo sign, "messed with."
He frowned and met my eyes, "When? I feel like I've been that way a lot recently."
For once in five years, I burst into laughter, snorting like some happy weirdo. My hair got in my face as I bent my head, putting my face in my hands.
"Oh, my gods- You have no idea. I feel that way every day…" I said between giggles.
"Nice to know someone feels the same. But really, which time?" I couldn't get rid of the smile, so I gave up and stood straight again.
"The most recent."
"Are nightmares a regular thing for you?" he asked.
My face fell slightly.
"Yeah, it's normal for all demigods. We all get them most of the time. Why?"
"I had a few, about the god," he responded.
I sighed, rubbing my temples again, "Okay- Well- Anything else you know about him?"
"He's planning something, that's the obvious part, and that it has something to do with camp, specifically war. And that, well, right before we left, he said, 'I'll see you soon Paxton, we are blood after all,' I think we might be related-" he finished, looking at me.
I frowned and thought for a moment.
"Okay… Well… None of the Greek gods would plan war on the Greek camp. And the Romans wouldn't dare do that… I know their leaders. They wouldn't stand for that. Hm… Well, those are the only gods I know of. I've never been to school so I can't say that I know more," I concluded, though added something more, "But since I don't know all, it's possible that he's from a different set of gods…"
"Well, there are other mythologies, maybe that's what it is, but I mean, I could be wrong." he said, looking like he was thinking.
"Yeah… Well, I want you to go back to the infirmary. Get better. Tell Will I'm sorry. And I'll research this?" I suggested.
"Uh-huh, but where would you be? You're not exactly on good terms with Chiron of Will." he said.
"In the library. It's not like they can do anything about me. Besides, Dionysus loves me. He can't get rid of me," I smirked. "He likes my sass. Drives Peter crazy."
"That's good but you should apologize to Will yourself, I don't think he appreciates being ignored and treated like crap by you." he raised an eyebrow.
I stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "Fine but you have to come with me and make sure he doesn't murder me on the spot. I need to get my hoodie anyway." I took his hand and teleported us to the entry of the infirmary without giving him a chance to answer.
As soon as we reached there, I let go of his hand and walked over to my bandaged bed, putting my hoodie on and picking up all the bandages before putting them in the trash. It took me a moment to find Will. He was sitting alone, muttering to himself.
Slowly, I sat against the wall across from him.
"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I shouldn't have done that. I just had an irrational fear that you would keep me in here instead of letting me go get to water."
Will rubbed his temples and then turned to me, catching my eyes for a while.
"Promise to just talk it out next time? No running off like that? And no punching me?" he asked.
I glanced at the ground and then nodded. He pulled me into a hug, and my entire body was screaming 'NOT THIS AGAIN!' As soon as it was over, I gave him a forced smile and he left. As soon as I stood up, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"There. How was that?" I asked Paxton.
He shrugged, "You could have actually hugged him back, but that was good. Also, you're asking me? The other crazy person?" he asked.
"Fair. I just don't do voluntary physical touch," I said, "And you make a good point. I guess we both are clueless when it comes to this."
He nodded, "Uh, they're going to want an explanation later of what we were doing… What do we tell them?"
I got a mischievous look in my eyes as I thought of an excuse.
"We tell them we were on a date, and you tried to kiss me. It would explain all the broken bones. We say we got into a fight. Somehow, you got the lesser end of the injuries. Problem solved!"
He gagged, "Uh, how about no. We do not do that."
"Fine, genius. Let's see you come up with a better excuse." I crossed my arms.
"We tell them I startled you, and you ended up teleporting us both to a site, where we got attacked and then we got back but were too disoriented to realize where we had ended up," he suggested.
I stared at him for a long time.
"That doesn't make sense. I'm still going with that date thing. Or maybe I just say… Hm… I'm still going with that date idea."
"Please don't." he said.
"Fine. Let's just say we forgot." I suggested.
He nodded in agreement.
"Alright. Well, see you, Parker." I dusted off my hoodie, reached up and patted his shoulder, then walked out of the infirmary, heading toward the library.
Chapter Four
As soon as I reached the library, I began to hunt for a book that might give me a clue of what other gods there were. Suddenly, my hands touched a dusty, large, and incredibly old book. The cover said, Οι Θεοί του Κόσμου. Of course. The Gods of the World. A small smile came over my mouth and I skipped over the Greek and Roman gods. The next section was Egyptian gods, but none of them matched the description of the person on the hill.
The section after that was Norse gods. I wasn't totally sure what that was, but as I started reading, I began to laugh. It had to be made up. It wasn't possible that there were Egyptian, Greek, Roman, AND Norse gods! My mind swirled slightly, but I looked through the Norse gods.
As I flipped through, suddenly, the pages wouldn't move. It was stuck on one god: Loki. Frowning, I tried to pry the next page up but it was all glued down somehow. Grunting, I decided to read that page. As soon as I read it, I realized that this was the god I was looking for.
Loki.
I closed the book and put it back, turning around and taking a few steps before I realized I wanted to check one more thing. Unfortunately, when I turned around and searched, the book had disappeared into thin air. It was like it had never existed. Had I gotten Divine Intervention?
Frowning, I turned away and walked as fast as I could out of the library, only to run into no one other than Peter Brown.
"Woah, cool it, August," he gave me his goofy grin, ruffling his black hair with his hand, "I was just looking for you. Chiron wants us. Not sure why but he won't tell me until you're there. So come on!"
I sighed and shook my head. "Fine, let's go."
Peter grabbed my hand, sending a blush onto my cheeks and dragged me to the Big House. As soon as we got there, I spotted Chiron up on the porch, rubbing his hands together.
"Peter! August! I'm afraid that you have to… Well, visit Rachel. She's been wanting you. Knows something.." he said, grimacing.
"Alright! We're off. Thanks, Chiron!" Peter smiled and dragged me off to Rachel Dare's cave.
Rachel Dare's red haired head popped out of the edge of the cave as we neared it, her green eyes shining.
"You're late! Come, come!" She waved us in and sat us down quickly, throwing us juice boxes.
As usual, Peter took mine and drank both in less than ten seconds. Dionysus kid thing… Besides, I didn't love juice boxes anyway.
"So, why do you need us?" Peter asked, wiping his mouth on his dark green hoodie.
"I… I had a dream. About you two and… Well, another person that I couldn't recognize. I'm coming tonight to the campfire and you two need to come too. You're… You're going on a quest."
I froze in my spot, staring at a painting covered wall, where my face poked out somewhere. "I have to?"
She nodded, "Unfortunately, yes… I suppose we should go tell Chiron and Mr. D."
"Why didn't you just tell them first?" I asked, frowning.
She grimaced. "I thought that it would only be fair to let you know first."
I sighed and nodded, standing. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go?"
Peter grabbed both of our hands and whipped us out of our spot, teleporting us to the Big House.
I spaced out, trying not to pay attention to Chiron's reaction. It was only until Mr. D began talking that I forced myself to focus. It wasn't good to ignore a god, of course.
"A quest? With Peter and August?" He seemed upset but if he was, his face didn't show it. "And some mystery boy.." Sighing, he rubbed his temples. "Fine. I guess I can't control it anyway." he muttered, turning and walking out of the room.
Rachel glanced at me, looking at the dark circles under my eyes.
"You should get some sleep. We find out tonight who the mystery boy is and you leave tomorrow morning."
I nodded and Peter grabbed my hand, squeezing it once and making a blush creep up onto me.
"Sleep well." he let go and watched me as I left.
I still felt the imprint of his hand on mine as I walked and I couldn't get rid of the slight adrenaline it had given my heart. I decided to go to Poseidon cabin, where a large statue of my dad couldn't loom over me, giving me nightmares I didn't necessarily need.
"Home sweet home." I grumbled sarcastically and flopped on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed when I'd gotten in.
I thought back to the fire of my home and shoved all my emotions down, shifting my sheets over my head and falling asleep, praying to the gods that I wouldn't have nightmares.
When I woke up, the dinner bell was ringing and my head was pounding because of it. Shaking my head, I walked across the room and shoved on a hoodie, heading out the door and to the dining pavilion. I figured Peter had told a couple friends because many kids stared at me as I walked toward the Dionysus table. Quickly, I shoved my hood over my head, hiding my face as I walked up to Peter and slipped beside him, glancing around nervously. He put his arm around me and ate, talking to his friends and otherwise ignoring me.
When a dryad dropped my food off, I decided not to eat. Peter had obviously scraped a portion of his food into the fire already, so I stood up and kept my head ducked as I brought my plate to the fire, dumping it all in and giving the empty plate to a nearby dryad.
"Anything new?" a voice came from the side of me and I spotted Paxton, though I decided to ignore him, shaking my head.
After doing so, I slumped back over to Peter, gaining back my original position I'd been in previously. Normally I wouldn't let someone touch me, but he was a completely different case. I liked him, though I wasn't sure why. Glancing around, I spotted Paxton looking at me from a corner. My eyes narrowed and I glared back until he turned away.
When dinner was over, we still had thirty minutes left until the annual campfire. Peter somehow convinced me to come with him and dragged me around camp with his other friends, just talking and having what they called 'fun'. My fun was shooting targets with knives… that wasn't what we were doing though.
The campfire time came and I rushed back to the cabin, changing into the only dress I owned; a black knee-length one. It was sort of small, but I had to deal with it. Going on a quest was a big thing and besides, most girls tried to look good for campfires. This was the first time I was actually trying. Sighing, I pulled my hair back into a low ponytail and put on the minimal amount of makeup you could. When I was finished, I slipped on my black tennis shoes and walked out the door, straight into Peter.
"Wow. I- Wow. August with her hair down and even makeup." he teased, grinning though his eyes sparkled.
"Oh, shut up. We're going to be late." I glared at him and set off ahead, reaching the fire first.
Peter teleported next to me and put my arm into his, making my face burn more than it had ever burned in my life. Unfortunately, we were the last people to show up, meaning that everyone was staring at us. Especially me. Why were they staring at me?! It didn't help much that Rachel had decided that we had to stand right next to her and Chiron. Being in front of everyone with Peter's arm around mine made me so embarrassed that I just pulled my arm out of his, folding my arms and putting my hands under my armpits uncomfortably.
My eyes shifted over the crowd until I spotted Paxton and, for reasons I couldn't explain, I watched him talk to his friends for a while before I turned away and looked up at Chiron, who'd begun to talk.
"I'm afraid that we've got another quest to dish out to some unfortunate campers. They will be informed later but I regret saying that you won't be able to know any more than who is going. Peter Brown and Augusta Argyros will be two of our questers-"
He was cut off suddenly by Rachel, who'd surprised everyone by gasping. "THAT'S IT. THAT'S HIM." she ran quickly over to Paxton and wrenched him out of his seat, dragging him over to us.
My eyes darkened. Great. Paxton.
"So… Parker is the last person on this quest?"
Rachel nodded vigorously, "I guess so! Welcome to the team, Parker."
"Uh, it's Paxton actually." Paxton said, his hands beginning to shake.
"Oh. Well, then welcome to the-" Chiron froze as two signs appeared over Park- I mean, Paxton's head.
There was a Hades sign above his head and Eris sign, and a gold one that was too fuzzy to make out, causing Chiron and I to frown.
"Curious. Most curious. That three people with qualities unheard of are now going on a quest together…" he shuffled his hooves. "Let's speak about this in the morning. For now, let the campfire begin."
All chaos and music erupted at that point.
Overwhelmed, I turned around and walked away, letting Peter chill with his friends. I walked until I got to the strawberry fields, where I sat on a hill with a tree. Leaning against the tree, I watched the stars quietly.
This had to be it.
The thing that would kill me…
I should've been happy, but instead, I felt emotions rising in my chest. I buried them deep down again, refusing to let them take control of me. They had no right to do that.
Slowly, I curled my knees to my chest and let myself tip over, laying on the ground and falling asleep.
Chapter Five
When I woke up I hurried myself to my cabin. It was incredibly cold and early in the morning. My body was blue and my lips were a light purple. Shivers went down my body and my teeth chattered violently. I still held a high posture as I walked past a few early risers, keeping my eyes ahead of me. I couldn't make them think I was weak. Ever.
As I reached Zeus cabin, I threw open the door and stormed in, glaring at the huge statue of my dad in front of him.
"Morning. Don't murder me while I'm on this quest, please. Or my friends. Otherwise you'll find me sitting on your throne in mount olympus, sharpening a knife." I placed my hands by my sides and walked over to my duffle bag, picking it up and swinging it over my shoulder.
Suddenly, I decided I wanted a new weapon. Not something old… After making sure my ring was still on, I searched through the bag for my jacket with the daggers. As soon as I found it, I put a black tank top on and slipped the black jacket over. It took me a moment to find my baggy, military cargo jeans. I slipped them on and put on a thick, black belt before I put the duffle bag back on my shoulder.
Quickly, I began to head toward Poseidon cabin. When I reached it, I picked up all my clothes off the floor and dresser before shoving them into the bag. After a while of searching, I was able to find a hair-tie and my black, fingerless combat gloves. I pulled my hair into a tight, low ponytail and pulled the gloves on. Glancing in the mirror, I realized that despite being inside, I was still quite blue and purple. And shivering. My teeth chattering, I decided to ignore my makeup and didn't take it off. What was the point?
Grabbing the bag, I walked out the door, heading for the weapons storage. When I reached the place, I looked around, looking for a sword of some sort. That'd be nice… All of a sudden, something began to glow. Frowning, I dug through a pile of weapons until I was able to find something I didn't recognize; a collapsible double-sided scythe. It was huge, metal, and looked like they were made of bones; I liked it. It had a big Hades vibe going off them so I decided to leave them there. Turning around, I began to walk out but a sudden light weight tugged on my belt. Glancing down, I discovered that the collapsed scythe was hung onto my belt. Growling, I stalked out, feeling colder by the moment.
The scythe gave me a weird urge to strike it into my stomach and it made me so cold that my lips were now a noticeable blue. As if I were drowning. A pounding headache began but I kept my straight posture as I walked toward the Big House, my teeth chattered violently and my hands shook as if I were being electrified. It took me a moment to fumble around the door handle, but finally, I was able to get a good grip on it for a moment enough to turn it.
I could feel frost beginning to cover my eyelashes. How weird… I failed to frown so I lifted my violently shaking hand to my eyes, wiping the frost away with trouble. Why was I so cold? It felt like I was an ice sculpture… Seeing how I couldn't make facial expressions.
Stumbling slightly, I began to make my way down the stairs to the ping pong room. When I walked in, I glanced around the table, looking at Peter, Chiron, Rachel, then Paxton in turn. He looked like he'd been talking about something, but I'd interrupted him. Not that I cared.
"A-Anyone h-have a-a s-seat I-I c-can t-ta-take?" I stammered, looking around the room.
"Oh my gods, what happened to you?!" Peter cried out, standing up and touching my arm to guide me to a chair.
If my face could've heated, it would've.
"Geez-" his hand retracted almost as fast as he put it on me, "You feel like ice."
"T-That w-was a-a l-little r-r-rude, b-but I-I'll l-let i-it g-go-" I joked, and tried my best to smile, but it looked like a grimace and stumbled over to the chair next to Paxton, sinking into it and accidentally touching his arm in the meantime.
Peter looked like he was going to laugh but thought better of it, going quiet again. Peter trudged back to his chair and sat in it.
"Could you give an explanation to why you look like you took a dip in a glacier populated ocean?" Paxton asked.
"What makes you think I didn't do that?" I tried to grin again but it came as a grimace. Why was I in such a light mood today? I sighed, "Okay, fine. I slept outside all night… I'm not sure why, I'm just.. Really cold." I placed my hand over my new weapon under the table, my fingers turning blue as I did so.
Chiron cleared his throat, giving me a slight look of suspicion, "Well now that you're all here, though not in the best condition," he gave me a pointed look, "But I think Rachel should explain what the quest is."
Rachel started to nod but her eyes suddenly glowed green and a green mist came out of her mouth, "Journey to Boston, find the abomination, kill it, and you're all set!" the mist disappeared and she suddenly slumped.
"W-Well t-then-" I let out a short laugh/messed up giggle, "I-I g-guess t-that's i-it. L-Let's g-get o-out o-of h-here."
"Wait a second, that wasn't a prophecy, that was very distinct instructions!" Peter sounded stressed.
"Yes, it was, but it was definitely the Oracle, so I do believe that you're all set to leave now," Chiron said, looking slightly surprised.
"T-Then l-let's g-go!" I glanced around, "A-Anyone h-have a-any p-pocket w-warmers?"
"I've got hand warmers that you're free to hold!" Peter wiggled his fingers in front of my face, "Or of course, arm warmers." He goofily smiled.
"I-I'll t-take m-my c-chances w-without t-them, t-thanks." I stammered, making him snort.
Slowly, I stood and wrenched the scythe off of my belt, unzipping my duffle bag with struggle and shoving it in there. As soon as it was off of my skin, warmth began to sink into me and some color came back into my cheeks. Suddenly, I didn't feel so frozen. I was only slightly shivering.
"Maybe that hand thing might work." I teased Peter, feeling my stammer calm down much more.
What was going on? Why had most of my cold disappeared when I put the scythe back?
Peter jokingly hopped to my side and took my hand, making me blush.
"Well, you best be on your way then, good luck." Chiron stood.
"Thank you for everything," I said, smiling slightly at Chiron and Rachel -a rare sight-, "I hope we'll see each other again."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paxton give me a weird look. Slowly, sticking my tongue out at him when we turned around, Peter and I led the way upstairs, where we happened to meet Dionysus, sitting in the living room next to Seymour.
"Heya, D-Man. What're you doing here?" I asked, shooting a grin in his direction.
Ew… Holding Peter's hand had made me all cheery.
Dionysus sent me a pissed smile before he stood up and walked over to Peter and I, placing his hand on Peter's shoulder.
"Hello, Peter. I'd rather not say goodbye to another one of my sons, not knowing if they'll come back," he looked as though he got a sour taste in his mouth and a tinge of sadness lined his eyes, "But I'm afraid I have no choice. Promise me you'll come back safely," he turned to me, "And you, August, take care of him, will you? Bring him back unharmed." After talking to us, he turned to Paxton and stared at him for a moment.
"And you, Parker, make sure that one, they behave," he motioned to us, "and two, that they both arrive back without a single scratch."
Parker- I mean Paxton nodded, looking miserable.
"Now get out of my sight. I've talked enough. I'll give you a little head start, though don't tell anyone," he winked, "I'll see you all eventually." He snapped his fingers and we all appeared on a random street in what looked to be Boston.
"Any idea where we are?" Paxton asked after a second.
"No," I shook my head, "We should split up, though. Cover more ground while we search for whatever monster this is…"
"Okay, but what happens if one of us gets attacked by this thing? We won't be able to know if that happens, and I really don't want to get on Dionysus's bad side." Paxton protested.
I grinned and turned to him, "Then you go with Peter and pray to the gods that you're the one who gets attacked. I doubt Dionysus cares about me as much as he does Peter. He knows how stupid I get sometimes."
Peter frowned, "And you think I'm just going to let you go off on your own?"
"Yes you will, unless you want to get karate chopped in half." I grinned wider.
Paxton glanced between us, "Actually, August, you and me need to talk about yesterday."
I grimaced, "Fine. Peter, give us a minute."
Peter sent a suspicious look at Paxton, then moved to the side, taking my duffle bag with him and muttering nonchalantly to himself.
"What?" I growled.
"You found out who the god is, didn't you?" Paxton folded his arms across his chest, his eyes narrowed.
"...Yes. But I think you don't want to know." I said quietly.
He shook his head, "I think I do. I have reasons to believe he's my dad."
"Fine. It's Loki." I sighed.
"Thanks," he said, looking a little more relaxed, "Where did you find out?"
"Believe it or not, I read books," I raised my eyebrows. "Where else?"
"I meant which book, you did say you would check the library," he said.
"Uh… Just some weird book that disappeared after I looked at it. The section was on Norse mythology."
He pressed his lips together, "You said it disappeared after you looked at it?" he asked.
I nodded, realizing how crazy I sounded. What was new?
"Well that can't be good, can it?" he asked.
I thought about telling him about how my new weapon had made me freeze when I picked it up.
"No, it's not," I shook my head, "Can we start looking now?"
"Sure, but we're going to have to come back to this later, I have a feeling he plays a big part in this quest." Paxton said.
"Okay, cool," I skipped over to Peter and grabbed my bag, "See you guys around, then."
Harnessing energy without listening to anything they said, I teleported away. As soon as I touched the ground, I felt a weird dark presence around me, making me search around for it. My eyes zeroed in on a homeless person, sitting on the side of the road and staring darkly at me. I sucked in a sharp breath, not realizing that momentarily I'd forgotten to breathe.
Everything screamed in me to run as he stood up and began to make his way to me, but I stayed put.
How was I going to get Paxton and Peter to help me? I hadn't thought that through…
"I'm sorry, do you need something?" I spat as he came nearer, cornering me into an alleyway.
He pounced on me and I shoved him away, a long cut going up my arm as I did so. Suddenly, the evil presence disappeared and I felt him shift off of me, suddenly disappearing into the ground, hissing.
"Aw, where'd Dank Guy go?" a voice came from behind me, making me jump. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be walking around by yourself…" the hiss of breath came close to my ear, making me nearly barf.
For some reason, I'd frozen up again, feeling as though something was rooting me to the ground.
"Maybe you should go visit our little friend, eh?" he laughed softly and my nose wrinkled at his horrible breath as his arms slid around me, almost in a backwards hug.
"Don't touch me." I warned, but I couldn't move my body away from the ground, so he proceeded to slip his arms around my waist.
"No one to help you now, kid." he laughed again, cruelly.
"LET GO!" I screeched, not liking how close his face was to mine and where his hands were, "Watch your hands, mister!"
"Why would I do that? Then it's no fun!" he exclaimed, brushing his cheek against mine.
Eww…. He'd better get off soon…
Suddenly, the area around me exploded in flames and the people around me disappeared in my mind and I screamed out in agony, my body burning with the heat of the fire. Where had that come from?
I didn't have time to figure it out, because I crumpled to the ground, the world blacking out.
Chapter Six
I woke to Peter's face close to mine, smacking foreheads with him as I shot up into a sitting position. Of course, I simply fell back down, groaning along with him and rubbing my head.
"What the-'' I grumbled, and remembered the man's hands on my waist, making me shudder. "What happened?" I finished about five minutes later, my hand going to my hair, which's ends had been fried.
Sighing, I pulled a dagger out of my now charred jacket and flicked it open, not giving my hair a second glance before I cut off the charred ends, making my hair to my shoulder and incredibly choppy cut. After finishing it off, I shut the knife and shoved it into my jacket, watching as the burns on my arms stopped hurting as much.
"You feed me ambrosia?" I guessed.
Peter nodded.
"So, we're just going to hang out on this roof? Or are we going to find some actual place to stay?" Paxton asked, looking slightly tousled.
"We shouldn't stay somewhere on a quest. It isn't safe. Unless it's in the middle of nowhere. And as you can see, I almost died inside that alley. One of your fire and two of a very creepy man who was attracted to me." I glared at him.
He shrugged, "You're fine now, or at least, on the exterior, maybe not on the interior maybe."
I snorted, "This is why I like you, weirdo. Because you have no care to say sorry."
I tried to ignore the jealous look Peter gave him for a moment.
"By the amount of names you've called me, I got the impression that you hated me, also by the amount of times you've hurt me, but who's counting?" Paxton asked.
"Oh, I hate you, don't worry. And I'm counting down the moments until I get to beat you up." I grinned.
He rolled his eyes.
"Alright, geniuses, let's go." I stood on the top of the roof and hopped off, probably being more stupid than I'd ever been.
I landed hard on the ground, luckily not breaking any bones.
Peter followed soon after, hitting the ground and squeaking at the same time, "Geez, August…"
"So you guys like jumping off roofs? I don't think that's the best idea, even if you guys have magic healing stuff." Paxton said, appearing behind us.
"To be fair, it's not me who likes it. Just August." Peter said, shrugging.
"So, where to now? I don't think we should stay in Augusta's almost grave." Paxton said.
"You can call me, August you know," I pointed out to him and grabbed my bag from Peter, who'd taken it down with him, and turned to the alleyway. "What time is it? If it's early, there's no point in stopping searching." Once again, I didn't mention that I may have found the monster.
"I'm not sure, and what if I called you Auggie?" Peter grinned widely and I punched him hard in the arm, ruffling my new short hair.
"Don't even think about it."
"Ouch." Peter rubbed his arm, though there was still a small grin on his face.
"Come on dorks. Let's go find a clock." I set off out of the alleyway, keeping a good distance from homeless people as I went in search of a clock of some sort.
"We could ask someone, you know, it's easier than wandering around trying to find a clock." Paxton said.
"Alright, Mr. Obvious, one thing: I don't trust these people and besides, look-" I pointed, where there was a storefront with a clock in it that told me it was only noon. "We still have time to search."
"Okay, but let's hope it shows up fast, I don't like it here. It keeps giving me the chills." Paxton rubbed his arms.
I nearly snorted. Nearly, "You REALLY think that we're going to get past a quest that easily?!"
He glared at me, "No, but I don't think it's a good idea to stay out in the open like this, isn't that how you usually get attacked?"
"Actually, it really doesn't matter where you are. You get attacked everywhere," Peter shrugged, "That's the life of a demigod for you."
He grunted, "Fine, doesn't mean I don't want to get out of the open, still." Paxton pursed his lips, making an awkward silence.
"This is where we all start dancing and break out into a song about 'how the demigods tough out their quesssttttt!" I sang as off-key as I could, striking a pose and causing many people to stare at us weirdly, not that I cared.
Paxton stared at me, "Like yesterday, please don't," then he muttered something that I could barely make out, "How did you survive in the mortal world?"
"For your information, I arrived at camp just before I turned four. I didn't have enough time to adjust." my face darkened but Peter began to break out into song again.
"OOOOOHHHH! His name's Parker! Just kidding it's Paxton! He's stuck with two weirdos, with bad singing voices who will destroy his sanniiittyyyyy!" hitting a horrible high note, he bowed, causing half the street to stare at us like we were trash cans wearing hats and dancing.
Paxton moved next to Peter and mocked him loud enough that only I could hear, "And Peter's going to stop singing or I will personally set his hair on fire," he snarled, backing up a little, "By the way, I don't have any sanity left for you to destroy, I did it all to myself when I set my neighborhood into flames and killed everyone."
I pulled my dagger out and picked the dirt out of my nails with it, because it was bothering me.
"Well… Nice job for killing another thing: the mood. I should call you BuzzKill from now on." I grinned and finished pulling the dirt out of my nails.
"HEY! I know! We should go do something fun while we're in Boston! Steal a nice car, go to a club maybe and pretend we're over eighteen!" Peter suggested.
Paxton raised an eyebrow and began to walk away. Peter almost followed but I grabbed his arm to keep him back.
"If he wants to go, just let him." I rolled my eyes, pulling my hand back and stuffing it into my pocket.
"Alright, fine. Let's go!" he grinned and began to walk off in the opposite direction of Paxton.
Before he could get too far, I grabbed his arm again and pulled him back.
"Well, Mr. Enthusiastic, you need to wait a little longer. We can't just ditch Paxton."
"Come onnn…" he begged, giving me his best puppy eyes.
"No."
"Come on… Who're you in love with? Me or Pax?"
I sighed, crossing my arms, scowling at him while he wiggled his eyebrows.
"Are you seriously asking me this?"
"Yeah."
"What if I said I loved Paxton? How would you react?"
"I-" he rolled his eyes when we were interrupted by Paxton.
"Uh, hello, sorry to interrupt, whatever was going on, but you might want to come see this."
"Augh. Fine. What is it?" I asked.
He gestured for us to follow and I unzipped my duffle bag, pulling out my scythes and ignoring the way I started to frost as Peter and I followed behind him. Frowning when we reached a door in the alley, I felt a strange pull from my scythes, dragging me toward it slowly. The more I tried to resist, the faster they went, though my hands were iced to the handle at that point, so I wasn't able to pull them off. Trying to speak, I found that I couldn't because my lips were frozen together.
I could feel the frost and ice creeping up my arms as I was dragged inch by inch toward the edge of the tunnel. Finally, I was able to break it off of my lips.
"H-Help-" I could barely get the word out, my lips freezing over almost immediately.
I could slightly hear movement around me, but everything on me was freezing over, making me a living ice sculpture. My eyes closed and I could feel the coldness reaching the rest of my face as the tunnel began to suck me in. I wasn't sure what happened after my face was completely frozen; all I remembered was the world going black.
Chapter Seven
I woke up with a creepy goddess staring at my face (don't tell her I said that). Most of the coldness had gone away from me and though I was still holding the scythes, I simply felt a little chilly. The only reason I could tell she was a goddess, was because she radiated power and she was dressed as one.
Long black hair flew down to her elbows and I couldn't tell if her pinwheel eyes were amber, green, or blue. A long, decorated chiton was layered on top of her pale skin.
"It's swell that those nuisance of boys didn't come. I wasn't sure what I'd do with them if you arrived with them tagging along…" she sighed dramatically, then smiled. "Oh, of course… I must introduce myself," she said coldly, giving me a smile that sent shivers down my spine, "My name is Khione, the goddess of snow." to prove her point, she waved her hand, making snow swirl in the air.
It took me a moment to find the words.
"So… You're basically like Elsa, just immortal? And with black hair?" I reached out and took a strand of her hair, tugging it slightly.
She wouldn't kill me, right?
Khione growled and glared at me.
"It's too bad that I'm saving you for someone else…" her eyes glided over my scythes and she smiled and began to talk again. "I see you've gotten my weapons! Aw… You're just meant for them!" she patted my cheek and I flinched at the coldness.
"Where are my friends?" I demanded, stumbling to stand up and dropping my duffle bag in the process. Whatever. Who needed that?
"That… That is none of your concern. You are here simply to be my servant. Or ice sculpture. You'd be great as both. How about you choose? And in the end I'll hand you over to Loki! So win-win!" she grinned, flipping her hair annoyingly.
Anger coursed through me, making the air crackle with electricity. The entrance to the tunnel was right behind her, so I figured, why not try and get past her?
"But of course, you, being dense, wouldn't even be able to dust something! I'm not sure why he wants you…"
Loki? I couldn't let this happen…
"What did you do with my friends?" I growled, taking a step toward her.
"I've done nothing, relax." she picked her nails, making me incredibly frustrated.
Suddenly, all of my anger and frustration bubbled inside of me, making the air become toxic.
Khione coughed, waving the air around her, "What are you doing? No little Zeus tricks in my home!"
Harnessing all of the electricity I could, everything burst at once, singeing both Khione and I. It became a whirlwind of lightning and snow from her.
"You really think you can escape?" Khione cackled, carelessly holding her hands out.
My eyes burned as I used my power, but I pressured myself to continue, watching as her pretty black hair and chiton began to crumble from the force of power.
"You think you're more powerful than me?" she attempted to growl, but she sounded slightly out of breath, a bead of frozen sweat slipping down her face and shattering on the ground.
I didn't answer for fear that I would lose all the momentum I'd built up. At one moment, the room blasted through with a bright flash; something that was so bright, that it could probably momentarily blind anyone.
My vision darkened for a moment and as I looked around, I noticed everything was black and falling apart in her pretty home. Voices came from outside and taking one look at the goddesses' singed and gasping body, I decided to make a run for it. Quickly, I dropped my scythes and hoped they wouldn't come after me. As soon as I took a step forward, however, my vision darkened again.
This was going to be tough…
Gritting my teeth because my body felt like it was on fire, I weakly made a run for it, feeling like I was running through darkness because I could barely see anything. Just the blur of walls passing me.
Yelling came from behind me, but I harnessed the rest of my powers so I could run faster, using something I had never used before and something I didn't know existed: superspeed. It lasted for about ten seconds and by the time I'd stopped, my feet were burning like I'd stepped on hot coals.
I was worn to the bone and gasping for air at that point, resisting crumpling on the floor. Everything looked blurry but I was able to see enough in the darkness that my arms were stained red. I was sure the rest of me was too. I could still feel like something was hitting me hard. It took me a moment to see the glint of ice buried deep across my legs. Gods… Khione had thrown ice shards at me…
My weak hands flew to my face and I pulled the shards I could feel out, feeling fresh blood drip down my face. Trying to find where I was, I concentrated my powers for a moment to create a flash of light. Unfortunately, my eyesight was still too blurry to see anything. Slowly, I crumpled against a wall and put my hands to my face, blankly staring into the darkness.
…
The next moment I was able to regain consciousness, feeling a little better and finding Peter and Paxton holding me up, I was attacked by the same freaking goddess.
Welcome to the life of a demigod. When you finally wake up and think, wow, I'm finally out of that, I must be safe, a whole new danger just hits you right in the face.
When Khione lunged, I forced myself out of the boy's hands, ignoring the aching around me and stood in front of them, diving onto the goddess myself and letting my body heat with light, making her screech and sending us wrestling all over the floor.
This was my fight, not theirs, and I couldn't put them in danger because some stupid goddess who wanted to kill me.
"Don't use your little light tricks on me, little girl." she spat, her arm swinging to punch my face.
I avoided it. She wouldn't be able to kill me; if she did, she'd have to face the wrath of Loki. It didn't mean she couldn't hurt me though. I was anchoring all my powers to the ground, so when I felt her try to teleport with me away, we stayed in the same spot, our forms flickering a little.
"Don't use your little light tricks on me, little girl," I imitated, making my voice much higher, "Screw my 'little light' tricks. How about a big light trick, meant for a big girl."
I focused my draining energy on lightning, searing her and giving her a new scar from the bolt that hit her on the middle of her forehead. Her brain would be the best way to shock her.
"Hey lookit you, you might be the next Harry Potter." her fist connected with my jaw and I spat out blood, feeling like my tongue was swollen.
I swung my arm around, only to get my bicep pummeled by a dagger. I gritted my teeth and my eyes narrowed.
"How would you feel about losing an arm, maybe a leg too? Seems only fair seeing what you've done to my home!" she hissed, flicking her knife around my head. Luckily, I dodged it just barely.
"How about no. I kind of like my arms and legs, thanks," I slipped my hand into a hole in my pant leg, pulling out the dagger that was strapped to my leg, "Besides, how would I fight with no limbs?"
"You won't." Khione screeched and was about to shove her dagnabbit dagger into my chest when Peter decided to intervene.
I felt the word 'stop' bubbling in my throat, but I knew without his help, I'd probably die anyway.
"You little-" he let out a string of Greek curses to Khione, some that I hadn't heard and that I quickly noted down for future references.
Khione quickly knocked him down and I did my best to scramble up and kick her square into the chest, sending pain up my leg. I ignored it and slammed my dagger as hard as I could into the shoulder of her dress, shoving the blade into the concrete as best I could before I zapped her again, making sure she would be busy for a while.
"Now would be a helpful time for some fire, Paxton, or for Peter to teleport us out of here." I grumbled, taking a piece of ambrosia that Peter held out and shoving it into my mouth, happy to feel my jaw go back to normal, though I was sure it was bruised a little.
"Monstrous little demigod children! JUST WAIT UNTIL LO-" I shut her up, slamming my foot into her jaw and watching in joy as she sputtered.
"Oh, gods, it felt good to shut her up."
"I'm sure it did. Now, can we find a way to get out of here?" Paxton asked, pulling up Peter.
"Once again Hot Guy -and don't think I mean it that way- you're the one with fire powers in an ice enclosed space."
He rubbed his temples, looking annoyed, "As I've said once today, unless you want the room to explode and to become a scorched body, it's best I don't."
"Okay, Fifi. Peter, think you can teleport us out?"
"Uh… Yeah, but I might be unconscious when we get out. I mean, if you want to deal with that." he responded, shrugging.
"Okay, so not an option. Can't have you getting hurt at all," I glanced up at the ceiling of the tunnel, "You guys don't happen to have some friend who happens to know how to get through rock that you can summon, do you?"
The goddess growled from her spot, struggling against the knife and beginning to freeze it so she could fix it.
"Oh for the love of celestial bronze…" I muttered, sighing, "Alright. Whatever works, works. We just need to get out of here before Psycho here kills you two and brings me to her boss," I blabbered -since when was I talkative?- on, "I'll fill you guys in later."
"So assuming you're up to it, couldn't we all just teleport ourselves out of here? Seeing as how we can all do that." Paxton said, stating the obvious.
Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about that.
"Mhm… Yep, that'd work. See you guys then." I nodded and glared once at Khione before I concentrated the rest of my limited power on teleporting out of the cave.
The wind swirled around my head as I appeared in the alley, leaving me to breathe hard for a moment, laying down on the pavement and shutting my eyes.
When I heard two noises, I sat up, to find Peter passed out on the ground and Paxton teleported just soon after, glancing at us both.
"What'd you do?" I asked, studying his expression and swearing I saw a small bit of mischief glint in his green eyes.
He shrugged and a small smile came across his face, "Just set a little fire before I left, nothing too serious."
"Nice." I stood up to give him a high-five.
He gave me one and then sat against a wall. "Now what?"
"Uh… Now we catch our breath and then… Maybe just start looking again?"
"Do we even know what we're looking for? It kind of seems like we're just on a wild goose chase." he raised an eyebrow.
"I do. Not sure what it's called- But I-" I sorta froze, not prepared to talk about what had happened all those years ago, "I've had experiences with it. I can sense when it's near." I prayed to the gods that he wouldn't ask about it.
"Okay, care to describe it? Or does it bring back bad memories?" he asked, making me wince.
I had to get away from those thoughts for a while and the only logical way would probably be to tell someone. Unfortunately for Paxton, he got to be the unlucky guy.
"Well… I think I have enough time to simply show you. Seeing how Peter's passed out. But you have to promise not to tell anyone how you saw this."
Alright… Well, here came the time where I'd get to show him a little secret power of mine. Courtesies of one of my dads, Poseidon. He'd given me this power specifically I guess, just to make the fates happy. I guess they thought it would come in handy one day.
"Sure, why not? How are you going to do that though?" he asked.
I didn't answer, just grabbed him by the arm and traveled to the first puddle I could find.
"It's not completely clear, so the vision will be a little blurry…" I muttered, then concentrated on it, thinking of my memories until I felt like warm water was entering my brain.
Pulling Paxton in along with me to the memories, I warned him, "This is disturbing and we're going to look like we've passed out in real life. Be warned."
We were brought into the memory of when I was almost four, and I stammered to the monster as it closed in on me.
"MOM!" my little voice screamed and it was obvious it was me, with the hair and eyes, even though I was clutching a doll.
"Listen- People outside- Go-" a monster circled her and her eyes went blank when it sucked in a deep breath. Suddenly, it ripped her to pieces spreading it across the room and causing my torso to be splattered with my mother's blood.
"G-Go away! I-I don't l-like m-meanies!" I stammered, hurrying back as the thing turned on me.
Horror struck my young eyes as I looked around, looking at the torn pieces of my mother's dead body.
I closed my eyes and suddenly, all the outlets in the room burst into flames, electricity making them bigger and putting the whole house on fire. The creature screeched and disappeared into thin air as my doll caught on fire, making wails come out of my mouth. A darkened figure wrapped it's hands around me and I disappeared.
The flames engulfed Paxton and I from our watching spot and we appeared on the sidewalk again, above the puddle and me shaking.
"W-Well… That's it," I muttered. "Hope you've enjoyed the ride and please don't come again." I joked, trying to lighten the thick air before I dragged him back to the unconscious Peter.
