WOW YOU GUYS! I got so much attention on this, how could I NOT update fast? You guys are amazing!
ARandomFangirler: XD I know, Jade comes off as somewhat of a princess, but maybe you'll like her in later chapters… *evil laughter* I'm glad you like the OCs, I usually don't like using so many of them, but it's a little hard not to do in a next generation fanfiction :P Hopefully she's not TOO much like Annabeth, but I guess we'll find out.
Royalrandoms4969: Aww, thanks for all the awesome comments. I'm glad you like the story, and yes, you're not wrong, it is DEFINITELY more than a little dramatic :3. Mmm, I've never thought about using a baby seal face before. And you don't think it was contact lenses? The force is strong with this one ;) Well, you're close, anyway. :3 You'll find out a little more in this chapter, but still not all of it.
Gaming Waterbottle: Thank you so much! That is like, one of the best things you can tell a writer : ) I'm just happy to be writing. I hope you like the chapter!
PJOHOOKCFAN: I'm ecstatic you're so excited about it X3 Well, I'm going to try to update at least weekly, but end of the year exams are coming up, so who knows how much time I'm going to be needing to cram for those :P. BUT as you can see, it kind of depends on how much you guys want me to update, and I figure that out with reviews. ;)
ON TO THE STORY. AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
I was exhausted. We had to have been running for at least an hour, it felt like.
"Can we take a break?" I wheezed, the bow still going crazy on my arm.
"He's not used to all of this exercise," Vaz told Faith, smirking. I narrowed my eyes at her, but I was too out of breath to say something back.
We all came to a halt and sat at the side of the road. I sat down and was dragged five feet by the possessed weapon. Vaz grabbed my arm and Faith grabbed onto hers, and we all came to a stop. I noticed the two girls were barely breathing hard, and the front of my t-shirt was soaked with sweat. I probably smelled like the guy locker room, but neither of the girls said anything, thank the gods.
"This is going to get old, very fast," Faith said, gesturing at the bow. She used the hand that wasn't anchoring down Vaz to reach into her pack and grab a rope about ten foot long. With a fluid movement that I couldn't even catch, she tied one end of the rope to the bow and the other to her bag.
"Your bag is not heavy enough to keep this thing from flying off," Vaz said skeptically, and I couldn't help but agree with her.
"Just let go," Faith dared us.
I was game. With slight hesitation, I released my death grip on the wood, and Vaz followed suit. It was obvious that he bow was putting up reasonable resistance, but Faith's bag stayed put like it weighted two tons,. It didn't even budge.
"It's enchanted," Faith grinned. "It's carrying probably about five hundred pounds worth of different camping and survival equipment.
"That's perfect!" I rubbed my arm, which was somewhat sore from all the tugging. "I wish we had a way for either of you to touch it."
"I can touch it," Faith said, confused. She pressed her hand straight up on the wood, but something strange happened. When my hand was holding the bow, the shadow material stuff retreated back. Now that Faith was touching it, it did the exact opposite. Delicate wisps of black crept up her hand and onto her arm.
We were all entranced.
The black made its way up her arm; suddenly, her whole arm was covered by shadows. They started to vibrate… it was like watching a cat purr, except it was a black mass that was making her eyes shake.
"What's happening?!" Vaz finally yelled. Faith didn't respond, she only stared at her arm. It hit me like a punch in the stomach; she was staring in terror.
For once, I was the fasted moving person in the group. I yanked the bow so hard from her that she cried out. The shadows screeched and there was a blinding flash… and then everything was quiet.
When my eyes opened, I looked around and assessed the damage. Vaz looked like she had landed right on her bad shoulder, what with the expression on her face. Faith was lying on the ground as well, but her eyes were closed and she was obviously unconscious. Where the shadows had been was a long, looping black line. It wandered up to her shoulder and ended at the tip of her index finger.
"That's kind of like the mark it left on my sword," Vaz said through clenched teeth. I hadn't even thought about that…
"Do you want some ambrosia?" I asked her, noting her discomfort. We had both come to a silent agreement to leave Faith alone for the moment.
"No, I'll just sit here in agonizing pain while I bleed to death from my reopened would. Please, go on staring at the unmoving chick."
I stuck my tongue out at her. "Maybe I will."
"Just get your pack, stupid."
That nickname was getting really old, really fast. I did what she asked, though, and soon she had her ambrosia. At this point, I was ready to wake Faith up. I wondered if the black, tattoo –like mark on her arm would cause any pain or something. It was all my fault. If I hadn't said what I did…
I felt worse than I had ever felt in…. since I was abandoned at that ridiculous school. The ground started rumbling out of nowhere. Great, just what we needed.
"What's happening?" Vaz sat up, clearly alarmed. The ambrosia had obviously patched her back up.
"Don't you think we've dealt with enough today?" I screamed at the sky. The shaking only got worse.
"Earthquake? Really?" the daughter of Hecate hurried to her feet. Together, we dragged Faith to a spot where we had no danger of being squashed by falling trees. The quake lasted for a couple of minutes, but then it stopped, and I was relieved to see that Faith was coming to.
"Eh?" she said. Very articulate.
"Sh, don't move too much," I said. Vaz seemed just as concerned as I was for once.
"What happened? Why do I feel... strange?" Faith reached up her right arm to scratch her head. She saw the strange markings and immediately let out a yell.
"It's okay, it's just a mark. It's fine!" Vaz put her hand on Faith's shoulder to calm her down. "Do you need some ambrosia?"
Faith looked like something had drained all of the blood from her body. She was chalk white, and laying limply on the ground like a wet piece of paper. Her eyes were too big for her face; she had seen so much in her life already…
"What is it?" I urged .It was obvious that the black wasn't 'just a mark' after all.
"The Cyclops… he had the exact same thing on his arm," Faith whispered. She traced the swirling pattern down her arm.
Vaz and I stared. So that had done something, but no one apparently knew exactly what. I seriously hoped it wasn't anything bad. Judging by what happened in her childhood, wither her parents and the curse, she obviously didn't need anything else on her plate. It just wouldn't be fair.
"I'm going to get her some ambrosia," Vaz said, taking some from her pocket and looking at me. "Maybe it will help with the shock. Make sure that none of our stuff got squashed by the earthquake."
We had left our packs behind when we were dragging Faith. I prayed hard to the gods for them to be okay, but once again they let me down. A weak oak about the size of two of me and seven feet around, already worn out, had come crashing where we had left the stuff. I groaned loudly.
Vaz came by. "Hey, did you get the… oh."
With her help, I managed to roll the trunk off of our packs. The water bottles were split open and spilled onto the ground. I dug around the bag and groaned again. The jelly jar had smashed open, as had the peanut butter, pickles, and basically everything in a container. In my nonfood pouch, the small tent I had packed was broken beyond repair. The flashlight was in pieces, and basically nothing survived.
We salvaged the meat, cheese, tortillas, and a couple of other things, but the majority of our supplies were ruined. I gagged when I spotted the bread; it floated in a miserable pool of mixed-food liquid at the bottom of my backpack. There was no use in taking it with me now.
Vaz's bag managed to procure a little more food that was saved, but other than that, it was in an equal state. I made sure to save the ambrosia; the squares were mashed to bits, but it still had its healing qualities so there was no way we were leaving that behind.
"What's going on?" Faith had gotten up and walked over to where we were. She assessed the situation within one second and her face fell. "Oh."
"Looks like we're going to be needing to get to where we're going faster than we thought," was all she said. She seemed to have dropped the whole shadow mark thing, but she had her left hand covering it almost protectively.
"Yeah, like tomorrow," Vaz grumbled. "We barely have enough food to scrape along for three days."
It was true, and it hit me hard. All I wanted was to get my parents back home, be accepted in my family, make my sister happy, and solve every problem that I've ever come across basically. Would it really hurt for the gods to actually help me out for once?
Have hope.
"What. Was. That?" Faith apparently had heard it too.
"Mom," Vaz said, and for once her smile wasn't sarcastic. "She's helping somehow."
I stretched my arms out towards the mess. "Really? It doesn't seem like it."
Faith and I shared a look, and it became clear that she agreed with me. The gods were obviously either not watching or not caring; probably both. Vaz's mom might've "given us her blessing" or whatever, but some good that had done is so far.
"Face it," Faith turned to Hecate's daughter. "We are not getting any help from the gods."
"Someone call for a ride?" a new voice said. We all turned around and gasped; it was… was that…
"What? Has no one ever seen a healing god before?" Apollo himself was grinning at us, leaning on a beautiful looking Chevrolet that was… smoking.
I was interrupted, sorry guys :/ I will try to update again fast. Let me know what you think of the chapter. Trust me, it won't seem like a bunch of a garbled mess soon. :P Sorry it's like that now.
