Chapter Eleven


Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan. I do own all of the OCs mentioned, except for Walker. He belongs to Star Holder Commander.


Adrienne's POV

Everything started out normal enough. Or as normal as you could get in a rich art critic's house. Apparently the valet had phoned the front desk and told the land lord that Jade was here with some friends and that she wished to be escorted to her aunt's condo...Which was on the twentieth floor...And the whole floor was a pent house, not a tiny little rat infested condo.

When we got up there and walked in, the three of us were just as breathless as we had been upon seeing the outside of the complex. It was gorgeous.

There were bouquets made up of honeysuckle, Sweet William, and small white buds. The whole place smelled wonderful, and rightly so considering all the flowers.

There was art on the mint green walls, of all different kinds. There was modern art that really didn't make much since to me, – if it made sense to anyone, it would be James and Tristan – and there were scenes of battles raging, and women lying on their sides and eating fruit or whatnot. Every single one was unique in its own way.

"Aunt Laura?" Jade calls.

We all set our backpacks down in the entry way on the long, dark brown storage cabinet. Jade walks forward and into the living room, we follow a few paces behind. Something felt off, it was in the air. I could easily tell when something was wrong. I had developed a sort of instinct over the years to tell when something was about to go horribly awry or when a monster or some sort of danger was near by.

Mom and dad had been herding us all over the place for years to different safe houses. Usually it was when several monsters attacked our main house in New York that we'd leave, but sometimes something catastrophic would happen where we were all in danger and they'd make us go to a safe house across the country. Once they had killed all of the monsters at our main house or taken care of the bad situation, we'd simply move back home.

I was also beginning to sense death, and people in general. More along the lines of their souls slowly fading, depending on the person, but it was scary all the same. I supposed this was because Hades had claimed me. Dad had been telling me about this for a couple of years now, about all the things he could sense. Sometimes I wondered if he knew Hades would claim me, and maybe he just wanted to prepare me a bit for what I'd experience.

"Aunt Laura?" Jade calls again.

I could tell James was beginning to get antsy. He was starting to jitter slightly; he does that when he's nervous. So I wasn't the only one who knew something was up.

"Jade?" a woman's voice sounds from the back.

"Wait in the living room, I'll be right back," Jade says, motioning for us to wait there.

We do and she hurries down the hall and into a back room where the voice had come from. "Why do you think it took her so long to hear Jade?" I ask, keeping my voice low.

Tristan shrugs. "Maybe she has bad hearing?"

James snorts and tries to contain his laughter. "Dude, this lady is probably about our parent's age, do you really think she's hard of hearing already?"

"Well, it happens. Some people loose a lot of their hearing when they're young,"

"But she's an art critic, what kind of loud stuff is she around that would be harmful to her ears?"

This was getting a little heated, and we didn't need that right now. "Guys," I say, trying to interrupt them. They didn't hear me, which was a bit ironic considering what they were arguing about.

"Guys," I hiss.

"What?" they say simultaneously, giving me a look of annoyance.

"Shut up, they're coming back,"

They straighten up and the three of us turn to see Jade leading a woman down the dark hallway. When they emerge from the shadows, I see that the woman was probably in her early thirties. She was relatively pale and tall, her figure slender and well toned as if she went to a gym a few times a week. Her hair was long and black and swept up into a messy bun with chopsticks sticking through it and her eyes were indigo blue.

"You must be Jade's friends," she smiles.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss," Tristan says, stepping forward and shaking her hand, "I'm Tristan and this is Adrienne and James,"

"Very nice to meet you, I'm Laura. Jade tells me you're taking a trip up north and needed a place to crash?"

"Yes ma'am. It's been a pretty long day and we needed some rest. Jade mentioned that you lived in Boston and suggested that we stop here," James says.

"Seeing anyone in particular or just sightseeing?"

We all take a seat in the living room. James, Tristan, and I took the couch while Jade and Laura took seats in the two light gray, overstuffed chairs.

"Just sightseeing. It's summer break and we decided to do something worth while this year instead of just sitting around the house," Tristan says.

"That's wonderful! How far are you planning on going?"

"Maybe up into Canada, we're not really sure," Jade says.

"Well, that should be a lot of fun. Have you eaten already? I was going to cook spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and I'd be happy to make a little more,"

"That sounds delicious. If you wouldn't mind making extra, we haven't eaten yet," Tristan says.

"No trouble at all. If you'll just help me out, we can have it done in just a few minutes."

We all stand up and head into the kitchen to get cooking and setting the table. The strange feeling I had was still there, but it had lessened a bit.


After dinner, I felt exhausted. More than I should have, but I didn't let it faze me. It was almost nine o'clock, but it had been a really long day what with the drakon sea serpent thing on the ferry and then cat-man at the seven-eleven. No wonder I was so tired.

"Jade, you and Adrienne can stay in the guest room. Boys, you can sleep on the couches, they're quite comfortable. I'll get you some blankets and you can settle down for the night," Laura says.

"Thank you, Laura," James says, yawning slightly.

She heads into the back and Jade and I grab our backpacks, heading down the hall and to the guest room.

"What time do you think we'll be leaving tomorrow morning?" Jade asks, unzipping her bag.

I shrug. "I dunno. I guess whenever Walker contacts us again and tells us where to go next,"

"Yea, I guess you're right. I was surprised he didn't show up right after we got here. Do you think he's still trying to find where the best spot to stop next is?"

"Maybe, he did say it was pretty tricky seeing where my parents and Mike are. I just hope he shows up soon, I'm getting an uneasy feeling about being in Boston,"

"You too?"

"Yea, as soon as we stepped in here,"

"I thought it was just me," she lowers her voice so only I could hear her, "Aunt Laura seems a bit off. She's different somehow, but I can't pinpoint what it is,"

My stomach clenches up at that. If Jade was having uneasy feelings about being here too, that was saying something. Something was wrong.

A/N:

Told ya it was a long chapter today! We're not going to get into why they won't be seeing the car again until chapter thirteen. I was going to include that today, but it's like another whole chapter's worth of writing and I wanted to divide it up.

What do you think about Laura? I was going to make her someone from Kyra's past at Camp, but that just would have been a major headache trying to explain it and why that certain person was back. There is a pretty damn major plot twist in next week's chapter. Y'all are gonna hate me :)

So guess what happened to me today!...Any guesses? No? I GOT THE DAMN BRACES OFF TODAY! God, my teeth feel so weird. I have so much room in my mouth, and since they messed with my teeth for about a solid two hours, my gums are inflamed and puffy. But I can eat corn on the cob again, and chewy, sticky candy, and it's so much easier to brush my teeth and just-AHH, THEY'RE SO MUCH PRETTIER NOW.

So yea, that happened today, and then my mom and I went to get pizza for lunch, it was delicious by the way. And then we ran some errands and then came home!

M/A:

"' I said I wanna sit on the roof with you

And I wanna, but the road is taking me soon

I wanna sit on the roof with you,

I wanna, and I'll make the best of it too because I wont give up'"

On the Roof by Emily's Army

(I had a dream about EA the other night and it was fantastic. I was at this dump with one of my friends but it wasn't for trash. There were mountains of vinyls and band merch and CDs and cassettes. But they were just standing amongst it all. I saw them and froze up and then I just went up to them and hugged Joey and Cole and Max and Travis and I was crying and laughing and they were all just like 'It's okay, don't cry please. What can we do to make you feel better?' and they were just sO SWEET, OH MY GOD. I wouldn't having that dream or a continuation of that dream again.)

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngelo25