From Twin Fangirls To Demigods

Chapter 4

Painful Arrival, Twinly Claimed, Fighting-Again!

Ashley's POV:

I awoke to the sound of churning wheels and metallic clanging. My wrist felt as if a garage door had smashed it repeatedly. My ribs ached and the skin above them was dark purple. My leg was propped up on a fluffy pillow. I tried to sit up, but Nico, who was sitting beside me, pushed me back down onto this gurney-like thing.

Percy sat beside me, squeezing my good hand, as he looked me over worriedly. "Where…" I started to ask, before I trailed off.

"You're in a New York Strawberries Van," Percy whispered, his sea-green eyes overwhelmed in sadness as he watched me wince as the van sped over a bump.

"Where's Selena?" I asked, sitting up in the gurney, trying to calm my stomach so that the cafeteria's lunch wouldn't make a reappearance. Nico gently pushed me back down.

"You have crazy bruising over your ribcage," he informed me. "You probably broke a few of them. Your wrist is slightly fractured and your leg is most likely shattered. But, bonus… you're not dead."

"Where is she?" I asked, more forcefully. I was straining myself, trying to see through my blurry vision that only caused me to feel more sick and alone than I had before. I tried to see what my twin was seeing in our t win link but I only saw darkness. *Hurts . . . like a bitch,* I heard her mutter in my head, but her vision was still black. My panic rose.

"She's in a separate van," Percy whimpered. "I'm so sorry… I should've known what was going to happen. Grover tried to warn me before he left to make the call."

"It's not your fault," I said through gritted teeth. "It's the stupid hyperborean giant's fault for locking us in a damn science room! I don't even like science!"

"You knew what type of giant it was?" Nico visibly perked up.

"Well, duh. I read more about Greek myths than you probably have in your lifetime," I told him, smirking.

Nico glared. "I'm dyslexic!"

"So am I," I countered.

He rolled his eyes, clearly mad about being defeated. I smiled, turning to look at Percy.

He gave me a small smile, as he asked, "Ashley, how do you feel?"

"Like I got crushed in a garbage truck," I muttered.

He frowned at the description, picking up a glass of what looked like apple juice. "Here," he placed the bendy straw to my lips.

I knew what it was before I even tasted it. Nectar, the drink of the gods. When the honey-colored liquid flooded on my tongue, the taste exploded against my taste buds. It tasted like yellow sponge cake, covered in melting chocolate frosting drizzled with vanilla icing. My dad baked me that cake every year for my birthday. He made my sister an entirely different cake, but he was just happy to have an excuse to put on his Kiss the Cook apron.

I drained the glass, feeling better instantly. I could feel my ribs mending, my wrist's fracture being glued back together, my leg bouncing back into place. I grimaced as my body parts became normal. Then, I flexed my fingers. There was no pain in my wrist, at all.

I sat up, without grimacing. I placed my hand over the still bruised area, and thumbed my ribs. It ached a little, but most of the pain was gone.

No wonder the gods drink this all the time, I thought.

Percy stood up, as the van came to a thundering halt. "We're here."

"Where are we exactly?" I asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," Nico said, as if it should be obvious. He was probably still made about my comeback. It made me give him a smirk.

Percy shoved one of the doors open, turning around to ask, "Can you walk?"

I didn't think so. I mean, I'd just been knocked out and broken a few minutes ago. The nectar couldn't be that powerful. If I stood up, I would fall flat on my face. Just thinking of it made me feel uncontrollably dizzy.

I looked at Percy. I could hear the doubt in my voice, "Um… I guess I could try."

I slid my legs off the little mini cot-thing that I'd been sleeping on. Very tentatively, I let my foot touch the van floor. Then I let both of them tap the floor nervously. I stood, putting weight on them. I shifted from foot to foot, trying not to instantly spew the nectar I'd just swallowed. I doubted that it would taste as good coming back up, so I forced myself to walk. Left, right. Right, left. Breathe. Continue. Don't puke. Left, right. Right, left. Don't forget to breathe.

Nico and Percy stood beside me as we pushed ourselves out of the van. Hundreds—no, possibly thousands—of eyes stared at me, like I was something weird, something freakish. Like … I wasn't supposed to be there.

I scanned the kids, recognizing some from the PJO books. Drew flirting with an Apollo boy, Nyssa fiddling with gears, Clarisse and Chris were holding hands by a makeshift arena. The Stoll brothers were staring, their blue eyes bugged out. Connor was pulling something from some random camper's pocket—pick pocketing, as always. More campers stopped what they were doing to stare.

I looked around and locked eyes in my sister. I forgot all about my dizziness, as my sister and I caught each other in an embrace. We were mumbling apologies, but I knew what we were really thinking about: Percy Jackson and Camp Half-Blood and how the heck we got into any of this.

We were normal. Completely. I mean, ADHD and dyslexia were just minor obstacles. Our dad tried his best to make sure people didn't look down on us. When our teachers told him we needed medication for our metal disabilities, we moved. So far, we've moved … five times. But, we always stayed in New York. We were as normal as we could get.

Chiron rolled his magical wheelchair over to us. He looked us over with his brown eyes, as he asked, "What attacked you two?"

"Hyperborean giant," Selena boasted. "We handled it."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, yeah. Because getting knocked out is handling it."

"In my book it is," Selena argued.

Annabeth and Thalia walked over beside us on Selena's side, while Percy, Nico and Grover (who'd shown up after the fight. Thanks a lot, Goat-Boy) sided with me. Percy nodded, "The doors got frozen shut. The girls actually killed it before they blacked out."

Chiron stared at us, intently. He looked up to glance at the other demigods. "Do you know their godly parent?"

Percy glanced at us, and then turned to Chiron. "Do we look alike?" All three of us asked.

Gasps erupted from the crowd. Percy grinned. I exchanged a glance with Selena, and then looked up. A glowing hologram of a green trident shimmered over our heads. I stared it in astonishment, as Selena exclaimed, "Oh. My. Gods."

But… if Poseidon was our dad… who was Henry Jameson… really? Didn't you need two to make … us? So… who was our mom? Did we even have one?

The tridents were fading. I glanced at my sister with widened eyes. We had a silent conversation: this is not good.

Chiron furrowed his brow. He looked at us, with that same look that the other kids had given us. A look that said more than words possibly could. You shouldn't be here.

Chiron announced, "Selena and Ashley Jameson, daughters of Poseidon." His voice took an almost mournful tone. "Storm bringer, lord of horses, ruler of the seven seas." Everyone began to kneel.

Suddenly, someone screamed. I turned around to face the noise. I screamed louder than the first person had, because… instead of there being a distance between me and the danger, it stared me straight in the face.

The person laughed at my fearful eyes. "Daughter of Poseidon, huh?" The guy asked, smiling like a crazy serial killer. "The old Sea God's been busy, hasn't he? Don't worry, Ashley. This will only hurt a bit."

A blurring metallic sword flashed in the corner of my eye. I ducked, hearing metal swipe beside my ear. I jumped backward, catching a sword in mid-flip. The guy smiled. "So, we're going to do this hard way. Fine." The guy whistled, causing three other men to appear behind him, out of thin air.

"What? That's not fair," I snarled at him.

He smiled. "There's nothing fair about what I'm going to have to do. So, if I were you, I'd give up before someone could get severely injured."

That wasn't happening. No one was getting hurt on my watch, except this creepy guy. My sister was beside me, a sword of her own clenched in her fist.

The guy chuckled. "Okay, then," he said. In a blur, he rushed forward, his fellow colleges flanking him on all sides. My sister and I spilt up. I rushed to the side of some bleachers along the arena, climbing to the very top. I turned to the creepy guy, and smirked at him. "What? Scared of heights?" I asked flirtingly, causing him to grin.

He took a few steps on the bleachers. He looked up at me, as he asked, "Look, Ashley. I don't want to hurt you. But, I will if it comes to it."

"You have to catch me first!" I told him, leaping from my spot on the top and running toward the lake.

The demigods had just recovered from their shock. Percy clicked his pen, transforming it into Riptide. Nico summoned a bunch of dead skeletons from the ground, while Annabeth slapped her cap onto her bouncy curls. Thalia strung a silver arrow onto her bow, as she rushed over to help. The rest of the campers pulled out weapons, trying to catch up with the rest of them.

I skidded to the edge of the shore, almost slipping off the dock into the dark blue waves of the Sound. The guy walked forward. "I'm done playing around," he said, suddenly serious. "My job is to take you to my boss. He isn't going to like it if he doesn't get what he wants. So, please, make this easy, girlie."

I looked him over. He had spiky sandy-colored hair, piercing blue eyes and pale skin. He wore a black t-shirt and some jeans along with some black converse. The sword in his hand was glinting wickedly. Something about it made me feel … vulnerable. Maybe because of its cutting edge, or the strange metal that it was made of.

I raised an eyebrow. "And, who's your boss?"

"Someone really powerful," the guy said, walking forward. He looked me in the eyes. "Now, let's get this over with."

He leapt forward just as Percy and Selena screamed, "NO!" The world began to slow down. I deflected his blade, felt a tug in my stomach, and heard a roar in my ears. A huge wave crashed down on top of the guy, sending him and another guy into a wet frenzy. They landed under the waves of the Sound, along with the two other guys who had been attacking Selena.

Everyone stood, waiting for them to resurface. The guy with the blonde hair sputtered out a loud cough, as he ran his fingers through his hair. He looked up at me and grinned. "You're more powerful than I thought!" He hollered. I narrowed my eyes at him.

He suddenly was engulfed in a huge bubble of gray mist. His eyes grew wide for a moment, as if he were frightened by something. The bubble grew a murky black color, as it floated away.

Thalia shot an arrow at the bubble. It bounced off, zipping straight at me. I yelped, trying my best to get out of the way. I didn't move fast enough, causing a large gash on my arm to explode into blood. Selena yelped, clutching her forearm. Percy rushed over to me, picking me up off the ground.

And then something weird happened. The sword I'd seen the blonde guy hold erupted from the Sound, ricocheting off a rock, slicing through the air to slam five inches from my legs. Engraved in the sword's side were three words: I'll Be Back.