OMG
FINALLY
After who knows how many months… I HAVE UPDATED!
I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so SOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for not updating. Honestly, I was going to just give up on the story, because even now I am VERY unhappy with it. But then… I received an incredible review. It was the most touching, amazing, and inspiring review I've ever gotten. Here it is.
Wow. I actualy started this story today. And I have to admit you are a really good writter. You might have some things wrong but you are the best writter that's on here. Or at least from what I've read. And ive actualy Been reading for a good year and a half. I actualy loved the way that u designed the bedrooms. And the fact that you eve know about DDR suprised me. I mean wow. I don't think I've loved a writters story as much as yours. In fact I love both Twilight and PJ. But I honestly think tht your stor is better. I just loved it and I know that you can keep on writting. So please keep in writting this. (puts on a puppydog face and pleads to keep writtig). Please. I really want to know what happeneds next. I don't even want to go to sleep tonight your story was so good.
The reviewer was stargategeeket and if they hadn't said that I probably wouldn't have continued this story. I am so touched by this! It's these kinds of reviews that really pushes authors out of their toughest spots. But I also LOVE LOVE LOVE constructive criticism - as long as you're not being a meanie L
Example of contrastive criticism:
I do/don't like your story! Here's why! *gives reason*
I like your story because you're very descriptive, but I think you could improve on making the characters more like themselves.
That is the kind of review we authors LOVE.
Here's an example of you just being a meanie.
Your story SUCKS, man. It's a piece of **** and should be deleted before anyone else's eyes have to be tortured by it. You should quit writing. Etc. etc.
That just makes me cry, literally. So please do leave constructive criticism!
And again, sorry for not updating. DO NOT EXPECT ME TO UPDATE SOON!
It will HOPEFULLY be sooner than this time, because I was wondering if I should make this another cliff hanger or continue. But I prefer cliff hangers ;)
So… without further ado… I give you… CHAPTER SEVEN!
CHAPTER SEVEN: SO THE TRIP DID SUCK AFTER ALL
When I woke up, I was sure I had opened my eyes, but I couldn't be sure, because it was absolutely pitch black. I swung my hand around, trying to feel something, when I heard a grunt.
"That's my face," Nico mumbled under my hand. I smiled sheepishly, despite the fact that he couldn't see me, and moved my hand.
"Sorry… are we still in the storage room?" I asked.
"Yep. It's been about an hour, and I'm surprised the mortals haven't noticed us… we tried screaming, but it didn't work too well," Percy explained but next to me.
"I could try. I'm a lot louder than any of you," I reminded him.
"Go for it," Grover suggested.
"You all might want to plug your ears," Annabeth whispered. I giggled, and sucked in a huge breathe. Then I released it all in a high-pitched, excruciatingly loud, blood-curdling scream that made it sound like I was being tortured with dry ice. (Daughter of Hestia… cold = VERY BAD.) The scream lasted a good 15 seconds until I ran out of breathe and began panting.
"You can listen now," I exhaled deeply. Everyone cautiously unplugged their ears.
"Dang Crystal, you can scream LOUD!" Nico exclaimed, rubbing his ears.
"Yeah, I was humming really loud and I could still hear you," added Grover. I smiled. Only a minute later did I hear a loud pounding on the door.
"Are you all alright?" I heard Alice's high-pitched voice whisper. Normally, I would have ignored them, but at this point I was ready for anyone to rescue us.
"Yeah," I whispered back.
"Ok, stand back, we're going to break down the door," Edward said quietly. Immediately we all backed into one of the corners. Percy hovered over Annabeth in one corner, with Grover next to him, so I gravitated to the empty corner. I closed my eyes tight, and Nico stepped sort of next to me, with half his body in front of me. I closed my eyes tighter, clinging to the back of Nico's hoodie. Next I heard probably the loudest sound in the world; probably what a nuclear bomb firing sounded like.
I opened my eyes, and saw Edward's "brother" standing in the doorway, blowing the rubble off his fist. Edward rolled his eyes.
"Oh, did you really need to be that dramatic?" he said sarcastically.
"Jealous much?" the big ones teased. Alice rolled her eyes.
"Well, now we have exactly 3 minutes and 18 seconds before Newton comes running," she said matter-of-factly. My eyes widened.
"It was Mike?" I gasped. The eyes had looked familiar, but… I couldn't pinpoint who they had belonged to. Honestly, I was really surprised.
"So… why didn't you come earlier?" Annabeth asked.
"Well, this door is sound-proof, so not even we could hear you… until Crystal screamed, and I just happened to get a vision," Alice explained cheerily. Her attitude freaked me out. Always being happy was… unnatural.
"Oh. Well. We're out now, so can we please go?" Nico suggested. We all nodded, and began running towards the exit.
"Wait! Our backpacks!" Percy remembered. Edward held up all of them. I smiled, and tossed it over my shoulder. I snatched up my short Celestial Bronze sword and looked around for any monsters. None in sight, just empty school hallways. I re-sheathed it before any mortals walked out and assumed the wrong things because of that stupid (though helpful) Mist.
We got to the cafeteria before we saw anyone, thankfully. I was about to throw the doors open when Alice stopped me.
"There's people in there," she told me. I nodded, and we tried to look normal, like we were going to lunch like any other normal day. We started to talk about nothing in specific and we opened the door normally, trying not to attract attention. A few heads turned to the source of the sound, but other than that no one even noticed.
"Where do you guys wanna sit?" Annabeth asked, motioning to a few empty tables. We all shrugged in unison, which was kinda creepy. Eventually we sat down at the table closest to the door, ready to bolt if anyone came (anyone being Mike). The bell to leave for 6th period rang, and about 2 minutes later, and everyone stood up and threw away their trash. All but us. We ducked under the table, while Percy and Annabeth tried (I'm not sure how well it worked) to manipulate the Mist so that we looked like trash. Yeah, I don't think that worked, because Newton suddenly came in from outside, a smug smile on his face, and began walking towards Bella, who was walking with her friend Jessica. Edward growled quietly, and I put my arm in front of him, cautioning him. He stayed still, but I could see the anger flashing in his topaz eyes. I suggested that Alice go talk to him; she agreed happily. She crawled out from under the table silently, then danced across the room after Mike and Bella. She tapped them both on the shoulder.
"Can I borrow Bella?" she asked sweetly. Mike glared at her for a moment, and Alice returned it with 100x more volume. He quickly backed down and Bella followed Alice back to us. Newton was lingering for a little bit, watching them, and I motioned for Alice to make small talk or something.
"Bella, Edward wants you to come over next week for baseball!" she chimed, sounding totally innocent.
"Oh, uh, I don't really watch baseball…" Bella replied, clearly not understanding what we were all saying. Alice made a motion that could have been mistaken for sweeping her hair back which was really pointing at us under the table. Bella's eyes widened when she saw Edward, and her face flushed. I did a mental face palm at her stupidity. Was it truly impossible for her to focus? I was beginning to think so.
"But I would love to come if it means hanging out with you guys!" she added perkily. I could tell she was faking it, but, Mike was an idiot, and he couldn't. His eyes narrowed, but he walked off to class. Alice waited for about 20 seconds for him to be out of hearing range, then sighed in relief.
"He's gone, you can all come out."
I quickly squished down on my stomach and pulled myself out from under the table, my shirt attracting dirt. I pulled my backpack out after myself. Annabeth came next while I stretched. We had to work to get Grover out without his fake feet coming off. Nico and Percy fit - barely. After stretches and such, Edward and the rest of his family strolled out gracefully.
"Well, I think it would be best if we all went back to our house so we can… sort things out," Edward said. I sighed heavily. I had no desire burning in my heart to go to a vampire's house, but it didn't seem like I had a choice.
"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled before passing them out the door.
"But we have to call your cousin," Percy reminded me. I shook my head. "We can't tell him where we're going; just that he doesn't need to pick us up."
Bella offered me her cell phone and I dialed my cousin's cell phone number.
"Hello?" he answered on the second ring.
"Hi Jake, it's me," I replied.
"Oh, hey. What's up?"
"We don't need you to pick us up today."
His voice grew suspicious. "Why not?"
"Oh, well, um, our friend offered to give us a ride…" I lied.
"Oh, ok. When will you be back?" Jacob asked, any trace of suspicion gone.
"I dunno… probably late because we're having a study session and stuff…" I lied again.
"Ok, whatever. Just don't be out too late and don't go into the woods," he advised. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, 'cause five kids with swords and godly powers totally can't handle themselves," I said sarcastically, then hung up. I handed Bella back her phone. Honestly, I was pretty amazed no monsters had shown up.
"Um, Edward, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not… human, is it?" Bella squeaked. I turned to see what her eyes were bugging out at. It was, of course, that dang Empousa Kelly.
"Hey! You, like, need to show more school spirit," she said seductively. Edward was hovering over Bella, as were the rest of the Cullens. I reached for my short sword, as did the rest of my friends. At first I thought she might - MIGHT - be normal, when her hair burst into flames and her legs turned all… non-human-y.
"Crap…" I mumbled. The Cullens all growled, but Annabeth and I had up a cautioning hand. Percy and Nico were about to step up, but I knew that wasn't a good idea. Annabeth drew her dagger while I pulled out my sword, and we pushed the guys back with the Cullens. Annabeth began drawing me a map with her eyes. To anyone else it would seem like she was trying to look at everything at once, but I knew she was telling me where to attack from. I nodded, and charged at Kelly. She snarled, clearly distracted by me. Annabeth whipped on her hat and vanished.
While I managed to keep Kelly at bay, I caught glimpses of Annabeth's dagger shining in the sun, looking for an opening. I feinted letting my guard down on the left, giving Annabeth a clear opening, but also leaving me quite vulnerable. I lit my hands afire and got a firm grip on the demon cheerleader's shoulders and twisted her to face where Annabeth had been. I hadn't the slightest idea where she was, but I knew she would be here very shortly. I put on my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, and the next thing I knew, I was holding onto clumps of golden dust. Panting, I flicked my hands down, letting the dust fall to the ground. Annabeth appeared behind the pile, breathing heavily.
I gave her a thumbs up and a small smile, which she returned. I returned my weapons to their proper places, then faced the boys. Nico was clapping a little, and Percy just rolled his eyes, his face clearly saying show-offs. Bella looked completely white, her eyes bulged to the size of platters. Edward was holding her very tightly, while the other Cullens stood still as statues.
"Anyway, we were going to your house, right vampires?" I said sarcastically. Edward nodded once. Annabeth and Percy laughed at the little inside joke there. (Empousa are the vampires of the Greek world, do you get it?) Nico just rolled his eyes.
"So, are we all fitting in your Volvo?" Percy asked. Edward shook his head.
"Those who can't fit will go in Rosalie's convertible," he explained. The blonde girl glared daggers at him, much like Annabeth's glare. Edward ignored her and led us to the cars. Jasper, Alice and Emmett said they would walk (run) back to the house so the cars had more room. Rosalie was very upset about not being with Emmett, but I didn't really give a care.
I rode in the front seat of the Volvo with Annabeth and Percy in the back. Nico and Grover got to ride with Rosalie. They seemed too happy about it. The way they both drove was terrifying. Edward was going about 115 MPH, and Rosalie was ahead at 120. I was death-gripping the seat and almost burning through the leather. Edward sighed.
"Would you please not ruin my nice seats?" he asked. I glared at him.
"Would you please not drive like we're being chased by a pack of Hellhounds?" I countered. He gave me a weird look, and I turned to look out the window. I watched the trees and lights flash by, nearly making me sick. I quickly decided to look down. When I looked up again we had slowed down to a normal speed, and were pulling into the Cullen's driveway. I almost didn't believe what I was seeing. Almost.
They had a mansion; a freaking mansion, dude. If I hadn't been to Olympus, I would have been blown away. It was way too fancy for a clan of vampires. I turned to Edward.
"Please to be explaining the point of all this?" I motioned to the house. He raised an eyebrow.
"What, just because we're vampires means we can't live well?" he asked. I shrugged.
"Dang, this is the size of Athena's temple…" Annabeth mumbled.
"How would you know?" Rosalie demanded. Annabeth stared at her.
"Because I designed it," she replied simply. Rosalie scoffed and flicked her hair back before walking inside. Edward followed without hesitation, making a motion for us to wait. I just walked over to where Nico was, leaning on the convertible.
"Hey, do you think Blondie would notice if I scorched up her leather seats and/or paint job a bit?" I whispered mischievously.
"Probably, but good idea," Nico said sadly. I sighed heavily and leaned against the car, too. Maybe just a few dents… ooh, I could scratch in a message with my sword… I thought, happily daydreaming about her reaction. I could easily imagine her trying to rip my head off and me setting her on fire. I started laughing, causing everyone to look at me like I had completely lost my mind. Ok, well, I lost it a long time ago. But still. I stopped as Edward strode out of the house.
"Come in, we've explained everything to Carlisle and Esme," he invited, going back inside. I followed after him first, walking in slowly. The first thing I saw was the huge grand piano. Then all the classical art pieces done by people like Picasso. Then I saw the freakishly-expensive leather furniture, and other stuff that looked like it belonged in Bill Gate's house. I decided not to comment on the marble counters in the kitchen and the perfect, new appliances.
"Ok, well, I'm just going to ignore the fact that you wasted who knows how much money on stuff you don't use," I said, slightly sourly. They rolled their eyes.
"We feel it's necessary," Carlisle replied politely. I couldn't stand these vampire's courtesy; and I couldn't stand Rosalie's preppy-ness.
"Yeah. So, anyway… Newton's teaming up with Kronos and this Victoria person," I told them. They nodded.
"Edward told us everything," Esme said sincerely. She was probably the only Cullen I liked; Alice was okay, Emmett was a show-off, Rosalie was a prep, and Edward was full of himself. I didn't really know Jasper too well yet.
"So… remind me, who's Victoria?" Nico asked. Edward sighed.
"She was James' mate… James was a non-vegetarian vampire, and was determined to kill Bella. We killed James, but Victoria escaped. She's been coming after my family and I for revenge," he explained sadly. Even though I didn't really like the Cullens, I couldn't help feeling sorry for Bella. I wasn't exactly her best friend, but I didn't hate her… yet. Ok, forget I added that 'yet'.
"Ok… so… this sounds like a bloodthirsty vampire who's our for revenge to me," Percy inferred. The Cullens nodded.
"Oh yeah, that's GREAT!" I said sarcastically. "An even Titan Lord who's being brought back to life by a bunch of evil demigods and an bloodthirsty revengeful vampire. Could our day get ANY worse?"
I knew I has just jinxed us the second I said it. So, typically, all my yelling just HAD to attract the team of evil demigods (Luke among them, of course) that had been stationed here to help out Newton. Of course. Of freaking COURSE!
So it's all silent for a moment while we're all thinking about what we should do. Then randomly there's a pound on the door. Edward says he doesn't know who it is - he can't read their mind. Which means it must be a demigod. So we're all wondering who it could be, and Annabeth goes and opens the door. And in the doorway we see the evil, scarred, smiling face of Luke. Yep, I so had that one coming.
"Well Annabeth, this is something I didn't expect," he said casually. Her eyes widened, and she stumbled back. She slammed the door, but he caught it.
"That's rude, don't you think? I only want to say hello to your dear Cullen friends."
The Cullens looked uneasy.
"Who is this guy?" Emmett asked quietly.
"Luke Castellan. He's a filthy, lying, heartless traitor!" I spat back. Luke heard me.
"That's no way to talk to me; the guy who saved you from that giant!" he said with a frown. Everyone looked at me. I ground my teeth.
"Saved me?" I demanded. I laughed. "Yeah right! You stopped it from clubbing me only so you could slit my throat yourself!"
Everyone turned to Luke, who smiled smoothly.
"Oh, I just figured it would be a quicker death than being clubbed over and over by a giant," he replied carelessly, like we were talking about whether you could save more money with Geico or Progressive.
"Speaking of that giant…" he continued, then turned around. I heard massive pounding sounds, and my eyes widened. Suddenly, a giant hole was in the wall about 10 feet up. Outside you could see the giant who tried to kill me. I felt my heart pace quicken faster than the Cullens could run, and my knees were shaking, threatening to collapse any second.
"I knew you would be here, so I thought I would bring an old friend," Luke said evilly. Nico looked at me.
"Crystal, are you ok?" he asked. I didn't reply. I just breathed quickly, slowly reaching for my sword. Percy, Annabeth and Nico took out their weapons, ready for an attack. Grover had his reed pipes, but he looked scared out of his wits. I didn't blame him. But before anyone could react, the giant smashed away the rest of the wall, revealing at least 50 more demigods with swords, daggers, and bows drawn. We all froze in horror.
"Edward… think you guys could help us out?" I whispered in horror. He didn't seem able to speak.
"Well, folks… the Cullens were our target, though we didn't know how to bring them down, seeing as how they're vampires," Luke began, strolling back out to his huge group of enemies. Carlisle's eyes widened. How they knew that I didn't know.
"But our friend Crystal here knows how. And, Crystal, I'm going to make you a deal," he continued, eyeing me carefully. I glared at him.
"I won't accept it!" I told him. He laughed.
"Hear me out. All we came for were the Cullens. If you stand down and let us handle this, we won't hurt your friends, and we'll go our separate ways again," he promised. I could never trust his word, and I wouldn't make the deal anyway. The Cullens looked at my anxiously. I sighed.
"I may hate vampires, these weirdos included, but that doesn't mean I'm letting you destroy they," I said firmly, drawing my short Celestial Bronze sword and eruption. "You want them? Then you must want us too."
Luke frowned.
"Won't you reconsider?" he asked.
"Why? Oh wait, I know. Because you know you'll lose if we help them, and then your precious little master will be angry with little Lukey-wookey," I said mockingly, using a baby voice for a stupid nickname. He growled.
"Fine! You had your chance to live! Now, demigods, ATTACK!" he roared. The cavalry of 50 plus demigods and a few dozen monsters (including the giant) charged at the house, and our small army of 5 plus the Cullens returned their battle cry with a strong, "For Olympus!"
So… how was it? The ending is cheesy, I know :P and I'm a bit rusty… haven't been writing at ALL lately. I've gotten back into drawing lately, and I plan to draw all the characters in the future. So um… yeah. CLIFFHANGER! XD
Oh how I love to torture you with those.
So as I said before… REVIEW. I will not even work on the next chapter until someone gives me some CC, or at least tells me what I need to improve, because I HATE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH. I am extremely disappointed with myself. I can do so much better, and yet… *sigh* sorry if I let you down. So please be patient for the next chapter of Washing Sucks For Demigods!
BTW: I don't own PJO or Twilight.