Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. And so, accordingly, I do not own any works credited to that name. (Or to related names. i.e. Uncle Rick.)
Previously on More Than A Mortal:
"Go get Kiernan. Go home, pack weekend bags. We'll meet you at your houses. Our temporary home is on the same road. It's really important that we get you three to camp." Nikita said.
"Wait, you can talk?" Jay asked.
"Jay, not the time. We need to go with them. They said their camp is a safe place for people like me. And they think you and Kiernan are the same, too. They think you have some sort of power or whatever." I told Jay. His mouth was wide open.
"You told them about your powers?" Jay asked.
"I didn't have to. They knew already. Well, that man somehow knew and he said it. And Nikita has kind of similar ones. Look at her eyes." I told him. When he looked closely, his mouth dropped open again. "Go get Kiernan and get home. You guys need to pack weekend bags." Jay just nodded and stood.
I followed him back into the building, but I only went as far as my locker to get my helmet. I had my bag with me, so I just went back out, passed Nikita and Cypress, and went to my motorcycle. They got in a van and followed as I drove home.
They waited outside in their white van while I went inside. Mom was home, so I first found her in the kitchen. "What are you doing home so early?" Mom asked, looking up from her book when I entered her room.
"I don't really know, they wouldn't tell me much. But I'm going somewhere for the weekend with the two new students, Cypress and Nikita." I said.
"You're going to Camp?" She asked in a solemn tone.
"Yeah, I think she mentioned a camp." I said.
"You be careful. And take Jay with you." Mom said. "He needs to go, too."
"They're having Jay and Kiernan come, too." I said.
"Kiernan, too?" Mom asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Because he can speak Greek." I said, somewhat bitterly. "He spoke Greek."
"Since when does Kiernan speak Greek?" Mom asked carefully.
"I don't know. It's just- he's been there for almost every single conversation I've had with Jay in Ancient Greek ever since we got here. And he heard everything, whether it was private or not or even about him. And he never once thought to tell me that he knew what we were saying, that he knew the language. And then, today, he's trying to talk to me and he starts speaking Ancient Greek." I said. A single tear rolled down my cheek.
"What was your first reaction?" Mom asked softly, gesturing for me to sit beside her. I went over and leaned against the pillows of her bed with her, and she put an arm around me.
"I- I slapped him across the face. And then I ran out of the building." I said. "Outside, I ran into this man, he knew my name and the things he was saying made no sense. Cypress and Nikita came outside and they looked so absolutely afraid when they saw him. They talked to him, and he made even less sense. The most I got from that exchange was that the guy's a total bastard and he's done something to Nikita, something horrible."
"Go pack a bag, then. Grab Jay's lock picking stuff, in case he forgets when he gets home. And then come back in here, I've got something for you and something for Jay." Mom told me. I nodded, and went up to my room.
I emptied the school stuff from my backpack and placed it neatly by my bookshelf. Then I started to fill my bag. I folded and put in two pairs of jeans, two tank tops, two t-shirts, undergarments for the weekend, and Kiernan's shirt. I also put my sneakers in the bag. Other things I packed were my songbook, my wallet, my Swiss army knife, my phone charger, and my phone. I also grabbed a pencil and tossed it in the bag, too.
I was about to leave the room, but then decided to fold up my heavy faux mink blanket and grab my thickest pillow to thing along for the long car ride. I didn't usually do well with long drives, unless I was asleep.
Now I was done packing a bag for myself, I went down to Jay's room and grabbed his lock pick set. Holding it under one arm, my blanket and pillow under the other, I went back down to mom's room.
When I entered her room, she was sitting on her bed with two small boxes in front of her. I went over and she handed me one. "Open it." She told me. I set down Jay's lock pick set and my blanket and pillow, and took the box, opening it. Inside was a silver charm bracelet, with a single bronze and silver charm in the shape of a sword.
I gave mom a quizzical look. "It's a weapon." She told me. It was a sword charm. Maybe a weapon for mice. "You'll understand more when they tell you about where you're going, probably once you get there. Each charm will turn into a different blade when pulled on."
"You're not making any sense." I told her.
"Your mother gave it to someone to hand off to me, so that I could give it to you one day when you learned more about who you are." Mom said.
"My... Mother?" I asked.
"Yes. She never wanted to leave you and your father. But there are certain laws she had to follow. Things that prevented her staying." Mom told me. She handed me the other box, and said "Give this to Jay. It's from his father."
I took the box and tucked it under my arm with Jay's lock pick set. Then I grabbed my blanket and pillow under my other arm.
"Now, go join your new friends. You'll really have to get going soon. It's a long and dangerous drive." Mom told me. I nodded. She got up and hugged me tight. I hugged her back. She knew what was going on, even if I was completely confused. So I needed to do what she said.
I passed Jay on the way to the front door. I handed him his box and his lock pick set, told him to see Mom before he left, and went outside.
Because Cypress and Nikita had a van, there were a lot of seats. So I stretched out in the very back, on the three seats that are connected. Jay and Kiernan could sit in the two seats in front of me.
I started setting myself up to be comfortable in the back. I put my backpack on the floor behind the seat on the left, and placed my pillow against the small armrest/cup holder against the side of the car, just under the window. Then I wrapped my blanket around myself like a cloak and laid down, my head at an angle that I could see a little out the window next to the seat in front of me. This was actually quite comfortable.
Maybe ten minutes later, Jay and Kiernan both got into the van. Jay sat on the left, Kiernan on the right. Jay glanced at me, and held up his box. I shrugged, and pulled out the charm bracelet mom had said my mother wanted me have. Then I put it on my left wrist and closed my eyes.
I woke up, I don't know how long later, to arguing. More like Jay and Kiernan asking Cypress and Nikita what they were arguing about, while they argued in sign language. I sat up, untangled myself from my blanket, and moved in between Jay and Kiernan's seats to better see what they were saying.
We can't tell them yet, Cypress. It's too dangerous, and we're only halfway there! Nikita said.
They need to know at some point, Nikita. And I don't want to get to camp without any explanation, and have someone faint from shock or something! Besides, they deserve to know. Cypress said.
You're right, they do deserve to know, but we just can't tell them just yet. Do you really want to be driving a car with that many of us aware of ourselves? We'll attract everyone within a hundred miles who would want to kill us! Nikita said.
"Kill us?" I asked. Nikita turned to face me.
"It's better you don't know yet. You'll be safer that way." She told me. She shot a glance at Cypress that said 'We're doing things my way.'
I went back to my seat and laid down, folding half of my blanket over me while I laid atop the other half. I laid my head on my pillow and closed my eyes.
The next time I woke, it was dark out, and we were in New York. We had apparently stopped multiple times at rest stops, but they had decided to let me sleep. I thanked them for that.
"So, how long until we get to wherever we're going?" I asked.
"About an hour or so." Cypress said, glancing back in the mirror. I flopped back down in my little area. The very back was a good choice. It gave me a lot of space.
I looked at the seats in front of me to see that both Kiernan and Jay were asleep.
I stared out the window for the rest of the ride, not really seeing, but thinking. About all of the things that had happened recently.
They stopped the car in the middle of nowhere. At this point, the sky was beginning to get light again. "We're here. We've got a little bit of walking to do, past a couple hills and through the trees." Cypress announced.
"Alright. I'll wake the boys." I said. I turned first to Jay, and slugged him in the shoulder. He woke with a start.
"What?" Jay asked.
"We're here. Wake Kiernan." I told him. He nodded. I tried back to my stuff, and did my best to stuff my pillow in my bag. It just barely fit. I folded my blanket as small as I could, and tucked it under my arm, climbing past Jay and Kiernan and getting out of the van.
"So, this place is in the middle of nowhere?" I asked.
"Yeah, pretty much. But the place is huge." Nikita said. I nodded.
Jay and Kiernan soon got out of the car, and we started into the hills and trees.
We walked for maybe fifteen minutes before something came barreling out of the trees toward us. It crashed into Nikita, knocking her to the ground. Within moments, Cypress had a sword in his hand. Where the hell had he gotten that?
"Relax, Cypress." Nikita said, laughing. "It's not a monster. It's just Zillah." Cypress put his sword away, apparently realizing the same.
"Zillah?" I asked.
"She's my hellhound puppy." Nikita said, sitting up while the fluffy little black dog kept trying to lick her face. Nikita scratched her behind the ears, and her tail wagged even harder. The puppy was about the size of a cairn terrier. "Her name means 'like a shadow'."
"You have a hellhound puppy?" I asked, just as Jay asked "Hellhounds are real?"
"Yes, I do have one. Her mom died, wounds from attacking others of us. She left behind a little litter of hellhound puppies, all but Zillah stillborn. I kind of adopted her after she followed me home." Nikita said. "And we've got a couple more minutes to go. We really should go before we attract anything else. Zillah just knows my scent well." Nikita stood, picking up the puppy and carrying her in her arms as we began to walk again.
We reached a large pine tree, with what looked to be a purple dragon wrapped around the base, about seven or so minutes later. A burden seemed to drop off of Cypress and Nikita's shoulders when we passed the tree, as if we were somehow safe now. Looking down into the valley, I realized we probably were. There was a large camp, like a summer camp, but it was huge.
We went to the large farmhouse. When we entered the living room, Nikita continued on to go get someone. She came back with a man in a wheelchair. He looked surprised to see all of us in the living room. I don't know what he was expecting.
"You've found demigods?" The man asked, wheeling himself so that he could face us.
"Yes, Chiron." Cypress said.
"How did the mission go, then? Did you figure out what was causing the storms? It wasn't monsters, was it?" The man, Chiron, asked.
"It was her." Nikita said, gesturing to me as she set the puppy down on the floor. Zillah ran about happily, before lying down at her feet. Chiron looked at me, surprised. I just stared at the floor.
"The storms seemed to have stopped, according to our sources." Chiron commented.
"I was too confused for my emotions to take over." I said.
"Confused?" Chiron asked.
"I ran into someone on the sidewalk after I ran out of the school. He somehow knew my name, and he said some really confusing things." I clarified.
Chiron looked to Cypress and Nikita. "He's back again." Nikita said quietly. Chiron's face went pale.
"What, exactly, did he say?" Chiron asked.
"I bumped into him, said sorry, he said 'No problem, Lyric'. And then he said he knew many things when I asked how he knew my name. Cypress and Nikita came outside, he called her his wife, insulted Cypress, so I stepped in front of them and told him off. He told me I should watch how I compose myself, and how I speak to my superiors. I said he wasn't my superior, he told me that as my future husband he was of course my superior. Nikita started screaming at him. And he told her I was like her. And then Nikita said she killed him, but he said he's immortal and a sliver of his essence has been free for a very long time and kept away so that it would stay free or something." I explained. "And... He said he's been working on me as long as her, I'm about her age. He planted that hate in my father. He... He made my life the mess it is, he said." I continued. "I started screaming at him about my father, about all the foster homes, about... Kiernan." A few tears rolled down my cheeks.
"Then he told us he'd collect her before the Winter Solstice. Her power is manifested differently, and her seventeenth birthday was recent. He said he'd be back for Nikita, too, and told me not to interfere. He said it wouldn't be as easy to get into his realm this time." Cypress finished.
"So the girl is the daughter of a primordial, then." Chiron observed.
"Primordial?" I asked.
"Greek mythology is not merely a bunch of myths. The gods are real, and they do have children with mortals sometimes. Everyone at this camp is a demigod, except for you and Nikita. You two are demi primordials. A rare breed, as most die in infancy, even though the case of a demi primordial ever even being born is rare in and of itself, as primordials do not usually have children with mortals in the first place." Chiron explained.
"Cypress is a son of the god Hypnos. I'm a daughter of the primordial Aether." Nikita added. "I can't use my powers because demi primordials aren't meant to exist, the power is supposed to be too much for a mortal body. My powers only bring me closer to death when I use them. But you seem to be able to use your powers quite well."
"Nikita, your powers are based on light, and you act as air does, unaffected by certain things. But Lyric, her powers are based off of nature, it seems. And the human body has many things found in nature in itself. Water, minerals, many things. I do believe that that may be anchoring her to the mortal world, keeping her from dying as she might have had she been unable to use her powers the way you are." Chiron guessed.
"My sister's almost always used her powers. She doesn't really have reason to use them normally, except for the odd little things here and there, but sometimes her emotions take over and she causes storms." Jay offered.
"Sister?" Chiron asked.
"Adopted. Mom adopted her when she was seven, a month or so before she turned eight." Jay said.
"Cypress, Nikita, why don't you bring these three to the Hermes cabin for now? They should be claimed by breakfast, or, at the least, dinner." Chiron said.
"Alright, c'mon guys." Nikita said. We followed her out of the living room, and out of the house, all the way to a cabin modeled like a little wooden lodge.
Nikita knocked on the door, and shuffling footsteps could be heard. A girl opened the door. "Hey, Nikita." She said.
"Hey, Leah." Nikita replied. "We've got three new demigods. This is Lyric, Jay, and Kiernan. They're unclaimed."
"Alright. We've only got one open bunk right now, though. We've got a bunch of other new campers from a mission that got back two days ago." Leah said.
They should be claimed soon. Just watch your siblings. Lyric is half Primordial, and we don't need your cabin torn apart because someone couldn't keep their hands out of people's pockets. Nikita signed.
"Nikita, I wouldn't do that." I protested.
"Either way, they can be annoying sometimes." Nikita said. She turned back to Leah. "Be especially sure to keep an eye on the Stolls."
"I will." Leah promised. "Alright, well, come on in, guys."
The three of us entered the cabin and she pointed us over to an another bunk. We set our backpacks at the foot of the bunk, and I set my pillow and blanket next to them. The three of us sat on the bunk, leaning on the wall. I leaned against Jay.
"So, everyone will be waking up soon, and then we will head to breakfast. You'll sit at our table because you are unclaimed, but you should be claimed soon, maybe even at breakfast." Leah told us.
I fell asleep leaning against Jay, which was odd, because I had literally just slept for most of that really long car ride.
And here we have it. They are officially demigods. Before, it was all unofficial, as it was not specifically stated. But now, it's all bright and shiny and new and official! Too bad there's no badges to match their snazzy new titles…
If you're wondering why Nikita pretended to be mute while they were at the school, it was meant to keep attention off of them while they investigated. You'd be surprised how much people tend to overlook, disregard, or simply not notice you when you're a quiet person. God, I helped win so many capture the flag games back in elementary and middle school XD. They never learned, not even after attending the same small school for nine years. I was always able to walk right up and get close before they noticed me, and then I would always get our best players out of jail, or on rarer occasions, make a play for the flag myself.
Thank you to anyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited! You are not inclined to do any of those things if you do not wish, but it would be much appreciated! I send my love to all of you!