Extremely sorry about missing a whole week of updates! I started junior year Tuesday and updating completely slipped my mind! I'll post both those updates now, and tomorrow's update will (most likely) come on time. (Though it may be a little later in the day because I also start driver's ed afterschool tomorrow.)
Review Replies:
StellaAthena36 - Thank you for the feedback, I will definitely do my best to work on that! Also, I love the name XD Only other one I can think of is "Nicy" but that siunds weird. (Just wait til Part III starts posting, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.)
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:
"While I want you to protect my daughter, don't put yourself in too much danger. I want neither of you to be harmed." Physis said. Nikita nodded.
"Now, about this hall." Physis said. "This is indeed the hall of your home in Ohio. You can get anywhere from here. You'll just need this." She pulled something from seemingly thin air. It was a necklace, a simple, thick thing made from many tiny braided silver chains, short in length.
When she put it around my neck and clasped it, it was just slightly larger than a choker. I also felt the clasp disappear, as the chains melded together.
"This will not come off unless you will it. And if someone does manage to get ahold of it, it will be useless to them. Only you can use it. Only you are anchored in the way it's magic works." She told me.
"What?" I asked.
"This necklace will allow travel to anywhere you can think of." She told me.
"Thank you." I said. She smiled.
"I must go now. I've asked someone to bring you to Olympus when you are done here." She said. A flash of warm light and a bright sunshine like smell, and she was gone. Sunshine. That wasn't even really a smell, but it was familiar.
"Well, we're apparently supposed to be here. I'll just put my stuff in my room and come get it later after Olympus." I said. We walked down the hall and up the stairs to my attic room. I set my stuff down on my bed.
We went all the way downstairs, to the living room. I heard voices by the front door, in the little foyer. I went and stood in the doorway. No one noticed me. Nikita stood quietly beside me.
"They just disappeared from school after lunch. I get Lyric was upset, but they're not answering any calls or anything. I'm worried about my brother and my friends." Lydia said. She and Maddie were in front of the front door, speaking to my mother.
"All three of them are fine. They're in New York, with Cypress and Nikita." Mom told them.
"New York? With the new kids?" Maddie asked. "They may have been nice and friendly, but I'm not sure I'd trust them that much just yet."
"I'm not in New York." I said, stepping forward. Mom turned, looking at me surprised.
"Lyric?" She asked.
"Yeah, I was just at Camp." I told her.
"How so quickly?" She asked, confused. Maddie and Lydia were even more seemingly confused.
"I met my mother." I said, a hint of a smile on my face. Her mouth dropped open. "She brought us here."
"Well, then, I suppose everything is all sorted out?" Mom asked. I looked to Nikita.
"Sort of." Nikita answered, choosing her words carefully. "We need to go see some of our higher ups. It's quite important."
"So, Kiernan's wherever you guys went in New York?" Lydia asked. "Why didn't he tell me he'd be going? He left me alone in the house and I freaked when I couldn't find my brother after a while."
"He's fine. We had just gotten there just before everyone was waking up for breakfast. And breakfast was... Interesting." I said.
"Rainbows." Nikita said quietly.
"Who would've thought that's where he'd end up?" I said with a small laugh. Mom gave a small smile, knowing what we were talking about. Maddie and Lydia still looked confused.
There was a knock at the door. Lydia and Maddie stepped out of the way so that Mom could answer it. She opened it and gasped out loud.
"Hello, Whitney." The man said.
"What? Why?" Mom asked. She stepped back to allow him into the house, leaving the door open.
"Who are you?" Lydia asked.
"I'm Jay's father." He said. I had guessed it already, but Maddie and Lydia didn't know anything.
"I'm so confused." Maddie muttered. I would be, too, if I didn't know anything. All of a sudden my friends leave for New York, a couple of them appear back, in the house, no less, hearing about one of them meeting their biological mother they'd never met, and then meeting the father of one of them. It was a lot to take in.
Should we tell them? Or maybe ask Chelsey to help when she gets back? I signed.
It seems like one of the better choices. Nikita signed back.
"That won't be necessary." Hermes said. "They're both clear-sighted."
"They are?" I asked. He nodded.
"They are. Whitney, would you explain it all to them? The girls and I have an important meeting to get to." Hermes asked. Mom nodded. She looked like she wanted to cry.
"Before we go." I said. I turned to Maddie and Lydia. "Chelsey is going to start acting very differently when she gets back. Don't ignore her or chalk it up to some joke or something. She's gone through a lot just to protect a fellow demigod, ruined her entire image. She's a great girl, and you should try to be friends with her. If not, at least try to understand that she was just doing what she thought best to protect someone so that they wouldn't get killed." They both gaped at me.
"Who would she have gone to all that trouble for?" Lydia asked. I could tell she was doubting what I was saying.
"Your brother." I said. Lydia's jaw dropped. "She found another one of us, but couldn't tell him, because it would've put him in more danger, and we're too far from Camp for it to have been effective to try and send him there."
"But why would she go to the trouble?" Maddie asked.
"Because she's an extremely loyal girl. She won't leave any of her kind in danger, if she can help it. And she's got a special ability, one she's always seen as something she's supposed to use to help others. None of her siblings have an ability like that that's developed as hers." Nikita explained.
"I spoke to her this morning. She started that relationship to shield his scent. As for everything else, the popularity and such, I saw how different she is at camp. She's truly happy, and able to be herself. I think she just got caught up in the wrong crowd here." I added.
"Girls," Hermes said. Nikita and I looked to him. "My father is growing impatient." Nikita paled slightly. Hermes meant Zeus.
"Just be nice." I said. A flash of light, and Hermes, Nikita, and I were not longer in Ohio.
We were in a massive throne room.
"You are finally here." Zeus said. It was easy to tell who was who, with which throne they sat at. All of a sudden, the room and the gods shrank so that the gods were ten feet tall, and the room was proportional to that. Even changing to be more on our level, they still felt the need to intimidate us.
"Now, what is this meeting about?" Zeus asked.
Nikita stepped forward and bowed. I followed, and Nikita spoke. "Tartarus is again rising."
There were mumbles and whispers between the gods, but Zeus yelled at them to quiet, and looked at Nikita to continue.
"He plans to use Lyric. Today is Saturday, her power will peak Friday. But, unlike me, she is anchored to this Earth by her power. She can use her power as much as she wishes, and we fear that that will allow Tartarus to rise at anytime. We fear that there is not only a small window of time where he can use her, but an infinite window of time." Nikita explained. "He has worked her how he did me. We ask that the bond be broken, just as you did for me, but before he can get to her."
"So much trouble for two demigods, I vote we kill them here and now." Ares said.
"That would seem a good idea." Zeus mused, rubbing his beard. He looked around at the assembled gods. "All those In favor, say aye."
Before anyone could say anything, there was a bright flash of light, the throne room shook, and lightning cracked and thunder rumbled outside. Physis appeared in front of Nikita and I. She was ten feet tall as all the other gods were, but even at the same height, she seemed to tower over them all. Fires burned in her eyes, and her dress of water had violently crashing waves.
"You'll not harm my daughter, unborn grandchild, or Nikita. And they are not demigods, Ares. They are demiprimordials." Physis said calmly, though her tone was laced with steel.
Zeus was visibly frightened. Not much, but definitely some. "No, I suppose that wasn't such a good idea. Athena, help the mortals." He commanded. Physis crossed her arms and glared at him. Athena got down from her throne and showed Nikita and I to a little garden. We sat on a bench, with me in the middle.
Athena said something, but I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking of what my mother had said to Zeus. Unborn grandchild. That could mean only one thing. I was pregnant.
"Lyric." Athena said gently. I looked up at her. "This might hurt a little, and you'll be sent through a rush of memories. Then you'll hallucinate Tartarus. As soon as I breaks the bond, which might take a couple minutes." I nodded.
I stared forward as she got to work. The sky darkened, and I looked around, confused. Nikita and Athena were still sitting, as though nothing has happened. They were actually frozen in place, I realized.
In the dim light in front of me, three figures appeared. The moon came out from behind a cloud, and I realized Tartarus had knives to the necks of Kiernan and Jay. I screamed. He laughed.
"Why, little Warren girl, you'll have to choose which one to save. One must die. One must live. And it must be your choice. Or they'll both die." He told me, voice full of laughter and joy. I screamed again as tears ran down my face.
"Don't touch them ." I said, trying to sound strong. It came out strangled and weak.
"Oh, I'll only kill them if you don't choose. If you do choose, it'll only be you who harms them." He told me. I stood, stepped toward him, and collapsed as I felt a hot pain in my head. I watched as he slit both their throats. I screamed and screamed, and couldn't move as I was pulled through a bunch of memories. All the time spent with my hateful father, the foster homes, my father appearing and trying to get to me several times throughout my life with the Tuckers. Finally, an image of my father's dead body, though I hadn't seen it.
When I was able to move again, I opened my eyes to see that it was a sunny day and Nikita and Athena were looking down at me, worried expressions in their faces. I looked around, and there was no trace of any blood or Tartarus or Jay or Kiernan.
I pulled myself slowly into a sitting position. Looking around once again, nothing was out of ordinary. Everything was the exact same as when we entered the garden.
"What happened?" I asked, voice a whisper. "Where are they?"
"Where are who?" Nikita asked. She helped me to stand.
"It was... It was him. And he killed them. He killed them both because I wouldn't choose." I said. I felt as though I was going to burst into tears again.
"That didn't happen. It was a hallucination." Nikita said gently.
"But she said the hallucination would happen after the memories." A tear ran down my cheek.
"It's not going to be the exact same. It's the same kind of process, but it's a little different for you than it is for me." Nikita told me. I just nodded.
"The bond is gone. Go back to Camp. The gods will discuss possible solutions to the problem of Tartarus. Nikita, get the camp on high alert, just as you did before. There is a war brewing." Athena commanded. A flash of light, and she was gone.
"C'mon." Nikita said, taking my hand and pulling me out of the garden gently. "Let's get to Camp."
We walked for a couple minutes through Olympus, until we reached a freestanding pair of elevator doors. Nikita went right in and I followed. She pressed the one button, and I felt the elevator drop.
We quickly reached the bottom, and exited the building through the lobby, Nikita nodding at the desk manager on the way out. Looking behind us, I realized we had been in the the Empire State Building. Nikita whistled for a cab, and we were soon on our way to Camp.
We got out of the cab a little bit farther than where we had when Nikita and Cypress had driven us from Ohio. As we were walking, I started crying. We didn't stop, there was no time for that, but Nikita tried to comfort me.
"Is everything okay?" She asked gently.
"No. Nothing is okay. It's all too much." I said. "I can't deal with it. I move into this new place, and it's all great for a week. Then my father showed up and was shot seventeen times after trying to kill me and ending up shooting Kiernan, too. Then I go to a Halloween party and sleep with my neighbor, I run off for a day or two, I start a storm that doesn't end for a week. Then all this magical world stuff happens. I meet my mother, who I thought had left me the moment I was born and don't care about me at all, I learn my father might never have hated me if he hadn't been messed with by this evil guy, and I lose my brother, some of my only family, to a whole bunch of other kids that are more related to him than I am. And to top it all off, I'm pregnant and some guy wants to kidnap me!"
"Lyric." Nikita said. I looked to her. "It is alot to deal with. It is a lot of pressure. But half of that doesn't even matter. The past's the past. You can't change how you grew up, you can't change who you like, you can't change what's already happened. But you don't need to worry about the fact that you're pregnant, and you didn't lose your brother. Some of those kids will want to meet him and get to know him, yes, but none of them will be as close to him as you are. Some cabin mates get really close, but that usually happens if you knew someone before or if you both came to camp around the same time, or something like that. And they're not anymore related to him than you are. Besides, gods don't technically even have DNA." Her little pep talk seemed to help. My tears slowly stopped falling as we continued to walk.
The tree with the purple dragon was soon in sight. Jay and Kiernan stood nearby, along with Cypress and the two teens who had also been sitting with Nikita at breakfast. "Someone must've told them we were coming back. Probably your mother." Nikita observed as we walked towards them. I started crying again when I saw Jay and Kiernan, but it was more in relief, swing them safe and without their throats slit.
Jay smiled when he saw me, but it faded when he took note of my appearance. Red eyes, tear tracks. I guess it was a good thing I hadn't been wearing any makeup.
"What happened?" Jay called.
"I'm just so happy to see you guys." I said. I ran to him and hugged him. Then I hugged Kiernan. I stepped back and looked at them. "You're both safe."
"Why wouldn't we be?" Kiernan asked. The tears fell harder.
Nikita came up behind me and set a comforting hand on my shoulder. "It wasn't real. I hallucinated, too, when I went." Nikita said.
"You also slapped me." Cypress muttered.
Nikita glared. "You slapped me first. Did you not expect to be hit back?" Cypress just pouted.
"You had a hallucination?" Jay asked, concerned. I nodded quickly. Then I shook my head, tears falling fast, trying not to think about it.
"Why don't we go to my cabin?" Nikita suggested. The seven of us began walking. "Do you want to tell them about the meeting?"
"No!" I gasped. "No, no, no." Yeah, I might tell them some, but there was no way I was telling them what the hallucination was about, or that I was pregnant.
"None of it? Or... Specific parts?" Nikita asked.
"We were brought to Ohio. I met my mom, and I got a necklace. We met your dad, Jay. Mom's telling Maddie and Lydia about us, apparently they can see through the Mist. Then we went to Olympus. Ares wanted to kill us, and when Zeus agreed, my mom told them they better not. Zeus seemed afraid of her. Then we went to the garden and Athena did something that was supposed to help. I hallucinated and then was pulled brought a bunch of memories. Then we left." I said. I wasn't going to say anymore than that.
"You're not going to say anything about your...?" She gestured to my body. To the others, that could mean anything. To me, I knew she meant my pregnancy.
"No. No, they don't need to know. Don't tell anyone." I pleaded. She nodded. I trusted she wouldn't tell anyone unless it was for some reason important.
"Lee?" Jay asked, his voice just about breaking.
"I'm sorry." I said quietly. He put an arm around me, but didn't press. I was thankful for that.
Oh, the humanity! Or god-ity, seems she's More Than A Mortal. See what I did there? It made me laugh, but my jokes are stupid, so ignore me.
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!