Daughter of Hera
A/N: I would first of all like to give to a shout-out to KabraPotterJackson, who's been very nice and has offered to help me out with ideas for my story Persephone All Over Again. Do check out her story Oasis Jackson. It's pretty good. I'll be mainly requiring you help for creative ideas for it and nothing for this story at least. Also, for my story Forever And Always, I have decided to make it all Percabeth with any other requested pairings interspersed. Capiche? Good. Also, I am thinking about doing a different fic: so tell me Prachel or Percabeth?
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO except for this story's plot and my two OCs- Jayda and Jeffrey.
"Checkmate."
Annabeth froze momentarily with shock and humiliation at being beaten by a newbie then carefully masked her emotions behind a neutral façade. "You're better than I expected. Let's progress to dagger throwing," she said and turned to the crowd, "What are you lot waiting for? Get back to your activities, people!"
The crowd shuffled off and Annabeth turned to Jayda with a wicked smile. "Let's see your dagger throwing skills. Let me set up the targets first." She set about putting up the boards at varying distances and heights, not to far because of the short range daggers have. Once she was done, she walked up to Jayda and told her to summon her knives. Jayda now had them strapped on her thighs and arms. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
Annabeth slid a set of knives out of her sleeves, from the traps around her arms and threw them one-by-one with great speed. Each went and struck the boundary of the bull's-eye and the ring around it on each of the targets. She smirked and gestured to her to practice. Jayda took a deep breath, pulled a knife out and threw it. It struck the second innermost ring on the closest target. Summoning up confidence, her arms began to move automatically. Within a space of five seconds, each and every knife had either hit bull's-eye or the ring around it. Annabeth's smile dropped from her face. "Good, that means we can progress onto archery now."
She gestured to a tall boy standing at the edge of the arena. "This is Will Solace and he'll check your skills with a bow." Will sauntered up to her and grinned. "Hi, are you ready to start? Get your bow and quiver." His face was priceless as he saw the beautiful ivory and gold-edged bow with swan feather arrows appear in her arms. "These are great. Where'd you get them?"
"A gift from my mother."
Will just shook his head and pointed to the row of targets which had been set at greater distances this time. He nocked and arrow and let it loose. It went flying and struck the very centre. He then proceeded to impale arrows in each and every target. "Well, I don't expect much from you seeing as you have no experience, but give it a try."
"Actually," she smirked, "I've been taking archery lessons practically all my life." She fired arrows one-by-one, each flying faster than the eye could process, and split the previous arrows right down the middle. "That enough for you?" she said to Will and then added, "Close your mouth, you might catch a fly."
She stalked off into the woods.
Jayda seethed in the branch she was nestled in, high above the ground. (She'd always been able to climb like a monkey) It wasn't her fault she'd lost her temper. Will had acted stuck-up and Annabeth was being bitchy. What had she done to irk them so? Why were they so dead set against her; why did they label her as incapable of doing anything worthwhile?
She stared down at her hands. Maybe it was because of her parentage. She was pretty sure Hera wasn't supposed to have children. She would be labeled as an outcast for however long she stayed. Then she groaned. She'd asked Annabeth to come on the quest and couldn't even ask her to not go now. That would be downright mean.
She was snapped out of her thoughts by a twig snapping below. In one swift movement, she jumped off the branch and dropped to the ground lightly, sword and shield at the ready. "It's just me." The blonde intruder stated calmly, not even flinching at the show of hostility. Jayda lowered her hackles and sheathed her sword and compacted her shield.
"You'll miss lunch if you don't come now." The sun was high in the sky and she'd not even noticed. She began walking alongside Annabeth, trying to get up the courage to ask her a question. "Why do you hate me so much?" she blurted out finally. She thought Annabeth would just deny it but rather she just cocked a brow and pondered the answer.
"I don't really hate you. It's more like I can't really stand your mother. You look so much like her, except for your eyes. You have your father's eyes. Your mother… was- is not my favorite person, so forgive me if I come across as rude. She's had it in for me since an incident."
"I don't really mind about your opinion but you know that any kid's gonna defend his parents. So for that, I'll never forgive you but I hope that apart from it we can still be good friends." At that, for the first time since Jayda'd met her, she was granted a genuine smile. By this time, they'd reached the dining hall. Both the girls parted and Jayda was about to sit when Chiron clip-clopped up to her and said, "Jayda, I must talk to you. You must leave for the quest as soon as you can. Tomorrow morning has been set for the time. Rest today and pack. We shall meet at Thalia's pine at 7 o'clock tomorrow."
Jayda allowed her uncertainty and fear to show for a moment and Chiron's face softened. "Child, everything happens for a reason. (A/N: Anybody get the Lemony Snickett reference? No? Ok…) Mayhap that this has one too, important for you. Keep faith." Jayda nodded and sat down. She wished for pasta and lemonade and picked at her food. Her appetite had vanished. She sighed and set down her fork. She got up and went to her cabin. She pulled out a big and sturdy backpack, light blue with an angel on it, and began packing. She put in two pairs of clothes, a compass, her pack of ambrosia, a big canteen of nectar and at the very bottom, in the baby blankets, the letters and photos. She stroked them tenderly and wiped away tears. On top she laid the necklace. She set out clothes for the next day: comfortable jeans, an orange CHB T-shirt and combat boots. She set the watch and bracelet next to it, with her sword's sheath. The sun was now starting to set. She lay down on her bed, wondering when she'd get her life back and fell asleep wishing it was all a dream.
A/N: Next chapter- quest starts! Oh joy! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please vote on my profile poll regarding who Jayda should fall in love with. Till next time, adios amigos!