Daughter of Hera
A/N: Another chapter! Yay! So, I had a reviewer who wanted Jayda to fall for Percy, but I wrote the chapter way before. I hope you guys won't kill me, but I somehow wanted to project a real dilemma for Jayda in the romantic department. Now, I'm hoping for more reviews this chapter, so don't disappoint me coz: more reviews, favs, follows- happy author- more typing- more updating- happy fans- more reviews! See how the cycle goes? Yeah, I don't either.
Now, without further ado, I present… the chapter!
She knew this boy, the much talked-about Hero of Olympus: Perseus Jackson.
She woke up in a sweat and could swear that for a moment, she smelt the ocean breeze before it was swept away by the wind. She shook her head and cleared away the thoughts whirling around her mind; from the kiss with Percy to how'd they get Jeff back. She got up; she clearly wouldn't be getting more sleep. She looked at her wolf cub- Kyra- and her eyes widened. She seemed to have grown to the size of a half-grown wolf overnight. Then she smirked: if Greek Gods existed, why couldn't a wolf on a growth spurt?
You're funny Jay. Kyra looked at her and seemed to laugh at her expression. Wolf on a growth spurt?
A mind-reading wolf on a growth spurt; yeah, why not? Sorry, it just seemed like that. Up for a walk Kyra?
Of course I am. She bounded out and Jayda followed, but not before waking up Annabeth and letting her know. She ran out after Kyra and relished the feeling of the wind in her hair. They reached an open area and played with snow, flopping down after a while, exhausted from all the activity. After a while, Annabeth showed up with their packs and the Pegasi in tow. "We should get going. It's a day ride from here and we need to get there as fast as we can."
Jayda nodded, her joy evaporating at the reminder of what they were supposed to do. As short as the moments had been, she'd savored the time she'd been able to spend with Kyra away from her responsibilities and the possibility of death. She sighed and walked over to them and asked, "How do we get Kyra there?"
"I already thought of that. Here," she showed her a huge basket which was padded and fitted with food and water bowls. "I stopped by Artemis' camp and picked this up." Jayda allowed a mildly impressed expression to cross her face and Annabeth chuckled. They helped the wolf in and attached it to Blackjack and Porkpie like a carriage. Snowfire was left free so that Jayda could scout ahead easily.
They flew into the air and maintained a fast pace for the whole day. By dusk, they were only three hours away from the expected location. They landed and made camp for the night. "Rest well, Jayda, we might have to fight tomorrow." Jayda gave a terse nod in acknowledgement and she set up the tent. Not bothering to keep guard, both fell onto the bunks and slept, leaving Kyra and the Pegasi at the entrance to the tent where they'd be protected from the howling wind.
Jayda had, for once, been sincerely hoping that she could have a dreamless sleep; so how could the Fates grant her that wish when they were opposed to making her life any easier?
She was in a garden. She could see a castle in the distance, and here among the trees and nearly wild bushes, she saw loveseats covered in vines. She recognized this place. It was her dream to go here once, although she knew it was imaginary. It was the place she'd expected to meet her Prince Charming in. All these thoughts of love should've set off alarm bells in her head but she ignored the clues.
"This is your dream place? I thoroughly approve of it though. I like going to dream places, so much fun meeting the people I'm interested in there." She turned around to see the most beautiful women ever walk towards her. She knew who it was.
It was the Goddess of Love herself, Aphrodite.
"Hello Jayda."
She knelt. "Lady Aphrodite."
"Get up child. I need to talk to you about something. My domain is, as you know, love and I have noted your very interesting love life. Leo Valdez, Jeffrey Watson and Perseus Jackson too? My, my, you'll turn out to be quite the heartbreaker." She smirked and the demigod blushed fiercely.
"Lady Aphrodite, this is so different from what I've felt before. I thought Jeff was the one for me but now, Leo was so sweet and… and he's good-looking too. And Percy too, he-he was just so sweet to me and he kisses amazingly." She seemed to realize what she'd said and Aphrodite laughed prettily.
"It is alright child. I never make it easy for those who I care about the most. I once told Percy that I'd never make his love life easy and now I tell you the same. The path ahead of you is not easy and I expect that you'll make the right choices."
She glanced up at the blue sky. "I must leave soon." She took a deep breath. "You've turned out so much better than we'd dared to hope, Jayda Bloomwood. I was one of the Goddesses to bless you, you know. I'm so glad I did. I'm proud to be able to claim that you are as much my child as your own mother's. May the Gods watch over you child." With that, the Goddess disappeared in a cloud of rose perfume.
Jayda woke up and took a shaky breath. She'd just poured out all her feelings in front of a Goddess! Gods, she just didn't know when to keep her mouth shut, did she? She closed her eyes and went back to sleep, just to be woken seemingly seconds later by Annabeth. "Come on, it's nearly 8, so we should get going now." Jayda just sat up grumpily and nearly fell asleep again. She narrowly missed being drenched with water by Annabeth for her sleepiness.
"I'm up, I'm up!"
"Good, now get ready."
Jayda jumped into the tiny shower and sighed in bliss as hot water coursed out and relieved her shivering body. May the Gods bless Leo!
She stepped out and bundled up quickly, marching out and grabbing a sandwich from Annabeth. The tent was minimized quickly and they set off again, Kyra napping happily in her basket. Their spirits were low and they didn't feel like making conversation, so the flight was filled with silence. They flew over Norway and entered the sea. Jayda got worried now; if they had to stop it wouldn't be possible. Her thoughts were put to rest by a shout from Annabeth. "I see land!"
They swooped down gently and were relieved to see an island rising out of the Mist. It had probably never been charted by mortals before, seeing how it was smack-dab in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. They saw mountains on the side nearest to them, high enough that they couldn't see anything beyond. "The Riphean Mountains…" breathed Jayda. They flew over them and saw a camp, like the barracks for an army. Except that instead of mortals or demigods, there were monsters.
"This is it," Annabeth said to Jayda. They went in to land near a covered cove in the slope of the mountains. Once they got off, Jayda looked at Snowfire. Please stay here with Blackjack and Porkpie and take care of our stuff.
As you say Jayda.
Thank you.
Annabeth and Jayda strapped on their weapons, Jayda's daggers out and her sword activated and strapped to her hip. Kyra growled. I'm coming with you; I won't leave you alone!
It's too dangerous for you!
It's dangerous for you too!
I have to do it!
And I have to be where you are!
Jayda finally nodded reluctantly, seeing the logic in her words. They were about to leave when the shadows seemed to bend and a boy stumbled out. He was good-looking, dark hair and obsidian eyes but he seemed younger than them. He was moody-looking, so she guessed that he was a son of Hades.
"Nico?" Annabeth exclaimed. So that's his name.
"Annabeth? What are you doing here?"
"We're on a quest. What are you doing here?"
"I've been scouting this army since three days for my father. I'm going to sneak in today."
"We're going in too. You can come with us, we can use the backup." He nodded and the four of them stepped out and lightly ran over to the bushes at the edge of the camp. They snuck into the camp behind some tents and saw many Cyclops forging blades. They ran in further and would've made it to the centre if a monster hadn't spotted them and grabbed them. "Trying to sneak in, eh? Let's take you to the Master."
They didn't bother with struggling, knowing it would ultimately be futile. They neared a huge tent, in a rich brown color with gold edging. They were pushed inside and their jaws dropped to the ground at seeing who was inside.
The giant grinned grotesquely and boomed, "Welcome to your doom demigods. I am Poryphyrion, King of the Giants!"
A/N: TADA! Did you like it? Or was it totally horrible? Just let me know in a review! Also, I got only two chapters and an epilogue left. Then I'll be doing a credits, thanking all reviewers and nice people so few chances to get your name on there left, do it now!