(A/N): Please excuse the delay, but homework, school, and reality caught up (all at the same time! Can you believe it?). Plus, I had a bit of trouble with getting the distinction between the two protagonists' voices. I'm still not sure I got it perfectly right, so if anyone has any complaints or tips that could help, it would be much appreciated. Thank you and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I just need to travel to that other dimension and get some proof. Then I'll show you all.
At Fifth Ages' End
Ch. 4
I sat at Morpheus' table, alone. Dad evidently hadn't been too busy, if you catch my drift.
It was a struggle not to close my eyes. These last few nights hadn't been restful at all. My whole body ached from tip to toe. And the general surroundings weren't helping.
It was really annoying.
One of Hypnos' children passed me the plate of steak, yawning widely. I particularly envied them at the moment. They slept so much (and so deeply) it was like they walked around in a blanket of sleepiness. When they did decide to walk.
I took a portion of the meat and passed it to the Hecate table. The brunette who took it giggled and smiled at me. I was too tired to even try to be civil as I abruptly turned away.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw that daughter of Nemesis, Elena, glance at me. She raised an eyebrow at my rude behaviour, but didn't say anything. She went back to watching the rest of the cabin tables and sipping her beverage. Was it blackcurrant, or Ribena? I couldn't tell.
Anyway, what Elena thought about my behaviour wasn't my concern.
She didn't seem mortal sometimes, or even half-mortal, when she stared at you with those ice-blue eyes and leveled her blade at your unprotected chest. She was a living weapon when she fought: graceful, deadly, and focused. Very focused.
The camp talked about her a lot. Whispered that she was god-trained. A prophecy to fulfill. A prophecy that warned of an end to the Golden Age of the Gods.
Prophecies never end well, I learned. I learned a lot by eavesdropping.
In the three months I'd been enrolled in a school, I'd managed to perfect the art of invisibility. Not the Helmet of Darkness invisibility, per se, but the ability to vanish from everyone's mind. I wasn't just unimportant; I wasn't even there.
I resisted the urge to place my head on top of my arms and just fall asleep. This whole 'Son of Morpheus' shindig was exhausting.
The dreams just couldn't seem to leave me alone. I'd wake up sweaty, tired, unfocused from the random rush of images that had swum through my mind all night. They were an unrelenting tide. I hardly knew what I was seeing all the time.
But I did get the sense of someone trying to manipulate me. Someone trying to pull me to him, and was using Grandpa as bait.
I didn't like being played with.
Lunch went by uneventfully. I slipped out of the pavilion with everyone else, hands in pockets, unnoticed.
Someone stepped on my foot. I ignored it. It wasn't the idiot's fault he couldn't walk properly like everyone else. And I was half-asleep anyway.
A few meters later, someone else bumped me in the shoulder. I felt a wave of anger crash over my drowsiness. So much space and people somehow managed to knock into others?
I've mentioned before I disliked people in general. I also hated human contact.
I moved away from the crowd before I punched someone in the face for no good reason. Somewhere in my brain I have a gauge. When it flashes into the red, I start to kill people.
From past experiences, it flashes red all too easily.
Someone tripped me up from behind.
For a moment, all I did was stop in my tracks. Then my gauge burned crimson and I whirled and lunged, knocking him down. I knew this guy, an Apollo kid who'd challenged me at hand to hand combat and had gotten his butt completely and totally stoked, nothing personal. But I guess he thought different.
Alright, so I had hit him on the nose multiple times and threw him on the ground more than once, but if he had wanted to stop he would've stayed down, now wouldn't he?
"Look, if you're still unhappy with the nose incident, I've told you, it was nothing personal," I growled. He glowered at me and after a long while of holding that with a cold stare I let him up.
"Get lost."
He turned and ran.
Someone came up behind me, just barely noticeable. This person was quieter, harder to sense than most.
Of course it was her. Elena frowned and crossed her arms as she followed the retreating figure with her eyes.
"What?" I asked irritably. She turned her head just enough to raise an eyebrow.
"You overreact," she informed me matter-of-factly.
"Gee, how perceptive of you to notice," I gushed sarcastically. She rolled her eyes.
"It could have just been an accident, him tripping you up," she continued, unfazed by my biting tone.
"I don't believe in coincidences. I knew the guy, he had good reason to try that on me. What's a little payback when it's due?" Elena gave me an exasperated look, which I held with cool disinterest. Finally she ended the staring contest and huffed.
"Boys," she muttered, walking down the side of the hill. I allowed myself a slight smirk.
The daughter of Nemesis was a study, alright. She was even worth the effort of conversation sometimes.
Don't get any ideas. I'd watched her on the training ground these last few days. Archery was her domain. She could wipe the floor with the guts of each and every Apollo kid at our camp, easy. Sword-fighting-wise, she didn't come on much, preferring to lurk on the edge, but when a brash camper-always a guy-challenged or taunted her, her eyes would flash angrily and she would come forward.
She always won. Even Percy, who had politely challenged her to a friendly duel, was fought to a standstill, a draw. Clarisse la Rue of the Ares cabin was the next in line to be challenging her to a fight, and the Hermes cabin were already taking bets.
She also hung out a lot at the stables, where the pegasi were kept. She was a pretty decent rider, if the Aphrodite children's grudging nods were to be believed.
Now, let me just make clear the fact that I am not stalking her. I just happen to hang out at the stables and the training arenas a lot too. But I'd usually be sketching.
Sketching was one of the few things that calmed me down. And the contours of perfectly capable swordsmen and women, not to mention the graceful quality of the pegasus' wings, were my current obsession.
So was flicking a pair of knives around. Fighting a yawn, I decided to head over to the training ground to work off the bad mood. Maybe Annabeth could spare a few minutes, if she wasn't busy with Percy.
Annabeth Chase of the Athena cabin is the best knife fighter at camp, and the position is well-earned, not to mention respected. She can be quick and light, strong and steady, as the situation requires.
A small, naively innocent part of my brain that refused to die a natural death hoped I could be just as good as her one day, maybe better. I hadn't been able to squash that preposterous idea out of my nerve clusters quite yet.
I was halfway down the slope, but a large, equestrian shadow falling across me made me pause. Chiron smiled when I turned and bowed slightly at the waist.
"Sir."
"James. A package came for you. From your father, Morpheus."
"My dad?" I tried not to look too shocked.
I hadn't been expecting any magical sign other than the claiming that would, I don't know, be proof that my dad actually knew I existed. Chiron suspected that because of his recent involvement on the wrong side of the war, Morpheus was cautious about claiming me, resulting in my rather late arrival. And I wasn't too sure I wouldn't try to kick him between the legs if he did show up. He must have known about mom and her 'problems'.
Cautiously, I took the package.
There was a note attached to it. 'My son, a gift that will soon be essential to your survival. I foresee this. Use it well.' I ripped the brown wax paper apart and peeked inside.
Two sparkling celestial bronze blades glared back at me, demanding to be held and admired. My eyes widening in surprise, I obliged, dropping my hand in and pulling out two well-balanced knives, each gleaming with a bold, brazen sheen. I grinned approvingly, letting them catch the light as I twisted them every which way for a better look.
"Cool." Nodding to myself, I made a mental note to toss a good portion of steak into the sacrificial altar at dinner. For all my misgivings, I had to admit Morpheus sure knew what made a good pair of knives.
