Chapter Seven! Thanks you guys for reviewing! I tried to make this one longer, because I know that's what you guys want. Gimme some feedback!
Chad
I was surfing the Internet one night when the door opened and Percy came in. He'd been out when I got back from the movie Jenna and I went to, and I hadn't thought much of it. As I glanced at him, however, I realized maybe I should have.
His face was pale and he had his dark jacket clutched around him tightly. He hurried in, and was slightly bent at the waist, like he was in pain.
"Uh, Percy?" I asked.
"I'm fine," he replied in a slightly strained voice. He walked over to his side of the room, taking no care to avoid stepping on things. He stopped in front of the mirror propped against one wall, the only one we had in the dorm. We hadn't taken the time to hang it up, so it just leaned against the wall. To see anything above your chest you had to bend over, which made it kind of a pain.
As I watched, Percy took off his jacket carefully, and then pulled off his shirt tenderly. From my bed, I could see the reflection of his chest.
"Oh my God!" I yelped, jumping up. "What the hell happened?"
I walked over to him, and he grimaced. "Chill out," he told me. "It isn't that bad."
"Not that bad?" I asked, shocked. "Are you kidding me?"
Across Percy's torso, starting a few inches below his collarbone and continuing diagonally nearly to his belly button was a bleeding gash. It was one of the gnarliest injury's I'd ever seen, probably coming in second after the time when Mike Potts slid into third base during a sixth-grade Little League game, hit a rock on the way, and scraped the back of his calf down to the bone. Luckily he hadn't ripped open an artery, but there was blood everywhere, and about six emergency vehicles showed up to the baseball field.
Percy examined his wound in the mirror with a sort of clinical detachment, like he was used to seeing such injuries. When he straightened a bit to talk to me, however, he gasped slightly in pain.
"Can you go into my duffel bag and look for the black water bottle?" he asked. I nodded and hurried over to his bag. I pushed clothes and papers and CD cases aside until I spotted a black bottle. I picked it up and brought it to Percy, who had lowered himself onto his bed.
He took it from me and unscrewed the top. I watched him take two gulps, then carefully put the top back on and set down the bottle. After drinking whatever was in the bottle, he looked much less pale, and I noticed that his cut stopped bleeding so much.
"What is that?" I asked, nodding towards the bottle. Percy shook his head.
"Nectar. But it doesn't matter. Do we have any gauze bandage?"
We didn't, of course. So I jogged to the building's nurse.
"How can I help you, hon?" The woman with graying-brunette hair asked. She was really soft looking, not like one of the hard-ass nurses I always got stuck with when I went to the doctor's.
"Do you have any gauze bandage? My roommate, uh, fell off his skateboard. It's pretty nasty."
The nurse smiled. "Sure thing. Do you need tape for the bandage too?"
I nodded. She opened a drawer behind the desk and handed me a box and a roll of medical tape. "Tell your roommate to heal fast, alright?" she added as I turned away. I assured her I would, and then pretty much ran back to 219.
I helped Percy cover his chest with this gigantic pad of gauze, and then tape it down. He took a baggie of something out of his bag and took a bite. He looked visibly better afterwards. I figured it was one of those need-to-know things.
His shirt was trashed, so we just threw it away. Finally, we both sat down on our respective beds.
"Okay," I began. "What happened?"
Percy sighed. "I just had a little run-in with a hellhound. No big deal."
I gaped at him for a moment. "Hellhound?" I asked. "No big deal?"
"Yeah," he replied. He shrugged, but then winced a bit as it pulled on his cut. "The hellhound's a lot worse off than I am. He won't be reforming for a while."
I wondered briefly whether I should even try to understand what he'd said. But my curiosity, as usual, got the best of me.
"Care to elaborate?" I asked him.
He sighed. "I was in the city. I went to see my mom. Then I was walking back, and I kinda spaced out. Took a wrong turn or two. Ended up in a sketchy-looking alleyway…and a hellhound jumped out from behind a dumpster. Luckily I had Riptide on me, and this was the only shot that mutt had." He finished, glancing down at his bandaged torso.
"Riptide?" I asked, which I admit was probably the least peculiar thing about his explanation. "And why was this…hellhound after you?"
Percy rolled his eyes. "Hades' pets are always after me. That's the way it happens with…people like me."
There was a pause while I considered this.
"And Riptide is my, uh, weapon."
"Can I see it?" I asked. Nerd that I am, I wanted to see a real-life combat weapon. God, I have to stop playing warfare videogames.
Percy sighed, reached into his front pocket, and pulled out…a pen.
"That's a pen." I pointed out when he held it up. It wasn't even a nice pen. It would've cost me thirty cents at Staples.
"It's a lot more than what it might seem," Percy told me.
I just stared at him. "Percy. That. Is. A. Pen."
He grinned, and then pulled off the cap.
The air seemed to shimmer for a moment, and my vision went blurry. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a few times.
When I looked back at Percy, he was holding a long, bronze-colored sword.
"Holy crap!" I said, jumping up. "How did that happen?"
He raised his eyebrow. "Seriously?" he asked. "After everything you've seen, this is the most surprising?"
I didn't answer his question. Instead I gaped at the sword some more. "You carry that around with you?"
"Yep. I need to be prepared."
My roommate carried around a sword. A concealed weapon.
Does it send up red flags that I was jealous of him?
Aleka
"Ally, stop this. What's happened?"
"Do not call me Ally," Aleka said in a voice bordering on dangerous.
"Oh, that's right-what was it you wanted to be called?"
"My name is Aleka," the commander said. "It's a proper name for someone like me. It's Greek, and it means-"
Aleka's mother cut her off. "Honey, what is going on with you? I just don't understand. You had so much going for you! You're a pretty girl, you're smart, you were so popular before you left! Why did you go, honey? Why did you leave me and your friends?"
"They are not my friends!" Aleka yelled. As usual, she was frustrated with her mother. "They are not equal to me! Why can't you see this, Mother? I am the daughter of a god. The golden ichor of Olympus runs through my veins! I am above mortals. You are too, Mom! You're the lover of a Greek god! Don't you think you deserve to be treated accordingly?"
Aleka's mom laughed. "Was the lover a god, hon, as your many half-siblings can attest to. I don't deserve anything more than I have. And honey, what is all this talk of being so important? You are important. Come home, and you'll see. Everyone loves you here!"
Aleka snorted. "I don't want to be loved. I want to be acknowledged. I want to be obeyed. In ancient times-"
"Ally-or, ah, Alika. I get it. You're not coming home. I'll call you again later, okay? And if you want to talk, or you miss any of us here, just call, okay?"
Aleka unclenched her jaw. "Goodbye, Mother."
"I love you."
Aleka hung up, and then resisted the urge to through the cell phone across the tent. Instead, she set it down and went to sit in her chair, seething.
"Commander Aleka?" someone outside the tent inquired.
"Enter," Aleka called in an irritated voice.
The tent unzipped, and one of Aleka's commanding officers walked in. He politely bowed his head at her, and then waited.
"Well, Andrew?" she asked. "What do you have to report?"
"Training is going well," he said. "Nearly all of our soldiers are trained well. However, our shortage of weapons is problematic."
Aleka sighed, and rubbed her temple. "Have you looked into the nearby museums?" she asked.
Andrew nodded. "There was little Greek, and even then it was nothing in shape for fighting. Miss-if I may?"
Aleka liked Andrew, so she gave him permission to speak his mind.
"I don't think we can win this battle using only Greek weapons. We're going to have to bring in some more modern, or at the very least different, arms if we're going to stand a chance."
Aleka's fist clenched, but she controlled her voice. "I understand your concern, but we cannot fight with anything beneath us. We deserve proper weapons, and we will get them, the gods help us. Pray to your parent, Andrew, and do not worry too much."
Andrew scuffed his feet. "Yes, ma'am."
"In ancient times, demigods were revered above mere humans, and such it will be again. Do not doubt it."
"Of course not, Commander."
Aleka granted him leave, and only seconds after Andrew left the tent, someone else spoke from outside the tent.
"Excuse me, Commander?"
"Come in," she said.
A young, pale girl with dark brown hair walked in.
"Ah, Pearl."
"Good afternoon, Miss."
Aleka smiled. "What have you to tell me?"
She bowed her head. "Iakovos attacked Percy Jackson, but did not succeed in doing very much damage to him."
Aleka frowned. "Iakovos? The hounds have names?"
Pearl bit her lip. "Yes, ma'am. Iakovos was…dear to me."
"Was?" Aleka had not missed the change of tense.
"Percy Jackson killed him. Apparently he had his sword with him, concealed. I am deeply sorry, ma'am."
Aleka rested her head in her hands for a moment. Then she looked up and regained composure. "Can you get more demons?" she asked.
Pearl shrugged. "Surely I can ask my mother. Whether Hades will notice or allow it, I can't say…"
"Do your best," Aleka ordered. "I have not met nor dealt with Persephone, so I do not know how sympathetic she might be to our cause."
Pearl looked down at her boots. "Since it is autumn, Commander, my mom is not in one of her best moods…but she may help us, if only for excitement."
"Good," Aleka said. "And it is better than winter, I suppose. Contact her as soon as possible, so we can retrieve more monsters for our cause. We still need to take care of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. It will be more dangerous if they are present at the battle."
"Yes, ma'am." Pearl responded respectfully. Aleka grinned and excused her.
Once the camp was quiet, Aleka took out her matches and lit a small fire in a bowl. She pulled a packet of beef jerky out of her red, beat-up duffle bag and burned a piece.
"For you, Father." she said. "Assist us. Your greatness will be lived out in me. If only you grant us help in the way of weapons and training, I will be the first hero of Ares in thousands of years. No longer mind the Big Three-their time is over. With your aid we will begin a revolution, and I know how you love revolutions. Thank you, great father."
She let the fire burn out, and then sat in the dark for a while longer.
Ahh! What do you guys think of Aleka? Seriously, tell me. I want to know! Do you empathize with her? Or kinda just want to give her a whack?
Okay, I gotta tell you guys something! I'm currently read The Red Pyramid, which is by Rick Riordan! It's his newest book and it's AMAZING! Not as good as Percy Jackson, but pretty dang close! It's kind of the same thing, except with Egyptian gods. Read it! Here's one of my favorite parts so far:
"So you can't like in Manhattan?" she asked.
Amos's brow furrowed as he looked across at the Empire State Building. "Manhattan has other problems. Other gods. It's best we stay seperate."
"Other what?" Sadie demanded.
"Nothing."
Haha! Go Manhattan!
Okay, please review! Love you all, Jenna!