So, hopefully this chapter doesn't seem too random. In it is a lot of things I wanted to bring up and some things I wanted to lead to.
And, I'm hoping this bold will show up because my computers being stupid and…eh…long story.
AH! SUCH A GOOD MODD!
So…First of all…
I BROKE 30 IN MY 50 FREE TODAY! AHHHHHH! XD XD XD XD (And knocked 2 secs off 100 free to get a 1:07!) SO HAPPY!
And, I started a story called 'In My Point Of View' and the other day I posted chapter 2 and I got GREAT responses to it. People saying it was the best chapter I've written of ANYTHING and saying that I SOUNDED LIKE RICK RIORDAN HIMSELF! It MADE MY HEART SING and MADE ME FEEL THE NEED TO CAPS LOCK! You guys are SO INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC! I LOVE YOU ALL! YOU'RE AMAZING!
*Choir sings in background*
Hush guys I'm trying to do an annoying author's note that no one's gonna read!
*Continues to sing*
*Takes off shoe and chucks it at them.* SHUT UP!
As I was saying, good mood! And I'm really happy with this chapter! It also leads into a chapter I wanna write for 'Here We Are, I Guess' (which I'm still grasping for a plot to).
ALSO! FOR LENA'S MOST PAINFUL MEMORY: How depressing do you want it? Pretty depressing, or REALLY depressing. I had some people offering to help and I'll probs PM them tomorrow (IDK about you guys but it's like 1115 PM where I am).
So, yuppers.
You guys should ALL CHECK OUT ALL TIME LOW'S NEW ALBUM 'DON'T PANIC'!
My favorite song is Backseat Serenade. I danced into my 7th hour class to that song. You guys should all Youtube it or just fricken go buy it. It's epic.
Yups. So, Yeah.
REVIEW! MAKES MY HEART SING!
VIRTUAL HUGS TO ALL REVIEWERS! I LOVE YOU ALL!
OH! IN THIS CHAPTER IS MARK OF ATHENA SPOILERS! I WILL UNDERLINE THEM! HOPEFULLY IT WILL SHOW UP! YOU SHOULD JUST SKIP THAT PORTION IF YOU HAVE NOT READ MARK OF ATHENA OR DOES NOT KNOW HOW IT ENDS! I'M SERIOUS!
DISCLAIMER: ….
READ ON!
Hours passed painfully. I was sitting next to Alexa, who was watching the landscape's pass. I, on the other hand, closed my eyes and tried to tune out the world while simultaneously trying to be prepared for an attack.
It's as impossible as it sounds.
My focus was mostly directed to the hushed tones in the back. The Hephaestus kids. They were burly, tricky, and clever and talented enough to wreak major havoc on the bus.
"We're gonna stop soon." Alexa informed me.
"Where?"
"A clearing, some place that is able to be slept on."
"Gee, thanks for the exquisite details."
"We'll be able to rest for a few hours," she continued, ignoring my smartass remark, "but with over a hundred demigods, I do not want to risk anymore. Getting some rest on the bus wouldn't be a bad idea."
"I'll be fine." I said curtly. I heard Alexa sigh but she didn't speak again. She didn't understand. Sleep meant dreaming. Dreaming meant remembering. I wasn't about to face that with an audience. They all may knew that the threat of memories resided west, but they didn't know it already resided within me. I was cursed, an infectious disease, and they were all open to contamination. They didn't need another reason to not trust me.
Evidently, Alexa's definition of 'soon' was about an hour and a half. Darkness had won over light and Artemis was high in her ascension. Everyone piled out, carrying supplies for sleeping. I had grabbed a sleeping bag and threw on my mother's old baggy sweatpants and my fathers old NYC sweatshirt. I pulled my hair out of it's ponytail, resuming it to it's natural untamable appearance. On my mother, the curls made her look like royalty, on me, they made me look, well, wild. Perhaps it was meant to be that way.
I found Zack standing outside my bus, looking more high-strung than I'd ever seen him. He was wearing a black T-shirt with baggy gray sweatpants. In his arms was his sleeping bag, being squashed by his tense muscles.
"You okay?" I asked.
"No." He said shortly. His eyes looked tired and alert at the same time. Zack was angry, but not at me. Probably at Zeke. I wondered what happened on their bus.
His eyes softened and he sighed. "I'm sorry. Zeke just has me on edge."
"I guessed." I said, unsure what else to say. "I'm sorry," I tried.
"Let's just go find a place to sleep, okay?" He requested. "Some distance would be appreciated."
I felt myself nervously putting a strand of hair behind my ear. "Sure, let's go." As we walked away from the crowd of Half-Bloods I felt my face redden, hoping that the darkness covered it. It didn't help, though, when Zack laced one of his hands into mine. I was honestly concerned he could hear my heartbeat, which was doing it's drummer impression. We walked until we could barely see the rest of the camp.
Zack laid his sleeping bag down and I did the same...a few feet away. Zack sighed, picked his sleeping bag up, and put it back down so it was nearly overlapping my own. He looked to me, waiting for me to say something, and laid back down. I said nothing as I followed his example, but I kept a small distance between us, still unsure and self-conscious.
That didn't stop Zack from moving closer and wrapping one arm around my waist, and sliding the other under my head as a makeshift pillow of sorts.
My eyes shot open, my breathing was rapid and uneven. I so desperately tried to stay still as to not wake Zack, but quickly the stillness became unbearable and restlessness and ADHD kicked in.
I slowly maneuvered myself out of Zack's grasp so I was standing, while he was dreaming away to peaceful thoughts. How pleasurable that must be.
I started walking towards the small woods at the end of the clearing. With me, I still had two throwing knives, my father's pen (and watch), and my mother's dagger. For a while I just threw my knives, embedding the blades into the trunks of trees, aiming for trickier spots and harder positions. Once I began to tire of that I pulled out my father's pen and practiced different maneuvers. As I heated, I took my sweatshirt off so I was in my tank-top.
"Raise your sword a little." I heard suddenly, while I was working on my swords play.
I froze, mid imaginary-block. "What are you doing here?" I asked coldly.
"If you let your sword drop, it let's your opponent have an opening to strike. They strike, you die."
"And you know all about that, don't you?" I asked quietly and coldly. I lowered my sword, but kept a steel grip on it, and turned to face the man known as Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades. "I asked what you were doing here."
"I heard you," was all he said.
Nico di Angelo was a very interesting man, upon first glance. He was attractive enough I suppose. Without extensive attention to detail, Nico could pass as late-twenties to mid-thirties. His skin was an odd olive color, and his hair was a dark, stark contrast. There was something childish in his features that didn't meet his eyes.
After really meeting Nico, you stop seeing the childish qualities, and instead see the sadness in the eyes. Even a mortal could tell that Nico had seen some awful things. My parents had been the same way, but they'd been better at concealing it, while Nico seemed to have embraced it.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Nico was kind enough, I suppose, but I'd come to think of him as my warden. When I would run away when I was little, Nico would always be there when I was found.
"Then answer the question," I challenged.
"I heard you were questing," he said as casually as someone might say 'I heard it was going to rain'.
I had to keep from snorting. "It's hardly a traditional quest."
He just smiled sadly. "Scarcely anything is traditional when it comes to the Jacksons."
A cold silence settled over us, blanketing us with our own emotions.
"Have you visited my parent's recently?" I asked bitterly, to break the silence. I tried to shove my emotions down my throat and swallow them.
"Not too recently." He admitted. "But I'm going to see them after this."
"So you're here to check up on me?" I deduced.
Nico just shrugged. I took a deep breath to calm myself and returned to my swords practice, trying to pretend that he was never there, but, of course, Nico felt the need to give his input and advice.
"I know what I'm doing," I would grumble. "I've fought monsters before." But I would heed his advice.
Then, suddenly: "Who's the guy you were sleeping with?"
I was so shocked I nearly dropped my sword.
"Excuse me?" I demanded.
Nico's eyes widened as he realized how that question sounded. "I, uh," he stammered. "I meant to ask who the boy who, ah, was, uh, laying down, er, beside you was."
I looked down at my weapon, slightly contemplating attacking the legendary son of Hades (everyone my parent's knew had become 'legendary'. I will NOT go into the 'legendary Stoll brothers stories.).
"His name is Zack," I said reluctantly, as if I was afraid that, by acknowledging him, fate would take him away from me, and that thought made my heart hurt. I finally somewhat understood what it must have been like for my mom to lose my father for all those months, but not fully. I think you had to go through that to really understand.
"Oh." Was all Nico had to say.
"And?" I glared, daring.
"Nothing," he said quickly. "It's just...everytime I've seen you, you've always been alone." I got the sense he could sympathize.
I knew what he meant, it was a fact I'd been, are still, dealing with.
"I know." I said quietly. "I don't get it either."
Nico just stood there. "You're a lot like your mother, you know?"
"How so?" I asked, more sarcastic than anything. "My intelligence? My ability with my knife?"
"You pride." He cut in. "Your reluctance to let others in. Heck, even your past with people leaving you, and you leaving others." I looked away, feeling equal parts shame and anger. "Your mother struggled with the same thing when she met your father."
I snorted. "Weren't they meant to be? The perfect couple to overcome the Athena/Poseidon boundary."
Nico laughed. "Oh, gods no. Annabeth hated your father. He was arrogant, idiotic, stubborn-"
"And you know this how?"
"Your mom told me."
"Oh."
Nico continued. "They got into a lot of fights before they're relationship. Rachel coming in...didn't exactly help, from what I understand. But when they got together, nothing could separate them. Not even Tartarus."
My head shot up. "What?"
Nico's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, you wouldn't know."
I felt my grip on my sword tighten. "Know WHAT exactly, Nico?"
He took a deep breath and spoke, his voice fast. "When your parents were about your age they were going on the second Great Prophecy. Your mother had to go on a solo quest to recover the Athena Parthenos from Arachne. In the process, your mother had to go to Arachne's lair which was on a frail floor that was hung over Tartarus. The floor broke and Arachne fell, but your mother was caught in the web."
As he spoke, his eyes got more and more sad. "Just when we arrived, and thought we were safe and had succeeded, I had just been rescued, it happened."
He took a deep breath. "The web pulled Annabeth to the pit. Percy lunged for her and grabbed her, but he was pulled over the edge as well. He-he caught a ledge, about fifteen feet down, but Annabeth was still being pulled down. She would go down no matter what. Percy, he could have let go and avoided the trip south, but I don't think that even crossed his mind. It crossed you mother's though. She told him to let go. He refused, adamantly. Then he-he looked to me." At this point, Nico's eyes were so pained it hurt myself. "He told me to lead them to the mortal side of the Doors of Death. The other side of the Doors were in tartarus. He said...He said he would meet me there. That I would have to lead the others to the Doors. Annabeth and your father swore to stay together, and then they fell."
I was beyond shock at this point. "I didn't know this." I felt hot tears prick my eyes.
"How forthcoming have you been to 'Zack' about your past?"
I didn't respond to that.
"I've learned a lot, Lena, in my lifetime. I've seen a lot, I've done a lot. More than I'd like. One thing I've learned is that you can move on from your past, but you can't leave it behind."
"I've moved on," I lied.
"There's a difference between moving on and running away."
"I'm not running from anything."
"Than face it." He challenged. "The best way to get over it, share it with someone you trust. Maybe that Zack guy."
He paused. "Though I don't get why you're spending time with the son of the god who most wants you dead."
"How did you know who he was?"
Nico smirked a little. "Us Big Three Children got some tricks up our sleeves. After a while, you can pick them out."
I nodded, but didn't respond.
"Is there anything you'd like to tell your parents?" He's asked me this question before, and I never responded. I did the same now, squeezing my eyes shut to try to barricade the tears.
There was another pause. "Take care, Silena." Nico said. I heard footsteps and when I opened my eyes, he was gone. Shadow travelled no doubt.
I felt tears rampage and my breathing grow uneven again. I tried to swallow it, not in the mood to cry.
For the first time, I knew what I wanted to say to my parents.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.