Chapter 18
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson nor any of its characters, I just own my own character Antheia/Alyssa.
Annabeth had an idea.
They hailed a cab and she offered the taxi driver her Lotus Casino credit card. When he swiped it, the machine rattled before an infinity sign appeared next to a dollar sign.
The taxi driver's eyes widened. Annabeth said, "Santa Monica pier, please. And make it fast and you can keep the change.
She probably shouldn't have told him that, because his speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.
Alyssa was sitting in front, looking out at the bright sun smiling down upon her. It gave her weird feelings, like the sun played an important part in her life, yet she couldn't remember why.
Her face still stung form the casino, but her anger was fading. She couldn't stay mad at her brother, no matter what he did to annoy her.
That left Percy, Annabeth, and Grover wedged in the back seats discussing Percy's latest nightmare.
"No, it has to be Hades." Annabeth insisted. "Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong-"
"Like what-" Percy questioned.
"Percy...lets not talk about in. Because if it isn't Hades... No. It has to be Hades.
Wasteland rolled by. They passed a sigh that said the California border was 12 miles ahead. Percy felt like he was missing something, like there was something else going on, something even more dangerous.
"The answer is in the Underworld," Annabeth assured him. "You saw spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be."
The cab sped west. Every gust of wind through Death Valley sounded like a spirit of the dead. Every time the brakes hissed on an eighteen-wheeler, it reminded Alyssa of Echidna's reptilian voice.
-:-
At sunset, the taxi dropped them off at the beach in Santa Monica. They waved goodbye as the cab sped off towards Las Vegas again and they made their way to the edge of the surf.
"What now?" Annabeth asked.
The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. Percy wondered how he could be the son of someone as powerful as to control two-thirds of the world.
He stepped into the surf.
"Percy?" Annabeth asked. "What are you doing?"
He kept walking, up to his waist, then to his chest.
She called after him, "You know how polluted the water is? There's all kinds of of toxic-"
That's when his head went under.
Alyssa, Annabeth, and Grover all looked hesitantly at the waves rolling in.
After waiting twenty minutes, Annabeth turned to Alyssa and said, "You wait here with the backpack and Grover and I are going to go find food."
Alyssa just nodded, not really wanting to speak.
As the two went off, Alyssa carried the backpack over to a bench and looked out at the golden sea.
She leaned down to tie her shoe and her necklace tumbled out of her shirt. She held it in her hands, turning it over to examine the small print of the back.
"Antheia." She whispered. "It has to mean something."
She got up from the bench and walked over to a railing overlooking the coast.
She took the necklace off, wanting to examine it more.
A sharp wind blew past, stunning her for a moment and she dropped the necklace, watching as if fell to the ground.
She gasped and quickly picked it up, noticing a tiny crack in the edge. Tears filled her eyes as she realized that it was broken. Her only clue from her past was broken.
She held the tiny sun gingerly in her hands, almost like cradling it when she noticed something. The crack wasn't crooked, it was perfectly straight, almost like it was there before.
She reached down and placed her fingertip on the edge, seeing if anything opened.
She gasped when the crack because bigger, it was opening more and more. She pried it open and out came a burst of sunlight, making her squint her eyes.
The light faded and she looked down to see the the tiny sun split in two to reveal a locket. There was a photo on one side and a little note on the other.
She caught her breath as she saw the photo. It was two people, one super attractive man with blue faded jeans and a white tee shirt that made him look like a model and sitting next to him was a little girl, maybe about five. She had such familiar green eyes.
"It's me!" Alyssa said to herself, amazed at the resemblance. She looked carefree and happy in the photo as she was leaning her head on the man and had her arms around him.
Alyssa looked over at the little note and it said, 'You are my forever and you will always have my heart. Love you more than life, A."
"Who's A?" She thought.
She heard a noise behind her and she turned to find someone going through her backpack. "Hey!" She shouted, running over to the intruder.
As she got closer, the man looked up.
She stopped in her tracks... "Luke?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Hey, Alyssa. I was just checking your bag to see if it belonged to you. I have been looking everywhere for you."
Alyssa looked down, her cheeks turning red.
"Sorry, Luke. We just got here and Percy disappeared in the turf over a half hour ago and the other two went to find food.
Luke smiled. "Perfect, now we can surprise them. Come on, lets go hide in the alley over there." He said, tugging at her arm.
"Luke wait," she said stopping. "I can't just leave the stuff there, someone will take it."
"Nonsense. We'll place it under that tree over there and it will be in sight the entire time."
She looked hesitantly at the dark alley a block away, her hand still clenched around the necklace.
"I suppose.." She finally said. She turned and placed the necklace in the front pouch of the backpack, noticing a small piece of paper but decided to leave it.
Luke took her hand and led her away from the place where she was suppose to stay.
When they arrived, they leaned against the brick wall, looking back at the shady tree area.
"I missed you," Luke whispered in her ear.
Alyssa turned around to look in his deep, blue eyes, his friendly face and bright smile.
"I missed you, too." She whispered. "It's been really hard here without you."
Luke reached out and gently stroked her hurt cheek.
"Who did this to you?" His voice hinting anger to it.
"It was an accident." She replied quickly, hoping not to remember the terrible memory.
Luke leaned down and kissed her bruise with such gentleness. "Does that make it feel better?"
She giggled. "Yes, it does. Thank you for everything. Your one of the only people I can trust."
He smiled before looking back at the shaded tree and pointed. "Look, I think I see Annabeth and Grover coming back."
Alyssa turned excitedly, looking for the two familiar faces.
"Luke, I don't see-"
She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head and her vision started to go blurry.
"L..Luke?" She whisperd, barely able to stand before she collapsed into two strong arms. She looked up to see Luke staring down at her. His scar really stood out and his face no longer looked gentle.
"The funny thing is, dear," he sneered, his face filling with danger. "You shouldn't trust anyone. For the people you think are closest to you, will only bring your end."
He gave an evil laugh and that was the last thing she saw, his face looking different than the Luke she knew, thrown back laughing at her, before everything went black...
-:-
Annabeth and Grover were walking along the beach, carrying to-go bags from Rubios when they spotted a familiar person walking up out of the water.
"Percy!" Annabeth yelled, waving to let him know where they were. He turned and waved back, lightly jogging over to where they were standing.
"Well," Grover said when Percy arrived. "What happened?"
"I met a Nereid and she gave me these," he said holding out three shiny pearls. "She said to smash them at our feet when we need to get out of the Underworld."
"But there's only three of them." Annabeth said, confused. "And there are four of us."
Percy shrugged. "That's all she said about them."
"Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."
"They were free."
"No." She shook her head. "There's no such thing as a free lunch. There will be a price. You wait."
They turned and starting walking back to where they left Alyssa.
When they arrived, they saw the backpack leaning up against a tree but Alyssa was no where to be found.
Percy turned around in circled, looking for her.
"Where the heck did she go?"
Annabeth stared calling out her name.
"I don't know. I told her to stay put.."
"Hey, guys!" Grover called over from the backpack. "Come look at this!"
They rushed over to him and they looked down to see a tiny gold chain peeking out of the front pocket.
Percy leaned down and unzipped an inch of the pocket, just enough to pull a necklace out.
"It's Alyssa's necklace," he said, examining it.
Grover took it from his hands and opened it like a locket. "Guys!" He gasped. "Look at this!"
Percy took the necklace back and looked at the tiny picture. "I think...the little girl's Alyssa!"
Annabeth took it from him and looked down. "Guys...the man next to her is Apollo.."
"That doesn't make any sense," Grover said. "Why would she know Apollo as a child?"
"Guys," Annabeth called to them. "Look. Here it says, 'you are my forever and you will always have my heart. Love you more than life, A?"
"That's impossible!" Percy exclaimed. "She couldn't possibly know Apollo."
"Maybe..." Annabeth said, thinking deeply.
She turned the locket over and saw an engrave net on the back.
"Antheia..." She said. "Who is that?"
Grover looked up at the name. "Give me that!" He said taking the necklace from her hand before examining it himself.
"It can't be.." He said as his face turned white.
"What?" Percy and Annabeth said at the same time.
Grover turned to them. "Do you remember what I said about a lost goddess..."
Percy nodded his head.
"Antheia means flower in Greek, like in the goddess of nature.."
Annabeth's eyes widened. "Are you trying to tell me that-"
"Alyssa is the long lost goddess." Percy finished, realization hitting him.
Annabeth gasped. "That means that I punched a goddess!"
Grover got this daydream look on his face. In a light and airy voice he said, "The goddess of nature... Do you know how much she could help the woodland with her powers. We would stop having to worry about pollution and the wild running out, which means that Pan would come back."
"That's good, I suppose..." Percy said. "But where is she?"
"Maybe she found out herself and went back, leaving her necklace as a clue for us." Annabeth guessed.
"But wouldn't she leave a note or something?"
"Percy," Annabeth said. "It all makes sense now. We only got three pearls because the Nereid knew Alyssa would find out."
Percy looked around again. "I'm still not sure.."
"Percy," Annabeth pleaded. "We only have a day left and we need to get that bolt back otherwise things will be very bad. Alyssa- I mean Antheia will be fine in her own."
Grover nodded, agreeing with Annabeth.
Percy took one last look at the coast, feeling somewhat sad that his sister would leave him like that, but it did make sense seeing how much of a jerk he had been to her.
"Be safe," he whispered, hoping that wherever Alyssa was, she was alright.
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