~ALY~

Exhaustion rang through her head, and made the rest of her body numb. However, she was determined not to show it to her new friends. After, all one of those friends happened to be her new brother.

And the other one is kinda freaking me out! She thought.

It wasn't that he was mean. No, he was quite nice actually. But something about him just, well, irked her. Every time she looked at him a feeling like she knew him went through her head, even though she didn't. Or at least she didn't think she did.

Amnesia sucks. she thought.

She tried to concentrate on the movement of her brother's lips and the vibration his voice gave off when he spoke. This was the only way she could "hear" him, after all, since she was deaf. Not deaf like I-can't-hear-very-well, but actually deaf. She'd always been, at least as far as she knew. Her mom had told her it was from some long named medical condition. The same medical condition that had made her limp when she walked. However, ever since she could remember as well, which was from when she was eight years old, she'd always been able to feel people through the vibrations they gave off, from their walking to their voices. Her mom had always teased that she could never scare her on Halloween because of it. Which was true, but still funny.

She couldn't see the vibrations, but could feel them. They resonated through her. The only person who knew about them were her and her mom. Most just thought she just read lips, which she could.

Percy's voice gave off long, but quick vibrations. The kind that made you want to close your eyes to feel them. Kind of like a bell, but deeper.

She didn't know how Percy-that was her brother's (by her father, apparently Neptune) name-would take that she was deaf.

Most people began to treat her like a baby, as if she were stupid. Others dismissed her, pushing her to the side and ignoring her. So, she wouldn't say anything.

"Aly?" Percy had asked.

"Hmm?" she replied.

"Did you hear me?"

"What did you say?" she asked, feeling kind of stupid.

She hated the vibrations her own voice gave off. They sounded too long, too uneven, kind of like when someone was playing a fiddle badly.

"Why don't you wear shoes?"

"I just don't." she said with a shrug.

That wasn't exactly the truth, however. She didn't wear shoes because it was harder to feel the vibrations of others, thus making her feel like the world was on mute. Her mom had tried to make her wear them, but when she'd put them on her, she would always take them off. So, Lily-that was Aly's adoptive mom-had stopped trying.

I'd wear shoes for years to have you back! Aly silently told her mom, as she felt pain fill her and threaten to spill over in her eyes. She didn't release them, though. Aly knew her brother-and Annabeth (the blonde-headed girl with the grey eyes who was the daughter of Athena) and Jason (the freaky, mysterious, boy with the stormy blue eyes)- would not judge her for it, but something held her back from doing so. A sense of pride.

The 3 walked into a store, and Aly showed them the size clothes she wore. She hated how short she was. For a fifteen year old, she looked more like twelve. That-and the awesome way it looked- was why she preferred leather jackets, dark jeans, and combat boots. The style said:
hardcore and ready to kick your butt.

"Grab what you like. Just don't go overboard." Annabeth told her, smiling at the last sentence.

"Got it." Aly replied, grinning as well.

"Since girls are shopping, we are going to be here for hours." Percy joked to Jason, who snickered.

Aly and Annabeth smacked the two, who yelped in pain. Aly grabbed some leather jackets, jeans, and combat boots, as well as grabbing some sleeveless shirts to wear underneath. She loved to show off her arms because she was stronger than most girls her age.

She went into a changing room to try some of the clothes on. When she got in a stall, she heard a small "clink" as something fell out of her pocket. Curious, she bent to pick it up. She didn't think she had put anything in her pockets.

In fact, she knew she hadn't put anything in her pockets.

She looked at the dropped object in her hand and her blood went cold as ice.

Because there was a silver necklace with a purple stone with blue lines running through it.

Glowing blue lines.

Words ran through her head that Vesta-the Roman goddess of the hearth, who had appeared in her dream-had told her:

"You have been stolen. Reclaim yourself. Prove your worth. Show them why I have chosen you."

It didn't freak her out that she was the Roman daughter of the god of the sea. It didn't freak her out that she had a brother that was the son of the Greek version of her father. It didn't freak her out that a goddess who could control fire had came into her dream.

But this necklace did. Jason, son of Jupiter, did. Vesta herself did.

Why?

Because all of them she felt she had seen before. All of them she felt like she was supposed to know, but every time she tried to figure out how, she got a headache the size of Texas.

She trembled as she put the necklace on. The stone was warm against her skin. She had completely forgotten about trying on her clothes now.

"I'll do it; I don't know how, but I will. I'll reclaim myself. I'll prove my worth. For me. For you." she whispered to the silence of the dressing stall, and to the goddess she didn't know, but who had faith in her.

She grabbed her clothes absent-mindedly and walked out of the stall, mentally preparing herself for the questions her brother, and her friends, were going to ask.