HUNTRESS OF THE SEA
CHAPTER EIGHT
Disclaimer: I in no way own anything that is directly related to Twilight or the Percy Jackson series.
::: ::: :::
If there was ever one thing that Bella had to say really sucked about being a demi-god; it would be the dreams. She could handle the monsters that were naturally attracted to her scent and out to kill her. She could even handle the fact that she hardly saw her godly parent. But it was monumentally harder to handle the demi-god dreams. Sometimes they made her wish that she was just a normal person.
Even before she's opened her eyes, she knows where she is.
There's loud music playing, Blondie if Bella knew her music correctly. The ever present sounds of falling coins surround her, though she hardly notices anymore. She's been here for so long. The chatter of the crowd seems to wash around her, like she's a rock in a flowing river. The laughter and screams of joy hardly shatter her concentration. Her mind is processing what the people around her cannot. She senses what they will never understand.
And just like always, it begins.
The fountain lights appear, the glow of blues and yellows accenting the water show beautifully. Everyone within the vicinity has stopped what they were previously doing to meander over and experience the jaw dropping beauty.
It's the same place that Bella goes in all of her nightmares.
She slowly opens her eyes.
She watches the water show, bored. Once upon a time it did intrigue her. She was just as awe struck as the people around her. But how many times has she seen the flashing lights and spurting water now? How many more times must she revisit this place?
"I knew I would find you right here."
Bella smiles, never getting bored of this part of her dream. "Just like with you and the buffet table," she teases.
Bella turns around, only to get flicked on the forehead.
"Like your one to talk."
Bella laughs, warmth spreading throughout her body upon seeing her friend. "How are you?" Bella asks.
The girl scrunches up her nose in confusion. "Since I saw you ten minutes ago? Uh, fine, thanks for asking?"
Bella rubs the back of her neck, embarrassed. "Oh, right, that's good," she says, trying to play it off.
The girl shrugs, unconcerned with the blush spreading across Bella's face. The girl's eyes are dancing around the room. She skims over the water show, completely passes over the card tables, and briefly pauses on the slot machines.
"Where is your –"
The girl interrupts Bella, "Hey, did you know that you're being watched?" She points to a place behind Bella.
Now Bella is the one confused. This is not how her dream usually goes. Bella turns around, looking for the person watching her. Only, she can't see anyone.
"I don't see-" she starts. When she turns around, her friend is no longer there. Now Bella is starting to get worried. This isn't how her dream is supposed to go. It's supposed to be less of a dream and more of a memory.
Panicking, Bella turns around in desperation. She has to find her friend. It's too hard to spot a single person in the crowd though. The water show has ended, leaving people to freely flow around Bella. She's being pushed and shoved in different directions.
And then suddenly, there is a part in the crowd.
And there is someone watching Bella, very intently. But it's not just one person as Bella had thought. There are three of them. She can practically hear the creak of their rocking chairs.
Three old ladies with electric blue yarn, knitting a pair of socks so big that Bella could have used one of them as a sleeping bag with a guest room. All three of them look ancient, just as Bella imagined they would look like, with their silver hair held back by a white bandanna, which match their cotton dresses. Their arms are so bony that one bump from any of the passerby and their arms would break. But no one bumps into them. Everyone surges around them; giving them such a wide berth that Bella is sure the mortals unconsciously know who the three ladies are.
The fates.
They are staring right at Bella. Her stomach has jumped up into her mouth. She doesn't even dare swallow. The middle one takes out a pair of large, gold and silver scissors. Bella would better describe the scissors as shears, they are that big. She knows what's going to happen next, and try as she might she can't look away. It's almost mesmerizing to watch.
Bella can hear the snip from across the hotel. Her breath catches and suddenly she's light headed.
"Bella? Have you seen – hey, are you okay?" a young male voice asks her.
She doesn't even get to turn around to see his face before darkness is overtaking her.
::: ::: :::
Carlisle gaps at the young boy. He's not the only one, the entire room has fallen deathly silent.
Not but a second ago, they were arguing and crying over their current predicament; Bella being fatally injured. Try as he might, Carlisle just could not help her. Every technique her knew had failed. He had been forced to accept that Bella had been right, that they shouldn't even bother. Every part of him screamed at him not to give up, all he wanted to do was run back into that room and stay in there until he could get Bella better. He only hoped that Bella would forgive him for the moments where he had to have contact with her body. Unexplainably, she had stubbornly denied all male contact. If he had to guess, it was because Edward had mentally damaged her beyond his repair. It would take Edward to fix what he had broken.
Edward removed his stare off the stranger and glanced at his father.
Carlisle didn't notice, assuming the role as leader and stepping forward. "Who are you?"
The young boy, who had been glancing around the room as if he didn't have a care in the world, snaps his eyes to Carlisle. Carlisle winces at the darkness contained in their black depths. The boy smirks. "I don't have to tell you, vampire."
Rosalie growls and throws her arms up in frustration. "How many people know!?" she screeches at no one in particular.
Carlisle winces, but has gotten so used to people figuring out who they are that he's hardly surprised. "So you're from the world of the Greek's then," he says, ignoring Rosalie.
"Very good," the boy drawls. He starts to walk around the room, staying clear of the vampires, but not caring how close he gets to the wolves, though they try to skirt away from him.
"What do you want?" Edward asks.
Carlisle subtly looks at Edward. Can you not read his mind? He asks his son.
Edward slowly shakes his head. His brows are furrowed as he tries to read the boys mind.
The boy stops, folding his arms. "From you? I don't want anything. But I'm looking for someone, a Bella Swan."
Rosalie opens her mouth to say something.
Alice jumps in front of her instead. "We don't know who you're talking about."
The boy raises his eyebrow, "Oh really? Because according to what I know; she's in that room." He points to the only room in the hotel.
Quick as a flash, every vampire is guarding the door to the room Bella rests in. The wolves bound over to the exit, growling the whole time.
"How do you know that?" Edward asks.
The boy smirks, standing up. "None of your business. Now let me see Bella, right now," he asserts. The darkness seems to overwhelm the room again. So much so, that Rosalie and Leah have to hold back a whimper.
"No," Edward snaps back.
It takes every ounce of will for the vampires and wolves to not run away from the now moving shadows.
::: ::: :::
Bella pops open her eyes, wildly taking in her surroundings. She takes in huge gulps of breath until she is able to calm her racing heart. Sweat drips down from her forehead and falls into her eyes. She moves to wipe it away, but her arm feels like it weights two tons, so instead she lets it fall.
Her gaze races around the room until she is able to place where she is. It's not that hard to piece together that she now lies on a hotel bed.
"I know she's in there. And I hardly need the permission of a vampire to see her!"
Bella's breathe hitches at the voice, excitement spreading throughout her.
There's a throbbing in her leg, and it's not until she goes to sit up that she remembers what happened. With a hiss of pain, she flops back down onto the bed, the memories rushing over her. Her sudden movement causes a wave of darkness to creep on the edges of her vision. She squeezes her eyes shut, praying that she doesn't fall into the abyss. She takes in controlled deep breaths, no matter how much her body wants to gulp down air. After a minute, she opens her eyes, the blackness having gone. Slowly she raises herself onto her elbows and inspects the damage as best she can. There's a belt wrapped around her upper femur. She doesn't even have to pull the gauze pad back to figure out that her leg is still slowly bleeding. It seems as though Carlisle had made an attempt to stop her injuries. Bella lets a flash of anger take her over. Had she not made it clear enough that she wanted no male contact?
Clearing her thoughts to her current predicament, she tries to fully sit up again. But she's hit with vertigo and falls back onto her pillows with a groan.
"Need some help?"
Bella doesn't even jump at the bodiless voice, instead smiling. She would recognize his voice anywhere. Not to mention that she had last heard his voice in her dream.
"When do I not need help?" she replies, opening her eyes.
The shadows gather at the corner of the room until a teenage boy walks out. He's wearing dark jeans, black shoes, and a simple black shirt. His signature aviator jacket still looks slightly too big for him, though it's a better fit from the last time she saw him. And his hair has started to fall over his black eyes.
Bella can't help but smile widely at him. She raises her eyebrow, "There is a door, you know."
The boy shrugs, jerking his thumb at said door. "Doors are overrated. Shadows are the way to go."
Bella laughs, shaking her head.
"And besides," he continues. "Your bodyguards wouldn't let me through."
At that, Bella rolls her eyes. "I didn-"
The door bangs open, causing her to jump. She hisses at the pain that shoots up her leg.
"Bella!" Alice shrieks. "Watch out!"
Bella raises her eyebrows. She glances at the boy, who shrugs his shoulders and mouths 'See?'
Bella snorts.
Before she can say anything, Edward, Jacob, and Emmett are obstructing the boy in black from her view. One of the vampires lets out a warning growl.
"That wasn't very nice," the mysterious boy says, yawning at the end.
Emmett glares daggers at him. "Neither is barging into a stranger's room."
"Who said anything about strangers?" the boy smirks.
Emmett sputters.
"You know her?" Edward demands.
Bella huffs and folds her arms. "She is right here, you know!"
Emmett whirls on her. "You know him?" he repeats.
Bella stands her ground; or in this case, her bed. "Not that I owe you guys any explanation, but yes I do know him. And he has a name. Now move."
Slowly they slink away, their gazes still watching the boy in black intently. He smirks at them as they join the other vampires at the door entrance, making for an interesting crowd. When they've all gathered in the doorway, far enough for Bella's liking, she begrudgingly introduces them. "Guys, this is Nico. Nico, this is the group I've been asked to escort to Camp."
Nico tilts his head. "I can see that," he says, not looking at them at all. His gaze his focused on Bella, his black eyes squinted in concentration. "But Bella, do you plan on going to Elysium anytime soon?"
Bella snorts again. She glares at Nico, though now she's seeing double of him. "Of course not!"
"What's Elysium?" Alice whispers.
Nico swings a backpack off his shoulders, something Bella had not noticed before. He rummages around in the pack for a second, throwing out a curse every now and then.
Carlisle gulps. "If I remember correctly, Elysium is in the underworld. It's a place where the deceased go."
Everybody gasps. "What?!" some of them even yell. One of the wolves lets out a low whine.
Both Bella and Nico ignore them all.
Finally Nico says, "Aha!" and pulls a bag of food and a bottle of juice out of his pack. He throws the backpack on the floor, making his way towards Bella's side. "Here, take this," he says, holding out the bag of food for Bella to take.
Carlisle clears his throat, taking a step forward. "How is food and juice supposed to help her?" But neither Nico nor Bella hear and answer him.
Bella gratefully grabs the Ziploc bag out of Nico's grasp. She opens the bag and reaches a hand in. Just as she's about to pull a piece of the food out, she stops and looks up at the surrounding vampires who have unconsciously moved closer to watch. Carlisle looks as if he's going to allow Bella to eat the food, but also like he's on the verge of ripping the baggie of food out of her grasp. Edward isn't much better.
Bella glares at them. "Get out," she says.
Immediate protests start up.
"You shouldn't be eating food! You need liquids!"
"I don't think that's very safe to eat, there's no idea of what it could do to you."
"You're just going to listen to a teenager? He's just a kid! What does he know?
Bella rolls her eyes. "Hey!" she shouts to get their attention. Instantly she regrets it, as she has to take in a gasp of breath. Everyone quiets, Edward scanning over Bella nervously. He would have run to her if the boy, Nico, was not in the way. And to be honest, Nico scared the vampire. The kid seemed to radiate death, from his ghastly appearance, to his strange dark eyes.
"Just get out," Bella sighs. She flops back down onto the pillow, unable to hold her body up anymore.
Carlisle moves forward. "Are you sure about this, Bella?"
Bella turns her head sharply to glare at Carlisle. He takes a step back from her gaze. "Don't act like you care so much about me, Carlisle-"
He opens his mouth to deny her claims, but Bella keeps on talking. "And don't pretend like you know anything about the world of demi-gods, because you don't. No matter what you've read and learned in school, you will never know enough to pretend like you can take care of a demi-god injury."
"Then teach us, please! Tell us everything you know! Let us in, Bella!" Edward yells, finally hitting his breaking point. He takes a few calming breaths. "We want to be a part of your world. Just, please, let us in, please," he pleads.
Bella stares at him.
A small flutter of hope takes a hold of his unbeating heart.
"Get. Out."
Emmett grabs Edward by the arm and pulls him out of the room. Edward watches as Nico, who had been smirking at the vampires, moves to help Bella with the baggie of food. The door swings shut behind them, letting the last thing Edward see is Nico wiping the sweat off Bella's brow with his bare hand.
And Bella, who gives him a soft smile as he does so.
::: ::: :::
My battery is almost dead! I need to type fast.
Okay, so, this update is for MusicVampire13; whose review is truly flattering in the upmost regard. Seriously though, my writing isn't that good. I can whip out my old English papers for proof, haha. There are so many red marks on that thing that even I am too embarrassed to read through them and fix the mistakes. But I truly and fully do appreciate the compliments that you have bestowed upon me – saying I should go profesh. Haha. I will keep that in mind as I continue my onward trudge through the muck that is college Anatomy. Ew.
I am so, so, so, so, so sorry that this took so long. Seriously, I thought I could keep up with part-time college, part-time work, and writing the chapters for this story. Ha, how delusional I was. Anatomy is kicking my butt. I barely have time for anything anymore, so much so that I'm falling behind in my Photography class. Eep! And it's almost midterm! Waaaaahhh.
I will try to keep a weekly update schedule as best I can though.
I hope ye enjoyed this chapter. I had it written, but it stunk, so I redid it. You're welcome.
Ahh! Seven percent batter left!
Okay, so don't forget to review and let me know what you think! I really love all of your reviews and it's so hard to pick one person to dedicate the chapter to! Let the review flattery begin. Hahaha.
Um, um, um, oh! I have an idea for a sequel. (Eee!) I need someone to bounce ideas off of though. So if you want to be that someone (and I'm only choosing one person so that the sequel can be kept "secret"), then hit me up with a PM and I'll choose from there.
Okay, dying battery!
Don't forget to leave a review.