I promised I'd be back! Its 10:30 but still I kept my promise!
This chapter is another dream sequence like in Chapter 8. No real plot is happening yet, but these chapters will be crucial later on.
IM INTERNALLY FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS ONE TOO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Disclaimer: If I was Rick Riordan I wouldn't be writing fanfiction I'd be writing the Trials of Apollo.
The camp was on fire again; but then again, it was most of the time these days. Ethan stood off to the side, watching the flames grow, and hearing the screams diminish.
'She'll be coming any minute,' he thought to himself. The boy found no use in running, because even if he was allowed to move he would never get very far. The green eyed girl that looked like OJ and the shadow would catch him. Why delay the inevitable?
The shadow, came, per usual, but Ethan was surprised to find OJ's look alike absent. As the darkness engulfed him, a hand gripped him tight and raised him from the heresy of the night (he surprises himself by being smart in his dreams, if only it would follow him to the world of the day). And wherever he was now, it was quiet. Cracking up one eye open, the son of Koaelmous inspected his new surroundings. It was a hall of mirrors, and wherever he looked, someone was looking back at him.
He walked the endless halls, searching for someone to give him directions out. He turned a corner and saw the figure of a young girl sitting down in front of shattered glass. As he approached, he saw red hair, brown eyes, and pale skin.
'Wow,' he thought. 'She's what I always imagined a mini OJ to look like.' He walked up to her, noticing how her eyes probed him. He sat down next to her.
"Hey." He said. She glanced back at the shattered mirror before her.
"Hi." She whispered. They sat in an awkward silence, before Ethan looked over at the girl again. He noticed her finger tips were bleeding, and spots of blood were scattered around miscellaneous pieces of glass.
The boy raised a questioning eyebrow, "What happened here?" The girl looked up at him and blushed. She started to shake her head a little, as if denying something.
"I don't like mirrors," she said in the same quiet whisper voice. "They show me just how ugly my insides are." Ethan was looking her in the eye, but she refused to make eye contact with him. The girl seemed so familiar, but he couldn't place her face.
"Why would you think your insides are ugly?" He asked. She picked up one of the bigger shards and handed it to him, gesturing to his eye.
"You'll see." Ethan gave her a confused look, and looked at the child through the shard. What he saw shocked him.
There was no little girl with red hair, but what looked like a fading shade, just on the brink of oblivion. Ethan dropped the shard in surprise, causing it to break into smaller pieces. The girl's blush spread, and her head lowered in shame. Her eyes were completely empty, nothing was alive in her.
"O-OJ...?" He asked tentatively. The girl finally looked back at him, nodding hesitantly. Ethan leaned forward and gave the girl a hug, which she didn't return.
He pulled back and inspected the girls features. "What made you into this?" He asked her. She gave a small laugh.
"Let's just say I've had strings for a long time." Ethan's eyes widened. Was OJ possessed, and if so, for how long? The little girl reached forward and put one of her small palms on his forehead, causing his vision to blur and warp into something new.
'What is she showing me?' He thought.
Ethan stood on the top of a hill, looking out over a park. Darkness had settled over the land, and only two people remained in the small play area. The figure of Ms. Jones could be seen on a bench, fiddling with her phone, and not paying any attention to a young Olivia.
The girl sat on the swings, dangling her feet and softly singing to herself. Every once in awhile she would look out at the dark forest that loomed over the playground, but nothing ever interrupted her singing, until she heard the light sound of footsteps coming from behind the swings.
Silence ensued, but Ethan saw that OJ seemed to be listening to something. Straining his ears, the boy listened. Then he heard it too.
Whispering; surrounding them on all sides. OJ looked intently behind her, and Ethan followed her eyes, looking through the fog. There was a woman, standing close behind OJ, and she seemed to be the source of the whispering.
The woman's hand reached forward and rubbed OJ's hair, cooing and talking softly, but her eyes held a hidden malice.
"You're a pretty one, pet," it cooed. "What am I to call you?" The girl stared up at the woman with an awed expression.
"Olivia," she mumbled shyly, lowering her eyes out of habit. The woman floated around to crouch in front of OJ. Ethan spared a small glance at Ms. Jones, who was completely oblivious to the encounter going on right in front of her.
The girl finally looked up and gathered the courage to ask, "What's your name?"
The lady was taken aback, and got a moment Ethan swore that the shadows around them churned in the darkness. But, her emotions reigned, the lady gave OJ a fake smile.
"You may call me Nyx." OJ nodded slowly.
"N-I-XSSS," the girl sounded out, causing her company to giggle slightly.
It grew silent for a few minutes, and Nyx was finally able to catch the attention of the girl again.
"Tell me, Olivia," she asked. "Why aren't you out here with friends? Did your mother not want the extra company?" Any spite the last sentence carried went straight over the little girl's head, and Olivia just shook her head at the her.
"None of the other kids want to play with me." Nyx feigned a concern, wrapping her arms around OJ's shoulders.
"Why wouldn't they want to play with you?"
OJ's eyes grew wide, "Things go missing when I'm around." Her eyes met the woman's. "Important things. Mommy doesn't believe me when I say that I didn't take them, or my class, or my teacher. They end up in my book bag or my room, and no one believes that I don't know how they got there..." She trailed off. Nyx smirked.
"If it's any consolation," she leaned in and whispered in the girls ear. "I believe you." OJ's face lit up. Nyx stood up and held her hand out to Olivia.
"And I would very much like it if we could be friends." The small girl was practically beaming, and she eagerly took Nyx's hand. The shadow woman lead OJ into the woods.
After about ten minutes of walking, Nyx let go of OJ's hand and stood in front of her.
"Olivia," she said. "I have to go." The child's face fell.
"Why," she asked sadly. Nyx gave a small smile.
"I can't stay here long." OJ looked on the verge of tears. She grabbed Nyx's hand again, but it laid limp against hers.
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Nyx gave an over exaggerated hopeful gasp.
Ethan cringed, 'She's planned this, it's too uniform and fake to be true.'
Nyx smiled down at OJ, "There is one thing... But I couldn't ask you to do that!" OJ latched onto the woman's skirt, and Ethan wasn't surprised that they didn't just pass through her.
"I'll help," the girl gave an adorable smile, bright enough to melt even the coldest heart. Ethan saw Nyx's act fade for a moment, shock clearly written on her face, but then she got back in character.
"I need to bond with you, and once we're bonded, I'll be here forever. We can be friends for all time." OJ nodded enthusiastically.
"Do I have your permission, will you let me in?" Nyx smiled, her eyes triumphant. "Will you be my puppet?"
"Yes ma'am." OJ watched in awe as Nyx started to grow. The once woman looking creature morphed into a shadow, it's height almost touching the top of the trees.
OJ stood silently in front of the monster, which was leering in front of her. One claw and down and ran across the girls cheek, making her smile up at Nyx fondly. Another claw came down, but it passed through the girl's neck and into her chest.
"NO!" Ethan screamed as he watched the girl of no more than six or seven contort from pain, unable to do anything. He noticed Olivia's eyes started to turn a pale green, and green mist flowed from her mouth.
The monster withdrew it's claw and stood back to watch the girl. It raised one arm, and so did OJ, it smiled, she smiled. The little girl's eyes were completely void.
The monster picked up the little girl and cuddled her to its chest. The girl hugged the monsters neck, smiling because she somehow had helped her new-found friend.
Ethan felt a buzzing start in his ears, and he slowly reached his hand up to them, and he felt something warm and sticky flowing out of them. He brought his hand to his face. Blood. His ears were bleeding. The buzzing slowed down and Ethan heard a voice.
"Can you hear me, Olivia?" It was Nyx. Nyx was in OJ's head. The goddess... Monster... Whatever she was, she had taken advantage of a lonely child, and now she had her puppet.
"Yes." Nyxnodded and slowly, her body turning back into that of a woman. The buzzing stopped in Ethan's ears, and he became aware that he was blocked from the rest of the mental conversation unfolding before him. He watched as Nyx set OJ down, and she ran out of the forest to her mother, who was still staring intently at her phone. She looked up and noticed her daughter in front of her.
"Ready to go home, baby?" OJ smiled up innocently.
"Yes mama." As they walked away, OJ glanced back at the forest, eyes glowing a pale green. She giggled, intwining her fingers with her mothers.
Ethan felt the buzzing in his ears again, but he couldn't make out the words this time. Suddenly, he found himself back in the present, and the young girl still sat across from him, staring intently into the broken mirror. Ethan grabbed her hand and held it tightly, but the child snatched it away.
"Don't touch me," she screamed. "I'm a monster!" Ethan gave a soft laugh.
"You're not a monster." He said sweetly. It couldn't be OJ's fault for becoming possessed. The girl just shook her head.
She placed a hand on her reflection, "That's where your wrong, Ethan." She looked back into the shards of the mirror, the fading shade acting as her reflection and mimicking her movements. "All monsters were once human." The ground started to rumble and shake, knocking more glass and mirrors off the wall. Ethan jumped up to avoid the carnage.
OJ seemed oblivious to the shaking, staring deeply into the mirror.
"I'm just a little silhouette of a man..." The boy was horrified at what he was seeing. The shards of the mirrors were starting to glow, showing horrifying pictures of normal looking people changing into hideous creatures. What disturbed him even more was that he saw some of the people he knew change.
Luke. OJ. Bianca. Zöe. Nico. Octavian. The list went on and on, and Ethan finally saw the pattern. They were all corruptible.
Ethan looked up and saw the hooded shadow of Nyx loomed over OJ, and her body started to contort.
"Go!" She screamed to Ethan, but his feet wouldn't move. The room started to crack and break, leaving nothing but tiny splinters of glass to fall from the ceiling.
OJ screamed, and he woke up.
...
OJ had finally woken up that morning, and after an intense interrogation from Jason, it was discovered that the girl didn't remember anything that had taken place the day before. Will was allowing her to have visitors, but he was going to keep us overnight for observing.
Ethan, Weasley, Nico, and Daniel all sat on the edge of her cot. The girls had just stepped out of the room, they had visited her an hour before. Nico, Weasley, and Daniel had started to discuss what had happened two days before, forgetting that the other two were were even in the in the room.
"Whatcha looking at OJ?" Ethan asked, noticing that the girl didn't seem all that engaged in the conversation. The girl faced him, expressionless, then smiled.
'He doesn't remember,' she thought sadly. 'Maybe it's for the better, though...'
"Oh, nothing," she stated out loud. "Just that mirror." On the medical vanity across from her bed sat a small handheld mirror. As Ethan turned back to the boys, she picked it up and looked into it. Looking into her reflection, she noticed that her eyes and ears had started to bleed. She raised one hand and reached up to the blood, but relaxed when she realized that it was only what the mirror wanted to show her.
"You know," she whispered. "I really hate mirrors."
Nico shuddered a little, a cold chill making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He glanced at OJ, who stared intently at a hand mirror, and noticed that something was shifting behind her. Not wanting to cause an uproar from Weasley, Nico suggested that OJ might be tired and needed as much rest as possible. The others agreed and told the ginger goodnight.
As Nico walked to the Hades cabin, he couldn't help but feel stumped. As much as he tried to deny it, he knew that what he saw was real. OJ's shadow was growing.
Like I said I'm FREAKING OUT
Don't forget to R&R and F&F!