Stormbreacher - Book 1 of Titanomachy Series

Chapter 1: Welcome to Veridian

I'm gonna fight 'em off.

A seven nation army couldn't hold me back...

"They're gonna rip it off!" I sang, nodding along to the beat. "Takin' their time right behind my back..."

My mother was patiently ignoring me, but Persephone was much less complacent. "Ateeeeenaaaa!" She complained. "Stop it!"

"Athena, thank you." I grumbled.

I couldn't see Persephone's chocolate-colored eyes, but I could imagine her rolling them frustratedly from the back seat. "I don't want you singing because you play that music all the time. It's not very good." Persephone replied. "I don't wanna listen to ancient music."

"You're not listening to ancient music. You're listening to me."

"Alright, you two." Mom grumbled. "That's enough."

I frustratedly clenched my jaw and threw my feet up on the dashboard, blocking the red neon light emanating from below. And I'm talkin' to myself at night, be-cuz' I can't forget...

Out on the horizon, a large, gray city clouded in pollution shimmered golden in front of a vivid sunset, casting its last dying rays through the skyscrapers and glass. I let a hot, angry breath out my nose and cast my gaze away. Just looking at Veridian's skyline made me angry. I hated it. And now I got to live there, and it wasn't even like anyone in this car loved it either.

"Mommy, are we there yet?" Persephone asked for the millionth time, and I heard her kicking the seat impatiently.

"No, we're not," Mom replied irritably. "You can see the city out on the horizon, out the front of the car, if you're so desperate to see it."

"Oh, yay!" Persephone exclaimed, and I heard her grunt as she tried to shift in her booster seat. "I'm too short to see it, Mommy."

"Well, get a little taller, 'cuz this is the best you're gonna get of Veridian," I said. "It's a prime shithole."

"Athena!" Mom roared. "If you swear one more time in front of your sister, I'm going to kick your butt!"

Kick it while you're driving a car? I thought sardonically. I didn't say as much.

Mom turned the car off of autopilot and brought it into an exit, positioning the car horizontally to Veridian so that Persephone could see in the backseat windows. "Oh, Athena! Look! It's so pretty!" She cried.

"I've seen it a thousand times." I shrugged nonchalantly, and turned up the volume of Seven Nation Army. A killer guitar riff struck my ears, and I headbanged madly to it, flinging my red hair in every which direction. Mom watched my carelessness for a moment, before she let out a long, frustrated breath. "Road trips are gonna be the end of me," she mumbled, rotating the wheel.

"This isn't pleasure for us, either." I replied loudly. I realized I didn't need to shout over my earbuds and lowered my voice. "How excited are my relatives about us?"

"They're losing their minds in excitement. They're gonna be all over us." Mom grumbled. She said some other stuff, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of Seven Nation Army. I faintly pieced together that she was annoyed with my Aunt Kia again for whatever reason. "I bet." I mumbled distractedly.

"Well, we should still be grateful for her." Mom admitted. "She's rented out a fairly large apartment for us, and is handling huge amounts of paperwork for me. We'd be in a much worse place without her."

I let out a hot, angry breath. I couldn't deny Aunt Kia that.

"And, Athena, one more thing." Mom hardened her gaze and bore it into my skull. "Promise me that you'll be patient with Melody."