Celestial Flames (Percy Jackson Universe)

The First Few Days

I woke up in the darkess and panicked. I sat straight up, expecting to hit my head on the shelf but there was nothing. I tentatively raised my hand, expecting to be met with the feel of a wooden shelf but there was just air. 

I looked around and was met with wall to wall bunks, wooden floors, wooden walls and three dozen sleeping kids. 

I was at Camp, I was safe. 

Forest wasn't. Forest was dead, something in me reminded. 

Shut up, I replied. 

I looked out the nearest window to see that it was barely dawn, sunlight just beginning to cast the sun's rays across the valley. The light lit the cabin softly. 

I remembered my pack reached over. It was still there. I remembered Beckendorf's warning and looked inside. All my stuff was there, the three can I had left, the canopener, the random clothes I had grabbed, plus the recorder at least three dozen tapes. 

But... there was something else at the bottom of the pack. I pulled it out to see a small manila envelope, the size of a cell phone. I couldn't read a lot of it but I was able to make out my name in the middle. I flipped it over to see an insignia of a cacadeus with letters in Ancient Greek above and below the cacadeus. Hermes Express. 

I flipped it back over. I looked at the return address and recognized the name Parrish. It was from Jordan. 

I opened it and looked inside. It was a casette tape. I smiled. I got out the player from my pack and unwrapped the headphones that were around it. I put the tape inside and inserted the jack into the slot. I put on the headpones and pressed play. 

"Hey, Lizzie," he started. I almost started crying there and then. "We just finished up the first week of basic and I already feel like I'm gonna die from the excercise they're putting us through. I'm being put in the IED team, so I'm learning about elecronics and mechanics. But at the same time I'm learning all these fighting techniques and styles to help defend myself in Afghanistan. I don't think I'll survive very long if I don't know this stuff. The food isn't so bad, of course nothing can beat your grilled cheese. It's crazy, but at the same time it's bearable because I'm doing it with Erik." 

"Hey, Lizard," Erik greeted. I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes. "Do you miss me yet?" 

"This is a tape, idiot," Jordan reminded. "She can't actually talk to you." 

"I was trying to be sentimental," Erik reminded. I let out a watery laugh at their bickering. 

"Anyway," Jordan said. "We both miss you, Lizzie." 

"Hey, who you talking to?" A voice in the background called. 

"No one you'll ever meet, Davis," Erik yelled back. 

Jordan chuckled and so did I. 

"We'll be home before you know it, Lizzie," Jordan told me.

"You better have some weird stuff to tell me about," Erik teased. I scoffed and shook my head but there was a smile on my face. Erik. 

"See you soon, sis, love you," Jordan finished.

My hear fell at the ending. Sis. He hadn't called me that since he was still in high school, when I was little. It didn't feel real. 

It wasn't real. Jordan wasn't my brother. We weren't realted at all. I had just shown up one day. Did he even remember that day? If he did, why wouldn't he tell me?