Tidalwave - A PJO fanfic

Eight

The Lost Hero / The Son of Neptune 

15 yrs.  

"NO!"

I sat bolt right up in my bed. The nightmares came again. Much worse than before. Too much guilt and grief haunted and swirled inside me. They blurred together in my brain. Too many places, people, items.

I was going insane.

A knock on the door. I knew all too well what that meant. Forcing myself to stand, I dressed in my usual combat clothes, long cargo pants, tanktop, and a jacket with sturdy boots. Then I went to see which demigods my father had brought in for the new quest.

As usual, I was the first to arrive at the meeting place. It was above shore, so I guess none of the demigods would have any aquatic abilities or parents.

A boy with eyes darker than his curly brown hair came up a few minutes later. He reminded me of that one demigod that arrived at Camp Half-Blood before I was forced away. Leo, maybe? Except this guy had more muscles. A girl with moon pale skin, midnight hair and kaleidoscopic eyes came a few minutes later. A daughter of Venus or Aphrodite, maybe.

Then, Neptune made his grand entrance. No trident in sight. Hiding who he truly was, even though the demigods wouldn't be able to tell anyone about this afterwards.

"Welcome, Felix Knightly, son of Vulcan," he said. "And Cassandra Castor, daughter of Hecate." He looked around. "I know you're there."

I looked around to see the silhouette of a figure a few feet away at the top of a hill. As she came closer, I could see the dark brown, almost black hair, muddy brown eyes, and tan, freckled skin. True Archer. The girl I'd gone on my first quest with.

"Welcome, True Archer," Neptune said. "Daughter of Artemis."

True scowled at her mother's name but stayed still. Her face was much more angered and saddened and stiff than it was the first time I'd seen her. She reminded me of Nico when I first met him. Full of grief, mistrust, and anger. And betrayal.

Her clothes were ragged and muddy, her hair barely tame in its ponytail. It explained why I hadn't seen her at Camp Half-Blood. She must have left after the second Titan War. By the looks of it, she'd had it pretty tough.

"River will brief you on the quest tonight at dinner," Neptune said. "Greeks, Romans, get settled in and prepare for your long journey tomorrow."

With that, we all vanished. I didn't need to think or wonder or look to know I was in my room. I'd been through enough quests and random teleporting to not get nauseous anymore. It wasn't anything compared to what the quest would hold.

They'd all die, just like the rest.

After training with Agwe for a few hours, I got ready for dinner. The black dye was too much of an upkeep, so I'd bleached my hair back to its natural silver blonde, making my eyes seem lighter and my skin paler.

True was dressed in all black, her hair washed and straightened. She still had a brick wall for a face, though. Cassandra Castor wore a violet and silver tunic that was longer on one side, her hair in silky black curls. And Felix wore the simplest suit that probably didn't even count as a suit, dark pants and a blood red shirt with a sports jacket.

We had our own glass round table, being served calamari, shrimp, fish, and lobster. Neptune really liked seafood. We all sat in silence, True glaring at everyone, Cassandra practicing small bits of magic and mist manipulation, and Felix roasted some of his food to a crisp with his fiery hand.

"So," Cassandra said after a while. "What's this quest about?"

I picked at my calamari, too disturbed to eat. "Too dangerous."

"Excuse me?" Felix asked, his fiery hand going out.

"Everyone who goes on a quest sent by Neptune dies," I told them. "Everyone except me."

True crossed her arms. "How many?"

I sighed, trying not to relive the flashbacks. "I lost count after the first dozen."

Her eyes widened slightly, and for the first time that day, her barrier broke and she let an emotion show. Cassandra was equally surprised. Felix, the only one who hadn't been using a brick wall for a face, suddenly tensed, guarded.

A server came by and I gave him my plate. No one spoke for a long time after that. No one knew what to say, what they should say. Maybe they were making plans to leave. Maybe they were thinking of last words. Either way, I knew they weren't happy at the moment.

Who would be?

On my way back to my room, True caught my arm, pulling me behind a large column. We watched in silence as guards passed by before she would speak.

"There's got to be a way you can stop this," she hissed. "There's always something."

"There is," I relented. "I have to beat my father in sparring to prove I'm ready. But it'll never happen. I can't beat him, he's too strong."

"You'll have to try," she said. "Unless you want all of us to be killed."

I sighed and twisted my golden trident ring around my middle finger. I'd failed Allora and all the others, but maybe I could help True, Cassandra, and Felix. They didn't deserve to die, not like this with such a definite odd.

"Okay."  

A/N:  I updated this faster than originally planned cause I'm hoping to enter a fanfic writing contest :)  Hope y'all enjoyed and be safe!  

P.S I already know how I'm gonna end this tho not entirely sure what to do around the House of Hades and Blood of Olympus, but the ending is going to (hopefully) surprise you guys *evil laughter*.  I will probably have regrets but it's fiiiiiinnneeee.  

-Anne