Quests from the Gods: Daughter of Poseidon

I Get my First Tattoo

Rae watched as a football player from her team ran by. "GO!" Rae yelled from the sidelines of the football game. It was Sunday and the State Championship. She had her helmet on and was cheering her team, the Blue Devils on. One of her teammates had recovered a fumble and was running for a touchdown. Rae was lucky to be playing, she was a Sophmore and a girl. But she definitely paid for it. She paid for it a lot. Her teammate got tackled but held onto the ball. Her teammates on the offensive line, along with her, got out on the field. She lined up on the right end of her teams lineup. The guy across from her had wide shoulders, and to be honest, quite a wide waist. He grinned at her in mockery.

"Your going down hard girlie." he said around his mouth guard.

"You gotta catch me first." she replied defiantly putting in her mouth guard.

Her team's quarterback Henry sounded the plays off, "Dante! Dante! Hike!"

Rae took off, she easily dodged the big guy that had been taunting her she grinned with satisfaction. She turned around, she saw Henry as he threw the ball to her. It sailed through the air. It landed in her hands with a thump. She turned her eyes forward again. She spun away from the big defensive ends in her way. She heard thuds as her team guarded her. She kicked up the speed, she was 5 feet away from end zone... WHAM! Her knees got rammed. She yelled out in pain and collapsed. Her attacker loomed over her.

"Stick to doing cartwheels." he turned away into his buddies as they slapped his helmet.

Rae sat there staring up at the sky. She turned her head at the referee to see the signal for... a touchdown? Maybe, her vision was getting blurry and the lights seemed to grow brighter. She turned her head the other way to see the medics rushing towards her. She looked up again and blacked out.

Rae woke up again in the locker rooms on the bench. She looked down at her legs remembering what had happened before. She saw her left knee wrapped to keep it from moving and propped up. It had a layer of ice on it. She groaned. She tentatively tried bending her knee. She grit her teeth, it must be bruised. She slowly swung her legs over the side she put her right leg down and limped out back to the field. The defense was on currently. Henry turned around and his eyes got wide. He rushed over to her.

"Are you okay? You blacked out. What happened?" he asked frantically.

Rae had to stifle a laugh, Henry was always so sensitive about when things happened to her. He was her best friend, but still, she wasn't that helpless.

"Fine just a bruised knee, I won't be able to go back in though." Rae said brushing a strand of her blonde hair out of the way. The little movement apparently drew attention to her face. Rae saw Henry look at the little scar above her eye. She must of blushed or something because Henry looked back towards the game and cleared his throat.

Devon, her teams star wide receiver, patted Henry on the back, "Let's go, we're on." he put his helmet on and ran on the field, Henry followed.

"Show them what we're made of!" Rae yelled. She noticed Henry talk to Benny, the teams hardest hitter and pointed at the player that had hit Rae. He didn't stand a chance.

~•~

Rae leaned against the window of the city bus. The windows were fogged. Rae was looking through the window at the blurry picture of Denver. She sighed deeply, she was overjoyed with her game. Her team had won the game by one point in double overtime. Her bag was in the seat next to her. Rae looked back at the fogged window from the rain that had started and the heat. An image was forming in the fog. It was a three pronged staff. Almost like her schools symbol, a pitchfork, but she had a feeling it wasn't. Rae started sweating and everything around her turned fuzzy, she heard a voice faintly in the background, calling her name. She shook her head and everything cleared up, the staff was gone. She tilted her head, thinking. Suddenly a searing pain went through her arm. She screamed in pain. The bus driver didn't seem to notice. She rolled up her sleeve. No way.

It was there. It was the symbol. Burned into her arm. A trident, she heard in her head. She pushed her sleeve back down with shaky fingers. She remembered from somewhere in her Greek Mythology book from her Mom, this was a Gods symbol of power. She couldn't remember. The bus skidded to a stop. She took a shaky breath and stood up. She grabbed her bag and got off the bus.
~•~

Rae had been dropped off on Elm Road. She walked down the street and turned on to Bramblewood Drive. She walked down the street to a brick ranch styled house.

She pushed the door open and walked in quietly. She could hear a rumbling noise coming from the couch in her living room. She made it halfway to her room when she hit a creaking board. On the couch the rumbling stopped abruptly. A big balding head lifted up groggily from the couch. A creature turned its dark beady eyes towards her. Rae silently cursed in her head but kept a cool face.

"You. What are you doing here? You should be at school. I thought that school was going to keep you there!" Paul said getting to his feet. As he got up shiny cans fell to the ground noisily around him. Beer, Rae thought, Oh no. "It's all your fault!" he yelled collecting his drunk senses and charging at Rae. She leaped out of the way just in time. Paul hit his head and passed out snoring. Rae quietly went into her room to do her homework. She made sure to lock the door.

"Paul." she snorted in disgust, crinkling her face. The scar above her eye rippled. Two years ago when Rae's Mom had died Paul had hit her with a glass beer bottle. The reminder of that night made her shudder. She then pulled her homework out of her backpack and started working on it.

~•~

Tuesday morning Rae's stepdad Paul was on a trip for work this week, so she had a peaceful morning before school. It was the last week of school and Rae was pretty fired up. Her team had won the state game this weekend. Only thing was her knee still felt like an elephant had ran into her. The clock in the kitchen said it was 7:00. She grabbed her varsity jacket and backpack and started walking towards the end of her street, where her bus came at 7:30.
Rae checked her watch, 7:05. She looked around. She widened her eyes. She swore she was looking at horse. In the middle of the city. She glanced at her watch, 7:06.Rae cautiously walked towards the horse.
It seemed to stay there calmly. It was a beautiful black and white paint horse. Rae had always loved horses. She finally got two feet from the horse. It flared its nostrils and stomped it's hoof. Rae reached out and touched the horse. She glanced at her watch, 7:10. She cursed at herself.
"Alright dude, if you want to live you gotta trust me." She reached out her other hand, she put her hand on the horses other cheek and led it. Towards her house.
Rae made sure no one was there to see what she was doing. Finally she got to her house. She led the horse into the gate and closed it. She took her hands off the horse. It stated at her. She ran to the abandoned shed that she was supposed to take down because it was empty, good thing she never did. She opened it up.
It had barn window that you could prop open with a stick that she kept nearby. She propped it up and then ran back inside. She went to where her mom had kept the cleaning supplies. She got two buckets. She filled one with water. She stood there for a second, thinking.
"Hope he likes oatmeal." she mumbled. She grabbed oatmeal from the pantry and dumped some in the other bucket. She glanced at the clock. 7:25. She ran outside and put the buckets in the shed, the horse cantered in. Rae closed the doors and ran to her stop.