Isabella, Tartarus survivor

Going to Hotel Valhalla and meeting a gobby ghost

I sat quietly, occupied with my thoughts. Blitz and Hearth were signing back and forth at each other, laughing every so often. Several times it looked like they were going to kiss, but then they glanced at me and pulled away.  I walked to a bird bath in the atrium and tossed a drachma into the water. Hearth turned to look at me, then turned back to Blitz and obviously asked a question because Blitz said "I don't know. I'll ask her. What are you doing Isabella?"
"Iris messaging my brother. I promised him I would."
"What's Iris messaging?" He asked.
"You're very inquisitive. May you go back to your conversation please? I'd prefer to speak with him in private." Blitz went to say something, but Hearth touched his arm and shook his head.
"Fine." The dwarf said grumpily. "Do what you want." He told me, then turned his attention back to Hearth.
I looked at the drachma, feeling awkward as I spoke. "Oi, Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Nico at Camp Half Blood." I heard Blitz snort behind me, and had to make a conscious effort to keep my powers under control. A figure flickered into view, back turned to me. He was talking to someone else, a blonde boy I recognised, Will. They were sitting awfully close. Will's eyes widened as he noticed me. He nudged my brother.
"Nico, your sister's here."
"Huh? Oh." Nico looked at me and a smile broke open in his face. "Issy!! How are you? Did you get there okay? Are you safe?" I couldn't help smiling a bit. I'd missed my brother so much when I was in Tartarus.
"I'm alright. Everything's a bit confusing, I got chased by this giant squirrel thing, and there's a girl here who's also a boy sometimes, and this place has so much death that my body feels like it's burning. It's kind of like being back in Tartarus in that sense."
"I'm so sorry, Is. I should have remembered you, I should have saved you."  I placed my hands either side of the birdbath.
"Nico, don't be ridiculous. It's not your fault. Anyway, we've started coming up with a plan. Magnus can heal people, I think that's meant to make us feel safer, although I haven't told him about the Apollo thing yet. I don't see the point in telling them when I don't even know how to use it. Alex is a bit like Frank, he can shapeshift. I'm told he's a child of Loki. I don't know if I trust him yet. Blitz and Hearth," I heard the couple move slightly as they began to listen in, "think I haven't realised they're in a relationship, so they keep jumping away from each other if they get too close." There was an audible exhalation, a slight laugh, as Blitz obviously signed this to his elf.
"And what do you think?" Nico interjected, oddly quickly.
"Of what? I asked.
"Of then being gay? How do you feel about that?"
"I hadn't really thought about it. I don't care, their relationship is none of my business." Nico raised his eyebrows, unusually curious in the subject.
"And?" He prompted.
"And... I'm glad they're happy?" Nico visibly relaxed and smiled a bit at me. "Why?"
"No reason," he said, again, too quickly, "Just wondered how you were doing. The world has changed a lot since you were last here." I shrugged.
"How are you?" I asked him. "It's not been long, I know, but a lot can happen in a short amount of time." Nico have a lopsided grin and Will laughed. My brother turned back to the blonde boy.
"What's funny?" He asked.
"Nothing! I just haven't seen you smile this much in... Well, ever. It's cute." Nico hissed something under his breath and Will's eyes widened, his cheeks darkening.
"Anyway Is, I'm fine. Worried about you, but there's not much I can do about that. Apollo's turned up, which has kind of shocked all of us. He's human now, going under the name Lester Papadopoulos. And we've got all these Roman Emperors to look out for, but that's okay. It's all under control."
The door to Magnus's room opened, and Magnus entered, followed by a calmed down version of Alex.
"I should go," I told my brother, "Things to do." Nico gave me an earnest smile.
"Okay. Love you, Is. Good luck. Iris message me soon!"
"Love you too. I will." The Iris message ended.

Alex had calmed himself down, and we managed to carry on. Magnus had taken me aside and asked me to avoid mentioning, and I quote, "the, uh, whole controlling the dead thing. It stresses him out." I agreed. My brain was exhausted. I hadn't been around people this much since the 1930's, and I was worn out from trying to avoid any social faux paus. "Okay," Magnus addressed the group, "We should all probably get some rest for now. We'll leave first thing tomorrow, so-" he stopped. "Isabella, are you alright?"
"Yes, why?" I asked, bewildered.
"You're... fading." Blitz told me. I looked down at my hands and cursed. They were going from opaque to translucent, flickering as though I wasn't actually there.
"I need to get out of here. This is a place for the dead, and I am not part of that group. I'll find somewhere on the surface and come back in the morning." Before anyone had time to say anything, I opened Magnus's door, stepped into the shadow it created, and disappeared.

I heaved a breath of crisp, cold air as my feet hit the pavement. I hadn't realised how shallow my breathing had been in the hotel. A homeless man looked rather startled, and I realised that I appeared out of nowhere. Mortals probably weren't accustomed to that. Out of pure instinct, I stepped towards him and clicked my fingers. "Forget." The man blinked hard, and I left.

You'd be surprised, the amount of ghosts there are wandering the streets. I know I was. I tried to avoid making eye contact with any of them, not wanting to be pulled into a conversation I didn't wish to be part of. No such luck. A young lady, she looked to be in her early 20's, noticed me. She was wearing a bright pink tutu over black leggings, some arm warmers and leg warmers, and a top that made my eyes hurt. Her hair stuck out in all directions and her makeup, although dulled by her ghostly appearance, made her look like a barbie doll. "Hey!" She called. "Hello-o? You can see me, right? There's something different about you, I can sense it." I fixed my gaze on the floor and carried on walking, hoping she'd leave me alone, but she didn't. In fact, she started walking beside me. "Ignore me all you want. I won't leave you alone. I've never met someone who can see me before! You know, it's been awfully lonely. I've been dead, what, thirty- odd years? And in that time, not one person has spoken to me. Not one. Do you know what that's like?" I raised my eyebrows and huffed, which was stupid of me. Now she knew I could hear her. "Why won't you talk to me?" She asked. "I promise I'm good conversation. Oh, do you not speak English? Hold on a sec, I learned a bit of Spanish in high school, let's see what I can remember... uhm, ¿Tú hablas Español? Yes? No?" I rolled my eyes and muttered
"di immortales" under my breath.
"What language is that? Is it, like, French or something? Because I don't speak French. I mean, I can speak- wait, where are you going?" I slipped into an alleyway, praying to the gods it was empty. Thankfully, it was.
"What do you want?" I spoke to thin air as she followed me.
"Oh my God, you do speak English! I've been all on my own this whole time, you have no idea how hard it's been."
"Try me." I murmured under my breath.
"What?"
"Nothing. What do you want then?"
"Some company. Ugh. And I'm so glad you're a girl, boys can be so bleurgh, you know? Hey, how come you can see me?"
"Long story." I told her.
"Oh. Ok." She seemed a bit put out by this answer. "So what's your name?"
"Isabella." She waited for me to elaborate, and when I didn't she coughed and said,
"Well I'm Cassie. Short for Cassandra, but all my friends call me Cassie. We are friends, aren't we?"
"We are?" I asked, but she carried on, unperturbed.
"Ugh, so basically I was walking down the road about thirty years ago, I was only 19, mind you, and some drunk asshole drove onto the sidewalk. I died at the scene." She paused, as if waiting for me to say something. I didn't.
"So, how old are you? You look about my age, maybe a bit younger. You're, what, fifteen? Sixteen?"
"More like 200."
"What? I don't get it?"
"I didn't expect you to. Anyway, bye." I turned to leave, but Cassie started to cry.
"You can't just leave me here. I don't wanna be on my own! And besides, I'll only follow you anyway, you might as well invite me along. Please don't leave me." I rolled my eyes again, then jerked my head in a motion that she should follow me. "Oh, thank you!!" She said, as she began to skip along beside me.
"I need to book myself into a hotel." I told her out of the corner of my mouth. "I guess you can, I don't know, sleep on the chair or something."
"Oh, I don't sleep." She gave me a weird look. "And why are you talking like that."
"Because no one else can see or hear you." I muttered.
"Oh. That makes sense!"

I found a little motel with cheap rooms after a while, and booked myself in. I managed to find the room okay, and I let myself in. Cassie followed me, still chatting at me as I washed my face and climbed into the bed. I fell asleep as she lay beside me, talking in my ear.

A/N- Hey you! Thanks for reading. It's been a while, so if you're still following this story, thanks!!! I really appreciate it. I've kind of lost inspiration for this fanfic, but I'm trying to regain it because I know that I, for one, hate unfinished fanfics, especially when I really enjoy reading them. Also sorry for the little use of italics, I had some upload problems :/ Anyway, I hope you're well, and, as always, PLEASE REVIEW. See you in the next update!
~Alaya out :)