I was violently shook awake by a blond girl in my cabin. "Hey, Freak! Time to get up!" She sneered at me. Freak? Really? How original. Even in this mythical world I did not fit in.
I rolled my eyes and hopped out of bed gingerly. I was still a little sore from yesterday's fight with Annabeth and as I looked over my body-I was covered in dark purple and green bruises. My luck for being anemic, right?
I pulled my bag out from under my bed and threw on some dark jeans and a grey v-neck t shirt, not caring if people saw all of the bruises on my upper body. I looked around and made sure that I had pack every thing up-I did not want to leave my only toothbrush in Olympus...
All clear. As I turned to leave the room, the door banged open with a furious quake so forceful, I felt myself falling onto my butt.
"YOU!" I stared up in awe as I watched a large and powerful man towering over me. His hair seemed to move with electricity and his eyes were so blue they put the sky in it's place. Zeus. He had to be Zeus. "WHERE IS IT?!" His voice bellowed throughout the room with power and caused me to quiver from the inside out.
"Wh-ere is what?" I frowned. Why would he barge into Hermes' palace if it was not important?
His eyes flashed dangerously. "The lightning bolt! MY MASTER BOLT! WHERE IS IT?! I know you stole it!" He roared at me and ordered some guards into the room, they surrounded me.
"I-I did not steal it! I am not a thief!" Any more, I reminded myself of my past when I was on my own.
Zeus growled at me in disbelief and turned to his men. "Search everything she owns, do not leave her alone with out looking EVERY WHERE!" Then he stormed out, leaving me to try and process what the hell just happened.
The men unzipped my back pack and my duffle bag, throwing everything onto the ground, which was not much. They dug through it all, but came up empty. A woman guard turned to me with a frown, but I could tell that she did not think I had it. "Empty out your pockets." She ordered.
I scoffed. "You guys think I can hide a lightning bolt in my pocket?!" She just gave me a completely serious look and waited. "Seriously?" Sighing, I turned out my jean pockets, giving them a satisfied smirk when they came up empty. "See?"
The guards nodded. "Alright, lets report back to Zeus, she does not have it." The woman nodded and sighed. "He will not be pleased."
A few minutes later Orion came into the room, barking happily and digging through my clothes. "Come on Orion, it is time to go." Angrily, I got on my knees and started to shove all of my clothes back into my bags.
"Woah! What happened in here!" I scolded and glared up at Luke.
"Zeus, that is what happened." Luke got on his knees and began to help me pack up my things.
"Why?" He frowned and shoved a pair of socks into my bag.
"I don't really know." I sighed and looked into his eyes. "Something about a master bolt, or whatever." His eyes flashed for a split second, but he quickly covered it up and looked confused instead.
"The master bolt, are you serious?" He frowned.
I nodded, not completely sure if I trusted him-what was he doing last night? It all could not be a coincidence. "Yeah, I guess someone stole it."
His eyes glowed and he shook his head. "That is too bad. Hopefully he finds it. The master bolt is really important, and knowing Zeus this could cause a large uproar-probably a war."
I froze. "A war?" Why was he so calm about this?
"Yeah," He shrugged. "I'm sure he will find it soon though, don't worry about it." He smiled at me.
My eye twitched a little. I never understood how people can be so calm when talking about death. "Don't worry about the idea of millions of people dying because of one low life thief?" I threw my hoodie into my duffel bag, angrily.
Luke scooted closer to me on the wooden floor. "Woah, hey." He put his hands up in surrender. "I did not mean it like that, I'm sorry okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah I know, it just irks me when people talk about Death as if it was nothing."
Luke nodded, understanding and his eyes traveled around the floor looking for more discarded clothes, while petting a displeased Orion. He smirked and reached for one of my clothes.
In horror, I watched as he picked up one of the bra and panty sets that Cherrie had bought me while in Victoria Secrets. He held them up to eyes level and chuckled. "For someone special?"
I growled and snatched them from his hands and stuck my tongue out at him. "Yeah, in fact they are!" I teased him and shoved them into my duffel with and embarrassed force.
"Olive?" Luke's breath fanned my face, it was cold and smelled like mint. I cleared my throat and shook my head to get out of haze that his breath had put me in.
"Yeah?" I turned my head to look at him and saw that his face was only an inch away from mine. I blinked a few times and looked down at my duffle bag once more, what ever he wanted, I was not going to give in quickly.
His hand cradled my face and I blinked away the nice feelings it gave. "Olive?" His breath fanned my face again, but I could tell that he was closer by the way the ti of his nose brushed my cheek slightly.
I cleared my throat, "Yes?" But, this time I did not look at him. His nose brushed my cheek again and he brushed his lips against my cheek, causing a spark to erupt on the surface.
Huskily, he said. "You're blushing." Then he smirked. I pulled away from him with a growl. He laughed and picked up another shirt and threw it into the duffle. "I'm sorry, I could not help myself."
"Shut up." I giggled and rolled my eyes. His breath fanned my neck as he came closer to me again. "Knock it off, Luke." I chuckled and started to scoot away when his arm wrapped around my torso and brought me closer to his.
"I'm sorry." He smiled at me rubbed his nose against mine, like an Eskimo.
I sighed a little too comfortably. "Sorry for wh-" Before I could finish my words, his lips where on mine passionately. I was not too surprised at this and began to kiss him back. At this he smirked and pushed his lips against mine a little rougher. I grinned a little and kept up the pace, but suddenly, a memory flashed in to my mind.
Quickly, I sat up at watched as Luke passed by the girl's room. In the couple of seconds that I saw his face through the crack in the door, I could tell he was up to something.
With a gasp, I pushed him away from me and stood up. Luke, confused, stood up as well and frowned. "Hey, what's wrong? Is it something I did-cause I did not mean it-" I held up a hand and shook my head.
"No-You, well, I don't think this is going to work out..." This was the first time I ever had to 'break up' with someone and I did not really know what to say.
Luke frowned. "Wait, you're telling me that you don't like me? Or?"
I sighed and shook my head, hugging myself. I was really cold after pulling away from his warm body. "No, not really-I like you. I do." He shook his head and frowned, not understanding what I was trying to say at all. "The thing is...Well- What were you doing last night?"
He looked around the room and sighed. "What are you talking about? I was sleeping across the hall."
"All night?"
He grinned and chuckled. "Yes, all night long!"
"Fuck..." I groaned and started to zip up my packed things. Throwing them over my shoulder, I grabbed the rope for Orion's leash and gingerly put in on him, even though he growled at it continuously.
"What is it?" Luke frowned and placed a hand on my arm.
I shook my head and started to walk out of the room. "Look, Luke...I like you. I do, but I can't start a relationship with someone I cannot trust." I felt like a total bitch. I really did not know if Luke had gotten up in the night or if I was just dreaming, but I always trusted my guts and they told me that he was just a shady guy. And shady guys always seem the nicest too.
Luke just stared at me flabbergasted as I walked out of the room with my head down. The ride back to camp was going to be a long one-I just knew it. And I would have to find someone else to train me at sword fighting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The moment we got back to camp, I headed back to the cabin to sleep forever. I did not think the ordeal with Luke would hurt so much, but in truth I was depressed. I did not even know him that well, but it hurt to 'break up' whatever I had with him and I just wanted to sleep it off.
"MISS SMITH!" I flinched as Mr. D's voice stopped me in my tracks. I looked sadly at my cabin which was only a mere hundred feet away. I was so close and yet sooo far. Why God?!
Slowly, I turned to face Mr. D with a blank face. "Yeah?"
"MY OFFICE, NOW!" His usually plump red face, was now a violent shade of dark purple-probably his favorite color since he was the god of wine... Yeah, I figured that out on my own.
"Awe, come on-" I looked back at my cabin desperately.
"No. Now!" His voice was now hissing, and I took that as a bad sign.
"Yes, Master." I bowed to him, my sleep deprivation and recent break up had turned me sassy. Too sassy for Mr. D.
His face almost blew up. "You know what!?! YOU WILL BE PUNISHED. SO BRUTALLY THAT I WILL HAVE TO THINK OF IT FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO!"
"Damn it..." I muttered to myself, kicking myself for slipping up.
"THAT'S RIGHT, MISSY-NOW, TO MY OFFICE!" He stormed off and I sighed following in suit. He really needs a drink.
We walked for a while and once I was seated inside a small wooden chair, he slammed the door shut and took a few deep breaths to steady himself. "Look, I was informed about what went down at Olympus and I need to settle things."
I crossed my legs and waited for the lecture that I did not deserve, because I did not take the damned thing, but it did not come.
"I believe that you did not take it-you may be a pain in my side, but you are no thief." He rubbed his temples and conjured a glass of wine, but it quickly turned into a diet coke before he could consume it.
"Well, thank you, I-" He cut me off.
"However; Zeus believes without a doubt that it is either you or someone else that stole the master bolt, and he won't be too forgiving." I opened my mouth to interject, but he gave me a look. "Even if you did not steal it."
"You mentioned 'someone else'. Who are you referring to?" I frowned and Luke's face flashed into my mind, but Zeus did not interrogate him.
"You don't know him." Mr. D said, finalizing it in a way that said he was not going to elaborate on the subject any more. "Also, your fight with Annabeth was brought to my attention by your cabin leader, Luke." I flinched at his name.
Mr. D noticed and rose a brow. "Hmm. Any way, I have decided a punishment for the fight. You will spend every waking moment with Annabeth, you will be partnered with her in training and eating, sleeping, and medical training."
I opened my mouth once more to object, but he cut me off. "That is only the first part of your punishment for nearly killing each other, I will decide what your punishment will be for the sass you showed me earlier."
"That is not fair!" I shouted. "You think that sticking us together 24/7 is going to not turn out lethal?!"
Mr. D smirked. "Yes, I think you two will get along just fine."
I huffed and crossed my arms across my chest. "Am I dismissed? I would really like some sleep."
"No, you may not sleep. Annabeth has already been informed about the punishment for you both and she is currently training in fist to fist combat. You will meet her there, then you will move you things into Athena's cabin." He smirked wider.
"This is bullshit." I muttered. "How long is this punishment to last?"
Mr. D placed a sausage finger to his chin and thought. "Hmm, three weeks for the 'bullshit' part, originally it was only going to be two so that adds up to five weeks." I scoffed and he nodded towards the door. "You are dismissed now."
As I walked outside I counted up the time I had to spend with Annabeth. It was five weeks, thirty five days, 840 hours, 50,400 minutes, 3,024,000 seconds. No matter how I added it up-it sucked.
I trudged to the gym, where I knew Annabeth was waiting to use me as her personal punching bag. I knew the only reason she hated me so much was because Luke liked me over her. Maybe if I told her that we were not a 'thing' or whatever anymore she won't hate me as much.
When I entered the room, Annabeth was furiously punching a dummy and she did not even look up towards me, she was so consumed in what she was doing.
"Uhm...Hey, Annabeth." I rubbed my arm and noticed that she had a black eye while I just had a purple and green lump on my temple from our sword fight. She stopped punching the dummy for a second and looked me over before punching it more forcefully.
I took that as a motion to continue. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. And if it is any consolation, Luke and I-" She glared at me and stopped punching the dummy.
"Look-I don't wanna hear anything about Luke and you, okay?!"
I shook my head, "It's not what you think-we are not together! Okay?!" She paused mid air, fist about to punch the dummy and frowned at me.
"Well, maybe you aren't, yet. I still don't wanna hear it." She shrugged but seemed a little more calm while punching the dummy.
I stood behind the dummy and stared her in the eyes. "No, never. Ever, I am never going to date him." I sighed, it hurt me to say that, but I knew deep down that it was true. Once my trust was gone, it was almost impossible to get it back.
She frowned and stopped punching. "Why?" She looked me over skeptically.
"He is just...not my type." It was not a lie. Shady people were not my type.
She frowned and shook her head at me. "Whatever, I don't believe you about that, but I can tell you are not going to date him anytime soon." She set her punching gloves aside and cocked her head to the side. "What happened between you two? You guys were all 'lovey-dovey' just yesterday."
I cleared my throat and shook my head. "Personal."
"Hmm." She shrugged.
I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet. "I know this does not make us friends, but can we make a pact not to try and kill each other any more?" I chuckled.
Annabeth's eyes flashed and she chuckled as well. "Sure, okay I guess." Then she lunged at me with her fist, catching me in the stomach. "Lesson one-never leave your guard down." And then we were off.
The weeks passed quicker that I had thought they would, Annabeth was actually pretty cool, but bossy. And I recovered from the whole Luke ordeal quick too since I had not seen him since that day. Athena's cabin was really nice and empty compared to Hermes' cabin and I got to sleep anywhere I liked. Now, don't think that just because we had spent every moment with each other that Annabeth and I had become best friends. It was actually almost the opposite. Instead of fighting over Luke, we found different things to bicker about like, how messy I was, my choice in music, how competitive we both were, and the type of guy we were into.
"You are so stupid!" I yelled at Annabeth while we were eating one day at dinner. Annabeth's eyes flashed. This was the one thing that insulted her-being a child of the goddess of wisdom stupidity was not something they shrugged off. "A bear would totally win in a fight against a shark!"
Annabeth slammed her fork on to the table. "No! A shark would, be cause they can maneuver quickly-besides you did not say what type of terrain they would be in-a bear would be dead if the battle was in the water!"
"WRONG!" I pointed my finger at her, drawing the attention of the tables around us. "A bear would, because they can maneuver extremely well in water because they hunt salmon, and the terrain is a magical place where both of them could be at their greatest potential!"
Annabeth's face burned red with anger. "You wanna bet!"
"I fucking bet you a million dollars, Annabeth!" I stood in my chair and she did then same.
Annabeth turned her glare onto Mr. D and the whole Mess Hall's eyes where on us. "Mr. D! What would win in a mythical battle?! A bear or a shark?!"
Mr. D looked between the both of us with an amused and annoyed look on his face. "Girls, we went over this yesterday at breakfast with Godzilla and Bigfoot. There has not been a proven case. Now sit down, shut up, and eat your food!" He ordered us and the Mess Hall erupted into their own arguments about who would win.
I threw myself back into my chair and shoveled the potatoes into my mouth angrily. Stupid Mr. D, it is his fault we have to live every waking day together. We only had one more week. Suddenly a depressed feeling came onto me. I only had one more week with Annabeth, even though she annoyed the crap out of me...we have fun.
"So...one more week." I whispered to her and she froze a little.
"Oh yeah, huh." She looked at me a little sad, but recovered quickly. "Thank Zeus!" She chuckled and I joined in.
"I am helping out at the infirmary tonight. You want to join?" She smiled at me.
I mocked a thinking hard face. "Hmmm....do I have a choice?" I chuckled and she smiled too. "Of course I'll come, but I promised Orion I would take him for a walk after dinner, so I will be a little late." I smiled and pet Orion who had grown up so much since I first found him, he was almost a whole dog!
Orion barked in agreement. I stood up as the dinner bell rang. "Okay, I'll walk him for an hour, then meet you at the infirmary?"
Annabeth nodded. "Sounds good to me, just don't let Mr. D know you will be away from me for more than ten minutes." She chuckled.
"Alright, come on Orion!" He barked and ran out of the Mess Hall and into the darkened camp. Thunder roared outside, it has been the usual weather for a while now. Zeus was still angry and he had not found the master bolt yet. Mr. D and the other camp leaders were very worried. Zeus promised bloodshed and full out war if it was not returned to him by the summer solstice.
Annabeth was worried and she was constantly asking me if I knew what Zeus was missing. I did, but I refused to tell her, Mr. D had made me swear not to tell anyone about what had happened during my time in Olympus.
The wind was howling and I could smell the coming rain, but Orion did not seem to care. The world was just a great big thing to explore and see to him and I loved him for that thought process. An image of my mother flashed into my mind. Artemis. She still hadn't claimed me yet, but I could tell that she was just trying to keep me alive. Zeus was not too happy with her right now, but I know that she will do iT sometime soon.
A roar in the distance snapped me from my thoughts. Panic filled my body I felt as if someone important was in trouble. Quickly, I ran towards the sounds of the struggle and was led to the outskirts of the camp.
In awe, I watched as a boy my age drove a sharp object into the heart of a bull man or 'Minotaur' as the Greeks would call it. The bull-man roared again and tried to pull the sharp object out, but started to crumble into sand and disappear the same way that the crazy Apple-store lady did when I killed her.
The boy cried out and grabbed his head in pain, even from this distance I could see that he had split his head open. He fell down into the grass next to another boy who was already unconscious and called out for his mother. I left the protected camp boundary and ran towards them.
The boy got on to his feet and picked up his friend and began to slowly make his way into camp. Orion ran up to them and began to lead them to me. I trudged through the mud and grabbed hold of the boy, steadying him. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." I muttered sarcastically.
The boy did not say anything to me, I could tell that his head was probably hurting like hell, and he looked extremely tired. A deep sense of respect filled my bones for the guy-he was tired and bleeding heavily and was probably about to pass out, but he kept walking towards safety for his friend.
Warm liquid started to roll on to my jacket shoulder and I squinted in the darkness to see that it was the boy's blood. I sighed, this was my only good hoodie. The boy noticed the blood oozing onto my grey jacket and paled even more. "Sorry." He panted.
"It's okay." I smiled at him. "Let me fix your head, it will only take a second." He was bleeding more than was probably good for him and since I had the power from my father, might as well use it.
As we walked, I placed my other hand that was not supporting the two of them onto his skull, flinching a little as warm blood oozed into the palm of my hand. After a couple of seconds, the wound stopped bleeding, but did not heal completely-my powers were not that good.
The infirmary was only a couple feet away, but his body was starting to stop working, the fatigue was beginning to take control. "Hey! Stay with me okay?" I shook him and he nodded. I did not know if he had a concussion or not. If he did, sleeping probably was not the best thing.
He tried to nod, but his eyes began drooping down.
"What is your name, kid?" I shook him, we just needed to get inside the infirmary. That was all.
He turned his striking sea green eyes into my deep blue ones. "Percy." He whispered as we got onto the wooden porch. "Jackson."
"I'm Olive." I told him quickly before he passed out on the porch. "Can you tell me what me name is, Percy?"
Orion pulled the legs of the unconscious boy on to the porch as well. Legs which were hooves, a satyr?
"Ol-" He began before his eyes began to flutter shut.
Panicked, I pounded on the door to the infirmary and Annabeth quickly opened it along with a man in a wheelchair I had never met before. "Help." Was the only thing I said.
Annabeth looked down at the bleeding boy in wonder. "He is the one." She turned to me with a smile. "He has got to be."
"Silence Annabeth, he is still conscious." The man's deep voice spoke. Who is he? He looked at me and ordered. "Bring him inside."
Percy...was this the Percy that Sky was talking about? Why was he so important? And why would he be important to me?
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Hey you guyss! SO! Here it is! The latest installment of TDoA! Hope you guys enjoy it-and I know it was a lot to cover-but I spent all day writing this and I love it-fav chapter so far ;))
Comment? Vote?? Fan???
Well, as always: Lots of Love
xoxo Jess