Bloodthirsty birds
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Alex was confused. Which wasn't a surprise but this was a whole new level of weird. She stood in a pair of pyjamas that Drew gave her in a beautiful meadow barefoot.
An elegant dark-haired woman in a pale pink silk dress that reached her ankles sat on a white stone throne with vibrant roses wrapped around it.
"Erm... hello?" Alex stepped forward nervously.
The woman looked up from her hand mirror which she was using to check her makeup and smiled. "Little Ali bird! You're finally here." She clapped happily leaning forward on her throne.
Alex smiled feeling slightly uncomfortable. She didn't know why the woman in front of her was so intimidating to her but she couldn't help but feel like she wasn't worthy enough to breathe the same air as the woman.
"The explosion was a little dramatic but we all love a good dramatic exist." She said sounding delighted about the fact that Alex had committed a felony.
"I-I'm sorry... who are you?" Alex asked eyeing the woman suspiciously.
The woman gasped dramatically placing a hand to her heart. "How could you not recognise your own mother?"
"Aphrodite." Alex deadpanned. "W-wha-why are you in my head?"
Aphrodite literally glowed with happiness. "I just wanted to make sure you were settled in and making friends."
Alex stared at her like she was insane. From what she'd been told Gods were terrible parents who didn't care about them yet here was her mother, the goddess of love invading her dreams just to ask how she was doing, her mother who seemed generally excited to talk to her.
"Um... yes, I'm good." Alex smiled sheepishly. "Could I go back to sleep now?"
Aphrodite looked slightly disappointed that she didn't want to stay and chat. "Of course, of course. We all need beauty sleep little Ali." She snapped her fingers a sour look on her beautiful face.
Suddenly Alex was falling through the grass into a banquet hall.
A blonde guy with pretty blue eyes and tanned skin sat at the head glowering at her. He would have been perfect if it weren't for the long thick, deep pale scar that ran from the bottom of his eye down to his jaw.
"How could you let this happen? That menace ruins everything." He growled his nostrils flaring.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" A girl stammered nervously. Alex couldn't see the girl but something about her voice seemed familiar she just couldn't place it.
The boy held up his hand to stop the girl from saying any more. "Just stay calm, we've got the upper hand. Camp Half Blood will be in flames by the end of summer."
Alex gasped but quickly clamped her hand over her mouth but they didn't notice her.
"Ali." The boy whispered but instead of his voice, it was a girl's. "Ali?"
"ALEX!" She bolted up and hit her head on the bunk above.
"Oof." Alex collapsed backwards and glared at Drew. "Why?!"
"Guess what time it is." Drew said with an evil grin on her face.
"No." Alex groaned rubbing her forehead glaring at her new sister.
"Jogging time." Alex groaned again stuffing her face into her pillow.
Every morning at five thirty exactly the entirety of the Aphrodite cabin went jogging.
"Up, up, up." Drew pulled her out of bed rather violently.
"I hate you." Alex mumbled pulling her shoes on.
The Aphrodite cabin had a very heavy smell of perfume, flowers and chocolates. The walls of the cabin were pink with posters of musicians, actors and other celebrities. The curtains and beds were pastel blue and green. The boys had a row of bunks separated by a white curtain. Each bed had a blue dresser at the end with drawers and a mirror.
Alex was supposed to be escorted home to get some of her things and to probably let her parents know that she was alive but she didn't really know when that was going to happen.
The rest of the cabin was standing outside looking good even that early in the morning. "Finally." Peter mumbled making Daisy giggle.
Alex looked down at her feet awkwardly, she didn't know these people. She didn't know how to fit in with them yet. She stood at the back of the group nervously.
Silena stood at the front leading the seven of them looking like jogging at five in the morning was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
"What time is it?!" Silena asked.
"Summertime! It's our vacation" Alex called impulsively.
"What time is it? Summertime! School's out, scream and shout." Peter added.
"Goodbye to rules, no summer school." The group sang.
"W-no! No high school musical." Silena interrupted holding her hands up.
"High School Musical. Who says we have to let it go?" Phoebe sang with a mischievous grin on her face.
"No."
"It's the best part we've ever known." The group sang at her trying to contain their laughter.
"Stop."
"Step into the future, but hold on to..." They all pointed at Silena who was shaking her head vehemently.
"High School Musical." She caved joining in.
"LET'S CELEBRATE WHERE WE COME FROM!" They belted.
"Shut up!" A boy with messy blonde curls stuck his head out of the Athena cabin window.
"Sorry." Silena said sheepishly giving the boy a dazzling smile. "Right! Come on chipmunks, let's go." Clapped her hands at them before taking off.
"Chipmunks?" Alex mouthed to Mitchell who just shrugged.
"She picks a new rodent each time." Peter explained with a smile. "Gods know how she finds so many." They then took off leaving her and Mitchell behind.
They glanced at each other and burst out laughing. "Come on Ali or they'll pick the song without us."
"Song?" Alex asked running after Mitchell.
The jog around camp wasn't as awful as she expected. They sang Taylor Swift, and Harry Styles and gossiped about camp relationships. She didn't mention her weird dream to anyone, it didn't seem relevant.
Alex couldn't help but feel at home surrounded by her new siblings, like she had a family. Well... she had a family, she had her moms and her grandparents and her great-aunt Pam. Yet it felt like she finally had people who understood her.
Alex quickly showered before getting changed into a hiddious orange camp shirt and a pair of shorts that Phoebe bought her.
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Later that morning Alex, Daisy and Drew went for a walk. She spotted Percy and Annabeth sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs laughing.
Alex scowled at them, she'd learnt over the past few days that the last year meant nothing, that she had just been a stand in for Annabeth.
Before she knew it they were at the canoe lake
Drew asked Percy if I needed to borrow some eyeliner for his eye ... "Oh sorry, eyes."
Alex swatted her arm glaring at her. "Shut up." She hissed as they walked away laughing.
"Um... hi." Alex gave them an awkward wave.
"Hey, Al." Percy mumbled barely even glancing at her.
Annabeth nodded at her. "Are you entering the Chariot races Alessandra?"
Alex sat on the grass next to her. "Nah, Silena said it's too dangerous and idiotic."
Percy snorted at her. "Al Saint Auclair, a daughter of Aphrodite. Who would've guessed?"
Annabeth stared at him like he was insane.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alex scowled at him.
Annabeth instantly shook her head but Percy didn't seem to get the message. "I mean you just don't seem the type... b-because you're cooler, yeah cooler."
"I'll have you know that children of Aphrodite are the coolest and I am totally the type. You don't know everything about me water boy. I don't just like Iron man, soccer, Nirvana and cheese pizza, I'm a very complex person Perseus." Alex said quickly.
Percy blinked at her. "Uh..."
"I mean how small-minded could someone be to think that just because we're children of the love goddess that we have to be girly and bitchy."
"Why are you so angry? I called you cool!" Percy said defensively.
Alex scoffed. "You're an as-"
"Guys! Can we get back to the chariot?" Annabeth interrupted quickly. She had seen the result of a child of Aphrodite's anger and it was never good.
"Well, it's not 'we' is it?" Alex grumbled bitter glancing between Annabeth and Percy before storming off towards her cabin.
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Percy spent lunch throwing grapes at Alex trying to get her attention and Alex spent her lunch glaring at Percy. Silena couldn't stop grinning as she watched them.
Alex found that she had a knack for archery, she only missed about three or four times. She enjoyed archery, it gave her a feeling of control. It was simple, you just took aim and shot. Plus, it was great for frustration.
In arts and crafts, Alex started a marble bust of Aphrodite, but it started looking like Eva Longoria, so she gave up.
At night, Alex had more dreams. This time they were filled with fire and dragons but it didn't scare her.
A dark haired young woman sat atop a red, huge, and lean dragon. It was formidable and fearsome. The woman held a giant bronze sword as she charged towards a dark haired girl who was sat on a yellow scaled dragon holding a bow and arrow.
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The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like sauna steam.
Millions of birds were roosting in the trees-fat gray-and-white pigeons (more like vermin), except they didn't coo like regular pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound that made Alex want to stick her head in an oven.
"Why am I here?!" She groaned as Silena pulled her, Arun and Phoebe up into the stands (the rest of the cabin decided to stay in bed).
The racetrack had been built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods.
Hephaestus's cabin had used the bronze bulls, which were completely tame since they'd had their heads smashed in, to plow an oval track in a matter of minutes.
There were rows of stone steps for the spectators- Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads, and all of the campers who weren't participating. Mr. D didn't show. Apparently, he never got up before ten o'clock.
"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. A naiad had brought him a big platter of pastries, and as Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate eclair across the judge's table. "You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" Tantalus smiled at the contestants like we were all naughty children. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"
Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. Silena tried her hardest to avoid looking at him. They had an intimidating chariot made of bronze and iron-even the horses, which were magical automatons like the Colchis bulls.
The Ares chariot was bloodred and pulled by two grisly horse skeletons. Clarisse climbed aboard with a batch of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops, and a bunch of other nasty toys. Alex blushed when Clarisse nodded at her when they made eye contact.
Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow. The Apollo kids reminded her of the rich kids she went to boarding school with, smug and a little self-obsessed.
Hermes's chariot was green and kind of old-looking, as if it hadn't been out of the garage in years. It didn't look like anything special, but it was manned by the Stoll brothers who tried to push her into the lake when she'd first gotten to camp so she was hoping they were out straight away.
That left two chariots: one driven by Annabeth, and the other by Percy.
Percy who Alex was still annoyed with, mainly because she was irritated that she was irritated so she just blamed him. It was the easiest option, he usually did something annoying.
Before the race began, Percy made his way over to Annabeth. Alex scowled at them. She knew they'd had a fight which resulted in them being on separate teams for the race yet he made the effort to talk to Annabeth and not to Alex.
As the chariots lined up, more shiny-eyed pigeons gathered in the woods. They were screeching so loudly that Alex debated whether to go back to the cabin or no, she glanced nervously at the trees, which shivered under the weight of the birds. Tantalus didn't look concerned, but he did have to speak up to be heard over the noise.
"Charioteers!" he shouted. "Attend your mark!"
He waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots roared to life. Hooves thundered against the dirt. The crowd cheered.
Alex leaned forward in her seat watching them go anxiously.
Almost immediately there was a loud nasty crack! The Apollo chariot flipped over. The Hermes chariot had rammed into it-maybe by mistake, maybe not. The riders were thrown free, but their panicked horses dragged the golden chariot diagonally across the track.
The Hermes team, Travis and Connor Stoll, were laughing at their good luck, but not for long. The Apollo horses crashed into theirs, and the Hermes chariot flipped too, leaving a pile of broken wood and four rearing horses in the dust.
"This can't be legal." Alex picked at her nails nervously her eyes darting between the Poseidon chariot and the Athena chariot.
"Don't worry Ali, your boy will be fine. He ventured off to the underworld last year I'm sure he can handle a chariot race." Silena nudged Alex grinning.
"What?!" She looked up at Silena frantically.
Silena gave her a sly smile noting that she didn't refute that Percy was her boy.
"Oh, shut up." Alex grumbled slouching in her seat.
Percy and Tyson were making good time, pulling ahead of Ares, but Annabeth's chariot was way ahead of them. She was already making her turn around the first post.
The Hephaestus chariot was starting to gain on them, too. Three sets of balls and chains shot straight toward their wheels and Alex instantly covered her eyes.
She only opened her eyes when Arun elbowed her in the gut. "Ow." She said as she pushed him lightly.
"Don't push me."
"Don't elbow me."
"Don't-"
"Shut up!"
"Look!"
The pigeons had risen from the trees. They were spiralling like a huge tornado, heading toward the track.
"Is that normal?" Alex asked wishing she was at home, there were no birds at home.
"Arun go wake the other's and tell them to bring their weapons and bring Phoebe's sword. Plus, something for Ali." Silena pushed him vaguely towards the cabins a worried look on her face.
Arun sprinted off just as the thousands of pigeons dive-bombed the spectators in the stands and attacked the chariots.
The birds were slashing at any bit of exposed flesh, driving everyone into a panic. Now that Alex could see birds up close, it was clear they weren't normal pigeons.
Their eyes were beady and evil-looking. Their beaks were made of bronze, and judging from the yelps of the campers, they must've been razor sharp. (Metal, why was everything made of metal?)
Silena held a small bronze knife with a rose-coloured hilt tightly but it was no match for the swarm.
Some of the other spectators were trying to fight back. The Athena campers were calling for shields. The archers from Apollo's cabin brought out their bows and arrows, ready to slay the menace, but with so many campers mixed in with the birds, it wasn't safe to shoot.
Alex held up her arms to protect herself by it did very little. She, Phoebe and Silena stood back to back trying to shield the others from the evil pigeons.
Alex realised too late that she wasn't paying enough attention to herself because when she turned a razor-sharp metallic beak was stabbing her in the face. She could feel the blood streaming down her cheek.
Alex fixed the bird that had hit her with such a frightening look that it instantly dropped from the sky and few seconds later she collapsed as well the last thing she saw was the gray sky filled with demon birds.
Jealousy, Jealousy 🤝Alex
This chapter as the office memes