◢ 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 ◤
EVERYTHING WAS FINE UNTIL JASON GOT HIT JUST ABOVE THE EYE WITH A BRICK.
"JASON," Lorinda screamed, in spite of herself. And being very pathetic, she abandoned Annabeth and Percy and ran toward Jason and Piper.
The crowd surged forward, now that Jason was unconscious. Piper was trying to charmspeak (from what Lorinda had learned from Reyna) the mob. It was impressive, but the effect wouldn't last very long.
The Roman demigods surrounding her were calling her a "traitor." But fighting down her grimace, she kept running.
She glanced at the sky to see a huge dragon with rough grey skin and leathery bat wings, lunging toward them.
It was probably Frank. Probably.
Even if it was, Lorinda doubted that he would get there in time with the demigods surrounding Piper awakening from their daze.
"Back off," Lorinda seethed, holding out her arms protectively and facing her fellow campers.
They hesitated.
One does not simply lose respect once they earned it.
Then Octavian appeared and screeched, "kill Lorinda Richardson, kill that traitor of Rome!"
Which only made the legionaries in front of her even more confused.
But the confusion wouldn't last long, because soon, Octavian would be having the upper hand.
"Now would be a great time, Centurion Zhang," she muttered. She definitely did not like having an arm-wrestling contest with her family in the first.
And that was when she felt a claw grabbing her by her cloak and lunging her into the sky.
"What happened? Speak quickly before I run you over with my sword."
Lorinda was not having the best time in her life.
First Jason Grace had come back with a new girlfriend. Then Leo had fired at her home. Then Frank had lifted her onto this ship without her permission. She wasn't happy, to say the least.
Leo slumped against the mass, looking tired as he eyed Lorinda's piercing gaze carefully.
"I don't know. It's fuzzy," he muttered choking back a sob.
Lorinda pitted the boy. But just a little. But the angry side of her was taking 70% control.
"Well I'm sorry but fuzzy does not make it. And do I have to remind you that you've just fired at my home and at my cohort? Now explain once again what the heck happened."
Annabeth tried to put a hand on Lorinda's left shoulder, but she flinched away, high on alert.
You are surrounded by enemies a small voice spoke in her head. Lorinda shut her eyes
Annabeth looked a little started by her reaction but decided to drop it.
"You mean you don't remember?" Annabeth said in a much calmer tone.
"I...I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it. I men...I didn't want to, but at the same time, I felt like I wanted. There was this cold feeling—"
"A cold feeling?" Lorinda and Annabeth inquired at the same time. The words had made Lorinda snap her eyes open again.
Annabeth glanced at her, but she ignore the older woman.
"Yeah," Leo said, "why?"
Then from below deck, Lorinda heard Percy call, "Annabeth, we need you. And Lorinda, it's best if you come as well."
Lorinda watched Piper tending Jason's wounds from as far as possible. She didn't want to hate the girl, after all, she hadn't even gotten the chance to know her.
But the raging jealousy inside her made it difficult to not be judgmental about everything she did. From that stupid hello kitty shirt to how she constantly twisted the harpy feather in her hair.
She hated herself for doing this.
With a deep breath, she ordered her legs to walk her inside the "sick bay" and stand next to Percy.
Startled by her presence, Piper watched her with curiosity and gave her an awkward wave.
Lorinda did not return the gesture, she simply stared intently into her kaleidoscope eyes.
"How is he?" Annabeth asked, finally breaking the silence. Piper looked relieved that Lorinda wasn't examining her anymore and was examining Jason lying in her arms
"He...he's going to be fine," Piper said. Glancing at the patch of purple on Jason's forehead.
Lorinda vaguely remembered 2 years ago when he had gotten bruised on the same spot, but it was caused by Lorinda's sword, instead of a brick.
"Well, I'll leave you guys be then," Annabeth said, tugging Percy away, and shooting Lorinda a look. Lorinda could decipher whether it was a warning look or a look of sympathy.
That made her angry. She didn't need people pitying her.
Sympathy was the last thing on her mind. Her love life was the second last.
Or at least she wanted to make love occupy as little space as possible in her brain.
"Well," she said, "I'll also leave you two be."
Piper looked relieved and formed a smile when she turned on her heels and followed Percy and Annabeth up the staircase.
"Is Jason—" She heard Leo say.
Lorinda pursed her lips, "I think he's going to be fine, his girlfriend's looking after him."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow at that but didn't say anything.
"Annabeth told me you did fire the ballista," Percy said, giving Leo a hard look.
"It was a mistake," Lorinda interrupted, saving Leo from stumbling over his own words. "Everybody makes them. And it wasn't Leo's fault, not exactly."
Percy looked puzzled, "what do you mean not exactly?"
Lorinda curled her lips, "it doesn't matter. Not now. We've got more important things to do."
"Yes," Annabeth agreed, "we'll figure things out later, right now, we need to regroup and plan. What's the situation of the ship?"
Lorinda was no fan of mechanisms, so when Leo started explaining about gears, calcium carbonates, forces, and "simple" physics, she rolled her eyes and started tapping the sword hilt of the sword strapped to her side.
But then, she heard a beeping noise coming from her left, and her sword was out in a flash.
But when she saw what was making the noise, her cheeks colored, and she cursed.
"Hey!" Leo protested, hurrying to her victim— the dragon figurehead. "Why did you do that?"
"Because it was screeching like a dead bird," she said, annoyed for being humiliated.
Leo scowled, "did you just call my dragon a dead bird? I'm sure you didn't."
Lorinda decided not to answer that. She didn't need another fight, even though Leo looked like the least likely one to start one when he was conscious.
"Anyways, Frank, go fly down and tell your girlfriend to meet us at the Great Salt lake."
LANDING WAS NOT A GREAT EXPERIENCE.
Lorinda has never ridden a plane because of her father, the terrible ride she just experienced, made her even more determined not to try.
She nearly vomited on the deck, but Lorinda knew that none of the other people on this ship would appreciate that.
She vowed to get off this ship as soon as possible and not step on a flying machine again.
She would very much like to return to Camp Jupiter.
Now that everything was less chaotic, Lorinda began to wonder why she decided to help these enemies of Rome.
What was she thinking?
Betraying the legion is one of the worst crimes you could commit, tied with killing your parents.
But she had to go back, or at least apologize before the council executed her.
She couldn't live with the guilt of being marked as a traitor.
Maybe, just maybe, Octavian was correct.
These Greeks couldn't be trusted.
These impenetrable tricksters had tricked her.
After all, Lorinda was 100% sure that she wouldn't have done what she had done if she was in her right mind, and had not fallen under the spell the greeks created.
She shivered.
What if it was the Greek's plan all along?
Kidnapping Jason and brainwashing him, then sending Percy over to brainwash Hazel Frank and other Romans.
But Lorinda refused to believe that Percy would do such a thing.
Percy was such a sweet brother who cuddled a panda bear when sleeping...
Then it struck her.
The head of this conspiracy was none other than Percy Jackson.
"HEY, LORINDA. EARTH TO LORINDA."
Lorinda snapped back to attention when Leo Valdez waved his hand in front of her face. She quickly stepped away in disgust, even though her face conveyed little emotion.
"So the dazed centurion has finally woken from her daze," Leo joked, an impish smile on his face.
Lorinda squinted her eyes and examined him properly for the first time she met him.
There was something off with his smile.
It was strained. Just a little bit. One would think Leo was perfectly happy and carefree, but judging from that slightly strained smile, it wasn't that simple.
"Uh, Lorinda, why are you glaring at Leo as if he's stolen your weapon? I know how mad you are when people do that." Percy said.
Lorinda shifted her concentration to Percy and tilted her head.
Wow, he's a great actor, she mused to herself.
"Mmh, anyways you all got a plan?" She asked, tapping her foot impatiently a few times on the deck.
Annabeth was now looking at her skeptically, as if she were a bomb, ready to explode at any time. "Well, at least we all can agree that what the harpy had said was a prophecy."
"From the Sibylline Books," Frank Zhang added.
Lorinda frowned, something she did quite frequently these days, "and you three hid that from the entire legion? Not wanting Octavian capturing her I would understand, but from everybody?"
"Lorinda, please, stop," Annabeth finally spoke up.
Lorinda fixed her eyes on Annabeth.
Ocean blue met grey.
"I will listen to you on everything else, but not on this matter," she said slowly. The air was so tense, the hairs on Lorinda's arms stood up slightly.
Annabeth arched an eyebrow, "alright, but why not?"
"Woah," Percy said, pushing the two girls apart. (which was totally uncalled for since she had no intention of fighting anybody) "Chill please."
Lorinda glared at him to back off. That backstabber.
"Anyways," Leo cut in, breaking the awkwardness, "about fixing the ship."
Annabeth gave her one last mixed-feeling look and said, "Okay, what do we need to get the boat fixed?"
Lorinda saw Leo exhale at that.
"The easiest thing is tar, we can get that in the city, at a roofing- supply store, or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."
"Lime as in CaO?" Lorinda asked.
Leo nodded.
"Well, we need to be quick, Octavian's probably searching for us with his auguries. Then the Romans will attack us, it's a matter of honor."
"Yes, and unfortunately, I am also somehow enrolled in this," Lorinda muttered under her breath, in hope of not letting the others hear her.
Fortunately, they didn't.
"Guys—I'm sorry about what happened back there..."
Lorinda wanted to scream at him to shut up. She had already forgiven him, but he just had to bring up the fact that he fired at her cohort.
Annabeth raised a hand, "it's not your fault, we've already agreed on that."
"But how can we know that it won't happen again?" Frank asked.
"We can do the buddy system," Leo suggested.
Yea like that's gonna work if the two people get possessed at the same time.
"Piper and Coach Hedge can stay aboard with Jason. One team will get tar, the other get the bronze and the lime."
Now that was a bad idea, leaving Piper Coach and Jason alone she meant.
"Split up?" Percy said, "that sounds like a really bad idea."
It does, Lorinda's consciousness confirmed.
But wait, isn't he the bad guy? Why wouldn't he want us to split up? She argued back.
"It'll be faster," Hazel put in.
Percy didn't look pleased, but then he held Annabeth's hands.
"As long as you're my buddy," he said cheekily.
"Then Frank'll fly the two of you down, perfection," Lorinda said, clasping her hands together.
She didn't care the fact that nearly every one of them scowled whenever she opened her mouth. She didn't at all. All she cared about was her legion, her home.
"I'll ride with Sa—Leo and Lorinda then," Hazel said. Lorinda was surprised that she had included her in this quest when they so obviously disliked her.
"Ok then team, let's go"
What are your thought on Lorinda? tell me in the comments<3 I personally love her, but I have this feeling that others don't love her as much as I do hahaha
AND THE GIF STILL WON'T LOAD UGH