This one's for @Yadhira_A for this amazhang character. I enjoyed writing her and I hope everyone, especially you enjoy reading it just as much!!! Anyways, without further ado...
I pick up a strand of my hair, watching in the mirror as its raven colour fades to an icy blue at my waist. It's natural, but no one needs to know that, I'm enough of a freak as it is. Perhaps friends are overrated, but that doesn't necessarily mean I don't care what people think. With my almost exclusively black wardrobe and incredibly light almost translucent skin, I'm constantly being mistaken as some kind of emo or goth wannabe thing.
I sigh and shoot the mirror with a finger gun. A jagged piece of ice erupts from my hand though and clangs against the reflective surface. I jump back, terrified. My step-mom yells at me from downstairs for waking up my half-sister, but I can hardly hear her over my laboured breathing. I shiver as the icicle melts quickly in the summer heat onto the carpet.
I've done this before, so many times before. Everyday I wake up, terrified of being found out.
I was five the first time. I'd thought it was cool how when I touched the snow, an icicle erupted from its surface. Of course five seconds later when I showed Tracy Mathews - my best friend at the time - and she ran off screaming how freaky I was, it was no longer quite so hype.
I collapse on my bed, messaging my temples. The dark puddle on the carpet has already started to dry, erasing all evidence of my curse. I have to be more careful than that. I can't just loose focus. What if I hadn't been alone at the time? What if I'd been talking to someone, raised my hand and kablooie!
I moan. Another plus about being alone: no one to hurt.
I close my eyes and remember a time when I wasn't so careful. I shake my head. I'd just been passing a bowl to him when my hand slipped. I jerked towards the bowl to catch it and my hand had just come up and bam, just like that that, I froze over Dad's entire body.
I groan. It'd been just a little over two years now after that incident and I'm still no closer to mastering my curse.
My stepmother calls up again, her shrill tone ringing around in my skull. "Callista! School today! I'll give you a drive if you're down in ten!"
I sigh, squeezing my eyes shut, before shouting back, "Coming!" With that I drag myself from my bed and sigh as I inspect the mirror I'd hit with ice. I hadn't even scratched it. "Only me," I mutter darkly, throwing my homework binder into my bag.
I manage to make it downstairs without another incident and grab a granola bar for the ride.
"Let's go, let's go!" My stepmother shuffles both my cranky half sister and I out the front door and into her gas guzzling SUV.
It's a short drive to my high school and it's as if we're there in seconds. I sigh as I slowly descend from the car and watch as it disappears down the street on errands. I'm left alone once more.
Focus. Don't let it get the best of you. Focus.
A hand clamps on my shoulder and I jump five feet in the air. "My gosh, Percy, you don't sneak up on people like that!" I exclaim, turning to the raven haired boy beside me.
He looks confused as he responds, "Sneak up on you? I've been calling your name for the last couple minutes, Skye." I wince and he shakes his head in defeat. "Anyways, come on, Annabeth and Thals are doing who the Hades knows what over that-a way."
Percy then proceeds to saunter off in the general direction of the others. I trail a little bit behind. Thalia and I are pretty close, but although Percy and Annabeth seem like cool people I hadn't 'clicked' with them. And, frankly, I didn't trust them as much as I did Thals.
"Hey guys," I greet as I approach the small group. Annabeth doesn't look up, her stromy eyes intent on the cards she's trying to stack together on the rickety picnic table. Thals shoots up though and grins. Her cloths are black through and through, her T-shirt sporting her favourite 'Death to Barbie' sign and there's a silver tiara perched somewhat absentmindedly atop her unruly black hair. I've never asked her about the tiara, and with her death stare, I doubt I ever will. "She's trying to beat me," she whispers confidingly.
I crinkle my eyebrows. "At what?" I ask, feeling a little stupid.
"The tallest card house," she replies in a 'duh' voice.
I roll my eyes and then take a step back as a gust of wind comes out of nowhere and knocks over Annabeth's precariously stacked, four tiered card structure. The blond looks first at the ground, horrified, before stomping her foot and turning a death glare on Thals. Thalia just looks innocently at her shoes, trying to hide a smile. I tilt my head a little, not sure if I want to know what's going down.
"Um, okay, I'm going to go to class now," I announce, slowly backing away from the crazy eyed blond, her boyfriend and the punk rocker.
Percy mouths 'Good Idea' as he tries to follow me. But Annabeth's too quick. She grabs the poor boy and tells him stand right in front of the table where the wind had sprung up from. Thalia just laughs as Percy makes desperate 'Save Me!' eyes in my direction.
I shrug though and turn around, snickering at the trio's dynamic.
The rest of the morning goes smoothly. I show up to all my classes and hand in most of the work. It's only at lunch that things get interesting. It's fine at first, we sit down at the usual table with the equally usual cafeteria slop. Percy and Thals get into some intense argument about the Little Mermaid. Annabeth and I just watch, trying to understand.
Then one of the windows shatter.
As sharp edges of glass spiral down from above, two, furry, brown dogs leap to the center of the cafeteria. Everybody screams and swarm the exits as the teachers try to calm them all down. I am still in my seat though, reeling in shock, because the creatures do not look like ordinary dogs. They are brown with snouts and fur, but they are larger than your average domestic dog, maybe they're wild? Suddenly one howls in pain, an arrow protruding from its back. I gasp in horror as the dog begins to dissolve before my eyes.
As its body slowly trickles to dust, I follow the trajectory of the arrow with my eyes, finding that it was shot from just behind me. Turning, I'm surprised to see Thalia standing on the table, another arrow already notched in her bow. With her feet planted shoulder-width apart and her arrow aimed at the other dog, she looks like the fricking Princess of Hell.
My eyes widen. "Holy sh*t, girl!"
Thalia turns to me and opens her mouth. Percy interrupts her though, by leaping up and charging towards the single, dog left standing in the middle of the room. The enormous dog snarls as Percy grabs a pen from his pocket. The dog readies to pounce as Percy runs full tilt at it, seemingly unafraid. The dog widens its mouth as if in a smile, displaying its sharply filed teeth. Then the dog leaps.
Percy is going to die.
Without thinking, I raise my hands and cry out. A wall of ice erupts from the floor between Percy and the dog. At the last moment, Percy manages to slide out of the way, but the dog slams into it full force, rebounding off the solid sheet of ice.
Quickly Annabeth comes around from behind, stabbing the dog with what looks to be a bronze dagger. Similar to the first, this dog disintegrates into fine specks of gold dust.
Percy glances back at Thals and me. "What in Hades is that, Thals?" He gestures to the sheer ice.
Jumping down from the table, Thalia puts her arrow back into her quiver and swings her bow across her back. She shakes her head at the boy lying on the ground. "Wasn't me."
From behind the ice wall, Annabeth stares at me. She asks, "Do you live with both your parents?"
I'm taken aback. "Seriously, after all this, you think it's an appropriate time to discuss my personal life?"
Thals nudges me. "Just answer the damn question."
I stare at her for a moment. "Okay. Fine. I live with my father and my stepmother."
Percy sighs, "Did you ever know your mother."
I peer at him curiously. "No, now stop prying."
Rolling onto his back, Percy groans. "My guess: Demeter."
I blink. What is happening?
Annabeth rolls her eyes, walking back towards us. She slips her dagger back into her sleeve. "Look, maybe we shouldn't have this conversation here," she half-whispers, nodding at the group of people huddling near the exits, just watching us in fear. "Who knows what they think they saw. And Percy, Demeter? Seriously?"
Thalia nods and pulls me up from my spot as Percy climbs slowly to his feet.
"What the f*ck just happened? I'm so confused. Can someone just explain it all to me?" I demand, freaking out.
Percy groans, "You're the one that made freaking ice erupt from the ground."
That shuts me up pretty quick.
The three of them drag me outside and into the parking lot. It's too nice outside for what just happened. It's sunny and warm and there aren't any bugs. I feel like after killing a couple, weird, disintegrating dogs there should be bugs.
Annabeth rounds on me as soon as we're far enough away from the school. "Look, we have a lot to tell you and not a lot of time to say it in. So why don't we load into the car and head towards camp, we can discuss the whole thing on the way."
As the trio starts towards a silver Prius near the back of the lot, I stomp my foot and shake my head stubbornly. "Hell no," I declare. "You guys just killed a couple of freakishly big dogs that quite literally dissolved afterwards. Thalia has a bow and arrow. Annabeth has a dagger shoved up her sleeve. And none of you are panicking about how I literally just made a skyscraper from ice and then you asked all those random question about my family and now you just have to explain a lot of crap to me. Like right now." I stomp my foot for emphasis and cross my arms over my chest.
Pursing her lips, Annabeth looks over to me. Percy seems at little lost and Thalia just grins. "Okay, Skye," Annabeth starts, stepping forward. "Have you ever read any of the Greek myths? You know, with the twelve Olympians and demigods and monsters?"
Once again, Annabeth is confusing me with her off-topic question. I nod, "Sure, like Hercules and stuff."
"Yeah, well that sh*t's all real," Thalia continues.
I blink slowly. "Repeat?"
"That sh*t's all real," Percy reiterates.
I nod, eyes wide. "Okay, then. Hercules is real?"
The three of them all nod in nonchalance. Obviously they're all nuts. I start to back away slowly and then stop. My hands are freezing and I remember my nutty ice power, thing. So what if they think Greek myths are true? I shoot fricking ice from my fingers. Not like I can actually call anybody psycho.
I take a deep breath. "So Greek myths..."
"Yeah," Annabeth replies, picking up the conversation. "Those things that jumped through the window and disintegrated when we killed them were monsters. Hellhounds actually. We've met them a few times in our travels, there seems to be a never ending supply of them. The three of us are demigods. You know, like Hercules and Perseus and all those other heroes. One of our parents is a god while the other is mortal. Take Percy as an example. His mother's name is Sally and she bakes blue cookies. But his father is Lord Poseidon, king of the sea." She stops to see if I'm with her.
I suck in a deep breath. "So you're saying you're all half god. Just to be clear."
Thalia nods. "Yeah, and we're all fairly sure you are too."
I just look at them. Declaring that all the Greek myths are true is one thing, but accusing me of being part god? What the hell?
"Okay, back up. What?!" I shout.
Percy holds up his hands in defense. "Yeah, I know it's real weird to find out, but it all fits. Think about it, you've never met your mother, you can see through the Mist, you can -"
I cut him short, "Mist?"
He shrugs. "It's the thing that protects the the mortals from our world."
"Our world?"
"Yeah. The one steaming with cyclops and hellhounds and demigods and such," he attempts to explain.
Annabeth blows out a breath. "Look, this is taking to long. We have to go now before anything else shows up."
My eyes are wide. "What else is going to 'show up'?"
The blond shrugs. "I don't know. But if hellhounds found us, there's no telling what else is on the way."
"Just get in the car, Skye," Thalia groans.
I eye them all. They're so serious and Annabeth and Thals are actually armed with actual weapons. And those dogs really did disappear. And I really can shoot ice from my hands. Percy and Annabeth seem kinda off to me and I don't trust them completely, but Thals has been nothing but honest with me since we became friends. This is some load of crap, but if Thalia of all people believes it, it's got to be real.
Shaking a little, I nod. "Okay, let's get in the car. Quick question, where are we going in the car?"
"Camp," Annabeth replies, climbing into the driver's seat.
"I call shotgun!" Percy yells as he literally rolls over the hood and leaps into the passenger seat.
As Annabeth turns out of the parking lot and onto the main road, I ask, "What's camp?"
"A safe heaven for demigods," Thalia replies.
I nod. "So it's really real."
They all nod. "Yeah, it's really real."
I sigh and slump backwards. "Okay, so who's my Mom?"
"Well Percy thinks it's Demeter for some demented reason," Annabeth replies. "I can assure you though, that you are not the offspring of the cereal goddess. I do have a couple other guesses though."
"Guesses you'd like to share," I hint at.
"Khione," she replies.
Percy smacks his head against the dashboard. "Should've guessed that."
"Who is that?" I question.
"Goddess of ice and winter and snow and crap," Percy responds.
Annabeth rolls her eyes at him in the rear view mirror, but says, "Yes, she is the goddess of all that...crap."
I nod. It would fit with my abilities to seemingly control and create ice and snow and crap.
"Hey," Percy chimes in, "isn't she the one that threw Leo off the Argo II?"
Annabeth nods. "Yes, that would be her."
"What's the Argo II?" I ask.
"A boat," they reply in unison.
I raise my eyebrows. "My mother threw someone off a boat?"
They all nod.
"Holy sh*t."
Hey, me again. Maybe not the best ending, sorry. I hoped you like it @Yadhira_A and that it was everything you pictured. If I messed something up, just tell me in the comments or message me or whatnot and I'll fix it.
To anyone else who took time out of their day to read this, THANKS. I don't say it enough you guys.
Please, vote and comment and overflow this book with the fandom.
~omgitshappenning ;)