On Sunday night, I tossed and turned. My stomach cramped no matter which way I slept. The constant flipping back and forth made my hair staticy, sticking to my very lumpy pillow, and my hips began to feel sore from the hardwood floor beneath me.
“Somethin’ wrong?” Claudia asked from my bed, “I don’t gotta sleep up here, y’know. I’m fine with the floor, too.”
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. It wasn’t the floor that was bothering me, it was the fact that the moment I fell asleep, I’d be thrown into another draining nightmare. I couldn’t decide what would be worse: going to school exhausted, or going to school with the aching dread that was left by a prophetic nightmare.
“I could probably go with you tomorrow,” Claudia peeked her head from over the edge of the bed, smiling, “I betcha they wouldn’t notice.”
I snorted, “I’m sure they would. You don’t exactly blend in, Clauds.”
“Well-” she hesitated, searching for a counter, “I have great people skills, Bella. I’ll just say I’m a new student, and my paperwork got mixed up or somethin’.”
I laughed slightly, “It’ll be fine, promise.”
“Mm, okie, if you say so.”
I flipped away from the bed on the sleeping bag, sighing. My thoughts became more and more scattered as exhaustion washed over me, and soon I was asleep.
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Wherever I was, it was dark. I couldn’t even see my own hands right in front of me. I heard something in the distance, like crying. At least it wasn’t the same nightmare from before, right?
“Bella?” a voice called, so quiet I almost thought I imagined it.
“Hello?” I called back, trying to squint to see through the void of darkness.
“I’m so sorry.”
What did she say? I was having serious deja-vu right now. Where had I heard that before?
“Where are you?” I called into the expansive nothingness.
“The underworld,” the ghostly girl’s voice answered, trembling like she was trying not to cry. “Please, help me. I just want to go home.”
“What? Who are you?” I frowned, squinting through the darkness, but I was too late. Her desperate voice faded into nothingness, like it was never even there to begin with.
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After I pushed my locker closed, I made my way to homeroom, trying to shake off that stupid nightmare. She sounded so familiar, and I couldn’t stop from this strange driving force that made me feel like I needed to save her. Like it was my duty or something dumb like that.
Sighing, I turned the silver door knob and opened the door. As I sat at my seat, I felt that something was different. It took a moment, but I realised that the perky morning chatter that I had been constantly surrounded by recently wasn’t there. Acacia wasn’t in class yet.
That’s weird, I thought. Afterall, she had never been late before, and she was a pretty responsible student. Maybe she’s sick or something.
But when the teacher took attendance, she still called Acacia’s name, which was met with silence. Did that mean Acacia didn’t call her absence in? Maybe I was overthinking it. I know I wouldn’t bother to call in my absence, either.
…But Acacia probably would have.
The bell rang to begin classes, but by the end of the day, I still hadn’t seen Acacia once. I hesitated by the office door, debating whether or not it was worth asking the ungodly slow secretaries if they knew anything about it. Suddenly, a short man pushed past me into the office, carrying a small photo. I frowned, noticing that he was dressed much nicer than anyone else in the building. His jaw was clenched tight, eyes wide with worry as he tried to catch the secretary’s attention. I decided to listen in.
“Do you have the attendance for today? I need to know if my daughter made it to school.”
My heart skipped when I heard the word daughter. This wasn’t a coincidence.
“Oh… I can’t give you the attendance record, sir…. It’s private.”
“Can you at least tell me if she made it here?” he said exasperatedly, then added, “Please?”
“Uuuum, okay. What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Acacia Hale.”
Before he even finished his sentence, I was out the door.
Of course.
The hair. The necklace. The voice, it was Acacia.
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“I know who it was,” I said as I opened the door, “In my dreams. It’s a girl in my class, Acacia. She’s in the underworld!”
“Really?” Claudia said, wide-eyed, quickly closing the door behind me.
“How can you be so sure?” my father asked skeptically, walking calmly into the foyer at the sound of the commotion.
“Because, she was talking to me last night, and when I got to class, she wasn’t there,” I explained hastily, already pulling out my phone to text Nico.
“She could have been ill,” he countered, frowning.
“Her dad showed up, too, asking if she was there. He didn’t even know if she made it to school.”
“I suppose that is concerning,” he muttered, sighing, “And she’s in the underworld?”
“That’s what she told me,” I nodded.
“Then it’s best we contact Camp Half-Blood, and let them take care of it.”
“What?!” I scowled, surprised, “We can’t do that!”
“And why is that?” my dad scoffed, “You’re out of your mind if you think you were going to deal with this yourself, Bella.”
“Um, ‘Out of my mind’? Did you just forget that I’ve literally saved the entire world before? I think saving just one person is more than within my skill set,” I snapped.
“He’s kinda right, Bells,” Claudia told me softly, “This is way bigger than we thought. Besides, we’re not exactly on the greatest terms with any of the Olympian gods.”
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Unable to stand there fuming for a second longer, I stormed back out the door. Why was this pissing me off so much? They were right. I knew they were right. I was already tempting the Fates by just existing, so a rescue mission in one of the most powerful Olympian’s domain was just digging my own grave. Besides, I barely know Acacia.
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Then why did this feel so personal?
“This would be a great time for some divine intervention,” I muttered under my breath, but I knew better than to hope someone like my mom or Hecate would hear me. It pissed me off. I’ve always been left alone to figure all this shit on my own, and now all of a sudden everyone’s worried about me?
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I don’t know how far I walked, but by the time I started to feel the burn in my legs, twilight began to paint the skies. Sighing, I dropped onto a rusty bench, staring up at the dirty buildings towering above me.
“What'd you get all pissed over now?” a familiar voice snorted. 262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAyFHQ3z2l
“Some bullshit, that’s what,” I grumbled as Nico took a seat next to me.
“Like what?”
I sighed, “I know who was kidnapped. A girl named Acacia. She goes to my school, but today she didn’t show, and her dad came in all worried because he didn’t know where she was.”
“Lemme guess,” he huffed, “Red hair? Connection to plants or flowers?”
“Yep,” I sighed again, “That’s her. Last night in a dream, she told me she was in the underworld.”
“Great, that’s the girl I saw in my dream, too. What are we going to do?”
“Nothing, apparently,” I scoffed, “My dad wants to let Camp Half-Blood deal with it.”
He grimaced unhappily, but then nodded, “That… sorta makes sense.”
“What?!” I scowled at him, “You’re seriously content with ignoring this whole thing, too?!”
“Hey,” he returned the glare, “Don’t get mad at me.”
“Right, right, sorry,” I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a moment to get a hold of my temper. “Look, I just- I feel like I really need to do this. It’s important, and I don’t know why.”
“Well, I’d be lying if I didn’t feel the same way,” he muttered.
“So then what do we do?”
“Well, our only real options are to leave it to the camp,” he began, “Try to convince your dad to let you go, or… don’t tell him.”
“Well we can’t do nothing, and he’s sure as hell not going to let this happen,” I muttered, “So there’s only one other option left.”
“Yeah,” Nico sighed, “I was afraid you would say that.”
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As the air became cool and the sky darkened, we made our way back to my house. After I opened the door, I was surprised to see my dad waiting in the foyer, looking a little tense.
Uh oh.
I thought for sure that there was no way I was about to get away with my disrespectful attitude, but just as he looked like he was about to say something, he stopped himself.
“Good evening, Niccolò,” he cleared his throat, looking away from me and instead at Nico.
He offered a small smile, off put by the use of his full name, “Sir.”
I quickly walked past him, trying to clear my face of any annoyance or anger. I wasn’t about to stand there and give him another reason to chew me out.
As soon as we were in the clear in the basement, I sighed.
“So,” Nico prompted, “Do you wanna talk Bella out of lying to her dad and potentially getting herself killed, or should I?”
Claudia shot me an appalled look. “Bella!”
“Hey, you said you wanted to, too!” I scowled at him for throwing me under the bus.
“Well, I’m not the one lying to my dad.”
“Oh, so Hades knows all about your plans to infiltrate the underworld?”
Nico’s mouth hung open for a while, before crossing his arms, “Well, this is about you, not me.”
“Sure it is,” I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, okay,” Claudia huffed, breaking up the argument, “Bella, can I talk to you for a moment?”
The uncharacteristic long look on her face caught me off guard. “Um, yeah, sure.”262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEmAuLlp0C
She pulled me outside the rec room silently.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhd6aeO6qC3
“Bella, do you really want to do this?”
“Of course, Acacia needs us.”
“I mean, do you really want to lie to your dad like this?”262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TL06LOQWE
That really caught me off guard. I scoffed, “What difference does it make? He’ll hate me just as much.”
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My throat became tight, “What are you talking about? This is just how it is.”
“Then wouldn’t you like to do something to change that?” she frowned, squeezing my hand, “Acacia is in good hands with the half-bloods, and listenin’ to your dad will start to bridge the gap you’re making.”
I swallowed hard with nothing to say.
“Could you do that, Bella? Please?”
I closed my eyes tight for a moment, before sighing, “Okay, okay. Fine. Only because you want me to.”
“No,” Claudia’s frown deepened, punching me, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Ow,” I mumbled, “Okay, fine.”
The smile returned to her face, “Thank you, Bella.”
“I don’t know why you care so much,” I muttered, but I did feel some relief. She was right, I’m sure Acacia will be fine. But a small part of me violently disagreed, a part that felt… outside of me.
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“So?” Nico asked when we returned.
“Let’s just… leave it to the camp,” I sighed.
“Nice work, Claudia,” he snorted while she giggled.
“Just shut up,” I scowled at him, “I have to lay down. I had the shittiest sleep ever last night.”
“Yeah, you need a nap.”
“I said shut up!”
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“Bella,” I heard my father call, as I walked up the cold tile steps, “I need to talk to you.”
Great, I thought miserably, Now what?
I dragged my feet to the hall where he was waiting, motioning to his office.
Shit, I’m in for it now.
As we sat down, I thought for sure that he had found out about our plans to save Acacia. He sighed.
“If this matters so much to you,” he began, “...then I’ll let you go.”
I nearly choked on my surprise, “W-what?”
“You were right. I know that you’re not the little girl you used to be,” he told me quietly, then added with a frown, “I also know that even if I didn’t let you, you would just go anyway.”
That same guilt pulled at my throat as I sighed, “Actually, I… wasn’t going to.”
Now it was his turn to be surprised, but it was quickly replaced with deserved skepticism.
“Well, I mean, I was going to, but…” said quickly, “It… it wouldn’t have been right. Besides, Claudia was right. The last thing I need to be doing is pissing off another Olympian god.”
He was quiet for a moment. Maybe he thought that I would jump at the chance. Maybe I would have, if it weren’t for Claudia.
“Well, I’m not going to force you to go. Especially since I would much rather you didn’t.”
“What do you mean? Why are you letting me go, then?” I frowned, confused.
“This is… You…” he hesitated, almost like he was struggling to find the words, “Sometimes nature needs to take its course.”
“The fuck does that mean?” I frowned deeper, even more confused. 262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwrynrRwhw
“Watch your mouth,” he scowled, “What I’m trying to say is… if you really feel that you need to do this, then I won’t stop you. I… trust you.”
I was silent. I hadn’t exactly earned that trust, had I?
“Just…” he added, rubbing his face, “Don’t make me regret it.”
“Okay,” I nodded slowly.
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