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Okay, I’m going to be completely honest with you:
I didn’t think something like this would happen to me again. Afterall, there are hundreds of half-bloods out there, and most don’t go on life-threatening missions to subdue a power-hungry titan like I did more than once, if at all.
I guess you could argue that I’m not a half-blood, which is true. But being an empousa shouldn’t be the reason I end up risking my life again by pissing off gods I didn’t know existed, potentially causing the collapse of the underworld, and making an enemy of pretty much every olympian god out there. I’m perfectly happy where I am, dealing with the occasional rampaging cyclops or lost minotaur by myself. Well, maybe not totally by myself.
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“Bella, look!”
Claudia excitedly squeezed my hand, taking off down the crowded street with me in tow. This was the first time I had ever been to a festival before, and the French Quarter Festival was one of the biggest on the planet. Confetti danced in the air constantly, all kinds of mouth-watering smells wafted out of nearly every open restaurant door, and there were so many people you could barely see two feet in front of you (Seriously, I was tripping constantly, and had to apologize for stepping on people’s heels pretty much all weekend). Safe to say, I was more than a little overwhelmed.
“This is my favourite band ever!” Claudia squealed, hair bouncing in the air as she presented the band on the stage towering above us with jazz hands. I smiled.
Claudia always looks pretty, but this weekend she looked amazing. She didn’t usually style her afro, but today it was in star-shaped space buns, covered in hair jewels and beads. Her skirt looked like an art collage, and somehow matched her even busier shirt. Her whole outfit was so bright that she made everyone else look plain, especially when she was right next to me, dressed in all grey and black. She was adorable. I might be a little biased, though.
“I thought your favourite band was the one we were going to in Woldenberg Park?” I reminded her, unable to match her high energy.
“Oh,” Claudia said blankly in thought, and then went straight back to beaming, “Right. This is my second favourite band ever! Aren’t they amazing?”
I couldn’t help but laugh, “Yeah, Clauds.”314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbdAlCIJ2V
“Wait a sec,” she frowned, “Where’s Nico?”
It’s been radio silence from Annabeth and Percy, and all of Camp Half-Blood for that matter, since the whole Persus thing went down. Not surprised, though. There isn’t exactly a great reception of she-devils over there, so I’m pretty sure they don’t plan on inviting me back anytime soon.
But Nico stayed in touch with us, and we’re actually pretty good friends now. It’s nice to have a demi-god to talk with who doesn’t hate empousa, and who can help out when things get hairy.
“He’s just looking around,” I assured her. We didn’t want to ruin this fun weekend with any Greek bullshit, so we took turns just keeping an eye out. Afterall, the only son of Hades is a bit of a trouble magnet.
Claudia’s frown deepened, a little bit of concern sweeping across her face, “Why? Is something wrong?”
“No, no,” I assured her again, although I knew Nico was taking longer than I thought. He told me he just wanted to check something out, and would be back soon. I didn’t want to worry her, especially since she was enjoying herself so much.
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“I’m here,” he huffed slightly, right on cue.
I turned to see Nico looking more than a little out of breath, and subconsciously I tensed.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, trying not to sound alarmed.
“Yeah,” he nodded, brushing off crumbs on his shirt, “Yeah, I just totally lost track of time. Those soufflé potatoes should be illegal because of how addictive they are.”
I scoffed, “You lost track of time because of some potatoes?”
“I don’t blame you,” Claudia giggled, pushing me slightly, “They are spectacular potatoes,”
“Yeah, Bella,” he smiled mockingly.
“Oh, whatever. You’re gonna regret eating all that when we have to travel back tonight,” I snorted. The mocking smile in his eyes was slowly replaced with a little regret.
Shadow travel might be fast and convenient, but unless you’d like to empty your stomach into the underworld mid-flight, eating beforehand is a big no-no. Trust me, I would know (I was puking for days).
“Ugh, don’t remind me!” Claudia flung herself into me in theatrical depression, “How does three days go by that fast? I feel like you guys just got here!”
“Yeah, I’ll miss the food,” Nico sighed sadly.
“And me,” Claudia demanded more than asked, punching him. He rubbed his sore arm slightly, rolling his eyes at her.
“Yes, Claudia,” I stifled a laugh, “We’ll miss you. But also the food.”
“I’m so tired of Washington seafood,” Nico said despondently.
I rolled my eyes, “You can come back to New Orleans literally anytime.”
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Claudia sighed, but smiled, “I know you don’t like large crowds, so it means a lot.”
“People are a foe I’m willing to face if it means I can have potatoes,” Nico nodded dutifully, “Besides, it’s Bella you should be thanking. You know how hard it is to get this emo kid out of her room? She would’ve spent all spring break in that cave if it weren’t for you.”
I rolled my eyes at him, “Oh, shut up. If anyone is emo here, it’s you, the literal prince of darkness.”
“And yet you’re wearing all black, you emo.”
“You’re wearing all black and an MCR shirt, emo.”
“Okay, okay,” Claudia flicked us both in the neck, since she was too short to reach our heads, “You’re both emo, losers.”
As the sun disappeared behind the river, cool winds began to blow through the narrow streets and alleys, bouncing colourful posters in the air, kicking up fallen bits of confetti, and making the string lights spin like mini disco balls. As much as loud crowds and bright colours aren’t really my thing, it was fun.
Claudia’s favourite band ended its last set, applause erupted, and the reality of the end of spring break started to weigh in. 314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqOA530uUI
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𓆩⟡𓆪
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Shit, I thought. I meant to shadow travel directly to my room, so I could avoid my dad.
Hopefully, he’s already sleeping.
Stepping as lightly as humanly possible, I tip-toed my way to the staircase, cringing at each squeak of the floorboards under me. Just as I got to the first step, I heard my dad’s annoyed voice call from the living room, making me jump a little.
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“I told you to be home before one o’clock.”
Damn it.
“Um, well,” I said slowly, willing my exhausted brain to recall plan B, “The, um… the time changes, you know? I… got confused.”
He narrowed his eyes further, his scowl freezing me in place as I tried to creep back up the stairs, “We’re only one hour ahead of New Orleans. If you left there at one, you would be home at two o’clock our time.”
“...Okay?” I said even slower, confused by what that meant.
“It’s nearly four, Bella Cooper. Which means you left New Orleans at three am, a whole three hours later than I told you to.”
“Oh,” I said lightly.I swore the clock said 1:30 when Nico and I left. Or maybe it actually said 3:10? I couldn’t remember.
“Sorry,” I said quickly, just wanting to sleep.
“Don’t be,” he scoffed, “All you’re doing is showing me you can’t be trusted to follow simple instructions.”
“Okay, okay,” I grumbled, “I’m really sorry, and it won’t happen again.”
“See to it that it doesn’t,” he sighed, “Or else you can forget about shadow travelling interstate.”
“I said I’m sorry!”
“And I said I want you to follow instructions.”
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Too tired to say anything snappy, which is probably for the better, I sighed. My dad and I might have connected a bit after I almost died to a titan disguised as a typhoon, but we still had a long way to go. Very long.
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“Just go upstairs,” he shook his head, but I was happy to go to bed.
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Too exhausted to wash my face or change my shirt, I shoved Kalos over from the middle of the bed (to which he snapped at), and immediately collapsed. I drifted off to sleep, but for the tenth or eleventh time since the start of spring break, the same dream began. One of the many amazing, awesome perks of being related to a Greek monster: nightmares. Lots and lots of nightmares.
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This one starts in a field of flowers. A fuzzy blob that sort of resembles a human sits a good distance away from me, but I can hear her light humming as if I was right next to her. I try hard to focus on her, straining my eyes so hard I feel tears running down my cheeks, but I can't see her face. All I know is that she’s plucking flowers, making one of those daisy chains little girls make for their friends, even though she sounds like a young woman in her twenties. The wind is cool, the sun is warm, and the sky is perfectly clear.
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So it’s a good dream then, right Bella? You’re probably thinking. And the answer is, yeah. It starts that way, sure.
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But soon, the picture perfect scene of summer is torn apart, literally. The ground under my non-existent feet trembles, cracks in the earth form, and dark clouds bring violent thunder to the skies. Piercing my ears, the woman’s screams and cries, like she’s being murdered. It’s terrifying, and I can’t do anything. I can’t see what’s happening, and I can’t move a muscle. I was frozen, forced to listen. She struggles for what feels like a horribly long time, crying for help, and then everything goes silent. There’s no wind blowing through the grass, no sun, nothing. It's like whatever happened to that woman took the life around her with it.
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What a terrible nightmare. So you must be happy you woke up then! Like hell I was. Monday morning came way too quickly, and I wouldn’t have woken up at all if it weren’t for Kalos barking his little wolf head off.
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“Okay, okay!” I huffed, throwing my pillow in his face, “I get it, I’m going. Why do you care, anyway?”
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He huffed, like he was rolling his eyes at me. Kalos plopped down on my bed, sending a mushroom cloud of grey fur into the air around him. Revenge for pushing him off the bed, I guess.
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Yawning, I untangled the pentagram and yin and yang pendants on my necklace. One was the only thing I had left of my mom, and the other may or may not hold the corpse of my great grandfather, the titan Perseus. We don’t really know.
Sighing, I reached for my phone. I thought I might be able to wish Claudia a good first day back when I saw that it was 7:08 am.
And I had school in 52 minutes.
And the bus came in 22.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWH568zxiiP
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“You’re the worst alarm clock ever,” I scowled at Kalos, and I’m 99% sure he snickered at me. God, were all wolves this sassy or just mine?
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“You’re late,” my dad unhelpfully informed me as I dashed into the kitchen, grabbing the first lunch-ish thing I saw in the fridge and tossing it into my bag. “Tired?”
“No,” I lied. If I told him that I actually felt like a zombie, he’d never let me out again, “Besides, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you in your study?”
“I’m…” he hesitated, swirling around the coffee in his mug, “I’m just here to see you off.”
Ugh, that’s right. Since I kinda, sorta, maybe got… let’s say, asked to leave… Lowell’s, I was starting at a brand new school.
Again.
On the bright side, Lowell’s was a new high score for me! I almost lasted a full eight months. I could sense my dad thinking about the exact same thing, with significantly less optimism.
“Do not make a scene, understood?”
“Ugh,” I grumbled, “I won’t!”
“Watch the attitude,” he warned, eyes narrowing, “You know very well why I’m reminding you.”
“Well-” I sputtered angrily, “How was I supposed to know that the explosive warning on that container also meant for air, and not just heat? That wasn’t my fault! It’s their fault for not teaching me that!”
“You blew up an entire chemistry lab, set fire to hundreds of dollars worth of equipment, and caused a school-wide evacuation that resulted in the fire, police, and ambulance to arrive,” my dad scowled.
“Oh my god, dad,” I snapped, “Relax! Nobody got hurt!”
“By some miracle, not physically,” he muttered to himself, “But certainly mentally.”
Scowling, I finished getting ready and threw open the door in a huff. It wasn’t my fault, I swear. I was just… curious. I didn’t think it would blow up the moment I twisted the lid off! Who keeps that in a school science lab anyway?!
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“Bella?” I heard my dad call just as I stepped out the door.
“Ugh, what?” I snapped, but when I turned to see the soft look on his face, I regretted it.
“Just-” hesitated, choosing his words carefully, “Please stay out of trouble.”
“I’m…!” I started frustratedly, but sighed, “...trying.”
“I know you are,” he nodded, “...Good luck.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly, and left for the bus stop.
Well, if I knew how badly everything was about to go to complete shit, I would have told him to abandon all hope of a clean track record at this new school right there and then.
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