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“What did you do?”
I sighed, “Yeah, I’m great, dad. Thanks for asking.”301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoU78WdRnXt
I didn’t need to look to the driver’s seat to know that my dad looked like he was going to explode. He practically dragged me out of the hospital, scowling so fiercely nobody tried to stop him.
“Answer the question, Bella Alkmini Cooper.”
Yikes, this must be a level eight outrage if he used my full name. I’m definitely fucked now.
“It’s not my fault!” I said defensively, “I got attacked by some crazy demon lady, and I didn’t have any magic to defend myself!”
“What do you mean you didn’t have any magic?” he scowled.
“I mean that I didn’t have any magic!”
“Do you really expect me to believe you didn’t cause that disaster? That the earthquake just randomly occurred on your first day of classes, targeting only your school?”
“Yes!”
He sighed, resting his elbow on the door and rubbing his temple in frustration. After a moment, he seemed to cool down.
“What attacked you?” he asked, lowering his voice, but still sounding pissed.
“No idea,” I muttered, still bitter that he didn’t believe me, “But her name is Melinoë. I got trapped in some weird dream thingy.”
He thought silently for a moment.
“Elaborate.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I snapped.
I could see his jaw clench in irritation out of the corner of my eye, but he didn’t say anything.
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When I got home, I pretty much went straight to bed. My head was pounding, my stomach still felt like emptying itself, and I was about as steady on my feet as a spinning top.
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“Could’ve used your help today,” I muttered to Kalos as I flopped onto the messy bed, not bothering to change my clothes, groaning. He sniffed my motionless body for a moment, before walking off, clearly not concerned about me in the list.
“Asshat.”
I yanked the covers over my head, the dark relieving some of the thundering pain behind my eyes. I wished I could just forget about everything that happened that day and enjoy a nice, peaceful sleep.
Obviously that didn’t happen, otherwise I wouldn’t be telling you about it.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPM1qmCV9r
As if one nightmare wasn’t enough, the universe decided it was time for round two. I found myself yet again in that field of flowers, except, something was different. The woman’s humming, I could hear it more clearly now. It sounded very familiar, the name was right at the tip of my tongue. She had long, wavy hair, looking quite red in the bright sunlight. Her head was bent over her lap, making a daisy chain necklace, so I couldn’t see her face. Rather than just an observer, I realised I had a body, but not my body. I was wearing some sort of dark purple dress that flowed all the way to my feet. I was taller, and my hands looked different, too, much more mature and slender.
A sharp crack in the earth startled me out of my analysis.
Here we go, I thought.
Once more, I’m forced to watch as the poor girl gets abducted. I see shadows spill out of the giant chasm, like millions of hands reaching out to snatch her. She screams, and for a split second, deja vu washed over me. But before I could think, something huge came flying into the air, and I think I heard horses behind all the noise. After recovering from my surprise, I tried to gather as much information as possible. The screaming stops, and the world around me fades.
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When I woke up, my windows were pitch black. Kalos had been snuggled up right next to me, still snoring. I scoffed, but smiled lightly. I reached for my phone, and decided it was probably for the best to let Claduia and Nico know about the shit show that went down today.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaHpexBvqy
Hey, just so you know, I texted, some stupid shit went down today at school. Not a regular monster, either. 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaSPSgyYwS
omg r u ok???? Claudia replied instantly. I smiled. She was always on her phone. I don’t think a single one of my messages were ever left unopened for more than a few seconds.
Minor concussion, but I’m good. Apparently an ‘earthquake’ hit our school, but I sure as hell didn’t cause any of the damage. Something else did, and I don't know what.
sure, sure, Nico replied, definitely not you using your powers like a mad woman.
I mean it, I scowled, but it’s not like he could see, Something else happened, and it was bad. One of my classmates even got hurt.
I was kidding. I’ve been having wack dreams lately, and with Bella’s luck, I'm sure it’s not a coincidence.
Stfu, I typed annoyedly, but he wasn’t wrong. He just sent a stupid smiley face.
bella ur having some dreams too, right? Claudia asked, r they connected?
I sighed. Yeah, nonstop. Some sort of kidnapping.
oh perfect, i’ve been dreaming about the same thing, Nico replied sarcastically. 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9S7sY2ZF8m
“Shit,” I groaned aloud. When two half-bloods are dreaming about the same prophecy, you can count on it being a bad thing. A very bad thing. Like, quest-level bad.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCktjsbv8Pa
We agreed to keep everyone updated, but that didn’t make me feel any better. No matter how hard I tried to fall back asleep, the image of my mother kept appearing in my mind. Lying on my side, I touched the copper pentagram on my necklace. I didn’t have time to be thinking about… this, right now. I didn’t want to be thinking of this right now. Something big was about to happen, I just knew it.
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Okay, crazy-ass ‘earthquake’ hits my school, right? So, naturally, I expect a day off. But of course not. Not with my luck.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPaNBPzOpgG
How in the hell did only one of the classrooms get damaged? I thought bitterly, trudging up the steps to my English class. It was pretty much like the first day of school all over again, since I didn’t even make it through two classes yesterday. Great, now I’ll only ever be known as the earthquake girl who went home in an ambulance.
As I pushed open the door, I recognized Acacia sitting near the back, talking with a small group of kids. I wasn’t surprised she’d managed to make friends this fast. Maybe they all thought she was secretly a celebrity in disguise, like I did. I was surprised, however, when spotted me and waved. I awkwardly waved back, quickly taking the empty seat closest to me. As my slow brain finally registered the loud classroom chatter around me, I was reminded all too well of the pounding headache I had, and the bruises covering my entire body. You’d think that after surviving the attack that I did, my dad would be a little more compassionate. Instead, he booted my ass on that bus and didn’t look back.301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hN7ReIoj7
“Hey, how’s your head?”
Confused, I realised it was Acacia, who had moved next to me.
“Ass, but I’ll live,” I sighed.
She laughed lightly, “I thought for sure that you would stay home today.”
“Yeah, me too,” I scoffed, muttering. 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl97LQbkLHJ
“Before we begin,” the teacher, a tall, lanky looking guy, called the class to attention, “The office needs two volunteers at lunch to help with exams. Anyone?”301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKBEHuMVVl
The class went dead silent, nobody moving a muscle except to look away, off into the distance.
He grumbled, “I’m going to have to pick someone at random, then.”301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CKXCPY761
I withheld my sigh. At this point, I might as well just volunteer willingly. 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJ5epmIMyp
“Okay, you…” he pointed at Acacia, who was definitely forcing a smile. Well shit, maybe she really did have worse luck than me.
“...and you.”
Never fucking mind, then. I nodded unhappily after he pointed at me. Not surprised.
“I guess it could be worse,” Acacia whispered to me as the teacher began the lesson, smiling slightly. I’m glad one of us could be optimistic. Just as I was about to look back down at my desk, a shiny glint caught my eye. On Acacia’s neck was a thin gold necklace. A necklace I recognized.
“H-hey, where did you get that necklace?” I asked quietly. It was the same star flower as the one I found in the music room. And now that I think about it, her name was on that stand, too.
“Oh,” she said slowly, holding the pendant with her hand, “It was a gift from my mom.”
My heart skipped a beat. I was so tempted to ask her who her mother was, but that would only put myself at risk. No matter what, though, Acacia definitely had something to do with what was going on. I just nodded and turned my head to the front of the classroom, leaving her a little confused. 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ49t7Yb8zUz
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At lunch, I slammed a few tylenols and dragged my feet to the office. I was exhausted, and would do pretty much anything to be able to go home and sleep. This was literally the last thing I wanted to do.
“Oh, there you are,” I heard Acacia call, peeking her head out from behind one of the offices, motioning for me to come in, “I thought maybe you forgot.”
Sighing, I followed her in the cramped room, covered in dated wood paneling and matted green carpet.
“What is this, again?” I asked.
“We’re just organizing student exam slots.”
“Exam?” I scowled, “For what?”
“It’s a test of all the material covered so far,” she explained, handing me a paper of student names, “You know, like a midterm. They’re usually pretty easy.”
“For who?” I scowled deeper. How in the hell do people remember everything they learned from that long ago? I couldn’t even remember stuff for regular tests, so forget that.
“Oh, um,” she fumbled slightly, looking up from the papers in front of her for a moment, “I don’t know. I guess that’s just how it was in my old school.”
“You found the exams at Bronx Science easy?” I couldn’t help but snort.
“Well, I mean,” Acacia fumbled some more, “No, not really.”
“Why did you leave that school anyway? It’s way better than this shithole.”
“Um, it just wasn’t really- I wasn’t- um, I made a… mistake.”
Even my sluggish brain picked up on the sudden disappearance of Acacia’s natural charisma. Clearly, she didn’t want to talk about it.
I decided to change the subject, “Well, I went to a prison called Lowell’s Private Academy for Young Women.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Acacia said, the smile returning to her face, “You went to a private academy?”
“It’s not what you think,” I muttered, “It’s basically a modern finishing school. My dad threw me in there because didn’t want to deal with me.”
“Gosh.”
“Don’t worry,” I snorted, “If I was him, I would do the same thing.”
“So how come you’re here?” she asked.
“I kinda blew up their chemistry lab,” I admitted, then quickly added, “But it wasn’t my fault! They don’t teach shit over there except for stupid stuff like sewing and dancing, so it’s their fault for not teaching me what the hell those symbols on the container mean!”
Acacia tried to silence her laughter, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Wow, that’s certainly something.”
“Sure, that’s one way of putting it,” I sighed, “So I guarantee whatever you did can’t possibly be worse than me.”
“Well, I sorta…” Acacia hesitated, “I accidentally created a giant zombie plant that took over our entire greenhouse.”
“Wh- how?!” I choked out a laugh in surprise at the crazy image that sentence created in my mind.
“Plants and I just don’t get along,” she huffed, “I think I accidently mixed some plant food with some other kind of chemical, and soon it just wouldn’t stop growing! It was fine while it still fit in the pot, but one day I came in and it was covering the walls! So I peeled it off and threw it in the compost, hoping nobody would notice. But a few days later, it had grown so huge it broke the compost box. So then I tried destroying the roots, cutting it up, even burning it, and it would not stop growing!”
“They kicked you out over a plant?” I snorted.
“Well, not because of the plant. I got expelled because I burnt the greenhouse down while trying to kill the stupid thing,” she admitted quietly.
I couldn’t help but burst out laughing, “Wow, I guess that is just as bad as me.”
“Then I had to move here, and my dad is so pissed,” she sighed in distress.
“God, it’s like we live the exact same life,” I smiled, “Don’t tell me your mom’s gone, too.”301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhh2jbad2x4
Acacia’s eyes lit up in surprise.
“No fucking way,” I snorted, “God, what are the chances?”
She laughed, “Wow, sorta freaky.”
“Yeah,” I nodded, continuing to smile. But something felt off about all of this. 301Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGs7xd5sroX
