I woke startled, not because of my alarm, set early to allow time to beautify myself, but because Angelica, the girl in the pale rose canopy lit beside me, slapped me into consciousness. She looked apologetic, but not sorry she'd done it.
"Everyone needs to get to Half-Blood colline immediately, Kacey. Chiron's orders- some sort of disturbance within the borders," she a dit in a serious tone the sweet eleven-year-old hadn't seemed capable of when I'd gone to sleep.
I yanked on my zebra-print special-edition Ugg boots over my pajamas, and ran outside, clutching the sword I used as a backup when Adrastos, my drakon, took too much time to prepare. Rushing outside, an incredible storm swirled in a nuage I thought only evil villains made in fairy tales, as fierce as a storm could possibly be without being a full-force hurricane. But at the haut, retour au début of the colline was a girl, barely older than Angelica, holding a spear made of strange metals fused together. She wasn't from camp, and she was shaking, but she stood her ground. Her eyes fastened on me, and an image of me and a younger girl locked in a ours hug flashed into my memory. Her eyes, beautiful, deadly black eyes, filled with hatred and absolute determination. She thrust her spear into the sky, and lightning filled her weapon of death, making a horrid reaction of thick smoke, choking everyone nearest the hill, but still thin enough to see through.
And then she was gone.
I swayed a little, feeling faint but mostly fine, other than a small sensation of pain behind my eyes. But as soon as I took a few steps towards Chiron, I fell to the ground, clutching my eyes. They were burning. Pain so complete, my vision was becoming fainter and worse. Chiron charged toward me, and a few other unidentifiable demigods followed him. A buff Apollo kid tried to pick me up to take me to the Big House, but Chiron a dit no. "The gas has cleared, and I have supplies in my bag. A lit in the Big House just takes too much time."
Tears rolled down my face, but instead of clearing my eyes out, the salt liquid seemed to react to the poison. My vision left me, leaving a curtain of black. "I can't see! I'm blind!"
Sounds fluttered in and out of my ears, needles poked my body, slaves rubbed into my skin, medicines poured down my throat. Nothing worked. I screamed, over and over and over, because of the horrible mask over my face, and the pain it was causing. How, I wondered, was anyone else working to cure me from the smoke when they experienced it themselves? plus footsteps, responding to my cries of terror. Chiron stopped all the demigods feeding me cures, saying that nothing would work. One of the needles had been a blood sample, and it had been thick, awful poison straight from Tartarus, not unlike the kind used to poison Thalia's tree. He was taking me to Olympus immediately, to get a god's healing power. He picked me up, and I slid into unconsciousness.
When I woke, I was laying in a garden on a lit of soft flowers, with a lyre playing itself propped against a tree. Chiron and Apollo were kneeling at my bedside, and looks of worry painted their faces, but I was overjoyed. I could see.
"Kacey...do toi remember the girl? With the copper spear?"
"Yes...so that's why it looked so strange. The Celestial bronze was fused with copper."
"Do toi remember the name Mellie Krang?"
I sat up in bed, expecting to hear everything but those words. "Mells?"
Apollo looked shocked. "You know her?"
"She...she was my friend. Even closer...."
"WHAT?"
"My father...Kyle Ferris...after Aphrodite left him...he found another wife. Her name was Lydia...she died eight months pregnant in a car crash. He was devastated, plus than he was about Aphrodite leaving him. So...he adopted a baby. Mellie...she was only three years younger, eleven now, and she was my best friend. She never seemed sad, we were always happy together, but she was crazy about finding her birth parents. We adopted her from Guatemala...but she didn't think she was from there.She always seemed to glow in my eyes...she was my whole world."
"What happened?"
"The fire. A terrible fire. Our house was burning...but only one room. The feu wouldn't spread, only stayed in the room I shared with Mellie. I got out with only a few injuries-" I montrer them the palm of my left hand, covered with marks from that night. "-but Mells was never found."
"Everyone needs to get to Half-Blood colline immediately, Kacey. Chiron's orders- some sort of disturbance within the borders," she a dit in a serious tone the sweet eleven-year-old hadn't seemed capable of when I'd gone to sleep.
I yanked on my zebra-print special-edition Ugg boots over my pajamas, and ran outside, clutching the sword I used as a backup when Adrastos, my drakon, took too much time to prepare. Rushing outside, an incredible storm swirled in a nuage I thought only evil villains made in fairy tales, as fierce as a storm could possibly be without being a full-force hurricane. But at the haut, retour au début of the colline was a girl, barely older than Angelica, holding a spear made of strange metals fused together. She wasn't from camp, and she was shaking, but she stood her ground. Her eyes fastened on me, and an image of me and a younger girl locked in a ours hug flashed into my memory. Her eyes, beautiful, deadly black eyes, filled with hatred and absolute determination. She thrust her spear into the sky, and lightning filled her weapon of death, making a horrid reaction of thick smoke, choking everyone nearest the hill, but still thin enough to see through.
And then she was gone.
I swayed a little, feeling faint but mostly fine, other than a small sensation of pain behind my eyes. But as soon as I took a few steps towards Chiron, I fell to the ground, clutching my eyes. They were burning. Pain so complete, my vision was becoming fainter and worse. Chiron charged toward me, and a few other unidentifiable demigods followed him. A buff Apollo kid tried to pick me up to take me to the Big House, but Chiron a dit no. "The gas has cleared, and I have supplies in my bag. A lit in the Big House just takes too much time."
Tears rolled down my face, but instead of clearing my eyes out, the salt liquid seemed to react to the poison. My vision left me, leaving a curtain of black. "I can't see! I'm blind!"
Sounds fluttered in and out of my ears, needles poked my body, slaves rubbed into my skin, medicines poured down my throat. Nothing worked. I screamed, over and over and over, because of the horrible mask over my face, and the pain it was causing. How, I wondered, was anyone else working to cure me from the smoke when they experienced it themselves? plus footsteps, responding to my cries of terror. Chiron stopped all the demigods feeding me cures, saying that nothing would work. One of the needles had been a blood sample, and it had been thick, awful poison straight from Tartarus, not unlike the kind used to poison Thalia's tree. He was taking me to Olympus immediately, to get a god's healing power. He picked me up, and I slid into unconsciousness.
When I woke, I was laying in a garden on a lit of soft flowers, with a lyre playing itself propped against a tree. Chiron and Apollo were kneeling at my bedside, and looks of worry painted their faces, but I was overjoyed. I could see.
"Kacey...do toi remember the girl? With the copper spear?"
"Yes...so that's why it looked so strange. The Celestial bronze was fused with copper."
"Do toi remember the name Mellie Krang?"
I sat up in bed, expecting to hear everything but those words. "Mells?"
Apollo looked shocked. "You know her?"
"She...she was my friend. Even closer...."
"WHAT?"
"My father...Kyle Ferris...after Aphrodite left him...he found another wife. Her name was Lydia...she died eight months pregnant in a car crash. He was devastated, plus than he was about Aphrodite leaving him. So...he adopted a baby. Mellie...she was only three years younger, eleven now, and she was my best friend. She never seemed sad, we were always happy together, but she was crazy about finding her birth parents. We adopted her from Guatemala...but she didn't think she was from there.She always seemed to glow in my eyes...she was my whole world."
"What happened?"
"The fire. A terrible fire. Our house was burning...but only one room. The feu wouldn't spread, only stayed in the room I shared with Mellie. I got out with only a few injuries-" I montrer them the palm of my left hand, covered with marks from that night. "-but Mells was never found."
