69A/N: Only four reviews? Come on guys, show me some love.
So, I realized I left out some important information in the first chapter. One, this takes place the summer after TLO. Two, Danny isn't a main character. Three, I'm only continuing this story if I get enough reviews, so if you liked it, just take a second to tell me. Thanks.
I do not own PJO.
Hydrophobia
Chapter Two: Unknowns
I've never actually given much thought to what I didn't know. I mean, why would I? I didn't know what a pegasus was, so how would I know to think about it? Thinking back on it, there were a lot of things I didn't know. I was filled with regret that I didn't actually pay attention in Latin class. We had to have talked about this stuff, but I was most likely asleep.
Of course I didn't know what to think when I woke up in an empty room. It was plain white, with paintings of flowers hanging on the walls.
I looked around and found the door. I stood up, wobbled a little bit, and walked shakily to the door. I pried it open and peeked out. A long hallway stretched in front of me and I made my way down it.
It opened up into a brightly sun lit room. It was furnished like a regular house, but it was completely empty.
I pushed open the front door and crept onto a porch. Sprawling in front of me was the most beautiful tract of land I had ever seen. It beat the crud out of the Smokey Mountains. The land was dotted with strange buildings that looked like the ones in my Latin one book.
I heard the clash of metal against metal and shouts. I scanned the valley, trying to find the source of the noises. My gaze rested on the woods, and I saw flashed of bronze.
I heard a whistling noise and all the sudden an arrow was stuck in the wooden beam not three inches from my face. I stumbled backwards and fell.
I must have hit my head or something, because when I opened my eyes two seconds later, there was a boy standing over me.
"Who are you?" he asked.
I struggled to my feet and looked him over. He was much taller than me and looked like he'd been through one hell of a fight. He had shaggy brown hair and blue eyes. The strangest thing about him was his attire. He was wearing what looked like armor. In his hand was a sleek bow and strapped across his back was a case of some sort.
"Do you know how to talk? Who are you?" he asked again, this time much more impatient.
"I'm Brennan Wells, and I'm horribly confused. Where exactly am I?" I asked carefully.
"Did you not get a satyr?" he said, obviously confused.
"Huh?"
He shook his head and mumbled, "This is gonna be fun."
"Just tell me where I am, and if I can borrow a phone or something. I'll call my mom and she can come get me," I suggested. I really just wanted to get home.
The boy laughed a little. "Camp Half-Blood doesn't have phones. And unless you live in New York, I doubt Mommy is gonna want to come get you."
I blinked a few times as that sunk in. There was no way I was in New York. I racked my brain for memories.
Danny had done something to me back at the stables and I passed out. How long had I been asleep?
"New York is...is..." I stammered.
The boy raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you're not from New York," he said sarcastically.
I was too shocked to respond. Then it hit me like a train. "Take me back!" I yelled.
The boy held up his hands and backed up. "Whoa, man. I'm not the one in charge here," he said quickly.
I swung a punch, but he blocked it easily. He grabbed my wrist and pulled it under his arm, effectively trapping me. I stuggled, but couldn't break his hold.
"Calm down, kiddo. My name is Brian. You seriously need to just stop freaking out alright? I'm gonna explain some stuff, but you have to stay calm and just listen," he said soothingly.
I took a deep breath and glanced up. "Let go of me," I said tightly. Brian released his death grip and took a step back, holding his hands up.
"Take a seat, bud," he said, gesturing at a wicker chair.
Once I was settled, he stood leaning against the railing. "Where to begin?" he mumbled to himself.
I took a deep breath. "I'm guessing the beginning would be nice," I suggested.
Brian laughed a tad and shrugged. "If you say so." He paused and raised an eyebrow. "Alrighty, kid, you aren't normal. You are what some people like to call a half-blood."
I opened my mouth to protest this crazy idea, but Brian held up his hand for silence. "Now," he continued, "a half-blood could mean a lot of things, I guess, but in your case, and mine, and frankly, everyone else at this camp, half-blood means demigod. Any questions so far?" he asked.
I opened my mouth again, but he spoke before I could. "Good. So a demigod is a half god, half mortal. Gods, you may ask? Yes, gods. Plural, specifically. And to be even more specific, Greek gods. Okay, next on my little list is...hmm, let's see...ah, yes! The order of monsters. Were you attacked by anything unusual or out of the ordinary before you got here?"
I blinked a few times and got up. "I'll walk to Chattanooga if I have to, but I'm not staying here," I said quickly and tried to push my way past the insane kid.
Brian blocked my path and pushed me back down. "I said, were you attacked by anything weird?" he demanded.
I snarled, attempting to intimidate him, but I'm fairly sure I just looked like an angry puppy. "Other than that weird Danny kid knocking me out, and you feeding me this bull shit, no. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going home," I said as fiercly as I could.
Brian smiled and shook his head. "Poor, poor Danny. He always gets the difficult ones. I bet you put up quite the struggle. Well, at least until little old Danny hit the night-night button," he said sarcastically.
"Look," I said in defeat. "If I let you finish telling your story, can I please just go home?" I begged.
Brian's eyes softened a bit, and he sighed. "Alright, Brennan you have to believe me. It will all go much more smoothly if you just roll with it, okay? Kinda just ride the wave in and see where it takes you. Life is like that, you know," he said deeply.
"I don't have time for this!" I yelled and tried to get up, but all the sudden another arrow whizzed past us and hit the side of the wall next to my head. The arrow was on fire and a note was attached to it.
Brian rolled his eyes. "Could she be any more dramatic?" he mumbled as he untied the note. He uttered a few curses and threw the note down. "I told you to hold the defenses!" he yelled into the woods.
A girl shimmered next to him. "Well I told you not to run off!" she yelled back. In her hand she held a Yankees cap.
Brian jumped about ten feet in the air. "Don't do that to me!" he barked.
"I'll do what I want! Besides, you stay up to ungodly hours banging on that damn snare drum, so why shouldn't I use my skills just as much?" the girl demanded.
"That's not a skill! That's borrowing Annabeth's hat!" he yelled.
The girl snarled and said, "Well at least Annabeth doesn't want to kill me."
Brian turned an odd shade of red and then took a deep breath. "Elisabeth, meet Brennan," he said slowly.
The girl, presumably Elisabeth, turned her steely glare to me. The first thing I noticed about her was that she was all the same color―a white gold. I mean, her skin was normal, but her hair and eyes both looked like cornsilk. Her eyes were almost clear. Looking at her eyes, I felt like I was staring straight into her soul. It was mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time. She had milky pale skin and her pale blonde hair hung just past her shoulders. She would have been kind of pretty, but she had a deep set scowl.
"A new camper?" she said harshly. "Does he know anything?"
Brian shrugged. "I told him, but I don't know if he believes me."
I waved my hands around. "Uh, guys? I'm right here."
They ignored me and kept talking. Elisabeth glared at Brian and mumbled, "Who let you tell him?"
"Well, seeing as though your arrow almost killed him, I thought I should check up on the random kid standing on the porch. It's not my fault you have terrible aim!" Brian snarled.
Elisabeth rolled her eyes. "Don't be jealous, Brian. Your father may be the god of archery, but that doesn't mean you're any good at it," she said fiercly.
"I'm practically the best archer we have at camp!" Brian yelled, obviously deeply offended.
I stepped in between the pair. "Hi! My name is Brennan Wells, and I have no idea what I'm doing here or what's going on! So let's just get along for the sake of my fragile sanity!" I said as cheerfully as possible.
Elisabeth rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip. "Well, I'm assuming you know that you're a demigod," she sneered.
"Look, I'm just kinda goin' with it right now," I said defensively. "Besides, most likely, you are all high beyond belief and you've slipped me some of your mind altering drugs. So I'm also hammered to the point of insanity, and I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy it."
Elisabeth stepped forward with her fist drawn back but Brian caught her around the waist and pulled her back. I raised an eyebrow at her anger, only to find her staring right back. She was looking at me intently, and suddenly I felt like an open book.
"Stop staring at me," I mumbled, but she just narrowed her eyes and glared harder.
"Elisabeth just leave the kid alone," Brian urged. Elisabeth blinked and suddenly I felt like my metaphorical book had snapped closed.
Elisabeth turned on her heel and stomped off. She turned back around and screamed, "We lost Capture the Flag because of you!" Unfortunately, she was pointing at me. Before I could defend myself, she whipped the hat back on and disapeared.
I stared dumbly at the spot where she had been. I stuttered, "How did she―"
Brian just shook his head and slumped back into a chair. "This is gonna be a long day," he said under his breath.
"Well, maybe if you let me go home, then your day would get better," I suggested hopefully.
Brian suddenly stood up angrily. "Don't you get it?" he yelled. "You can't just leave! You'll get killed by monsters!"
"Look, there's no need to―" I stammered but Brian was on a roll.
"What will it take for me to get you to believe? I mean, when some kid with goat legs told me I was a son of Apollo, my first thought was 'crazy' but after five minutes of explaining, it clicked. Listen carefully. The Greek gods are real and one of them is your parent. You can either accept that now, or you can argue for two hours about how that's not possible. Well, kiddo it is. So get over it." Brian finished with a huff and glared at me.
"I would believe you, but I don't see how it's possible," I argued. "I'm not even Christian, so if you want me to join your cult or whatever, I'm probably not the best option. Not very religious or devout, if you know what I mean," I argued.
"Why can't you just freaking believe me already?" Brian yelled back at me.
"Well, proof helps," I suggested, though I didn't see how he was going to prove that the Greek gods were real.
Brian smiled a little, but it was sarcastic. "Proof? You want proof? The kid wants proof!" he said loudly to the imaginary person next to him. He grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me off the porch.
"Where are we going?" I asked desperately, struggling to keep my arm connected to my shoulder.
Brian gave me a hard yank and I was suddenly next to him. "I'm showing you proof!" he said angrily.
We rushed through the valley, hurrying past strange Grecian buildings. I didn't have time to look at them all, but I glanced into what looked like a fighting arena.
Brian pulled me all the way across the valley and we stopped next to a strawberry field. He turned me around and I was facing a wooden stable. It was fenced in and had a small grassy area in the middle.
Brian whistled and I heard the clopping of hooves. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I saw the animal that came trotting out.
It was gleaming gold, with a regal white stripe down its nose. "A palomino," I whispered. I'd never actually seen a palomino horse before, but I'd heard they were stunning. The horse cantered over to us and whinnied distastefully at Brian.
Brian rolled his eyes and hopped over the fence. "Percy?" he called. "You in there?" I heard a muffled response and a few seconds later, a boy jogged out of the stables. He had shaggy black hair and bright green eyes. He looked about sixteen or seventeen, and he was actually much taller than me. But then again, who wasn't.
"What's up?" the boy asked Brian. He tilted his head in my direction and Brian shrugged.
"Newbie," he stage whispered.
The boy smiled a bit then turned to me. "I'm Percy Jackson, by the way. When did you get to camp?" he asked.
I stammered awkwardly, "Uh, I dunno exactly. Last thing I remember is being in Chattanooga, with this kid named Danny that I'd only met once before. I just kinda woke up here, wherever here is."
Percy laughed a tiny bit and said, "Happens to the best of us. So, what's your name?"
I pretended like my feet were the most interesting thing I'd ever seen. "Oh, my name is Brennan," I said awkwardly.
"Very cool," Percy said slowly. Awkwardness is my specialty, and right now I was serving up a hot steaming plate of it.
Brian waved his hand and I followed him over the fence. From my new angle the horse looked different; it had two somethings protruding from its back. They sort of looked like...
"Brian," I said slowly, "what kind of horse is this?"
The horse whinnied indignantly and turned so its side was facing me. My jaw dropped and I reached out and stroked its magestic...wings.
"This," Percy said proudly, "is what is called a pegasus."
I swayed a little bit, and then I went down.
A/N:
I'm an expert at passing out. Last Friday, at band practice, I was standing in opening set and all the sudden I didn't feel so hot. So I stood there trying to take deep breathes and prevent the inevitable. See, I've passed out before so I know what the signs are. My vision got all blurry and the next thing I knew, the drum majors were counting off. I made it eight counts before hitting the ground. Let's just say that two attractive snare drummers' facial expressions were something like, "Ah! Dead guard girl!" My friend stood me up and pushed me off the field, and I sat down during the last run. That was the first time I've sat out since freshman year. I was SO mad. Plus, stumbling off the field through the tuba line after passing out in front of the most gorgeous boy on drumline is quite embarassing. Who said marching band isn't intense?
This is turning into a long author's note so I'll wrap it up. Brennan is named after a certain trumpet player, and things are going...oddly. Elisabeth isn't named after me, she's named after my mother, Anne Elisabeth. Brian is named after a good friend of mine who's on drumline. No, he's not the gorgeous one. That'd be DJ. Nerdy name, huh? Snare drummers are cool, but trumpet players make me happy(:
Any guesses as to the parentage of Brennan or Elisabeth? I believe I already told you Brian's father is Apollo.
Questions? Comments? Complaints? There's an app for that. It's called the review button. So press it(:
ψcamille elisabethψ