59Chapter 28. Connor: Give Me A Break
Despite what everyone thinks, stealing is not easy. You need the ability, the skill, the knowledge and the patience. It's never just a matter of popping in and grabbing a couple of stuff before shooting off. Not if you want to do it properly anyway. You need to know you target as well as you know your best friends. His habits, his personality and his house need to be second nature to you. An opportunity may arise at any time and you need to be there to grab it. If you're relaxing at home assuming that the target's in bed like everyone else when he's not … well, your loss.
That's why when I heard the screams and giggles from the lake; I practically dragged Rachel out from her bat cave. Naturally, she protested.
"Connor, what the hell is the matter with you, you as-" Rachel winced when I accidentally hit a table piled high with scrolls of paintings. They tumbled down over each other onto the floor. I spied a few more shadowy paintings which seem to be Rachel's speciality. Rachel sighed. "That's the third table you hit, Connor." I grinned sheepishly.
I hastily explained what we were going to do and Rachel nodded. "Lead the way," she whispered. And so I did.
We made our way to the Aphrodite cabin. It was empty, like I knew it would be. I pushed the door open without a sound. Rachel looked at me, amused.
"How did you know?" she whispered. I smirked, thinking of how Travis and I had spent hours on stake out, tracking the Aphrodite kids just because they were so fun to annoy.
"It's 10 in the morning. Sunbathing time. They have to keep tanned, you know." I told her. She snorted.
As usual, the cabin looked like a pink monster had come over and vomited all over it. I don't which self-respecting guy would bear with lace curtains. Lace curtains, I ask you. There were designer clothes tucked neatly into cupboards and little notes with messages like 'You are beautiful' and 'Keep it hot, babe!' with hearts and XOXO's everywhere. It was a macho man's nightmare.
"Gods, it smells like …" Rachel trailed off, gasping. I laughed shortly. I felt my head starting to spin as it always did if I spent more than a minute in here, which of course I do often.
I headed straight for the fanciest, biggest bed there. It had a canopy too, like its occupant thought she was a princess. Jenna probably does. Rachel and I started digging around in her drawers and sweeping magazines off her dressing table to look for... well, something.
Rachel had told me how she suspected that the prophecy she gave, the one that was supposed to guide Alva, Nico and V on their quest was … fake? I don't know, she said that it felt like someone forced the words into her, like they weren't supposed to be there.
"Sort of like you were possessed?" I said.
"Exactly, like that." She went on to describe how she hardly felt the spirit of Delphi anymore, like it wasn't inside her anymore.
"But what about Jenna?" Rachel shivered when I asked that. Rachel's theory was that Jenna was a vessel, sort of like what Luke was for Kronos. But a vessel for what?
I crouched and peeked under Jenna's ridiculously luxurious bed, hoping to see something, like a piece of paper saying 'I AM BEING POSSESSED'. It would sure make my life easier. I spied something, about the size and shape of a music box tucked deep into the shadows. I was just stretching my hand out to grab the box when the door creaked open.
I moved without thinking, grabbing Rachel and stuffing her into one of the cupboards before sliding under one of the other beds in the corner of the cabin. The Aphrodite kids were really weird. They didn't even have dust under their beds. How the heck do they clean? It was really freaky.
I heard footsteps heading towards Jenna's bed and prayed that Rachel wouldn't make a sound. I had barely given her a warning and I happened to know that the cupboard I rammed her into was filled with perfume and scented candles. I peeked out from under the bed, staring at the pair of high-heeled shoes walking through the cabin. Definitely an Aphrodite girl. What was she doing here?
The girl walked over to Jenna's bed and went on her knees. When she ducked under the bed, it was all I could do to stay silent. It was Jenna. It was Jenna with bright glowing green eyes that looked horribly vacant, like she was just some puppet. I know I call her a Barbie but this … was just horrifying. She pulled out the box I saw before. Pulling myself out from my hiding place and crouched at the side of the bed, watching her. Her empty eyes stared right ahead as her hands opened the box and pulled out a necklace with a huge emerald at the end. The jewel glowed when Jenna put it around her neck.
My blood ran cold when I heard Rachel stifle a sneeze from her cupboard. Jenna barely turned her hair; she just walked out of the cabin. You had to admire how she could balance herself on those killer shoes even when she was a zombie. I waited till I heard the door slam before zipping over to pull Rachel out. She tumbled out of the cupboard, gasping. Before she had time to say anything, I dragged her out of the cabin.
The cabins were mostly empty. Most of the demigods were eating, training or causing trouble somewhere else. The ones who were here barely turned to look at Jenna. She was walking towards the forest. Watching her move through the silent cabins, I suddenly got a very bad feeling.
"Rachel," I said quietly. "Go to Chiron, tell him everything. Tell him you saw it in a vision or something, I don't care, just make him believe you, okay?" Rachel opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she saw my face. She nodded and an off towards the Big House. Mr D was probably going to give her a hard time but I knew Rachel could handle herself pretty well. Once that girl starts talking, it'll take more than one drunk god to stop her.
I turned back to Jenna again. Random thoughts were chasing each other in my head. If the prophecy was false … if it didn't really mean anything … Alva could be in danger. I tried not to think about Alva standing behind that cabin, looking as vulnerable as I have ever seen her. I remembered what Jenna hissed at me right after Alva pushed me away. I gritted my teeth and ran after Jenna.
I needed to warn Alva but before that I needed to find out what was going on. Zombified or otherwise, that girl had to know something and I sure as hell am going to find out was it was.
I pushed away the 364th branch that was trying to break my nose. My arms were covered with scratches and my jeans had almost been ripped apart a little while back. Funny, I didn't remember the trees in the forest being this close together before.
I could see Jenna a little way ahead. She didn't seem to be having any trouble with homicidal plants. She walked straight through the forest without stopping and it was all I could do to follow her without making as sound. We have been walking for what felt like for hours. I wish she would just do her possessed zombie girl thing already so I could just get out of this place already.
After tripping over two horribly gnarled roots and being smacked in the face by a branch, Jenna finally stepped into a clearing and stopped. I sighed in relief. I followed her into the clearing, keeping well into the shadows. Jenna walked right to the centre and stopped.
She lifted her hands up and looked up to the sky. Her eyes were rolling in the sockets and I shuddered to see they were still glowing. The emerald she was wearing around her neck lifted up from her skin and hung in the hair. It was flashing like a disco ball but it seemed way creepier than a dico ball ever could be. Suddenly, she started screaming. Well, not screaming, exactly but it was a high-pitched keening that made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I heard a few Greek words but they seemed harsh, more like an older language than the elegant Greek I was familiar with. Jenna seemed to almost spit the words out with her head lolling about on her neck. It was like a scene from The Possession.
All of a sudden, Jenna stopped screaming. The rush of silence that followed was worse than the sound she had been making. We were too far away from Camp to hear the other demigods. I couldn't hear a single bird or any other animal for that matter, which was weird since the place was teeming with monsters. The forest seemed to have frozen.
Then, a woman stepped out from the shadows. There was something earthy about the way she moved, something natural and … predatory. It was scary, even scarier than Jenna when she went cuckoo. She stood before Jenna looking down at the girl. The woman's eyes were completely void of emotion. I got the feeling that she could kill Jenna right then and there and walk away smiling. Just then, the lady raised her head and looked right at me.
I felt like I was paralysed, like my feet had been buried in the earth. The woman smiled at me but her eyes stayed cold. She reached her hand out to me.
"Come, Connor." Her voice was gravelly like she was talking around stones in her mouth. I didn't want to go anywhere near the woman but I couldn't move an inch to save myself anyway. "Come," the woman said again and she did something with her hands, sort of like she was pulling me in. Something hard and sharp drove into my back, pushing me forward towards Jenna.
I yelled but before I could even think of fighting back, I was kneeling down beside Jenna. I turned around and saw a tree, right behind me. It was the same tree that was behind me before this. My hands were shaking and I was drenched in sweat. Why the hell did I leave my sword in the cabin? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course something would happen the day I decided that the sword was just too bothersome to carry. The woman smiled down at me.
"Oh, Connor, Connor." She shook her head, her hair slithering around her like black wiry snakes. "No weapon can help you now, at least –" She chuckled. "None around here, anyway." She placed her hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look up at her. Her skin felt wet and clammy, like moss. "All this time of planning, all the while my little pet had carried out my orders and you were the only one who had been suspicious. Oh children of Hermes, always so insecure and so underestimated. The gods are more blind than I thought."
She walked around me, pushing Jenna aside carelessly. The girl slumped down on the ground like she didn't have a bone in her body. I noticed that the emerald had stopped glowing. Gaia's hand trailed around my face and neck. I was shivering, I know but I didn't really give a damn. All I could think about was getting the heck out of there. The woman crouched down to look at me. Her scent wafted around me. She smelled like rotting leaves.
"Do you know who I am?" she hissed at me. I was ready to say no, go to hell you bitch. Then I remembered a Greek mythology class I once had. It was when I first came to camp – a few million years ago, in other words – Gary, the head counsellor of Athena back then was droning on and on about someone called Gaia. I had been fidgety but it was pay attention or clean dishes after dinner so I had listened. Gary talked a lot about Gaia but there was only one part that stayed me through the years.
"Gaia is Nature at its most powerful. She's not humane and she has no compassion. She is the reason we are all here and if she wakes, she'll destroy all of us."
So that was what I'm facing. Awe-freaking-some.
"You are supposed to be dead," I told Gaia. Her eyes flashed a brighter green. So she could feel emotion.
"Impertinent child," she hissed. Her grip on my neck tightened and I screamed. I felt like there were thousands of knives digging into my skin, twisting and pulling it out. My back arched as the pain grew. Dark spots danced over my eyes. It was like I was burning alive. Then just as suddenly as it came, the pain stopped. I slumped onto the grass at Gaia's feet panting. I pushed myself up again. Gaia chuckled, her low voice echoing in the stillness of the forest.
"What is it about you humans … always fighting and trying so hard. Whatever for?" Gaia smiled down at me, like I was a little kid who knew nothing. "Tell me Connor, did you like my prophecy?" I stared up at her, clenching my jaw. Her superiority was plain annoying and it was pissing me off. Gaia went on without waiting for an answer. "Oh it was so easy to plant it into your wonderful Oracle's mind. I cannot believe my descendants are mingling with a mortal, allowing her into your homes." Gaia hissed.
I ignored her, keeping my head bent to the ground. I was digging around in my pockets as discreetly as I could, searching for something, anything that can help me get away. But all I had were stupid, useless pranks and random stuff I had snitched. Why, why, why had I left my sword?
"The other five will be disposed of soon, my little pet here will take care of the other child and that leaves just you, Connor. Oh child, there is nothing in your pockets that can help you against me." I glanced up. Gaia seemed to enjoy my confusion. "My slumber has been useful to me, child. Soon, no one, not you silly children nor my grandchildren - what is it they call themselves? Ah, yes, the Olympians – none of you would be able to stop me." She reached down to stroke my face again and I ducked out of her grasp. It didn't trouble her though; she just grabbed a handful of my hair. I bit my lip to keep from yelling out in pain.
"You won't kill my friends," I gasped. Gaia's lip curled with something like contempt.
"Or won't I?" she hissed and flexed her hand. I screamed again. This time the pain was a hundred times worse. I could feel something growing under my skin, like roots pushing up from the earth. The clearing, the trees, Jenna, even Gaia, they all disappeared. It was just pain. I think I blacked for a while. When I came to, I was lying with my face pressing against the grass. There was dirt in my mouth and my whole body was shivering. I was about to push myself up when I heard Gaia's voice.
"What?" It was amazing how that one syllable could be filled with so much cold fury. I didn't move, keeping my face pressed to the ground. Gods, dirt tasted terrible.
"I am sssorry, my mistressss. We do not know how they did it. The demigodsss are powerful," A reptilian voice came from somewhere to my left. I knew it was a monster. Probably one of the crazy lady's minions. I was itching to turn my head to get a better look.
"I'll deal with them myself, you pathetic fool. Send the signal to the others. Tell them to attack." The monster let of a hiss at Gaia's words. I could feel my brain working overtime. What were they going to attack?
"Now, my mistressss?" I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. This guy sure was asking for it.
"Yes, now you imbecile!" It was rather funny how Gaia talked like she was from another century. But then again, she was from another century.
"Connor, you are not fooling anyone." I shoved myself up and got to my feet. It took a lot of effort to stay on my feet but I managed. Gaia was much taller than me, which was saying something since I am pretty tall. I looked her straight in the eye.
"Awww, and there I was thinking you wanted me dead." Gaia didn't look very impressed with me though. Pity, those few words took a lot of energy from me.
"I would have loved to get rid of you myself …" She placed her hand on my throat, squeezing it delicately. "But I think I'll wait." She smiled. "Run, Connor, go tell all your useless friends to do so too. I'll enjoy seeing your hopeless efforts to win." She turned to go but stopped at the last moment.
"Oh and Connor?" I looked at her. Her moss-green eyes were glowing brighter than ever. "Remember the monster that killed you mother?" She grinned beatifically. "I sent it there."
Then she disappeared.
I collapsed to the ground. Hate, pain and sorrow rose up in me all at once. I thought I hated Jenna but it turns out that was nothing, nothing to what I felt for Gaia. I wanted to pull that stupid smile right off her face. I wanted to torture her like how she did to me. I wanted her to feel pain. I wanted to kill her.
I was so angry I was seeing red. Digging my hands into the earth, I shouted up to the sky. Again and again, I yelled. I felt like Gaia was still here torturing me, only this time the pain was only in my heart. Once I had shouted myself hoarse, I slumped to the ground, shaking.
After what felt like hours, I finally heard another sound. It was an alarm. I stood up, and looked back towards the camp. The shrill noise went on. Then, I heard a scream. Just like that, I knew what the alarm was. I started running back to camp. The camp was under attack.
I remembered Gaia's words. . "Run, Connor, go tell all your useless friends to do so too." I don't care what that bitch thought but she wasn't going to get the best of us.
No, not today.