Disclaimer: I own nothing. OMG did anyone see Sea of Monsters, they completely killed the book and yet…. Awesome! Sorry I took so long to get this out. Especially since the last page of reviews were just requests for me to write it as fast as I could.
Chapter 1 – Perci P.O.V
When I woke my life was a blank. There was nothing, just the house. The house filled with wolves. She was there, her name was Lupa and she tested me. If test is the correct word for it, they chased me through the woods with the intention to rip my flesh from my bones in chunks.
I ran through the woods, feet bare and the freezing air filling my lungs. The trees scraped against my skin, dirt coated my clothes, arms and face. Howls echoed through the night, occasionally I'd trip; sometimes they'd catch me. I'd throw the warm furry bodies off me, and run. Eventually I started attacking them, tackling them, leaping away and running away. To hide, to be found, to start again, fear and adrenaline burnt through my veins.
So if this was a test, it wasn't for me. It was a game, fun even and I joined them in laughter, as they lay with me on the floor of the house, content.
"Once a daughter of the empire, always a daughter of the empire," Lupa said proudly, nosing my face with her snout, "Go, and seek the Roman camp."
That was near a month ago. In that time I'd stolen 12 cars, showered in an empty theme park, ate a crack in the jack burrito (The single most disgusting thing on the planet), had to kick the fuck out of several douche bags that tried to get into my pants and sold someone on Ebay.
I still had no clue to my identity or where I came from. All I knew was that there was a man called Tony and for some reason, gods know what, he was pretty fucking important. Not to mention the monsters that had been playing cross-country tag with me.
The ones that should have died when I set that warehouse on fire, or when I dropped that create of bowling balls on them. Then there was the time I poisoned them, the multiple hacking of them into little itty-bitty pieces and then they really should have died after I ran over them with that eighteen-wheeler, and then reversed… twenty-eight times.
The trucker was a bit angry, but as most folks know, shotgun trumps crowbar. Yeah, okay so I hit up a guns and ammunition store. It all went into the nifty black backpack that held pretty much anything without being affected by the laws of space – time relativity.
You'd think that with two pissed monsters, with claws, some kind of weird tusks, super strength and the curse of ugly, extra strong I would have died already, in a much more permanent way, except they couldn't figure out how to kill me either.
After a few weeks, and getting over a little denial it became quickly apparent what was keeping me alive. I was a sufferer of chronic, incurable stubborn bitch syndrome. Yeah, yeah, shut the fuck up, I was really hoping I was a nice person to, not so.
So that left me where I was now, stranded on top of a hill being chased by the personification of the special kind of stupid. Seriously, I grumbled internally, if someone kept killing me and then I miraculously survived through whichever gods grace, I would not be coming back, more annoying and with a bigger mouth for another go around.
"Found you," one hissed perkily. The other, meaner version, coming up the hill behind her and crowing excitedly, shit. Plan, I need a plan fast.
"Are you still toting that around?" I asked in a surprised voice.
"Cheese and wieners, only $1.95, isle 3," she said helpfully. Yeah, this was the stupid one. Think Kronk from the Emperors New groove, and if you don't get the reference check YouTube, because I'm an amnesiac and I still get pop culture references.
"No thanks," I said shivering as she prattled about adding her blood to them. The two sisters, and they had to be sisters; because there was no way that another gene pool was contaminated with whatever the hell there's was. Apparently different sides of the gorgon are the difference between life saving and life ending, huh always good to know random information.
"Can you please, please try and kill me again?" I asked with a faked, long suffering sigh. It got me the reaction I was looking for. They froze. In less time than it took to blink, the coral and pearl flower hair accessory became a bronze sword and I slashed it across mean ones torso, she disintegrated into golden dust.
Yeah… it actually happens. Like really, really happens and then it starts talking and reforming and isn't that a basket of candy, especially when it get up to try and kill you… again.
"Get her," it gargled. The other one charged at me in fury, and my sword went flying. Motherfucker. I kicked out and the sickening crack that couldn't ever be anything other than something dislocating echoed through the air. I grabbed her tray and smacked her around with it and eyed the hill.
The stupid one collapsed on the grass, out of it if temporarily, and that's when I got my second good idea. Well it was a bad idea, but it was better than no idea at all and if there was anything that I'd learnt over the last month, it's that while my insane ideas usually involve copious amounts of pain, they kick ass.
Yo, someone up there do me a solid and I'll burn you a pavalova next time I see a cheesecake shop, I thought skywards before jumping on the tray and skating down the hill. The thing about a snack tray, it just ain't meant to be used as a snow board.
I landed with a painful crunch on the highway, rolling out of the way of a four-wheel drive as it came speeding towards me. The thing about the girls with the strange appendages that they just shouldn't have is they get the advantage. Chicken feet are looking pretty good for climbing down a hill. Actually there sort of made for it.
That didn't matter though because I'd found the entrance to camp. Stopping for a moment I almost got hit by a car. There was a girl; she looked like an old hippy, sitting in the middle of the road. I poked her and the illusion vanished. She looked at me astonished.
"You know that whole tricking thing is pretty rude," I commented, looking her over. She had chocolate brown hair and dark matching eyes. Gold bangles decorated her arms and ankles. She was clad in a white dress.
"I need your help," she said, swallowing whatever emotions that just finished parading through her eyes.
"Could you be any less specific?" I asked rolling my eyes, "What's wrong?" She lifted he skirt and I saw here feet. No wonder she was sitting in the middle of a highway. They were cut, bleeding and infected. Reaching in my bag I pull out a bottle of water and use it to heal her.
"Can you take me to camp?" she asked, others were coming forward. A girl with dark skin and a sword, and a boy with a quiver strapped to his back. We made our way in after a moment. The girl going to distract the Gorgon's, they called them Gorgon's.
"The little Tiber," she said smiling, "It runs with all the power of the original."
"Oh goody, I like water," I said happily, "Anyway did you have a name or anything?"
"June, they call me June," she said softly, "It is June isn't, they named the month after me?" Apparently June, in addition to being loco, couldn't swim, so when the Hazel girl caught up, and unfortunately the Gorgon's to, I had to carry her across.
Because the male had the arrows he went last and tried to keep them as occupied as possible. They were going to swoop down and attack him I thought furiously. Righteous angry flooded me and I threw my arm up.
The water from the river turned into a hurricane, whipping the two Gorgon's into dust, the sky darkened and thunder burst, and slight tremor's running through the ground. Light current's pushed the guy to shore and the tornado dropped. The golden dust floated through the river making it unable to reform. The earth and sky turned back to normal.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, as he climbed out of the river. He nodded but didn't say anything. The Roman's behind me had all drawn weapons, which was when things started to get really freaky. June changed shape. She stood holding a staff topped with a lotus flower and wearing blue dress with a cloak of goat's skin.
"Juno," someone murmured.
"Peace Roman's," she called, they took one look at her and knelt. "I have brought you a gift, the daughter of Neptune, bear it well. Her fate is in your hands. The Feast of Fortuna comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if you have any hope of winning. Do not fail me."
"It's you," I said quietly and surely, "You're the one who stole my memories. Can I have them back now?" She shook her head and stared at me apologetically.
"You have much work to be done, my child," she said and it was almost as if she couldn't look me in they eye. "And you are the only one who could do it, you always were."
"You didn't want it to be me," I hazarded a guess.
"No," she said mournfully, "There was a way out of this for you, but you didn't want it." I struggled to think of what it might have been but I just didn't know. The Romans stared at me like I was unlike anything they had ever seen. Twitchy hands held weapons tightly and that was just a recipe for disaster. Juno went to disappear.
"Wait, can you tell me one more thing?" I asked her, she nodded her assent, "What's my name?"
"Percianna Jackson," she replied dutifully, if a bit surprised that I didn't even remember that much. I smiled at her.
"Thanks Aunty June," I said before turning away. She went, and I was left with a bunch of suspicious and trigger happy Roman's… for some reason this all felt very familiar.
So, what did you think? Was it good? I think it was okay. On to the next chapter. P.S more reviews equal a faster work ethic.