I am the Heroes' Daughter- A Fan Fiction

Chapter Three- Let me fall

If being claimed wasn't embaressing enough then a gladius appearing in my hand was. It's blade is half gold and half bronze with a single ruby adorning the hilt. The Latin word Dijudicatus is etched on it. My Latin is rough and needs more than a lot of work, but even I know what that means, to decide or settle conflict or to distinguish between. I don't know what the gods have planned for me, but apparently I am going to be used as some kind of bridge.

All of the campers, including Reyna and Octavian, are staring at me in silent shock. My knees start to shake from the attention and my eye lids feel heavy from exhaustion and blood loss.

The gladius in my hand shrinks down, curling around my right ring finger. Great, it turns into a ring.

"Those two gods are married! She is a danger to us!" Octavian says preaching to the crowd.

"But, I am a Roman, I have rights," my voice comes out hoarse.

"She could have been sent by the Greeks to cause destruction!"

"How could they know who would claim me?" I drop to the ground, unable to hold my weight.

Reyna raises her hand, cutting off Octavian's next words. "Shawn and Andy, escort her to the infirmary. Shawn, you stood for her, so you are in charge of her. The games are over. The attacking team has won. Clover will recieve the mural crown for winning the game," kids start to talk about how unfair it was having a goddess on their team. "Senators!" Reyna yells over them. "There will be a meeting tomorrow at dawn! You are all dismissed!"

Octavian glares at me, making an "I'm watching you" sign with his hands, before walking away with the crowd. Andy slides his arms under me lifting me up and cradling me against his chest. My blonde hair is now caked with blood and dirt. He looks down at me. I can tell he is worried.

"Hey, what's with your eyes?" The question catches me off guard. Are my eyes messed up too?

"My eyes!? What's wrong with them?!"

"They were green before, now their gold," Shawn leans over me trying to see what Andy is talking about.

My heart calms down. "Oh, they've been that way since I was born. They'll change depending on my mood, from green to gold to blue, brown, hazel and gray."

"That's weird," Shawn says walking beside us.

I want to make a smart retort, but I'm too tired to argue with him. I look up at Andy's face, soft and cute. His blue eyes are always so soft. My head rolls back against his shoulder.

"Are you really a goddess?" Andy asks, barely speaking above a whisper. Shawn snorts at his question.

I make a noise between a laugh and a groan. "Of course not! If I were a goddess I would be a pathetic one." I get a smile out of him.

We make it back to the main road, heading strait to the infirmary. The second night I'm here and I'm in the infirmary again. Am I accident prone or what? As soon as we walk through the door I hear coughing and snoring. Awe, man, I hate hospitals and sick people, now I'm in a place with both.

Andy sets me down on the gurney I was on this morning. I could see him holding his breath when he layed me down, trying not to hurt me. He runs off, going to get some medical things. I shift my weight so I can see Shawn.

"What's wrong with you?" My eyes are rolling back into my head.

He chuckles. "Not as much as there is with you, you are messed up," I smile. "Hey, don't go to sleep."

My tongue can only form two words. "I'm tired," I know I'm not dying, I am just way too exhausted.

"Andy! Hurry up!"

In less than a second I am asleep and dreaming, or atleast that is what I think I am doing.

Fire errupts around me, threatening to consume me. The man from my other dream walks out of the fire putting a hand around my throat. My feet aren't on the ground anymore.

"Still having trouble with my name?"

"Pluto, Hades, god of the underworld," I sputter.

He releases his hand. I drop to the floor gasping for air.

"You know that scronny kid of Apollo was right? You are a mistake."

My heart beat races. Just one chance, one chance to punch him and I will be happy.

"You are wrong and you are about to make me mad," my tone drops to a growl. "You don't want to make me mad."

He picks me back up throwing me against an invisible wall. "Because of you Persephone has gone missing! You have exactly one week to find her before I declare war on you pathetic mortals, starting with New Rome!"

"How am I suppose to know where to look?! I'm not a goddess detector!"

Pluto flips his curly hair out of his face. "I would start with the gods you've insulted most."

I grab onto his leg to keep him from leaving. "Funny, the only thing your scared of is the dark and the thing that makes you most nervous is battle. I think you should develope a new fear. Fear of Pluto who knows all of your weaknesses, including what you would give to keep some things quiet!"

I let go of his leg, fear seeping it's way into my heart.

"You feel it don't you? The control I have over your mind? Find Persephone and I might leave you alone," he turns to go. "And if you think you are scary when you are mad, you have seen nothing," he disappears in a swirl of smoke.

"Clover, wake-up," was that Andy or Shawn? "Clover, Wake-up!"

I jump almost falling out of bed. "Ow, Shawn! What the heck?"

Shawn is leaning over me, giving me a weird look. "Come on, the senator meeting is in an hour and something is up."

I swing my legs over the side of my bed. My head is bandaged, my arm in a sling, and one ankle wrapped up in medical tape. "Wow, Andy did a good job."

"Pft, Andy did nothing but gather the supplies. I had to bandage you, because he had no idea what he was doing."

I stand up wincing.

"Sorry, the nectar and ambrosia can't cure some things as fast as others and too much could kill you."

"It's fine, I got this," I say smiling at him.

The world spins when I stand up, but I take a deep breathe and keep going. Outside of the infirmary is in chaos. Kids are running in different directions yelling and throwing on armor. In the middle of the chaos is a woman with black hair with wheat braided into it. She is wearing a white roman toga and walking down the street yelling, "Romans, I need your help! Proserpina is gone, my daughter, my poor daughter!"

She looks at me, eyes changing from blue to brown to gold. "Roman, if she is not home in a week, spring will not come! You must find her before the Harvest moon!" In a swirl of leaves the goddess is gone.

"Let me guess, Ceres?"

"Your grandmother."