Ocean Magic (PJO x KC x HOO)

11. No One Puts Ariel In The Corner

"This will be good to take a short rest," Holly finally said, slowing to a stop in a small clearing. It felt like we had been walking through the forests of New York for centuries. My feet throbbed underneath me, so I stumbled down to the hard, twiggy ground, wincing in pain. Cal fell down next to me, his chest heaving up and down. "Or maybe a long rest."

"Where are we even going?" Cal asked her, throwing up his hands. I dodged his fist before hitting him in the side. I didn't have the energy to do anything else to him -- or Holly, for that matter. I wished I hadn't gone on this journey with them in tow. "And how did Artemis let you go so easily?"

Holly remained silent. She usually did that when spoken to; I was finding that out the hard way. She rarely ever spoke a word unless she really needed to. And she normally did that to bark orders at me and Cal to try to keep up, to stop making so much noise, to stop complaining. She wasn't very kind in her speech, either, so I was glad that she didn't talk as much. Still, I was ready to chop her head off or something worse than that. 

Cal, too. He talked so much that he made up for Holly's lack of speech. It seemed like he knew every rock, every tree, every creature and would point them out excitedly to us. He would bound over to wild animals and try to pet them like they were old friends. I gave up trying to tell him that he would need to get rabies shots if one of them actually bit him because I was ready for him to go off the deep end and finally stop talking.

The only person who I wasn't annoyed with was Ama. She hadn't really spoken much to me since we saw the snake earlier, but when she did speak, it was about how this journey seemed so strange to her. I agreed. Now that my fear wasn't making my chest ache and head spin, I really had no clue where we were even supposed to go. Jackie's note didn't say where she was in the first place. How were we supposed to find her if we didn't know where she was?

I'm sure you'll find a way, Ama said softly to me. I looked in my mind's eye and saw her gazing at me with those inky eyes of hers. Today, they seemed to be ringed with something dark. It's kohl. Egyptians used it to keep their eyes safe under the sun.

Oh. I guess there's a lot I need to know about that stuff since you're currently inhabiting my body.

There are always things humans need to learn, Ariel. It's only a matter of if they want to learn that is the issue.

"Ariel?" Cal asked, waving his hand in front of my eyes. I blinked a few times, and the clearing that we stopped in materialized in front of me once more. Cal had a frown on his face while Holly had begun gathering some plants she found on the ground. "Did you hear what I was saying?"

"No, not really."

He stared at me like I was crazy, and maybe I was. Maybe this was all just a dream that was never going to end. I mean, why in the world would I believe that my mother was a Greek goddess? And why would I believe the strange voice in my head was actually an old dying Egyptian goddess? (Hey!) Maybe I had finally lost it, and my dad put me away in a mental institution where I could hallucinate in peace.

But then he hit me across the shoulder, and that felt real enough. 

Okay, I didn't think I was hallucinating. Especially not with the anger that flowed through my veins, reminding me of the feeling earlier when I practiced some Egyptian (Greek?) magic. Clenching my hands together, I glared up at the annoying boy.

"Why did you hit me?" I snapped at him. Cal stood up with a lopsided grin on his face, and I frowned at him. Maybe it wasn't me who was crazy; maybe it was him. "Cal, I know I haven't known you very long, but have I mentioned that you aren't normal?"