SILVER LINING. ( j. grace & p. mclean )

part one: the lost hero

( OH THE STORM IS RAGING AGAINST US NOW )

SKYE MASUDA WAS CURSED FROM THE MOMENT SHE WAS BORN. Technically, her family's been cursed for generations, theoretically speaking. All thanks to their ancestor, the Greek hero, Bellerophon. Nearly all his descendants were either killed at a young age, murdered, or had the worst luck in history. Skye was no exception. Her bad luck started as a kid when she was just in the "wrong place at the wrong time" and escalated to siding with the wrong side of the war against the Titans, simply because she wanted to be with her half-brother; now she was branded a traitor and forced into exile across the country by the gods. The only lucky break she had was her 'superpower' (as the other campers have labeled it): alongside being a daughter of Hermes and a descendant of Poseidon, it seemed that she had inherited an ability or two from her godly legacies: superspeed. Skye could move quicker than lightning if she wanted to, zooming around her enemy and generally being very hard to catch. Add in her favorite set of daggers and she made a formidable opposer. Nothing could outrun her...except maybe her own recklessness.

( IF YOU'RE AFRAID OF FALLING THEN DON'T LOOK DOWN )

THEY SAY ONE'S CAPABILITIES EXPLAINS ONE'S PERSONALITY. Whatever you were good at, whatever you loved to do, those things described more about who you are as a person than you ever could. Therefore it came as no surprise that Skye, due to her love for speed and going fast, loved to run. She loved to feel the wind on her face and sweep through her hair. She loved the plummeting feeling in her gut like she'd taken a free fall. She loved taking that metaphorical jump. So naturally, she was a risk taker. She was reckless, only thinking about the short-term goals, not the long-term consequences. Which was probably why she followed her brother, Luke, without hesitation. "It'll be alright. It'll be fun, we'll do so many cool things together," he'd promised her, with that gentle look in his eyes—the look that always wore her down. He was strong and cared about her, like family should, so she followed him. She didn't think about what could happen around her. She thought it would be something minor—nothing bad. Hijack a ship, dabble with freaky people, the usual things that made thrill itch in her. But as usual, she forgot about the consequences. When she took that jump, like her ancestor, Skye fell hard. Over the course of her life, she came to regret a lot of things but never so much as this: believing Luke. Because the horrible deaths and explosions and wars were not something minor, contrary to her thoughts. Skye had been too naive to see it, too trusting, and when she had, it was too late to back out. Her heart had won over her brain and she wouldn't let that happen again, so she pushed those horrible memories into the deep recess of her mind and pretended like everything was normal again—good ol' Skye Masuda, with the Cheshire smirk and the crocodile skin; no, nothing could ever get to her—even though she still got nightmares, even though she couldn't get rid of the image of Luke's face from her mind. Even when everything was still so wrong, she still kept the same old reckless persona that was her comfort throughout her life. She was Skye, the speedster; the one who blazed a trail and pushed people to their limits, and sometimes more than that. People liked to say she "never changed" and she preferred it that way. Skye liked to focus on the present, not the past. But the gods apparently didn't want that...