Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Them All (Book 2)

Irrelevant

Chapter 12Irrelevant

Gwen We left first thing in the morning. Nico had taken me back to my cabin when I had passed out, and I had been forced to rest ever since. But now I was straddling the back of a horse girl and swallowing the awkwardness. But now that Maddison has agreed to give us a ride, catching up with our friends shouldn't be that hard, right? WRONG! Nope, this horse is really freaking uncomfortable. I have swallowed at least a hundred bugs by now.     "Hey, you alright?" Nico shouted over the roar of the wind.     "Just peachy, you?" I shouted back.     "WHAT?" Nico shouted uncomprehendingly. I just shook my head, rolling my eyes. The sky was kind of perfect looking today though. My hair blew around in the wind. The breeze threatened to rip the wig off my head. I hated the wig anyway, besides, Nico had already seen all of my head nakedness anyway. The sky was perfect blue, with huge billowing thunderheads reaching into the heavens.     Nico and I held onto Maddison's back, her smooth white coat slippery to hold onto. Nico sat in the front and I held on, grabbing his backpack straps for support. The wind wasn't cold, or at least not yet. We were a good 100 yards from the ground, the clouds were still above us, but if you held your hands out to the sky, it seemed like you could almost touch them.     As if compelled by that thought, I extended my arms the sky, letting go of Nico's backpack. The wind pushed through my fingers, and the wind whipped the hair out of my face. The air was exhilarating, the freedom of the sky was all around.     "WHOOOO!" I screamed, flailing my arms around. At my scream, Nico turned around, and he went pale when he saw that I wasn't holding on. "GO UP MADDI!!!" I shouted to our pegasus-unicorn friend. She must have heard me, because we started escalating to the heavens, until my ankles were resting in the clouds.     "ARE YOU NUTS?" Nico shouted at me.     "YES, DEFINITELY!" Without a thought, I flung my body off of the horse and flew. Without panicking, I soared, the ground hurtling closer, the clouds caressing my body, and my wig detaching from my head. The adrenaline was so worth it. In that moment, I didn't care if I died, I was out of the reach of my mother, and I was in love with my best friend. I had no regrets. I was given a reality check when I heard Nico screaming above me.     I smiled, my eyes closed, somethings never change, do they? My thoughts were soaring along with my body through the air, and I wasn't scared, I was excited, happy, and fearless. With a huge flapping noise, I heard Maddison fly under me, and I realized that I was going to hit them, hard.     The air dropped out from under me, and I hit Maddison's back with a bone crushing crunch. My spin flared with pain, and the adrenaline was still in my veins. It didn't hurt as bad as I thought. Yet again, most people who jump out of planes don't even realize that they had life threatening injuries until a couple of moments later.    I opened my eyes, and Nico's arms were around me. "Oh my gods, you're an idiot. A freaking idiot." His skeletal frame pressed against my weak one. "You're going to kill me one day, aren't you Gwen?" Still out of control with adrenaline, I pulled away and kissed him on the cheek. Nico looked instantly flustered, and he blushed, his incredibly pale skin lighting up bright red. I laughed maniacally. A moment later Nico smiled, "You're crazy." Then more seriously, "Don't do that again."     Maddison nickered in horse laughter. Or at least I think it is, I don't speak horse. Pain tingled back into my system, and I touched my back, and bit back a shout of pain. The skin was really sensitive, and I might have broken a rib or two, but I didn't care, it was so worth it. I just might be an adrenaline junkie.     I wrapped my legs tighter around Maddison and held back onto Nico's backpack straps, and leaned forward with exhaustion, my forehead pressing into the rough surface of his backpack. The warmth of my own breath rebounded to brush my face. He didn't turn around. He knew just how tired I was, and he respected that. And just as my eyes started to close, I heard Nico say, just barely through the wind,     "Don't fall off."

~

Sleeping was worse than I thought, but not in the way that I had expected. Demigods get dreams, prophecies even, in their sleep. But I get it worse. I'm not exactly a demigod, not exactly a titan, and not exactly a god, but I'm somewhere in the godly loop. All I know is that I was blessed that night with the worst sleep ever. And of course it started with my memories.         My thin fingers grasped at the door handle, the pounding of the rain echoing in my ears. My whole body was freezing, and my other hand rubbed nervously against my arm trying to warm me up. The door refused to open, and I walked over to the window, and peered through.     A man was relaxing in an armchair, the lights of the tv bouncing off of his retinas. The man had scruffy brown hair and a knotted beard that went all over his untrimmed jawline. His mouth was slightly open, and he was staring, almost at nothing, the lights of the tv constantly changing color. The tv volume was loud, and I could hear the familiar car ad playing through the window.     I rapped at the window, and when the man didn't glance over at me, I hit the glass louder. When he blinked, I hit the window hard one last time. He looked over at me, there was a flash of recognition, but it was immediately dulled by the drunkenness of the man. When he didn't move, I hit the window again, mouthing the words to him: Please let me in. The man got up, and for a second my heart stuttered with hope.     He pushed the armchair as he got up, not quite walking in a straight line. He walked over to the window, and I dared to hope. He was going to let me in, he was going to help me. He was sober and he was going to help me. But as he got closer, I could smell him even through the window, and vomit rose in my throat. He definitely wasn't sober.     As he got closer, he hand went up, at first I thought to open the window, but then he just pulled the blinds down, and then the man was gone. The lights went dark, and my chances of getting in were gone.     The rain pounded down in sheets. I screamed at the window, banging at it with my small fists. "LET ME IN!!! PLEASE!!! PLEASE, DADDY, LET ME IN!!!" After screaming for a while, I went to the steps, the rain pouring down, my fingers losing their feeling. I sat in the puddle, and stared at my face in the reflection that was constantly stirred with the dripping of the rain.     My green eyes stared back at me, and my dark chestnut hair stuck to my face. My skin was pale, and my cheekbones pressing against the flesh on my face. I'm hideous, I thought. I kicked at the puddle, the feeling of hopelessness rising in my chest. I began to cry, my tears making the puddle spread across the driveway.     There was a dark shadow that appeared in front of me. Immediately fearing that it was my mother, I held up my hands to shield myself. But the figure extended a hand to me.

The dream blurred and changed, the gray changing colors like paint changing to darker and darker tones, until my mother was standing over me.     I was on my hands and knees, the earth crawling up over my wrists and ankles, holding me to the ground. My mother cackled at my struggling,     "You will bow to me, Gwen. My dearest, do you ever learn?" Her laugh grew darker, "You're just as stubborn as all of the humans." She kicked me hard in the ribs, and I gasped for breath. "There you go, much better. No need to struggle. Just do what I say." Her voice said hypnotically. She shouldn't do that, she knows it doesn't work on me.     I looked up, and spat on her. Gaea shouted and kicked me again in the ribs, stealing my breath. I panted in pain. Gaea reached down and yanked my chin up so she could look me in the eye.     "You're just irrelevant, I will take over with you. I won't even notice if you die." She said her eyes hard and cold, "I have given you an opportunity, and here you are struggling like some filthy mortal." She kicked me hard one more time then turned to leave.     "Wait." I gasped, looking at her, "I'm your daughter." Gaea turned around, her smile pure evil. She smiled even wider as she stood over me. With a dark glint her eyes she raised her foot over my head and stomped my face into the mud. I screamed in pain, swallowing dirt. She pushed me further into the dirt, suffocating me. She held me there for what felt like an eternity until I felt my vision darken. She then released me, taking her foot of of my head.     The earth released my hands and feet and I collapsed, gasping on the ground like a coward, "Stop struggling like a fool, my dear." Gaea laughed then disappeared.

~

When I finally woke up, it wasn't any better. I was still gasping for breath, and not getting any air. We were still in the air, and Nico was panicking over me, his hands holding my face, telling me to breathe, that we would get to a hospital soon, that I would be okay. I just kept struggling, gasping, choking, drowning in my own breath. I couldn't get air, it was like the air had been knocked out of me. Nico kept shouting for me to hold on, that we were almost there. Yellow, red, and black dots were all over the place, like looking at a chemistry microscope slide. My body began to spasm, and Nico started to cry. He shouted for Maddison to go faster. But I knew it was too late, I needed to stop struggling. Just stop struggling. The struggle is over. I am irrelevant.     Everything just disappeared.

~

There's a man holding my hand, touching my skin. He has dark green eyes, and a dark shaggy beard in knots around his chin. He's wearing a grey t-shirt that hangs across his thin body. I don't know this man. And I don't want to know him."Hey." I just stared at him, "I'm your dad." Images flood through my head, him, laying on the couch, surrounded by his beer bottles, his stench making me vomit.He's not getting up to open the door when the rain was pouring down on me. The rain just keeps pouring. It never stops pouring. The rain seeps to my bones. Cold, my feet are numb. Nico trudges through the mud, and helps me stumble away from my house, from my father who doesn't care enough to open the door."I'm going to take you home now." I throw the blankets off of me. I stand up, not even looking at him. You disgusting, revolting, repulsive  piece of crap. Get away from me. He gets up,    "Where are you going, sweetheart?"    "Don't you dare call me that!" I scream, my ears ringing. The rain just keeps falling, falling down. Down on us, down on me. Down. Down. Down. He reaches out to touch me.  I slap his hand away, "Stay away from me!"    My hands shake, my ears ringing into my skull. He's not supposed to be here, he's not supposed to come, he's supposed to just leave me alone. He was so good at it before.    "You're not healthy. Please, just lay down. Just listen." I whip around, my hands lashing out across his face with a good satisfying sting,    "Where were you when I was dying? Who. Do. You. Think. You. Are?" I grabbed a blanket and ripped it off the bed, and wrapped it around me. Without another glance at the despicable man who was my father, I open the door of the hospital and walk out, slamming the door behind me, the man still holding his hand to his cheek. A nurse drops her clipboard,    "Who let him in there?" I shout. "Who let that disgusting man in my room? Who had the guts to do that?" A shadow walks through the crowd.    "I did." It's Nico, his coat drawn up close to his face, the cloth dripping with rain. His face doesn't look sorry, it's Nico, he's never really been sorry in his whole life. His face reminds me, he was the guy who helped me down from the steps. The guy who had taken my hand and warmed the cockles of my soul. He had helped me, he's the reason I don't need that man anymore.    I swear, pulling the blanket tighter around me. "Come on then, we need to go and get me a new wig." As we walked around the corner and away from the eyes of the doctors, I grab a fistful of his shirt and hiss, "Don't ever pull a stunt like that again. My family issues are none of your business." I release his shirt and pull the blanket back around me. "You're an idiot."    "I know."