Icarus - Annabeth Chase

chapter three.

"Um... okay." Akira sighed and shook her head, you just find out that the person that helped you is the goddess of the hunt and all you say is okay? But then again that same girl was the cause of your best friend dying.

That was nothing compared to Grover. He gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so... you're so... Wow!"

"Get up, goat boy!" Thalia snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"

Annabeth was gone and Akira failed at saving her.

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of them in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who... who are you people?"

Artemis's expression softened."It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you!Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.

"Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."

She faltered. She could tell from their faces that they didn't believe her. Akira did, she knew what all that felt like, worst of all was that Bianca and Nico are kids, ten and twelve yet they had to live on their own. The world was cruel.

"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoe Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It sounded old-fashioned, like she was reading from a really old book. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"Back off, they're kids." Akira placed her hand on Zoe's chest and pushed her back gently from where she had stepped towards the younger girl. The hunter glared at her hand and slapped it away from her.

"An Olympian... athlete?" Asked Bianca, interrupting whatever fight Zoe and Akira were about to find themselves in.

"No," Zoe denied. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" said Nico. Akira loved and hated how they knew nothing of the world she lived in, fighting monsters, watching comrades fall like leaves in autumn, the pain from battle, she knew basically nothing of physical pain because well, she felt almost any but the amount of people she's watched die because of it was big enough to fill and entire country.

If they didn't know they were more at risk when they eventually need to protect themselves which she hated but they were safe from all the pain it caused which she loved.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

"Hey, Bianca calm down," Akira crouched down to her height, wanting to look the girl in the eyes as she spoke.  She felt bad, they were just kids dealing with stuff that wasn't supposed to be burdened by children.

Thalia must've been feeling something similar, because the anger in her eyes subsided a little bit. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who fell."

Thalia turned away. Even Artemis looked pained. Akira glanced over at Grover who's look of admiration disappeared at the mention of Annabeth being gone, she swore that she would do anything to help Grover yet she failed to save his friend, how pathetic can she be.