Keeper Of Their Hearts (EG/PJO) - Book One

XXXIII. Since When Are Daughters Of Apollo Blessed Like Daughters Of Aphrodite?!

When I opened my eyes again, the first thought I could even think of was, what the hell just happened?

Like, I'm not kidding. That's what I was totally thinking.

One moment, I'm standing close to the crest of Half Blood Hill with my friends and siblings after I had placed a headshot on a Colchis Bull.. at point-blank range. Which by the way, was the end of the second time I have had to face off against Colchis Bulls. The first one was last summer. Needless to say now, I honestly feel better that I faced off against it with a gun instead of a sword. I really did feel better because of that. Because if I had a sword back in that situation, I would be a dead man.

The next moment, I'm in here, lying on a bed in the infirmary, while just staring up at the ceiling. It was.. mind-boggling to say the least. I blinked once, then twice.. just to see if he was dreaming or something. Nothing changed at all.

So I'm not dreaming then, I thought to myself laying there. I somehow legitimately passed out in front of my own siblings after looking in the direction of a beautiful girl..

I didn't know why, but the memory of her, the last thing he remembered before I blacked out, seemed to cause my normally somewhat cold, partially empty heart - even with three beautiful girls that I was destined for around me - to come alive like I never felt it had before, filling me with an intense feeling of desire, affection, and hunger. It took all of my restraint not to go stir crazy from it before I calmed down, but the burning feeling in my heart was still there. What the hell? That was.. weird, I thought to myself.

Though to be fair, what I had seen had been so beautiful, she probably was most likely another daughter of Aphrodite like Adagio and Sunset were. And to be completely fair here, if Adagio had been more beautiful than Katie and Sunset — I'll admit, I did definitely see her as such right now — then this girl topped even her in that regard, no question or doubt about it. From the beautiful red hair dyed partially bright green that flowed down a bit of the way down her back, blue bell eyes like the sea that you could get lost in, the way she carried herself in the lovely black dress that stretched down to her knees with elegance and grace.. even with lots of freckles, every single part of this girl screamed glamorous perfection in my mind, and I didn't know why at all. Nor did I care at all, to be honest with you.

Look, I know that I was destined for Katie, Adagio, and Sunset, sure.. but seriously, I hadn't expected that I would come into contact - whether eye or physically - with girls that had the beauty of goddesses when this all had started, mind you. Neither did I expect that I would pass out from looking at one such girl either. Sure, there were plenty of pretty ones at camp, but for some reason — most likely connected to the prophecy, I just didn't feel like going after them. It was just the way I was, since I always was like that, to the point that saying that I was too busy training with Clarisse didn't count as an excuse.

I probably must have been thinking a bit too long in there, because it was at this moment that a familiar voice shook me out of my thoughts.

"You mind telling me what the fuck happened to you out there? Why the hell you just passed out like that? Lou Ellen had a damn meltdown when she heard about what happened."

I turned, and saw Alabaster standing over me, and I just started sweating quite a bit in anxiety and fear. My brother was scary, yes.. even for someone who was only a year older than me, but believe me, to have him standing over you when you're in a bed of any kind.. that was an extra kind of scary, even for my standards. But still, he wanted an answer, and I had to give him one. What else was I supposed to do here?

"I'm at as much of a loss as you are in explaining why the hell I passed out, dear brother, after I had come into eye contact with a beautiful girl.. because unless that girl was one of the goddesses in their divine form, then I have no damn clue at all to be honest with you.." I replied to him, dusting myself off and getting myself up out of bed, standing before my slightly taller and older brother. "How long was I out?"