Legends of Olympus

Chapter 21

Ash woke in the morning too tired to deal with anyone. Tired or just depressed she couldn't tell anymore. She just wanted silence but knowing they were on a quest, silence is impossible. Especially considering Zavik is like the only one who doesn't act like a full-out child sometimes. Not that Ash was above acting like a child on certain days.

Ash yawned as she was in the bathroom putting on her shirt for the day. Ash felt the fabric rub against the scars on her back. Ash let out a sigh. She hated the scars that were given to her by her father. It was one of the main reasons she ran away in the first place from that Virgina farm. Granted, going back after what she had done was not something Ash wanted to do.

Ash looked in the mirror and saw her father's face, and Ash didn't like it. Hated she looked like him. Murderer! Her mind screamed at her. Failure! She hated that her mind screamed at her every day causing Ash to go into a spiral of pain. Clarisse called it her fatal flaw if Ash recalled correctly, but it was painful. Screw up! Your fault! That one made Ash physically wince and clench her jaw.

Ash had been about to brush her teeth when she froze staring at the mirror in a trance. Those words played on repeat in her head. Never stopping, stuck in a cycle. A knock then came on the door that snapped Ash back to the present.

"Ash, come on, I gotta pee dude."

Ash brushed her teeth and splashed her face with the cold water before opening the door. Lincoln stood at the door waiting. Ash, not in the mood today, glared at him, making him flinch. Ash walked by with a small smirk a little satisfied with messing with him. Zavik just shook his head at her, a little disappointed.

Ash bushed out her hair and then sat on the floor to slip on her hiking boots. She looked to Aubri who was staring out the window. Ash tied one of her boots and said, "Hey, you good there Aubri? I heard you get up pretty early this morning. You should have slept a little longer. We're not the ones going to the forge, that's you." Ash reached for her other boot and put it on. She moved to grab her camp necklace, which still had no beads on the chain, as this was her first summer. She then grabbed her glasses. "Aubri? Hey, Earth to Aubri." Ash kicked the dresser that was in the room. Aubri flinched at the noise and turned to Ash. "Did you even hear me?"

"Huh?" Aubri asked, "N- no I didn't. Sorry, what did you say?"

"You need a nap or something. Are you even ready for today? You're only half-dressed," Ash asked.

Aubri looked down to see that she only had her camp shirt on and still was wearing her pajama pants. "Oh, yeah. I guess I do still need to change my pants," she chuckled a little. "And don't worry Ash, I got enough sleep. Well, sort of but I'll be fine," she reassured as Ash gave her a look of disapproval. She grabbed her pants that were sitting on the chair and changed her pants, not caring that Zavik was in the room still, even if he had his back to her. She ducked behind the bed and changed her pants, much to Ash's dismay and protests for her to not do that, but Aubri couldn't care less, knowing that something bad was going to happen to her anyway on this quest, judging by her dreams.

"You know what? Whatever, I'm hungry. Time to eat. Zavik is Lincoln done so we can go or is he still taking a long piss," Ash said, slinging her backpack on her shoulder.

"I'm brushing my teeth, hold on!" Lincoln said. "Also it wasn't that long. If I had that much liquid in me I'd be concerned."

Ash rolled her eyes and pulled out a portable CD player with earbuds from her backpack. Ash put in a Lincoln Park CD into the player. It was their latest release, well if you consider it three years ago the latest release. It was "Meteora", the extended edition. It took a while for Ash to find the album and when she did she couldn't buy it as she was at the time broke, but luckily Ash didn't have to buy it as it was a birthday present from Aubri. Aubri isn't a big fan of the band but she knew Ash loved the band and bought it for her. Ash wanted silence somewhat and food. Earbuds on meant leaving Ash alone for a bit or till Ash talked willingly.