a story as endless as the ocean . pjo / allie jackson

0.3 bianca di angelo changes her future

0.3 Determination Can Often Be Mistaken for Disrespect (But I Don't Care, Don't Get in My Way)

I had to clench my teeth to keep myself from sobbing, but even though finding Luke and Brylie were my top priority, I had more pressing issues to deal with. Artemis looked me over, as if trying to see my list of skills just by looking at me.

Through my anguish, I gave her a polite curtsy. She smiled and nodded, as if she was hoping I'd do that. I saw Grover look from me to Artemis, trying to figure out why she was important. Then it clicked.

He gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so... you're so... Wow!"

Thalia evidently disagreed with his dramatic actions as much as I did. "Get up, goat boy!" she snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Luke and Brylie are gone!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Priorities, Grover. Our best friend, remember him? The one who just got dragged over a cliff and somehow disappeared along with our other friend who has already been kidnapped once in her life and is only fourteen!"

He scrambled back to his hooves, looking guilty. But before he could say anything, someone else spoke up first.

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

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of us 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 you are! Who are your parents?"

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

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

She faltered. I guess she could tell from our faces that we didn't believe her.

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

"You are a half-blood," Zoe told her. Her accent was from Ancient Greece and she spoke Old English. I knew that she was Artemis' oldest living Hunter, based on the seniority head piece, but couldn't gather much else. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian... athlete?"

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

"Cool!" Nico declared, sounding and looking utterly thrilled. He didn't seem to understand the reality of the circumstances at all. Bianca seemed less delusional.

"No!" her voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around excitedly, hopping from one leg to the other. "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 such things as gods!"

As anxious as I felt about Luke and Brylie— all I wanted to do was search for them— I couldn't help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. I had been through that before, too. Though, I had accepted it a little too easily. Too many dots had started connecting, but that was by no means a normal reaction. Plus, Bianca was probably twelve, at most. Her rational thinking skills had to be called into doubt for at least a moment.

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."