The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 19--I'm Deathly Allergic to Secrets

Chaos soldiers and I agreed on one thing: Esterhaven sucked. 

I parted the blinds of the front door, watching with bated breath as the tenth patrol of soldiers passed the front gate. "They've swept the whole street five times over, and they haven't even tried to approach the front gate. What in the name of Hades is wrong with these people?"

Now, you're probably wondering why I would get the idea to return to the house of two of the people looking for me. Truth be told, we tried going to Liam's house first—but by the time we walked all the way over there, the street had been crowded with soldiers. Aridne apparently lived in Chaos' palace, so our only choice of shelter had been my former home.

A yawn came from where Aridne sat at the dining table. Her hands were behind her head, and her legs were resting on the table, like she'd been here before. "You want to get raided or something?"

I want the place to get raided, I wanted to say. The more things they break, the better. But I forced out, "Of course not. But even if they did, we could definitely escape."

"I'd disagree with you on that." Aridne nodded toward the chair opposite her, where Liam sat, his face on the table. "His snoring would give away our location almost instantly. Get me a flower, would you?"

I moved from my location beside the door toward a plant whose flowers sparkled as blindingly as the gold vase they sat in. 

I love this cruel flair you're trying on, End said as I yanked a flower of its stem with no remorse, But hurting a plant's not going to be as effective as, say, killing Gaea and Tartarus. 

I know Gaea, I thought, spitting out the name. These plants are like her children. Hurt them, and it'll hurt her, yeah?

Aridne took the flower from my hand and placed it under Liam's nose. "What's supposed to happen?" I asked.

"You'll see."

One breath. Another. And another. Yet another. Just when I thought this was Aridne's attempt at a joke, Liam subconsciously scrunched his nostrils as if he'd caught the scent of wet satyr fur. He inhaled—and then his eyes flew open in panic.

Then he let out a huge sneeze—bigger than anything other sneeze I'd experienced. And keep in mind, I had a Cyclops as a brother—thirty feet of pure sneeze potential. 

The recoil from the sneeze sent Liam sprawling from his chair while my hands automatically cupped my ears in pain. The medic's head hit the floor, and in a matter of a few moments, he was more awake than any toxic mixture of smelling salts could ever manage. He looked around wildly, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

"Hey!" he exclaimed in anger. "You know I'm deathly allergic to pollen, Aridne! Not cool!"

Aridne released the flower, letting the six-petaled masterpiece float freely to the ground. She smirked, then shrugged. "Oops."

"You're allergic to flowers?" I asked incredulously. Yet another fact about Liam that made me question whether I knew him at all. "Then why is your house covered with them?"

"That's . . . different." Liam's face matched the color of Apollo's cows as he pulled himself back into his chair. "It's for my mother."

"She likes plants?" 

"No. She hates them."

"Speaking of mothers," Aridne said before I could probe deeper and probably exacerbate the awkward atmosphere, "why don't we discuss our future moves before mine hunts us done and places us in jail for all of eternity?"