"Please," I pleaded Jonathan as he roughly began to pull me out of the cage. "You have good in you. Please, please, don't do this to me!"
"You are my experiment," said Jonathan, but the eyes reveal everything. His revealed a blue sea of worry and nervousness.
"I am not an experiment!" I shouted angrily. "I am supposed to be your daughter!"
The room was silent. All eyes were on the two of us. He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "Look, Athena," he said quietly. "This is something we need to do. If we don't conduct this experiment, your mother-"
"She is not my mother," I spat. "And you are not my father. If you can't treat me like family then I can't give you the same kind of respect."
His face went from worried to angry. "Pin her down!" he shouted. Cold hands gripped me by the shoulder from behind and pulled me onto the table forcefully. "Get her some gauze," he ordered, and Aunt Melissa obeyed. He lifted up my head and tied the gauze around my mouth so I couldn't speak. "This'll be a very, very fast experiment," he whispered menacingly. "And quiet one, as well, thank God. The last kid was a terror, screaming his head off. Don't you hate that?"
Since I couldn't use my words, I flipped him off.
My arms and legs were strapped to the table. "You won't feel a thing," he said, picking up a huge needle.
I remember what Poseidon had told me to do. Happy thoughts... I thought. I imagined myself in a tropical paradise, with coconuts and fruit. Away from the tests. Away from the lunatics. Away from everyone who wanted to call me a freak.
I've always wanted to be normal, go to school, be social, have friends. But being the experiment of two scientists had always limited my options. We lived in the middle of nowhere, heck, I don't even know where we lived. I was constantly being tested to become something completely inhuman. Turns out, I was going to become Athena.
My parents had always wanted to recreate the Olympians, along with Persephone, Hestia, and Hades. Fourteen other kids were brought in to the lab about a month ago, and the testing began on all of us. Eight kids have died so far, and it's painful to watch. I want to say that I'm used to getting tested on... but I'm not. I don't think I ever will be.
I felt a sharp pain in my right arm, and I heard Jonathan push a lever. "Injecting different species of animal DNA to allow shape shifting in T minus one minute," he said.
I gulped.
Stay strong, Athena. There was Persephone, her voice soft and comforting. You can get through this if you just listen to me.
I'm listening, I thought. Persephone got the ability to read minds and send messages with her mind. I only know that because we have adjacent crates.
Listen. Being freaked out only gives the adults satisfaction, Persephone reasoned. If you look calm, they're not going to bother you. If Ares would've heard me, he wouldn't have died... She sighed. Just keep calm, no matter how much they torture you. And stay with me, okay?
Persephone's voice gave me comfort, and hope.
I'm glad that it does. She really can read minds. I'll have to remember that if I survive this.
I really can read minds, she said, and you will survive this. Like I said, stay with me.
"OKAY!" I screamed aloud. Whoops, I thought.
"Starting injection procedure," said Jonathan, annoyed at my outburst. The lever was pulled again, and I felt a rush of liquid go through my body. It was incredibly cold, and it surged through my veins at top speed, going down my legs and up my back and into my brain. Keep it up, thought Persephone, but her voice was muffled.
I shut my eyes and tried thinking happy thoughts. Coconuts... pineapples... sweet smelling plumeria flowers...
Suddenly, a black, threatening storm cloud went over my imaginary paradise. I tried to take control back of my imagination, but I couldn't. The storm surged, tsunamis came over the island, flooding everything that was once so perfect, that would only exist for me in my best dreams...
"Stop the injections," I heard Jonathan say, and the liquid stopped moving so fast. "How did that make you feel?" asked Jonathan.
"Lovely, thank you," I lied. "It was like a massage. It did tickle a little bit though, towards the end."
Jonathan scoffed. "You're just trying to be brave."
"Do you expect me to be crying like a little baby?" I shot back. "Unlike you, I'm not a coward."
Jonathan was angry. "Begin the invisibility shots," shouted Jonathan. "NOW!"
Suction cups were placed all over my body: two on my temples, one on my chin, two on my ankles, two on my wrist, two on my...
"Hey!" I shouted, and the suction cup process stopped. "Don't tell me you're gonna put those on my nipples."
"Well, that's where-"
"I don't care. You are not going to touch my nipples."
"Athena, you must cooperate. Your breasts are a vital part of-"
"I don't give a crap. Get away from my nipples, you perverted asshole."
Pain seared across my cheek. "Thanks for slapping me," I said casually. "Just start the freaking tests already. I want to see how this goes."
Cassidy rolled her eyes. "Begin test one-oh-three," she commanded, and a button was pushed.
The pain was excruciating. I began to hallucinate, my thoughts began to cloud with weird colors and shapes. I felt myself begin to wilt, almost shrink. I felt my bones shifting and molding and cracking; my muscles were on fire, my lungs were being stabbed by a hundred daggers. My heart was pounding louder than a drum and breathing became more difficult.
ATHENA!
The plea seemed to echo through my body. Please, listen to me!
Persephone, I thought. I'm a goner. Stay strong. Be defiant. Work with the others. Have fun.
Athena, listen to me. Persephone's voice was firm and stubborn, just like my parents. There is no pain. You are in a place that is quiet, peaceful, a place where you will not be disturbed.
Her voice was now soothing. I felt the pain melting away, like the feeling you get after a dose of morphine probably feels. You will not be perceived of as an experiment, a freak, a weirdo. All your wishes will be granted, not the ones of other people. You will be happy, free, independent. And I will be with you, standing by your side, forever and always.
The pain was now gone entirely. I opened my eyes and noticed that the fluids were still flowing into my body. "How is she not in pain?" screamed my father.
I decided to have a little fun with them. "I," I proclaimed loudly, "am Athena. And I am immortal."
My mother's mouth opened. "You... you really are Athena now," she whispered. She turned the machine off, took off my restraints, and stroked my cheek.
I smiled devilishly. "No, I'm not," I whispered.
Her look of shock was the last thing I saw before I socked her in the nose.
