The Beginning of the End (J. Grace)

II: Elara realises she's stupid (not for the first time)

Elara's PoV:

What's your embarrassing story?

Here's Elara's: she got so caught up in a race with a boy that she fell off a cliff.

Yup, you read that right.

She was thrilled and beyond relieved to be back home, all of that time away was draining and anxiety-educing. Sure, Phoenix is a great guy, but she was really home sick.

When she got home, however, she wasn't expecting her best friend to have found some answers and a hot boy (we're ignoring the fact that he smells like compost and that his hair was the messiest thing in the world: maybe he went on a very windy walk and got in a fight with a monster?).

Anyway, she's getting distracted. You don't want to hear all about how she thinks this boy is hot, no, you want to read about the embarrassment she had to face.

So, she took off with extraordinary speed and was running on air itself and was just hovering over the pathways. This was the only time she could feel free. Ever since Luke joined Kronos, she's always had this gaping hole that cannot be filled because the betrayal hit her harder than it did anyone else: she was his sister, after all, all of the Hermes kids felt it.

She could hear Jason behind her, flying through the air, but he wasn't quite on her tail, so she decided to make things harder for him and turn it up a notch to go faster, past the lava wall and to the firework beach. Nothing could stop her. Nothing.

The faster she went, the more she felt like she could run away from all of her troubles. It was exhilarating. It was freeing. It was dangerous, but it was fun.

"Elara, look where you're going!" She heard him shout from behind as the cliff over the beach's crystal-clear waters came into view. She and Annabeth used to jump off it when Percy was at camp because they knew he'd catch them with his Poseidon powers. That was brilliant.

However, going at this cliff at such a speed that she couldn't stop herself soon enough and at such a momentum that she'd surely throw herself off the cliff wasn't so brilliant.

That's what Jason would be thinking. Not Elara, though, she was planning on running right off it and continue running on the air, going down and around to the golden sands of the beach.

How the next thing happened, she did not know, but the air around her solidified when she was just about to make the leap and became so heavy that it stopped her running, starting her falling.

The wind was whistling through her ears and not in a good way. As she tumbled down, she wondered if she could pretend to be dead when she hit the water as a joke or if that would be too extreme.

Before she could decide, a pair of muscular, strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist and held her securely, halting her fall and sending a sudden jolt up through her body.

"FOR HERMES' SAKE!" She cried, trying to wriggle free from those strong arms, but whoever it was just held her tighter.

She was pulled against a rock-hard chest and a disgusting scent entered her nostrils, making her slightly gag. It must be Jason, the boy who's seemingly allergic to showers.

"Why would you want to jump off a cliff?" He asked incredulously, flying up to where the others were assembled on the top of the cliff.

"I wouldn't have fallen; I can run on air." She huffed and slumped in his arms to make herself heavier, but he just laughed and put her down on the top of the cliff. Elara looked at Annabeth and pouted "He's being mean." She complained babyishly, folding her arms across her chest.