The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 59--I Learn About Jealousy

The Chaos soldiers were pissed. I mean, if my leader was on the ground out cold, I'd be pissed as well. The five of them charged at Aridne without a second thought.

Unfortunately, Aridne was even more pissed.

She charged at them twice their speed.

Before they could react—and before Liam and I could stop her—she was already close enough to fight back. She dodged two strikes, parried a stab, and then slammed the flat of her blade into a soldier's helmet hard enough to dent it. 

He didn't stand a chance. His limp body went flying, knocking two of his comrades to the ground. 

Aridne spun to face the rest of the soldiers. The two of them hesitated upon seeing the fire in her eyes—but that's all that she needed. Within a second, she disarmed them. Then she grabbed their shoulders and slammed their heads together. They fell like dominoes.

Meanwhile, the remaining two soldiers were on their feet. Well, they were trying to be. Only, it wasn't that easy to slip out from underneath a full grown man wearing heavy iron armor when you were also in bulky protection. All Aridne had to do was walk over there and give them a good couple of smacks before they too lay limp on the ground. 

Within half a minute, Aridne had disassembled an entire squad of Chaos soldiers. She can't be a regular soldier, can she? With this much raw talent, she should be famous—and yet, I didn't even know her name a month ago.

"I'm going to drag these guys into the bushes," Aridne said, the rage subsiding from her eyes. "Pretend this never happened. Hopefully, when they wake up, they'll have learned not to mess with you priestesses ever again. However, if anyone asks questions, tell them that a rabid wolf snuck up from behind them or something."

Daphne and the priestesses just nodded. They seemed to be in awe of Aridne's fighting prowess. It seemed like defending themselves from the soldiers had never crossed their mind. Those guys crumpled like paper. Were they weak . . . or was Aridne too strong?

"Dude," Liam whispered to me as Aridne grabbed Elda by the foot. "You got to make a move."

I looked around, confused. "They're all unconscious."

Liam waited until Aridne disappeared with Elda's body behind a bush. "I don't mean fighting, you moron. Make a move on Aridne."

"Aridne?" I spluttered out. I was so surprised that I forgot to control my volume. 

The priestesses looked at me curiously, and the girl in question peeked into sight. "Yeah, Percy?"

"N-nothing," I quickly said. "One of them sneezed, and I thought he was awake. Though as it turns out, people can sneeze while unconscious."

Aridne rolled her eyes as she came back and grabbed the second fallen body. "Well, tell me if something actually important happens, okay?" Then she disappeared again.

Liam lowered his voice even more than he had previously. "C'mon, what's stopping you? You like her and she likes you . . ."

"It's not Opposite Day. Who're you lying to, bro?"

"So you don't like her?"

I struggled with my words as I saw Liam's triumphant smile. Yes, I might have had a tiny crush on Aridne ever since I locked eyes with her during our first meeting. However, it wasn't something that I was going to admit out loud—it was too embarrassing. Though I wasn't going to lie to my best friend.

Additionally, that would be cheating on my girlfriend. 

Well, honestly, I don't know if I could call her that. Ever since our fight, N and I hadn't met for more than a month. I wasn't sure if she was still giving me the cold shoulder—or if she'd completely severed our relationship all together.

Either was equally likely with immortals, and I didn't have the energy to think about it. I'd already worried enough about N. 

So I just ignored the first half of the sentence. "She does not like me. Well, unless you count the fact that she gives me the cold shoulder whenever I try to converse with her about something unrelated to the mission—then yeah, she's head over heels for me." 

Liam rolled his eyes at the sarcasm oozing out of my sentence. "You can't look at the short term, Percy. Everyone has emotions—and sometimes they go haywire. Instead, you got to take of the less noticeable stuff—the unspoken actions. For example: the mission. You didn't ask her to come, right? She decided to follow us on her own. That's something you do to protect the ones you love."

"Or that just means you're dumb," I countered. "Maybe you're sick of your boring routine and decide to stick out on an adventure. But then you realize that maybe your repetitive lifestyle was the best place for you after all. Then your interactions with your friends sour as you realize that you've ruined your life for good—that there's no coming back from becoming Public Enemy Number One."

"See, Jackson, that's where you're wrong. If Aridne was like you said she is, she would've handed our butts to those Chaos soldiers without blinking. Instead, she fought them—only after than pretty girl started hitting on you, might I add."

"I'd get pretty irritated too if my enemy started flirting with my friends."

"Not irritated. Livid." Liam grinned suggestively. "C'mon. I've never seen Aridne more disturbed that she was today. Almost as if she was . . . jealous."

Jealous? But before I could ask anymore questions, Aridne appeared again. "Are you guys going to help or stand there with your mouths open like dumb fish?"

"If I was a fish, I'd be the smartest one to have ever lived," Liam retorted. He stepped forwards, leaving me alone with my racing thoughts.