CursEd

Something in the Air

"She’s been here a week and she still hasn’t been claimed." Annabeth complained. "And I have no clue as to who her godly parent might be. She hasn't spoken a word since she got here."

"She’s an interesting creature, I'll give her that." Markus replied, "if only there was a way to make her trust us..."

"Not us," Annabeth sighed, "she practically yelps every time we come near. It probably has to do with our mother, she can’t stop staring at the eyes. All of our siblings as well."

The girl was a few paces away washing her clothes in front of the garage wearing a tank top and some sweat pants. She was so mysterious and not just in the fact that she was probably the only girl Markus knew that could still look hot in sweats, but because of her attitude. Every time somebody walked by her she looked up, smiled, and waved. Some boys coming back from archery tried chatting her up but since she wasn't speaking, they gave up. Markus was glad when they'd left; he didn't like how they'd smiled at her and watched as she wrung out her jeans.

There was a loud explosion and a bright light when Markus was suddenly blown backwards by a wave of heat. When the yellow spots faded and his ears stopped ringing, he sat up and surveyed his surroundings. The opening of the garage was smoking, most likely a machine gone wrong. Annabeth was next to him also having been blown back, and she had a cut on her right arm but otherwise looked fine.

"You alright?" Markus checked. She sat up and put a hand to her wound but also put out a thumbs-up, "you?"

"I’m alright," he confirmed, but after looking out at the clearing he wasn't so sure. "Where's the girl?!"

Annabeth looked out as well and noticed that the soaking clothes were the only proof that the girl had been there a moment before. She shook her head when another boom came from the smoking garage and three figures emerged looking blackened and burned. Two were dropped just in the clear while the third ran back into the black. Markus told Annabeth to stay put and keep pressure while he ran down to check on the two that had been pulled out.

They were Hephaestus kids, a boy and a girl; they had burns along their arms but otherwise seemed ok. They were coughing so hard Markus was tickled to join in but resisted the urge and started tending to their wounds. "What happened?"

"Lucas....machine," the boy coughed. "Exploded...next to the furnace...girl...saved us..."

"What?" Markus wasn't sure he was hearing it right. The girl that hardly knew anybody and showed up out of nowhere, had gone into a burning building to save some Hephaestus kids? Sure enough, she came out yet again supporting two more kids that had to be twice her size. Her face was black with soot and her clothes were burned through in some places. Markus tried not to look at the girls exposed middle but it was pretty hard. She dropped off the coughing boys and, before anyone could stop her, ran back to the garage again.

After a while the flames died down and healers were helping to carry the burned kids up to the big house. The girl was nowhere to be seen. The second that an uninjured Hephaestus kid gave the ‘all clear’, Markus bolted into the destroyed workshop. Everything was either black or still flaming but Markus only had eyes for the girl.

He spotted a tan hand under a large, scorched cabinet and his heart turned to ice.

"No." He ran up and tugged on the exposed arm but sat back when there was no immediate response. How could he have let anything happen to her? She was a guest here, and shed given up her life to save strangers. They didn't even know how to decorate her shroud.

Markus jumped three feet when there was a scraping sound next to him and the arm moved. Another hand appeared and helped to pull shoulders and eventually a head into view. The girl looked confused at first but then smiled when she saw Markus. He was so happy he didn't care but to pull her up and hold her close in his arms. She didn't fight him but she didn't seem exactly pleased to be in a strange boys arms; especially when he didn't immediately let go.