Blood of Earth

t w o

I stood on a mountain, its peak far above the ground. The air was cold and thin. My breath frosted into a cloud as a woman appeared in front of me, her arms outstretched compellingly. Her hair fell past her waist in curled tendrils of brown. An emerald tunic hung off her shoulders and stretched to her unclad toes, clasped over one shoulder with gold. The same rare material encircled her waist in an X. Her eyes changed color, swirling in an infinite artist's palette. I knew this woman as Grandmother, but most knew her as-

"Gaea," came my startled hiss. The air in front of me fogged as I exhaled sharply. She raised her arms toward me and smiled mockingly.

"Granddaughter!" She called in a dreamy voice. Suddenly, she was right in front of me, her eyes vivid against her dark skin, her lashes long. "Such a long time, I haven't seen you. I would almost think you were...avoiding me." She sounded so innocently upset that almost I was fooled. Almost.

"What do you want?" I spat at her, my eyebrows creased in anger. She cradled my head with her hand, forcing my head forward as her eyes glittered maliciously.

"Kill them. Kill the seven, and we shall rule this puny planet, Granddaughter. The stars have foretold this for millennia. Kill them, and you shall have your reward."

"Never!" I cried, stepping backward. There was no ground, only air as I fell to my death, tumbling further into darkness as one word careened down with me, bouncing around my skull. "Soon..."

I dropped to the ground. A boy stood in front of me, taller and strong, with muscles slightly defined in his tan, lean arms. His honey-toned hair was cropped short, and his eyes sparkled gold in the sun. A scar marked him from his eye down to his unnaturally cruel grin. This was Luke Castellan, but all I saw was my father.

"Maia, you've been a naughty girl," Kronos crooned, stalking forward. In his hand, he swung his scythe, its curved blade the same color as his eyes, as if it was as heavy as a feather. "Running away from home, what was I supposed to think?" He struck the ground with the butt of his scythe angrily, and it rippled.

"Tartarus has never been my home," I growled. "It has been my prison, and I won't let its chains ever touch me again!" I clutched my necklace, willing this moment to freeze, but Kronos still ambled towards me like he had all the time in the world.

"Foolish girl," he snarled, his face gleaming under Luke's, a faint blur of what it used to be. "You could have been the empress of this world, but you chose the wrong side." He brought his scythe against the ground again, and a flurry of images flew through my mind. Nico, smiling at an unknown blonde boy, Luke, talking with a spiky-haired girl with startling blue eyes, torn clothing, and messily wrapped ankle, Gaea, facing three teenagers in a dusty underground room, and me, bringing a sword to a dark-haired boy's heart.

"Never," I rasped, sinking through the ground as this pictures of a prophesied future pulled me under. My future was set in stone, I couldn't change it, I despaired in my mind. But you can choose which stone is your future, I resolved. I rushed at Luke/Kronos and wrenched the scythe away from him, gripped it closer to the blade, and sunk it into my chest. I crumbled to the floor in a pile of earth, and the last thing I saw was my father, glaring at me.

"Sounds like Sleeping Beauty's waking up," a sarcastic voice stated, as I burst forward. I was enveloped in thin, starched sheets. A bed lay under me, one in the dozen or so that lined the walls.

"Where in Hades am I?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes and reaching for my hair. It was a tangled rat's nest, so I left it alone.

"Camp Half-Blood," a familar voice answered, low and throaty. I surged out of my bed with my fist clenched, but the sarcastic one held me down.

"Nico."