In the Middle

Chapter Six

     Mavis glowered at me as we stood in line for baggage check at the airport.

     "Do we have to wait in this line?" I laughed, shaking my head.

     "Yes, Mavis." She sighed loudly.

     "Or...you could just get us past this." Mavis smiled trying to persuade me.

     "Fine. But, technically this is using my power for evil. Haven't you read any stories, Athena girl?" I grinned at Mavis as she crossed her arms, smiling.

     "Yeah, yeah, don't use your powers for 'evil' and all that fun stuff. Now let's go!" We moved out of the line, shouldering our backpacks. The journey to the front of the line was painful with people shouting obscenities the whole way. The person who was manning the baggage check gave me a look that said he wasn't in the mood for this. I just smiled brightly and told him to let us through. Luckily, my small use of charmspeak paid off and he let us through. By the time Mavis and I found our gate on the airport map, the plane was about to leave. We raced through the airport, carrying our backpacks, and getting shouted at by many people. Mavis and I made it just in time and boarded the plane. We found our seats and shoved our carry ons into the overhead compartment. I couldn't pay attention to anything but the panic I felt. Even though I had made Mavis sit in the window seat, I was still unnerved by the possibility of crashing. I was deathly afraid of heights...and falling. When the plane took off I could hardly breathe, my throat was constricted from fear and I clutched the arm rests of the seats. Mavis looked over at me.

     "Hey, you okay?" I nodded and relaxed my grip on the arm rests. I don't remember falling asleep but when I woke up, we were still on the plane. I yawned and stretched the best I could in the seat.

     "We there yet?" My vision focused and I looked to Mavis. Instead of Mavis there was a man. When I looked at him I instantly remembered my dip in the river at camp when I first arrived. He was the one who told me he owned me. Unlike, the trimmed man who I'd seen in the river, this guy was lathered in blood, an evil smile along his face. The man started laughing while he shouted, "You did this." I struggled to get out of my seat but I was held back. I screamed and struggled but it made no difference. The man kept yelling and laughing all at the same time while I was screaming and crying and losing my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut and when I opened them, Mavis was staring me in the face.

     "Starr! Starr!" She was shaking me with a concerned look on her face. I looked around frantically, accidentally whipping Mavis in the face with my ponytail. The plane was empty. My short rapid breaths quieted and became more even. Mavis now stood in the aisle with our bags. "You okay?" I nodded and wiped away my hysterical tears. Standing up, I took my bag from Mavis. I followed her down the aisle and then out of the hallway into the busy airport. When we exited the airport Mavis directed me to Annabeth's house, claiming she'd been there once before. I followed Mavis for what seemed like hours until we experienced our first San Francisco monster attack. I hurriedly opened up my backpack and grabbed the sheath of arrows and my bow. Mavis's staff formed in her hand and she looked to me yelling, "What is it?!"

     "Lamia!" I shouted back to her and fired several arrows at the monster's distorted face, which she easily deflected. The wicked unblinking eyes of the ancient woman shot fear through me. Slithering on her serpent's tail, she approached me, lashing at me with her teeth. I rolled backwards out of reach, then loaded my bow with three arrows and shot them towards the wide open eyes of the monster. As soon as I shot the arrows, the arrow heads were ablaze with Greek fire, and lit our enemie's eyes on contact. Lamia staggered, then regained her senses and charged after Mavis. Mavis twirled her staff and stuck the monster with the end of it, then summoning a tornado of fire that singed the devourer of children. I finished off the monster with two explosive arrows. A wretched scream escaped her mouth before she could crumble to dust. I put my bow on my back, making it easier to carry. The night was quickly upon us which made me even more worried. Mavis and I cut through the woods to get to Annabeth's quicker. When we were about halfway through the woods, I felt a hand on my arm. Before I could grab my bow I was being flipped onto my back. Mavis spun quickly, her staff forming in her hand. The wind had been knocked out of me and I struggled to breathe. A smile broke across Mavis's face. Her staff disappeared and she enjoyed past me.

     "Annabeth!" I finally regained my breath, and sat up. I stood slowly, and turned to face Mavis and Annabeth. Annabeth had a look of shock on her face as Mavis hugged her.

     "Mavis! What are you doing here?" She then caught sight of me and smiled apologetically. Mavis pulled away as I joined them.

     "Looking for you."

     "You found me. Now, follow me or you'll be killed by monsters."

     "Well, that was really positive." Mavis beckoned me to follow Annabeth who was quickly disappearing into the woods. I sighed and hurried to catch up. Mavis and Annabeth were already in deep conversation, so I stared up at the stars as we walked. The sky barely held any stars, us being too close to the city, but the moon was as big and bright as ever. I paused to admire it, only thinking of the moon's name. Luna. What could have possibly corrupted my sister so badly that she no longer cared about me, or mom. Although I could understand why she didn't take kindly to Aphrodite. I had only met the goddess once and it hadn't been pleasant. She immediately changed my plain shirt and jeans into a "glamorous" shirt and blouse. She had insulted all of my friends...I shouldn't go on or I would start to despise her like Luna. I snapped out of thought when I got a cold chill up my spine. I turned to see a cruel smile before the world went dark.