The Daughter of Apollo

Chapter Twenty-One: Missing

Chapter Twenty-One-Missing

We sat down in a booth at a local café. I kept my hood up, and kept glancing over my shoulder for any signs of my brother or 'friends'. I looked Faith and Tristan in the eyes. "Tell me exactly what happened," I kept my voice quiet enough so no one could overhear, but loud enough for us to hear each other.

Faith took a deep breath. "Well, we'd been told great stories about our parents-"

"You're lying," I said instantly. She wouldn't look me in the eye. Faith growled in frustration.

"I hate it when you do that," She mumbled, then picked up her story. "Okay, here's the real thing. There's apparently an up-coming war, and it left my mom in a terrible mental state. She had gotten better before me and my older brother and sister showed up, but for the longest time, if my dad left her alone for a few minutes, she was hysterical."

"How do you know this if you weren't around yet?" I questioned suspiciously.

"You know how I said she got better? She's gotten worse as we grew older. Attachment and love for us drove her back into the mental block. We came back to hopefully leave behind something to get rid of it, without coming into actual contact with her or her knowing who we really are if we do."

"You realize that for this particular mission, you require getting in contact with her?" I asked rolling my eyes at the fifteen year old in front of me.

"That's what I've been trying to tell her!" Tristan said, using his hands to throw emphasis.

She smacked his shoulder. "I was trying to think of a plan with a way that we didn't have to!"

I shook my head as I glanced over my shoulder again. I saw the door open and a flash of blonde before I turned back around and tried to blend with the booth.

Faith looked at me curiously. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I answered slowly, pulling my hood over my face. I silently added, "For now."

"What's wrong?" Tristan asked, suddenly on alert.

"Nothing," I answered quickly. "It's just right now....Jaycee Carter has run away from the world. Demigod and mortal."

They both looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Are you serious?!" Faith demanded. "You never told us!"

I looked at them, "What? It's not like I'm the most famous person out there. Who cares if one girl out of a billion people ran away."

Tristan shook his head. "Not in our time. You're pretty well-known. Author, you know. You sing a little too, while your best friend plays guitar."

Anger flashed in my eyes. "We're still friends?!"

"Yeah...?" Tristan looked confused as Faith hit him upside the head.

"You're not supposed to tell her! And you've spent way too much time with Uncle Leo!" She scolded. Tristan raised his hands up in defeat. I checked over my shoulder once more, seeing a two mops of brown enter through the door, along with some gold. I cursed, recognizing the trap before it was played.

"I got to get out of here as secretly and quietly as possible. Any ideas?"

The two shook their heads and I cursed again. This was not good. There was no back exit, and if I went out the front they'd be sure to see me and intercept. Might as well just stay put then and pretend I'm not here. Too bad it didn't work.

"There she is!" Meg sounded relived.

"Thank the gods," Lana sighed as they ran over, the Stolls behind them.

When they reached us, Meg pulled me up out of my seat and into a hug. I scowled as she did so.

"We were so worried about you," Meg whispered in my ear. She pulled away and wiped at her eyes quickly, and I realized that she'd been crying. I gave her a confused look.

"Why're you crying?" I asked. Connor's jaw dropped.

"Why is she crying?! Dude! You freaking ran away and wouldn't come in contact with them! You didn't even run away to Camp! And-who're they?" Connor stopped his rant to point at the two people in the booth across from me. Faith looked me in the eye and silently pleaded me not to tell them the truth.

"These are my...friends, I guess," I answered slowly. "This is Faith and her boyfriend Tristan."

Travis leaned over and whispered, "Demigods?"

I nodded. Lana shook her head. "Do we really care right now? We've got Jaycee back!"

I frowned. I didn't want to be 'back' as Lana had put it. What's the point in being 'back' and not feeling comfortable anymore?

Lana's phone beeped and she pulled it out of her pocket, looking at the screen quickly then staring at me with horror filled eyes.

"The apartment's been ransacked...and your family is nowhere to be seen."