Escape

Chapter 9

I got up, holding my stomach and groaning. I was training with Briseas and Leora, and they definitely weren't going easy on me.

Leora stepped towards me, holding her palm out with inexplicable grace. How can someone be graceful while beating the crap out of a person?

"Focus, Ariey, dear. You must summon your powers and be one with them. Now," she let her hand fall in line with the other, welcoming me, "hit me with your best shot."

I centered my balance and closed my eyes, willing the power to come. But I felt nothing.

A burst of energy from Leora zapped me back to the ground. "Ariey, darling...you have to try your best, but you must be quick. No enemy is going to wait for you to will your powers."

I sighed, and groaned into my hands. "Leora, can we take a break?"

"No enemy is going to 'take a break' with you, either, darl-"

"Just give her five minutes." Briseas cut in. He had been sitting off to the side, watching the whole thing.

Leora looked over at him, and threw her hands up in defeat. "Well, alright. I'm going to get a drink at the cafeteria." She hopped off the training ring and left the room.

My eyes trailed back to Briseas, who sat watching me from the other side of the ring. He looked me over, then swiftly drew his eyes away, gazing across the room. Then he spoke, eyes still in looking away in a haze, "Your mother."

I sat down and stared at him, taking a sip of my water bottle. "Yeah...my mother..."

Briseas' eyes snapped towards mine, his pale blue eyes rustling with curiosity, "You've been told who she is, I've heard?"

I nodded.

His mouth twitched up, and a goofy grin spread across his flawless face. "She's pretty much the boss-ass bitch around Olympus."

I laughed, then quickly frowned, "Olympus?"

Briseas exhaled, a smile still dancing across his lips. He sat there, comfortably leaning against the side of the ring. His muscular arms exposed by the complementing dark blue t-shirt, and the light hitting his perfect facial features just right almost made the whole scene look like something out of a modeling magazine. He nodded, "Yeah. Olympus. It's where all of the gods live."

"Oh. Guess I have a lot to learn." I barely understand anything that the people around here talk about, and the gods know that I'm not going to be asking a ton of questions and looking more helpless than I already do. But why is that, really?

I had been locked up all that time, no one telling me anything- any of this. But what about Briseas and Leora? What had they been doing while I was getting stabbed by needles and eating grey slop?

"Briseas," I started, "What were you doing while I was at...the safe house?" I looked down at my hands, which were clasped tightly together. Pulling them apart, and still waiting for Briseas to answer, I rubbed them on my pants and kept them at my sides.

"Here...."

I looked up into stirring, hesitant blue eyes. My brows furrowed, and I shook my head. "Wait, what?"

Briseas exhaled loudly, then rearranged his sitting position that had become rigid and tense. "Here, Aria...we were here."

"We...we as in you and Leora? Both of you were here? This whole time?"

"Yes, but-"

"You were both here. Here. And I was in that nuthouse." I stood up, turning around and holding my head in my trembling hands.

I heard Briseas get up and walk towards me, "Aria, there's a reason why-"

"What is the reason, Briseas?! Is it because I didn't know who I was and they didn't know how to handle me? Because I'm sure that at one point you and Leora didn't know who you were! And what did they do for you guys? Oh, they just let you come here and be free and play around and experiment with everything and learn the truth. All while I'm strapped up in a straight jacket and under surveillance 24/7! Is that fair to you, Briseas? Is that fair to you?"

To my surprise, Briseas didn't show any sign of pity. Not even a 'no, Aria, it's not fair'. No, Briseas just stood there, arms crossed and expression resembling a kid who is being nagged at by their parent.

"Are you done now?" He said, and I let my arms fall to my sides. My face, twisted with anger and hurt, eased down to a blank stare. I guess I was kinda being a bitch. I mean, for all I know it wasn't his fault for everything.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, and Briseas nodded.

"It wasn't fair, Aria. It wasn't fair for someone who didn't know what was going on. But thing were happening and are still occurring, things that demand for you to be kept as safe as possible."

"What things?"

Briseas sighed, and walked forward, leaning against the ring next to me. "Your mother, Artemis... Well, she and her brother, Apollo, were once ordered to kill all of Niobe's children." He paused, searching my face for something.

I looked away and tried to sort through the endless piles of memories that seemed to stack up by the mention of this 'Niobe'. The woman - my mother, Artemis - she had said something about Niobe. She told someone not to let her get me. "Who is Niobe?"

"The queen of Thebes. She and another man - whom no one knows - had fourteen children. Niobe had bragged about them and made fun of Leto, Apollo, and Artemis. Leto was enraged by this, and sent her two children, Apollo and Artemis - who are twins - to kill all of Niobe's children, like I said before." He paused again, giving me time for the information to soak into my mind.

"Ok, so why was that such a big deal? Didn't Marshall say once that people get killed all the time - even god-like kin?"

"Well, yes, they do. But not many people are okay with all of their children being killed. And that's exactly what Apollo and Artemis did - they killed every single child of Niobe. Well, at least they thought they did. Recent incidents have proved that some of Niobe's children - who were probably from different fathers - managed to stay on the down-low long enough to bypass the murder mission."

"And why did all of these events have me locked up for life?"

"Because, well... Niobe, after hearing of the deaths of her children, swore vengeance on Apollo and Artemis. But a god cannot be killed, at least not permanently. So Niobe sent her flock of monster children after the kin of Apollo and Artemis. Some children of Apollo have already been found dead, but children of Artemis - there aren't any. At least there weren't. You see, Aria, Artemis is the virgin goddess of the wild, so she is not one to produce children. But somehow, for some reason she had you, and since you're the only known killable kin of Artemis, Niobe is sending storms of her monster-children down to find and kill you. And that is why you were kept in the safe house. That is why everyone took extreme measures to protect you. Your life is at risk every second, Aria. And because you're a dominant protector, your life has to be, well, protected. Do you understand?"

Damn.