The New Demigods

Chapter 2: Awoken

I woke up with an excruciating headache and my body felt too heavy to lift. I forced my eyes to open for a brief second and saw burning torches and the night sky. I let my eyes rest for a while before I forced them open again to see two figures standing over a pedestal that propped up an unconscious body across from me. Between my long blinks I watched as they moved from the pedestal to another identical one beside it that supported another body. This time I heard them speak.

"This is the girl who will share our burden," spoke the first figure. I blinked again, and the strength required to open my eyes again felt like it was too much. Out of fear of blacking out again, I kept my eyes closed and focused my strength on listening.

"I don't like this, Thea. I want to set them free," begged the second figure.

"I know it's hard, but all we can do is prepare them for what they must go through," Thea responded calmly.

"Her story is so grim, I can't stand the thought of adding to it. Have you looked?" Asked the second figure. There was a pause as she waited for a response. "Go on!" My curiosity sparked and I strained to open my eyes to watch as one of the figures brought her hand to the body on the pedestal. As soon as there was contact a light emitted from their direction that was too much for my half-opened eyes. Thea let out a powerful gasp and I heard what sounded like someone collapsing. "Tragic, isn't it?" The second figure proposed quietly.

"Yes, but that doesn't concern us." Thea said, as I heard her get back on her feet. "Don't try to change things that are out of your control, Acacia. You'll only get hurt." There was no hint of a threat in her voice, rather she sounded sympathetic.

I heard their footsteps as they approached another pedestal and I could tell they were getting closer to me.

"What a waste of such a beautiful youth," Thea exclaimed.

"I'm sure that was Aphrodite's thoughts as well," Acacia added. The name Aphrodite resonated with me, but when I tried to remember why, the pressure on my brain seemed to increase. In efforts to stay conscious I left the reason unknown, but not before letting out a whimper from the pain. The room fell so silent that at first I thought I had lost my battle to stay awake, the pain I felt assured me otherwise. I heard footsteps coming towards me.

"Acacia, no!" Thea scolded in an urgent whisper, the footsteps stopped.

"Are you scared of what a departed teenager will do to me?" She asked confidently. What did she mean by departed? I couldn't possibly be dead if I was experiencing this much pain. Right on cue, the pressure increased with my thoughts and I let out another whimper. Acacia's footsteps resumed, this time she seemed hurried by my pain.

"You know that's not who I worry about hurting you. We shouldn't even be up here, we could get in big trouble." Thea warned. This time I heard no hesitation in Acacia's footsteps, until she was so close that I could feel her breath against my face as she leaned over me.

"It was you, wasn't it?" She asked. I coerced my eyes open to see the blurred outline of Acacia's face. The light from the torches in the distance put a heavenly glow around her curly hair. I watched as the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile and wished I could see enough details to look into her eyes. "Now is no time for you to be awake, my prince. Return to your slumber, so we can meet." Her words spilled over me and things began to feel distant again.

"Can we go now?" Thea asked impatiently, her voice more like an echo in my head. I could feel myself slowly slipping back out of consciousness and had little energy left to fight it.

"I suppose we can wait to meet the rest of our saviours." Acacia gave in, turning to leave with Thea. The thought of Acacia leaving me had a bigger impact than I thought it would. She was the first one to acknowledge my existence in who knows how long and she seemed to have a basic understanding of what was happening to me.

I used all of my strength to open my eyes and reach for her. As my hand wrapped around her arm, she turned to me with a look of horror on her face. Before I could fully register her face, her eyes began to glow with the intense light I had formerly seen when Thea had come in contact with the resting figure across the room.