HOUSE OF THE RISING TIDES [PJO] BOOK I

one | do it for the vine | t. dameron

{ cause im too lazy to actually put the gifs where they're usually supposed to be oof}

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It takes a Matthew Maestas half dragging, half carrying a squealing Jaimie—whatever the hell his pompous last name is—and yelling over his shouts to ask, "You see that too right?" For me to think hey maybe I'm not going insane and everyone else is literally frozen in place and—are those grapevines growing on the ground?

I definitely know I lost it for sure when the said grapevines start twisting and turning themselves to form into the words of, "Oh would you quit staring and follow the trail! You know how hard it is to cast these?"

Granted, the letters looked misshapen and quite ugly, but I got the message.

"You know, Hansel and Gretel weren't exactly the smartest kids in the village,"  Matt murmurs next to me.

"I'm open to ideas, but this is all we g—"

"You two can't seriously be considering doing what they say! We need to get help!"

Behind us Jaimie look absolutely frantic, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't at least a little amused at his wrinkled shirt and the frantic look in his eyes

"Oh yeah?" I reply back, letting a little smile fashion on my lips, "help from who exactly?"

To his credit though, he did put up quite the argument, but it wasn't until I pointed out that, "Matt and I are going. Now, you're welcome to say here and try to figure out a way to singlehandedly unfreeze everyone else."

After that, Jaimie let out a sign and threw his arms up in defeat, "lead the way then, Sacagawea."

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Together we walked along the halls of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, careful not to step on the vines. We learned that when Matt's foot fell on top of a leaf, a volley of grapes shot off the vines and straight to Matt, who desperately tried to shield his face from being pelted by small fruits.

Along the way the very much alive vines twisted and curled itself next to the three of them, making weird hissing noises whenever Matt's foot fell a little too close for its liking. It also snaked its way up the walls where it graffitied several paintings, and I was pretty sure at one point it curled itself into a frozen student's purse and look out twenty dollars. It wasn't that bad though, the vines moved towards the statues of Greek and Roman figures and covered up their inappropriate parts.

I stopped in my tracks when the vines swept itself under the door that led to the balcony. I turned on my heels and gave the boys a reluctant smile.

"So," I awkwardly cleared my throat, "I obviously didn't think this through very carefully—"

"Don't feel too bad, you're still probably getting in the hang of thinking."

"We don't know who—or what— is behind those doors," I continued, ignoring Jaimie's jab.

"That's how doors generally work yunno. That's why you gotta open 'em."

Behind me an unfamiliar voice spoke, and I spun myself right back into the direction of it. Somehow, the door had opened by itself to reveal four other kids that I had never seen in my life.

There was a girl I did know though, Xitlaly, if I remembered correctly. I had her in world history and one time she lent me her homework to copy because I had forgotten to do mine, so she was cool in my book.

The rest however, I had absolutely no idea who they were.

"Come on no need to be shy!" One of the strangers called out. Giving them a toothy grin, he gestured for them to come closer. He didn't look like he had any reason to harm them, but no one missed the way the vines that had been leading them, folded it self onto his hand and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Slowly, the three of us shuffled our way a few feet in front of the small group.

"Just in advance, I'd like to apologize for Ysa's behavior," says a girl who looks too much like Ysa to not be related.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. My presence is a gift from the gods themselves."

The girl scoffed and muttered, "I guess the gods are shitty gift givers then."

"Alright that's enough," says the third person, the same voice that called out to them first, "Lyanna just give 'em the damn pamphlets."

Shrugging off her backpack she pulled open the zippers and dug through it, she let out a triumphant "aha!" when she finally found the pamphlets one of the boys had mentioned. By then I was just as confused as a freshman on their first day, so I had graciously took the pamphlets that Lyanna had handed to them.

It was a thin, folded piece of paper that had a Stockphoto picture—I knew it because the words: SHUTTERSTOCK were right smack dab in the middle—of white kids and one black kid for diversity of course, smiling in front of a large cabin.

Matt, who hadn't said anything up to this moment, read the title aloud on top, "So you've just found out you're a demigod!"

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i thrive off constructive criticism jus sayin;)
-maria

maria keeps bullying me cause I got the world anal in my name rip
-analynn