Calm before a Storm

Chapter 1

Beca sighed as she looked out the window of her adoptive father's truck. It had been a few hours since he had officially adopted her and her name that she'd had for seventy years, at least, had changed. He had told her it was simply a formality, only to be used in public and, once she turned eighteen, if she still didn't like the name she could stick with her birth name. He'd pulled her out of camp, away from Nico and their new sister Emily, and brought her to a small town called Barden. She was still shaken about the war. Her ex-boyfriend, Luke, had died at the hands of Kronos and himself, fulfilling the Great Prophecy. Then, Rachel Dare had to become oracle and spout off another prophecy. She shuddered as the words floated back through her mind.

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. 

To storm or fire the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

It had happened directly after the war, too. Many had died, including her best friend Charlie Beckendorf, who she had called Beckendork all the time. He had blown up Luke's ship, the Princess Andromeda, to save the rest of them some time. It still hurt, but the fact that his girlfriend had joined him happily had lessened the blow a slight bit. She sighed again, wondering what her brother was up to. He had severely depleted his strength in the fight, calling up skeleton after skeleton until he about collapsed. She jumped as she was brought out of her thoughts by fingers snapping under her nose. She looked up to see Nathan Mitchell, her adoptive father, waiting for her.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah." she got out of the truck and pulled her DJ equipment to her. It had been the one thing Chiron had gotten her when she had turned sixteen over the weekend of the war. He had given it to her as an apology, of sorts, for not trusting her and Nico. She dragged the equipment gently up to her new room and set it up quickly. She spun as a boy with curly red hair knocked on the door frame, holding the rest of her clothes, her sword balancing on the top of the boxes.

"Hey. I was wondering why you wanted this cheap old baseball bat. We could get you a new one, ya know?" he said, setting the boxes down on the floor with great care.

"It was my mom's and it's the only thing of her's I have." she said defensively.

"Okay. I was just asking. Where do you want me to put your stuff?" he asked, holding his hands up, palms toward her.

"It's fine. Umm, just leave it there. I'll get to it." she answered him.

"I'm Benji."

"Beca."

"Well, Beca, dinner is at seven thirty if you wanna come down and eat with us." he informed, leaving her alone with her sword and her other belongings.

"Holy Hades." Beca mumbled to herself. "This will take a while to get used to."
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Beca was woken up to someone coming into her room softly. She rolled over to see Benji, hair damp from what was probably a recent shower, setting a plate of food onto her nightstand and leaving. She sat up and stretched before looking at the time. 9:45 stared back at her from her annoying new alarm clock. She sighed and ate before curling into a ball and falling back asleep.