Calm before a Storm

Chapter 3

Stacie's POV

Stacie got woken up by a scream of fear and agony and she shot up, instantaneously alert. The brunette looked over and saw Beca tossing and turning in her bed, little whimpers of "mom" and "Beckendork" being repeated in soft cries. She slipped out of the covers and crouched down next to her. It must have been the New York War her dad had told her about that had happened over three years ago. As a child of Aphrodite, he'd said, you deserve to know that your siblings and their friends are fighting for your freedom. Looking at Beca now, Stacie knew she'd been in that war, and it obviously had left its toll on her. In the last week of school we'd had, she hadn't even seen her sleep more than two hours. She shot up with a scream and whipped around violently for a few seconds before focusing on Stacie.

"Sorry, Stace. I didn't mean to wake you up." She mumbled. "I know you have your bio quiz tomorrow."

"It's fine, Beca. I know how bad the nightmares can get. Believe me." 

"How?"

"I'm assuming, by the sword of yours under the bed, that you're a half-blood. A powerful one too." she nodded. "Well, my mom's Aphrodite."

She gaped for a second before responding. "My dad's Hades." 

"Not bad, Mitchell. How bad was that war?"

"Really bad. We lost a sister of yours and her boyfriend, plus countless others." Beca mumbled.

"And your mom?"

"Died when I was fifteen. Cause Zeus exploded the house." She answered shortly.

"Sorry." Stacie whispered. Beca rolled over and closed her eyes. She slowly got up and went back to bed, glancing over at Beca. She was asleep, her breathing even and deep, but her face wasn't peaceful. It was set in a frown. Stacie sighed and fell asleep.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Beca's POV

Beca groaned as she rolled over, her mind running through her conversation with Stacie from the night before. She got up and pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts before strapping her sword to her hip and leaving the dorm. Stacie had long since left for her bio-engineering class she had early mornings. Beca jogged around campus, not really paying attention to where she was going because her mind was going over what Stacie had said the night before. She had said her mom was Aphrodite. How did she know if she'd never been to camp? Beca slowed down and stopped next to a bench. She could feel someone's eyes on her, but couldn't tell where they were coming from. She unsheathed her sword and pivoted around. Her surroundings were empty aside from the birds. Suddenly, a stout black girl with her hair in a dyed red military cut rush through the bushes. The girl's eyes widened at the sight of Beca and her sword.

"Woah. Didn't know I got the stab-first-ask-questions-later treatment." the girl commented.

"Huh?" Beca asked, stupidly.

"Uhh, kid, you're holding a sword. A wicked sharp, three foot long, sword." the girl pointed to her left hand, where her sword sat comfortably.

"You can... you can see it?" Beca rasped in shock.

"Yeah? Is that normal?" the girl challenged.

"Most people I meet can't. There are very few who can that aren't like me." Beca mumbled.

"I'm Cynthia Rose, by the way." the girl offered, holding out her hand.

"Beca Mitchell." Beca said, shaking it. A Fury crashed through the bushes across the street and leered at her. Cynthia backed behind Beca.

"What is that?!" the girl asked with fear.

"A Fury." Beca answered. "Usually, they don't bother me. This one's clearly upset about something, cause it's not going away." Beca took a few steps away from Cynthia Rose toward the Fury, brandishing her sword in front of her.

"για έλα.*" She taunted. The Fury growled with, well, fury and charged. Beca ducked and slashed with her sword. The monster screeched as it was reduced to golden dust.

"How'd you do that?" Cynthia Rose asked, shaking with fear, but awe in her voice.

"My sword's specially designed to take care of things like them." Beca answered. 

"Well, I will see you later, Beca Mitchell. Hope you don't run into anything else like that." Cynthia called as she walked away. Beca sheathed her sword and continued running in the direction she had been before.

________________________________________________________________________________

A.N. Any comments and concerns are accepted. Let me know if you have any ideas for this.

*bring it on.