𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐀 | Unveiling, uncovering. The Greek notion of truth.
Esmerelda knew everything was going to change the second her super nice foster father suddenly turned into a snake monster and tried to eat her. She just never expected for all of...
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▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER ELEVEN ▬▬▬▬▬
"DID YOU HEAR?" ALABASTER MUTTERED to Esmerelda as they prepped for their archery class.
"Hear what?" She replied, not looking at his as she focused on notching her arrow correctly. She started aiming at the bright red bulls-eye on the target.
"Lord Zeus' lightning bolt was stolen."
Esmerelda had released her arrow, but his words shocked her so much that she completely missed the target, and the arrow soared over to the trees instead.
She looked up at her half-brother with wide, disbelieving eyes. "What?"
He nodded, looking absolutely serious. "People have been talking about it. Haven't you noticed how tense camp's been lately? Lord Zeus is putting the blame on his brother Poseidon."
"Wait a second," she breathed out, her mind working a mile a minute as she pieced everything together. "The quest Percy went on—the stolen object—it was the bolt?"
"Yeah. No surprises, Lord Zeus isn't happy with him right now either. I heard that if Percy doesn't find the bolt by the summer solstice, the gods'll wage World War III. They're already picking sides. And so have the other campers." He explained, his expression grim as he looked around the other campers, as if not sure on who to trust anymore.
"The summer solstice is on June twenty-first. That's only three days away." She bit her lip, her stomach churning with worry. If the gods were to break out into another war... Well, it'd be catastrophic. Demigods would die, mortals would die... Everything would die.
"It's like the Trojan War all over again," Alabaster fretted. "Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo siding with Poseidon, while Athena's with Zeus. I don't know where mother stands on this, but I'm pretty sure she's not fond of Zeus at the moment."
"You know, this kind of explains why everyone's treating the Athena kids so poorly. I thought people were still mad about our win in capture the flag, but then I noticed our own teammates being harsh on them..." She trailed off. "I just hope Percy finds that bolt soon. I feel bad that the safety of the world is resting on his shoulders."
"Same here, but I wouldn't want to be him." Alabaster said, then finally prepared his arrow. He shot, but was a few inches away from the center. "Ugh. Missed."
Mind buzzing with thoughts, Esmerelda tried her best to shove all her worries away as she readied another arrow. Just when she was about to release it, she heard a loud yelp.
"ETHAN!" A familiar voice growled.
Esmerelda's arms lowered and she groaned. Not again, she thought. It was Caleb Warring, from the Ares cabin. She had the displeasure of meeting him during her first game of capture the flag, where he had cruelly taunted her and Ethan about their lack of godly parents. Needless to say, he and Ethan made a rivalry that day.
