The Complicated Life of Emily Jones - Based off of Percy Jackson

Chapter Twelve - The Boy in the Shadows

Well, after all of that happened, more chaos erupted into my camp life. The prophecy sucked, which made everyone force themselves into a melancholy mood. How can this get worse?

Oh, it did alright. Would you care to know what happened next?

Whatever, I'll tell you anyway.

That boy in the shadows appeared again.

This time, he was at a table, sitting at his lonesome leisure. He was picking at a pomegranate and drinking something that looked like red wine...or very, very dark raspberry iced tea.

He must've caught me staring, because he instantly took his things and headed toward the Big House.

***

Me being the crazy, impulsive, ADHD demigod I am, I decided to follow him.

Yet again, me being the crazy, impulsive, ADHD demigod I am, I was caught.

Way to go, Em! You're a freakin' idiot!

Ew, why does my mind have to be such a jerk sometimes?

"What part of 'stay away' did you not fully comprehend?" the boy asked, quite irritated. He seemed to be in no such rush, so he just stood there like a stone wall. Oh my Zeus, what if he's a descendant of Thomas Jackson from the Civil War!?

"I wanted to...uh..." I had no idea how to respond to that. "I...I wanted to know what you wanted me to 'stay away' from."

"It wasn't specified for a reason, you silly child," he said as he turned to walk away. Instead, he bumped right into Chiron.

"Noel, what are you doing, picking on new campers like this?" Chiron was smiling, but had a stern tone in his voice.

"If I was picking on her, then she wouldn't have snuck up on me," the boy - Noel - said.

Chiron turned toward me. "Ms. Jones, why were you sneaking up on Mr. George?"

"Hey, don't go telling strangers my full name when I try to be mysterious!" Noel George protested. Noel George...hmm...it had a nice ring to it.

"Well, hey Noel. I'm Emily. I've never met a Noel before. Maybe a Noël, but not a Noel," I extended my hand to shake his, but he gave it a look of disgust.

"Don't touch me. I don't like being touched, especially by your kind." The 'your' was strange, since we were both demigods...

"Okay..." I was very confused. "Then, uh, bye, I guess." I started to turn around and walk back to my cabin, but I heard Chiron begin to say something to Noel. I saw a strawberry bush and flung myself into it. Eavesdropping wasn't really my style, but hey, this might've been important.

I heard Chiron ask, "Do you have any idea to whom Rachel's prophecy is pertaining to? We haven't had one this severe since Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, and their friends came along."

"I have an idea, but I'm not liking it too much. I'm not sure I even like who I think it's referring to..." Noel said. His voice was shaky...sort of uneasy.

"Well, come along and we'll discuss it with Mr. D and Rachel." They headed back toward the Big House. I was about to follow them, when someone tugged on my shoe.

"Hey, Em! Why are we hiding in a bush?" Sammy crawled next to me and picked a strawberry to gnash on while we talked.

"Sammy, I'm on a mission, and I can't do this with you getting strawberry juice on my nose!" I giggled and wiped off what she accidentally spat at me. Then, I too picked a strawberry and enjoyed its sweet, marvelous taste.

Then and there, just talking with Sammy, I forgot what I was planning to do. I felt like we were back in the lunchroom at school debating over who would die on the next episode of the Walking Dead.

Gods, why can't my life be less complicated now?