Outcasts of Olympus: Book 1

Chapter Six

ATHENA

Athena bit her lip nervously as she neared the amphitheater where Castor and Stella were rehearsing. The concert was tomorrow, and everyone was getting jittery. Especially Athena, though she tried hard not to show it. For some reason, what Evadne had said got to her. The same feeling that she'd had was now following her at every step, and no matter how hard she tried to dismiss it, to think of something else, it just kept bubbling back up to the surface.

Finally, it had gotten so bad that she couldn't even sit still anymore. She had to talk to someone about it. She'd never been this nervous about a tactical plan before, and she didn't really know what to about it. She had a feeling that maybe Leo was the disturbance, but she wanted to be able to trust him with this. She wanted him to mature more, though she had a sinking feeling that this wasn't going to do that in the least.

As she drew even closer to the theater, she could hear strains of a melody on the wind, Stella's silky voice echoing through the air. Despite all her worry, Athena stopped, closed her eyes, and smiled as she listened. She couldn't exactly explain why, but she'd always loved hearing Stella's voice. Something about it was like a warm blanket on a cold, rainy day. No matter how upset Athena was, all she had to do was listen to Stella sing, and she'd immediately feel a lot better.

She opened her eyes and continued across the field. When she got there, Athena peeked her head around the corner where the stage entrance was, just as Castor and Stella were gathering up their things. "Alright," she heard Stella chirp happily. "That's it. You ready to kick some ass tomorrow?"

Castor smirked. "You call singing and playing piano kicking ass?" he replied sarcastically. Stella glared at him--though Athena could see the smile in her eyes--and punched him playfully in the arm. "Okay, fine, smart ass," she said. "I mean, it's true Athena and the others will be literally kicking ass, we have to be awesome on stage so that no one notices them doing said ass kicking."

He rolled his eyes playfully, but he didn't say anything else, which meant Stella had won.

Finally, Stella noticed Athena. "Oh, hey, Athena!" Stella called. "Hey," Athena replied, inwardly remarking that she had a strange calming effect with her smile. She felt something release in her chest. It was small, but it was calming all the same.

"How's it going?" Castor asked. Athena wrinkled her nose, waving her hand back and forth, like "so-so". "I don't know... Just kind of anxious I guess..."

"Well, that's a given. I mean, I am too--we all are," Stella said, walking up to Athena while smiling softly. "But I know we can do it, especially with you on our team."

Athena smiled, blushing slightly. "Thanks..." she said slowly. "But I don't know if I made the right decision trusting Leo with all this. I mean, I want to trust him, but... I also know him like a little brother, and I'm starting to think I made a mistake here."

"He'll do just fine. Trust me."

"As smooth as sand-paper!" Castor called out sarcastically from the top of the stage. "You're not helping!" Athena called back.

Stella giggled quietly. "Look, it'll be fine, and if not--you can easily take down Ares."

Athena gave her a tiny smile, but it wasn't genuine. "I hope so," she said softly. "I don't want to know what'll happen if this goes wrong."

"No one does..." Stella whispered, her tone going cold. "I do! Leo's gonna screw us big time!" Castor called. Athena bit her lip and started backing away, turning her head to hide the tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I think I'm just gonna go," she said, her voice breaking. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh... o-ok..." Stella said, looking down. Athena looked at her once, then turned and started heading back across the field to where she and the other gods lived. She didn't want to cry in front of them. Especially Castor, who was her disciple. It wouldn't be good for him to see his mentor break down.

"Don't listen to him, Athena! We're going to get through this!" Stella called. Athena just shook her head and kept going. First Evadne, now Castor too. Maybe they were right.

Finally, she got to her room, shutting the door and locking it. She sat down on her bed, sobbing. Bubo looked over, tilting his head as if asking a question. He fluttered over, landing next to her and nuzzling her arm with his beak. Athena stroked his soft feathers, which helped a bit.

She stayed in her room for the rest of the evening. People came by to talk to her, but she simply stayed quiet and ignored them. Even Leo came by, but she especially didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to add even more fuel to her anxiety.

"Fine... I get it... More of my famous taquitos for me," he said cheerfully before his footsteps faded.

She didn't even like taquitos.