Children of the Lost Ruler- Ghost Goddesses Book One

All The Gods' Children Have Trust Issues

Last night proved to be less boring than I’d hoped.  I’d decided to let the vets take the wheel for two reasons.  One: They could be kinda jerks about being right, and two: I was honestly emotionally exhausted. Crazily enough, though, I was always recharged by chaotic things, so the little shenanigan that Melaena and I pulled energised me instead of draining me.
I didn’t go back to sleep that night.  I pulled out my old non-wifi receiving mp3 and jammed out while I waited for people to wake up.  Not like I wanted to sleep, anyways.  The little time I did, my dreams were plagued with images of Larissa.
I wrapped my arms around my knees, thinking.  Why would he get me? Why would he pay attention to my existence now?  Why did he suddenly care?  Even with Toxic Valentine blasting through my headphones, I couldn't puzzle it out.
The confusion made me want to scream.  The trip to the Underworld should prove to be a welcome distraction.

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    I was the last person the people checked on that morning.  They found me sitting in the corner, patting the rhythm to Cinderblock Garden on my knees.  “Good morning, Laraline,” Will greeted.
“Oh, we’re using oxymorons now? Then I suppose I should tell you about how awfully nice you’re being.”
Annabeth walked in behind him.  “How’re you doing today, Lara?”
I shrugged.  “Ready to go explore the land of the dead, I guess.  My music’s charged and ready, so I am, too.”
Percy gawked at me.  “How’re you not attracting monsters?”
I smirked.  “I have ways, Kelpy.”
    He glared at me, but I ignored it.  I looked past him, seeing the shadowy blob that could only be Melaena.  I grabbed my stuff.  “When are we leaving?”
    Leo’s turn to stare.  “Um, breakfast?”
    “If that’s what you want, Hot Pocket.”  I could imagine that Mel was laughing at some of my nicknames.
We went down to the mess hall to eat before leaving.  I shoved a couple of things into my mouth before going to the shadows in the corner.  “Melaena.  We need to talk before we go.  We’ve got a while before they’re done, so please?”
    She let down a small amount of shadows, so I could see her slightly.  “Fine.  What?”
    “Not here.  It needs to be more private than that.”
    I could almost feel her eye roll.  Revealing herself completely, she grabbed my wrist and started walking.  We ended up walking down to the river, and walked along the banks.
    “Okay.  So, what in the world is so earth-shattering that we needed to come down here?”
    “Our prophecy.  I was thinking about it last night.  Their prophecy,” I started, pointing back to the mess over my shoulder, is different than ours, yes?”
    “Yes.  Your point?”
    “Melaena, if all eleven of us go, it’ll be bad luck.  We need to split up.  You and I need to go and figure things out, and they need to go do the same.  Nine is a multiple of three.  They’ll be fine.”
    She considered my words for a moment, seemingly unconvinced.
    “We might find Dad faster this way, Melaena.  We both know that it’ll be better with our combined Underworld abilities.  Please, let’s just try it.  If it doesn’t work, we can regroup.”
    “Fine.  Do we tell them?”
    “I think we have to. They might not go without us.”
    She nodded, recovering herself in shadows.  We walked back up to the mess, where the other demis were waiting anxiously.  “Go,” I called out to them.  “You guys go.  Trust me, this is a better way.  It’s safer to go in a group that’s a multiple of three, and y’all have more experience than Melaena and I.  We’ll regroup here in two days.”
    They looked skeptical.  I looked to the blob next to me.  Her shadows dropped, and she was glaring at them.  “Laraline’s right.  Go.  We have something to take care of.”
    Kelpy opened his mouth to speak.  “What kind of--” I cut them off, shadowing them to the banks of the Styx.
       “I wasn’t kidding,” I growled, before shadowing back to where Melaena was waiting.  I took a move out of her playbook, covering myself in shadows, and extending it so our shadows combined and merged.  I could see her clearly for the first time.  She didn’t notice at first, so I got a good look at her.  “Your hair looks nice, Melaena.”
    She whipped around to look at me.  “How?”
    “I have shadow-control too, genius.  You’re not the only goddess daughter of death around here.”
    She was visibly annoyed.  I relished in it.
    “Where do you think we should start, first?”
    “I don’t know, Laraline, you seem to be the one in charge here.  You choose.”
    “Lara,” I said quietly.
    She turned to look at me completely.  “What?”
    “You can call me Lara.  We need to start trusting each other, working together like we did last night.  This is my way of offering trust.  If you call me Lara, it means something.  It means I trust you to make the right choice here.  You seem to know the Underworld better than me.  I noticed the look in your eyes after we talked.  What do we do?”
    She was speechless.  Completely and utterly speechless.
        "That's what you did," she mumbled.  "Smart."
        "What was that, Melaena?"
        "I said that it was smart getting the mortals out of our hair."
        I smirked.  "See, we can get along!  And I was getting sick of them bossing me around.  Where are we headed?"
        "Like I tried to tell you last night, we should check near the entrances."
        I nodded.  She took my hand and shadowed us to the Doors Of Death.  "Let's start here, shall we?"