Children of the Lost Ruler- Ghost Goddesses Book One

Games, Anyone?

As the day went by, my urge to kill someone only increased.  However, I tamped it down for Salem’s sake.  I’d never seen someone so confused, and it wouldn’t be fair to treat him like I treat others.  Damn.  This boy is making me soft.
After talking to Mel about the supposed clue she got, we shadowed to Olympia.  Salem was clinging to my arm, trembling with fear.  I stopped the group, finding a bench not too far from where we were.  A park.  We were in a park for the third fucking time that day.  Of course we were.  “Wha- what was that, Lara?” He spluttered, clearly scared shitless.
    I honestly wasn’t bothered with him calling me Lara for some reason, so I ignored that.  “That was shadow travel, Salem.  Basically, it’s a method of travel that Hades’ and a few select others kids can use to get places quicker.”
    “Oh.  Why’d we come here?  Where are we, anyways?”
    “Olympia, Washington.  The next lead we have brought us here.  If you’d like, I could shadow you to camp so you don’t have to deal with this.”  Why the fuck was I being so nice?
    He shook his head.  “No.  I wanna come along.  This is the closest thing to a vacation that I’ve ever been on.”
    I frowned.  Even my mother would take me to museums every so often to look at Greek relics.  I felt bad.  “That’s your choice.  Just know that it could be dangerous.”
    He smiled.  “Thanks.  And I don’t really mind all too much.”
    “Good. Let’s go.  Kelpy’s getting impatient.”
    “Who is?”
    “Percy, the apparent “leader”.  I don’t like or agree with him, but that’s my own prerogative.  He’s a son of Posiedon.  The blond next to him is his daughter of Athena girlfriend, Annabeth.  They put themselves in charge, so it’d do you good not to question their authority. Mel and I do it enough to drive them batshit.”
    “Okay.  And Lara?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Why’re you on the quest?”
    “We’re trying to find my dad, Hades.” Pluto, my brain chided in a singsong voice.  Fuck off, I responded in the same tone. I reached up to touch my hair, which was up annoyingly high.  How in Hades does Laraline live like this?  I hated acting like her.  I wanted the mortals to know who they were dealing with.  Lara was too calm for my liking. At least, she was till you pissed her off.  Maybe something would happen to piss me off soon.  That’d be fun.
    When we got back to the group, Anna pulled me aside.  “Yeah?”
    “What’s going on with you?  You’re normally not this confrontational.”
    I rolled my eyes.  “I’m just frustrated because no one here knows how to work as a team.”
    “That’s partially your fault.”
    “No, Anna, it’s not.  The nine of you have been buddy-buddy the whole fucking time.  Mel and I have been making progress, too, and because we tried to split up for safety reasons, you all have decided that we’re untrustworthy and won’t listen to a word we say.  That’s pretty damn harsh for someone who hates getting ignored as much as you do.  But you haven’t been ignored, because Jackson has you wrapped around his finger, and you think it’s getting you somewhere!”
    She opened her mouth to speak.  I cut her off.  “No.  You’ve called enough of the shots recently.  It’s my turn to speak, and you’re gonna listen like your life depends on it.  I know it’s hard for you to understand, but just because someone’s related to a certain god, it doesn’t mean that they’re gonna be exactly like them.  So get over yourself.  Mel and I are trying to help.  Just accept it for once in your fucking life, Annabeth!”
    I stunned her silent and caught the attention of the rest of the group with my tangent.  They were all listening silently.  I let the words sink in, walking over to Salem.  “Sorry you had to hear that.”
    “It’s fine, Lara.  They shouldn’t’ve let it get to the point where you felt that way.  You did the right thing by expressing your feelings.”
Mel jogged over to us.  “What the fuck just happened, Laraline?”
    “Anna asked the wrong question.  I merely answered it.”
    She smiled.  “Do you think they’ll listen?”
    “They will if they know what’s good for them,” I muttered as they came over.  Mel stifled a laugh next to me.
    Hot Pocket decided to go first.  “Look, we clearly need to talk this through.  I’ll start.  I’d personally appreciate it if you two weren’t so defensive all the time.”
    “And we’d appreciate it if you guys weren’t so distrusting when we’re just trying to help.”
    “Then I would like to know why you questioned my leadership,” Percy said.
    I smiled.  "Because you don’t have the information that we do.”
    “Then you should probably tell us,” Piper cut in.
    “We can’t.”
    “Why not?” Nico asked.
    “Zeus told us not to.  You have to trust us.”
    “How do we know that we can trust you?”
    Something caught my eye.  I didn’t answer.  “Laraline?  How do we know that we can trust you?”
    I sprinted forward, pushing my way through them.  They protested until they saw what I did.  The blob man was there, dragging Pluto with him.  I kept running, stopping abruptly when they disappeared.  In their wake, they left a note.  “Fuck!” Mel and I screamed together, noticing that we were right next to each other.  I bent down, picking up the note.

Dear Happy Questers,

Don't you just love my games? I certainly do.
If you were unaware, Laraline and Melaena have been playing a game of two truths and a lie.  In true game night spirit, I've decided we should play another.  This is a little game that I like to call "demigod roulette."  The girls have three days to figure out the lie, or the game starts.  Each day you don't figure it out, I will remove a random demigod from your ranks and add them to the list of those you need to save.  Doesn't that sound fun?  I think so!
Happy Playing, Demigods,

-The Games Master

Fuck.  This wasn't good.  Three days wasn't much time.  The mortals started yelling over one another with questions.  Mel and I exchanged a scared look.  We had to be careful.  If our secret got out, it would be the end of everything