╔═══*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

ELECTRIC LOVE

CHAPTER ONE
[ N A T A L I A ]

╚═══*.·:·.☽✧    ✦    ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

THE GRAND CANYON was always a place where Natalia Flynn wanted to go. However, she didn't want to go there if the reason was to search for her best friend who had been missing for three days. Her and Annabeth Chase had been looking for Percy Jackson for those days and have come up with nothing. Then suddenly, Hera, her most ever annoying majesty, appeared to Annabeth in a dream saying that the guy with one shoe at the Grand Canyon would be the answer to Percy's disappearance.

Butch landed the chariot, and Annabeth and Natalia got off even before it was fully landed. In the distance was a group of three kids; a girl with a feather woven into her brown hair, a blonde-haired boy, and a smaller elfish-looking boy. Annabeth pulled out her knife and ran towards the group, her eyes set intently on them. Natalia followed, tapping her silver bracelet in the meantime. It turned into a bow that glowed silver, and a quiver full of Celestial Bronze arrows appeared on her back. She notched one and pointed it at the group as the two stopped.

"Where is he?" Annabeth demanded.

"Where's who?" the guy with blonde hair and blue eyes asked. He glanced over at Natalia, who was still holding up her bow, in worry.

Natalia sighed and lowered her bow, watching as the three teenagers began to relax. "And your protector? Where's Gleeson Hedge?"

The scrawny boy with curly brown hair cleared his throat. "He got taken by some . . . tornado things."

"Venti," the blonde boy answered. "Storm spirits."

Natalia raised an eyebrow at him. "Venti? Don't you mean Anemoi Thuellai, the Greek term?" She paused, and her chocolate brown eyes flickered their way between the three. "Who are all of you, and what happened?"

The blonde boy introduced himself as Jason, and the other two as Piper and Leo. He began to tell the story of what happened on the skywalk; this guy Dylan being a storm spirit, fighting those said storm spirits, catching Piper as she fell off the side, Gleeson Hedge saving Leo, and then the Satyr disappearing.

Annabeth looked extremely unsatisfied at the end, and Natalia sent her friend a frown. "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."

"Anna, don't you know not to trust Hera?" Natalia asked quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "She can be very deceiving, but don't worry, we'll find him."

Annabeth sighed and nodded her head at her as Natalia removed her hand.

"Annabeth," Butch said, pointing at Jason's feet. "Check it out."

Natalia followed what he was looking at, and her eyes widened. Jason's left shoe was missing, and his foot looked like it had been barbecued.

"The guy with one shoe. He's the answer," Butch pointed out.

"No, Butch," Annabeth insisted, and Natalia shook her head at him. "He can't be. I was tricked." She then glared at the sky, hoping to find Hera somewhere in the clouds. "What do you want from me? What have you done with him?"

Natalia's heart broke when her voice caught on him. She missed Percy of course, but now she understood Annabeth's feelings. Percy was her everything, and having someone suddenly take that away couldn't be easy.

The skywalk shuddered, and the Pegasi began to whinny urgently.

"Anna," Natalia said quickly. "The storm spirits might come back. We can talk about this at Camp, okay?"

She fumed for a moment, but then noticed that Natalia's eyes were full of worry. "Fine, Nat." Annabeth then glared at Jason. "We'll settle this later."

Natalia watched as Annabeth marched to the chariot and sighed. She turned back to the group, tapping her bow and placing the now-silver bracelet back on her wrist. The quiver also disappeared, and a brown patch appeared on the top of the bracelet with the symbol of a moon.

"What's her problem?" Piper asked. "What's going on?"

"Seriously," Leo agreed.

"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "Nat and I will explain on the way."

"I'm not going anywhere with her," Jason insisted, pointing to the blonde. "She looks like she wants to kill me."

Natalia gave them all a grim look, feeling defensive for her best friend. "She's okay. You gotta give her some space, though. A vision told her to come here and that the guy with one shoe would be the answer to our problem."

"What problem?" Piper asked.

"She and Nat have been looking for one of our campers who's been missing three days. She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."

"Who?" Jason questioned.

"Her boyfriend, and my best friend," Natalia answered, her heart breaking before she even said her name. "A boy named Percy Jackson." The group was silent, but Natalia gave them a sad smile. "Come on, we need to get going."

She led the group over to the chariot, where Butch began to handle the reins and Annabeth and Natalia looked on bronze navigation devices. Leo, Jason, and Piper were situated at the back of the chariot. They began to take off, and icy wind surrounded them as more storm clouds gathered.

"This is so cool!" Leo exclaimed while spitting a Pegasus feather out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"

"A safe place," Annabeth answered, and Natalia's heart warmed at that mention. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood."

"Half-Blood?" Piper asked defensively, and Natalia glanced back at her with a confused expression. "Is that some kind of bad joke?"

Natalia went to respond, but Jason beat her to it. "She means we're Demigods. Half God, half mortal."

Annabeth looked back at him. "You seem to know a lot, Jason. But yes, Demigods. My mom is Athena, Goddess of wisdom. Butch here is the son of Iris, the rainbow Goddess."

Leo choked. "Your mom is a rainbow Goddess?"

"Got a problem with that?" Butch asked.

"No, no. Rainbows. Very macho."

"What about Natalia?" Jason asked, and she stiffened. "Who's your Godly parent?"

Natalia looked back ahead, obviously tense about talking about it. "My mom's Artemis, Goddess of the hunt."

Jason was silent for a moment. "Your mom is Diana? I thought she was a maiden Goddess."

"Uh, if you're talking Roman names, then she's Diana. But Artemis was a maiden," Natalia answered, gripping the bronze navigation device tightly. "I'm the exception. She'd sworn off boys ever since she was born, and even has a group of immortal Hunters who swear off boys as well. However, when she met my father, she instantly fell in love with him. Mark Flynn was the only boy she'd ever loved, and well . . . here I am."

Even before Natalia got to Camp, she knew she was special. Her connection with the moon and practicing hunting always made her seem weird to other children. However, when that silver moon symbol with a bow and arrow appeared above her head, she finally understood. With that also came a great consequence: Artemis broke her oath.

When she was ten, she learned that Artemis had been punished for those ten years as a mortal by queen Hera herself. She was sent to go serve a king in a monarch country, whom she hated terribly. Natalia couldn't help that think that it was all her fault, well, because it was. The only person who believed that it wasn't her fault was her father. She sees him every summer at their home in New Jersey, but she always misses him during the Camp year.

"Butch is our best equestrian," Annabeth said, snapping Natalia out of her thoughts. "He gets along great with the Pegasi."

More like he's the replacement equestrian for Percy, Natalia said in her head.

"Rainbows, ponies," Leo muttered.

Butch glared at him. "I'm gonna toss you off this chariot."

"Demigods," Piper said. "You mean you think you're . . . you think we're—"

Suddenly, lightning flashed across the sky, and Jason's eyes widened. "Left wheel's on fire!"

Natalia glanced over to see that Jason was indeed right. Thinking fast, she summoned pure cold moonlight in the palm of her hand, and it glowed a magnificent silver. She glanced back up to see more storm spirits appear in the form of stallions.

"Why are they—" Piper began.

"Anemoi come in different shapes," Annabeth said. "Sometimes human, sometimes stallions, depending on how chaotic they are. Nat, do it now!"

"Close your eyes, this is gonna get bright," she warned. She threw the moonlight at at the wheel, extinguishing the fire. "Butch, go!"

He flicked the reigns, and the Pegasi began to speed up. In the span of a few seconds, the smell of strawberries appeared in the air. Natalia glanced down to see her home, Camp Half-Blood, on the Long Island Sound.

Before she could reminiscent on that, the wheels came off the chariot and it began to fall.

"Fuck!" Natalia screamed. "Go towards the lake!"

With a BOOM, all the Demigods were underwater. Natalia was all kinds of disoriented, and didn't know which way was up. She could feel herself drowning until the merpeople of the lake pulled her up and threw her onto the shore.

Natalia spit water out of her mouth as Travis and Connor Stoll ran to her, helping her up. Warm air hit her from leaf-blower by the lake, courtesy of the Hephaestus kids, and her clothes were completely dry in two seconds. Connor handed her a blanket, and she wrapped it around her shoulders with a gracious smile.

"Annabeth! Natalia!" Will Solace yelled, a bow and quiver on his back, "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth responded. "We'll get it fixed, I promise."

Natalia smiled at Will, watching him visibly relax to know that she was home safe and sound. "Yeah, don't worry, Will. But I'd have to say, if the Artemis Cabin had a chariot, it would have done a much better job."

"Shut up, Nat." He then looked at Piper, Jason, and Leo. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" Leo asked.

Annabeth opened her mouth to answer, but Will cut her off. "Any sign of Percy?"

Natalia's heart broke as she watched Annabeth look to the ground. She looked at the campers, deciding to speak up for her. "No, but we'll find him."

After she said that, Drew Tanaka, queen prissy herself, walked up. Somehow, she could make a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans look fashionable. Natalia resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Drew's eyes glanced at the three. She barely looked at Leo, stared at Jason like he was worthy of her attention, and curled her lip in disgust at Piper. "Well, I hope they're worth the trouble."

Natalia began to take a step forwards, but Travis pulled her arm, making her stop. She glanced up at him with an angry look, but he shook his head.

Leo snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

"No kidding," Jason said. "How about some answers before you start judging us — like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

Natalia sighed, staring into Jason's blue eyes that somehow made her heart do a little jump. "We'll answer your questions Jason, I promise. And Drew . . ." She glared at the girl, silver rims suddenly appearing around her eyes. "All Demigods are worth saving, not just who fits your criteria. We may have not accomplished what we wanted to, but at least we have these three."

"Hey, we didn't ask to be brought here," Piper said.

Drew stuck her nose in the air. "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?"

Natalia dropped the blanket off her shoulders and began to march forwards. "Drew, I swear to all the Gods—"

"Natalia," Annabeth said sternly, and she stopped. However, she glared so hard at Drew that it made her flinch. "Stop. Anyways, we need to make our new arrivals feel welcome. We'll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of Camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they'll be claimed."

"Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

Suddenly, a reddish glow appeared over Leo's head. It was the symbol of a fiery hammer. Hephaestus.

Natalia pointed to it. "Uh, that's it."

"What do I do?" Leo asked, backing towards the lake and trying to make it go away. "Is my hair on fire?"

"This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse—"

"Butch, shut up," Annabeth said. "Leo, you've just been claimed—"

"By a God," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

All eyes turned to him, and Natalia stared at him intently. "How do you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said, "the God of blacksmiths and fire."

The fiery hammer began to fade, but Leo kept swatting the air. "The God of what? Who?"

Natalia turned to Will. "William, do you mind giving Leo here a tour? Take him to Cabin Nine and introduce him to his siblings."

"Sure, Nat."

"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock, I'll explain everything." Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the Cabins.

Annabeth and Natalia turned back to Jason, looking at him all over. Something was definitely unusual about him, and Natalia couldn't quite put her finger on it. However, she couldn't deny that he was attractive, because he definitely was.

Suddenly, Natalia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and she took a step forwards. "Hey, Jason . . . hold out your arm."

He did, and Natalia grabbed his forearm. Natalia felt almost like a spark of electricity flow through her body, but she pushed it away and focused on the tattoo. Under the letters SPQR, there was the symbol of an eagle and twelve horizontal straight lines.

"I've never seen this before," Natalia muttered, then stared up into his eyes. "Where'd you get them?"

"I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

"They look burned into your skin," Annabeth pointed out.

"They were," Jason said, and then winced. "I mean . . . I think so. I don't remember."

The group all looked towards Annabeth, and Natalia dropped her hands from Jason's arm. "He needs to go straight to Chiron. Nat, would you take him?"

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Come on Jason, the Big House is this way."

Natalia led Jason up the hill, and the two walked in comfortable silence. When they stopped, the Big House stood a magnificent blue in the sunlight.

"I am not supposed to be here," Jason said after a moment.

Natalia raised an eyebrow up at him. "It's okay, Jason. I'm not supposed to be here either, but here we are. You'll find home here, don't worry. I know I did."

Jason couldn't help but believe her.

"Hopefully you'll be claimed soon," Natalia said, a small smile playing on her lips. "Then we can figure out your Cabin and all that. Hopefully you'll get one with siblings."

"Oh . . . you're alone in your Cabin?" Jason asked. "Wait, that was a stupid question. You're the only child of Artemis."

Natalia let out a laugh that was like melody to Jason's ears. "Yeah, it gets pretty lonely in there. But if I get too lonely, I just go in the Apollo Cabin."

Jason went to respond, but the sound of hooves was heard. Chiron the Centaur appeared on the front porch.

"Hi, Chiron," Natalia waved. "This is Jason, he was just rescued."

Chiron began to smile at him, but it faded. "You . . . you should be dead."

Natalia's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Natalia, go to your Cabin," Chiron ordered, still staring at Jason.

Her smile wavered. "Chiron—"

"Go, Natalia," he said sternly. "You are dismissed."

She timidly nodded, and began to walk towards the cabins. Natalia felt eyes on her back, and turned around to see Jason staring at her. She gave him a smile to say, Well, go on. Jason reluctantly followed Chiron into the Big House, and Natalia turned back around, heading towards the Cabin that glowed silver.

However, on her way, Natalia heard a scream coming from the Hera Cabin. Her eyes widened and she tapped her silver bracelet, notching an arrow and running as it turned into a bow. She stopped in the Cabin to see Piper on the floor unconscious, and lowered her weapon as Rachel and Annabeth scrambled to get her up.

"Rachel?" Natalia asked, adjusting her wrist as her silver bracelet appeared once more, no longer needing her bow. "W-What . . . what happened?"

"Bad vision . . . she needs to go to Chiron," Annabeth said quickly, placing Piper's arm around her shoulder as Rachel did the same, despite the tears rolling down her face.

Natalia went behind Piper and placed her hands under her arms to support her. The three walked as fast as they could to the Big House, where Natalia let go and flew the door open. Chiron and Jason's eyes widened, and Jason stood up, rushing over to them.

"What happened?" he asked. "What's wrong with her?"

"Hera's Cabin," Annabeth gasped. "Vision. Bad."

Rachel looked up with tears staining her face. "I think . . . I think I may have killed her."

★彡

Welcome to my new book, Electric Love! I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it :)