𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄
𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔

❛ she could be screaming
at me and id thank the gods
she was looking at me ❜

𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐘𝐑𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒, 𝕻ercy once asked Aurora what her favorite flowers were while they were riding a canoe one late afternoon. He had been looking at the daisies alongside the lake when he had asked the question and turned to look back at her to gauge her reaction. And what he saw almost left him breathless.

Her hair fell in curls over her shoulder with a pretty pink headband adorning her head to keep her hair away from her face as the wind. It was a chilly afternoon so she was wearing a lopsided pink hoody that revealed her right shoulder with a white spaghetti strap underneath. Her wide-leg jeans had splotches of water on them from the amount of rocking the boat was facing and her usual white Converse high looked brand new—a state he knew she loved to keep them in.

                         The sunset made her gold eyes glisten so beautifully he was moments from reaching forward but ultimately decided against it. Aurora Stark was above everyone's level. She was far superior to him in so many ways and yet she always seemed to be next to him as though they were equals. He never really understood why she was his friend to begin with, Percy Jackson was a loser who rarely had a glimmer of luck in his entire life whilst Aurora Stark was a girl with a heart of gold with money that could last an entire lifetime—her life was the embodiment of luck. Where he saw pessimism, she saw optimism. Where he saw risk, she saw chance. Both were from entirely different worlds but still so fond of one another that it was hard to envision a life without the other.

                         Aurora deserved better than being Percy's friend, he thought. But if she was ever going to leave he'd treasure the moments he had with her for a lifetime. Lock them up and bury them in the sand.

                         "It might be a little cliche," she smiled as she looked at the water around her. "But I've always loved Myrtle's. It's one of my mother's symbols, I know, but they're beautiful."

                         In that moment, Percy knew he liked them too. If Aurora liked them, well . . . so did he.

                         "So If I asked you what bird was your favorite . . ."

                         Aurora rolled her eyes and sent a splash of water his way as she laughed, "Hush, ocean eyes!"

                         Even if she did say dove, he would like them too.

                         But now, as he stood on the edge of the cliff side she had fallen from with a pale look on her pretty face. All he could think about was that lone memory, the way she spoke about her love for Myrtles even if she thought it was cliche because of her mother. It invaded his mind when he took a closer look at the edge of the cliff, a glimpse of white and green garnering his attention away from his sulking. He abruptly rushed to it, teetering close to the edge when he saw it—a white Myrtle flower protruding from the snow in a single green vine.

                         With shaky fingers, he gently pulled the Myrtle from his vine and examined it. It was perfect, simple, and beautiful exactly why Aurora loved them so much. He practically saw her in every petal.

                         A glimpse of gold caught his attention and when he looked down he realized where the Myrtle came from—Aurora's dagger. She must have dropped it before she fell.

                         The predicament began to make him angrier the entire quest. Even when he pulled out the white Myrtle from his inside pocket it did nothing to ease him, if anything it made him angrier. She didn't deserve this! She deserved a far better life than she'd dreamed of—that and so much more. And here monsters were wanting to rob her of that. He couldn't let that happen . . . he wouldn't.

                         "Well, that is one problem addressed," Zoe's voice broke him out of his daze. "But how can we get to my sisters' garden?"

                         "Thalia's right," Percy said. "We need a car. But there's nobody to help us here. Unless we, uh, borrowed one."

                         Annabeth scrunched up her face and shook her head, "We're not stealing a car."

                         "Wait," Thalia said. She started rifling through her backpack. "There is somebody who can help us."

                         "Do they live in San Fransisco?" Zoe questioned.

                         Thalia shook her head and continued to rummage through her backpack, "Not exactly, but they will be useful," she pulled out a metal contraption that looked like a bracelet. Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "It might be hard to contact them when I don't know how this works."

                         Annabeth nodded, "I do!" She snatched the contraption from Thalia's hand and began to fiddle with it as though it was a Rubix cube, within seconds a holographic image of Tony Stark in his garage appeared. He was tinkering with an Iron man suit. The red and gold lining made it obvious.

                         "Uh, Mr. Stark?" Thalia spoke as she looked at the man. Tony's eyes turned wide and he blasted his thruster towards the sound of the voice luckily avoiding whatever was helping them connect to him on his end.

                         Tony blew out a breath as he took notice of the kids, "Christ! Jarvis, why wasn't I notified that a group of teenagers might be prank-calling me?"

                         "I'm sorry, sir. I was not able to detect the incoming call."

                         Tony sighed and placed the screwdriver he was working with on the table, "Aurora was right I need to make some major upgrades," he turned to the group and squinted his eyes. "Kid, I told you this was a one-time call."

                         Thalia nodded, "Yes sir, but this is important."

                         Tony nodded, "Lay it on me."

                         Percy surged forward, "Sir, Aurora's been kidnapped."

                         Tony's calm demeanor washed away and was replaced with a serious look on his face. You could tell his eyes were running ten miles a minute by the way he clenched his jaw.

                         "What happened?"

                         It wasn't easy, but they tried to tell the billionaire exactly what happened. Meanwhile, the afternoon light was fading. They were running out of time.

                         His eyes gleamed with concern and he ran a hand down his face, "Damn it!" he turned to the group. "What do you need?"

                         "Transportation."

                         Tony nodded, "Jarvis, send a helicopter in their direction and make sure they fly in Aurora's stealth mode."

                         Thalia opened her mouth, "Our current location is-"

                         Tony brought up a hand and shook his head. "I know your location. The bracelet has a tracker embedded inside."

                         Annabeth raised her eyebrows, "Will you come?"

                         Tony brought his hands to his mouth and placed his elbows on the table. He glanced at something behind him, that was not in the view of the others. "I have something to do first," his eyes flickered to Percy. "Do you have an estimated number of monsters that'll be waiting for you?"

                         Percy's mind wandered to his dreams. "Not exactly, but with the number of monsters chasing us they probably have enough to spare."

                         Tony nodded his eyes stormy with emotion, "Jarvis where's the helicopter now?"

                         "About ten minutes out, sir."

                         He looked back at the group, "I'll meet you there. I have a couple of calls to make," he turned to Thalia. "Thanks for calling, kid."

                         Thalia nodded.

                         Tony looked at Percy, "Jackson. When you find my daughter, you keep her safe no matter the circumstances. You understand?"

                         Percy swallowed, Tony Stark was very intimidating when he wanted to be especially when it came to Aurora.

                         Nonetheless, he nodded, "Yes sir."

                         The sound of a helicopter approaching made them glance up and watch as an auto-piloted helicopter hovered over them and slowly began to descend.

                       Tony nodded, "I'll meet you there."

                         On the other side of San Francisco, Aurora was still on the floor shivering in pain. Her entire body ached and even the smallest of movements like lifting up her head sent sharp waves of pain through her body. She hadn't remembered how long it has been since she last ate or at least had a sip of water. Her mouth was dry and her lips were cracky. The only decent thing that Luke did was stitch her wounds together to the best of his ability.

                         He didn't say anything during that time, and Aurora was very glad. She wanted nothing to do with the boy and hesitated to even let him near her but it was no use, the girl knew that if she didn't get any medical attention she'd probably bleed out and die.

                         "How long?"

                         Luke sent her a questioning glance, "What?"

                         "How long was Natalie working for you?" She spoke with malice like he was the cause of her sister betraying her.

                         Luke sighed and shook his head, "Listen, Rory—"

                         "No!" Her voice cracked "You were l-like a brother to me and look at what that got me! Now answer the question, how long?"

                         She put a little bit of charmspeak into her words and watched as he immediately said, "Since the beginning."

                         Her world felt like shattering, and what made her want to cry all the more was his aura color: red.

                         Her sister had been working for the enemy longer than she had ever imagined. The same sister that claimed to always be by her side, and encouraged her to fight the Ares cabin when they were belittling her. The same sister that wouldn't hesitate to jump into that same brawl if she needed to because she loved her little sister so much she'd do anything to protect her. With Kaiya face palming in the background and Silena desperately trying to break it up.

                         After Natalie's betrayal, Kaiya took the hit the hardest. They were close and finding out that your sibling was working to destroy Olympus didn't exactly make anyone feel better. This made Kaiya lock themselves up in the Aphrodite Cabin and cry into their pillow with their sibling doing everything they mcould to comfort them. But everyone in the cabin felt it, the sadness that came from the loss of their own.

                         "Where is she?"

                         "Not here, Aurora."

                         Aurora's eyes flared, "Where is she? You're going to tell me where she is and you're going to help me get out of here, Now!"

                         She hoped her Charmspeak would do the trick but instead, it made Luke blink at her, almost as though he was offended before he wrapped a hand around her throat and squeezed. A look of rage washed over his face.

                         "Was last year not enough for you?" His eyes flashed. "I'm one step ahead of you. Always."

                         Aurora choked as she scratched, punched, and kicked. Her lungs burning adding to her already fatigued and pain-induced body. But she wasn't going down without a fight, every quest she'd take and every fight she'd endured she always promised herself that at the end of the day, she'd see her father again.

                         Suddenly, Luke threw her towards the room where she had carried the sky. Her body landed painfully against the jagged rocks on the ground, how she wasn't dead yet? She wasn't sure.

                         Luke wickedly smiled. "They're here"

                         Luke hauled her up and placed the tip of backbiter to her neck, as they saw the scene before them. Currently carrying the sky was Artemis who had her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains.

                         "My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

                         Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests and tugged at the chains. Aurora's eyes welled with tears when she saw her friends. She knew she was moments away from passing out, she'd received a hell of a beating while under the enemy's care but she was too hellbent on seeing her friends again she was going to push herself through, no matter what.

                         The booming voice of the General said, "Ah, how touching."

                         They turned.

                         Percy's eyes widen. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Aurora stood at Luke's side. He was holding her up almost like she couldn't stand on her own with blood dripping down her forehead. Her clothes were tattered and torn. Her shirt was basically a crop top, and her skinny jeans looked like they were supposed to be ripped while her beloved Converse high was dirty, and instead of the color white, they were an ugly brown.

                         Percy locked eyes with her. They had a mental conversation with their eyes. She tried to assure the boy she was fine by sending him a weak smile, but this seemed to have fueled his rage. Not at her no, at the enemies around her.

                         He uncapped his pen and flared his nostrils, "Let her go!" He pointed the tip of his sword towards Luke. "Now."

                         "Now, Now, Percy," Luke tutted. "No need to be hostile."

                         Percy gritted his teeth, "I'm not telling you again. Let. Her. Go."

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

The General intervened "And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him.""

"Wait a second," Percy said. "You're Atlas?"

The General glanced at Percy. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoe," Percy said. "I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."

Percy frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

— NAT TALKS!

Percy focused a lot in this chapter! I love them fr

anything you want to see in the future chapters??

❛ allure me. ❜ ༢ ͎۪۫ ༊*·˚ ╱
❪ the prodigy, 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 book. ❫
༢ ͎۪۫ ༊ ❛ ©CELESTIALAPHRODITE 2023. ❜ ¨. ༢ ͎۪۫ ｡𖤐
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