Shadow Lives

Shadow Lives: Goddess Within by PhoebetheHunter is a fanfic that takes place a few years after the war against the Titans.

CHAPTER ONE
That hot, summer day was destined to be a disaster.

The sun beat down on us as we walked through downtown. I tried to look up into the sky, but it was just too bright. Shielding my eyes, I looked over at my friend Phoebe. Her wavy black hair fell over the dark shades covering her dark green eyes. She was only thirteen, three years younger than me, but she acted like she was older than us. The heat reflected off the white sidewalk beneath her and caused me to turn away.

On my other side, my friend Judy glanced at me, then went back to closing her eyes against the sun. “It’s too sunny. I wish it would rain.” She looked up at Phoebe, as if she could change the weather. Phoebe just lifted her head to the sky, ignoring Judy’s gaze. Judy sighed and shifted on her crutches. Her jet black hair fell just over her shoulders onto her white tank top. Her square framed glasses reflected the sun into her dark brown eyes. I didn’t understand how she could survive this heat in jeans and sneaker, but I didn’t ask her about it. Judy was limping behind us on her crutches as Phoebe and I tried to make it down the street through the crowds of people. The sun beat down on us as we walked through downtown. I looked up at the sky, shifting my gaze so that the sun was at my side instead of in front of me. Wisps of clouds dotted the light blue sky. The sheet of blue seemed never ending as it stretched across town. Then a shadow crossed my vision. I saw the figure of what looked like a horse with a boy on its back.

I turned to Phoebe and Judy. “Did you guys see that?”

They stared back at me, confused. “See what?”

“There was a kid on a flying horse up there!” I didn’t realize how crazy it made me sound until it actually came out of my mouth.

“Here she goes again.” Phoebe rolled her eyes. “You need to stop with this Greek stuff, Martha. You’re becoming obsessed with it. None of it exists. I’m starting to think taking the Myth and Bible class with you was a mistake.”

“No, I’m serious! It looked exactly like a Pegasus.” I said.

“I think the sun is getting to you, Martha. Let’s get inside.” Judy pulled me inside the nearest clothing store. As she and Phoebe looked at the racks of clothes, I gazed out the window, trying to find the boy again. As my eyes scanned the sky, I caught a glimpse of a winged creature on top of a building.

It must be a Pegasus, I thought. I turned to make sure Phoebe and Judy weren’t looking and slipped outside. As I got closer, the shadow spread its wings and lunged. I barely had enough time to process what was happening before it grabbed me and hauled me up into the sky. It had large, wrinkled grey wings and a horribly wretched face. Its bat-like features mixed with its terrible screeching and scratching caused me to cry out. This wasn’t a Pegasus, this was a Fury.

Judy and Phoebe ran outside to see what the commotion was all about. Judy gasped and instantly collapsed in surprise. Phoebe barely noticed Judy's fatigue and quickly took her hair clip out. It began to enlarge and soon it was a bow and arrow, aimed right at the beast. She hesitated though, and I realized that she wouldn’t shoot with that monster holding me because the arrow might hit me.

The creature screeched again and snapped at me. My eyes were wide with fear and my breathing was getting heavy. The scratches the beast had dug into my arm were turning a sickly shade of green. Poison.

I heard a shout and turned just as the boy riding a real Pegasus came, holding up a pen triumphantly. He pulled the cap off and it instantly elongated into a 3 foot long celestial bronze sword. He slashed at the monster as he flew by and it began to disintegrate into pale yellow dust. The clawed talons released me, and I began to fall through the air towards the concrete. Just as I thought I would hit the street, the fire hydrants along the road burst to life and a wave of water shot out and stopped my fall. Once the water had subsided, the boy ran over. He pulled off his backpack and took out a small square. He gave it to me and whispered, “Eat it. It will heal your wounds.”

I placed it in my mouth. It tasted like sweet my moms brownies that she used to make. I looked down at the scratches on my arm. Slowly, they melted away into nothing. I looked up at him, stunned. “Who are you?”

“I’m Percy Jackson.” He said, as if that cleared everything up. He put out his hand and helped me up. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a large gold coin. He looked back at us. "I need to go." Then he hopped on his Pegasus and flew into the sky.

CHAPTER TWO
“Oh, dude, look at that cat fish! It’s trying to suck the glass off!” Phoebe exclaimed. It was only three days after our surprising encounter with the Fury, and she, Judy, and I had decided to take our minds off the experience with a trip to the aquarium. We were on our way towards the new exhibit where you could stand on a glass platform above the fish tank and watch as the different sea animals dashed under your feet. We were next in line and the guard was urging us to go up, but Phoebe had taken sudden interest in the catfish eating off the glass and we were holding up the line.

“Come on, Phoebe, let’s go! We’ll be able to see it once we get to the top.” Judy tried to pull her away. We all climbed into the elevator along with nine other people that looked like a family. They all had the same dark skin, black hair, and grey sweatshirts on, making them seem like black and white characters in an old movie. The elevator doors opened and we stepped out onto the platform. Fish swirled around beneath us and we could hear the sound of the water trickling into the pool. I looked back. The family hadn’t stepped out of the elevator yet. They just stood there staring at us, completely still.

“Hey.” I started. “You can-”

I didn’t have to time finish my sentence because the second I the words came out of my mouth, the nine black and white people began to merge together. There brown skin started to peel off, leaving chunks of grey and red wrinkled flesh behind. Their necks began to grow longer and longer until they were eight feet tall, and their heads turned into long snouts and jagged teeth.

“Hydra!” Phoebe screamed and pulled me out of the way as it slashed at me. Its claw dug into the glass I had just been standing on. The platform began to crack and shake underneath us. Water spurted out of the holes and the glass collapsed, plunging us into the fish tank. I landed in the water, the fish swimming to the corners in order to avoid us. Judy had lost one of her crutches and we struggling to swim to the top, her shoes falling off as she kicked upward. I watched in horror as bubbles slipped from her mouth and she sunk towards the bottom. Phoebe was no where in sight.

The water surged around us as the hydra plunged into the water. I heard the gargled screams of spectators watching from the line to the elevator. The hydra spun and fixed its eyes on me. The middle head opened its mouth and shot a burst of hot air at me. I pulled back and swam towards the surface. The monster looked up at me with its bright red eyes. It plunged toward the surface, its mouth agape. It slithered towards me at an impossible speed, teeth gnashing. All nine heads broke the surface and bore down on me.

Just as I was certain I’d become the hydras next meal, its middle head fell from its neck and into the water. I looked up above the bleeding neck and saw the boy I had met the other day. Percy Jackson. In one hand he held his sword, gleaming with the monsters blood. In the other he held a torch, burning with crimson flames. He pressed the fire against the stub while slashing the monsters side. The hydra screeched as he thrust the fire against its open cuts. I watched as it began to fall into thin grey dust. The boy fell back into the water and flipped back to the surface, smiling.

“Seems like we’re always meeting up like this.” He swam towards me. “I wished I’d gotten here earlier, but Annabeth had to...”

He stopped as one of Judy’s white crutches floated past us. His eyes widened, “Oh, no.”

He dove down to the bottom, looking from side to side in search of my friend. I tried to look too, but I couldn’t see through the dust the hydra had left behind. I didn’t get how this guy could see down there. He came up and looked over at me. I realized that he was completely dry. He didn’t have one drop of water on him.

“I don’t see her.” He said sadly.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. Judy was gone. Just as I was about to let them out, I heard a shout. I looked up just as Phoebe came spinning out of the water, Judy wrapped in her arms. She clasped onto the tiled floor beside the shattered aquarium and gently set Judy on the floor. Judy’s eyes were closed and her breath was shallow.

Percy sighed with relief and climbed out of the water. He lifted Judy up so that she was sitting upright and looked up at Phoebe, smiling.

Phoebe just nodded with a disapproving glare. “Percy.”

His smile stayed plastered on his face, but he seemed to back off a little as he kept his gaze on her. “Phoebe.”

“You know her?” I asked, surprised.

“Of course.” He answered. “She’s my sister.” He looked back up at me. “Now hop on the Pegasus. We need to get to camp.”

We lifted Judy onto the Pegasus’ back. Phoebe jumped on along with Percy. He put his hand out to me and pulled me onto the horse. As soon as I was on, we shot out the window into the daylight.

CHAPTER THREE
We arrived at the crest of a hill overlooking what seemed to be a strawberry farm. A farmhouse stood at the bottom of the hill.

“Welcome to camp.” Percy said as flew towards the house. I didn’t see how this place could be a camp, and getting closer didn’t exactly help. There were twelve cabins decorated in tons of different styles and everywhere I could see people rock climbing on lava flowing mountains, shooting arrows at targets, and dressed in armor, fighting with swords and shields. We landed near the fire built in the middle of the row of cabins. Judy, who had come around now and was as excited as ever, exclaimed, “Finally! I can take these things off!” She reached down and unbuttoned her jeans.

“Woah!” I shouted and turned away. I glanced back at her and watched, stunned, as her legs were revealed to be two shaggy animal legs. I shrieked, “You’re a satyr!”

Judy looked up and nodded. “I knew those Greek classes would help.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes and started peeling the black nail polish off her nails as a man with long curly hair came over. At least, he looked like a man from the waist up, but his legs were the four legged body of a horse. “Martha. Percy. Phoebe.” He hesitated as he looked at Judy. Then he nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. “Judy.”

She looked down at her feet – or, sorry, hooves – nervously and shifted from side to side.

The horse-man looked back at me and smiled. “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. I am Chiron, the activities director here.” He turned toward Percy. “You’re late, Percy. You’ve almost missed dinner.”

Just as he said it, a conch shell sounded from behind me. I watched as streams of kids came out of the assortment of cabins and walked in line to a circle of Grecian columns.

“Come on!” Percy said as he led us toward the circle. As we were about to enter, Percy lurched forward as if someone had grabbed him from behind. Percy smiled and turned around, his hand searching the air in front of him. As I watched, he pulled a Yankees cap out of mid air and a girl appeared in front of him. She had curly blonde hair and startlingly gray eyes that sparkled as she smiled at him.

“Annabeth!” Percy exclaimed.

“You’re back! Finally.” The girl, Annabeth, smiled. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“We?” He asked. As he said it, shadows formed next to Annabeth and a young boy, probably thirteen years old stepped out of the dark. He had shaggy black hair that blended in with his hoodie. Dark eyes glanced up at Percy, then at us. His eyes rested on Phoebe. Percy nodded calmly. “Nico.”

Phoebe gasped and ran to Nico. She hugged him fiercely and a small smile crept at the corners of her mouth. She was actually smiling. Since when did that happen?

Nico smiled at her. He was maybe an inch taller than her and had a stare that seemed like it could see into your soul. Nico pulled away from Phoebe and looked at her. “You said two weeks. You’d come back in two weeks.” He closed his eyes. “I’ve been missing you for three months now.”

Her smile faded. “I know. Judy took her time getting us to camp.”

Nico glared at Judy, then looked back at Phoebe. “I’ll talk to you before capture the flag.”

We continued into the mess hall. Tables were set up inside the columns. Percy brought me over to a table filled with kids and motioned for me to sit down. I squeezed onto the seat and looked at the campers around me. They all had similar features. The same sly smile and pointed nose, a face that made me feel like they’d already stolen my wallet.

I smiled. I already liked it here.

CHAPTER FOUR
“Heroes!” The campers gathered around as Chiron stood in front of the mess hall. “As you know, it is time for the capture the flag game.” Cheers rose from the campers. Chiron continued, “Remember, no maiming, but all magic items are allowed. Athena and Poseidon hold the flags for tonight.”

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other and smiled.

“Poseidon has made an alliance with Hermes, Hephaestus, and Apollo. Athena has made alliances with all other cabins. The game will begin once we have finished our meals.”

Everyone hastily finished their food and ran outside. At the signal, all of the campers dove into the woods.

“Come on, Martha, you’re on my team.” Percy smiled as he came by. “Now let’s go. Stay by me. Avoid Annabeth and Clarisse if you can.”

“Who’s Clarisse?” I asked.

Just as I said it, a girl with stringy brown hair came out from the tree in front of us. She held a long spear that gave off bolts of electricity.

“That’s Clarrise.” Percy scowled.

Before I could react, she smirked and stabbed at me. I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting to feel a jolt shoot through me, but nothing happened. I looked up to see the girl looking down confused at her spear. She poked me with it again and I saw the sparks shoot across my body, but I felt no pain. Percy stared at me in disbelief.

Recovering from her shock, the girl pulled out a sword and lunged at me. I lifted the sword I’d been given to defend myself, new confidence running through my veins. I spun out of the way and hit her with the butt of my sword. She went tumbling backward and fell into the leaves.

“You’ll pay for that, newbie.” She snarled as she stood up. Using both her spear and her sword, she struck me from both sides. I pushed away the sword with mine, knowing her spear couldn’t hurt me now. As the point hit me, I used all my will power to keep the electricity from touching me. I watched as the bolts hit me and bounced back at the girl. She screamed and fell to the ground.

“Oh my gods.” I heard Percy whisper. I turned and looked at him. His eyes were wide as he looked down at Clarisse’s body.

“I didn’t mean to... I’m sorry, I just –” I stammered as Annabeth came running from behind us, carrying our flag triumphantly and her Yankees cap. A couple of Ares kids followed her, attacking the Hermes kids trying to get the flag. She crossed the border and her team cheered. Just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Everyone was looking at me. At first I thought it was because Clarisse was lying at my feet, but then I realized they were looking above my head. I looked up and saw a large lightning bolt shooting around my head, like a wreath. The campers all bowed. The horse-man nodded and said, “It has been determined. Hail, Martha Cyllene, daughter of Zeus.”