Chapter 1- Nylock Accidently Orders a Kill[]
"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Cleo chanted, swinging the purple baton in front of her.
"Don't 'sorry' me." The irratated, cross woman in a short pink skirt said. "Do it again."
Cleo placed the baton on her palm, face down. She crossed her steps, and fell again. The woman sighed and made a few scribbles on her clipboard.
Meanwhile, Cleo sighed and sratched her head. Her step mother Megan Belle had set this up for her- ballet classes.
Yuck.
As Cleo thought, she did get sweaty after class. Cleo's grade had a "zero" for today.
For the whole month.
Cleo groaned as she changed in the bathroom. She dropped her leotard carelessly into her bag, and stepped out of the bathroom wearing a long red T-shirt, and sweats. Which was not like her.
"Cle-o!" Megan groaned even more than Cleo ever had when she heard Cleo's result for the first term. "Can't you try?"
"Mo-ther!" Cleo said. "You know I can't!" She flung her bag at the chair. It fell right on it. Megan treated her like a baby sometimes. Cleo watched the bag in slow motion- fall. To the ground.
"Cleo, you know your grades affect you- us." Megan didn't pick the bag up, nor did Cleo. Instead, Megan walked upstairs, saying, "The girl's gone mad."
"I am not mad!" Cleo screeched once she retrieved her bag. She stomped up the stairs. Then, there was a ring of the door.
Cleo didn't go. Once in her room, she dropped the bag, and flung the clothes off her bed. She felt stung- and it was HUMID in the room.
Ten seconds later, the door opened, and a rosy-cheeked girl with dirty blond hair and startling green eyes popped her head into Cleo's room. Cleo didn't even look; she was too busy flinging clothes over her back. The girl stepped in, only to be rewarded by a black-hot pink T-shirt with a belt and a silver chain on her head.
Cleo flung another- a green shamer-
"STOP IT!" shouted the girl.
"Nylock!" Cleo gasped in shock and demand, whirling around, and whipped by her own hair. "When did you come here?" She flung another set carelessly.
"You should do some light here," Nylock observed, her hand on the light switch.
Before anything could happen, Cleo screamed, "DON'T!"
Too late. Instead of a light, there came nothing, just another pair of blue leggings at Nylock's head.
"That's what you get." Cleo said to Nylock. "Now, whyyyy did you do that?" Cleo droned on.
"Why?" Nylock asked.
"You just sent a damn death call!"
Chapter 2- Cleo Has an Unexpected Meeting[]
Josephine was waiting at the top step.
"Cleo, you're late," she waned.
"Ooo, sorry. I came to say I can't stay today. I need to leave, I have a note." Cleo pulled out the white slip of paper. Who could've told Cleo the dyslexic had made an excellent fake with her "mother's signature"?
"I can tell-" Josephine began.
"Save it." Cleo hopped off the last step. She began to run, and didn't turn back once.
I could' just ask Nylock where, Cleo ripped off the end of the tape and winced. Her arm was clean. Not a trace of dirt lay on it.
Cleo deposited the garbage and went out her door. Thankfully, her step mother wasn't there. She saw a name on a paper- that she didn't ever want to see again.
Dawn.
Dawn Engel, the 11 year old "princess" had been kidnapped by a neck-breaking titaness who claimed she was Tethys, the titaness of the sea. Cleo had failed to rescue Dawn. She watched the gray sky turn, and decided it was a great day to visit camp. Gray skies meant one thing- interesting news.
That's no lie, Cleo didn't make that up (A/N: Nor did Lao123!) and she flung the door open. No rain. No sun. Not a trace of a storm.
But who could've guessed that the storm was too secretive- just waiting to rain and shout thunder at poor innocent people walking?
Cleo did.
Jumping off the porch wasn't too hard- except the way Cleo landed. Not excatly on her feet.
She reached into her pocket, and withdrew a thin string with beads on it. Red, orange and yellow. Another two added- gold, and brown. Autumn leaf beads. Not her camp beads, or anything else. Cleo happened to gain on these things.
The 2nd titan war was coming, and Cleo wanted the shock of her life. The Battle of Manhattan wasn't too impressive. Cleo had almost lost her best friend. When she died, and somehow came back to life. But Angeline was keeping that secret.
Cleo moved on with her crooked feet, her belt hanging halfway, her hair in a tangled mess, but at least it lay down. Her eyes were practically drooping, her socks mismatched, and her jeans ripped on the sides. She eached in, withdrawing two pouches still with dust- white and pastel pink. What would she get this time, she'd rather not even bother thinking about.
And a next journey- she hadn't decided who to pick.
Better not get too excited. Ill always be paired up with evil no matter what, Cleo thought sulkily. She didn't dare try to pick up her spirits, the day was gloomy enough.
The bus route from Ella™ was the easiest way. Ella™ was a designer company owned by Cleo's dad. She shopped free there, though she didn't shop too often. She felt awry shopping at her dad's- her shop.
She got the route, the bus dropping her all too fast at
Ella™, where she waited for another bus, and when it came (which was 2 hours later), Cleo almost ran inside, and fell. Her legs felt skinny. Her jeans too tight. Too trippy.
"Alright," Cleo got off the bus, sucking in her breath. "I knew it. It's so quiet!" She ran past the tangled branches, valleys of grass, then stumbled over the road where mortals thought nothing was. But there was something: Camp Half-Blood.
She went not too far, but right her way there, she felt a twinge. She scurried own Half-Blood Hill, and down to the Big House, where a pretty grim girl said, "Come in, Cleo. You're just in time for the meeting."
Chapter 3- Off With Winds[]
Demigod dreams struck.
Cleo twisted in her so called "mortal sleep". Her body in a single squirmish motion, where she couldn't stop twisting. She dreamed that a girl in a crumpled pink and white dress with burnt reddish brown curls was running from the water, and strait into the arms of a woman with churning features. The jet black hair, the sea blue eyes, and the cruel lips were familiar...
Then, her dream shifted. She saw Nylock, and Nylock seemed to examine a few exotic looking fruits. Then, a girl with black hair and stiking figures leapt up and there was a shaft of lightning- and Nylock fell limp.
Cleo screamed and sat up in bed. No one woke. It was just her. She thought of the visions. They were no normal dreams. Dawn Engel being captured by the evil Tethys, Nylock being killed, didn't seem like pleasent dreams.
After falling asleep again she really got a "pleasent" dream.
Not really.
Cleo shivered in her sleep, and she was walking through a glade. It seemed endless. The grass rose up to her knees. She walked, and somehow, ending up at a lake.
She watched the water ripple. There were some fish swimming around. She watched them swim, and then, go back down into their homes. Then, she found herself backstage in who-knows-where. She walked through the crowd of people. Nobody stopped to ask her if she was lost, or who she was. She was almost... invisible.
Then, she turned down the steps, outside, and her jaw dropped. It was none other than her mother coming out of a limousine. She walked a few, and her laughter echoed in Cleo's head, and she couldn't understand how her dream ended up terrifying, lost, then... happy?
If her mother was here, that meant another quest. Another script. A journey. Another dove.
But no, Cleo was very off track. Little was she aware of the battle coming up ahead.
Aphrodite paused, then seemed to say, "Oh dear, I think it started!" And Cleo ducked away to get a good look of who Aphrodite was talking to. But she never did. When she came back up again, the limo and Aphrodite were gone.
"Drat!" said Cleo. She shook her fist. Then, she turned, and went inside. A movie was about to start, by the looks of it. Cleo took a seat at the middle, a perfect view of the show. The velvet furried under her as she leaned back. People watched her like she wasn't from Earth. Cleo smiled politely, but it bothered her very much. She squirmed, then looked. Perhaps they thought she was too young, if the movie was PG-13. She looked young, but Cleo had turned 14 a few months ago. She looked to her right and almost fell out of her seat.
Sitting next to her was the most prettiest woman she had ever encountered, beside Aphrodite. The woman looked young, and had sparkling brown eyes with perfect makeup- unless she was Aphrodite.
"Hello, Cleo, dear. You're just in time to watch 'Off With Winds'. It's such a sad movie. You are over 13 years old, right? Oh yes. You're 14. Well, this is just for you! It made me cry once the time I saw it first..." Aphrodite smiled, and wwiped a "tear" that hardly made a difference.
"Yes, um, thanks mom. I- why am I here?" Cleo rubbed her forehead.
"Ah, to the point? Well, I wanted you to see this movie, first of all. Well, otherwise, there is enough time for us to talk. At least a full 10 minutes." Aphrodite smiled, and her red dress shifted restlessly, as though the sparkles were stars lighting up. "You don't need any script. My beautiful Aspethia will explain. You will go to Deilia, a magic island, well- you'll know. That doesn't belong to me of course, well I would say that you have to just go there once the topic has it. Take a friend, as always. Then Aspethia will guide you to Deilia, where you will pick up the stroch."
"What's that?" Cleo asked.
"Stroch? Stroch is a made up word that they use."
"Who is 'they'?"
"The bewitched, the forgotten, the cursed." Aphrodite smiled. "Oh! The movie's started! Wish you luck, Cleo, dear. I would hate of one of them to choose you." Aphrodite shook her head softly. "See you, my dear." She blew Cleo a kiss, and Cleo felt a bit uncomfortable. But then, the room turned around, and Cleo tumbled out of her dream into her bed.
She needed to find out two things. What was Deilia, was was a strocch, who were the cursed, and who was Aspethia.
Chapter 4- Nylock Leaves Camp[]
Nylock was feeling squirmish. Her old friend Josh asked her to see her at the plaza. She was leaving camp.
"This looks colorful," Nylock said out loud, holding up a checkered blue and white dress. She threw it on. Then she chose ordinary sneakers and a jacket just in case.
Outside, Nylock's hair blew in the wind. She walked as far into the city, passing the bus stop where she had first discovered she was a demigod. She shruddered at the empousa's smile, which still gave her nightmares.
The evening sun began to sink, it was way past afternoon. Nylock decided to hurry fast if she wanted to get back home early. The skies were still pink, and high.
Theme is too romantic, Nylock thought. Once she entered the plaza, it was buzzed and her own thoughts were drowned by the talking, the cars, and the noise. She entered Chloe's Canaries and chose a table at the right. She was hungry. And she had absolutely no idea why the place was called "Chloe's Canaries" when it was a resturant and there were no canaries in sight.
Rubbing her hands together to keep warm, Nylock looked around the place. It wasn't so bad. It was medium sized like a resturant should be. Nylock looked at the side of the counter. There were food, and Nylock's eyes skimmed over the food. Her mouth began to water. A jelly bagel made a quick snack. Some fries, a sandwich. Some rice with seasoning. Everything seemed so.. refreshed. Nylock didn't notice when Josh came into Chloe's Canaries and saw her. She didn't notice when he sat at her table.
She did notice when he tapped the table. It caght Nylock's attention, partly because she listened to things far away rather than her surroundings. Her ADHD was responsible. Nylock's step mother got often angry at her for that. Nylock remembered trying to run away because of that. She slightly pulled her light brown hair into a bun, then let it loose, and drool began to leak off the side of her mouth.. when a voice snapped her to reality.
"Nylock!" It was sharp, and Nylock first noticed Josh, staring at her.
"Oh, um, sorry." she babbled. She was a bit uncomfortable since she hadn't seen Josh for two years. He used to be her friend in Elementary school.
"Haha, that's really funny." he said dully. "So where do you go now? You know what's funny? This place is called Chloe's Canaries when there are no canaries in here. I have money, so I can get some food, but you have to pay me back." he gave a sly smile and left to order. Nylock stared at his back, open mouthed partly because she thought how annoying he'd been 2 years ago, and partly because she was hungry, and her mouth was dry.
Three minutes later, Josh came back and he was frowning. "You know what? Can't we go to another resturant? This is really... awkward. The lady said the food was clay, and the water was- ugh, I don't want to disgust you. I remeber how you used to barf when you heard that kind of stuff-"
Nylock slapped him on his arm. "Shut up!" she turned red. "I got sick," she explained impatiently. "Because it was too digusting to stay in my stomach."
"Yeah, yeah." said Josh. "So, where to? Make sure it's not a canary shop, 'cause you'll barf before we even get a chance to go in."
Nylock slapped him again.
Chapter 5- Deilia[]
Cleo was shaking at the sight of the shape and cowered in fear. She tried to scream, but her voice was stolen. It was drained out of her control. There was laughing from the other side and Cleo shook again while the lemon squeezed itself into Cleo's veins. Like the sunlight.
No sooner had she found out who it was. The shape tore itself apart, and then came a girl's voice, "Okay, then. Bye!" Then there was a click, and the girl put down something, hugging herself. Then, came Nylock through the doors. Her face was flushed with excitment. Her lipstick, which was odd for her wearing lip stick, was smeared as though she has smushed it with her palm.
"Cleo!" she exclaimed when she saw Cleo. "Hey, what's up?"
"Well you seem in a good mood." Cleo said.
"I am," Nylock fluttered her words out.
"Nylock, could you come with me on my quest?" Cleo blurted.
Nylock looked suspicious. She squinted, and with her hands on her hips, attempted a sneer, but realized Cleo really meant it.
"I- no." She finally said. "I have just too much this week. Sorry Cleo. I don't go on quests chasing lost princesses, kidnapped moms, and rounding doves."
She left Cleo, open-mouthed. Cleo felt one part of her heart was torn. Nylock wasn't her friend. After all Cleo had done. Cleo felt like playing a mean trick on Nylock. Sticking bird feathers into her jeans would be more like it.
"Josh asked me out," Cleo heard Nylock say. "Isn't that soo exciting?"
There was an exicited squeled. "Yeah!" said another voice. Cleo guessed it to be one of Nylock's cabinmates.
Cleo walked away sulkily. She found herself wandering into the East woods, where the most monsters were out loose. Some campers were injured badly- there were actually monsters that were "illegally" summonnd from Tartarus.
There was giggling again, and Cleo made a face. She was disgusted. Walking into the woods seemed calm. Her boots made her trip occasionally over some branches, rocks and other foot-tripping things.
"Oh, what is that?" Cleo gasp, looking at something that looking bent and broken. It was a sliver of metal, attached to a pole. It looked like a trap. There was a girl inside, with large, frightened blue eyes. And a girl trying to snap the trap open. The second girl had an orange satin top, and pastel yellow tights. Her arm was covered in silver bangles. She had a thick lock of brown hair, and hazel brown eyes. They looked about to be 15 to 17 years old.
Without talking, Cleo laughed, not to be rude, but in the humor of the girls. They looked so- funny- trying to spring open a trap by pulling on the top bar. Cleo bent down, and pulled the last bar, and twisted the middle one, and it open with a snap. The trap collapsed, and the girl sprang out.
"Thanks!" she said. "Thanks a lot. I was soo scared. I was afraid I'd never come out."
"Hailey," the girl with brown hair said. "That's- CLEO."
"You don't mean THE Cleo." said Hailey, wide-eyed.
"Yes, THE cleo." the other girl said. Turning to Cleo, she said, "I am Aspethia. Nice to meet you." She grinned, and cocked her head.
"W-what are you? Are you m-mortal, or a dove in h-human form?" Cleo stuttered.
"I am a-a Deilia d-dove." Aspethia mocked, still smiling. She looked like a good-hearted person, unlike selfish Nylock.
"Your mother told us you need to go to Deilia. As for a Deilia dove, you'll find out very soon." Aspethia continued. Hailey swiped at her blue colored top, and silver chains. "Aha," she said. But then nothing else. Cleo watched Aspethia draw a small pouch. Instead dust inside, there were leaves. She tossed them to the ground. The gorund shivered awkwardly, then the dust came. It blew in the wind. It blew away, and Cleo noticed that they were no more in the East woods. They were at the marble steps of a building. There were tall black and white gates surrounding the building. Beyond were houses, and an entire city.
"Welocme," Aspethia said. "To Deilia."
Chapter 6- Cleo Finds A Stick[]
They walked through the gates, and up the steps. Cleo looked around. There were mountains of shrubbery. Roses in all colors. It looked too happy to be true. Aspethia seemed to have read her thoughts because she laughed and said, "Trust me, it's just like your world, except a bit cleaner."
And she was right.
Insiode the building, there was no sign of a stain. Or a speck of dust. No lint. No litter. There were tiny little birds chirping from outside, and they seemed to chirp in a pattern of notes. Their chirping did the cleaning, Cleo guessed.
There was a tall woman with a green sparkling dress, and golden hair piled in a bun. She had diamond earrings, and Aspethia and Hailey stood straight. Cleo decided to do the same.
"Mrs. Sophie," Hailey said. "We just wanted to go to our rooms. Will you um, please excuse us?"
"Deilia girls aren't excused," Mrs. Sophie said, looking at them, with a mere glance. "Well, make it quick. The inspections aren't over."
Once they were a good distance away, Cleo whipsred to Aspethia, "What inspection?"
"The inspection is a search," Aspethia patiently explained as they went up the stairs. "For unfinished Deilia doves. They are called doves because they used to be doves. But we turned into humans. They're just like people. Everyone on this island, except for you, is a Deilia dove."
"Oh." Cleo said quietly. The three girls decsended one more flight, then went through a door.
"This is my apartment," Hailey said. "It's a bit messy, sorry."
It was not messy at all. There was a fountain, and the wood floor was polished. The furniture was also gleaming and everything was in place. There was a bit of a mess to it, like someone had turned over things.
"Hi, girls." said a voice. They looked to where the voice came from. There was a man in a black shirt, and white pants. He was watching the walls, and taking notes. There was a sharp drop, and Hailey blushed. The fountain borke a peice off.
"Too bad, Hail." said the man. Hailey gave a brief nod, then walked quickly to her room.
"If Urak is here, we'd better hurry," she said in a hushed whisper. Cleo searched the drawers, and Aspethia the closets.
"Look for a maroon notebook." Hailey said, searching her own bit. Cleo opened a drawer, and out came a stick. It was blue and touched the ground with a sharp ping.
"Oh," Hailey looked embarresed. "That's my grounding stick." she hurriedly put it away, as if it was an embaressing topic.
"What's a grounding stick?" Cleo couldn't help asking.
"Mom always takes it and marks when I'm grounded. Twenty marks, and I don't get my dellet." Hailey admitted sheepishly. She wrund her wrists, looking still sheepish.
"Too bad for you." Aspethia said. "I found the book." Hailey rushed over, leafing through the pages. She finally stuck her finger on a page and said, "I know. Cleo's problem to be solved is not really too hard. Just a few things Tethys hates."
"Oh, there he is," Hailey gushed, pointing to a boy with brown hair. He looked embarresed, since his cheeks were red.
"Stop it, Hailey." Aspethia said loudly. The boy looked iver, and his cheeks reddened.
"That's Albert, his power fire." Aspethia said, once again, loudly. Cleo could swear she saw him try not to pass out.
"Power?" Cleo asked.
"Oh," Aspethia said quietly, as Hailey continued to stare at Albert. "Well, each Deilia dove has a certain power. They are born with it. Hailey here is water, I'm light. A poor power, huh? I can blind people, though." She smiled, a faraway look in her eyes. "Yes, I can blind people." When she snapped to her senses, she frowned and said, "Where is that friend you were supposed to bring?" Before Cleo could say anything, there was a flash, and Nylock and and an odd looking boy were (A/N:If you don't like smushy stuff, SKIP) kissing.
Cleo almost yelled. She gasped at them both, then Nylock pulled away and gasped. She looked at Cleo, then Aspethia.
"JOSH!" yelled Aspethia. "What in the name of Tartarus, and the holy cow are you doing?"
"A-Aspethia." he said. "I was only chilling."
"No," said Aspethia, fuming. "You were kissing a half-blood. That's very wrong, and you shouldn't have done it. I will tell Urak immedietly."
"Aw, come on. You don't have to be such a goody-good." Josh whined.
"Oh, I will. And it's today, and forever."