004

[Reunions]

CELESTE TURNED LEO OVER. He was still groaning and muttering incoherent things. She wasn't entirely sure how to break the news.

She glanced over towards the railing. In the last thirty minutes; she'd seen Dylan turn into a not-so cotton candy mini tornado, who then proceeded to throw Celeste and Leo off the fucking Grand Canyon. Coach Hedge turn into a sayter (which honestly didn't suprise her). Blonde Superman get hit by lightning, then recover from said lightning and defeat the other not-so cotton candy mini tornadoes. Piper fall over the railing. Blonde Superman jumping over to save her, and Coach Hedge get dragged into a vortex like hole in the clouds.

"This day is fucking weird....." Celeste muttered.

Shadow landed next to her, and nodded. "I agree."

Leo's army jacket was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But, at least he wasn't dead. "Stupid......ugly........goat....." he muttered.

"Shush," Celeste said. She collapsed back down onto the skywalk. She probably needed to train more often. She'd barely even used her powers, and she was already exhausted. Though, she fully blamed that on the experiments, and not her recent lack of training.

"Please don't tell me he actually saved my life," Leo groaned.

"Partially," Celeste said. "I'm the one who actually saved you."

"Thanks, Es."

"You're welcome, crafty boy."

Leo chuckled weakly. "I guess that really is fitting name, huh?"

"Definitely."

Leo sighed. He was most definitely in shock after what he just saw. Hell, Celeste was a demigod, and even to her that shit was weird. Then again, her life was weird.

Leo lifted his head a bit. "Is that a glowing bird?"

Shadow glared at him. "I am a phoenix, you imbecile."

"A talking bird that likes to insult me," Leo said. "Cool."

"Peachy," Celeste agreed while trying not to cry from how much her body hurt. Gods, why was she ever born a demigod? She really whished she wasn't.

Suddenly, a; WHOOSH sound came from behind them. Celeste turned to see; Blonde Superman and Kaleidescope land on the skywalk. OG Superman and Lois Lane style.

"You can fly?" Celeste questioned. Jason was most definitely the person Reyna asked her to look for. He was also probably a son of Zeus. Why? He just seemed like one. Then again, he also seemed like a stuck-up son of a bitch. Which he was so...........

"Apparently," Knock-off Blonde Superman said. Piper ran towards Celeste and Leo.

"That's wonderful," Celeste muttered, laying back on the skywalk. She hadn't really used that much energy. But ever since the experiments, she'd been tired more quickly. Plus, with all the extra power they managed to inject into her, her magic drained a lot more than it did before. Probably because her body just seemed to be constantly overwhelmed.

Her head was spinning, she felt like she was going too puke her guts out. The world also felt like it was being flipped upside down multiple times. It was at times like this, that she genuinely whished she was never born. She hated life right now. She wished the pain would stop already. Unfortunately, it didn't. Fuck the gods.

Bestie 2.0 groaned. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword.......I hit my head. That's it right? I'm hallucinating."

"Same," Celeste said. At this point, the pain was getting worse.

She hadn't even done much in the fight. She didn't think she was hurt that badly, and she barely used any magic. Being a demigod sucked ass.

Jason walked over to the gold sword in question, and flipped it. Midspin, it changed back into a coin, and landed in his palm.

"Yep, definitely hallucinating."

Piper shivered in her rain soaked clothes. "Jason, those things--"

"Venti," Knock-off Blonde Superman said. "Storm spirits."

"I like to call them; mini coffee tornadoes," Celeste said, sitting up. She was suddenly craving Starbucks. Coffee in general sounded amazing, right about now.

"Okay," Piper fixed the blonde with a classic; don't-fuck-with-me look. "You act like.......like you've seen them before. Who are you?" Celeste could understand why she asked the question. This was clearly not the same Jay-Jay they knew a few hours ago.

Stuck-up Jay-Jay shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know."

The storm dissipated. The other kids from the wilderness school stared out the glass in horror. The security guards tried working out the locks, but with no luck.

Celeste whished she was one of them.

"Coach said he had to protect four people," Blonde Superman said. "I think he meant us."

'No shit,' Celeste thought to herself.

Piper stared a in awe at something, which Celeste realized Shadow.

"Is that a phoenix?" Peter Piper asked. "I thought they were only mythical creatures!"

"I can assure you, Piper Mclean," Shadow said. "I am very real."

"It can talk!"

"Hmph. Obviously."

Suddenly, Blonde Superman crouched down in front of Celeste. He stared at her with concern, and lifted her chin with his hand, tilting it to the side.

Unfortunately for Stuck-up Jay-Jay, Celeste slapped his hand immediately after.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "Reflexes."

"This is why I never try to sneak up on you," Leo said, looking up at the sky. "I learned that lesson once. It hurt like a bitch."

"I should've asked first," Stuck-up Jay-Jay said.

"You're fine," Celeste assured him. "But, I'm assuming I'm not."

"Your face is like, covered in blood," Leo explained.

Celeste touched her cheek, and when she looked at her fingers. They were coated in dark red blood. For a second, it flashed gold. Thankfully, the others didn't notice. It didn't hurt though, which honestly worried her. Also, when the fuck did she cut her cheek?

"I can't feel anything," she informed the others.

Piper raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Celeste frowned and touched her cheek again. Nothing.

"I think my face has gone numb," she said, as Piper handed her a tissue from her bag.

"That's concerning," Leo noted, as he laid on his back. He didn't seem to anxious to get up.

Celeste took the tissue from Piper and tried to wipe away the blood. She couldn't really do it though, since her hand was shaking too much. She was feeling a little bad about slapping Jason's hand away. Then again, she couldn't really feel anything sooooo......

"Dylan," Piper said as she took the tissue from Celeste and wiped the blood off her cheek. Celeste gave her a weak smile, and Piper gave her one back. "He called us something, demigods I think."

Leo stared at the sky. "Don't know what demi means. But, I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?"

"Always bitch," Celeste snorted. When Piper was done wiping the blood off her cheek, Celeste put her head on Piper's shoulder. Which Piper didn't seem to mind.

The cracks in the skywalk started to widen. Son of a bitch.

"We need to get off this thing," Blonde Superman said, stating the obvious. "Mabye if we--"

"Ooookay," Leo interuppted, pointing at the sky. "Look up there, and tell me those aren't flying horses."

"Pegasi," Shadow corrected.

At first, Celeste honestly thought they'd both lost their minds. Then, she looked up and saw a dark shape descending from how easy. Too slow for a plane, and two large for a bird. Then she saw creatures--a pair of winged animals--exactly like horses except each one had a twenty foot wingspan; pegasi. They were pulling a painted box with wheels; a chariot.

"Reinforcements," Stuck-up Jay-Jay explained. "Hedge told me an extraction team was coming for us."

"Extraction?" Leo struggled to feet. "That sounds painful."

"And where exactly are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.

Celeste let Piper help her to feet. Then, she immediately ducked behind Leo and Piper. Earning confused looks from the pair.

"You're scared Annabeth is there?" Shadow asked.

"Yes," Celeste mumbled from behind Leo and Piper. See, she had been uh......missing. For the past few months or so.

Now listen, in her defense she was kidnapped. K? But you see, no one know that. One of her best friends; Will Solace, just knew that she had left for; "family business." She'd told him not tell anyone else. When he asked why, she just said that it was for personal reasons.

Sure, after gaslighting her into telling him. One of her other best friends, Marcus Rossi. A son Hermes knew, but she assumed he hadn't told Annabeth.

Had she lied to his face?

Yes. Yes, she did.

Did she feel bad about it?

No. No, she did not.

Sure, after gaslighting her into telling him. One of her other best friends, Marcus Rossi. A son Hermes knew, but she assumed he hadn't told Annabeth.

Also, for future reference Celeste was scared--correction; terrified of what Annabeth would do if she saw her. And right now, Celeste didn't need anymore injuries. Not after all she'd been through in the past few months. Hell--in the past thirty minutes.

"Let the fates take pity on me, for once," Celeste prayed.

"When have they ever?" Shadow asked.

"Never, but I can hope."

"Didn't you tell me yourself, that you lost the ability to do that during the war?"

"First, shut up. Second, I didn't lose that ability completely. Though, I'm like; 99.9% sure that I lost my sanity."

".........what's the deal with the one percent?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Yes ma'am."

She noticed the chariot land on the far side of the skywalk. The horsies tucked in their wings and cantered nervously, as if they sensed danger. Or, some shit like that. Celeste didn't know. She having a hard enough time trying dissociate her hallucinations from reality. Two teenagers stood in the chariot. A tall blonde girl, who Celeste recognized immediately. Good gods, why did the fates hate her so much? And a tall buff guy with a shaved head. Celeste didn't care to notice anything else about him.

Annie-Boo leaped off before the chariot landed. She pulled a knife and ran towards their group. While Mr. Beefy reined in the horses.

"What did I do to the gods to make them hate me so much?" Celeste questioned.

"Simple," Shadow answered, a little too quickly for her conscience to handle. Or acknowledge. "You exist."

"Oh, fuck you."

"Where is he?" Annie-Boo demanded.

"Where is who?" Blonde Superman asked.

"Fuck my life," Celeste quietly told herself.

She frowned like this was unacceptable. Then, she turned to Leo and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where's your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"

'Gleeson?' Celeste thought to herself. 'That's his real name?'

"You didn't know?" Shadow asked.

'Obviously not, you little shit.'

"Dam, your feisty today."

'Shadow shut the fuck up, or so help me god--'

"Okay! Okay! I'll be quiet. Calm down."

'Fuck you.'

"He got taken by some....... tornado things," Leo's voice snapped her back to the present.

"Venti," Blonde Superman corrected. "Storm spirits."

Annie-Boo raised an eyebrow. "You mean; anemoi thuellai? That's the greek term."

Jason did his best to explain. About halfway through the story, beefy came over. He crossed his arms and glared at them, like they were a threat. I mean, Celeste probably was. But the others? She didn't think they could do much right now.

When Jay-Jay finished his story, Annabeth shook her head. "No, no, no! She told me; that he'd be here. She told me; if I came I'd find the answer."

"Annabeth," beefy grunted. "Check it out. The guy with one shoe he's the answer."

Celeste hadn't realized it before, but he was right. Jason's left shoe had been blown off by the lighting.

"No Butch," Annabeth shook her head. Celeste was sad beefy's name wasn't actually beefy. She was just going to call him; Bitch. From now on. Because she figured a lot of people did that, so she would do it to. "He can't be. I was tricked." She glared at the sky as though, it'd did something wrong. Knowing Zeus and Hera, they probably had. "What do you want from me?!" She screamed. "What have you done with him?!"

"Annie," Celeste said, stepping out from behind Leo and Piper. She figured she should at least face her blonde friend. Even if she was going to probably (inevitably), get her ass beat, or get yelled at. Probably both. "Can you please try not to upset Hera more than you already have? I swear to god, Percy must finally be rubbing off on you becau--"

Faster than Celeste could currently process, Annabeth whipped her head around. And, ran over to her. Thankfully because of her reflexes, she was able to grab Annabeth's wrists with her hands. Which were still slightly stained with blood. Annabeth glared at the younger girl.

"Hi, Annie," Celeste said, in a small voice. Gods, why was she ever born again? "Please don't hit me."

Unless her eyes were deceiving her (which they probably were), she could've sworn Annabeth cracked a small smile. "I wasn't going too," the blonde said, as she hugged her. At least she didn't get screamed at.

The skywalk shuddered, and the horsies whinnied urgently.

Since Celeste had the ability to hear the annoying ass horses in her head, she heard a lot of; ow, ow! ow! Can we get off now? I'm hungry. And things along those lines.

"Annabeth," Bitch warned. He looked Celeste up and down, and she couldn't tell if he was checking her out. Or, if he just saw her as threat. Either way, he was creeping her the fuck out.

Annabeth's face seemed to turn sour again, as she pulled away from Celeste. She fixed Jay-Jay with a resentful look. "Fine," the blonde said. "We'll settle this later." She turned on her heel and marched towards the chariot.

Peter Piper shook her head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"

"Seriously," Leo agreed.

"We need to get you four out of here," Bitch said, moving his eyes away from Celeste. Thank Lana Del Rey (one of the only gods she truly worshipped). "I'll explain on the way."

"I'm not going anywhere with her," Jay-Jay gestured toward the blonde. "She looks like she wants to kill me."

Louis Lane snorted. "She seems to like Es, though."

Celeste smirked, putting her hand on Flute Player's shoulder. "Jealous, Beauty queen?"

Kaleidescope rolled her eyes. "You wish. Also, never call me that again."

"You're feisty today, Pipes."

"Oh, shut up."

"Whatever you say, Sunshine."

"Will you two; please stop flirting, with each other? Because honestly, you two should jus--"

Leo never got the chance to finish that sentence, as Piper slapped him across the face. Earning her a lot of; ow!s from the Latino boy, and a glare. Celeste just covered her mouth and snickered, while Piper and Leo stared bickering.

"Annabeth's alright. You should cut her some slack," Butch interrupted, his eyes kept scanning over Celeste again. As if she were going to cause something to go wrong. What the fuck was this dudes problem? Little fucking bitch. "She had a vision telling her to come here, to find the guy with one shoe. That it would be the answer to her problem."

"Problem?" Leo questioned.

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch explained. "She's been going out of her mind with worry, looking for him."

"For who?"

"Her boyfriend. A guy named Percy Jackson."

☆

AFTER A MORNING OF; storm spirits, pain, magic, more pain, and Jason flying. Celeste should've been losing her god damn mind. Instead, this was just a normal Tuesday. She opted to sit on the floor of the chariot, even though there was a good chance she would fall off. Why was she doing it? Simple. She was in too much pain to stand up, and too tried to care.

Leo looked down at her. "Do you think I'll fall if I sit down? Also, why are you sitting down?"

The daughter of Hecate shrugged. "Jason will probably catch you, if you do. Hopefully anyways. I'd be sad if you died. I need you to give me more prank ideas, to play Sunshine. And to answer your question, I'm too tired to get up."

Leo snorted and sat down next to her. He was kind of..........warm? Leo had always been warm, but Celeste just thought that was because of his aura. Mabye it wasn't. And, now realizing he was a demigod it was probably associated with his godly parent. But, what gods were associated with being.......warm?

Piper looked down at the two, raised an eyebrow. And then, sat down with them.

Suddenly, a pegasi flew into Leo's mouth, and he started choking. Piper and Celeste patted his back, to make sure he didn't die. And, she was vaguely aware of Piper's hand touching hers. Though, she wasn't going to focus on that.

Leo finally spat out the pegasus feather. "This is so cool!" Leo said. "So, where are we going?"

"A safe place," Annie-Bell explained. "The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-blood."

"Half-blood," Piper laughed bitterly. "Is that your sick idea of a joke?"

"She means we're demigods," Blonde Superman said. "Half man, half god."

Mortal. Something Celeste would never really be. Not anymore, at least. Then again, she'd also never really be immortal.

Ever since the experiments, Celeste had become...........well, different. Was really the only word she could use, without having to rack her brain. And, search through her memory about the experiments to come up with a different answer.

The main thing that changed was her blood. She could use her powers to give off the illusion that it was red, like it was supposed to be. But, in reality; it was gold.

Golden Ichor.

The blood that ran through her veins. The blood she detested. The blood she couldn't stand to think about. The blood that now replaced the blood she trusted. The blood she had gotten so used to having, was ripped away from her. And, replaced with a blood that would never truly be her's. She wasn't immortal. She wasn't a god. But, she wasn't mortal either. She was barely a demigod. Was she somewhere in between? She didn't know. It hurt to think about.

The other thing that changed?

Her nightmares.

Her nightmares used to mainly be visions, random visits from the gods (to her that was a nightmare). And, maybe a couple of bad memories here and there. Flashbacks to her childhood. But, that was it for the most part.

But now, only one thing