Diabolic Clockwork

The next morning, I called Nico number as soon as I woke up. I forced myself to sit up from under my warm blankets, wipe the sleep from my eyes, and grab my cell phone. With tired fingers, I dialed his number and looked out the cracked window, the chilly air to watch the sunrise over the New York skyline.

When nobody picked up, I threw my phone on my pillow and jumped from my bed. Despite the fact I was wearing a camisole and a pair of boxer shorts, I opened the window all the way and a gust of air whistled it’s way into my room. I stuck my head out the window and breathed in the early-winter air. I sighed and closed my eyes, wondering for the first time how my day would play out.

Since that damn kid with the skull ring wasn’t answering my calls.

I didn’t open my eyes, just felt the air clinging to my skin and pinching with it’s warnings of snow. I let it wash off the warm feeling from my blankets. After about five minutes of my peace, I knew it was time to continue with my day, so I went through the morning routine without a hitch, showered, dressed, ate. At this rate, I hoped another monster would destroy the city. At least so I can have something to do.

I dressed in my dark jeans and dark blue hooded thermal. After throwing on my sweatshirt, trench coat, and scarf, I slung my bag over my shoulder and left the house, all without saying a word.

By the time I made it to school, I walked through the doors and looked around slowly. Everyone was in it’s place, the preppy bitches hanging out by the window, the jocks throwing the football in the hallways. Rachel, at her locker. I walked up and stood next to her until she said something.

“Feeling okay?” Rachel asked, closing her locker as I opened mine.

“I’m fine,” I said after a moment, stripping off my jacket and putting it in the locker robotically. “Really, I just had a freak day yesterday. Everything should be fine now.”

“Okay, now… I have something to tell you.” She said quietly.

I closed my locker with my foot and held my books in one arm. Rachel looked around, as if to stop people from hearing her. “It was what I was going to tell you last night, but then that kid ran by us and you seemed like you knew him-”

“-About that.” I said shortly as we walked slowly to homeroom. “There’s also something I should tell you.”

“No, this is really important.” She insisted. “It’s about Percy Jackson. And why that building burned down at the orientation. And why - why last night, when you saw the kid… I think we both saw-”

“-A ghost?” I whispered, sitting down in my homeroom seat and not meeting eyes with her.

She paused. Before she could even finish what she was about to say, the bell rang loudly and the announcements came over the intercom. The rest of the morning went quietly, I couldn’t even find the voice to continue our conversation, and how It frighteningly seemed similar to mine. Was Rachel a demigod, too? I couldn’t even think of it.

It was during Study Hall when things got weird.

I was waiting for Rachel in the bathroom while I washed my hands from art class and lunch. The narrow bathroom’s lights were off and the windows above the mirrors were open and the afternoon sunlight pooled onto the floors. The girls flooded the bathroom during Study Hall, to fix their makeup and gossip.

One of the girls, Allison, the most popular, sauntered through the door and shoved my shoulder as she breezed past. I turned, already feeling my short fuse setting on fire. “Trip in those knock-off heels?” I said sharply, leaning against the sink. Rachel gave me a nudge in the side to stop as she washed her hands.

“Oh, Grey,” Allison scoffed as she admired herself in the mirror. “Thinking you can actually come back at me. You’re funny,” She dabbed her lipstick. “just because your family may be rich, he still works for my father. You’re still trash.”

“You would know a lot about trash.” I snipped, receiving a nudge in the arm by Rachel as a signal to stop.

“Here,” She said icily, throwing a five dollar bill in my face. “That’s for refilling the soap dispenser.”

I held out the dollar with a smirk. “No, I simply can’t take any money from you. You’re gonna need it all for that STD medication.”

Her eyes flashes and she clenched her teeth. “Oh?” She retorted, sizing me up. Though Allison was much taller than me, I had the advantage of kung-fu and boxing classes all of my life on my side. I was pretty sure I could take her any day. Well, I was about to find out. “Bring it, short-stack.”

I didn’t wait a second more before pushing her in the shoulders. She stumbled back near the air vent and looked at me like she was going to rip my head off. As she stormed back towards me, in a hot second, a bolt of power arced through my veins so violently that I swear my skin was melting. I held out my palms on either side of me and felt a forceful sound wave explode from my palms and shake the ground.

As if in slow motion, everything was white air, the glass on the mirrors and windows shattered to a million microscopic pieces. I could see it practically lift from the wall and float in the air. The doors on the stalls broke off and the tiles on the ground cracked under my feet. Allison and her friends fell backwards. I was forcing in breaths as my eyes seized on all the little details I could see.

When the glass was shattered on the ground and the toilet’s pipes has burst, I could nearly hear every person the school screaming. Rachel was gripping the broken wall, eyes wide and staring at me. Shards of glass had pierced her skin. My eyes were bleary and dizzy. I felt like I had just tapped into the power of Zeus himself.

It was amazing.

“You’re a freak!” Allison screeched, stumbling to her feet. “You crazy bitch! Why the hell are you here?! You know you don’t belong here! Are you even fucking human?!”

I passed out.

**

“Fallon?” Rachel’s voice came muffled in my ears.

My hands were the first things I could feel. I had pulled something, and I could feel bandages tightening against my skin. I was laying on my back on something hard with paper. The Nurse’s office. I turned on my side to relief the aching pain in the small of my back. I peeped through my eyelashes and forced my eyes open. My legs were prickly and I felt a stirring in the pit of my stomach.

The first thing that came out of my mouth was involuntary. Like word-vomit. “I don’t know what I am!” I said in a cracked, throaty voice, struggling to sit up. Rachel jumped and took my shoulders to lay me back down. She was wearing her jacket and our backpack’s were sitting on the bench across the room.

“You’ve been out all day,” She whispered, looking concerned. “I got permission to grab your stuff before I left. Can you walk home?”

Then, I did something really stupid. I bolted upright, ignoring the throbbing pain in my head. I balled my achy fingers into fists and held them at my hairline, puffing out short, heavy breaths and my eyes open wide. My whole body was on a livewire and I felt adrenaline pumping through my veins. I didn’t feel the pain as harshly. I truthfully could have got up and started dancing.

“Did you see that?!” My face broke out in a breathless smile. I was almost… proud of myself.

“Yeah, I saw that.” Rachel said cautiously, like I’d pass out again. Her expression was a mix of confusion, concern, and somewhat amusement at my comical craziness. “It was… awesome. But you nearly got us killed! And the school issued it as an earthquake, but they don’t know what the hell is was. I’m sure Allison is going to be spreading rumors like wildfire.”

“Bah, who cares,” I said quickly, jumping from the table. My mind moved at one hundred miles per hour as I felt the power nearly dripping from my fingertips. My heart still sped and I was welcoming the energy. Nothing mattered. Why not have fun? “Come on, let’s go to my place. It’s Friday! Let’s get some pizza, ice cream and have a Doctor Who marathon all night-”

“Fallon,” Rachel stopped me, grabbing my arm. “Are you okay? What even happened back there?”

I stopped, waited a few seconds, and frowned. Rachel was ruining it. My voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m what this kid called a half-blood-”

Before I could even finish, Rachel looked pointedly at me with wide eyes. Everything slowed to a normal pace, my breathing leveled, and my headache caught up with me. Rachel looked the other way, a troubled expression coming across her face. “It’s not my secret to tell.” She said, more to herself than me.

“You’re not telling me…” I said, slowly picking up my bag, sparing my sore muscles. “that Percy Jackson has anything to do with this.”

She just looked at me. We stared at each other. And the answer was unspoken. Everything Rachel wanted to tell me, everything I wanted to tell her, was intertwined. I was a half-blood in New York. Nico was a half-blood. Nico was running with a ghost by his side. Son of Hades. But does he know that? Forget it. Rachel telling me about the orientation, how there was that fire. And then Percy Jackson.

My eyes were on the ground, widening with realization. My voice came out breathy. “Percy Jackson is a half-blood.”

“I don’t know where he is,” Rachel said quickly. “He was the one to burn down the part of the building at the orientation. And then I saw he lived in New York, because there was a blonde half-blood named Annabeth, who I’m sure is his girlfriend-”

“He lives here?” I said, already about to run out the door.

Rachel scooped up her stuff and rushed towards me. “Yes, apparently all the half-bloods live here. What are you doing - Where are you going?”

“The camp!” I said frantically, rushing down the hallway and pushing through the groups of students leaving for their busses. I must have pushed Allison, because I heard her cussing after me. I tried to slow for Rachel to catch up, but she was too busy trying to stop me. “I have to get there - There’s something important going on!”

“How do you even know?” Rachel said, panting as she sprinted in front of me, grabbing my wrists and trying to keep me in place.

I looked everywhere but at her face in a jittery way. “Someone is telling me. A voice, even. Something telling me that danger is coming.” I shut my eyes and shook my head, trying to clear the fog that clouded my brain. I was moving faster than my body was. “You have to come with me!”

I tried to pull her with me, but she protested as I burst through the doors. “Fallon, I can’t! I’m not a half-blood.” She stopped us both once more, which was getting increasingly annoying since my expression said go, but Rachel’s said stop. “What’s wrong with you? Put it in reverse, calm down, and tell me what’s going on.”

I didn’t have the time to explain. “The other night, a monster attacked. I got help from a kid that said he was a half-blood, but neither of us know who our parents are. He said he was alone because his sister got killed by someone. I’ve been trying to contact him, but he wont answer me. So I’m going to the camp without him and seeing if the Jackson guy is there,” I took a sharp breath in. “Any more questions?”

Rachel let go of me.

I smiled and gave her a quick hug. “Everything’s gonna be fine.” I assured her, running for the sidewalk and jogging towards my house. I saw everything in the highest definition and power stroked through me. I stopped, my heels squeaking, and suddenly thought, How was I supposed to get to the camp?

Before I could finish my thought, I looked up at saw a sign glowing over my head, in front of all the business people and students. It flickered like blue fire. A lightning bolt.

The symbol of Zeus.