Shooting Daggers

“Nico stares at me timidly, and it feels like he’s about to reveal something important. This is definitely not the right time I think to myself as I spot  the gorgons approaching ever nearer from my peripherals. The snakes on their heads hiss and slither in unnerving directions as the three sisters encroach around us in a circle. I’m ready to unleash a flurry of my demigod power, but the words that come out of Nico's mouth next could have probably stunned me for a lifetime. 

““I love you Percy Jackson. I love you, and I have since the day you first saved me. Even though you couldn’t save Bianca, you saved me. I know it’s weird and wrong but I can’t keep it in any longer. Must still be cupid's arrow effect on me from earlier because I never would have said this shit otherwise”” he lets off an awkward laugh and looks at me expectedly. Did Nico Di Angelo just say that he loves me?”

Jade finishes reading out the last sentence and looks up at me a few seconds later. 

“Well?” I ask excitedly, expecting her to take a while to answer since any sane person would realize that they needed time to process the magic of that paragraph. She answered too quickly.

“Well…” her voice veers off as her hands make gestures that suggest she’s trying to find the right words.

“Well what?!” I probe, praying that this wasn’t going in the direction it seemed.

“Like, look. I’m not saying it was bad-” she stops as my face slowly contorts from wonder to shock.

“Just hear me out! It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t...good? Like it was just a normal paragraph from a normal series and the whole gay thing isn’t really a shock factor. Meh.” 

Meh. She really just meh-ed the greatest moment of modern literature and went back to sipping her Caprisun. Like she hadn’t just nonchalantly flipped off Nico Di Angelo telling Percy Jackson that he was gay for him. Unbelievable.

“Jesus fuck Jade. You are impossible! That is literally the one moment in the whole PJO series that every single fan cried over. It was-it was just like. Ugh it was so good I can’t even explain it in words. Literally ineffable.” I spoke too fast and my words came out too high. Jade was the worst.

“You know I have no idea what your big words mean. I’m just not interested in demigods or demons or like, Greek gods or whatever. Just hook me up with The Bachelor and a packet of maltesers and I’ll be more than satisfied” she winked in that terrible way that she always does and I couldn’t help but burst into a fit of laughter. 

“I don’t even know how you watch that shit” I remarked in amusedly, trying to think of any possible reason why anyone would choose reality t.v over books. 

“It’s actually very interesting and educational. You should take notes for your future love life” she made that popping sound with her tongue and cheek that made all the guys (and girls) line up for her. I guess I’ll admit that I used to be super jealous of her seamless ability to attract people from both genders, but I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I’ll forever be a bookworm cat lady recluse. Not the most original title, but you get the gist. 

“Yeah, might be easier if I have twelve gorgeous contenders in the first place, but I do not and I never will. So. Think I’m fine with sticking to my fictional boyfriends.”

“I thought Nico was gay?”

“You don’t even know if I was referring to him” I rolled my eyes and she looked at me in that i’m-your-best-friend-and-i-literally-know-most-things-about-you way. 

“Okay, fine. Whatever. You’re not allowed to talk Miss Highschool.”

“Touche.” We had had this back and forth a million times, and she knew there was no amount of excuses she could come up with that would refute it. 

“Aight, I’m gonna get us more snacks since a certain piggy decided to rip through half our packets of cheetos” It was actually me who had those packets and she threw my pale purple pillow at my back as I giggled and ran out of the room. Even though she refused to even consider my impeccable taste, I still loved her guts.

I peek into the living room to check for any sign of life. Nope, my mum must still be with her friends at their brunch date. Seriously, it’s an absolute abomination on this family that I turned out to be a socially awkward introvert. 

I make my way to the pantry, rationalizing on how many snacks my arms could possibly carry back in one trip when upon arrival, it’s impossible not to notice the brown package on the marble floor. I’ve seen way too many horror movies to know that ominous brown packages in any way shape or form are never a good sign and I should definitely not pick it up. But my curiosity betrays me, and maybe it wasn’t as suspicious as it seemed. Perhaps one of my parents had left it here? Or maybe Jade was playing a prank on me...no. I was the one who had decided to come to the pantry. Either way, I pick up the parcel, carefully undoing the flimsy rope that really isn’t necessary to tie it together and impatiently rip off the sellotape on the flaps. Oh.

The dagger's claw blade almost seems alive, like it’s staring right back at me, albeit its dark brown spots scattered randomly, indicating that this was somewhat archaic. Somewhat important. The design of its handle is so intricate, almost beautiful in the way it carved perfectly into the blade itself. A design of symbols arced around its bottom, with a crust of silver in perfectly placed intervals. Something so intriguing and magnetic about the way it lay there, waiting to be held. And I wanted to, for some reason, I wanted to hold it. To embrace the power it projected with every fibre of my being and smell its rustic odour-

“What the fuck are you doing” I turn around to witness Jade’s wide eyes and body in a position to leg it immediately. I didn’t realise that I had already inadvertently picked up the dagger, and I must have been enacting my semi-sexual thoughts because it was right up against my nose. 

“Uhhh” there was nothing that could explain this image, but I guess I didn’t have to because just then Jade’s expression turned from confusion to something else. Something scared. 

“Wh...Wha...why. Why are- what the fuck are you doing dude. Why are you- why the fuck-” her eyes kept darting to the top of my head, and I had no idea what was freaking her out so much. Well, apart from the dagger in my and that for some reason was currently sending a surge of electricity through my body. The weird thing was that it wasn’t painful; it didn’t shock me and it didn’t hurt. It actually made me feel like I was awake, truly awake, and I could feel my whole body pulse with a foreign feeling. This energy became stronger with every second, and I finally looked around me to notice what Jade was seeing. I was surrounded by a red soft red light, almost like colored smoke. It wafted around me, engulfing me in a faint light. 

I wasn’t afraid, but I knew I had to reassure my best friend, who was still looking from me to my immediate milieu. “I don’t know” with a shrug was the best I could come up with. Just as quickly as it had begun, the red glow subsided and a literal hologram on top of my head took its place. It sounds crazy, because it is.

“Leah Samuels, thanks for having us and thank you for not freaking the fuck out-”

“THAT IS NOT PROFESSIONAL JAX! How many times do I have to tell you to do it the proper way-”

“Yeesh, sorry sir. Sorry for just trying to have some fun” the centaurs giddy voice turns somber for a second before he clears his horsy throat (pun intended) and goes on.

“Anyways, as I was saying” he shoots a look to the voice without a body on his right before continuing. “Thank you for having us! Even though you don’t know who we are, they never do haha. But you will. You definitely will, but for now all you need to know is that someone will be picking you up shortly to escort you to Camp Half Blood. Well not someone, but like we’ll send a phoenix or dragon down or whatever. Or maybe we could send that weird cyclops we just caught-

“Jax” the voice again, scolding.

“FINE. You get my point. Whatever. Well, demigod, your Greek adventure starts now. Don’t worry about your parents, we’ve sent them a hologram too. They’ll get over it eventually. Rather, your mum will. Your dad has noooooo idea that she had a kid with Apollo before him HAHA. Can you stop looking at me like that? Gosh, I gotta go, my boss is shooting literal daggers at me. Also, that dagger is your official weapon by the way. Farewell kiddo!” the last thing I see before the hologram disappears is the centaur, Jax I’m assuming, running away while a dagger shoots past. 

Jade is almost dead, metaphorically of course. I can tell by the way her blank face and aghast mouth hold the same position for the next five minutes. And although my mind is racing with the fact that I had just indirectly been told that Greek mythology was real and my favorite series wasn’t just a figment of the author's imagination, there was one thing that was clear, and I just had to let it be known.

“Do you still think Nico being gay for Percy is underwhelming?”