Bad Moon Rising {J. Black}

*i show my vulnerable side*

Dearest Readers,

Thank you for sticking with this story! I hope you enjoy this next chapter! It does hit on some heavy themes, so be warned for a darker twist on things in this chapter. It definitely set some things up for chapters to come!

XOXO Ally Layne.

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I wasn't sure how long I had been laying down in the kitchen.

I know that at one point hours or days or minutes before I had tried to go up the stairs to my bedroom where I could ride this out surrounded by blankets and laying comfortably on my bed.

But that obviously didn't happen considering I was currently laying in the fetal position on the floor of the kitchen, just in front of the sink. I had grabbed the hand towel from the counter so I had something to hold on to- something to hold tightly to myself, but I could feel the sting of my fingernails digging into my palms through the fabric.

My hands were trembling, as was the rest of my body. I was very cold, as if I had just taken a plunge in icy waters and had climbed out only to feel like I would never be warm again. I couldn't hear, couldn't breathe, couldn't think-

No, that was wrong.

I could think.

But my mind kept going back to the thought of my twin brother, Percy, being stuck in the Roman camp for demigods without his friends, his family, his Annabeth, and me.

He was all alone and didn't have his memories.

So, even though thinking was one of the few things I could do, that was the last thing I wanted. I kept seeing all the ways which the Romans, who Annabeth said were regimented and would murder any outsiders, would hurt Percy.

I know why I couldn't feel my bond with him when I went into the water to search for him. I know why I felt so weak all the time, like I was missing the other half to my whole.

He didn't remember me.

How could he forget me?

Tears fell from my eyes in torrential downpour, dripping even into my ear as I slowly moved to my back to look up at the ceiling.

How dare the gods take my brother from me? This was only the work of a god. No human or even any demigod could do what they did to my brother.

How dare they take him from me.

I wanted to rage.

I wanted to fight.

But if I were to move any more than I just did, I would have nothing left inside. It was like all the energy I had was seeping through my pores and evaporating into the world around me. I was sure I would turn into seafoam if I wasn't able to get a grip on my reality, and I would slowly fade into the sea where I came from.

My mom always said I came from the sea.

She said the same thing about Percy.

Through my pain and rage, I couldn't help but wonder why the gods chose Percy. Why did they choose him instead of me? They could have taken me. I was only five feet from him, not that it helped anything.

But why would the gods take Percy over me? Why did they decide that Percy would be the one to go to this new camp, to be brought there with no memories, and expect that he would still be able to do something substantial?

We both were a part of the first prophecy.

I had brought down armadas and troops from Kronos's army. I wasn't weak, or useless.