Snippet #2817936

Up in Olympus where things were much calmer, Athena let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Seeing these trials was not easy to watch, even for her. Heath's trial was the hardest watch for her personally, even though it was very tame. Maybe it was because that WAS her son. Athena would be honest, she was never the most maternal compared to others like Hestia and Demeter, but she still cared for all of her offspring. The outbursts of Ares's boy and Artemis's daughter were very disrespectful, but Athena believed in hearing both sides of the story so she didn't dismiss their words outright. She had been watching the entire situation through a huge mirror in her private chambers. Her thoughts were interrupted though when Demeter knocked on the door and came in.

"Athena, I heard that Hephaetus finished making that pendant for Lia. I know Hecate was suppose to work on it next, do you know where she is?"

"Come over here and see for yourself."

Demeter came over just in time to see Cherise's trial.

"What is going on? What is Poseidon, Apollo, and the others doing?"

"Showing their deepest secrets, fears, and hidden pasts. There was another fight and Poseidon has had enough so he's having others 'bear their souls' so it's an even playing field. Heath has already gone. Iliana hasn't gone yet. I wouldn't be surprised if her trial was about what happened to her father and her imprisonment."

Demeter's face paled.

"No . . . . she hasn't recovered and her mind couldn't handle remember everything. She doesn't even remember she killed her father's murderer."

"She could use this to become stronger though. This could also be a message to others why they must be careful around humans. Have faith in your daughter, Demeter and even if she breaks, Heath and the others will help her mend. Isn't that why Apollo told Cherise a bit about Iliana?"

Demeter, trying to keep herself together, just stared as the trials continue.

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xEthan Knox ~ Hestia ~ #8B4513

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xHeath Taylor ~ Athena ~ #808000

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xxIliana Remington-Taylor ~ Demeter
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xxxxPenelope Givens ~ Hermes ~
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ethan was starting to feel uncomfortable as the trials continued. Heath was very rattled after him and he was a very stable person. Ethan, who could be an emotional person, couldn't help but feel his own anxiety rise up as he watched Daniel's trial. Even Heath had somewhat recovered and paid close attention to Daniel's. The man perplexed him so he wanted some understanding of what was up with this guy. However, the trial only confused Heath more. He died? Or did he fear dying? Heath wasn't in the state to think about it more. He felt a lot of sympathy about the last part of his trial though. No one wanted to be forgotten.

Poor Iliana couldn't look at any of the trials. She kept her face covered in her hands and literally buried herself into Heath's shoulder. It was bad enough that she could feel the emotions from those in the arena, she didn't need to see what was happening. She tried shutting her mind down, but couldn't, the emotions were too strong. The despair she felt from Daniel was almost too much. Due to her own emotional turmoil, it had started to rain outside the arena.

Nelly honestly didn't know how she should act at a time like this. It certainly wasn't a good time to be 'light-hearted'. One thing was for sure, she wasn't bound to blast at the gods like Liam did. What was wrong with the guy? He was only going to make himself look worse. Then Rae came up and let her opinion be known too. Her fellow red-head seemed to be the smart type, the fact that she basically back talked to her mother was not a smart movie. Sure, Nelly, had gotten into trouble with her own mother, but even she knew not to talk back in a public setting. Still, she could help but feel bad for both. She thought about her father, Hermes, he was hardly ever around, but Nelly didn't know what he was doing. Her mother raised her to never jump the gun until she knew all the facts. It was one of the most important rules she had as a journalist. She had seen how corrupted journalists or any news media people could get and was determined not to be that way, something Nelly admired. Watching Rae's trial it was pretty standard, but not less scary, especially Rae's reaction. Up next was Evelyn. Now her trial was the most unique. It didn't have any death, but instead something completely different. Who was the guy in her vision? Nelly would ask her later when she got the chance. She didn't expect an answer, but Nelly's curiosity was peaked. After Evelyn, the guy she just met, Wesley, was up. His was another heartbreaker. Yeah she could see why he didn't want to be useless. Heath felt the same way. He knew he was a fighter, but a planner. But everyone did have their place and he was positive Wes would find his.

Finally it came time for Cherise. Concern over Apollo's daughter caused Iliana to look at the girl briefly as she went through the portal. A part of her wish she hadn't done that though for the scenario was something Iliana couldn't keep her eyes away. It was something she would have feared seeing also- civil war. It was pitiful, but Iliana was a bit glad the faces were blurred, otherwise she would have probably gone berserk. Once the trial was over, Iliana made a mental note to check on her and Wesley after this was over and also Sloane.

As soon as Cherise took her seat, Poseidon spoke up, "Penelope Givens, step up!"

Nelly took a deep breath as she stood up.

"Whelp, wish me luck guys," she said with a nervous laugh.

Anyone could tell she was scared. Wanting to get it done and over with, Nelly walked quickly to the portal. She did hesitate for a minute, looking at her fellow campers, she gave one more brave, but fake, smile with thumbs up before going through it.

She was exploring and in her natural element. She'd been lucky to get permission to explore a tropical rainforest. If only she could share this moment with her mother. She could tolerate the humidity. She was from Louisiana after all. Looking at the environment around her, she notice that it was starting to get dark. Time to set up camp. Setting up her tent, she heard a bunch of noises, but it didn't bother her, at least not a first. Was that crying? What a strange thing to hear. Unless it was a baby animal looking for it's mother. The need to check it out overwhelmed her senses and she decided to investigate it, taking her water, compass, and flashlight with her. She couldn't find the source of the cry, but she came across something odd though. It looked like a newspaper article on the trunk of a tree. In big bold letters, the headline was this-

Disgraced Journalist Linda Givens sent to an Asylum

"WHAT?! This is so a lie! Mother was never crazy!"

Reading the article out loud, the story went out one of her mother's articles caught attention from the wrong people and they set about to bring out her downfall, from playing tricks on her to talking about her past love affairs, even with a local state representative. Nelly found herself shaking as she collapsed to her knees. Lies! All lies! She kept repeating the words over and over, not realizing she was shouting out loud. She had to get out of here and help her mother! Rushing back towards her camp, she suddenly stumbled over a tree root, and fell forward, but instead of falling into the ground, the ground vanished and she fell into a deep hole. Suddenly she saw spikes coming at her at a fast rate. Having a fear of needles and a low pain-tolerances she cried out teleported herself out of her situation, only to end back up in fairly normal situation. She was in the home of her mother, only she was 6 years old and crying.

"Mommy, I had a scary dream . . . . ."

The auburn hair woman just looked at her with a smile.

"Sorry to hear that dearies. Lunch is ready, I'd thought I try something different. It's peanut butter and jelly. Try it, you might like it."

The little girl took a bite of it, only to suddenly start choking as her face swelled as well as her neck. She could hardly hear her mother break out into a scream as she collapsed and started shaking like she was convulsing. Was this how she died? Those were her final thoughts as everything went black.

"OH F--k!" Nelly gasped as air returned to her lungs.

Scrambling up, she quickly checked her neck before remembering everything had been an illusion. That last one had been an actual memory though. Not a fun way to discover she had a nut allergy. Lucky for Nelly, her father had suddenly turned up at that exact moment with Apollo in tow. He had to literally dragged the sun god with him when he saw Nelly collapse. Being a fast traveling god had it's advantages. Making sure she was okay though, Nelly got up, although she discovered there were still tears in her eyes. The idea of anything happened to her mother terrified her as nothing else did and she knew she'd be contacting her soon for reassurance.

"I hope never to do that again," Nelly commented to no one in particular as she staggered back to her seat.