Chapter 2
Chloe didn’t see that anything was wrong as she chewed onto her steak. She was a bit hesitant as she stared at the glass she was given but a quick order changed that.
Now, what was wrong?
She woke up like normal, albeit a bit sore in her bed. Then she changed and got ready for the day, then went and got breakfast with her father.
She didn't do anything out of the ordinary. She knows this.
She leaned back on her seat, her bag laid next to her chair by the side of her feet, easy for her to grab and run for safety.
-Why would I run? I'm safe here-
(You’re not, you’re never safe)
Sure, she was wearing hoodies and jeans instead of her usual cardigan and striped shirt but there was nothing wrong with changing it up once in a while. So she was sure it wasn’t her clothes that caused some attendants to glance her way.
(White? Too obvious, might showcase injuries. Induce panic, panic doesn't help, especially from mortals. They'll ask questions, questions that we can't answer. We don’t want that.)
She sipped at her Capri-sun, the cheap drink surprising the attendants when she had first ordered it. It took some time for them to give it to her, something about how they never had it, understandable, they even looked rather shocked when she had waved their apologies away. It couldn't have been tampered with, not when there was no sign of tampering.
“Chloe..? Dear? Is everything alright?” Her eyes flickered from her drink to her father’s, a brow raised.
(Father? What is he doing here? Isn't he supposed to still be in Olympus?)
-What are you talking about? Of course he's here, Daddy would never go to work without having breakfast with me first-
“Of course, what made you think otherwise?” She questioned, a confused look crossing her face as she played with the straw of the finished drink, crushing it in between her molars.
His face seemed to scrunch up in concern before his phone rang. Chloe flinched, nearly knocking back the chair with how quickly she stood up, her eyes wide.
Phone- why is there a phone? Wasn't he already debriefed on what'd happen if he was to use a phone in her presence?
Her hand reached for her pockets, reaching for something but grasping nothing.
(Where is it? We didn't lose it, right? It always appeared in our pockets!)
-lose what? What are you so worried about?-
"-Chloe, are you alright?" She was tense, very tense and the moment someone even brushed past her, she turned on her heel, eyes wide. She forcefully relaxed once she noticed that it was just her father. “Chloe?”
“Ah... I’m just-” She shook her head, looking away in a bit of shame. How could she think of her own father as a monster? She blinked, a hint of confusion entering her eyes. Monster? Why would she think of her own dad as a monster?
Father placed a hand against her back and she tensed once more, he didn’t seem to notice as he rubbed his hand in circles on her back, probably an attempt to comfort her. “I don’t know what you’ve seen last night with that akuma but it was just a nightmare, you have nothing to worry about.”
Chloe’s brows furrowed, a frown on her face. Nightmare? She never had nightmares, only dreams or visions that could affect the future. Her frown turned into a grimace, especially when she wasn’t able to remember what the nightmare even was. Her head just throbbed as she did her best to think.
(Fuck, what was it? Another catastrophic event? A titan kidnapping a goddess? What was it now?)
-A titan kidnapping a goddess? What are you even going on about? There are no such things as titans and goddesses-
She snapped back to attention when her father placed his hand onto her head and she relaxed once he simply just patted her hair. “Now come on Chloe, get ready for school." A look crossed his face and he carefully continued. "I know that your... Fashion sense isn’t as good as your mother’s," he paused, as if waiting for something but when nothing came, he spoke. "So why don’t you go and change for school?”
Chloe nearly smacked herself in the face, remembering that anyone else can use a phone in her presence other than herself. No communicating or anything for her, so all she had to do is shut the fuck up whenever someone is talking to the phone.
Jeez, how could she have forgotten?
Anyway, what was her father talking about again? School?
She glanced at her watch. Noticing that she had some time before school, which meant that if she didn’t leave now, she’ll probably be late.
“Right, school- I’ll go do that now.” She reached for her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. She blinked, realizing that she actually doesn’t know where her school is. She would usually walk to school, so it was rather odd that she didn’t remember.
-Walk to school? As if!-
“If you're sure, Chloe...” He looked around before giving her a little nudge and placing a chaste kiss to her head. "Good luck with school, i'll see you when dinner comes."
Chloe froze at that action but before she could even say anything. Next thing she knew, her feet were dragging her somewhere, her gut telling her where to go.
Something told her that that would be a bad idea, that something was going to go wrong.
She didn’t like it.
She was in a car and she was tense, very tense. Her pen still has not appeared and every time her hand would brush against her pockets, an achingly empty space always greeted her. The occasional rumbling of the car that is so seemingly similar to that of a monster appeared to be mocking her, as if warning her of an attack that hadn’t even appeared yet.
(We’re going to die. We’re in a car. We never did good in cars. Someone or something is going to go after us. We’re going to die-)
She frowned before relaxing once she realized that the car had finally stopped. She slips her backpack on, quickly unlocking the door and stepping out as casually as she could. Allowing herself to let out a breath of relief the moment the air of the outside struck her. She turned, noticing that the window next to the driver's seat slid down so her driver could poke his head out.
She blinked, noticing that she can now give her idea now. Just as he was about to speak, she interrupted with a raised hand.
“Hey.. uh.” The route from the house to school wasn’t that complex, very easy to follow and rather short. If she ran in a straight line, she’d be able to reach class if she wasn’t attacked. “You don’t need to drive me here anymore.” She couldn’t help but frown when she noticed the flash of fear that struck his eyes. She didn’t get what the problem was, he would get free time along with having no need to pay for gas thus no waste of money.
“Mademoiselle…? Am i being fired?” His brows furrowed while hers shot up in shock. What? Fired? Where did that come from? “I- i apologize if i had done anything wrong-”
Her hands waved, shock on her features. “What?- No! It’s nothing like that!” She gestured to the building behind her, most probably her school. “I’m just saying that it’s not necessary any more! That doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t be paid.” Was this because he wasn’t driving her? Crap, how can she fix this? “I just don’t need your services to go to school.” She glanced at her watch before flicking back to the worried look on her driver’s face. “How about we continue this later? I have to get to class.”
“Right… very well Mademoiselle.” He sounded resigned and a bit tired, such a reaction causing her to cringe just a bit.
“See you after school?” Chloe gave a smile, an awkward grin on her face. “I need someone to pick me after all.” She hoped that he managed to get the idea. The wide eye stare that he gave her, the sparkle that appeared in them and the relieved smile that appeared on his lips showcased that she had done a good job.
She patted the side of the car, giving one more smile before gesturing back to the hotel. The driver seemed to get the message with his “Thank you for the chance, Mademoiselle!”
She couldn't help but feel a bit undeserving of such joy. Seriously, she was just giving a day off or at least lessening his workload.
"Yeah yeah, now shoo." She waved him off, hands in her pockets as she watched the metal carriage drive off. The moment he was far enough, her smile slipped off as a contemplative look crossed her face.
Compared to most of her times in such a vehicle, the fact that she hadn’t been attacked may be a relief but something told her that a typhoon was brewing.
Pun intended.