My head snapped back as if I had been punched. “I was thinking I was saving your life!”
“You could have killed yourself trying to save me!”
“I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!” I shouted back.
I tried to stand up, to be on his level at least a little as he stared me down in fury, but my legs wouldn’t support my weight. I slumped down on my ass like a newborn baby who didn’t know how to walk. I was shaking horribly. I was now aware how cold I was as my bones seemed to rattle and bounce off each other with my shaking.
Someone gathered me into their arms, putting my wet body in their lap. Ajax. His huge body gave off so much warmth and soothing comfort as he rocked me back and forth, murmuring that it was okay, and that I was safe now. I didn’t want to be held like a crying child!
I shoved him away until I sprawled out of his lap, looking up at Jason and shouting. "How are you okay!?”
His whole body clenched that much tighter and he looked away.
“Atalanta,” Theseus said, his palms out like he was approaching an injured animal. "Let’s calm down for a moment.”
When he said it, I felt that cotton brain feeling wash over me. NO! I shook my head furiously, trying and succeeding to burn away the cotton.
“No! I will not calm down!”
I stood, finally finding my legs and pointing my finger at him. "And don’t you try to use your freaky mind control thing on me! I want answers and I want them now!”
“What the fuck, Jason,” I heard Hip whisper behind me.
“I must have dozed off.” Jason whispered back in reply.
They were terrible whisperers.
I whipped around to face them. "Dozed off? DOZED OFF!!? YOU FELL ASLEEP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FUCKING POOL?”
We stood there, Jason and I glaring daggers at one another. He wasn’t budging on answers, so I turned to Hip.
“I want the truth.”
“You already know the truth, Atalanta.” This came from Percy, who said my name for the first time, and I didn't even get a chance to enjoy it.
“What?” I threw my hands up in the air. “That you all are some mythical fairytale creature?! Or that you're in some sort of weird cult? because those are my best guesses!”
“A cult?” Hip snorted.
I snarled at him like a rabid dog.
His chuckling halted immediately.
“I’m tired of you fuckers dancing around the truth.”
“Why should we give you the truth, huh? It’s not like you’ve been very forthcoming with us!” Jason snapped.
My stomach dropped, but I was too angry right that moment to start worrying. “What are you talking about?”
“You lie all the time,” Jason said, stalking closer to me. "You lie about your family, you lie about your past, you lie about yourself.”
“No, I don’t,” I tried to say firmly, but my mask was cracking.
Jason was right in my face.
His tone was venomous when he spoke, like a viper striking right at my heart. "Who are you, Atalanta North? Because all I know is that you're just some slut who’s playing all of us.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jason
I regretted the words the moment I said them. I also knew I deserved the bitch slap she gave me right across the face before she stormed off without another word, tears streaming down her face.
I moved to follow her but was stopped when Ajax stepped in front of me, his hulking frame blocking the doorway while three sets of hands gripped me tightly.
“You’re not going anywhere near her until you calm down,” Percy said.
“He shouldn’t go anywhere near her, period!” Hip growled.
“I’m honestly missing something. What's going on? What did you say to her?” Poor Theseus and his fucking busted hearing. He probably missed half of what was being said. All he knew was that Atalanta was upset and I was the culprit.
I felt Percy let go and out of the corner of my eye I saw his hands moving rapidly. I didn’t know he knew sign language. Neither did Theseus, judging by the shock on his face, which quickly morphed into rage.
Suddenly the man who I always thought was a bit docile was punching me square in the jaw, causing me to fall backwards onto my ass. I clutched my face, which now hurt like a bitch, and stared up at the seething Theseus. I was lucky for my dense bones and weak attacker or else I would be sporting a broken jaw right then.
“You don’t fucking know nothing do you, you little brat?!” Theseus shouted, probably much louder than he had meant too.
“What the hell does that mean?” I shot back defensively.
Theseus pointed in the direction which Atalanta fled. “It doesn’t take an idiot to see that that girl’s been through something and she doesn’t deserve your judgement.”
I looked down, ashamed, but my pride told me that I needed to defend myself. “Well, I mean, she is lying to us.”
“And we’re lying to her, Jason,” Hip said, poking me in the chest. “We’ve all got our secrets and our pasts. Regardless, we didn’t need you throwing what's going on in her face. She feels guilty enough.”
All the anger finally leaked out of me, leaving me feeling like the hollow asshole I knew I really was. When I had woken up to Atalanta frantically pulling me towards the surface of the water, I didn’t know what to think. At first the flood of fear and self-loathing came, fear for her and the danger I just put her in, and self-loathing for fucking up and basically handing her proof of everything she had been suspecting.
I touched the three thin slits at the side of my neck. The gills which I sported on each side of my neck were flush against the skin now and would only really be seen if someone looked rather closely. Unlike our scales and other attributes, which could be hidden, our gills were always present.
“She’s talked to you about it?” I said, my voice a hoarse whisper.
He huffed. “Not in so many words.”
I looked around slowly at all the men around me. “Have we decided what’s going on? Are all of you even aware of it?”
“I believe young Theseus is the only one I haven't spoken to about it,” Percy replied.
“I’m deaf, not blind. I was probably aware of it before even you were, Percival.” Theseus hissed.
Ajax spoke, his low voice which I so rarely heard startling me. "We should stop dancing around the subject like it’s taboo. We all have feelings for Atalanta.”
“And she doesn’t seem to prefer one of us over the other.” Percy added.
The group fell into an awkward silence. Hip and Theseus were glaring daggers at me while Percy studied us as he always did, gauging our reactions so he could pick his best course of action. And, well, I had never been very good at reading Ajax. From what I knew of him, he was old. Older than most of the people in the town, but you wouldn’t guess it by his appearance. Though, that was common for our kind, as aging was more of a choice than a fact of time.
I was the first to speak. “What do we do?”
“You shouldn’t be doing anything,” Hip growled, pointing at me. “Fuck, Jason. You shouldn’t even be in the conversation. Not after what you just said to her.”
He was right, I shouldn’t.
“Whether you like it or not, Mr. Clark, he’s involved in this.” Percy said, crossing his arms. “But I do think we need to talk about what just happened. Why wouldn’t you just tell her, Jason?”
“Because she’s lying about something. Because maybe she’s not who she says she is,” I replied, knowing that it was only half of the truth.