Just gonna say this now. The title is pronounced Si-dear-ree-al.
I'll explain more at the end.
. . .
"There are a million trees blowing in the wind;
Witnesses of lives already lived"
~Architecture; Jonathan Thulin
. . .
Piper
Golden orange and flames flashed through my mind as the demigods and legacies assembled together out in the pouring rain. Most of them probably never even had a conversation with her before the accident. Some probably never even knew what she looked like. Even with all that, everyone knew what she had done.
She'd face death so many times, sometimes I feel like I shouldn't have been surprised that she was gone.
I caught myself thinking: This was bound to happen one day.
Then I'd say to myself: You say that now because she's gone.
Sometimes, I'd forget that she's gone. I run towards the empty space between the cabins to wake her up in the morning.
It didn't feel real at first. Sure, I saw the flames and felt the heat. I'd watched the roof collapse with a loud rumble that shook the campgrounds. I had felt someone wrap their arms around me, holding me back as screamed and kicked trying to run in and get her.
She's alive, I had yelled. She's alive, we just have to go get her.
I denied it all night and all morning until the cabins remains were finally cool enough for us the check.
We had all gotten together to try and find something that could have caused the fire. We counted to three and then we would move huge pillars off to the side and look for any remains. We'd spent the entire day looking. Some kids had to go to the infirmary because of dehydration.
Including me.
That's when it hit me.
She was gone.
The Apollo kids wouldn't let me leave the infirmary because they said I was too "unstable". Whatever that meant. People came to visit me and calm me down. 5 people stayed especially longer. There was one person who didn't visit that I had expected to. But then I remembered the night before and I made sense that he wasn't here. He was probably in worse shape than I was.
I didn't see him for almost 3 weeks.
He came back from where ever he was and hid in his cabin for a few days. Then when he finally came out for breakfast, he made his rounds and said hello. Ate. Then made his rounds and said goodbye.
He left again. It was like that for awhile. Come and go. Never for more than a day, was he at camp. I was too scared to ask he was doing.
Anyway.
Back to now.
Rows and rows of folding chairs were set up in straight lines, and they were all slowly being filled. I was in the front along with 5 other chairs. Only 4 were filled.
I wanted him to come. He needed to be here today. Not because I needed him, but because he needed us. He couldn't be alone in a time like this. This was no time to be alone.
More familiar faces appeared. There was a group of Satyrs looking to find a seat. I recognized one as her best friend. He was probably doing the same thing I was. Looking for him.
The Hunters of Artemis walked in. The one in the front shared a small smile with the boy next to me. She waved in my direction and found enough seats for her whole crew.
Soon there was no empty seat. Except for one.
A girl walked on a small stage. Her purple cloak blew in the wind. Her eyes squinted as the rain poured harder, mirroring our emotions.
"1 year ago, both camps received a message, a threat, that all children under one goddess were being targeted. All of those kids, 7 and older, were to go to Camp Half-Blood." She paused and looked out into the distance, and shook her head and regained herself, "That night there were many kids in that cabin, it could have just been a coincidence. But with the threat, it didn't seem likely."
I heard footprints coming closer.
"That night," She continued "The cabin caught fire. No one knows how. There were no signs of arson, there were no matches, no cigarettes, nothing."
A man in a black hoodie stopped walking a stared at the stage.
"The roof collapsed. It was too late to save anyone. A wave of water," The women on stage glanced at the man in the hoodie, "crashed on the cabin. And although I was not there myself, I know there was a minute of silence as everyone processed what had just occurred."
"A year ago we all witnessed a horrible tragedy." Reyna announced, as glanced down at Jason, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and I, "It took friends." She looked over the hillside, "It took family." She spared one more glance at the man, "And it took loved ones."
The wind blew the hoodie off of the man's head and revealed a puffy-eyed Percy Jackson.
"But it took one thing from all of us. A Hero." The word rung out across the field and the only noise that was heard was the rain. "A moment of silence for all the children of Athena that were taken." She took a deep breath, "A moment of silence for Hero to Olympus, daughter of Athena, Annabeth Chase."
. . .
Would you look at that...
So, hello new friends, and welcome back old friends. This is a rewrite of my story Constellations. I decided last week that I no longer liked how I had written it and I wanted to change things, so I am completely rewriting it. That includes the title. Speaking of the title, once again you say it like Si-dear-ree-al. It means determined by the stars. Or constellations, whichever one works.
Now. Things you will need to know:
No, I don't have an updating schedule because I am rewriting everything so I don't know when it will be done.
The chapter POV's are in the title of the chapter.
Yes, they do change you'll see why in 2 chapters.
You can call me E.T. It's like my screen name because I'm too paranoid to same my name for real.
No, I don't need a beta (Sorry) I use Grammarly.
That's it. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the story!