Title Of Mohawk Braids and Thieves
Rating M
Warnings Violence, language, mental health issues, psychological torture, underage drinking, and some questionable humor.
Disclaimer See chapter one. I don't own the songs Solara sings in this chapter.
Notes Crap! I forgot to say last chapter that I didn't own the Queen Coral. So I'm saying it now, I don't own the Queen Coral, it belongs to Felicity Dream. (Which you should go read and lover her stuff, and leave her wonderful presents in her review box.)
Songs Solara sings:
Sucks To Be You by Emma Blackery
Perfect by Emma Blackery (Yeah, I was listening to her music on repeat during this chapter, you should too, its fantastic. Plus her new EP just came out, and you can listen to the songs on her youtube channel.)
A very big thank you to mjkcsk, frida.c1214, Yuki Suou, and ehwe for favoriting, following, and reviewing, each and every single one of you are awesome!
Onward!
Chapter Two
but grace was made for those who don't deserve it
Five Years Later...
She had been back in New York for nearly a week. Solara had forgotten how crazy the city was, and she was glad that she had decided to stay at Montauk until it was time for Percy to go to camp. Why was she staying at Montauk? Well, she missed the beach, for the last five years she had been living in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, and had been avoiding going to the beach at all costs.
"I feel like I need to go somewhere," she muttered to herself. Yeah, living another five years by herself hadn't helped her habit of talking to herself, she was actually pretty sure that it had made it worse. Not that she cared all that much. She might care once she was around people on a more permanent basis, but for now, she'd happily talk all day. Anything to keep her going insane.
To be honest, she wasn't all that sane to begin with, but with Kronos trying to whisper in her ears, she wasn't in the mood to hear anyone but herself talk to her. She was actually kind of pissed that Kronos was targeting her this time, and if this was Luke's doing, then she was going to kick his ass when she saw him next.
Sighing Solara rolled out of bed and got dressed. She had a few questions for the Fates, and she had a feeling that she was going to get some answers for once. Maybe not the answers she wanted, but answers none the less. She wandered out to her car and got in to drive to where their fruit stand was going to be set up for the day. She would also be able to get her first glimpse of Percy in this universe. Okay, that was probably her entire reason for going on this little field trip of hers, but she also had some questions for the Fates, and if she could kill two birds with one stone, then who was she to deny herself that?
The drive was actually pretty uneventful. She was jamming out to loud rock music as she drove down the highway, and she was kind of glad that her old smart-phone was still able to work as a music player. She would have cried if she had lost all of her music that she had put on there before her last jump.
"So you go tell my friends that you wanna make amends, but I don't have time for that. So I guess that it sucks to be you. And you go and make the page that, your ex-girlfriend's a bitch, and I'll happily take the hit. 'Cause I guess that it sucks, I guess that it sucks to be you!" Solara belted out as she drove. She was almost to where she needed to be. She might be a bit more bitter than she was when she showed up in this universe five years ago, but Dionysus had told her that giving up on what she wanted was the only way to stop the jumping. So she had given up on her goal to save Luke. She still cared deeply for him, and wished with all her being that saving him was an option, but she had given up on being the one to save him.
That was actually why she had left camp five years ago. Being told to give up on someone was one thing, but when it came down to actually doing it, she couldn't if she had stayed around him. She didn't want to be around him if all she could do was watch him make all of the wrong choices for all of the wrong reasons. She had done it enough times by now to know that nothing she did or said was going to change his mind.
Finally spotting the fruit stand, and the broken down bus on the other side of the highway, Solara pulled her car over to the side of the road. She took a deep breath before she got out of her car and headed over to the Fates.
All three looked over at her as she approached. She got the feeling of being looked through, and as uncomfortable as it was, she would stand it if it got her something in the end.
"We've been waiting," a voice said in her head.
Solara shivered suddenly feeling cold. "Had a late start," she said lamely. She wanted to be sarcastic to cover up how scared she was, but the Fates were just too damn creepy to hide how they affected her. She cringed when she saw the bright electric blue socks that they were knitting. "I can't save him, can I?" she asked sadly her eyes never leaving the socks.
They didn't answer her, but she guessed that that was her answer.
Nodding she turned to walk away.
"Wait," the voice said again, "We have something for you, and a message."
"Okay," she said and turned back to them. The one on the end closest to her was holding out a basket of apples and apricots. Solara reached out to take a hold of it, and when it was in her grasp she held the basket close not wanting to drop anything. "Thank you," she said.
"You have given up on the boy," the voice said in her mind again, "You are ready to read the book."
Solara nodded her understanding. This time when she turned to leave they didn't stop her. She set the basket of fruit down gently in the front seat of her car, and by the time she got back into her car the Fates had pulled out the scissors to cut the yarn that she knew was Luke's lifeline. The Fates were alternating looking at her and Percy across the highway, and when they cut the yarn Solara heard it in her car just as she knew Percy heard it across four lanes of traffic.
She looked over at Percy sadly. The poor boy had no idea how much pain he was going to go through, and she knew that there was no way to save him from his fate. Just like she knew that there was no way to save Luke from his. It seemed that three of them were tried together for now, and Solara hoped that she would be able to do whatever it was to stop the jumping. No more running for her, it was now time for her to face her own fate.
"Ready or not, here we go," she said, then started her car. She needed to get back to Montauk before Sally and Percy made it there.
*~S~*
Solara sometimes felt like a creepy stalker. Then there were times that she actually was a creepy stalker. Like when she did an insane amount of research to figure out which cabin the Jacksons always went to when they visited Montauk. Honestly, she just wanted to keep en eye on the kid and make sure he got to camp in one piece, but her conscience just said that she was a weirdo and needed to stay away from children.
And this way why she knew that she'd never be happy in a relationship with a mortal ever again. Even demigods would not be able to handle her baggage, and they were a screwed up bunch themselves.
"Wow," she muttered to herself as she parked her car near the cabin that she had rented, "I need professional help."
Solara eyed the basket of fruit before she picked it up to bring it into the cabin. Being given something by any immortal could be dangerous if you didn't accept it, and she wondered if the fruit given to her by the Fates would be safe to eat. She wondered if she even wanted to eat it at all.
Solara looked around her cabin in regret. She had liked staying there, and she was sad to be leaving that night. She sighed and began to pack all of her things that had somehow gotten littered around the cabin. The only thing she left out was the book that she had gotten five years ago. It was time to read it, and Solara would happily admit that she was scared to. The book would only confirm the fact that she couldn't save Luke, and possibly tell her something about herself that she wasn't ready to face.
"You've packed up everything you possibly could," a voice said behind her.
Solara yelped and reflexively threw the closest knife that she saw in the direction of the voice. She cringed seconds after when she saw who it was that had decided to visit her. Apollo had decided to show up for the first time in five years, and she had just thrown a knife at his head.
"Sorry," she said wincing.
Apollo had just plucked the knife out of the air and was staring at it like he hadn't seen something like it before. "Admittedly, I probably shouldn't have scared you like that."
Solara gave him a surprised look.
He snorted at her look. "Even I know not to sneak up on demigods who are older than thirty. They tend to have the best reflexes, and are paranoid enough to leave weapons lying around like you did."
"We're a paranoid bunch," she agreed. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Is there a reason you decided to drop in?" she asked still somewhat irritated.
Apollo shrugged. "You died in this universe," he said, "The name 'Solara' was familiar, and I needed to see if I was right."
"Right about what?" Solara asked warily.
"If you were my daughter," he said, and while she appreciated the bluntness of his statement, she also kind of wanted to punch him in the face.
"That's nice," she said, "Is that all?"
Apollo snorted. "One of the few who actually inherit my temper, and it's the one who's pissed at the world."
"Well, when life beats you down," she muttered, but she stopped before she finished the thought. "But that's neither here nor there. So, you're my father? Should have guessed, my name kind of gives it away." Solara shook her head, "Why does it matter?" she asked, "I've gone nearly a hundred years without knowing this, not confirmed anyway, and I can't see how knowing helps me in anyway."
"Does it make you any less pissed off?" he asked giving her a knowing look.
Solara opened her mouth to say something sarcastic as per her usual responses, but then she actually thought about the question. It did actually make her less pissed at the world. "Kind of," she muttered reluctantly.
A part of her was still pissed that she hadn't been claimed by him back in her first universe, but she had already held onto that anger for years. She was more than ready to let that anger go, and she kind of wanted to not be angry so much anymore. Sure there were things she was still mad as hell about, but the thing with Apollo was long passed it's point of letting go and forgetting about.
"Fine," she said when he still hadn't said anything, "It helps, and it's nice to know for sure. I just need a little while longer to really get over my anger."
Apollo shrugged, "As far as I'm concerned, you're more than a grown woman, and you can be pissed as long as you like. Your life hasn't been easy from what I can tell, and I know that the jumping has made it so that you try not to get too attached to people."
"You don't want to admit that other universe you might have been an asshole?" she asked, and there was her sarcasm.
Apollo shrugged. "That too," he said before he disappeared.
Solara snorted, "Nice seeing you too dad," she muttered before she picked up the knife that he had dropped. She shoved it into her boot, and then went over to her bed where she had left the book. "Time to read," she said to herself before she cracked it open.
*~S~*
The book, as it turned out, was less of a book than she had been thinking it was for the last five years. It only had two name written in it while the rest of the pages were utterly blank. Solara threw it across the room when she saw what was inside the book.
"Five years," she snarled, "I held onto this thing for five years... For this?"
This, being the names 'Hermes' and 'Triton', written in a fancy script, but nothing else to go with them. She wasn't as surprised as she thought she thought she would be to see their names, but it was the lack of anything else that pissed her off. So her destiny was intertwined with theirs, fine, she'd do it. Whatever 'it' was.
Still fuming she stuffed the book into her bag and decided to go for a walk. A nice long walk with loud angry music on repeat. Looks like 'Sucks To be You' was going to be her theme song for the rest of the night. Which she could do, but she hadn't been lying earlier, she was tired of being angry all of the time. She'd already had her angry phase done and over with, and to her shame, that time she had sided with Luke and Kronos. At the time she had been telling herself that it was so that she might be able to save him, but the truth of the matter was that she was just too angry to want to try and help the gods that time around. The titans had still lost the war though, and she had jumped before the gods could get around to killing her. The only time she had actually been happy to jump.
Snorting at her train of thought, Solara put in her earbuds and walked out of the door. She was singing along under her breath as she walked, and then decided to take her shoes off and walk through the water a bit. It was too cold to swim in that was for sure, but she was hoping that the feel of the water running over her feet would help calm her down. It took about four hours, but it did eventually help her, or maybe her anger had just burned out.
"I used to spend my time a the mirror just picking at my skin. Praying for the day I lose some weight, so I could be pretty or thin, but who was I to know, that all I needed was some hope. It starts getting better when you use your voice! Scream above the noise! That you're prefect as you are, even when times are hard. You are brave, and even if they say that you'll never go far, 'cause you're dumb, skinny, or scarred. You're perfect the way you are." Solara hadn't realized how loudly she had been singing until she saw Percy and his mother staring at her. That was then it clicked on how long she had been walking along the beach. She reached up and pulled out her earbuds. "Sorry," she called out to them, "I'll just go now." she turned and quickly fled the awkward staring. She really hadn't meant to stumble across them before Grover had showed up that night.
She ran all of the way back to her cabin. She cringed when she remembered the awkward staring, and wondered how she had forgotten to turn before she had gotten too close to them. Granted once she had calmed down she had sort of stopped paying as much attention to her surroundings as she had been when she was in a rage. She had been aware enough to know that there were people nearby, but they had been filed under 'non-threatening' and she had proceeded to ignore them.
"Ugh," she slammed her head back against the door, "Why do you have to be so weird?"
"I think the better question is, why are you talking to yourself?" a voice said from across the room.
Her eyes flew open and landed on her latest intruder. "You gods have seriously got to stop showing up unannounced," she said after she bit back the scream and the scathing sarcasm that were her first two responses. "I mean really, one day I'm going to go into cardiac arrest from fright, and then who are you going to stalk... I mean annoy... I mean, talk to."
Poseidon pinned her with a flat, unimpressed look.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to stick with 'stalk'," she decided after a minute of him glaring at her, "And I don't know why you're so pissed," she said, "I'm here to help your son after all."
"People used to treat us with respect you know," he pointed out, but then looked her over again, "But you probably gave up on respecting us around the time you were fifty."
"You have no idea," she muttered, "Then again, maybe you do," she added when he just smirked at her. "You know," she said, "Most people consider it polite to knock before entering another person's home." She actually kind of liked Poseidon, but that was not going to save him from being told not to randomly show up in a person's house.
He shrugged like it didn't matter, but she swore that she saw a hint of shame in his eyes. "I'll remember that," he said, and she saw that he actually would.
"Is there are reason you came here?" she asked hesitantly after a moment of awkward silence.
"Do you know who actually stole –"
"Let me stop you there," she said quickly. "I have a damn good idea, but if I do or say anything then things could end up worse than the possibilities that I already know about... and that is something that I don't even want to think about." Solara shuddered at the thought of things being worse.
"You've tried to change things before?' Poseidon asked.
"And failed in a horrific way," she said, "Almost got countless people killed, and I'm not going there again."
Poseidon eyed her then nodded. "You said that you were going to look aft er my son?"
"Not that he'll need it," she said with a grin, "The kid has a knack for surviving, and, well, for being a general bad-ass."
Poseidon just arched an eyebrow at her.
"Yes," she sighed, "The plan was to look out for him... No one can take a joke these days." Solara pouted at the god before her and made her way over to the basket of fruit and plucked out an apple and an apricot. "Fruit?" she offered holding them out to Poseidon.
He blinked at the offering, then shrugged and plucked the apricot from her hand. "Do you know how long its been since someone had offered me something without wanting something in return?"
"How do you know that I don't?" she asked jokingly and took a bite out of her apple. She moaned at the taste, it was a pink lady apple, and she had to remember to say thank you to the Fates. As creepy as they were, they had still given her her favorite apples. "Forget that last comment," she said her mouth still full of apple, "I'm going to be over here eating this delicious basket of fruit."
Poseidon blinked at her again. "You're strange," he eventually said, and ate the apricot she had given him.
Solara snorted but said nothing. She only had a couple of more hours left to enjoy the peace and quiet, and the basket of fruit. They actually didn't speak again for the rest of the time that Poseidon was there, and once he had finished the apricot he had nodded towards her once, and then left her alone again.
Solara decided that the gods were weird. They could be nice and helpful, or annoying and cursing you, but still weird no matter what.
"I'm gonna take a nap," she muttered to herself after she finished her apple. She rinsed off her hands, and then stuck the basket in her tiny fridge hoping that she'd be able to come back to the cabin within a few days to get it and her car. Like hell was she going to let her car get destroyed because Zeus was pissed off. He could destroy Gabe's car, the fat load of shit deserved it for treating Percy and Sally like crap for years.
Pushing her thoughts away Solara collapsed onto her bed. She knew that her night was going to be long and annoying, and she might as well get some rest while she could.
*~S~*
The loud boom of thunder was what woke her a couple of hours later. It was barely a second later when there was another flash of lightning that made the inside of her cabin light up like it was daylight outside. She groaned and rolled out of bed when the light faded and there was another loud boom. She pulled her boots back on, and she'd have to be content with the knife she had stashed in one of them, because she had no desire to be in an accident with either a sword or a quiver full of arrows strapped to her.
Solara grabbed her bag on her way out of the door and slung it over her back. Once she had shut the door behind her, and locked it out of habit, she took off in a dead run. She had promised Poseidon to look after him, and she had no desire to break it. If she were to be honest, she also kind of wanted to see Percy kill the Minotaur. Hearing the stories were one thing, but seeing it would be another.
Solara made it to the Jacksons's cabin the same time as Grover did. She doubled over due to her run through what was shaping up to be a hurricane, and tried her best to catch her breath. She rolled her eyes when Grover stared at her, but when she glared at him he hurriedly started to pound on the door. She had just recovered her breath when Sally threw open the door.
Solara didn't pay too much attention to the conversation that Grover was having with the Jacksons. She had finally heard the Minotaur bellowing in the distance, and really just wished that they would all move faster. Eventually they all got into the car and Sally took off for camp.
Solara had to admit that she found it completely amusing to watch Percy try and reconcile that his best friend was a barnyard animal from the waist down. Then she notice Sally glancing at her from the corner of her eye.
"I promised Percy's father that I'd help him to camp," she said suddenly, but in a low tone so that hopefully only Sally, and maybe Grover, heard her.
Sally seemed to melt with relief.
"So, you and my mom... know each other?" Percy asked, and Solara noted that he was asking her just as much as Grover.
"Nope," she answered before Grover could, "But I've met your father." Sally glared at her, but Solara just shrugged. "What?" he's going to find out soon anyway, and at this point not answering his questions is really not going to help."
"We've never met," Grover cut in, "She knew I was watching you, and keeping tabs on you... Not that I was faking being your friend, I am."
"What are you?"
"That's not important," Grover said making Solara snort in irritation and roll her eyes.
"Not important, from the waist down my best friend is a donkey–"
"Goat!"
Solara snickered. "Kid, I'd be careful, satyrs can be a bit techy when you call them donkeys."
"And what are you?" Percy asked turning to her.
"Half insane, and a pissed off stalkee," she said flippantly. "Though if you want a serious answer then, I'm like you, but I can't honestly tell you who is going to have a worse fate."
"Aren't most stalkees reluctant?" Sally asked at the same as Percy asked about myths.
"I can see why he fell in love with you," Solara said with a grin and turned to Percy. "Were the old ladies at the fruit stand a myth?"
"Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?" Grover finished for her.
"So you admit that there was a Mrs. Dodds!" Percy said with a glare, "And if the old ladies at fruit stand were so important, then why did you stop and talk to them?"
"Because I needed answers, and while I'm like you," Solara sighed, "Percy, I'm also different... My life has been a lot longer and more painful then what you can see on the surface. I needed to know what they could tell me, because, well, because I'm selfish underneath it all... I'm not much better than our parents."
"Our parents?"
"Your father is my father's uncle," she said, "But I can tell you more about that later... What's important is that all the stories are true. Every god and goddess you learned about, every monster that you had nightmares about, all of it is real."
"Why are–" Grover began to speak.
"Because not telling him and telling him aren't going to make damn bit of difference at this point," Solara snapped, "And I'd like to go on the record and say that a demigod knowing about their heritage doesn't actually keep the monsters from sensing them. It's when they start to use their powers that the monsters sense them more, and after your trip to the museum that ship fucking sailed." Once she calmed down she noticed that the other three occupants were staring at her. "Sorry," she said, "For the cussing," she clarified then cringed when she heard that the Minotaur was closer, "Can you please driver faster Mrs. Jackson?"
Sally stomped on the gas pedal. "Honey, I know that this is all confusing, but we don't have time for more answers."
"Got that right," Solara muttered as she fastened her seat belt knowing what was coming next.
"Right now we need to get you to safety," Sally finished eyeing her warily, almost like she was scared to ask why Solara had put her seat belt on.
"Safety?" Percy asked, "Why? Who's after me?"
"Oh, no one much," Grover said, and he was obviously still miffed by the donkey comment, "Just the Lord of the Dead, and some of his blood-thirstiest monsters."
Solara snickered as Sally shouted Grover's name. Then they were making a sudden left and were hurtling down a dark farm road. Solara glimpsed the 'pick your own strawberries' sign and knew that it was coming soon.
"Where are we going?" Percy asked.
"To the summer camp that I told you about," Sally said, and Solara had to feel sorry for the woman, "The one your father wanted you to go to."
"The place you didn't want me to go."
"Percy," Solara said, "Try to make this a bit easier on your mom, yeah? Things are more complicated than she ever thought that they were going to be, and you're in danger right now... We need to get to camp."
"Because some old ladies cut yarn."
"They were the Fates," Solara said and she winced when her voice cracked, "They rarely ever show themselves to demigods. To people like you and I," she said when he looked confused, "And they usually only do it to someone that either they, or someone whose fate is tied directly to your own, is going to die."
"So I'm going to die?"
"I never said that," Solara said, and now she was trying to blink back tears. All she could see were the socks and Luke's eyes. His life was such a cruel joke on the Fates's part. She wished that she could kill them, and she hadn't wanted to kill anyone in a long time.
"But you said–"
"Percy!" Sally said, "Not now."
Solara hadn't even realized that she had lost her battle with the tears when she felt one land on the back of her hand. She ignored the other occupants of the car as she tried to calm down. Not that it was easy to focus on anything other than her rage and pain.
Solara had heard Sally say that there was only one more mile left, and she looked up knowing that they were about to crash. She felt a bit of vindictive glee when she thought about Gabe losing the camaro. She had just tightened her grip on her seat belt when Zeus's lightning bolt hit the car.
End Notes I know, I'm evil... but that was too good to resist. :)
Also, I have never been to New York, much less Montauk, so if any details are inaccurate, please just ignore them, they don't come up again at all.
Song the chapter title comes from is 'Ceasefire' by for King & Country.
Please leave a friendly comment on your way out. (Or be outraged by the cliffhanger, I can take it.)
