At last, I have returned.
Somewhere to Stand
"You're taking a bow and arrows to Dan's performance?" Will asked.
I was currently trying to decide where to put my dagger. It seemed pointless to put it its sheath at my ankle since the monsters seemed to know about it now.
"You can never be too careful," I said. "Especially with my luck." I added with a mutter.
Will rolled his eyes. The rest of our siblings had just left for dinner. Will was hanging back, seeing me off, as he usually did. Getting onto Mr. D's good side was a hard thing to do, partly because I was convinced he didn't have a good side when it came to me, the other part because I'd confronted him about me going on demigod rescue missions. However, because I'd managed to finish all my chores in a timely manner and successfully retrieve whatever item he'd "lost" in the Underworld thus, he was allowing me to go to Dan's performance at his college.
I suppose I can't complain too much, because he'd allowed me to go to all of Dan's performances since the beginning of my punishment. If Dan sent comp tickets, I was allowed to go. I couldn't exactly understand it, but I was secretly grateful all the same. The gods had taken everything from me. I wasn't about to lose my brother, too.
Anyway, the production that his college was putting on currently had been a student-written thing based on, ironically enough, Greek mythology. It was titled Somewhere to Stand. (I'd learn from the program that the student who'd written it, Israel, named it after part of a Greek quote that he'd also based the play on: "Give me somewhere to stand, and I will move the earth.")
Dan, of course, was one of the main leads, a character named Endymion. Although it wasn't using any Greek myth I'd read about during my whole time at camp (most likely made up, then), the play took place in—surprise, surprise—Ancient Greece with a handful of Olympians as characters as well. It was cringe-worthy, but also kind of hilarious.
My half-brother straightened up from leaning against the side of my bunk. "And, um, how's your…pain?"
I met his eyes, my hands stopping their fiddling with my dagger. "Nothing I can't handle right now."
Will looked away. It really wasn't fair to him that I was angry at him for checking up on my wellbeing, but it just got supremely annoying after a while.
"Maybe I'll just…leave this here," I sighed, throwing my dagger on my bed and readjusting the strap of my quiver.
Will scoffed and I felt insulted. I crossed my arms and faced him, giving him one of my glares.
"You? Go without your dagger? Please," he said.
"Well, what do you suppose I do with it then?" I demanded. "It's not like hiding it's going to do me any good. Apparently, the monsters in Tartarus know where I carry it."
"Why hide it? If you've got such a reputation, then let them know you're not joking around."
My glare dropped, as did my arms. I felt stupid for struggling so hard only to have my much younger sibling tell me something that should've been obvious. It was like the same mentality with my scars. I used to hide them, ashamed and angry about how I'd acquired them. After all that'd happened, I figured if people saw them, they would know that I wasn't messing around, so I didn't go out of my way to hide them from people anymore.
I snatched up my dagger, sheathing it and attaching it to my waist, opposite of my sword. I'd have to find a new place that would be easier for me to reach with my dominant hand (I could, if needed, use it with my left hand, I just preferred not to), but for now that would have to do.
"All right, I should go if I don't want to be late. Thanks, Will," I said, starting toward the exit.
"Have fun. Say hi to Dan for me. Don't kill anyone," he listed off, following me out.
"I can't guarantee that last one," I half-joked, giving him a smile. Will simply snorted before we parted ways.
I had been making a dark joke when I'd made that comment about my luck, and about the not killing anyone thing to Will. I really should've known better.
Things had gone without a hitch regarding my drive over (because this wasn't strictly demigod business, I drove myself0 and getting situated in the theater. I'd almost made it all the way through the play without a single incident. The final battle was coming up, and as was the way of Greek tragedies, I had a feeling that a lot of the characters, if not all, were going to die. In fact, most had already. Except for the gods and goddesses, of course.
So far, a guy named Thanos, who was a son of Ares, was cursed by Nemesis. Thanos had angered the goddess when he'd killed one of Nemesis's daughters, Seraphina, because she'd beat him in swordplay. Nemesis had made it so that his thirst for revenge was never quenched—he'd always been looking for vengeance. This curse had driven him to insanity and he'd gone into the Labyrinth, but he became the new monster, killing anyone who entered.
Nemesis then called upon Athanasia (daughter of Poseidon, with more abilities over the earth than water) and her friend Endymion (played by Dan; son of Athena) to help fix the problem before Zeus found out and punished Nemesis. Athanasia was also Thanos's half-sister.
Anyway, the final battle was coming up between Endymion and Thanos. I was to find out later from Dan that what was supposed to have happened was Endymion dies at the hands of Thanos. Grief-stricken and angery, Athanasia picks up her fallen comrade's weapon and fights Thanos herself. Unfortunately, instead of saving Thanos like Athanasia had planned, she ends up mortally wounding him. After he dies, she kills herself because of what she's done.
Is that what happened, though? You guessed it! Nope.
The first thing that tipped me off that something was wrong was the moment Thanos walked out on stage to confront Endymion and Anathasia. Luther, the student who was cast as Thanos, didn't quite seem himself. His whole demeanor had changed—the way he walked, held a sword, his facial expression even seemed crueler.
You'd think being a demigod, you'd always be able to see through the Mist, but that wasn't necessarily the case. Monsters had the power to manipulate the Mist just as much as half-bloods and sometimes fooled them.
If I concentrated hard enough, Luther's image would shimmer to reveal a humanoid-looking monster. It had the body of a man, but that was where the similarities ended. It glowed red and had a dog's head. I blinked and Luther was back. The sword in the monster's hand also shimmered and changed, becoming shinier—Celestial bronze. He had a real Celestial bronze sword.
My eyes flickered over to Dan. He didn't seem to notice anything was wrong, maybe he was too in character.
I could feel my heart hammering away in my chest. My hands twitched, wanting to reach for my sword, but I fought down the urge. I needed to get out into the aisle first. My mind raced through all the possible scenarios, and thought of plans of attack, all the while trying to be polite and quietly whisper "excuse me" as I shimmied toward the aisle. I kept my eyes on the stage, though.
Endymion and Thanos were exchanging lines. Dan still seemed unaware of what was going on. I wondered if I were to reveal that Dan was facing a monster, if he'd able to keep calm. Then I scolded myself for that thought. He'd been through the war with me, he was also a fantastic actor. If anyone could keep calm and act like nothing was wrong when faced with a glowing red monster on stage in front of a nearly-packed theater, Dan could.
When I finally got to the aisle, I focused on my rune and carefully peeled away the Mist, but only enough so that Dan and I could see the monster.
As soon as I did so, I saw Dan tense and grip his word. His fake sword. He turned toward his fellow cast member.
"Athanasia, I think it would be safer if you went and found a hiding place," he said, as Endymion.
The girl who was playing Athanasia, Daisy, looked up at Dan in confusion. He'd gone off script.
"Please, I would feel a lot better if you were hiding," Dan insisted, squeezing her arm with his free hand.
"Something wrong?" Thanos sneered. Now that I knew this was a monster, his voice sounded more like a dog trying to speak, but not quite making it. In fact, the way it spoke reminded me of telkhines—I shoved the bad memories associated with those creatures down, into the cage with my demons.
The monsters were a strange mix between human, seal, and dog. Only, this monster sounded a bit more human than they did when they spoke.
"You know I can take care of myself," Daisy replied, managing to stay in character. I'm sure behind the curtains, the stage manager, and assistant stage managers were having a heyday, trying to figure out what Dan was doing.
Dan managed a half-smile. "I know. Please?"
Daisy gave my brother one last look before nodding silently and walking off stage. Persuasive as ever.
Gripping the hilt of his sword until his knuckles were white, Dan turned to face the monster.
Okay, so everyone was off stage. I didn't need to worry about anyone getting hurt. The background was solid wood, so even if someone was waiting at the back, they'd be protected. Unless Dan brought the fight into the audience, which, knowing him, he wouldn't, the audience members should be safe. Now I needed to figure out how to help him. At this point, I didn't care if I drew attention to myself. I just hoped the Mist would do its work and the audience would think this was part of the performance.
The monster and my brother were already unequal. Dan's sword was fake, while the monster's was very real. I glanced down at my own sword. If I could bring it to my hand with the rune, could I also put it in someone else's hand? It would probably take more effort, and I hadn't practiced at all, but I was desperate.
I focused on my rune again, ripping my sword (sheath and all) from my waist.
"Dan!" I yelled. Instinctively, he looked out at the audience. I held out the sword in front of me, vertically, and then let go forcing it to stay afloat. Then it zoomed toward the stage at an alarming rate. At first, I worried I'd put a little too much effort into it, but Dan was a demigod, he had fast reflexes. Without even thinking, he dropped his fake sword and caught mine.
He had just enough time to unsheathe it before the monster attacked.
I quickly removed my bow from my shoulder and knocked an arrow. Dan had never been the best at swordplay.
This monster was fast, though, and strong. It easily disarmed Dan before I had time to even lift my bow and arrow. Without even hesitating, it kicked Dan in the chest, sending him sprawling. In the back of my head, I registered the audience's gasps. I could feel the tension in the air as thick and suffocating as smoke.
Forcing myself to concentrate, I lifted my bow and arrow just as the monster jabbed his sword down at Dan, who had lifted himself up slightly with one of his elbows. I let my arrow fly and it hit the monster's hand, who yelped (literally). Its sword clattered to the stage floor as it turned its head, snout sniffing me out.
I didn't think it could see me in the dark, but it looked directly at me. Then I remembered that dogs had a superior sense of smell to humans. Then I also realized that for him to have my scent, he would've needed something that had my scent all over it. My skin started to crawl at the very thought.
"Well," the monster snarled, breaking me from my thoughts. "If it isn't our very own Seirína."
My brain automatically translated the Greek word: siren. I gripped my bow and arrow, shifting on my feet. My stomach started churning and I stifled a shudder—my smell, theirs, that nickname.
"Your very own?" I responded in a stronger voice than how I felt inside. "Say that again, I dare you."
The monster bared its canine teeth in what I thought was some kind of twisted grin. Without saying anything, the dog-headed monster turned back toward Dan, reaching for the sword he dropped.
I quickly knocked another arrow and let it fly between the space of the sword and the monster's hand. It froze before barking out a laugh and straightening up.
"Come up here, then, Seirína," he invited theatrically. Not in a modern stage way, but the way you would in a coliseum. It was a bit unnerving. Still, I couldn't let that show. Swallowing hard, I dropped my hand, still holding onto my bow, squared my shoulders, lifted my chin and started toward the stage. Three steps in, I was suddenly bathed in light, coming from behind. I could see part of my shadow and then the halo of light surrounding my shadow on the ground in front of me.
I paused and took a deep breath, gripping my bow. My eyes went to Dan with an expression that said, "Really?" He gave me a sheepish look and shrugged slightly. It shouldn't have surprised me that they had decided to run with this—the show must go on and all that—but it did anyway.
The spotlight followed me as I slowly made my way toward the stage. Three more steps in, the monster started talking to me. Its voice had a mocking edge to it.
"We've heard so many rumors about you in Tartarus," it sang in its weird, dog-human voice that you'd think I'd have been used to by now considering how much I was around telkhines.
"Please, do tell," I responded as I got to the edge of the stage and started toward the stairs on the opposite side, because I wanted to be as far as possible from the monster. Less chance it could attack me with a hidden weapon.
"It's a bit underwhelming, I must say," the monster ignored me. "You're not all that impressive."
"Honestly, if you were here to just insult me—" I deadpanned as I walked up the steps, my eyes never leaving the creature.
"I see you've changed where your dagger is," the glowing red demon commented casually. My hand twitched. That was going to be a sore spot for me.
I stood parallel to the dog-human monster. Its body was facing the audience, but the dog head was turned, looking directly at me. I met its beady, black eyes.
"I figured if you all knew where it was, there was no point in hiding it anymore." I replied easily, giving my best smile without humor.
"Is it hard without Luke?"
I felt like someone had just shot an icepick through my chest. I fisted my shaking hand, gripped my bow tighter, and tried to move my focus outward—people on stage, people in the audience, any noise in front of me, to my left, right, behind, every single little movement the demon dog-human made; Dan, who was still on the ground.
"It must've been unbearable to see him as Kronos," the monster continued. "I can't even begin to imagine what it's like with him completely gone."
Behind the monster, I saw Dan start to move, toward the hilt of the sword lying next to him. I shook my head the tiniest fraction. This monster was fast and skilled, I was afraid Dan would get hurt if he tried to take the sword.
"She's right, Endymion," the monster snarled without taking its eyes off me. Dan's hand retracted, his eyes flickering to me worriedly. I met his eyes for a second longer before looking back at the dog-human.
"I hate to cut the chatter, but we're wasting time," I said coldly. "Why are you here? What do you want?"
The monster pulled back its lips, showing its razor-sharp teeth. They reminded me of hellhounds' teeth. I blinked hard, pushing down the flashbacks. I was over that now. I was over that.
"You know why."
It started to move, toward its sword. I automatically reached for an arrow, raising my bow. The monster's other hand came up in a "stop" gesture.
"I'm just going to retrieve my sword," the demon assured. I didn't lower my arms. "I swear on the Styx."
Glaring at the demon, I slowly lowered my bow and retracted my hand from my quiver. When the monster finally had its sword back, it spun the blade which transformed into a shining, Celestial bronze poleaxe. The pole itself was made from strong, thick wood. The axe was metal, glistening wickedly in the theater lights.
"They say you're much better with a sword than your siblings, ready to prove that?" the monster asked with that twisted snarl-grin.
I threw my bow upstage before holding out my right hand and summoning my sword into it, doing a little trick of my own with it before taking a fighting stance, not breaking eye-contact the whole time, not even to blink.
"Ready when you are."
Thankfully, because of how obsessed I'd become with training, I'd fought with a sword against a poleaxe. I'd practiced many times fighting with a sword against a poleaxe. Like I said, I hated feeling helpless.
As we started toward each other, Dan took the opportunity to stand and get off the stage, out of the line of fire (so to speak), but the monster seemed to sense that he'd moved. Without even blinking, it faced Dan and swung the end of the poleaxe at Dan's head.
"Watch out!" I warned. Too late, the butt of the poleaxe hit the side of Dan's head as he turned to face me and the monster again. He crumpled to the floor, but was still conscious, as evidenced by his groaning and reaching up to hold his head. When he pulled his hand away, there was blood.
I saw red, then, but took in a deep breath to force all that energy into the fight.
"Enough!" I shouted. "You wanted me, you got me."
The glowing red monster came at me with alarming speed, but rage was fueling me. I managed to block its swing, the blade of the axe inches from my neck. We came face-to-face for a second before I pushed it away and counterattacked.
The fight seemed to be going well. None of the demon's comments had managed to rattle me enough to throw me off my game. The rage I felt only fueled me, energized me. I didn't let it control me, though, because I knew if I let anything get under my skin, I'd make a stupid mistake that might cost me my life.
What I wasn't anticipating was my chronic pain making a sudden resurgence. I did a certain move and a shockwave of unexpected prickles shot up my arm, causing the pin-pricks in my entire body to ignite, like a line of gunpowder leading up to a whole barrel-full. With a gasp of shock and pain, I dropped my sword. My knees gave out, too, and I hit the floor, sitting down hard with my legs underneath me, curling in on myself, trying to contain the agony. I didn't think I'd ever felt the chronic pain so intensely, so badly before. It'd been there, as it always would be, but my brain had managed to push it away if I focused on other things. Usually.
Now, though, now, I couldn't think past the pain. My vision was blurry, going in and out of darkness. My body was screaming in agony. My head felt like it was going to explode. Even with all the training I'd done, even as a demigod, I hadn't ever experienced such an intense pain before. All over my body no less.
Something connected with my face, sending me sprawling on my side. Now, along with the prickly nerve pain, my cheek ached. More worrying, the prickles weren't fading or going away. It stayed at that unbearable level. I could barely breathe. It took all my concentration just to remind myself to breathe.
There were voices…but I couldn't tell you what they'd said. I couldn't remember, the pain overrode most of my memory of that part of the night.
I somehow ended up on my stomach, looking toward stage right, where Dan was still lying. The monster had gone up to him and was raising its axe. Despite the pain, a small part of my brain lit up. A small part of my brain did know that I had to protect my brother. I wasn't going to let anyone take his life away from him, especially because of me.
I reached out my right hand, embracing my current pain, all the anger, guilt, sadness I'd ever felt and focused on my rune, concentrating all that emotional energy into that small spot on my wrist. Right before the monster's blade could make contact with Dan, the weapon flew from its hand to mine. It wasn't like I could do anything with it at the moment. I'd spent all my energy, now all I knew was the sharp, stinging nerve pain. My main goal had been achieved though, I'd gotten the weapon away from the monster.
Through my blurring vision, I saw the monster walk up to me, pressing its foot onto the hand that was gripping the poleaxe. I gritted my teeth, causing the ache in my cheek to throb painfully, as a new pain flared up in my hand.
The monster was speaking to me, leaning down, thinking I'd be able to hear better. Once again, I couldn't tell you what it was saying, because I just couldn't remember. Dan couldn't really, either, unfortunately.
Something I do remember was reaching for my dagger. I can't quite recall how I'd managed to get it into my left hand without the monster noticing, but maybe it'd been too busy bragging or something. Also, I was moving slowly because any movement caused more pain, which was something I did not want at that moment.
Summoning what clarity of mind and strength I had left, I remember myself, in the middle of the demon's sentence, pushing up on my right hand (which was still under the dog-human's foot, mind you) and stabbing the monster in the chest as I said, as Dan would tell me later, "If you've heard of me, then you'll also know that I will stop at nothing to protect my brother. Gods be damned." I, then, proceeded to shove the dagger up to its hilt into the monster's chest, adding, "There's a reason you only hear my name in Tartarus." right before it burst into dust.
After, it's really just a haze of pain and exhaustion. I don't think I was even half-conscious after that point.
Dan would tell me later, when my head was much more clear that as the audience broke into a deafening applause he'd stumbled to his feet, grabbed me, and dragged me backstage, into the green room. It'd been empty at the time because the tech crew and actors were running around, cleaning up the dust and trying to get things in order for the end of the show, trying to figure out what exactly happened.
After taking a square of ambrosia to heal his head wound, he'd given me a pretty large chunk. Immediately I regained consciousness. My cheek stopped throbbing, my hand stopped burning, and like it always did, the prickles went away completely, like someone had snuffed out their flames. The relief was so dizzying all I could do was sit in the chair Dan had set me in for a few minutes while my brother waited silently, never taking his eyes off me.
Finally, I blinked slowly and met his eyes.
"Luther," I blurted, my mind running back through what it could remember.
"What?" Dan's eyebrows furrowed.
"Luther, that monster was impersonating Luther. We should find the real guy." I explained standing up.
Dan shot to his feet, holding up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, you need to rest, first off—"
"I'm fine now," I waved my hand, looking around the green room. No closets you could hide a body in. "The ambrosia fixed everything. For now."
"For now? Tori—" He tried to put his hands on my shoulders.
I flinched away. "Dan, it's a long story. Right now, can we just focus on your cast member, please?"
Dan glared at me, but I also knew if he gave up now, he wasn't going to let it slide later. "Fine. I think I know where the monster might've put him." We exited the green room and crossed the hall to the costume shop. The tables and cutting boards were bare, except for the occasional concept art for a costume or an actual costume that wouldn't fit in the dressing room. There were also plenty of closets to hide someone.
We started on opposite sides of the room. I was the one to find Luther. He was lying on his back on the floor, unconscious. I knelt down and quickly checked his pulse, letting out a breath when I found one. It was even and strong, though I sensed a concussion.
I whistled for Dan to come over. He knelt down next to me. "Concussion. I…can't heal him—"
"I've got it, just make sure no one comes in," Dan said, moving closer to Luther and positioning him upright.
I stood and moved to give Dan more room, keeping my eyes on the door. I felt naked without my sword, dagger, and bow. I wanted them back in my possession as soon as possible. Having worked in the theater scene before, I knew that sometimes actors weren't the best at keeping their props together. I hoped no one had touched my weapons. If someone had, then I prayed it'd been one of the techs.
Luther started groaning, so I turned and kneeled next to Dan again. Luther blinked before finally becoming fully aware of where he was.
"Dan?" he asked. "What happened?" He put a hand to his head. "Did…someone hit me?" His eyes flickered over to me. "Who are you?"
"Maybe we should knock him out again," I muttered to Dan. Luther gave me a, "You're crazy!" look.
Dan looked at me dryly. "Har, har." He reached for Luther's hand. "Come on, Luther—" I pulled Dan's hand away from Luther's, slightly pushing him away, too, before reaching for Luther's head, who backed away with wide eyes.
"Victoria," Dan warned.
I ignored my brother, putting one hand on Luther's shoulder and one hand on the side of his head. I focused on my rune and Mist.
"You tripped while getting ready to go out on stage and hit your head hard enough to knock you unconscious. They had to use your understudy to finish up the show." I said, working the Mist. Luther's eyes glazed over for a moment before his brain took it. I pulled my hands away as Luther's eyes cleared and he blinked hard.
"What am I doing in a closet?" he asked.
I blanched, having forgotten where we were and adding that into the narrative. Thankfully Dan was quick on his feet.
"Some of the other cast members thought it would be funny to put you in here after you knocked yourself out," he divulged, rolling his eyes for added effect. "Don't worry, we checked to make sure you were all right. You don't have a concussion. You should be fine."
Luther lifted a hand to his head again. "I've got a massive headache, man. You sure I don't have a concussion?"
"Well…if you're worried, you can always go to the doctor and get it checked out." Dan acquiesced. He was about to say something else, but the door to the costume shop opened and Daisy poked her head in.
"There you are!" she exclaimed. "Come on, it's time for final bows!" With that she left.
"You guys should go," I said, standing up. "I'll see you outside the theater, Dan."
"Oh, no," Dan said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the door. Luther followed, apparently not questioning anything anymore. Maybe he was just so confused, he thought it better to save it for later. "You had a big role tonight. It's time for you to take your bows, too."
I half-scoffed, half-laughed and shook my head. "No way, you know how much I hate the spotlight. I don't even go here. I'm not even part of the permanent cast."
Dan simply smiled and continued to pulling me. I turned to Luther as a last ditch effort.
"Tell him, I didn't do anything. I had no part in this play. I shouldn't be getting any credit, right?"
Luther shrugged. "Sorry, dude, I was unconscious apparently."
I groaned—which was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd—as Dan led us through to backstage and through the legs, onto the stage. The rest of the actors were already on stage, having given their bows. Dan let Luther go with Daisy for bows before Dan pulled me to the edge of downstage. Then he stepped back and held out his arms, presenting me. I bowed awkwardly, because acting had never been my thing before quickly stepping back and presenting Dan. He gave me a rueful smile before fluidly stepping up and giving his theatrical, fluid bow. I smiled and clapped along with the audience and cast members. After, Dan took my hand as the other actors came forward, and we all took hands before giving the final two bows together.
The pain had returned by the time Dan had changed out of costume, taken off his makeup and finished cleaning up. Thankfully, it was bearable this time. I didn't think it'd ever get to such a point that I couldn't think, let alone not be able to remember what I'd done or said, however, I was also afraid that there was a chance it'd happen again.
I'd just have to avoid that move.
My blood froze. Did that mean there were other moves that I wouldn't be able to do without intensifying the pain? Did that mean if I made a mistake like that again, I'd experience what happened on stage? A rock formed in the pit of my stomach. There had to be a way to avoid that, right?
The only solution I could really think of was training. I'd just have to train, using every possible move I could think of and see if it caused me pain. I needed to figure this out, because with the things I did…if I messed up I'd die. Tonight I'd just been lucky. Especially because it was my first time experiencing such an occurrence.
"Hey," Dan's voice broke me from my spinning thoughts. "You all right?"
I realized I was breathing hard and my hands were shaking. I'd been working myself up into a panic attack.
"I'm…I'm fine," I blinked and looked away.
Dan was quiet for a moment. "I think we have a lot to talk about."
My eyes snapped back up to him. "Yeah…I-I think so, too."
We walked back to Dan's apartment, which wasn't far. My mind kept switching back and forth between having almost lost my brother again to the revelation about my pain. I didn't even realize that we were in Dan's room, sitting on his bed, until he nudged me with his elbow.
"You're starting to worry me," he said, trying to joke, but it was half-hearted.
"You're always worried about me," I shot back with a roll of my eyes.
Dan snorted. "Okay, you're starting to worry me more than usual," he amended.
I took a deep breath, sobering up. I told him what Will had told me about my chronic pain, how it was caused by the venom from Chimera. I told him about standing up to Mr. D and how our siblings had almost started a riot because of it. (Dan agreed with them, by the way.)
"Listen," I started, switching topics. "If you don't want me to keep coming to your productions—"
"How could you even say that?" Dan interrupted looking angry and upset, but also worried and hurt.
"Did you not see what happened tonight?" I asked incredulously, pushing away the twinge of guilt at his hurt. "I don't want you or your friends to get hurt because of me. I've already…" I choked and lost my voice, tears springing in my eyes. I swallowed the bile and forced myself to continue. "I've already killed so many, harmed so many, I would never be able to live with myself if you, or someone you cared about, got hurt because of me."
"You've never killed anyone," my brother objected fiercely.
"But I let it happen! I let our friends die! And that's just as bad."
"This is my choice, too, Victoria," Dan said, meeting my eyes and holding them. They burned with anger, worry, determination, love. "I send those tickets so that you can escape from that world. Even if it's just for a few hours. I send those tickets so that I can see you. So that I can talk to you. Hearing about how you're doing from everyone else isn't good enough, sometimes."
"Dan—" I tried.
"And I'm not trying to guilt-trip you. I swear, that's not my intention. I'm just stating how I feel. I realize that you…sometimes…don't recognize when you're struggling. Also, knowing you, I know you don't like asking for help. It's fine, I've accepted that that's just who you are."
"I just…don't want you to worry," I mumbled, looking down at the floor.
Dan took my hand. "I know." He squeezed my hand and I looked back up at him. He gave me a small smile.
I managed a small one of my own.
"I want you to keep coming," he continued. "I can handle monsters. I may not be the best with a sword, but I'm also not letting myself get rusty on either my bow and arrows or my sword."
I took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."
I left a little after that, promising on the Styx I wasn't going to bail and not attend future productions he was going to participate in. It was always hard to leave him, because worry invaded my mind. As he'd said, though, he could take care of himself. He'd done it for three, four years now, he'd be just fine.
I was exhausted by the time I got back to camp. As I trudged up the hill, Peleus greeted me with a puff of smoke and a low growl at the back of his throat. I patted his snout.
"Sorry, buddy, not right now, I've got to get some shut-eye," I apologized. He grumbled. "You know how it is. I'll probably be back in a few hours." He blew smoke again, nudging me with his nose, making a noise I hadn't heard him make before. It was almost like a whine, kind of how a dog would do when it was trying to comfort you. Did Peleus know I was having nightmares? I shook off that thought. "You should get some sleep, too. I'll see you later, buddy."
Peleus gave one last puff of smoke before readjusting around Thalia's pine tree and getting comfortable.
I was so tired I didn't realize that there were people standing on Cabin Seven's porch until I was half-way across the green. I stopped and blinked, hoping that I wasn't hallucinating, before continuing on, more alert now.
Was something wrong? I looked around the green. No other campers were up from what I could tell, so nothing too serious, then. That was at least good. I'd had my fill today.
As I got closer, I realized they were from the Hermes cabin. Connor, the co-head counselor, was with one of the cabin's younger siblings, Wally. He was about eight. I also saw they were talking with Will, who spotted me a few feet from the porch. Connor and Wally turned to see what Will was looking at as I came up onto the porch.
"What's…going on? Is something wrong?" I asked carefully.
"Wally had a bad dream," Will explained. I looked from my half-brother down to the boy. His eyes were rimmed red, shining with tears. Tear stains streaked his face.
"Viola told me that you sang her a song," Wally continued, "and made everything better." I blinked down at the boy, not expecting that response at all. Had she phrased it like that, too? That seemed like a lot of faith on Viola's part. It wasn't that it wasn't sweet, she was ten, after all. But the last time someone had put that much faith in me, their boyfriend had died on my watch. Of course, this was just singing. The other thing had involved Greek fire explosives, a large cruise ship full of monsters, and Kronos himself.
"You don't mind if I come over to your cabin?" I asked Connor, breaking away from my thoughts. I was never sure about the children of Hermes. I'd fallen in love and been in a pretty serious relationship with their previous head counselor, but I'd also let their friends die and said head counselor be possessed by Kronos.
Connor shrugged. "At this point, I'll try anything." I tried not to wince at the implied insult. Instead, I turned my attention to Wally, because that's who this was about right now. No me, not Connor, but Wally. Despite not knowing how to handle kids, I did have a soft spot for them in that it was always disheartening and rage-inducing that they had to deal with all this at such a young age. It just didn't seem fair.
I kneeled down so I was at Wally's eyelevel. "Why don't we get back to your cabin, then, hm?" I inquired. Wally nodded a small smile forming across his lips. I smiled back before picking him up into my arms. Once again, my body protested, but I didn't stumble this time. Still, I didn't miss the look Will was giving me (I had no doubt Dan had told him what'd transpired tonight). I stifled the urge to flip him off.
"I'll be back shortly, don't wait up," I called, giving Will a pointed glare over my shoulder at that last part, as I made my way down the steps and toward the Hermes cabin. Connor was close behind.
Connor got the door for me. I stepped inside and froze. I hadn't been inside for three or four years. My breath spasmed, coming out in small gasps, and the cage rattled violently, my heart stuttered in my chest. I closed my eyes and tried to get control of my breathing. I remembered sleepless nights, midnight talks with Luke, him inviting me over to his bunk, talks in the darkened cabin, shared kisses, laughter, hugs, sadness, mutual pain. It was overwhelming and it all hit me at once. I could feel myself losing it.
I gripped Wally to me a little bit tighter, using him to ground me. My breaths started to slow. The flashbacks and memories slowly started to fade back into my memory. When I thought I'd be able to control my emotions, I opened my eyes again and started forward again.
The scene before me was similar to what happened in the Apollo cabin the night Viola couldn't sleep—there were some campers who were awake, zombies, or completely knocked out.
Connor led me over to Wally's bunk. I set him down gently and pulled the blankets over him. Connor went to stand next to what I assumed was his bunk, but leaned against part of the frame that held up the top bunk, watching me with critical eyes. Used to being watched like I was going to all axe-murder on them suddenly, I ignored Connor and sat on the edge of Wally's bed.
I reached out and ruffled his bangs, getting a laugh from him.
"There's a smile," I commented. "Okay, do you have a song in particular you'd like me to sing?"
Wally thought for a second, concentrating so hard, he was pouting. "The Lion King!" he finally exclaimed excitedly.
I laughed nervously. "Is there a particular song you like? I don't know that I could do the whole thing, kid."
Wally thought about that again. "'I Just Can't Wait to Be King,'" he decided. "That's my favorite."
I glanced back at Connor before leaning in toward Wally and saying in a stage whisper, "Is that your secret wish?"
Wally's eyes also flickered to Connor before he leaned toward me, using the same whisper, "Yes, but don't tell Connor or Travis."
"You're secret's safe with me," I promised, ruffling his hair again. I snuck a peek back at Connor, who was looking away with his arms crossed, but I could see him fighting a smile.
Pleased, I turned back to Wally. "All right, relax, think of…cows."
"Sheep," Wally corrected with a giggle. "You're funny."
"Sheep, okay, think of sheep." I winked, getting another giggle. Smiling, I started softly singing the song he'd asked for, doing the voice for Zazu to the best of my ability (because, I'll admit, I wasn't much of an actor, but I could really get into and theatrical it if I wanted to).
Wally seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit and as I got closer to the end of the song, his eyes started drooping, he started yawning more. Despite his best efforts, he finally fell asleep, a big grin still on his face.
As I finished out the song, I smiled and brushed back some of his bangs. I stood quietly, and looked around the cabin. Everyone had gone back to sleep except for Connor, who looked about ready to fall over and start snoring. He hadn't moved from where he'd been standing when I'd set Wally back in his bunk, except now he was leaning heavily against the frame.
"I'll just take my leave now," I whispered nodding and going to the door.
"Hey, Victoria," Connor called in a quiet voice. I opened the door before turning to look at him. "Thanks."
I nodded and gave him a small smile. "Of course."
Wow, a whopping 12 pages! I just hope this makes up for my long absence. I know it's been a while, I just hit a terrible writer's block for this chapter. (Curse you WRITER'S BLOCK! *shakes fist*) But I finally finished it! Hooray!
So not as doom and gloom as the others. And to be honest, I didn't think I would've been able to write another emotionally draining chapter, like. So, some brother-sister love going on, and a cute little ending to tie it all up. Next chapter will have some doom, some gloom, but more brother-sister bonding. ᕕ( ᗜ )ᕗ
As always, hope you enjoyed!
Best,
TheBrightestNight
