When I arrived at the camp I allowed myself a few moments in the car to compose myself. I was furious with Aphrodite and Hermes and Artemis and even Laura for the situation in which I currently found myself. I was mad at Aphrodite for making me fall for this demigod and then teasing my by using this Alec boy to make me jealous. I was mad at my sister because of course she thought she knew better than me. I was mad at Hermes for falling for Laura's mother, s=he has the gift of prophecy as well he should have known the resulting child would cause me problems. Laura should have known that Alec was nothing compared to me.
I walked slowly to our meeting place and somehow still managed to beat Laura there. I angrily wondered if she had gotten caught up with her new boyfriend, or whatever he was. I was pulled from my jealousy as I saw a small figure approaching, she looked ridiculous and I could not help but laugh at the enormous "cape" which was causing her to struggle her way up the hill. Despite the anger I was feeling towards pretty much every aspect of my life I found myself laughing at her attempts.
"I... have... never seen... someone... fall that much... In all my years of existence .." She glared at me and I attempted to pull myself together. She pulled off her breastplate and I attempted not to stare at the thin white shirt she had been wearing underneath. Instead I focused on her intricate armor. The small B on the color of the armor told me that Beckendorf had originally designed it for her. I could see some places where there had obviously been damaged. Including a large slash that covered the entire front panel.
"You done?" she snapped pulling me out of my thoughts. I nodded at her.
"So what's with the get up?" the look of pride from earlier returned and my attraction to her grew.
"I just won Capture the Flag,"
"Oh, I saw that, you wouldn't have made it if Will hadn't let those guys catch him." She rolled her eyes at me.
"I was almost there when they got him anyway."
"Still I think my cabin should have won."
"Well," she had an infuriating smirk across her face, "I'm the one who carried it over the river, so my cabin won, I'll tell your guys better luck next time."
"Fine," I leaned against the tree and slid down it, suddenly feeling the events of the day catching up with me. "You might as well sit, you look exhausted." She threw herself down next to me, her grace from capture the flag disappearing completely.
"Nah, I'm not tired at all," I laughed at her stubborn attempts to appear as though she had no weakness.
"Not tired, my ass," she laughed along with me. "So, are you excited for the fireworks next week?" She shrugged and I felt some hope. I had assumed the boy from earlier had asked her to them and she would have been excited for her date.
"Yeah, it'll be fun." Something was off and I lightly elbowed her in an attempt to get more information.
"You don't sound very happy."
"I am," she half smiled and I felt my open fall. She was excited to spend time with that boy. "It's just that they always remind me of..." she stopped abruptly and I wondered what she could possibly find wrong with fireworks.
"What?" I pushed suddenly incredibly curious. "Come on, you can tell me."
"The war. They remind me of the battle against Kronos' Army,"she smiled though it was a perversion of her usual brightness. I felt my entire mood change. Of course that's what this was about. All the demigods were still hung up on it. I guess I couldn't blame them, it was their first real experience with that sort of thing. When you live as long as I have you get used to the loss.
"I take it that the war was hard on you?" Laura started picking at the grass absently and I could tell she was trying to decide how much to tell me.
"It was hard on all of us, everyone lost someone important to them," I almost missed the tears start as she quickly wiped them away.
"How old were you?"
"Eleven."
"And they let you fight?" she laughed slightly at my surprise.
"Well, not exactly, we hid in the van until we reached Olympus."
"We?" She paused and I knew immediately that this was not something she particularly wanted to share with me. She was crying as she continued
"Well, there were three of us, me, Colleen, daughter of Athena, and your son Danny. Lynn was supposed to be with us but Argus caught and Danny were killed, the Lamia got them. She would've gotten me too if...if Will... if he hadn't seen me and shoot her."
I understood why she had hesitated now. Watching as my son was eaten alive had been difficult on me, I could only imagine how that must have been for someone who had never before experienced something of that nature.
I saw her attempt to stop her tears and I knew I needed to comfort the girl. I held my arms open for her and she crawled between them. It felt natural for her to be there. She small figure shook as she sobbed into my shirt. I gently traced patterns into her back and buried my face in the top of her hair. I wanted to take her to Olympus and protect her there forever. Instead I wrapped the banner around her legs to provide her with some additional warmth.
She apologized to me after about half an hour of tears. I decided it was time for me to make my own move on her, it was time this girl had something go correctly in her life.
"Don't be, it's hard to get over loss, I would know." I pulled her into my lap completely. "Besides, I still get upset thinking about kids I lost thousands of years ago." She pulled her head off my chest and my breath hitched as I met her clear eyes.
"I let your son die, I ran away when he needed me. Why are you comforting me?" I chuckled at that, she really was oblivious just like her father.
"Well, the way I see it is, you were both eleven, there is no way in Tartarus you would have been able to take on Lamia. You're very lucky to be alive, Danny was destined to die, I knew the minute he went into battle, that's not your fault. So don't blame yourself."
"How did you know?" I laughed at this, obviously she had not been paying attention in her lessons.
"Are you sure you're not one of Athena's kids? Because you sure do act like one sometimes," she finally laughed and I was relieved for the change in mood. I wanted her to feel happy when she was around me, not relive her past.
"I get that a lot actually," her smile grew again which made me feel better about the events which had just transpired between us. "I know you're the god of prophecy, but how does that work? Is it like pictures or what?"
"It's actually really simple," I said laughing to hide my discomfort at the topic. Prophecy was a major issue for me. "Your dad even figured it out. But, basically, I see the future like a video, but at the same time I can see the emotions, almost like colors..."
"Like an aura?" her quick comparison made me smile. She was smarter than I expected her to be
"Exactly, so I can see the emotions of someone's past, present and future. The problem is, if I tell a mortal what it is I see, it'll change and usually for the worse. " In that moment, I thought of telling Laura to run, her child would hold the fate of Olympus in their hands and her only hope was to leave her life behind and never look back.
"So you can't tell me my future?" she frowned, it was adorable. "Then prophecy sounds like a crappy thing to have."
"It can be, but it's also awesome, like me," I winked at her attempting to keep the mood light.
"Can you see my future?" I immediately began to worry about this line of questioning. If she pushed too hard I might accidentally let something slip and hurt her further.
"Yes," I bit my lip trying to figure out how to phrase this without revealing too much. "I wish I could tell you but parts are still blurry, even to me. You still have some choices to make before anything becomes permanent."
"Is what you see good or bad?" I pitied her in this moment. On one hand there was years of suffering in her future. From what I could see nearly the rest of her life would be spent in constant distress. It wasn't until her final days she would return to her current state.
"Can't tell you that either."
"Is there anything you actually can tell me?" I considered telling her something small in order to ease her curiosity. It was probably safe to tell her she would someday become a mother. It was also probably safe to tell her her time here at the camp was coming to an end.
"I'm not gonna risk it," she rolled her eyes at men.
"I'll find out eventually."
"I know you will, that's kinda how the future works," she started laughing, the sound was music to me. I decided then and there that I was going to take Aphrodite on her offer. I would speak to her in the morning about it. There had to be a way I could protect Laura during the prophecy.
"I have a dorky question..."
"Oh this should be good..."
"Will we have flying cars in my lifetime?" The two of us began to laugh at the ridiculous question. I did not mean to loosen my gri on her waist but Laura slid off my lap and rolled down the hill, laughing the whole way down. I ran down the hill to catch her and found her wrapped in her banner.
"You alright?" I started laughing as I reached her. She was already starting to detangle herself from the banner.
"Fine," I sat down next to her and we looked up at the sky. Artemis had made a beautiful night, there were so many stars out. There was a flash across the sky and for a moment I saw her chariot.
"Shooting star," Laura smiled. I almost laughed until I saw the serene look in her face. There was no way I would tell her what she was actually seeing as obviously the shooting star had some significance to her.
"Make a wish," I whispered to her instead. She tilted her head back and made a wish. Her face was lit beautifully by the moon and the stars. I knew my sister could see us but I did not care in the slightest.
I wish it could always be like this.