A/N
Hello readers! I'm here with another chapter! And hopefully another one this Sunday! I've been super busy with school these last few days. Just had a maths test. Eeek. Anyways, thanks to the 40 degrees Celsius, sports day have been postponed, meaning I have more time to write stuff! Also, don't forget to R&R ;) ;)
I opened my eyes, to find myself staring at camp again. The faint strawberry scent made me feel safe. It was already quite dark, despite only the fact that I have only spent a few hours down in the Labyrinth, not the whole day. I guess the time down at the Labyrinth is faster. I jogged down to Chiron, who was at the Big House. "Charlie, my dear," he said, his eyes widening when he saw me, "where are the others?"
I told him the story, leaving out some parts I thought he wouldn't approve. I felt pretty useless, just apparating out and not even bother trying to find them. Not that I could, I didn't know where they were. But that didn't stop me from feeling as though I was just a burden. Throughout the whole trip, I was just there, not helping the team. Rachel was leading the way, Annabeth forming plans, and Percy, he was Percy.
"You shouldn't have done Apparated," Chiron said, uncomfortable, "now Luke knows your potential powers."
"What else could have done though," I said, plopping myself down on the couch dejectedly. I didn't even know what I was feeling. There were so much emotions surging through me right now. Hate, anger, frustration, irritation and…love?
Chiron seemed to notice my tone. Being the trainer of heaps of heroes even before me, he knows pretty much everything. "Charlie, you're as much help as Percy or Annabeth are. The campers, they look up to you as a leader."
I sighed in frustration, "Yes, but I was no help to the quest was I? I'm the monster magnet. I can't help on any of the quest because of my stupid blood-type," I paused and then snickered, "I bet if they found out about my other life, I would be shunned. So much for leader."
"Yes, you are undoubtedly different, Charlie, but that doesn't mean people won't respect you. In fact, they will find themselves to respect you even more," Chiron said, "maybe you should tell them all."
"No."
As if. The rest of camp cannot know my blood type. Sure, they looked up to me now, but I'll just be a complete weirdo and outcast if they found out about my other life. I mean, of course Annabeth and Percy can know about it. They were one of the closest people in my life and they were going to find out eventually. It was better if they found out from me than finding out by themselves or someone else.
But everyone else. If they found out about my secret…I didn't really want to think about it.
Chiron galloped on the spot nervously. "Okay, Charlie," he said uncertainly, "Go back to your cabin then. The cleaning harpies will be out soon."
I sighed and walked out of the Big House. I barely exited the Big House when I bumped into someone. "Crap," I muttered, rubbing my forehead as I got up.
I looked up to see a very angry Lord Hermes. I took a step back nervously. It would be healthy for me not to get blasted into oblivion.
"Hello, Charlie," he said icily.
"Hi Lord Hermes," I said. There was a brief silence where no one spoke for a minute.
"I'm disappointed with you." Ah, so when a god is disappointed with you, it would be best not to anger them even more because that would suck real bad for you. Because that usually meant being killed or dying in very painful ways.
But, being the stubborn hot-headed person I am, I remarked defiantly. "And what exactly did I do?"
Hermes' face darkened. It was reminded me of a face that I saw this morning. A face I so gently cradled in my hand and passionately kissed. Luke looked exactly like how Hermes' looked right now. Their cheeks had pricks of red, their blue eyes hard, their jaw clenched in anger.
"It's what you didn't do," he replied, his eyes boring into mine.
I gulped nervously, remembering the promise I made to him a year ago. That I would try with all my heart to try to get Luke to come back to us. To the gods. And during the following winter, I blew Luke off when he wanted me to go run away with him.
"I couldn't trust him, not after what he did to Annabeth," I said, crossing my arms.
"And yet, he trusted you still. He went to you, when there was so many other people he could go to."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is the point?"
"I never did anything horrible and life-threatening to people he cared about did I?!"
"The only person he cares about is you!" Hermes yelled, "Are you blind, Charlie Silvertongue?!"
I took a step back from him, not really wanting to be anywhere close to angry Hermes. "And you just expected me to walk into the hands of a cold-blooded killer, did you?" I retorted, ignoring what he said before.
"He is not a cold-blooded killer," Hermes growled angrily.
"Tell that to all those people he killed without giving a second though," I said, my cheeks flushing red from anger, "Tell that to my brother, who Luke has attempted to kill more than once. Tell that to the campers, whose camp is right now, in danger."
"You could have changed that! You could have changed him when he came to you, but you didn't," Hermes was so angry that his form had a whitish glow around it. "He loved you, what else do you need to show him that he was no harm to you?"
I averted my gaze from Hermes, so that I wouldn't vaporize if he accidentally revealed his true form, and so that he wouldn't see the tears that were seconds from falling. "So what if he loved me," I said. Even though he was a god and all, he had no right to venture over to my disappointing love life. I kept going, "You loved him but that didn't stop you from hurting him. You were the one sole reason he went to Kronos."
Yup. I was asking to be blasted to oblivion. Gods, how stupid was I, provoking a god? Hermes was literally glowing right now, anger on his face. And then all that was all gone in a blink of an eye. His shoulders slumped down, the hard glint in his eyes gone. He looked tired and weary, as though his immortality had stopped working for a little while. He looked as though he needed a hug. "Maybe you're right," he said.
A whitish glow erupted before I could apologise for my outburst. Hermes was right. I let a few tears fall, before rubbing them away. It was human to show emotions, but it was not heroic to let them affect your decisions.
In my heart, I knew it was true, that none of this would have happened if I had just trusted Luke last winter, but I have tried denying it, forgetting it. I just needed someone to tell me that it was true. I was left alone, standing in dark night. With my shoulders slumped back, I headed back to my cabin for a long night.
I would have stomped on the bow and snapped the arrow in half if it wasn't Will's belongings. Oh yeah, another arrow that missed the target. After about half-an hour of archery with the Apollo cabin, I am sorry to announce that none of my arrows hit the target. Surprise. I guess you can say I was actually aiming for the satyr, so technically, I didn't miss?
Will looked at me indecisively, as though he was thinking whether he should let me have another go or to tell me to piss off. I took a deep breath. It really didn't help that I had a short temper.
"It was the sun," I said him, looking at the orange ball of light in the sky. It wasn't the sun.
"I think you should have a break," Will said uncertainly, taking a step back. Gosh, it wasn't as if I was going to skewer him because he just indirectly told me I sucked at archery and I should do something better with my time.
But then again, I was known for a temper that was shorter than Clarisse…so I didn't really blame him. I nodded wearily and I headed to the woods. There were always campers guarding the entrance since we found out it could, and will serve as an invasion route to camp.
I scouted and guarded the area with Clarisse and a few more of her cabin mates. It was before the sun began do droop lower (or you can call it Apollo riding his fiery chariot), when Chiron galloped towards us.
And thank you Merlin, on top of him, with a lopsided grin on his face, was Percy and Annabeth. Just behind them, was Tyson and Grover. Despite the grim situation I was currently in, a smile cracked my face and I rushed forward to hug both of my brothers. Tyson squeezed Percy and I in a bear hug, and I was afraid my ribs had broken.
"Charlie!" Tyson exclaimed, a toothy smile on his face, "You're alive! Percy thought you would be dead.
I frowned at Percy, chastising playfully, "You should have more faith in me!"
Percy smiled, but his smile had sadness and wistfulness behind it. Kind of like my smile, if you gave it a few more years. "I thought I lost you," he said quietly.
It broke my heart to have put him through that. I gave him a small smile and trying to clear the awkward atmosphere, I managed to say, "Well, you thought wrong then." A few half-heartedly laughs (and a bleat from Grover) told me that I was successful in clearing the air.
Clarisse cleared her throat, clearly annoyed. We broke apart and I shot her an apologetic smile. Clarisse said gruffly, "Where's the string, punk?"
I looked over at Percy, and my heart sank. He was avoiding my eye contact, staring at the ground, biting his lip. The quest was not a success. Which means Luke has the string.
Annabeth said quickly after looking at Percy's expression, "Luke had the string all along. His last obstacle was the arena, but we didn't know that and Percy killed Anteaus, which meant that we cleared the last obstacle for him."
No one spoke for a moment, the truth sinking in. Clarisse, through gritted teeth said, "I'll alert the rest of the campers. We need to protect camp." She ran off back to the direction of camp.
I bit my lip. There was no way we could protect camp. I remembered the monsters we saw in Anteaus arena. That was a tiny fraction of what Luke's army was. But we had to try. We were not going down without a fight.
Chiron was inspecting me very closely. Thoughts and battle strategies were going so fast that even my mind could not process it. "Percy, Tyson," I said, trying to sound brave but obviously failing. "Split the Apollo campers. Three quarters goes to the back rank as archers and the rest, tell them to stay at the infirmary. After you're done, stay with Chiron, and stay back. You'll be helping whoever needs help."
"As for you Grover, get the rest of the nature spirits and arm them for war. I'll go with the Athena campers as the last line of defence," I said, looking at Chiron and expecting him to object, but he merely nodded and galloped after Percy. Grover stumbled deeper into the woods, grumbling to himself.
I looked at Annabeth. It should be the other way round, Athena kids giving instructions to the other cabins. Annabeth gave me a weak smile and we turned, jogging in silence to the grey tent that served as a battle strategist camp.
