Achievement Unlocked: Level Ten Friend
"Would you, please, wait over there for me"—I gestured behind me, to my left—"while I instruct the rest of the class," I requested, trying to control and the shock and hurt, hoping it didn't come through in my voice.
Nick smiled sarcastically before pushing his way to the front, brushing past me, and standing where I'd asked him to. I looked at him, trying to read his expression, but he merely glared back at me, hands shoved in his pockets, and shifted on his feet like a petulant teen. To be fair, he was only twenty, he'd only just passed his teens.
I turned back to the class, forcing a smile on my face.
"Warm up for five minutes, then you can start practicing with arrows. I'll be over in just a minute to check on you." I nodded and turned to face Nick as they headed toward their designated targets. When I glanced over my shoulder to make sure they were setting up okay, I noticed Will lingering. I waved him off before turning back to Nick and giving him my full attention.
"Do we…have a problem?" I asked.
Nick shrugged, smiling without humor. "I don't know, you tell me."
I crossed my arms, shifting on my feet. "You've going to have to give me more than that. You see, this communication thing? It's a two-way street. I can't communicate competently if you I don't even know what you're mad about."
"I don't think you communicate at all," Nick muttered.
"Nick!" I dropped my arms, feeling offended, which wasn't good. I got violent when I felt attacked, something I really should worked on, but maybe because I'd been sparring with Ares kids their violent tendencies were rubbing off on me.
His sarcasm and childish joking disappeared, revealing just how angry he was. Nick stepped closer to me, lowering his voice, barring his teeth. "What did you expect? You kissed me two days ago, ran off, and then what? Disappeared yesterday for the whole day? To what? Avoid me? What kind of cowardice is that?"
I poked him in the chest. "I was not being a coward. My chronic pain—"
"Oh!" Nick interrupted, scoffing and rolling his eyes. "That again. You really expect me to believe that?"
"'That again'?" I repeated, feeling my trust in him drop so fast, my head was spinning. "What are you implying—?"
"I'm not implying anything," he interrupted again. "It's an excuse! You're using your chronic pain as an excuse—"
"I am not! You don't know anything about my condition! How dare you!" Realizing I'd raised my voice, I glanced over to the kids, making sure they hadn't noticed. Thankfully, they were still practicing. I glared at Nick, stepping closer to him. "I was in so much pain yesterday, I could barely breathe, let alone move."
Nick had been nodding and making a face the whole time, hands on his hips, shifting around. It was clear he wasn't buying any of it, which was hurting me more than pissing me off, which pissed me off. I couldn't believe I had come to care so much for him only for him to come back around and throw it back in my face.
"It's Luke, isn't it?" he finally said, looking at me.
I jolted at the mention of Luke and my brain froze up. "What?"
"You told me to ask around camp, so I did. What they told me…wasn't great—"
"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting it to be," I snapped, though my voice broke. Gods, I hated it. One little mention of Luke and I fell apart at the seams.
Nick shook his head, looking disgusted. "You still love him, don't you? After everything he's done. After he betrayed this camp."
"You weren't even here for that," I growled. "You don't know anything."
"He's dead, and yet here you are, still defending him." Nick gestured to me, his expression incredulous. "What did he say to you? How did he get you to love him so much?"
"He didn't—" I tried, but Nick steam-rolled right over me. It was also partly due to the fact that the more we talked about Luke, the more I could feel myself unraveling. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard I thought my ribs might break. My hands were shaking and my head felt like it was filling up with cotton.
"You know, he was most likely just using you—"
"That's—not—true," I snarled, my hands curling into fists, but I could feel the tears pool in my eyes.
Nick stepped back, looking at me with slightly narrowed eyes, furrowed eyebrows, his mouth slightly ajar. He seemed…confused? "Wow, he…really managed to convince you, didn't he?"
"Don't say that about him—"
"I have to hand it to him, he did an incredible job." Nick shook his head, chuckling before looking back at me. "Maybe I should…summon him or something, get some tips."
"That seems very unlike you," I ground out, stock still, glaring at him. My emotions were warring with each other. One was trying to break me into a million pieces, the eternal ache in my chest. The other was barely holding me together, the rage at Nick's words, at his betrayal.
Nick shrugged. "I mean, I guess if you're going to treat me like garbage—"
My hand shot out, opening up, and I smacked him across the cheek so hard his glasses flew off—a single impulse I was unable to control. My anger had boiled over, but, and I'm ashamed to admit this, it wasn't the fact that he'd implied that I treated him like garbage. And it wasn't the fact that he'd just implied that I was garbage. It was the fact that he'd implied Luke had treated me like garbage, when that just wasn't true.
Luke had treated me with such kindness, respect, and love. And I missed that. I missed being unconditionally loved. I missed his touch. I missed the feel of his lips on mine, his sweet words whispered in my ear, the warmth of his body against mine, his calloused hand always there to catch me, steady me. I missed our late-night talks when we pretended we weren't demigods and we might actually have a shot at a future, a home, a family. I'd finally managed to coax out his "silly" wishes and dreams for the future. I missed hearing him laugh when he talked about becoming a white collar criminal—stealing great works of art, forging statures and expensive wines, and selling either/or on the black market, or adding the real treasures to a personal collection for us, for me.
I blinked, tears sliding down my face. I was breathing hard, my hand still hovered in the air as I glared at Nick, whose face was still turned to the side. Slowly, I lowered my hand. Nick shifted his head slightly, his eyes meeting mine. And I realized…the darkness that'd been there when he'd made that comment at the beginning of class up to now, was gone.
It reminded me of…when I managed to talk Luke down when Kelli or Kronos were speaking to him, trying to plant dark thoughts into his mind.
I realized, then, who was to blame for Nick—sweet, kind, wouldn't hurt a fly Nick—and his uncharacteristic douche-y attitude and anger toward me. I immediately regretted hitting him, but I wasn't about to apologize for it. I was angry at his words. I knew that when someone was mad, they usually said things they'd always felt, always thought. I also knew that charmspeak worked better when the victim already believed what the speaker was telling them.
Piper didn't strike me as the type to do something like this. She barely even knew me. What little she knew, probably from Jason, would only make her wary of me, not vindictive. I should've known and expected Drew to retaliate. I'd just been so busy with everything else, she'd slipped my mind.
Lucky for her, she just jumped to the top of my list.
I picked up Nick's glasses, carefully folding them and handing them back to him. He was holding his cheek, looking at the ground.
"Leave." I ordered in a thick voice, pointing back toward the camp. Without a word, head down, he quickly turned and walked away from the archery range.
I spun away from him, taking a few steps toward range before having to stop. I closed my eyes, lowering my head, trying to hold it together, get everything under control.
My chronic pain had spiked because of the stress. My heart was still hammering against my chest, my hands still shaking. My rage had returned, this time directed toward Drew. I couldn't believe she'd use him like that, take advantage of his heart-broken state. Nick…sweet Nick.
I knew she was a terrible person, but this was low, even for her.
Someone touched my arm and I gasped, lifting my head and opening my eyes. I blinked away the tears in my eyes, sniffling, and saw Will. He was gripping his bow, worried blue eyes on me.
"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked quietly, his fingertips brushing my arm.
"I'm fine," I whispered. Will scoffed and went to say something, but I interrupted him in a stronger voice, "I'll be fine." Sniffling, I wiped my tears from my face and blinked back the rest of my unshed tears.
"If you want to go—" Will tried.
"No, I'm not going to skip class again." I swallowed my emotions as best I could before straightening up and gesturing back toward the targets. "Please, go back to your target."
Frowning, looking like he wasn't going to let this go, Will turned and headed back to his target. I went to check up on the rest of my students, only glancing briefly at Jason, who glared back at me.
I went through the day in a daze. All I could think about was what Drew had done as her revenge, which only managed to make me angrier and angrier. This, in turn, didn't help my mood or my chronic pain. I was just barely able to keep it together and by the end of the day, I was ready to curl up and go to sleep, even before dinner.
As usual, that wasn't what happened. What happened was, comparatively, much worse.
I'd been taking a nap in the cabin during my free period when someone poked my shoulder. I flew up, reaching for my sword, looking around the cabin for any potential threat. What I found instead was Reed, standing a few feet away from me, like he'd poked me and then ran away. Which was smart of him, considering I probably would've thrown him to the floor had he been standing near me.
After struggling to push away the prickles so I could somewhat focus, I let go of my sword, standing and strapping it to my waist.
"Did you…need something?" I asked my half-brother, looking around the cabin. The rest of my siblings were taking naps in their own bunks. I checked my watch, then. Ten minutes until dinner.
Reed was shifting nervously, his blue eyes looking at me for a second before darting away. His short, wavy hazel hair was ruffled and disheveled like he'd been running his fingers through it. He was seventeen, but right now, he looked like a little kid who'd just broken his mom's expensive vase.
"What's wrong?" I asked, keeping my voice quiet, stepping toward him, but he jumped and practically leaped back.
His wide eyes snapped to me and his stilled. "I-I…I wanted to, um…talk to you." His eyes darted away then back to me. "Real quick." He swallowed hard. "In private."
"Okay, why don't we go into our infirmary, then, so we can talk normally," I suggested, wondering why he was so nervous and jumpy. "Are you sure you're okay? You look a little sick."
Reed nodded, but his lips were pursed and he swallowed hard again. Stiffly, he gestured to the door that led to the hall connecting our cabin to the infirmary. Giving him one more confused, suspicious look, I headed to the door. Reed stayed behind me as we headed down the corridor and into the infirmary. I walked a few feet in and then turned to face Reed as he closed the door quietly.
Finally, he faced me, chewing on his lip.
"What did you want to—?" I tried, but Reed moved to one of the cots, sat down on the edge and gestured to the cot across from him. Sighing, I went over and sat down across from him. "Okay," I said slowly. "What did you want to talk about?"
He wasn't meeting my eyes again. He had his hands clasped tightly together and he was tapping his foot. I suddenly felt bad for being annoyed with him. It was clear he was beyond nervous about whatever he wanted to talk to me about and I probably wasn't making this any easier for him.
I took a small deep breath. "Reed," I said with a little force to get his attention. Reed's eyes snapped over to me and he froze again. "You can talk to me about anything, you know." I assured.
Reed nodded, but continued to chew on his lip, resuming his fidgeting. He looked down at his shoes for a moment before taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Finally, he lifted his head and met my eyes.
"I'm the one who told Drew about your chronic pain," he said in a surprisingly steady voice for how nervous he was.
I blinked, not quite processing what he'd just said. I shifted in my seat, swallowing, my brain working double time trying to comprehend his words.
"What?" I finally managed after a few tries. I'd wanted to ask something different with more words, but that was all my brain could manage at the moment.
"It's…it's hazy," Reed waved his hand near his head, making a face, looking away, eyebrows furrowing, like he was trying to remember something important. "But…I-I heard you talking to Will about Drew and…and something, a memory or…a-a flashback hit me and…" He lifted his head to look at me again. "I remembered. Drew—"
"Drew?" I repeated, feeling all the anger I'd tried to contain today burst in my chest like a firework.
"I'm really sorry," Reed blurted. "I didn't mean to say anything. You know I'd never reveal a secret I promised to keep. Drew must've…" He blinked rapidly, frowning. "Must've used her charmspeak on me or something. And then…told me to forget about it."
For a moment, I tuned out. Not on purpose. Anger, rage, hatred—I don't know what to call it, but it tinged my vision red. Blood roared in my ears, blocking out any other noise. It felt like my body was shaking so violently, I thought for sure I'd fall apart. I could feel every single time my heart beat in my chest.
"I'm really sorry." Reed's voice shattered whatever I'd fallen into and I blinked, seeing him again. Nothing was tinged red, but something seemed to have snapped inside me. I felt strangely calm, but underneath that I could feel the rage lying in wait, wanting to be released.
"It's not your fault," I said in a steady, gentle voice. "And I don't blame you."
Reed blinked, letting out a big breath. "So…you-you're not mad at me?"
I smiled. "Not at all. Thank you for coming and telling me, though. I appreciate it."
Reed paused now looking at me with a slightly worried expression. "…are you okay?"
I stood. "Of course. Why do you ask?"
"You're smile is kind of unsettling," he told me honestly, standing as well.
"I assure you, I'm fine," I told him just as the conch horn sounded. "We should head back to the cabin." I gestured to the door. Giving me one last weird look, Reed reluctantly turned and exited the infirmary. Once we were back in the cabin, I quickly went to take some ibuprofen and then followed my siblings out to the pavilion.
As I was going up to the brazier for the food offering, by some irritating twist of Fate, Drew happened to just be finishing up giving her offering. As she passed, she paused next to me, keeping her gaze forward.
"I noticed you and Nick seemed to be…avoiding each other," she commented in a quiet voice. "You two having a spat?" Not giving me time to answer or respond, she started back to her table.
I glared at the fire before me, dumping my entire plate into the fire and, for once in my life, actually saying a prayer to my father. Well, it wasn't really a prayer, it was more of a feeling that communicated, "Protect me from the wrath I may incite from Aphrodite for what I am about to do next, please and thanks."
I turned from the brazier and tossing my plate down on my table as I passed, following Drew to hers.
"Drew," I called before she could sit down. "I have another present for you."
Out of instinct Drew turned and as she did, I threw my right fist out, hitting her cheek. Drew let out a cry of shock and pain, dropping her plate. I wasn't done, though. I threw my left fist forward, catching her in the nose enough to make it bleed, but not enough to break it. Finally, I hit her a third time with my right hand again, this time the side of her eye. That was going give her a shiner, for sure. (Even with nectar/ambrosia.)
All this had happened in a matter of seconds. By the time my siblings had gotten up and to me, to hold me back, I was satisfied with my work. So their restraining hands were light and quickly slipped from my arms. Cressida and Reed passed me, carefully ushering Drew into a seat at the end of her table and started tending to her wounds. Cressida ran off, probably to grab some nectar/ambrosia from our infirmary's supply.
"Chiron!" Drew shrieked as Reed held a wad of napkins under Drew's nose.
"Victoria," I heard Chiron say from behind me in a hard voice. I turned and bowed out of habit. He must've come down from the main table at some point during my…disturbance.
"Chiron," I replied formally, meeting his disappointed, disapproving gaze.
"Would you be so kind as to explain why you attacked Drew," Chiron requested in a careful voice.
I looked at Drew over my shoulder, who glared at me. Now she was holding the wad of napkins to her nose. Cressida had returned with a baggie of ambrosia. Reed was holding a cup from the table, probably filled with water.
I turned back to Chiron and shrugged. "I was angry at her."
Chiron frowned, his eyebrows mashing together. "Victoria, however mad you may be at Drew, I don't think violence is the best response."
I looked back at Drew, again. Then Reed. He met my gaze for a moment before dropping it to the cup he was still holding. I lifted my eyes and found Nick, then. He met my gaze longer than Reed, his eyes wide with shock, his mouth slightly ajar. He jumped slightly when I met his eyes. I faced Chiron.
"She hurt, used, and manipulated two people who are…very important to me," I explained. "I didn't want her to think she could get away with it."
Chiron opened his mouth to say something, but Drew interrupted him, "I demand an apology!" I looked back at her to see she'd shot to her feet. Her nose had finally stopped bleeding, but blood stained her upper lip. Bruises were starting to form where I'd hit her. (Most likely because she hadn't taken the ambrosia Cressida had brought over. Why, I didn't know.)
"You're absolutely right, Drew, I'm sorry," I said without pause, giving her a humorless smile. Drew blinked, looking stunned that I'd given in so easily, but I continued speaking. "I'm sorry you're such a vindictive bitch."
"Victoria!" Chiron exclaimed.
Anger replaced Drew's bewilderment and she started forward, but my siblings held her back and wrestled her back into her seat. Reed held out the glass of water and tried to coax her to take a sip in a hushed, but firm tone. She forcefully grabbed the cup and took a small sip, her eyes on me the whole time, glaring daggers.
"Victoria, I think—" Chiron started, but I faced him again and spoke.
"Chiron, I think you need to see something," I said in a level voice, meeting his eyes. When Chiron didn't say anything more, I figured he was giving me a chance. I looked around the pavilion then, at the enraptured kids and teens. They hadn't seen this much drama since the three newbies had returned from their successful quest.
"Now, I know most of you absolutely hate my guts," I announced. "But suspend your disbelief for a moment, pretend we live in an alternative universe where we all get along, and humor me." I paused to let that sink in. "If you have ever felt victimized by Drew, raise your hand."
I slowly lifted my hand into the air, looking around, hoping others would follow my lead. My siblings were the first ones to raise their hands, and like dominoes falling, more people raised their hands, too. After a few seconds, nearly everyone in the pavilion had their hands raised. I was surprised to see some of the Ares kids had even raised their hands.
"Good, you can lower your hands now," I said. "One more time, except this time, I'd like you to raise your hand if you've cried because of this victimization. There's no shame in admitting it." I raised my hand again, as a show of good faith, so to speak. Like last time, it took a minute for people to raise their hands. All the kids 13 or younger had their hands raised, along with some older teens. "Okay, this is good. Thank you, you can lower your hands now."
I turned to face Chiron. "I know what charmspeak can do to a person. I've seen the affects it can have on the mind. And you let Drew prance around this camp like she owns it. Her own cabin is terrified of her because they're afraid she's going to make them do something they don't want to by using her charmspeak. And does she get punished for it? For manipulating and toying with people against their will to embarrass them?
"No, instead, she gets a slap on the wrist and a firm, 'don't do it again.' Like that's really going to work. You're little talk with her didn't work, Chiron. And Piper doesn't know how to handle her outside of their cabin." I gestured around the pavilion. "They're just kids. And I know you're training us to be heroes, but they're still kids. You can't expect them to defend themselves against something they can't even see.
"You can't let this go on any longer," I finished.
Chiron was silent for a long time, stroking his beard as he thought. Finally, he looked back at me.
"I will address these issues more head-on," he said slowly. "I do, however, still need to…punish you for your outburst today. I will think on this and tell you after the campfire. I would like to check on Drew, now." He nodded behind me.
"Of course." I bowed and stepped out of his way so he could clop over to Drew, who was slumped in her seat at the Aphrodite table. As soon as Chiron had passed me, whispers and murmurs broke out among the rest of the pavilion. Chiron was talking too low for me two hear, so I went back to my table and sat down, Cressida and Reed joined me a moment later.
"I can't believe you did that," Will said quietly, frowning at me disapprovingly.
I shrugged. "She's had it coming for a while now."
Will clicked his tongue. "Look, when you said you were violent—"
"I meant exactly that, Will," I snapped glaring at my brother from across the table.
Will's frown deepened, but it was more of pout than a scowl. "I think the Ares cabin is rubbing off on you."
"I'd like to think my violent tendencies are all my own," I told him, earning me an eye roll, but I didn't miss his lips turn up into a small smile.
"When we talked today, was this what you were thinking about when you were had that creepy smile on your face?" Reed asked.
"No, I had no idea what I was going to do until she'd passed me at the brazier," I told him. "I mean, after you'd told me, I definitely wanted to do something, but hadn't thought what at that moment."
"Well, I think we can all agree we've been waiting for that to happen for a long time now," Cressida muttered.
While my siblings murmured their agreement, Will sighed dramatically, resting his elbow on the table and his chin his palm. "You guys are terrible. I can't believe I'm related to you."
"You should be used to this by now," Austin quipped. More murmured agreement, causing Will to stick his tongue out at us. We all laughed at his annoyance.
I skipped the campfire again, planning on finding Chiron afterward. I had just laid back in my bed, after taking some pain meds, and closed my eyes when I heard a knock at the door. I lifted my head and looked at the door, wondering who it could be. After what happened tonight, I didn't think Leo wanted anything to do with me because I'd just proved his cabin right, hadn't I?
When they knocked again, with a groan, I slid off my bed, attaching my sword to my waist and went to open the door. To my surprise, it was, in fact, Leo.
"Hey," I greeted, not hiding my surprise.
"What, did you forget that we usually hung out during the campfire?" he asked, looking suddenly nervous.
"No, I just…" I blew out a big breath. "I thought you wouldn't want to have anything to do with me after what happened tonight at dinner."
"I mean, I'll be the first one to admit, I'm not a very violent person," Leo said, shrugged. "But what I saw back there was someone with the power to stand up for those who are powerless. And that person is eternally cool in my book."
I couldn't help but smile at that. It felt good to have someone who seemed to understand my intentions, for once. I mean, I had my siblings, of course, and then one or two campers here, sure. But, it was different than having an actual friend who didn't judge me negatively every single time I didn't do something on the straight and narrow.
"Well, don't want to keep the Argo II waiting, then," I said, slipping out and closing the door behind me.
When we got into the forest, a thought occurred to me. "You know, I'm surprised you still hang out with because your friends, Jason and Piper, don't really like me. Jason really doesn't like me. Do they ever talk to you about me?"
Leo laughed nervously. "Well, I mean, yeah…they don't really like you. Like, at all. So it puts a bit of a strain on my relationship with them, but I like you, so there's not much they can do about that." He shrugged. "And, yeah, they've talked to me about you. A lot, actually. More than you'd think. I kind of tune them out, honestly. I've told them how I feel, so I'm hoping they'll come to accept that. I mean, you haven't murdered me and tried to hide my body yet, so as far as that goes, we're good."
I snorted. "And I thought you didn't appreciate the cliché," I commented, playfully glaring at him.
Leo laughed. "You got me there. It may be a cliché, but you have to admit, the woods are a good place to kill someone." He looked up at me with a grin and I returned his smile. Though, I noticed his eyes flicker down, to my shoulder, and his smile disappeared. He quickly averted his gaze, but I didn't miss the curiosity that'd sparked in his eyes.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," Leo mumbled, picking up his pace. I frowned, picking up my own pace to keep up with him.
"It's clearly not nothing. What did you see?" I prompted. When Leo didn't answer, I stepped out in front of him, blocking his path. "Leo."
Leo looked up at me, swallowing hard, shadows dancing across his face as the small flame in his palm flickered.
"I just…remembered something," he mumbled, not looking away, but his eyes were wide with…fear? I felt my stomach drop. The last thing that I wanted was for someone who was becoming a friend to be scared of me.
I tried to soften my voice as I said, "And what would that be?"
"I don't think you'll like it," he told me honestly.
"Tell me anyway, you've got me curious now."
Leo paused, thinking about it. I mean, if he really didn't want to, I guess I'd let it go, but he'd been looking at me when his expression dropped. It obviously had something to do with me and I wanted to know so that, if I'd done anything to affect our friendship, I could fix it. I liked having Leo as a friend.
"I just remembered…" Leo's voice died out and he swallowed again. "When you came over during the dance, I noticed that—well, you…you'd taken off your coat and…and I saw—you…you had these scars…" His eyes lowered to his flame and I felt the blood drain from my face. "Scars on your shoulder and I wondered…" He lifted his head back up. "Look, if you don't feel comfortable telling me, you don't have to. I was just curious. They look…bad. And, I don't know, I just wondered what could…do that to a person."
I really should've expected that. I'd become so comfortable with wearing t-shirts again (honestly, they were a bit hard to spot unless you were really looking), and people at camp knew I had them, that I'd forgotten they were even really there. I mean, I didn't just forget them, but since no one ever brought it up, they were just there. Now that we'd just gotten some new campers, though, of course they'd wonder. No one knew the truth behind them, aside from my siblings, though. No one asked because they knew I had PTSD and was violent.
But Leo wasn't just a camper anymore. We'd become friends over these past few months. And with a life like ours, we were bound to have stories of woe and strife. They were part and parcel of the demigod life, and almost seemed like a normal person's stories of high school or whatever. Whether or not we shared them and who we shared them with was entirely up to us. That didn't make them any less painful, though.
Without a word, still thinking about it, I stepped aside and we kept walking, this time in utter silence. I could feel Leo's regret rolling off him in waves, but I ignored it. After tonight, and his decision to still hang out with me, I felt I could trust him. I needed a moment to build up the courage to tell him.
As we neared Bunker 9, I spoke again, absently reaching up to grip my left arm, pressing my fingertips into my scars.
"I was fourteen," I started in a soft voice, briefly looking over at him before looking ahead. "My mom had just made dinner. Dan was away at rehearsal for our school's play. I sat down to eat, but before my mom could even make her own plate, a…hellhound burst through the door." My voice wavered and I stopped to compose myself. We were at the edge of the clearing for the door, and we'd paused there. Leo looked up at me, but I kept my gaze ahead. He made no motion to move toward the door yet.
"My mom hid me in my room and…tried to fend it off, kill it with a small letter opener made of Celestial bronze—a gift from my father." I smiled, despite the burn of tears in my eyes. "It was made to look like Goddric Gryfindor's sword." I glanced at Leo, then, and he managed a small smile. "But, ultimately, she lost the fight. She struggled against the monster, but it…it ripped her open. I went out to help her, but…" My voice shrunk and I looked down at the forest floor. "I was…too late." I squeezed my eyes shut, tears spilling from them as my mom's cries echoed through my head.
I gripped my arm harder, remembering the agonizing pain as the hellhound's claws had ripped through half my arm and my shoulder.
"The hellhound was still there," I whispered, sniffling. "I had to get rid of it or it was going to kill me. The letter opener had fallen a few feet away from…from my mom, so I dove for it as the monster jumped at me. I managed to grab it, but the beast was on me and gave me these"—I gestured to where my scars were—"in the process of trying to prevent me from grabbing the weapon." I stopped there, feeling like I might shatter into pieces if I tried to continue.
Leo was quiet for a long time, staring at the flame in his palm. His expression seemed far away, so I waited patiently. It looked like I'd struck a nerve. I wasn't sure why, though.
Finally, "I was eight," he murmured, not looking away from his flame. I sucked in a small, sharp breath. "My mom worked at a mechanic shop and she always took me with her. I loved watching her work, learning how to use the tools, craft things." A small smile stretched across his face at the memory, but quickly faded. "It was a late night. My mom had just finished up making a drill bit design she had wanted to patent, and was going to lock up the shop." He paused, then, his jaw taught.
"We got to the break room," he spat through gritted teeth. "She told me she'd forgotten her keys. Told me to wait there and went back into the machine shop. Seconds after she'd disappeared back inside the interior and exterior door slammed shut. And I…I couldn't—I couldn't get to her." I could hear the panic building in his voice and I almost reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but thought better of it.
"Leo, you don't have to—"
"Gaea showed up then," he whispered, silencing me. "I…I-I got scared. She was spouting nonsense—about how I'd fight her one day and that the Fates were protecting me, but not my mom. I got scared! Back then, I couldn't control my fire as well as I can now. I just…I lost control. And Gaea used those flames to…to burn the entire machine shop. With my mom…still inside."
Leo closed his hand, extinguishing the flame. We stood there, in silence, the only sound our ragged breathing as I waited for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I reached over to gently take Leo's hand. His head snapped up to look at me. I simply smiled and squeezed his hand. Slowly, he smiled, too.
We didn't talk much after that. I simply sat and watched Leo work, but neither of us minded. I felt more comfortable hanging out with him than I had before, and it was nice. It was a really nice feeling.
My punishment ended up being that I'd have to do dishes with the harpies after dinner all of next week, which was a bummer, but not anything I hadn't experienced before. It wouldn't be as awful because after that night next to the lake, keeping vigil over TJ's reincarnation, the harpies didn't seem to hate me anymore. It was strange, but I didn't mind.
The first night, I went down after everyone had gone to the campfire and put on the gloves and apron. It was silent while I worked, alongside the harpies. But every once in a while the dishes and utensils would hit each other, and maybe it was just me, but it was strangely musical. I'd glance over at them, wondering if they were banging these things together on purpose because lava had completely different properties than water did. When I did, they'd stare pointedly at what they were washing.
Soon, the bangs, and clinks, and noises became more frequent, and quicker. Eventually, I could've sworn they were playing a tune. It was familiar, something I'd heard around when I went out in the mortal world on missions. I was surprised they knew the song and that they'd managed to play the melody with the dishes. Harpies never struck me as musically inclined.
"High School Musical?" I asked, when I'd finally realized what tune they were playing. "Really?"
The harpy closest to me shrugged.
I turned to face them more fully and put a hand on my hips. "Are you asking me to sing for you?" I couldn't help the smug smile that was pulling at the edge of my lips.
They banged together their dishes again in the tune of "Work This Out" from the second HSM movie before looking back at me expectantly.
I sighed and turned back to my dishes. "You're lucky I know this song," I muttered. It was always hard for me to start singing. Even harder now because I didn't have the best relationship with these harpies until just a few weeks ago. Still, if I closed my eyes and remembered the time, so long ago, when I had to do the dishes with Tyson, Percy, and Annabeth, when Tyson had asked me to sing and it actually lifted my spirits, I found it a little easier to sing. It also made the task less awful.
To my surprise, that's what happened this time. When I'd finished the song, they requested another and because I'd gotten into it, I thought, "why not" and continued to sing and dance around the small underground space. It was hot and I was sweaty, but I was actually having fun…despite this being a punishment.
"We should do this more often," I commented to one of harpies as we exited the workspace. "Except, not down there, because after a while, I can't breathe." I added, turning to look at the harpy on my right.
I was so caught up with the conversation that I didn't notice the crowd that'd gathered. When I appeared, they broke out into a thunderous applause and I froze, shocked and honestly frightened. I wasn't expecting it and out of instinct, I reached for my sword. When I realized what was going on, though, I dropped my hands. Now, I was blushing and wanted to go crawl under a rock and hide. I did not like attention.
In front of me were most of the nature spirits in camp—satyrs, tree nymphs, the naiads from the lake, etc.
I was bewildered that 1) they'd heard me? and 2) that they'd gathered around to listen.
Chiron and I had tried to fit private lessons into my schedule, but it was already so filled that we had trouble finding time. Now that I was seeing Rowan, I had even less time to meet with him. As things winded down in my life, after TJ's death, we just decided to leave it be for the time being. As long as I stayed away from that nursery rhyme, my singing didn't seem to have any sort of negative impact on anyone.
Seeing all these nature spirits, smiling, cheering, and applauding in front of me, though, brought it all back—my fears, my worries, the life of Orpheus that Chiron and Gaea had told me.
Then I realized that Chiron was standing behind everyone, giving me a meaningful look. His dark eyes twinkled with intrigue and wonder, but I could see the worry underneath that. I could just hear him asking the question, What did this mean for me?
I tried to smile and awkwardly bowed to appease their applause, hoping it might also get them to stop and leave. Finally, after a few minutes the cheering died down.
As the crowd started to disband, I said goodbye to the harpies before making my way over to Chiron. He was waiting patiently for me, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Perhaps," he started, "if we…removed one of your classes from your schedule, this would free up time for us to explore the reach and boundaries of your voice."
"Which class?" I asked, realizing how hesitant I was about giving up a class. Despite Jason trying to butt into my life because he didn't trust me, I enjoyed teaching my elementary classes. And it didn't really make sense for me to stop teaching the advanced archery class, though I supposed any of my siblings could teach it, too. And if Chiron wished it, it would be done.
"The Intermediate Swordsmanship class," Chiron decided. "We should be able to find a teacher from the advanced class who is willing and has time."
I relaxed, letting out a small breath. "Okay, I could do that."
Chiron nodded. "I will call a meeting tomorrow. Have a good night, Victoria."
I bowed, "Goodnight, Chiron." With a smile and nod, Chiron turned and trotted off.
Slowly, I started making my way back to my cabin. Although Chiron didn't seem as worried as he was when I first brought this to his attention, I felt just as scared and nervous as day one. Like a lot of Greek myths, Orpheus didn't get a happy ending. What's more is the fact that he was on the original Argo. It didn't make sense, though, because there were only seven half-bloods who were going to be on the ship, and I was certain the remaining two would come from the Roman camp.
So, what did that mean for me? What did Gaea have planned? Was she so powerful that she could introduce me to a power like this and then leave me to my own devices, knowing that I'd end up doing her bidding? Would my fate end up like Orpheus's?
I paused, half-way through the green. Eurydice. I couldn't believe I hadn't put this together the first time Chiron and I had talked about this, but…was Gaea giving me a way to bring Luke back on my own? Why would she? To what end would that serve her? The only reason she was offering to bring Luke back was to get me and him on her side. If I brought him back myself, did she really think that we would join her side? After everything we'd been through with Kronos?
There was no way.
At the same time, this comparison to Orpheus couldn't have been a coincidence. Not in this life.
My chronic pain surged suddenly, breaking me from my thoughts. I let out a small breath, shaking myself. I needed to get back to the cabin for some pain meds. And sleep. But I was actually grateful, because I would've probably stood there all night thinking about Gaea's plans for me if the prickles hadn't decided to get worse.
Deciding for now to lock those thoughts away in a drawer for now, I started toward my cabin again.
So…not quite what I had wanted to get to you, but there are just so many things I want to write, and I'm stuck with trying not to make the chapters too long and not having this story become too long (then I remembered that Rick's books got to 50+ chapters, so I managed to get over that). So here we are. More to come ;)
It got a little Mean Girls-esque there, for a moment, but whatever, you know? Besides, it is a bit of cult classic and let's be real, Drew would totally be a mean girl.
To rearderrr: I'm so glad you're loving it! I hope these updates have been good! (I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you until now. I have such a one-track mind and I get so excited when I'm about to post, stuff tends to slip my mind. I'm sorry!)
I'm glad I was able to get this chapter to you before the start of the new semester, though! I hope my writing didn't suffer because I was pushing myself a little bit, but also reminding myself to slow down and take my time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In any case, as always, I hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated ^_^
Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight
