Takes place 2 months after the end of The Last Olympian.
My name is Travis Scott Stoll. I am seventeen years old. Son of Hermes and Lucy Stoll, brother to Connor Stoll. And I cannot believe what I am hearing.
His father, Lord Hermes, Messenger of the Gods was currently screaming his lungs off at his two sons, myself and my little brother, Connor. I zoned out during most, only tuning in when I saw my brother wince with fear or shock- at least I'm sure thats what Hermes thought anyway, or told himself. I can tell, though. Connor was really wincing in hurt, of course, the first time in Zeus knows how long they have a face-to-face conversation with their dad- oh, scratch that, biological, hypocritical, annoyingly clueless father- and it's about Luke! Hermes's favorite-I jumped out of my acidic thoughts when Hermes suddenly raised his voice even louder- if possible- and told them more crap about brotherhood and family love.
I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Connor digging his nails into his other wrist, obviously trying not to swing a punch. Which would no doubt end in being turned into a rodent and fed to George- whom was now also hissing at us- or something along those and him had seldom talked about this, sometimes- on a really bad day- with Pollux or more often Chris, our older half-brother, who had even tried to talk us into joining Kronos, too. And we almost had, especially me, but Chris had by then gone on and went bonkers in the labyrinth. Clarisse found him in Phoenix, I'm forever grateful to her for that.
I pitted my younger brother, right now, more than ever. He looked like he was near tears of hurt and pain. I think I would be, if I really cared what Hermes thought of us. He probably- most likely- doesn't. What's two kids in a couple hundred? Maybe more. We always believed this-though they kept it to themselves- but now he knew it was true.
Hermes never loved us! Any of his children! What? Was he a "love 'em and leave 'em" kind of guy with our moms? I'm guessing- yes. Had he ever put any thought into how we felt when we saw their friends killed off! How we felt when our brothers abandoned us? Luke was our gods damned brother! So is Chris! They're our brothers as much as they were- and are- Hermes' sons! Probably more!
We defended them, lost some friends over distrust. Katie could hardly even look at me after we found out there was a spy in Camp. She so sure it was one of us, as were many. So sure it was one of us, one of the Hermes kids, we're a plague now. Even one of Connor's girlfriends dumped him because of it, he really loved her, and she broke his heart! Because we're his brothers. But it didn't matter, not to us. Family first, that was what we always said, Cabin 11 once, Cabin 11 forever. No matter what. We'd taken punches, thrown punches, you name it- we've done it for their brothers. But not Luke. Not anymore. We know he'd been a hero, but that didn't change all that'd he'd done. All the people he'd killed.
So, you know what, excuse us for not speaking the world of our darling 'big brother' it was his fault all those damn bloody, violent, traumatizing images were branded in our minds for the rest of our lives, the reason I barely sleep, having to wake up when Connor started screaming in the night. To shake him out of his painful memories of a merciless war.
So, we joined in. We joined the mockery, insulted our brother's name. We stood along side the other hurting kids, the ones with brothers, sisters and friends who'd fallen victim to our brother. The ones who now had children buried in the ground, never laughing or smiling again. Just lying there. Dead. Gone. Because of him.
During the day, Connor might be better at hiding his fear and nightmares, to stay strong, to not appear weak...I can, too, but I will not be ridiculed for feeling so angry, sad and betrayed by my own father. He's supposed to love me. To except me, no matter what. Isn't that what fatherhood is? Unconditional love? How can he be so heartless to make me feel this way? I briefly wonder if this is how Luke felt- unloved.
My senses perked up when I noticed Hermes yell at us to scram before he did something he'd regret. Yeah, right. I thought, If there's something you should be regretting, it sure as Hades ain't this. So, I spoke the forbidden word.
"No." Hermes' eyes darkened dangerously, and he hissed,
"Excuse me?" I shuddered, Down the path of no return, I thought, bitterly. I took a deep breath, raising my blue eyes to meet my father's.
"No...You have no right to judge us, none of you have any right to judge any demigods! Especially you! It's always about Luke- did you ever stop to think how we were feeling- what was happening to us? We're your kids too, y'know! And what about Chris, did you even give a shit when he went insane? Or were you too caught up in your own fucking guilt and selfishness? Oh, oh!" I laughed, horribly sadistically, "Connor's girlfriend Ella got killed by one of your 'precious little boy's' jackass, traitor friends!" I heard Connor trying to stop me, trying to pull me away from the fight I can't win, but I can't stop, and I felt angry tears coming on, but I refuse to let my father see me cry.
"You have no right to blame us for your mistakes! The Gods caused all this death, not their children! We don't just don't hate the guy who killed of our friends, we hate your guts, too!"
Hermes glare softened, I wasn't sure if it was with hurt or sympathy or guilt, even. I don't think I care anymore. Martha and George's hissing stopped and I heard Martha's sympathetic voice murmur in his mind,
'Oh sweethearts, I'm so sorry,' Martha whispered. George made an apologetic nose, but look to worried to cross Hermes to say anything further. As the snakes slithered with discomfort at their master's silence.
"Travis..." I heard my brother hoarsely whisper. I felt him trembling with fear behind me, as he continued yanking on my sleeve to flee. Hermes remained silent- shocked- then locked eyes with me, identical blue eyes stared back at each other, Hermes's pained and mine cold and emotionless.
"I-I...Travis, I..." Hermes stuttered, running a hand though his curly black hair, tugging at it slightly with anxiety. His blue eyes were glassy. I simply rolled my eyes, and Connor whimpered at my rudeness and disrespect.
"Travis, please... knock it off, dude." He whispered, and he managed to rip me away from the tense moment with our father. As if you can call him that. I huffed and walked back to the cabin, slamming the door behind me, and falling onto my worn out bunk bed, it creaked under my sudden weight.
I'd said it. I finally said it. The words I'd kept bottled up since I was six years old, when I realized, as I looked around- I was the one without a father, while the other children hugged their own...mine was never there. He didn't care, in my eyes. I smiled a little, I did it. But if falls quickly. Is this how Luke felt? I thought. Sure, Luke made terrible choices. But he did it out of hurt! Out of the pain of abandonment. He chose to leave because he felt unloved, unwanted, alone. Luke...he wanted to change things. To make sure none of us, the forgotten demigods, ever felt alone again. He did it for , my actions weren't as extreme, but, it was something. I think he'd be proud of me. I'm proud of me. I believe...if he were still with us...he'd, be happy I stood up for myself, for Connor, for Chris. For him.
All for you, big bro. All for you.
REVIEW NEWBS (hehe) Ps. Anybody get Black Ops yet? My boyfriend has been playing it non-stop, so I'm guessing it's good. But I wanna know if I should buy it. Mah bf says I should- but he also thinks I should buy a monkey...so his judgement is a little iff-y. hehe
Also if you didn't catch on (its a little subtle if you skimmed) hermes is pissed because connor and travis were trashing the now-deceased luke.
