Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson
Chapter 21: Everything Comes to a Close
Two weeks later…
Christina was startled out of her conversation with one of the Demeter kids by Juniper, a wood nymph who lived in the forest.
"You have to come quick!" She yelled. "Percy has been attacked."
After swiftly apologizing to the Demeter girl, Christina took off towards the infirmary, Juniper right behind her. By the time they reached it, a small crowd had already assembled outside, but they parted quickly when they saw Christina coming.
"What's going on?" Nico asked, following her into the infirmary with Bianca right behind him.
Christina sighed. "I don't know, but that's what I'm going to find out."
The four of them burst into the examination room, causing Annabeth, who was already sitting at Percy's bedside to look up.
"Good, Juniper found you." Will said, not even looking up from his work. "It looks bad, but he'll be okay. If the wood nymphs hadn't found him as quickly as they did, he would be in a lot worse shape."
Christina sat down on the other side of the bed next to Annabeth. "Do we know what caused this?"
"It was a pit scorpion." Will said, pouring more nectar into Percy's mouth. "I don't know how he got bit by one though. They only live in Tartarus and the Underworld, so someone had to have summoned it, just like the hellhound."
Christina turned to Juniper. "Did the other nymphs see who caused this?"
Juniper nodded. "They were near Zeus' Fist, where my tree is. It was the head of the Hermes cabin, Luke Castellan. He was the one who stole the bolt and helm as well, and he pledged his allegiance to Kronos."
"I'm going after him." Christina said, standing up. "He doesn't get to get away with this." She turned back to the others. "Stay here with Percy."
Before anyone could protest, she was already out of the room, her sword extended. Pushing through the assembled crowd, she took off running towards the woods, one single thought running through her head.
"I should have known better, I should have known better." She internally chanted, as all the pieces fell into place. Luke's suspicious behavior when they were on Olympus, the insistence that Percy needed to get stronger, the flying shoes that he had gifted them, the fact that only a child of Hermes would be skilled enough to steal the Master Bolt and Helm of Darkness.
But when she reached Zeus' Fist, there was no one there. And the only evidence that anyone had been there were two empty Coke cans and a broken string of Camp Half-Blood beads.
"Did you find him?" Annabeth asked when she trudged back to the infirmary fifteen minutes later, Percy already having sat up in his bed.
Christina shook her head. "He was already gone by the time I got there. He left his string of beads though." She said, holding up the broken string.
"What do we do now?" Percy asked.
She shrugged, setting the beads down on the table. "I'm not sure. I don't think this is the last time we'll see Luke though. I just have a feeling that this is the start of something bigger, something bigger than any of us."
"I can't believe he betrayed the camp." Annabeth said, putting her head in her hands. "After everything the camp did for him, he just threw it away."
Christina sat down on the bed, putting her arm around Annabeth's shoulders. "None of us saw this coming, Annie, it's not your fault. I could have noticed something, or Grover, or Will, or Chiron, or any of his siblings but none of us did. You're not at anymore fault then the rest of us."
"I guess." Annabeth said, staring off into the distance. "I only hope this will be over soon."
Two weeks later…
"Are you sure you're going to be fine when I leave?" Percy asked, giving her a hug at the top of Half-Blood Hill. "I know both Annabeth and I are leaving, and Grover is going on his search for Pan."
Christina nodded, pulling away from her brother. "I'll be fine Percy. I've been doing this my whole life and I have Nico, Bianca, Will, the Stolls, Katie, Clarisse, everyone else. I'm more worried about you, having to go to the real world and back to Gabe."
"Oh, I don't know, I think my mom has a plan for Gabe." Percy said grinning before glancing down the hill. "My mom's here, I'll make sure to write over the year."
Christina nodded, waving the whole time until Percy's car was gone in the distance, before running down the hill to the training area, ready to kick Nico's ass in sword fighting.
Well, we're finally done after over a year. I'll be starting the next book in the series soon, and that one should have more canon divergence, so look out for that.
Please review. I love reviews.
