Mom came with me in order to meet Snowstorm, who came when I summoned her with a piercing whistle that I had practiced. Having told me that she could see through the Mist, mom was amazed to see Snowstorm and marvelled at her. I even felt Snowstorm lower her head and speak reverently to my mom through me. 'Hail the venerable mother of Lady Nerida, daughter of Poseidon. It is my greatest honour to meet you.' Mom giggled when I translated for Snow, who allowed her to stroke her nose and face. Even without being able to see I knew Snowstorm was breath taking to look at. I mean, she told me so often enough, and as I stood at her side proudly, I couldn't help but grin as she elegantly lifted her wings and fluttered them lightly. Then I offered mom a ride. Throwing caution to the wind, I persuaded her to climb up behind me, Snowstorm agreeing but only because it was my mother, and after assuring mom that Snowstorm was an excellent flier, took her up into the skies.
Shrieking loudly mom had clung onto me tightly, but Snowstorm made sure to go slowly even though she pelted out onto the main street and used the road as a runway. I couldn't help but wonder what the other mortals would have seen, but for the most part I don't think any of them noticed. Once she had grown used to flying, mom laughed and squealed, Snowstorm gently rocking us side to side as she carried us up high and mom told me that we had the most beautiful view of the sunrise. It became one of my favourite memories, flying through the skies with Snow and my mom, though I was sad when I had to finally admit that my time was running out. My pass from camp was only a temporary one, and if I didn't return soon then Mr D would probably vaporise me. Understanding, mom dismounted from Snowstorm then hugged me tightly, peppering my face with kisses. "I'll understand if you want to stay at the camp for the year, but I'm going to make arrangements just in case you and Percy want to come back. I'm looking at a new private school, right here in New York, and if I get a new apartment, it'll be clean and spacious. I promise you guys a better life from now on, but of course it's your choice."
"You can count on me to come back mom. Make sure you save the bigger room for me and not Percy." I told her with a wink, smiling as I hugged her one last time. "I love you mom. I love you so much."
"Oh honey, I love you too, and I'm so proud of you." She said, sniffling with tears as she kissed the top of my head again. "Now, you go enjoy the rest of your summer. Make sure to have lots of fun so you can tell me all about it when you get back, okay? I'll miss you." Telling her I'd miss her too, I held on for a few moments longer before finally letting go. It was okay, mom was alive and she was back, which meant that once the summer was over, I would come back and she'd still be here and to make things even better, Gabe would no longer be a blight on our lives. I went away smiling, waving to my mom as Snowstorm took off into the skies once more and carried me all the way back to camp, though I worried that she might be tired considering she'd already flown around with both me and mom for a long time. Snow promised me that she was fine and that she was very strong with excellent endurance, telling me to relax and that I could even rest against her neck if I wanted. She wouldn't let me fall. Of course I knew that, stroking her neck as we flew back to camp where Percy was waiting. Having heard a few details from mom that Percy had omitted, or at least not gotten around to telling me, I fully intended to collar him and force him to tell me the whole truth and I was not above going to Annabeth or even Grover and getting them to tell me exactly what had happened out there, because from the sound of it, they had a rough day every day.
I returned to camp and notified Chiron that I was back before going to my brother, managing to catch him at our cabin where Snowstorm trotted away and left me to it. Percy was eager to hear from mom, but I just told him she'd write soon and that she was fine, and that Gabe was gone. To this, Percy smirked with his tone sounding light and cheerful. "So she used the head then? That's good." To any normal kid, it would have been exceedingly worrying to hear something like that. However we were not normal kids, we were the children of gods, so our normal was a little different from others. Sitting down with Percy I had him go through his entire quest again, warning him not to leave anything out. There were some things he'd forgotten to mention before, or even purposefully kept secret, but now it was just the two of us, he admitted some things he hadn't told many others. He even told me how he'd told Luke during that message about the dreams he had been having, and I felt a pang of worry. Why didn't Luke tell me? Maybe he had been just trying to spare my nerves, because I probably would have freaked out if I'd learned Percy was having nightmares about a freakish pit whilst in the middle of a quest.
The source of the pit, however, was the most worrying thing, as Percy revealed that he believed it was Kronos inside it, the entrance to Tartarus. At first I balked, feeling a chill in the air at the mention of his name. "He wanted the gods to go to war, so he put the idea in Ares' head to keep the bolt and the helm to himself, then slip me the bolt to take to the Underworld where Hades would then claim it and kill me." I shuddered, but considering Hades had released my mom after not even making a deal with Percy, he was actually one of the few gods I viewed as alright in my books. He had a rotten deal anyway, getting stuck with the Underworld, and Percy told me how he was drowning in souls because so many people had died in recent years. Anyway, what worried me was the fact that Kronos had been trying to manipulate Percy, and I was infinitely glad that he'd had the sense not to listen to him. Still, I worried.
"You be careful, from now on." I warned him sternly, receiving a dark feeling that this wasn't over. "It can't be anything good if a Titan from ancient times is contacting you in your sleep. If this happens again you tell me immediately, okay? We'll figure something out, but until then…what about those lines from the prophecy? Are you sure it's over?"
"It has to be. I mean I hope so, but Chiron did say that prophecies usually had double meanings. Who's to say for sure?" I cursed under my breath, thinking that this just wasn't fair on Percy. He's saved the day, just let him rest in peace, but no. He still has an unfinished prophecy hanging over his head. I pushed this to one side and instead I smiled at him, slinging my arm around his shoulders.
"You know I'm proud of you right? You did a great job out there, I don't think anyone other than you could have pulled it off, and I'm glad you're back in one piece." He leaned into me slightly then, but only briefly, and soon shrugged me off though I could tell he was grinning.
"I met dad by the way. We talked for a little bit…I wasn't really sure what to make of him, I still don't. He said that he was sorry that we were born, that a hero's fate was a tragic one. That kind of sucked." Rolling my eyes, I got up and moved about the cabin a bit to fiddle with things, not really wanting to listen but knowing that Percy was desperate to talk to someone about this, and I was probably the only one who'd understand. "But he did say that mom was a queen amongst women, so I guess it's true that he really did love her, even if he doesn't care about us. That's got to count for something, right?"
"To be honest, I don't think it really matters. Give it a hundred years and we'll all be dead, and Poseidon will have forgotten about us and moved onto the next woman that catches his eye and probably won't even remember mom or us. He's immortal. He can always have other women, other children. Though maybe not half-blood children because of the pact." This was probably a little harsh, but I didn't want Percy filling his head with new fantasies about our father all over again. He needed to expect nothing from him, and that way he won't end up disappointed. I'm still surprised he even bothered giving Percy those magic pearls in the first place. I didn't think he'd even notice all the work and effort Percy had put in to save his neck, and did he even say thank you? No. Probably not.
"He mentioned you too though Lils. Said that no matter what, we were truly his children, a son and daughter of the sea."
"I hate the sea. That doesn't make any difference to me. I still hate him, and nothing will ever change my mind. I'm glad he helped you Percy, he owed you at least that much, but I don't expect he'll bother with us again unless he needs another hero, someone to clean up his mess." Sighing heavily, I rubbed at my head which had started to ache so I tried to calm myself down. Around my wrist I felt the bracelet grow slightly warm. In a burst of anger, I pulled it off and tossed it in a random direction and I was quite pleased when it soared out the window as it didn't strike a wall. Percy leaped to his feet in astonishment, demanding to know why I'd done that to mom's present. "That was something from Poseidon. Mom told me about it. Do you know how I became blind Percy? Because it wasn't by accident. Someone did this to me." So I told him how Zeus had almost killed me, but somehow I had survived his lightning bolt and instead went blind, but because I didn't die like I was supposed to Zeus then cursed me to never be fully healed. That bracelet turned up after I ran into a sphinx, apparently it dampens my scent and makes it near impossible for monsters to smell me. At least, I think it works on low grade ones. I'm not sure about the higher tier monsters."
"Even if it's from dad, you can't throw something like that away! If it hides your scent then you're going to need it if you ever leave camp."
"It's fine, it reappears around my wrist now." I sighed as I lifted my wrist and sure enough, there the bracelet was, much to my irritation. I'd dropped it whilst we were flying back but it had come back no matter how far I'd tried to fling it. I was set on trying to destroy it next. "I think it's like your sword, how it always returns to your pocket? Poseidon must have known I'd hate it if I found out it was from him and made sure I could never throw it away." Still, it felt good to repeatedly throw it away, so it became something of a habit of mine. I didn't want to talk about dad after that, so instead I changed the subject and asked what activities Percy felt like doing today. Seeing as he was now a hero of the camp, almost everyone was happy to talk with him and train, though I suspected Ares kids didn't share the sentiments.
Amongst the general hum of happiness, however, I could sense a dim light beginning to fade, growing distant and cold despite the fact that there was a great deal to celebrate. Luke. He grew more distant, and sometimes he wouldn't really talk to anyone other than me but that's only because I pestered him and he never once broke his promise to continue training me one on one. We even moved onto spears and I was shocked to find a natural talent for them unlike with the sword. I barely needed any instruction, it just came so naturally to me and with the other skills I had picked up by using my hearing and other senses I soon became rather formidable with the weapon. I even faced off against Clarisse, and I left her face down in the dirt after I'd spun around with the spear and swept out her legs, making Percy and Grover cheer at me wildly as Clarisse coughed and spat out the sand she'd almost swallowed. I twirled the spear in my hand then resumed my beginning stance, offering her another bout.
By the end of the summer I was on a total high, feeling great about myself and happy for Percy, but the only comedown was the fact that Luke was acting super weird. He didn't talk about what was troubling him, but I thought maybe it was the fact that summer was coming to an end and he'd been asked to leave by Mr D and Chiron because he was getting too old. I wanted to ask him, but each time I saw him I ended up biting my tongue. It wasn't until the morning of the last day that I found out the truth over why he'd been acting so strangely, though it came in waves of fear when I heard that Percy had been poisoned by something in the woods. Snowstorm carried me like a raging thundercloud to where Percy was being treated and I refused to move from his side the entire time, abandoning my packing. He woke up in the evening, and when he told everyone that Luke had been the one who had stolen the lightning bolt and the Helm of Darkness at the winter solstice, had been acting on Kronos's orders since then and had summoned a scorpion to sting Percy and tried to kill him.
I felt betrayed and hurt, and so, so angry that I could have split Long Island in two. The ground quaked and shook until Chiron politely asked me to try and calm down, so I did my best and took several deep breaths though holding it in only made my head sting. Everyone was in a state of disbelief and my thoughts drifted to Annabeth, wondering how she would take this news. Clearly, she sounded as hurt as I felt. "I can't believe that Luke…yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him…he was never the same after his quest." Reaching out to her, I placed my hand on her shoulder to try and console her because honestly, it sounded like she was about to cry. Chiron announced quietly that this matter needed to be reported to Olympus, and I almost found myself starting to beg with him not to, to let us find Luke first and try and reason with him, but I clamped my mouth shut. I didn't know what to think, but I did know one thing.
Luke Castellan had tried to kill my baby brother.
I was going to murder him.