As it happened, I survived mom's attack. She'd held me and sobbed for a solidly with no respite, only letting me go when I meekly told her that I was still badly injured and that I was in pain. This only made her cry all the more, but she loosened her grip and stroked at my hair as I started to cry and hug her too. Gods. I'd missed her so much. She smelled amazing, she looked incredible, and she was just so entirely mom-like that I was perfectly okay bawling like a baby in front of everyone. Percy and Annabeth had to race off because someone named Rachel had stolen Blackjack, but I hardly cared. I called out that I'd catch them up at some point, but there was nowhere else I'd rather be than with my mom. I grabbed Luke's hand as he'd just been standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do, and introduced him to my mom as my close friend before I then studied the guy who had also looked as nervous and out of place as Luke, starting to sweat as he struggled to meet my gaze. "And who is this?"
"Oh, Neri honey, this is Paul Blofis, my fiancé. We would have got married some time ago but we wanted to wait for you to come back first." I stared at her.
"Your WHAT?!" Like I thought, there was a lot of catching up to do. We went back to our apartment where Paul formally introduced himself and shook my hand, telling me that he was glad that we could finally meet, though I think I unnerved him. Two years commanding evil forces of monsters and keeping them in line will make you tough, and mom had to keep reminding me not to scowl. Luke was treated like a guest, but he was stiff and awkward, apologising repeatedly to my mom for everything that had happened to me, but she'd just sat him down, made everyone drinks, and had us explain everything from the top. It took hours, and even when I glossed over some of the details to spare mom's heart, it was completely dark out by the time we were finished. Mom sniffed, probably knowing that I had hidden a lot from her, hugging me as I sat next to her and already starting to drift off. I was exhausted beyond description, and slept for a solid three days before stirring next. All the while I wore the Fleece, because still my body was barely healing faster than it was breaking apart, making it an agonisingly slow process. Mom had freaked out a little about that, but I assured her that as long as I continued to wear the Fleece, I wouldn't die.
"Neri…you've been through so much. I've been so worried about you, and Percy blamed himself for letting you get captured. He really beat himself up over it."
"Really?" I hadn't known that, so I made a mental note to tell Percy that it hadn't been his fault. That dumb Party Pony had dropped me, after all. Anyway, with everything now out in the open and having officially met Paul who sounded like a pretty cool dude, cooler still when I learned he'd picked up a sword and helped fight in the battle for Manhattan, Luke and I finally had the chance to talk. He couldn't believe how hard I had fought to save him, telling me that I should have abandoned him a long time ago but I just told him that was dumb. There was no way I would have let him face all that alone. "Because," I said to him rather pointedly, "you would have done the exact same thing for me." He then smiled and agreed, lifting his hand to brush at my hair. I wanted so badly to tell him my feelings for him, but I always wimped out at the last moment. I think the closest I had yet to come was 'um'. I don't know why he couldn't see it for himself, surely he would know by now? But he never made any mention of it, so I just kept quiet and figured that if Luke hadn't figured out that I was totally head over heels for him, then he was probably just trying to spare my feelings because he didn't feel the same and only saw me as a sister. After a few days with mom, I told her that I needed to go to Camp Half-Blood, because there was still a lot of unfinished business to attend to there, plus, I needed to talk things out with Percy. "Alright, but you're coming home at the end of summer. We're going to make up for lost time, and we can start thinking about your future, perhaps." I felt really awful for leaving her, but I couldn't just leave things as they were right now. I needed to tie up all the loose strings, and then I could finally come home and, as she'd said, make things up to mom. I offered Luke to go with me, but he had immediately refused. It was too soon for him to go back, he wasn't ready, so mom extended the invitation for him to stay as long as he liked as a guest with her and Paul. That was just like mom. Take in the guy who tried to kill your son several times and almost destroyed the world. Her heart was just that golden.
"Will you be alright?" I worried as I prepared to leave, backpack stuffed with my mom's homemade cookies and brownies for me to stuff my face with and pretty much nothing else. Luke stood before me, looking rather healthy considering he'd died and come back to life only a few days ago. "You won't disappear will you? Promise? Don't get all tragic on me and decide to exile yourself to an island or anything, because I'm the daughter of the sea god. I'll find you and then kick your butt." He smiled at me.
"No, I won't disappear, or at least I won't leave without telling you where I'm going. But I do need to do some thinking. Some alone time might be what I need, and then there's people I need to face and apologise to…if they'd even let me see them." Whenever Luke talked about what had happened and the amends he needed to make he always grew dark and broody. We were standing in the alley and I had just whistled for Snowstorm who was now landing neatly, still glowing from the blessing of Pegasus though it had faded a little now. Still, she looked magnificent. "I probably won't ever be able to make up everything to you Lily, let alone Percy and Annabeth, Thalia too. I…regret a lot, but at the same time, I was right."
"I know that, and so does Percy. That's why he made all those demands from the gods and made them swear on the River Styx. For now at least, they'll keep their word. Maybe from now on, we demigods will be the ones to keep them in check, remind them of their promises, and make a better world for future heroes." I said to him as I pressed a hand to his cheek and brushed my thumb over his scar. I had chosen sight today, wanting to look at Luke properly before leaving for camp. It was still a little unsettling being able to switch between blindness and sight, like switching a light switch on and off, but I was growing accustomed to it. "So whilst you're off in your travels and doing your soul searching or whatever, you might think on a few other things too." I suggested to him hintingly, arching an eyebrow hopefully that he might understand.
"Think about what?" Damn stupid…you know what? Forget waiting for him to realise. Men were so dense they'd never understand anything unless you spell it out for them.
"This." Sweeping forwards I pressed my mouth to Luke's as my hand slipped around to the back of his head, holding him still so that he couldn't escape. He'd jumped but didn't retreat, just stood there like a block of dense stone as I kissed him firmly then pulled away, tossing him a smirk. "Think about that." Then before he could recover I swung up onto Snow's back and lifted my headphones up from around my neck in order to place them over my ears, grinning to myself as I then hit play on my iPod which I had since salvaged from her saddlebags. I had no idea how they'd survived the battle against Typhon, but they all still worked. Snow got me out of there before Luke could call out after me, taking me into the skies with a rather knowing sound in her tone.
'So, are you finally ready to admit your feelings for him, Lady Lily? It is about time, you know. If he still does not understand just how deeply you love him, then I shall kick him in the head.'
"Hopefully that won't be necessary but thanks for having my back, Snow." She whinnied brightly before then flapping her wings and we soared towards Long Island Sound, where the camp awaited us, where already it was busier than I ever remembered it. When we landed we were immediately set upon by campers, familiar faces popping up in the crowds as they all yelled and cheered, almost as if they were welcoming home a hero. They shouted about me fighting Typhon and how awesome it must have been – I corrected them that it had been terrifying and I still risked dying from it – whilst others said that they were glad to have me back. The kids I had rescued all came racing forwards and ploughing through the crowds in order to tackle me at once, Molly and Jacob in particular being glad to see me. I could tell how happy they were just from the look in their eyes. Around me everyone was pressing in close, trying to talk and ask questions until finally a voice ordered everyone back to their activities, saying that they were certain that I would regale everyone with stories later at the camp sing-along after dinner. "Chiron!" I burst out and ran to him, holding nothing back as I flung my arms around him as he then patted my head.
"My dear, it is good to finally have you back. You have been so brave, I am proud that you are a member of this camp." I sniffed, moved by his words as Percy and some of our closer friends came running. This set about another round of hugs and quick-fire questions until I managed to get away with Percy so that we could talk in private at our cabin. Tyson was also at camp helping to build new cabins, but he was allowed an extended break in order to come talk with us whereby he hugged me, though gently this time because he remembered I was still injured. We then invited Annabeth inside and we sat down in order to talk, all of us together, whereby I was filled in on every missing detail that had happened since the incident on the Andromeda. A lot had gone on and I could barely wrap my head around it, but then they wanted to know what had happened to me so I listed off the important things, even mentioning that towards the end Kronos was thinking about making me his wife and queen which Percy and Tyson both rightly said was 'gross' and 'disturbing'. Still, I'm glad that's all over.
Then, they asked about Luke, and I faltered. "He's staying with mom at the moment, but I don't think for long. He's planning on going away for a while, somewhere quiet to think and reflect, I guess. There's a lot that's happened and he's suffered way more than I did at Kronos's hands, so it'll be a long time before he heals. But I know that he wants to make it up to us. Especially you, Annabeth. He feels that he's betrayed you most of all." I mentioned to her and her eyes saddened slightly. It was only then that I noticed that she and Percy were holding hands, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Hold up, are you...?" Percy looked sheepish and Annabeth smirked rather mischievously as she threw my brother a look, silently confirming my suspicions. "Gods! I can't believe it! Percy, you know she's totally going to kick your butt all the time, right?" Muttering quickly, Percy told me that he knew it all too well so Annabeth huffed in a way where she pretended to be annoyed, but they cuddled and canoodled like nobody was watching. I was so happy for my brother, I couldn't stop smiling.
My day only got better when Michael, Ethan and almost all the other guys from my troops came to find me where we celebrated our survival and mourned our losses. There was a great number of them, and I cried when I found out Hannah had been killed. There was a lot of grief being shared around, but the survivors honoured the memory of the dead, and I heard more stories from the battles that I had missed, even impressed when I heard that Clarisse had killed a drakon all on her own after Silena had tricked the Ares cabin into going to war. She'd almost died but the Fleece saved her and no one else knew about her work as a spy, so I continued to keep that a secret as she hugged me gently and told me I looked great. I was so glad to be back, and gladder still when I was given two beads to put on my camp bracelet, one with a golden fleece, and the other designed like a labyrinth or maze. I argued that I hadn't actually completed these summers at camp, but it was agreed that I had been an honorary member at the very least, and I had helped on the quest to get the Golden Fleece, so I definitely deserved that one. I was glad, because now my bracelet didn't feel so empty. I felt whole for the first time in years, and as I spent my days basking in sunlight, training alongside friends, eating all the food I could possibly lay my hands on and visiting my ship that had loyally remained anchored at sea near the shores of the camp, I felt the strain and painfulness of the past gradually fade away into memory.
I renamed the Queen Anne's Revenge and made good on my promise to give her a fresh paintjob as well as a new figurehead, Beckendorf and Tyson helping me to completely outfit her anew so that by the time we were done, she was a gleaming frigate of wood and armoured bronze, with new cannons that spit celestial bronze cannonballs, two turret guns on the top deck, gleaming white sails, a new flag of blue with a trident embroidered in silver and gold, as well as a whole bunch of awesome new gadgets and traps for my ship to make her into a vessel of utter destruction. I dare any monster to try and face her at sea. Even the ram was made from smelted celestial bronze with a razor sharp fin down the middle to cut through anything in her path. The figurehead of the weeping queen was tossed, and instead a beautiful figure of a mermaid holding a trident made by Tyson with even some tinkering from Annabeth became the new figurehead, and apparently she was an automaton, though not as sophisticated as one of Daedalus's originals. Annabeth was still working on that. The mermaid could come alive and stab at things though, so it was pretty cool. Her features looked very similar to mine, however, and Tyson had told me rather proudly that he had made the model based on me, which made my heart flutter and squeal as I had tackled my little brother with a hug. No longer a pirate vessel, my ship was christened Siren Song, because I wanted to remember those Sirens and their words to me, because although they had been difficult to hear, they helped me to better understand myself.
Siren loved her new name and her new look, practically purring as I flew around the rigging without needing to see. I often just went around blind since I was so used to it, and of course on board my ship I could always tell where everything was without help. I'd refurbished the captain's cabin completely so that it was more to my taste, something the Aphrodite cabin had loved assisting with. When it came to looks, they were the people to go to, and Silena went completely beyond expectations. The inside of the Siren practically gleamed, polished down to the last wooden floorboard. The four poster bed had brand new upholstery with blue and green drapes and cushions, a sofa and armchair, a huge bookcase for all the books I planned to collect, a chandelier made from gold, pearls and seashells hanging from above with candles lit and never seeming to go out. I could even brighten or dim them with the light switch on the wall, because we'd also upgraded a lot of other things on the ship. I had electricity with completely waterproof generators and sockets as well as state of the art plumbing with proper functioning bathrooms so that I could take showers, baths and use the toilet on my ship as I pleased. I pretty much could just live there. It was even kitted out with fridges and freezers in the pantry, a fully functioning kitchen – also waterproofed – and guest rooms for people who wanted to stay, an armoury, a brig – for people who annoyed me – as well as supply closets, an infirmary and, most importantly of all, a treasure room and vault where I could hoard my treasure like a proper pirate.
Once all the renovations were complete, it was completely necessary to throw a party. I invited everyone on board the ship where lights were strung up everywhere and the lanterns all glowed with their unquenchable flames, the Demeter cabin and the naiads going nuts with the food so that we had the most amazing surf 'n turf you would ever see. Music blazed from my state of the art sound system, and everybody danced and celebrated as I steered the ship out to sea with permission of Chiron and Mr D, to turn this frigate into one heck of a party cruise. Even our new Oracle joined in and I finally and officially met Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I had her to thank for helping out on the new paint job on my ship, and let me tell you she is one amazing artist. She literally jumped at the chance to paint a genuine old class frigate, so now both the outside and inside of my ship were adorned with her paintings that captured the greatest moments of Camp Half-Blood, the Titan war and pieces from history such as Hercules and his labours and Achilles fighting Hector, those kind of things, because since she was the Oracle, she could pretty much see everything. One of the best was me fighting against Typhon, which Percy had told me he'd been able to watch because at the time Kronos had created a video feed of it through some smoke and he'd watched the entire thing. Even Clarisse thought I was, and I quote, 'pretty cool' and we came to an agreement to tolerate one another. Clarisse even stopped calling me 'Fish-Breath' so much and I followed by reducing the number of times I called her something like 'Pork Chop', just as a sign of good faith. She was currently dancing with her boyfriend Chris, and I still couldn't get my head around the fact she had a boyfriend. Crazy world. Anyway it was a pretty awesome party, we even got attacked by a sea monster though before it could even spray us with scalding hot water I'd ploughed into it with the ram and trident held by the mermaid figurehead so it burst into dust instantly, earning a resounding cheer from all campers.
I was already planning and plotting the course for the voyages I wanted to take, and Percy agreed that going on holiday with mom and Paul would be brilliant, because we'd never really been anywhere before. Now we had our own ship, well my ship, the entire world was waiting for us. The Siren had even been outfitted with mechanical propellers so that if I wanted to put on some speed, she could go pretty damn fast. I was totally in love with my ship, and the Siren was extremely happy with her makeover and glad she no longer had to host 'smelly pirates', at least those were the words that came to mind when she creaked at me. I was so glad to be back at camp, and Chiron even kindly told me that if I wanted to come back again next summer then I was more than welcome. I was glad for the invitation, because although my sword skills were exemplary, I now needed to work on other things like archery, wall climbing and a bunch of other stuff that before now I hadn't been able to do. Turns out, I wasn't all that awful at archery unlike Percy. At least, my arrows didn't go completely astray though I was a far cry from the Apollo cabin.
The entire camp was bustling, our numbers almost doubling in the first couple of weeks as satyrs brought more and more half-bloods from all over, and sometimes when the situation got a little tense because there were monsters already on their tail, one or two of us senior members would go out and get them. I got paired with Nico on one of those missions and he seemed rather glad to spend some real time with me outside of dreaming. "You know, dad told me it was him who connected our dreams." Nico revealed to me as we made ready to leave. "Said he figured you'd be a good person to keep an eye on me."
"I thought as much. Guess he appreciated all that pizza and barbeque I burnt for him." I grinned as I ruffled Nico's hair. I was glad he'd decided to come back to camp, even if it was just for this summer. People around here now accepted him because of how he'd rode in with his dad to save the day with a skeleton army. "I'm glad he did. You know if you ever need me you can just give a shout, right Nico?" He nodded, managing me a smile.
"You know…dad also helped you out with Luke's soul. He was dead, and ordinarily once a half-blood is gone they're gone, but when you started to bring him back he…kind of turned a blind eye. He said it was a favour, and that you should remember to continue burning food for him as offerings. His favourite is the pepperoni pizza." Beaming, I promised him that I would remember and even sent a silent thanks to Hades. "It's weird. He totally hates Percy but he likes you. After all Percy did, I'd have thought my dad would have sworn against all Jacksons forever."
"We're a strange bunch, but we get the job done and somehow we manage to survive. Speaking of survival, there's a kid and a rather terrified sounding satyr that called for help. Let's get going. We'll take the fast route, if you're up for it?" I hadn't shadow travelled before so I was a little nervous but Nico promised he wouldn't let anything happen to me, readjusting his sword on his belt before then gingerly taking my hand. As I felt the shadows seemingly start to creep towards us, I let my eyes fade into sightlessness, because I had a feeling this wasn't going to be an entirely pleasant experience, and the less I saw, the better.