When we arrived back at my mom's house, she was just heading out. When she saw us, her eyes widened in surprise.
"I thought you had gotten lost. I was about to go out there and find -" She trailed off when she noticed Chris in Hedge's and my arms. "You found him?" She exclaimed.
I would have smirked at her surprised tone but in the present situation, all I managed was a nod of my head. Quickly my mom led us into the house, past the living room and kitchen, and straight into the guest bedroom. She busied herself with making him comfortable. Chris still hadn't woken up. I wasn't sure that I would be able to handle seeing him awake. I was having trouble restraining myself from punching him already. Since my mom was taking care of the traitor, I began looking for chains. We didn't have any so I settled for some thick ropes that I found in the garage.
My mom gave me a startled look when I stormed back into the guest room with the rope.
"Clarisse, what is that for?" I ignored her. "Clarisse, why are you tying him up? Have you lost your mind?! CLARISSE LA RUE!" She roared. I turned to face her.
"He's a rebel demigod," I growled. "He's working with Luke to bring down the gods! He betrayed Camp and -." I paused. "I'm making sure he can't escape." Mom gave me a long stare. It wasn't angry or annoyed, just a blank stare. I hated that I couldn't tell what she was thinking.
"Hey, Clarisse! Get in here!" Coach called from the living room. With one last weird look at my mom, I left with her still watching me.
Hedge was waiting for me in front of a rainbow; however, what had my attention was the man standing in the colors.
"Chiron," I grumbled, nodding my head slightly in respect.
"Gleeson tells me that you found the demigod, Chris Rodriguez." I nodded, making sure that my facial expressions were completely blank. I wasn't going to show any weakness.
"You need to tend to him." My blank facial expressions broke instantly.
"WHAT! But he's a traitor, he joined that vlacas and the Titans, he betrayed Olympus, he betrayed m-" I stopped myself instantly and let my face settle into a familiar sneer though I was sure that my anger was showing through my eyes. Yes. Just anger. I wasn't feeling anything else.
"Fine. I'll take care of him but it's not my fault when he brings monsters to the front door and I break his skull." Instead of looking angry or annoyed, Chiron smiled sadly at me like he knew something that I didn't. I hate that look. He shared it with Bird-Brain enough times for it to sicken me.
"Thank you, Clarisse." was all he said before cutting off the communication. I glanced around the room. Coach was busy making a sort of bed-fort with my mom's couch cushions, muttering things that I couldn't hear to himself. I couldn't wait to see my orderly mom's reaction to that. The thought cheered me up. I made to help him but then I heard my mom calling my name. I ignored it.
Hedge gave me a look. "Go to her, cupcake. A mother is a precious thing. Enjoy your relationship with her while you have it." I stared at him and turned to head down the hallway. I don't know what prompted it; the good advice or my surprise that it came from Coach Gleeson Hedge the war goat.
My mom was waiting in the guest room, sitting in a chair, and not looking at me. Ch- nope, I don't even want to think about him or his stupid name. was sleeping on the bed with a wet paper towel on his forehead. He was twisting and squirming on the bed as if he was having a nightmare. I felt that unfamiliar twist in my gut, again and again, I ignored it.
"Clarisse." She began softly, still not looking at me. "You know him, don't you?" I scoffed and rolled my eyes at her but I felt a growing sense of anxiety rise in me. I pressed it down.
"Clarisse, I'm your mother. I know these kinds of things. The gleam in your eyes when you look at him; there is more than anger or hatred. You know him. You liked him. You still do"
"Shut up!" I snarled. "You know nothing about me! You've known nothing about me since you gave me away 5 years ago." My mom looked taken aback.
"What? You think I wanted to give you away?" I snorted and crossed my arms, wishing that I was anywhere except having this conversation.
"Obviously. You did not attempt-" She cut me off angrily. When she was furious, my mother's face always paled instead of turning red. I never understood why and that fury had never been directed at me.
"No attempt!? Clarisse, the number of monsters that you attracted was unbelievable. More than Ares told me about! I had to send you away! I had to! You don't know how much I wanted you to come home every single day. I talked to Chiron about you only being a summer camper but apparently, it would be too dangerous. I tried to talk to you through Iris-Messages; you turned me away. You never sent letters home. You never showed that you wanted to come back to this dump of a desert house." By now, my mom was standing and glaring at me. I was surprised that her shouts weren't waking him up.
"Do you know what I've gone through? The police tore this place apart when you left. They thought that I did something to you. I was almost sent to jail. Once that was over, I had to deal with even more of people's stupidity and prejudice towards me, the crazy woman, now that I had lost my terrible violent demonic spawn. I went through that while you were having fun training in New York without thinking of me. Now you're saying that I gave you up?"
If it had been anyone else, I would have punched them already and stormed off. I would be muttering the most ferocious curses and promising the most painful revenge. Even though my back was at the door, I made no move to leave the room. I felt no anger; just an overwhelming emotion that I think I had forgotten what it felt like; shame and sadness. What she was saying was almost a mirror to what I knew people thought of me, of Ares' children in general. Except this time, I was Percy, The Stolls, and Annabeth who just assumed that they were superior.
"I'm-I'm sorry." The words felt foreign on my lips. I couldn't remember the last time I had apologized that wasn't sarcastic. "I-" I didn't know what else to say. My mom was staring at me again. Her gaze had lost its anger but was still so intense. I wanted to back away. Then without warning, she hugged me. Hard and tight and so, so comforting. Automatically, I hugged her back with more feeling than I thought was capable of being transmitted through a hug of all things. It would have been the perfect time for tears but we both were a bit too strong and hardened for that.
It felt like we had been there for an eternity when my mom finally pulled away. She wasn't smiling; she rarely did, but her eyes showed so much happiness that it brought a small smile to my lips.
Glancing over her shoulder at Chris, she said, "The dinner I made is in the microwave. Bring it out, eat, and go to bed. It is late and you've had a long day. Perhaps that satyr could perform some of that nature-healing magic on our guest." I barely concealed a smirk when I told her that she would have to peel Coach Hedge away from his pillow fort.
Her eyes narrowed on me. "Pillow fort?" was all she exclaimed before rushing to save her precious couch cushions. I left the room without looking back at Chris. It felt nice to be home.
It had been a few nights since my mom and I had talked and things were nice, peaceful, and incredibly boring. The traitor, despite what Mom says, I refuse to call him anything different, had seemed to be in a daze. He would sleep, my mom would force-feed him food, Hedge made sure that his bodily needs were taken care of.
Disclaimer: This cupcake's narration isn't clear enough. She's making me sound like a pedophile. I made sure the kid took a bath and brushed his teeth. Human body odor is just as disgusting as a goat's. Shut up, punk.
I avoided him like the plague and he spent his free time whimpering. During that time, Hedge was enjoying the desert (How? I wasn't sure and didn't want to know) and my mom and I made up for the lost time. She tried to teach me chess, a game that I knew Annabeth's know-it-all of a brother loved. She and Ares played all the time. Ares also lost all the time. Like father, like daughter. One comment about stupid children of the war god; well I've made the threat enough times haven't I?
It was while we were playing another game of chess when we heard the scream. Horrible wailing and shouting coming from his room. My mom's eyes went wide.
"What the..?" She shouted, rushing into his room with me at her heels before my senses could take hold of me.
He was never at peace. That much was obvious. Even while he slept, Hedge and my mom would say how he was always squirming under the sheets but now he was writhing as if the devil possessed him. I was considering getting holy water; either to exorcise or drown him if only to put him out of his misery. Beads of sweat were stuck to his face though I was confident that not all of the drops of liquids on his face were sweat. He was yelling words that didn't make sense.
"Run! Horrible, horrible! String! Mary, run!" Before I had thought that my mom was exaggerating, clearly he was sick but insane but now I saw. He was truly mad.
My mom immediately started trying to help and soothe him. She whispered comforting words and tried to clean his face. Immediately he used his arms to fight her off. He looked like a madman and all of my anger, all of it fake, dissolved. Uncertainly, I moved away from the door and closer to the bed.
"Chris?" He kept screaming. "Chris. Calm down." I remembered the last time that we had a conversation. He needed me to calm him down and I had failed. I didn't get emotions but I wouldn't fail again.
"Chris." My voice was so soft that it surprised me. "Calm down, please. You're at my house. Remember you always said that I needed to invite you home? You're here now, punk. You're safe with me." My last words seemed to send a shock through his body. I felt hopeful for a moment when he took a staggering deep breath then...
"Mary?" My heart might have stopped beating for a split second. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, none of my senses were working. I left the room without a word. I didn't think that I could bear looking at my mom. The word shouldn't bother me. It wouldn't bother any strong child of Ares. It didn't bother me. Yet when I went to bed that night, my last thought was: Who the Hades is Mary?
