Welcome back everyone, thanks for tuning in again. Not much to say so we'll just get right to it. Honestly I only write stuff up here because if you don't the chapter name is off center and it bugs the hell out of me.
Chapter 3: Something to fight for
Eli:
The ride to Camp Half-Blood was quiet, at least, it was for me. Reyna and the others went by SUV, I chose the air.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I thought it'd be faster, it would, except I needed to fly above them and watch out for any monsters and provide cover if they needed it. Surprisingly, however, no monsters attacked during the entire two day trip.
Not that I was complaining or anything, I had enjoyed the brief period of peace and quiet, but I knew it wouldn't last. Despite everything, I couldn't push away the fact that there was a war going on, and we'd only won one victory, even if it was a pretty big one. All we had to do was get Circe to talk, much easier said than done, but I knew she would eventually, especially once Reyna got ahold of her.
When the valley leading into the camp finally came into view, I glanced back down at Reyna and the others, who had parked at the top of Half-Blood hill and were getting out of the trucks. I let out a breath I hadn't even realized that I'd been holding, we'd made it, no attacks.
I landed behind the trucks, hopping down from Ladon and telling him to keep flying above us until we'd made it into camp. With an affirmative nod, he flapped his wings and shot off into the air once again, sending up a storm of dirt and leaves as he did so.
"How were things looking from up there?" Justin coughed, waving his hand to clear the air a bit
"Nothing that I could see," I shrugged "Doesn't mean much."
"We made it here," Reyna said, stepping out of the SUV "That's what matters, let's get into the camp before all this talk makes our luck run out."
With Circe in between us, we headed up the path leading into a camp. The woods were peaceful, winter was starting to set in a little and the air was cool, the birds were starting to migrate south, I loved this time of year. That was one thing Raven and I always seemed to disagree on, he always seemed to prefer the woods during the summer, when the trees were thick and the animals were out and about. I liked it better in the winter, much less noise, easier to hear your prey, plus the cold never bothered me much anyways.
As we came up to the gate, next to Thalia's tree, I spotted Percy waiting for us, a sly grin on his face as he spotted us.
"Long time no see," He nodded as we walked up "Reyna, you're looking angry as always."
"It's just my face, Waterboy," She laughed, punching his arm as they hugged "It's good to see you again, not completely fried this time, I see."
"Takes a lot more than lightning bolt to kill me," He laughed "Come on, Leo's got a place to keep your pet."
We followed Percy into the camp which, as usual, was bustling with activity. We continued up the path towards the Big House where Chiron and Jason were waiting on the front porch, Chiron's eyebrows raised as if he could still hardly believe that he saw Circe in chains, even if she was standing right in front of him.
"Take her downstairs," Reyna barked at the two holding Circe "I want six guards at all times, two inside the room, two outside the door, and two on the porch, starting now."
Without a word, they escorted Circe inside and down the basement stairs to Leo's cell. I didn't know what Leo had built exactly, but I hoped it contained her, she'd already made one escape attempt since her capture, and I wasn't looking forward to the idea of capturing her again.
"I'll set a schedule for some of the campers to relieve your guards every hour," Chiron told Reyna "They'll need rest."
"We all do," She sighed, her demeanor finally relaxing a little "This war is far from over."
"You've won an important victory for us," Chiron replied, smiling at Reyna "Because of your efforts, Ouranos' army is without a leader for the time, something we must take full advantage of."
"Get some sleep," I told Reyna "You didn't sleep the whole trip over here and you look about ready to drop, Justin and I have this covered."
"I don't need sleep," Reyna answered "I need answers, now."
"Circe isn't going anywhere," Percy assured her "The cell Leo made is eight inch thick ballistic glass, the Hecate kids put all kinds of anti magic enchantments on it, just go get some sleep."
"Fine," She sighed, heading off to set up camp "But if she gets out, I'm going to run you through, Jackson."
"She'll probably do it for you!" Percy called after her
Reyna said nothing as she disappeared around the bend, heading off to find a decent spot to set up a tent. The rest of us stood around for a moment, probably still marveling over the fact that we'd actually captured Circe. The entire time we'd had her, I kept expecting her to suddenly change into some random monster and announce that we had failed and Circe was still at large, but it hadn't happened yet.
I excused myself and headed towards the Artemis cabin where I knew I'd find my brother and the rest of the Hunt, possibly even my mother too.
I didn't even get twenty feet from the door when I heard excited barking sounding from inside and, a now fully grown, Jello came bounding outside, happily panting as she jumped up and put her paws on my chest, licking my face over and over.
"Ahhh," I groaned, scratching her ears "C'mon, I'm not that awesome."
"You should see how she gets when she hasn't seen me for a while," I heard Raven laugh "What took you so long."
It had been some time since I'd last seen him, and he'd grown his hair out quite a bit. Once, we'd been only identifiable by the scar on his eye, but now his hair was almost down to his shoulders, and his bangs fell to his eyebrows and his sides now covered his ears, we were hardly even recognizable as twins anymore.
"Excuse me for not asking Circe to just zap us all over here," I grinned, entering the cabin "I didn't exactly trust it."
Inside, it was just as I had remembered it. The silver banner of my mother's greek half hung in the corner, as the Artemis cabin had won capture the flag the last seven games running, beds were made neatly, a small campfire pit set up in the center of the room, a tiny kitchen in the corner, stocked with various stoner foods no doubt, and the Hunters of Artemis lazing around, sleeping, reading, or cleaning their gear.
My mother sat on a bed in the far corner, restringing her bow, smiling at me as I entered. She stood and crossed the room, her demeanor changing and becoming a little more stern, although she was still very happy to see me after all this time.
Diana.
"Did you go and see Kayla?" She asked me
"Not yet," I told her "Figured I'd get warm before I walked over there."
"You have a pregnant girlfriend that you haven't seen in months," She began sternly "And you didn't go and see her to check on her and your son?"
"Well, when you put it like that," I laughed, dropping my back pack onto my bed "I really sound like an asshole, don't I?"
"She's fine," Raven assured me "I've been checking in on her, baby's been kicking here and there but she hasn't gone into labor yet."
"Healthy?" I asked
"That's what Apollo says," Raven shrugged "Never known the god of medicine to lie about medical stuff."
"My brother is a great many things," My mother, who had reverted back to Artemis, spoke up "A liar is not one of them."
"No it's not," I agreed, turning to my brother "You, sir, owe me five bucks."
"Yeah yeah," He grumbled, tossing a five dollar bill at me "She could've just as easily been camped out in New York."
"But she wasn't, I got to her first," I grinned "So I do believe that would put me ahead of you in points."
"What?" He argued "No way. Tartarus, Orion, Chryasor, Bloodstained Blade, I killed thousands of monster during the battle, and blue is a way better color."
"First off, we agreed colors don't count," I countered "Second, I had double your kills during the battle-"
"Like hell you did." He cut in
"I tamed a dragon," I continued "and Saturn's coffin is worth at least five points."
"It was a coffin, I'll give you three at most," He scoffed "And if that's the case, Tartarus is ten."
"Eh," I shrugged "Who's counting?"
"I'm counting!" He exclaimed
"I kinda missed you two." Thalia laughed, continuing cleaning her daggers
For the next hour or so, we sat, talked, and laughed, and I was reminded of simpler times, when we weren't at war and we'd felt like the world was safe. Ya know, that one time, right before we started getting our asses handed to us at every turn.
I'd missed them, all of them. As mistrusting as I'd felt of them all at first, the Hunters had become my family, and I'd began to think of Artemis (Diana, whatever) as my mother. I resented her at first, but then I started to understand, even sympathize with her motives. She had been afraid, I knew that, but I'd never thought about what she was afraid of.
At first, I thought she was afraid for herself, I thought she, like all the others, was being selfish, afraid of what everyone would think of her when they found out she'd given birth to two sons, breaking her vows of maidenhood, and falling in love. Afraid of what her Hunters would think of her breaking the sacred rule that she forced them to abide by, but I had been completely wrong.
Artemis was the most selfless of all the gods, never once did she fear for herself, never once did she fear what anybody else thought of her.
No, she feared for us, she feared of what her father would do to us when he found out, she feared of the enemies who would hunt us because of the blood running through our veins, she wanted us safe, no matter the cost. Deep down, she'd hoped we'd never find out we were demigods, hoped that we'd grown old, live our lives, and died never knowing who we were, because, despite all the danger we'd put ourselves into, we'd have been much safer.
How did I know this? Simple, I'd asked.
Some time after our grand heist in Washington, I managed some time alone with my mother and Raven. After trying to deal with these feelings of resentment for so long, I finally asked her, why? She didn't give me the standard excuse she had given me the first time, no, this time, she'd answered me to my own satisfaction.
Alone, in the forest, with only her sons to hear her, she fell to her knees and burst into tears.
By answering me to my own satisfaction, I didn't mean watching my mother weep in the middle of the woods, that hurt, like a dagger to the heart, and I'd regretted asking the question. But she came clean, about everything, she told us her motives, and her motives behind her motives, she shared every burden she held with us, letting us lighten her load a little bit.
As we sat in that clearing with her, both of us hugging her tight, we forgave her, we let go of every bit of resentment we had been holding for her, we loved our mother.
Yeah, that's right, I'm kind of a mama's boy now, but if you every say it out loud I'll break your jaw.
Eventually, I did excuse myself to go and find Kayla. After petting Jello goodbye, I headed outside into the camp and towards the Apollo cabin, but she wasn't there. I checked the archery range, the infirmary, I'd even gone so far as to go down to the forges to see if maybe she was just out taking a walk, but nobody had even seen her in almost an hour.
Finally, after nearly thirty minutes looking for her, I stopped under a big tree down by the lake to collect my thoughts, wondering how exactly a pregnant girl disappears in a camp full of very unpregnant teenagers.
"Let's see," I sighed, running my hand through my hair and looking around "If I were a pregnant Demigod, where would I be?"
"Mmph," Somebody above me said "Probably in a tree with a bag of Taco Bell."
And sure enough, I looked up, finding Kayla Whitaker, the daughter of Apollo, sitting in a tree, with a party pack of tacos in her lap.
And that was probably the hottest thing I've ever seen in my life.
Reyna:
I didn't sleep long, just about four hours, I kept on waking up, unable to actually rest. Finally, I just accepted the fact I'd gotten as much sleep as I would be getting for the time being. Since it was well after night time, everybody else was asleep, meaning I would have to wait until tomorrow to have a go at Circe.
Sure, I could just walk in there and start on her myself, but the others wanted to be there, and I was never much good at story telling, save me the trouble of having to repeat everything that she would tell me, and she would tell me.
I pulled on a hoodie and headed outside to walk around the camp and clear my head a bit, check up on a few things. The first place I looked was the Big House, where two Ares campers were out front playing cards, no doubt grumbling about being forced to stand outside in the cold while the other four guards, whoever they were, got to be inside.
The Ares campers never were happy campers.
I noticed a couple sitting on the roof of the Artemis cabin, and I pegged it to be Eli and Kayla, judging by their long haired third wheel and the large white wolf seated next to them, Raven and his faithful canine companion.
I left them alone, as I didn't really feel like talking to anybody, I just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet. Unfortunately, I happened to walk past, or rather, under, somebody who had a reputation for being able to get me to talk. Fortunately, I could kinda stand him.
"Awful late to be walking around." Antonio said from above me
"What is it with you forbidden children and roofs?" I demanded, nearly jumping out of my skin "Raven and Eli are always on the roof, Percy hangs out on his roof, Jason used to do it all the time, now you?"
"It's where all the cool kids hang out," He shrugged "Plus, it's fun."
"Sitting on the roof is fun?" I asked, skeptical
"Sitting on the roof, no," He admitted "But pegging Raven with pebbles for an hour, yes."
To demonstrate his point, he held up a small slingshot and loaded up a tiny rock inside of it. He pulled it back and took aim for a moment before letting it fly and then sliding behind the chimney attached to his cabin, dissolving into silent fits of giggles as a loud thunk was heard from nearly six cabins over.
"Ow!" Raven snapped "What the hell?"
I couldn't help it, I laughed with him. I hated him for it, but no matter how bad of a mood I was in, he always made me laugh, and it irritated me to no end. After a few moments, he seemed to be debating doing it again and eventually elected that he was officially bored with it and then slid down the roof of his cabin, landing next to me.
"Hungry?" He asked me "Kayla gave me half a party pack of tacos earlier."
As soon as he said it, I realized that I was, in fact, very hungry. Despite my misgivings and how much I'd originally just wanted to be left alone, my stomach refused to let me say no, given that I hadn't eaten a thing since before that morning.
"What do you make of all this?" He asked once we'd started eating
"I make that I can't wait to watch Circe swing from the gallows," I told him "The senate will vote her execution."
"Shouldn't you be there?" He asked "I'm not familiar with Roman politics, but isn't that something the Praetor should be there for?"
"It is," I agreed "Frank and I discussed it before I left, he will speak for the two of us, and this operation was much too important for the regular soldiers. What's the old saying? If you want something done right, do it yourself."
"You didn't trust Eli and Justin?" He wondered, raising an eyebrow
"It's not that," She said, shaking her head "Eli has proven time and time again he is more than capable of getting the job done, and Justin has been loyal to the legion since before I was ever a Praetor. But I don't like hanging around waiting for the report, especially not something like this."
"What do you reckon she knows?" He wondered "I had a talk with Artemis the other day, she seems to think Circe was planning to betray Kronos, when we stopped her from bringing him back, she had to change tactics."
"Using him to distract Olympus from noticing she was working to bring back Uranus," I nodded "Now, it's out in the open and she has to take a different approach."
"How exactly are we going to get her to talk?" He asked "She doesn't seem like the type to break to torture."
"We'll have to use...less conventional means," I agreed "Getting Circe to talk will be difficult, she might not even talk at all, but we will break her just the same."
"Don't get carried away with her," He warned me "We need her alive."
"Ugh," I rolled my eyes "That's the problem with you Greeks, you're far too soft."
"Soft?" He asked, raising an eyebrow "That hardly seems fair."
"You don't know what she did to me," I scowled "You don't know anything about that woman, who she is, or what she's capable of."
"Nothing?" He asked, rising "You sure?"
He pulled his shirt off and turned around, exposing his back to me. Instantly, I regretted my choice of words as soon as I saw the scars Kampe had left him with, on Circe's orders. Two jagged and long lines, going from his shoulder blades all the way down to his waist, they had healed, but they were very much visible, painful reminders of that day on the beach.
He knew, understood more than any of the others. I remembered how angry and helpless I'd felt as I watched Kampe's blades tear through his flesh, hearing him scream those awful, gut wrenching screams, hearing the sizzle and smelling his flesh as the acid on her blades burned his skin.
It was a memory that still continued to haunt my nightmares.
"I'm sorry," I sighed "I..."
"Forgot?" He asked softly, turning to look out the door "I didn't. I want to run her through just as much as you, I want to see her face justice for her crimes, I want to win this war."
"I know," I nodded, walking to stand beside him "We will win, we always do."
"My dad always use to tell me things that never held much meaning to me until now," He said thoughtfully "One time, he had to come and get me because I'd been suspended from school. He walks in, there I am, bloody, busted up. Some guys jumped me in the bathroom, it was almost twenty minutes before somebody walked in and broke us up."
"Sounds like a fun time." I laughed
"It was," He admitted "I fought my heart out, Dad came into the office, saw me, saw them, and just smiled, told em: 'Well, I betcha won't be doing that again anytime soon.' I'd beaten all three of them twice as bad as they'd beaten me."
"What's the moral of the story here?" I wondered
"He told me that when you're fighting for something you believed in, you'd find yourself fighting harder than you ever thought you could," He said, smiling slightly "At the time, I thought to myself that the only thing I really believed in was that those greasy bastards sure as hell weren't going to make a punk out of me."
"It's as good a cause as any," I told him "You'll never fight harder than when you're back's against the wall and you have nothing left to lose."
"Now, I have this," He said, gesturing to the camp "I have a new family, I have a home, I have something to fight for, I have everything to lose."
"Something you believe in." I finished
"Yeah," He sighed "Something I believe in."
In silence, the two of us stared out the cabin door, overlooking the beautiful valley that was Camp Half-Blood. In the silence, I remembered Camp Jupiter, I remembered everything that I had to fight for. This war was far from over, but I had, for the first time in a long time, faith that we would win.
"Put your shirt back on," I finally said, turning back to Antonio "You're making us all look fat."
"I can't decide if that's a compliment or a rejection." He grinned, reaching for his hoodie
"Well, it's certainly not an invite," I laughed, shaking my head "Afraid you're not my type."
"Oh, and what is your type?" He asked, smirking "Tall, blonde, handsome?"
"Better than lanky and whatever that thing attached to your shoulders is." I countered
"This?" He asked in mock outrage, indicating to his face "This here, lady, is the ole moneymaker."
"Hmph," I scoffed "No wonder you've only got about twenty bucks to your name."
"Is this how Romans flirt?" He asked, laughing "It's awfully hurtful."
"I'm not flirting!" I giggled
Instantly, my face turned red, did I just fucking giggle? Did I seriously just giggle, are you kidding me right now? How in the hell did I just giggle, I don't giggle, I am not a girly girl. I don't jump up and down, squeal with excitement, and above all, I DO NOT FREAKING GIGGLE! Yes, obviously I was flirting with him, he'd tricked me into it in a way, not that I minded, he wasn't bad looking, but making me giggle I could not forgive.
He stopped, looking at me with a confused look on his face, and I felt my cheeks get hotter and hotter. He raised his eyebrows, opening his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
"Shut up!" I snapped
"Did you just-" He tried
"Shut up!" I snapped again
"I just thoug-" He tried again
"Shut up!" I growled, glaring at him
In spite himself, he started to smile, snickering despite how hard he was clearly trying to stop himself. This frustrating idiot was really starting to piss me, so I closed the gap between us and slapped him hard across the face, stopping his snickering.
"What was that for?" He asked, confused
"I told you to shut up." I hissed at him, glaring
"Well that seemed a bit over the top," He shrugged "Besides, hearing you giggle was pretty funny."
"I did not giggle." I growled, getting ready to slap him again
"You did." He said, nodding
"Shut up." I snapped again
"What, I'm just telling the tr-" He started
"Ugh," I growled in frustration "Shut up, you idiot!"
I lashed out again, but, instead of smacking him, I grabbed his hoodie and yanked him close to me, enjoying the look of shock on his face for just a moment before I pressed my lips against his, kissing him. For a moment, time stood still, and I felt him straighten up in surprise before he relaxed again, his hands falling to rest on the small of my back, pulling me in close.
Gods forbid somebody ever ask me about my first kiss.
