A/N: Last completed chapter, but this is by no means done. I read the Mark of Athena ... I am now, like, dead. You know how earlier I mentioned Cora was the most powerful demigod? Yeah, that idea, down the drain. Scratch it out. *sighs* Well, this is like, version 1.75 so I'm allowed mistakes. But it killed me . . . if you have not read it . . . WAIT UNTIL THE FOURTH BOOK IS ALMOST OUT. I am telling you, it will make your life easier . . . unlike for me . . . anyways . . . go ahead. Read on. This may be your last chapter for a while.
Cora: Hotel Room Talks Part One
To be honest, I wasn't too surprised about my blood. Yes it was shocking, but I sort of felt like I already knew. I guessed I knew it before I got amnesia; I knew I had known I had Ichor. But it was still shocking. My mind was reeling. I didn't even know how it was possible, or how it made any sense, but I knew that it meant something. Part of my blood was Golden Ichor.
Our little trek back to civilization went on in silence. There wasn't much to say, aside from when we were trying to figure out directions. Which really didn't happen often, since we had Annabeth the map master. I wondered where she learnt all this.
After a couple hours of going through the woods, we came out on a tall deserted hill overlooking a city. We took a few steps away from the woods and it shimmered and disappeared behind us; Mist enchanted I guess. It wasn't too hard to figure out what city it was. Phoenix. We were back in Phoenix.
As we headed into the city on foot we quickly agreed that we were not staying out in the open again. We needed to find hotel. And then, coincidentally, Percy remembered he started a bank account just in case of time like these. Well, his mom and stepdad made it, being concerned for his constantly in danger butt. And the international travel.
So after a quick stop at the bank we found the cheapest-yet-not-a-motel-or-that-a-bad place to stay at. As it turned out, no place in Phoenix was actually lower than a two star hotel. Who knew?
We picked the best place to stay using a visitor's guide and quickly booked rooms. More like room. There was some convention in town and they only had one room left. We had no choice but to take it.
Pushing open the heavy wooden door we filed into room 223 and stopped dead. We had been expecting some cheap little one bed room with barely any space. Instead there were four single beds with dark red covers lined up against the right hand wall. On the left side in the back corner was a large desk with a keyboard and a screen that probably doubled as a computer and TV. The bathroom was spacious with a duel bathtub and shower. The far wall was three-quarters windows draped in matching red shades. They over looked a busy street.
Percy and Annabeth dropped their bags on the two beds next to each other closest to the windows. I claimed the one nestled in the corner against the wall separating the bathroom. Sighing I lay down on my back and closed my eyes. The bed was surprisingly soft.
"I don't see how this is a two star hotel. But this is pretty nice," I muttered. I heard Percy chuckle.
"This is one of the nicest places I've ever stayed while on a quest," he said. "I call the shower first!"
"Thanks," Annabeth said sarcastically.
"Um, Perce?" I said opening one eye and looking at him halfway to the bathroom. "Showering's not gonna do much good since we don't have any clean clothes. We'll still smell." Percy gave me a goofy, brotherly smile.
"We're children of Poseidon, Coral," he said. I don't know why he called me Coral, but I scowled and glared a little at him. It hit a nerve, one that made me more conscious of the empty space in my head. "We can wash them in the tub and dry 'em in a second."
"What about those without powers, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked him. I smirked at him as he scratched his head and thought for a minute.
"Um . . . oh, I know!" Percy said snapping his fingers. "You guys just yell at one of us to dry them! That would work." Me and Annabeth looked at each other and wrinkled our noses.
"I think I'll put them on wet then get one of you to dry them," Annabeth grumbled. Percy looked slightly confused at changing his idea, but mumbled "okay" and went in to take his shower.
"I sometimes wonder how you've put up with him for years," I said smiling.
"Oh, you learn to look past his flaws," Annabeth laughed. "Anyways, I'm going to go find a place to connect to the Wi-Fi; since I can't use the computer here." As she said this she pulled her laptop out of her bag. "I shouldn't be gone to long, I just want to do some research on those Darkest Dawn people. 'K? Don't blow something up."
"I'll try to refrain," I promised. Annabeth nodded once, grabbed a room key and hurried out. The door clicked shut behind her.
I sighed and settled myself against the bed. Hunter, who had been standing quietly, sat down on the last free bed with a plop. He asked me what was going on and I quickly told him the plans. The plans were pretty much shower, eat, sleep, and then bother figuring out what to do.
I closed my eyes and allowed myself to relax. For the first time since stepping off that boat in the Arctic I felt almost relaxed. My mind was still wired and I was still struggling to keep the terror down, but I could physically relax.
It was silent for a minute except for the hiss of the shower in the bathroom. I was exhausted and would have gone to sleep, but I was constantly fighting the terrifying images that crowded my mind.
"What's going to happen, when the quest is over?" Hunter asked suddenly. I opened my eyes and looked at him. "Where will you go?" Hunter was looking down at his hands in his lap. I shrugged the best I could lying down.
"I dunno," I replied. "I guess I'll go back home, wherever that is. What about you? There aren't more wars. Will you go home and live with your father?" Hunter was silent for a moment. I knew I had asked a bad question.
"No," Hunter whispered, his voice cold and quiet. "I won't ever go back." That got my full attention. I sat up slowly, unsure whether to go over to him or not.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean –" I stopped short as Hunter stood up and walked over to the window and looked out. He was tense and I knew he didn't want to talk. But I didn't care. I stood. "I'm sorry," I repeated walking over to him. "I didn't realize – I had no idea –" I didn't know what to say. I put my hand on his shoulder. "Hunter I'm sorry if I – I'm sorry, please don't be mad."
Hunter sighed and stared outside. He wore a wounded expression. "It's not your fault," he said. "You don't know what it's – what it's –" his voice broke. I stepped closer, my hand still on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, if I've done anything," I repeated. "But . . ." I thought back to when I had met Hunter's dad; his reaction, the way he had been . . . "Hunter, what happened? What's going on?" I got no reply. "Hunter, please," I said quietly, "tell me. I want to know. Maybe – maybe I can help. What's going on?" His eyes flickered to me. "You're scared, aren't you? I saw you, I'm not blind."
Hunter sighed. "I didn't want to worry you," he whispered. "But – but –" his shoulders sagged and he leaned against me. "You don't know what it was like. You don't know what happened." His expression broke my heart.
"Then tell me," I said fiercely. "Tell me what happened. You haven't been able to tell because no one knows what you say – well here I am. I'm your friend and I want to know. I – I don't like seeing you like this."
Hunter looked down. "It – it started when I was young. My mother left me with my father, and it crushed him. He thought she loved him, he didn't think she'd leave. He loved her and she let him with me.
"At first it wasn't so bad. Sometimes he'd get moody, missing her. But as I got older . . . I look like her. That's what he said. That I look just like her. He saw her in me, and he hated me for it. I was so young . . ." he glanced at me, his eyes full of pain. "He'd beat me. He'd grab me and hit me and beat me so hard I couldn't even think."
I gasped in horror, pain and sorrow filling me up. I couldn't believe it.
"I barely lasted with it," Hunter continued. "Only a couple beatings, and I ran away. I ran away and lived in the streets. I was hardly even a toddler. The police found me and returned me home. I got more beatings in response. Eventually I ran away again. And again. And again. The police always found me and returned me home. I couldn't escape the beatings."
He looked at me mournfully. "That's why I don't know English. I never went to school because either I was to beat up to attend or I was in the streets. But I didn't know how to survive there and got returned to my father. Eventually camp found me . . . you have no idea how happy I was three years ago, to be taken away from him. I thought I would have a new life. But I didn't. I walked in a confused fog."
He fell silent and mentally I added in until me. I was the first to care about him, in his whole life. Hunter pushed away from me, and glared out the window.
"My father hated me. He thought I was like mother and he punished me for it. One minute he'll love me, the next he wants me dead. As long as I'll live, I'll never go back to him." Hunter was shaking with anger. I didn't know what to do.
"Oh gods, Hunter, I had no idea. If I did I wouldn't have given you no choice but to take us to him – honestly!" I said, my voice cracking. "Hunter I am so sorry you had that. I really am sorry and -"
"No!" Hunter snarled. "You can't be sorry because you don't know! You never felt it! You don't even have a PAST! You don't know how it feels!" I stepped away, my heart stinging from his words.
"H - Hunter I –"
"Don't! You don't know what I've gone through and you never will! You don't know anything; how can you be sorry?" Tears pricked my eyes and he suddenly seemed to realize what he had done. "I need some air," he mumbled.
Then he hurried past me, grabbed a key, and headed to the door. I tried following him, I reached to pull him back but couldn't. I opened my mouth but no words came out. He walked out the room, looking so angry and confused and pained I felt like it was my own. The door closed behind him and I flinched.
The tears in my eyes rolled down my cheeks. I sniffled and wiped my nose; I felt like I had just gotten to really know and lost my best friend all at once. For a second I stood there, hollow and hurt. Then I remembered I wasn't alone.
I grabbed the remote, fiddled with the confusing TV, and left it quietly on the History channel. I didn't want Percy to worry. This was my fault and my fault alone.
I sat down on the edge of the bed in front of the TV and pulled my knees up to my chest. I felt sorrow and guilt and so many other emotions I could barely breathe. I stared uncomprehendingly ahead and tried to sift through everything.
I went over the facts about Hunter I had gained. I went over everything that had happened. I worked hard to figure out my feelings. I just sat there, thinking. I hurt so much, and I knew Hunter was hurting. I wanted to fix things. I felt it was all my fault.
Time passed. My thoughts were accompanied by the droning of the TV and the hiss of the shower. I don't know how long I sat there for, just curled up and thinking. Several times I would nearly cry while I thought. But I didn't want to cry.
Eventually, when I had finally figured out what I was feeling, I heard the door click. The room door opened and in slipped Hunter. I glanced at him; his green with brown flecked eyes looked almost red. As if he had been crying.
"I'm a horrible friend," I blurted out. I still stared blankly ahead of me.
Hunter looked at me surprised. "Don't say that."
"It's true," I said. "I am a horrible friend. All I've done is hurt people and drag them into danger through my own stupidity. I was the one who endangered you all, because I got captured. And I can't even hold a conversation with you without hurting you and causing you to leave!" I paused. "You probably hate me."
"No, Cora don't say that," Hunter argued, walking over to me. He sat down in front of me and I moved my legs to the side. "You're not a horrible friend. You're a wonderful friend. You care about people, you asked me about – about what happened because you cared. That's not a horrible friend."
"I made you upset, from my own curiosity."
"You made me tell a pain that I've held my whole life. You help me get it off my chest. I was just confused, about how I felt when I told you. I need to be alone to think. I no longer have to carry it alone. You made me face a memory that hurt me; I should be thanking you, really. You're the greatest friend."
The tears returned. "But I still hurt you," I replied. "I still hurt you. I made you reveal something you wanted secret." I looked down ashamed. "You probably can't even look at me now. The sight of me ought to disgust you."
I felt Hunter place his hand under my chin and he gently raised my head. I tried to look away, but he held my eyes. He gave me a sad, sweet smile and moved a little closer.
"You know what I think when I look at you?" he asked me quietly. I shook my head. "When I look at you, I see a strong, courageous, and dangerous girl who's fighting to find who she is. I see the toughest person in the world, because she keeps all her pains and fears inside to stop her friends from worrying. I see the most loyal and brave friend, because she always worries about how it will affect them. When I look at you, I see the most incredible girl in the world, who's able to deal with all the Fates throw at her."
I stared at him, a smile forming on my face, filling in what words wouldn't. I felt so relieved it was impossible to describe. He lowered his hand. I couldn't believe he forgave me so easily. I found myself leaning forward.
"I wonder what I did, to end up getting a friend like you," I whispered. My heart was beating weird; it didn't make a regular pattern and seemed too loud. I didn't know what it meant. Something inside me fluttered nervously. Part of me noticed the burning ring on my forehead, but my confusing emotions and happiness at being forgiven drowned it out.
Hunter smiled. "You were just being you, and there is nothing better than that. You're a great friend, don't doubt that."
I found him moving closer, or maybe it was me. I couldn't be sure. We were so close, though I didn't know what was happening. Why were we so close? I didn't know but I found us getting closer all the same; we were centimeters apart . . . .
"What are you doing?" I jerked back, shock filling my body as I came to my senses. I looked around wild-eyed. Percy was standing near us, looking at us quizzically.
"Nothing!" I said to loudly and too quickly. My face was hot. "Nothing!" Hunter was moving away, looking downwards. I flew to my feet, confused. "I – I'm going to take the shower now!" Anything to get out of there.
I scurried past Percy and Hunter and into the bathroom. I closed the door and locked it.
Confused, elated, and disappointed all at once, I quickly turned on the shower and cranked up the heat. The moment steam was filling the air I jumped in, clothes and all. I stood there, gasping as the heat hit me. My mind was reeling; what had just happened? Or almost happened? I didn't know what to think anymore.
I sank to the ground, my mind spinning. I felt ashamed, and also happy. But mostly shame and confusion engulfed me. Something lost and something gained; these words filled my mind. The hot water pelted on my head and shoulder. Gasping for air I lowered my head, and wept.
A/N: *shifts* So, um, uh, I think I'm going to, uh, hide? *Pulls out shield* *backs into corner* I know y'all we're hoping for something really badly there, and I kinda stole it from you . . . SORRY IT'S A PART OF THE PLOTLINE! *cowers* I am scared of angry fans. And I don't know how this worked out, but Hunter turned into my bad luck character; which is weird since I like the guy ... anyways. Please don't kill me but do let me know you're thoughts. See you – see you – see you sometime . . . if I can ever finish the next chapter.