There wasn't much in her life that could surprise her anymore.
Nobody could sneak up on her, the ADHD constantly keeping her alert even when she wasn't aware, and the monsters that had tried to attack her had taken place of the childhood boogeyman in the basement and the 'monsters' under her bed that kept her up. No, nothing really shocked her anymore. If she were being honest, Lily had felt like she had seen a majority of oddities in her life that canceled out the 'surprises'. Cyclopes, Minotaur's, and the whole shebang wasn't as astounding as it used to be. Kids came to Will with flesh burnt to the bone, scraps and gashes that showed the muscle underneath or had soft white peeking out, or with bone just jarring from their flesh.
Now, that disgusted her, but it didn't freak her out to see kids running to get ambrosia or nectar to heal themselves with such wounds.
If she were being bold, Lily would say that she sometimes felt as though she were fearless. With a life that no longer held disbeliefs, how could she not be 'bored' and 'prepared' for anything and everything.
Shit.
The constant and continuous thought reverberated through Lily's mind. She easily ignored the cries and cheers from Athena's team, blocking out Annabeth's and Percy's argument—the two never seemed to stop, she noted—as she walked towards the creek that Percy stood in. She knew that it was completely and entirely possible, but, if what she was thinking was correct (and she prayed to the Gods that it wasn't), Annabeth may have been right. Lily reached down and placed her pale hand in the water, see if maybe—just maybe—the water had magic powers. It was a stupid wish but, when you were a half-blood, sometimes the stupidest wishes came true. Drawing her hand out and seeing if the multiple cuts on her hand, which were from the thorns of the roses that grew on the side of her cabin, had scared up or vanished.
Neither happened and Lily's thoughts were confirmed.
"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it," She heard Annabeth say, before finally getting up and inserting herself in the conversation. Pulling off the helmet and tucking it under her right arm, Lily pushed the sweaty, matted hair from the sides of her face and watched as Percy glanced at his arm, confusion and shock creeping on his face.
"I-I don't get it," He breathed, and Lily looked to Annabeth. Her face was twisted with thought as she stared at Percy, her middle finger scratching harshly against her thumb. Lily didn't need to say anything, nor did she want to say anything. If she said, then it would be true and she'd have to deal with the consequences that would follow. If she stayed quiet then maybe she could continue her simple, minimalistic life at camp.
"Step out of the water, Percy," Annabeth's slightly alto voice broke through the silence.
"What-"
"Just do it," Annabeth quickly silenced the protest that slipped out of Percy's mouth. Percy looked over to Lily, almost as though he was making sure that Annabeth wouldn't stab him if he stepped out. Lily shrugged, tilting her head a bit, a smile pulling the corners of her lips as he shot her a glare.
Lily's eyes trailed after him as he stepped out of the creek, rapidly flickering from the wound on his arm, to his face, and finally to his posture. If he was the child of…that God, then the moment he stepped out of the creek he would lose any strength he had gained. Lily saw it before anyone else did and, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to rush over to him and steady him. Instead, if on instinct, her arm jerked up, her palm facing upwards, and a Bellflowers immediately wrapped themselves around Percy's left arm as Annabeth steadied him from the other side.
"Oh, Styx," Annabeth cursed, and Lily rapidly nodded in agreement, "This is not good. I didn't want—" Lily swore her neck cracked at the speed she whipped her head to look at the blonde, an expression of 'are-you-kidding-me' covering her face, and Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I assumed it would be Zeus…"
Lily scoffed, "It's ridiculous to think it would be Zeus. You know how rare that would be?"
"Not any rarer than this," Annabeth stressed, her hand briefly motioning to Percy, who only blinked in bewilderment as his eyes remained covered in a glassy glaze of both pain and exhaustion.
Lily swore her eyes rolled to the back of her head at Annabeth's words; yes, she may have a point but she couldn't have believed that Zeus was the only one sleeping around. Even she thought that it was ridiculous! Opening her mouth to retort, Lily froze. Her skin crawled, the feeling as though a jar of spiders had been poured on her, as a low growl echoed through the woods. The helmet that rested under her arm fell as she anxiously spread her arms out, almost like she was trying to steady her balance, while the other campers drew their swords and Percy stood—quite idiotically.
"σταθείτε έτοιμοι! Το τόξο μου!"
Lily cursed, her eyes catching the monster that stood on the cliff above them. Of course, how horrible would it be if a child of one of the big three had an easy life? From where she stood, Lily could tell that it was focused on Percy (big surprise there) and her brows furrowed as she slowly curled her fingers in. If she could just somehow magically grow a tree to push the Hellhound off the cliff, she could keep Percy safe. But that was asking a lot, especially coming from her—a girl who had just started to learn how to control roots.
"Percy, run!" Annabeth broke the uneasy silence, and Lily felt herself moving. While Annabeth had tried to step in front of Percy, Lily noticed that she had thrusted herself forward, her arms out as if she were pushing him, and watched Percy stumble back as the hellhound swiped at him.
It was always the aftershock she felt. After everything she had learned, everything she had experienced, it was the aftershock that always got her. The adrenaline would slowly seep from her body, her brain realizing that the threat had vanished or had been killed, and Lily would feel the pounding headache that often accompanied her when she was exhausted while her body would begin to shut down.
Now was no different.
Her head pulsed with skull-splitting ache, feeling as though Hephaestus was continuously thwacking her head with his mallet, and she began to notice how heavy her arms felt. The tingling feeling reverberated through her body—the kind you get in your foot when you've been sitting down for too long—and she muffled a groan, she hated that feeling. Squeezing her eyes shut, Lily pressed the palm of her right hand to her head and tried to will the headache to fade .Now wasn't a time for weakness, she had to make sure that everyone was okay.
"Lils," She heard Annabeth murmur, feeling an unknown hand grasp her limp arm tightly,
"Did you over do it again?"
"I don't even know what I did," Lily groaned, squeezing her eyes one last time before opening them and blinking the black spots from her vision. It was the truth. Exhaustion had hit her the moment she saw Chiron's arrow embed itself in the Hellhounds back, not even giving her a moment to prepare.
"I think…" Annabeth tilted her head as she looked in front of them, "You made a flower patch?"
"A what?" Lily questioned, her brows furrowing as she, too, looked in front of her. Confusion flooded her mind as she stared at the odd shield in front of her. Tall strands of grass and wheat had weaved themselves together in an intricate design as hundreds of minuscule flowers littered the goldenly-green shield thing. It came up to her chest and, before she could stop herself, Lily pressed her hand against it. It was firmer than she thought, almost feeling as though it were bark instead of wheat and grass.
"Yeah, I don't know that is," Lily spun away from the weird shield and pointed to the limp, black hellhound, "But I do know what that is."
"That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They're don't… they're not supposed to…" Annabeth said, her brows furrowed as she glanced between the hellhound and Percy's soaked body. Percy! Lily remembered, her eyes widening as she turned to check on the teen who sat near the water and rested on a bed of moss.
No wonder she felt so exhausted, she had pushed herself too far.
Relief flooded her body when she noticed that he was okay… well, okay as he was going to be at the current moment; but, the prior incident didn't stop the small smirk from creeping on her lips.
"Oh, the Fields of Punishment, you say? What have you done, Percy?" She teased, a short laugh leaving her as Percy's face flushed a soft pink.
"Lilliana, now is not the time," Chiron reprimanded, and she felt a similar blush cover on her cheeks as the campers attention rested on her. Nodding, Lily slipped closer towards Annabeth and remained silent as Chiron stared at the hellhound. His eyes were hard and unforgiving as he thought, "Someone summoned it. Someone inside the camp."
"Wow," Lily blew out a breath, "Poor Percy hasn't even been here a full summer and somebody already wants him dead."
"You weren't even here and somebody wanted you dead," She heard Luke state, and turned to look over her shoulder as he walked towards her and Annabeth, before stopping behind them.
Lily shrugged, looking back to Percy and noticing his slightly fearful gaze, "Touché."
"It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!" Clarisse's unnaturally high voice rang from the crowd and Lily let out a scoff.
"Of course, he's been here a month or so and he already has mastered how to summon a hellhound. Give me a break, the dude didn't know the difference between ambrosia and nectar a week ago," Lily muttered, quiet enough that Chiron couldn't hear her but loud enough to evoke a few muffled giggles out of Annabeth.
"Be quiet, child," Chiron shushed her, and Lily couldn't help but feel smug at not being the only scolded camper. Now, she was sure, the campers were going to be more focused on Clarisse and her missing spear than her cheeky comment.
Silently, the campers watched as the Hellhound's body melted into a dark mass, the transition reminding Lily of melting butter of balsamic vinegar dripping onto the wooden campfire tables. It was if no one knew what to say, what to do. But, at the same time, what was there to say? What was there to do? Camp Half-Blood had been a safety net for all demigods and now, with a hellhound getting inside the camp, the feeling of safety had been torn away. Lily loathed this feeling but, she felt vulnerable.
She had nowhere to go if they decided to close down the camp.
She had no family outside of Annabeth and her half-siblings.
"You're wounded," Annabeth said, turning her (and the rest of the campers) attention to Percy, "Quick, Percy, get in the water."
"I'm okay," Percy protested and Lily rolled her eyes. Honestly, the two of them never could just do what the other said, could they?
"Come on, Perc, please?" Lily said, giving the black-haired boy a soft smile while Annabeth called Chiron's attention to Percy with a 'watch this'.
Lily was expecting Percy to put up a fight, maybe sass her like he did with Annabeth, but it seemed that the poor boy was exhausted from the day's events (and, boy, she was too) for he simply stepped back in the creek. Lily gasped, her eyes focusing on the orb that floated above Percy's head, giving off a pale green glow.
"Look, I-I don't know why," She heard Percy stutter in the background and, just by his voice, could tell that he wasn't feeling as tired as he had been moments before, "I'm sorry…"
"Percy," Annabeth interrupted him, "Um…"
"Annie, I was so, so right. Told you it wouldn't be Zeus," Lily couldn't help but gloat, a smile plastering itself on her face as her eyes flickered to Percy's face, his dark green ones meeting her soft brown ones. With a nod up, Lily tore her eyes away from his and back at the shimmer symbol.
"I wasn't exactly wrong," Annabeth shot back, though her eyes never left the symbol. "Your father… this is really not good."
"What are you talking about? Isn't this what you've been waiting for?" Lily muttered, an 'oof' escaping her lips as Annabeth elbowed her in the gut.
"It is determined," Chiron announced, ignoring the two of them, though she was aware of the sharp glare he sent their way and she responded with a innocent smile. Dropping to her knee, Lily glanced around to make sure that the other campers followed her lead before looking back at Percy.
"Congrats, Perc." Lily softly smiled. She knew that this wasn't going to be easy for him, not if the prophecy Annabeth had been ranting about for years was true. Lily didn't find this fair and knew that it was childish of her to think of the 'fairness' of things. She was a half-blood and rarely anything was fair for them. Percy just happened to be one of the really, really unlucky ones.
"What?" Percy asked her, before looking around with pleading eyes, "My father?"
"Poseidon," Chiron answered as he, too, kneeled, "Earthshaker, Strombringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."
dedicated for: my beach 3