I was in a disoriented daze.
Why?
That question pounded repeatedly against the walls of my head.
Why did she do it? Why did she believe Luke? Why did she betray Camp Half-blood, her home?
She had told me the whole story. She poured out her emotions to me. She tried to make me understand.
But I didn't understand. I couldn't.
Why, why, why?
I repeated the word over and over in my mind. After a while, it lost its meaning. It was merely a sound, repeated periodically. It was something stable, expected and that helped me hold on to myself.
Slowly, I collected my thoughts together.
And then, I stood up. I had some answers to find.
-X-X-X-
I went to the Prophetess.
That's where everyone in Elysium… no, everyone in the Underworld, went for answers.
I knocked on her door, praying that she would be home. She liked 'listening' to the wind, whatever that meant, so she went for long walks in Green Meadows sometimes.
Sometimes, she would be gone for months together. And when she finally returned, she wouldn't speak of her time away with anyone.
Just as I was thinking about this, I heard some footsteps behind me.
I whirled around, and jumped aside when I saw it was the Prophetess.
She merely beckoned to me, and walked inside. I followed her warily.
She put away the contents of her jute bag – which I can't even begin to describe – and sat down on a blue leather-backed chair with gold legs. She pointed to a seat opposite her, and I sat down there.
"Umm… I wanted to-"
"You want answers. It concerns a dove and a herald."
"Yes." I wasn't surprised. She was a Prophet, so most times, she knew what you wanted to ask her even before you knew it yourself.
"What do you wish to know?"
"Why?"
"For you."
"For me?"
"The girl was enamoured by the son of Hermes - that is true. But once she realised his true intentions, she couldn't back out. He threatened her. And then he made her an offer: If she assisted him, he said you would survive. He said nothing would happen to you. But he lied. After your death, she started passing false information to the Titans' army. And in the last battle, she led the warrior children against the Lydian Drakon, in an attempt to kill it. But it was destined to be killed by one of the warrior children themselves."
"Clarisse," I said.
"Yes. Clarisse. She avenged the girl. She killed the Lydian Drakon."
"Silena didn't tell me about this."
"She didn't want you to follow her."
"Well, she won't get her wish fulfilled. I will follow her!"
"Yes, that is your destiny. Go fast. Before it is too late."
"Too late? What do you mean? We have all the time in the world here, in Elysium!"
"In Elysium, that is true. But not elsewhere. Now, hurry!"
I left the Prophetess' house in a daze.
I understood now. It was strange, really. The Prophetess didn't really tell me anything I didn't know, except for the details behind Silena's death. But somehow, she had spoken of it from a different perspective, in short words.
Silena didn't do it all of her own will. She was threatened and tempted to be the spy. And she had done it for me. And though that didn't work out, I was happy to know that she loved me. For if she didn't love me, she never would have betrayed her own family, her own home. I knew enough about her to be sure of that.
And then, I thought of something else the Prophetess had said. Go fast. Before it is too late.
Why did I have to hurry? I wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Silena. She had to be in Elysium, somewhere or the other. And I would find her, whatever it took.
-X-X-X-
I went to my forge, and took it apart, searching for a certain pair of devices I had made. I found them after a while, buried beneath a huge hill of nuts and bolts.
I polished them and then pressed a button on the downside of one. It whizzed to life, and took off. It skid on the floor of my forge, and then outside the door.
It was a searching and monitoring device. It would search one half of Elysium, and I would manually search the other half. Whatever the device saw would be broadcasted on the other device I was carrying, a small monitor.
I set off, monitor in hand, and rock-solid determination in mind, to search and find Silena, wherever she was in this paradise.
And the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that it wouldn't really be paradise without her by my side.
A/N – One more chapter done! This was Beckendorf's point of view, for those of you who didn't figure out (I don't think any reader of this story would be that ignorant, though)!
So how was it? I know the other chapters were probably better. It was tough to write from a guy's POV. Silena was way easier for me.
But did I do it some slight amount of justice, at least?
By the way, some of you might feel the chapters are really short, and I know they are – but that's the way I thought this story should be. Too much description might make it sound filler-ish, and I don't want to do that.
Anyhow, the next chapter will be longer, I think. Maybe 1500 words. But not more!
And review! Please, please, please, please review! Even if it is only one word, review!
