A/N: Ok so, this is my last chapter in my book, and the series. So I hope you guys had enjoyed it, Penelope gives her thanks for reading about her. She's going to miss you guys
I woke early the next morning, the sky was misty and fog covered the ground. I took off, Markus and Jordyn still on my mind, I couldn't worry about Him right now, it was a lost hope right now. Thalia I had hope in, she could take care of herself, but it was my duty to find her for Jason. She could be anywhere though… Which in any case was still bad, I ran through the darkened forest, Markus slept by a fire that was dimming. Jordyn under his arm, her thumb in her mouth, I aroused them quickly. They followed me, I was about to take a step forward, when a wavering image opened and I saw Percy sitting in front of it with the rest of the gang, he stood up and Thalia was sitting next to Jason. Her arm around him, he laughed at a joke she made. He made for me to see her,
"We knew you were looking for her, so we thought to Iris message you, instead of well…trying to find you." I nodded, and then a thought entered my head as I began thinking rapidly.
"Nico and Nyx!" I said, my mind going into overload. Percy nodded,
"They went back to New York, figured they needed help back there." Relief over took my body and I exhaled and nodded. He smiled gently, and then the image wavered then evaporated. I quickly fled through the underbrush my heart beating quickly, so that meant that Phoenix was the only one out there. I turned to Markus and Jordyn. Markus's dark blue eyes held purple circles under his eyes, I caressed his cheek. Then kissed it, to show my thanks. He nodded, and then gave me a hug. "Thank you… I owe you one." He smiled sadly and nodded, but then he picked up Jordyn in one swift movement.
"Go back to camp; I have to find him myself." This was the one thing I had to do for myself. He nodded, and shot back towards the direction of the beach. As I walked through the forest, my heart raced and I felt that everything I had been through was going to come to me. My reminiscence was turning onto me, becoming the only thing I was aware of, I felt myself let go and my feet were moving without my own doing.
I dropped off in a clearing; my breathing was hard and labored. I breathed in and out…in and out…in and out…but then something hit me on the back of the head. I screamed out in pain, and fell to the ground my back hurting badly. I looked to see Reyna standing over me; a golden sword perched tightly in her hand, her eyes crazed. Her hair scattered around her shoulders, she laughed highly. "I've waited for this moment for a very long time. You took everything from me…my boyfriend, my home, my god-father, my pride, and my friends! You think you're so great just because you're a god, well you'll have the same fate as Faunus, I will tell your story… "Yes she was a great person; she just didn't know her limits." Just think of me, me a demigod bringing down a powerful goddess to her knees in my mercy. You know, I wish I could savor this moment forever, but no ones here to protect you now. Say good-bye to the world, you will never see it again." I looked her straight in the eyes, I would never surrender, even at death…I never would. It meant for me to give up my life, and I would never do that. Here I was, the great Penelope Rondervin, a goddess, a friend, a love, a human, a demigod, a sister, and a million other people, brought down to the hands of her mercy.
She looked taken back by my reaction, but her sword went for my stomach, but just as it was about to cut through my flesh. A golden ball of light pushed me with lightening speed and her sword without realizing it slid into the flesh of another person. I looked and saw who it was, my heart gripped me with panic, fear, desperation, anger, and then sadness. "NO!" My hands shook as I touched him, he smiled at me, but I looked away, I turned to Reyna my mind going crazy, I held back a sob and then ran at her. "YOU!" I ran at her my hands went to my sword, as I pulled it at her, I looked Reyna into the eyes. "I can't kill you…" I growled, my anger boiling inside of me, I hated her beyond imagine and I couldn't kill her! I wanted so badly to destroy the perfect face, to slice her open. But I couldn't… I wasn't like that. But then as my anger grew the ground started to shake, my scream that I let out echoed across the camp. I cried out to the trees, to the flowers, to anything my mind could touch. I made contact and a whole army at my whim came and arose, my old tree warriors which I had created once before, rose and went after her. The flowers dancing into beautiful assassins, taking after her, she screamed as the beauty of destruction I had unleashed went after her. I turned to the bloody boy, I had so loved.
Tears filled my eyes as he smiled so weakly at me. I pulled the sword out of him, and he cried. I tried to heal him, but it was no use…I couldn't save him. He looked at me, his own eyes watering. "I don't have much time left, but there is something you should know…" He gasped out, "My father came to see me one night…and he told…me that I would know the girl I wanted in the world…was the one…I would give my life for. I told him, I would never give my life for anyone…but I realized…you truly are the only and best…thing that's ever happened to me… I want you…I want… I want you to know that I love you more then anything." He said his breath shallow now and his eyes fluttering. I placed his head on my lap and cradled his head in my arms. He smiled at me,
"If I could take back, that day…that day…that day on the boat where I broke up with you… I would…because Penelope…you were the only thing…the only thing…the only thing that kept me going for six-hundred-eighteen years. Knowing…someday…ssssomeday I would…would…find you… Thank you, I love you, Penelope…" He trailed off his eyes turning to me. I let out a sob, my heart beating in fear.
"Phoenix…don't leave me…I love you too much! Don't leave me! Phoenix! Phoenix!" I cried, his eyes were still on me when he died in my arms. I cried, as a black open hole was forming in my chest, I felt that I could breathe. I coughed, and clutched him, till the sky darkened and lightened again. I sobbed, as I let my tears crawl onto his lifeless body. My anger was no longer present… No feeling in the world was…for the only thing I was aware of was that, Phoenix was gone, and the last time he kissed me, I had pushed him away. I had let him go… Now my world had turned grey and bitter. Nothing but an overturned upside down place, that was wrecked remains of a great goddess, who had once stood proud in life. She now stood in the remains of a broken body of a boy she had loved.
"Penelope! My dear God, Penelope!" I turned and saw Jason, looking at me. I was barely aware of him approaching me. Then as he tried to take Phoenix's body away, I cried out,
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" I held him closer to me, my tears coming afresh and streaming down my face. He coaxed me into letting go, he then took me gently into his arms and helped me up, I didn't know where I was, but I knew I was in a dark place. Something had happened to me. I wasn't a person anymore, I was dead. My spirit was dead, I was dead inside, my heart was dead, and the bodies around me were all dead. I felt myself being cradled, then kissed and hugged. But none of it mattered, I didn't mind if I was hungry or tired…all that mattered was that Phoenix's death was my fault. Because I was only starting to realize it could have been avoided… If it weren't for my stupid self pride and dignity, I would have fought Reyna, I could have killed her. But I had let my guard down to quickly and knew she had wanted it…
I woke up in a bed, not knowing where I was. I walked out and saw myself back at Camp Half Blood. I stood on the balcony of the Big House. The strawberry fields stretched as far as I could see, for a minute I felt as I had just woken from a horrible dream, I was still a demigod. No goddess, but I looked on my arm and the words Phoenix had translated, which felt like forever go were engraved still in my arm. I walked down the stairs, as I entered the open archery field; demigods eyed me with simple interest. As I looked around I saw shouts of happiness echo from all directions, but I couldn't hear it. For my ears heard nothing but the sound of a solitary silence. I found a flash of red hair and Ignia, stood before me she was speaking to me. Words floated into my mind like, 'we were let into this camp, Arion and I are together.' I nodded as she shared her empathy with me about Phoenix. She left, no one wanted to talk to me… No one wanted to talk to a broken dead spirit. I had no one, no one left in the world. My brother, Jake ran to me. He hugged me, and I hugged him back. I cried into his shirt, and he listened to my sobbing, never leaving. When I was done, he said Zeus had wanted me back at Olympus. I left him there, and wandered off into the clearing in the woods where Sky had first met me.
I lay down and listened to the empty wood, where the birds sang sounds of happiness. My head rested on the soft feathery grass, I looked into the burning sun, and my eyes had blue lights, from the sun, which danced across them. I blinked and the blue shadows disappeared, my ears picked up a sound of soft clicking hooves. I turned and saw Chiron. He stood there and watched me. He smiled gently, but sadness leaked in his eyes. "You grieve over the loss of a love, do you not?" I nodded, he trotted next to me and his horse legs bent to lay. He looked a little awkward sitting that way and he snapped his fingers and his magical wheelchair appeared. He settled himself in, and then turned to me. "You know…I once loved a girl too. Would you like to hear the story?"
"Chiron, I don't want to hear a story where it shows how much you understand, how close you are to me… I just…" My throat became very tight, "I just can't help but, wonder why…" I swallowed, "Why he did that… He said he loved me, but I… Tell me the story…" I whispered. Chiron patted the small of my back, and then he started off,
"When I was young, a young girl…lets call her Melody, quite the conceited type, but she changed and I fell in love with her. She made me do crazy things, I forgot who I had to be…and I felt that I could just be myself with her. Everything about her, I loved. She made me laugh, make me smile when I was sad, and best of all had a soft spot for horses." He smiled at the memory, "But you know, she had something I wanted… Something that I couldn't have, mobility about the world, she said she had to leave since her feelings for another man were fierce. I swore to her, that if she ever came back I would never love her again, but she came back and I loved her. But one night, in the midst of our meadow where we usually would lay, she heard a noise. As an arrow flew toward my heart, she leapt in front of me, and took it for herself. My anger towards this person was inflamed with the burning ambition to kill them, but I resisted it. For as I knew this person had killed the girl I loved, something else burned inside me. The love I felt for Melody, she wouldn't have wanted me to kill them. As you knew Phoenix, loved you very much and you question why had you not killed Reyna? Well you felt the love of him inside of you; you knew though that you couldn't kill her… But don't let an old man tell you the things you want to hear, it "sucks", as you kids say. I know, but Penelope… Never in my five hundred years of doing this, have I ever seen someone as strong as you. Not just a demigod strong, but a mentality strong. The way, you sing and show your expression, the strength in everything you do… Is something that Zeus has given you because, that is who you are. No one can take that away from you, you understand me?" I smiled through my thick happy tears, and nodded. He hugged me gently, and then took me by the shoulders. "You're beautiful in your own way; don't think that since Phoenix is gone, you'll never feel love again. Because for awhile it will seem that way, but the world will keep moving, and so will you. You are a great goddess, Penelope; you would have made your father proud. But like I say to the demigods, when you find something whole and good, grasp it, grasp it like there is no tomorrow. Because that will carry with you the rest of your life, and that's exactly what you did.
You're really hurting right now, but it will end. Time doesn't heal the heart, but it will make it a bit better. Phoenix wanted you to live, did he not?" I nodded,
"He gave his life to me…" I choked out,
"Then that is what you will do, tomorrow I want you out of this camp, sulking. I want you back up to Olympus, I want you to rule alongside with your mother, and I want you to make the world something that we have never seen before. Something that humans, will know that a force of nature so great is amongst them, you make the whole world know, that Penelope Rondervin is an amazing goddess. You make them never forget who they are, or who you are. I want you to remember something when you leave though, it is not the people we meet who make us important, but more likely the impact we leave… Do you understand me?" I nodded once more, this time my head held a little higher, and my eyes not so teary eyed. The whole in my chest not so big, the sun a little brighter, "You think you can do that for me? Because the second I met you, I knew you were special. I knew you weren't some oddball, but you were one of the demigods I wanted to see grow. You grew into something from a stunning bud, into this courageous, beautiful, smart, bright, young flower." He smiled at me, his brown eyes twinkling.
"Chiron… I-I want to say thank you… For everything… For coming to my rescue back at Camp Grey Stone, for letting me grow into a goddess, without your help I never could have done it." He smiled,
"It's my job." I smiled, and together we went back to camp. I met up with Percy and Annabeth, we spent the whole afternoon together. Percy reminiscing on things he remembered, Annabeth all the while crooning excitedly as he remembered past adventures, and tests he took. Even Nancy Bobofeit, a girl from Yhatzee Academy. As the sky grew dark, I joined the half-bloods around the camp fire and sang songs. Ignoring the feeling that was silently going away in my chest, the feeling of being locked in the horrible cage of grey and grief.
As I headed into the temple where I had first found out my prophecy, and life, in which Rodney and Juniper had shown me. I found myself laughing; I wasn't at all who they thought I would be. One thought though was in my mind from the book, she will one day bring happiness and prosperity to the world. I had done that…check.
I awoke the next morning to a brief start, Rodney shaking me. The end of summer was drawing near, I got up, changed, and headed to the dinning pavilion, I ate quickly and then walked out with Percy and Annabeth, Pearl lagging behind but caught up. Carlina soon found our group and so did Nico and Nyx, I was surrounded by all my friends. Hugging everyone last one of them, as I rounded my last hug to Percy. He and I laughed, for we both had tears in our eyes.
"This isn't good-bye, it's just for now…" I whispered, my voice quavering. He smiled sadly, and nodded. "I know…" He whispered back. I waved one last time to them, as they went back to their cabins to pack. Jason waved to me; he was the one who found me in my devastated state. But now, I had grown. I turned back and went to the top of the hill, as I looked down I thought of how much my life had changed in one year. I can still remember the feeling of fear that had gripped me when I fought the Karpa. But now, I had conquered that, in fact I had killed a goddess, TWO actually. I had made the best friends; I had found who I was. I remember back a year ago when I had first entered my junior year that the one thing I wanted to find out was, who was I? And I had… I looked to the sky, a quake of thunder erupted and rain down poured.
"I know…I know… I'm coming." I looked back down at Camp Half Blood. It had been my home for a brief while, but while I had been here on this Earth, it had made me into something finer then the gods themselves. It had made me…me. I turned and closed my eyes, I pictured Athena's olive tree and I landed in Zeus's throne room. My mother came to me crying, she hugged me and I noticed, Jake was here too, I saw Apollo in the corner he smiled at me sadly. But as we gazed at each other I caught a glimpse of a boy I had loved, but then it was gone. For a fact, my life on Earth as a human had ended. My life as a god just started… Wherever life may take you, whatever it may take away from you, whatever you may gain, you will grow and you learn. Life goes on, new roads open and you will take chances, break your heart. But in the end, you'll have known that, because you did in fact, do something the gods have never done… Lived.
The End