MAIN TITLE: The Keeper of Fate
WARNINGS: See first chapter for warnings. Also, this chapter contains two minor characters from The Lost Hero.
NOTES: Thanks to Guest, dreamin'BIG, Queen Alexandera's Birdwing, Apollo06, MeganLeBlanc, Neela4232, angel2u, Disabled Profile, Iiidog5 and starwarschic11 for reviewing this chapter!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the PJO series. Rick Riordan does.
Chapter 12: Mr. D Reads 'How to be an Insensitive Jerk for Dummies'
If there's one thing that'll wake a person up, it's four demigods, a satyr, and a centaur charging into the room where that person is resting. Well, technically speaking, there are only three demigods charging into the Big House. Thalia is riding on Chiron's back, half unconscious. Still, we make a lot of noise when we enter.
So much noise, in fact, that we wake up even Clovis (I used to think the kid could sleep through an explosion; I swear his snores are louder a lion's roar). You see, Clovis is the son of Hypnos, the god of sleep. Unfortunately, since his father is a minor god, Clovis has to stay in the ridiculously crowded Hermes cabin.
Drew, the other person in the infirmary right now, also has to stay in cabin eleven. She arrived at camp only two months after I did. She still hasn't been claimed (it's been three years! Three!), but we're all pretty sure that she's a daughter of Aphrodite, because she has an obsession with fashion and make up and boys–basically anything that has to do with love and beauty.
Both Clovis and Drew were injured in that Draco Aionius attack, and despite Chiron's best efforts, they still haven't fully recovered. Clovis' arms are badly burned, and Drew has a broken leg. I wish her mouth was broken instead, that would get her to shut up. She likes to insult those she deems inferior–which is pretty much everyone. She's even worse than Cheryl, who thinks that the younger girl can charmspeak, which means she can get people to listen to her and obey her even if what she's saying is complete bull.
On a side note, can people break their mouths? And don't bother telling me I'm an idiot; I've known that for years. But seriously, can they? I feel like it's not possible, but at the same time, it seems like it could be. Or maybe I'm phrasing it wrong. ...Yeah, now that I think about it, it would be more appropriate to say that someone's jaw broke. Huh. I'll remember that for next time.
Anyways, when we burst into the infirmary, the two 'children-of-dieties-that-aren't-Hermes-but-they-still-live-in-the-Hermes-cabin' both stir.
"Whuzz going on?" the son of Hypnos yawns sleepily, his mouth opening so wide that I swear I could shove a bowling ball into it–with effort, extreme effort. It seems to take him that much effort just to sit up. Drew follows his lead.
"Yeah, why did you disturb me? Do you know how bad interrupted sleep is for my skin?" the black-haired girl demands, too tired to make her tone sound persuasive.
"No, little miss 'look-at-me-I'm-so-perfect-because-I-can-charmspeak-people-into-following-my-every-idiotic-command', I did not know that, probably because it isn't true." I'm dying to say this out loud to her, because she seems to be under the impression that everything is bad for her skin and I just really want to smack her across the face right now, but given the situation that wouldn't exactly be appropriate.
…Ah, to heck with appropriate. When have I ever followed social norms? Ignoring the little voice in my head that tells me I actually follow them quite often, I voice my thoughts, not editing a single word.
"No, little miss 'look-at-me-I'm-so-perfect-because-I-can-charmspeak-people-into-following-my-every-idiotic-command', I did not know that, probably because it isn't true."
Drew gets an 'I'm-so-offended-how-could-you-say-that-to-me?' look on her face and opens her mouth to respond, but Chiron tells us both to be quiet.
I'm about to argue, but one glance at Annabeth's face makes me zip my mouth shut. Her face is still tearstained, but her expression is numb, her eyes vacant. The shock is settling in, or maybe it was already there. I'm surprised she managed to make it all the way to the Big House without falling apart. I wouldn't blame her if she did; I know that I would freak out if my dead almost-sister suddenly came back to life.
Somehow, though, she keeps it together. I have a feeling that this is more due to Percy's hand on her shoulder than my hand in her own. But that's okay. If Aphrodite's children are right and there is something going on between Percy and Annabeth, I would be very disturbed if my touch had just as strong an effect on the blond girl as Percy's did.
"What's going on?" Clovis repeats, this time sounding a lot more coherent.
"Bla-ha-ha. This isn't the time for questions." Grover's face is uncharacteristically serious. The goat has a sense of humour most of the time, I'll give him that much. The only exceptions are when it comes to people mistreating the Wild, and situations like this one.
"Grover's right," Percy agrees. He squeezes Annabeth's shoulder once and than releases her. Her only noticeable response is to clutch my hand tighter.
Percy turns to Thalia, who is still on Chiron's back, and asks her if she needs help getting down.
"No. I'm fine." She dismounts easily enough, but when her feet touch solid ground she nearly collapses.
Chiron reaches out and steadies her. Percy and Grover lunge forward and both drape one of her arms over their shoulders. They support her weight and help her struggle over to the nearest cot.
Annabeth's fingernails dig into my skin. We're still standing in the doorway; she is frozen in shock, whereas I'm paralyzed by clumsiness–not in the physical sense, though, I've never been a klutz. It's more that I feel like I'm intruding. I have no right to be here; everything I know about Thalia I got secondhand. I've never met her before. She has no idea who Iam, and if I had to guess, I would say that my presence is making her uncomfortable.
I wouldn't have come, but Annabeth made me. After Percy finally broke through everyone's trances, Chiron announced that all the campers had to return to their cabins while he, Grover, Percy, and Annabeth took Thalia to the Big House. This evoked a great deal of protest, but Chiron managed to get the crowd to disperse. I was about to follow my brothers back down the hill, but Annabeth reached out and grabbed my hand. She was clinging to me like I was a lifeline, so I let her drag me along after Chiron and the others.
Now I watch Clovis stare at Thalia with wide eyes. Drew looks like she's about to make a snide remark about Thalia's punk/Goth (or whatever it's called) appearance and the smears of dirt on her clothing and face, but Clovis elbows her in the ribs. He glances from face to face and then throws Drew a 'keep-your-mouth-shut-or-else' look.
Then, before my astonished eyes, he lies back down on his bed and closes his eyes. I can tell that he falls asleep the second his head hits the pillow. Drew pretends to do the same (the going back to sleep part, that is; she would never even pretend to snore, that's too unladylike) but I can tell from her shallow breathing that she's wide awake, ready to listen in on everything that's said.
"Is anybody going to tell me where I am?" Thalia somehow manages to look annoyed and intimidating despite the fact that she's obviously feeling physically weak. Her skin is a sickly white; she looks like she's going to throw up at any moment. But she glares at Jackson, demanding an explanation.
I always knew that she was stubborn–Luke told me so himself, after all–but I never really understood until today just how much.
"Like Percy said, you're safe." Grover tries to soothe her. Then she turns her glare on him and he hastily squeaks, "Uh, I mean, you're at Camp Half-Blood!"
"Camp Half–" she starts to repeat. Then, as she stares at the satyr before her, she seems to come to a realization.
"Grover?" she whispers, and she sounds absolutely stunned. "Grover, is that you?"
She doesn't wait for him to reply. "Oh my gods, it is you!" Suddenly she frowns. "But you look different…are those horns? You don't have horns, I remember that, Luke and I used to tease you about that all the–" She stops short again.
"Luke! Grover, where are Luke and Annabeth? Tell me you got them here safely! Grover, I swear on the River Styx that if you let anything happen to Annabeth I will–"
That's too much for Annabeth. She bursts into tears. I mean, she was crying before, but not like this. She didn't sound as heartbroken before, and she definitely didn't sound as loud. Now, though, the sheer volume of her sobs is enough to turn Thalia's attention from Grover to her.
"Who are–" Thalia begins, but that just makes Annabeth cry even harder.
I don't understand. She recognized Grover. And she definitely remembers who Annabeth is, so why doesn't she recognize her?
Then it hits me. She doesn't realize how much time has passed. It's been almost seven years since she was turned into a tree, but she doesn't know that. Heck, she doesn't even know that she was turned into a tree in the first place. She recognizes Grover, because despite the growth of his horns he hasn't changed that much in physical appearance. I mean, he looks older now, but obviously not enough that Thalia wouldn't recognize him after a while.
But Annabeth is thirteen now, and Thalia is still looking for an adorable little seven year old with innocent, trusting eyes that have never seen death or betrayal or Hell itself.
So Thalia stares at the broken-hearted blond girl, uncomprehending. She stares, and she stares, and she stares, until finally it clicks–
"Annabeth?"
Half an hour later, I'm still standing awkwardly in the doorway of the Big House. Percy is standing beside me, looking just as uncomfortable as I am. We both glance around the room, at the sleeping Drew and Clovis, at Argus (head of security; Mr. D fired him when the tree was poisoned, but he got his job back just like Chiron did) who is standing in the corner, his hundred or so eyes unblinking as he watches the scene before him.
The scene being Thalia and Annabeth sitting beside each other on the bed, both crying their eyes out. Annabeth has her arms around the older girl, who is still trying to process the fact that she was a tree for nearly seven years. If this is her reaction to Annabeth suddenly being a teenager, then I do not want to be around when she finds out that Luke is a traitorous, murderous, thieving son of a–
Anyways, the point is that Jackson and I both feel like we shouldn't be here, so we pretty much stare at everything but Thalia and Annabeth–and each other. If anyone should be suffering through this awkwardness, it's Grover and Chiron, but the satyr went to go get Dionysus (poor guy; Mr. D hates being woken up before ten) and Chiron went to go make an announcement to all the other extremely restless campers.
Thalia's sobs finally start to subside. She wipes the last of her tears from her face and the daughter of Athena does the same.
"So…it's been seven years." Thalia voice still holds disbelief, despite the proof that's sitting right next to her.
Annabeth remains silent, instead choosing to respond with a nod.
"Then…you grew up here?"
"Yes," the blond girl says softly.
"What about–what about Luke? He's here, right? He got here safely, right? Because I know I told him to get you to safety and stay with you. And if he came running back to save me and got himself killed–" Fury seeps into her tone.
"No, no, he didn't get killed, he's alive," Annabeth assures the angry daughter of Zeus.
"Unfortunately," Percy mutters under his breath, but I'm the only one hears him.
"Then…" Thalia frowns. "Where is he?"
"Thalia, you look tired. You should get some rest–" Annabeth sounds almost pleading. I get the feeling that she would rather cut off her own arm then answer Thalia's question.
But if Thalia picks up on her reluctance, she ignores it.
"Annabeth, where is he?"
Annabeth glances at me helplessly. Thalia follows her gaze and her eyes widen, as if she hadn't realized that Jackson and I were here.
"Who the hell are you?" She stares at both of us. Percy told her his name earlier, but I guess being told that seven years have passed without her knowledge made her forget.
"I'm Percy Jackson," the son of Poseidon quickly reintroduces himself. "And that's Argus, head of security."
Thalia doesn't look the least bit disturbed that the creature Percy is pointing to has eyes all over his body. Instead she turns to me, as I'm the only person whose name she doesn't know.
Apparently, Percy doesn't know it either. "And this is, uh…" he glances at me apologetically.
"Dess," is all I say.
"Right," Jackson says. "That's Dess. Dess, Percy, and Argus. And the guy that was in here earlier, the one with four legs? That's Chiron, activities director. He's a–"
Thalia cuts him off. "A centaur. Yeah, I saw that for myself, thanks."
"Right," Percy says again. "And, uh, you haven't met him yet, but the camp director, we call him Mr. D. His real name is–"
"Dionysus, I know." I think Thalia enjoys interrupting the already embarrassed son of Poseidon. "God of wine. Grover told us a long time ago," she quickly adds upon seeing the expression of confusion on Percy's face.
"Oh. Well anyways, you have to be polite when you meet him, because he likes to blast demigods into tiny little pieces. He's a bit, uh, temperamental, I guess you could say." Jackson pulls a face that says that 'temperamental' is not the word he wanted to use.
"Oh, am I, Johnson?" a sarcastic voice drawls.
Percy and I whirl around, shocked, and there's Mr. D. He pushes past us, revealing terrified looking Grover. If Thalia is confused about Mr. D's use of the name 'Johnson', she doesn't show it.
"Hi, sir, nice to meet you." She stands up on shaky legs and offers him her hand, but of course Mr. D doesn't take it. Gods forbid he engages in a handshake with anyone who isn't immortal.
"Well, it's most certainly not nice to meet you. But at least I don't have to explain what this camp is like I did with some people." He throws Jackson a dirty look.
"With all due respect, sir, Chiron did most of the explaining," Percy shoots back.
"Oh, be quiet, Pedro. You're lucky I'm too tired to turn your bones into those water noodle that kids use at the beach," Mr. D snaps.
Thalia ignores them. She turns to Annabeth and asks for the third time, "Where's Luke?"
Annabeth takes a deep breath and prepares to answer, but our oh-so sensitive and tactful camp director beats her to it.
"You mean that Hermes boy? Logan Casanova or whatever his name was? No one knows where he is. He stole Father's master bolt and tried to start a war between the gods, all in the name of my dear grandfather," Mr. D thoughtlessly sneers.
The colour that was slowly returning to Thalia's face once again drains away.
"Luke stole my dad's– What are you talking about? Luke wouldn't– And what do you mean your grandfather? Isn't your grandfather–"
"Kronos, the Titan lord of time." Dionysus calmly stares back at her. "That Logan boy, the traitor, he joined Kronos' cause and stole Zeus' symbol of power."
"No...he–he wouldn't–" Thalia trips over her words.
"Oh yes he would. And he did. In fact," the wine god says slowly, "he's the one who poisoned your tree."
Thalia collapses back onto the bed, her face an unhealthy chalk-white.
"No…"
Percy, Grover and me all glare at Mr. D, but it's Annabeth's expression that makes him say, "Well, there's no point in me being here. Welcome to Hell–I mean camp. Have a…nice day."
He spins on his heel and walks away. Annabeth stares after him, her face so cold that I swear it could freeze lava. She stares until his blond head disappears, and then she turns back to Thalia, her icy expression melting instantly.
"Thalia…I'm so sorry, that's not the way I wanted you to find out," she says anxiously.
And suddenly I know why she wanted me to come with her to the Big House. She wanted someone to distract Thalia so that the black-haired girl wouldn't ask about Luke. She wanted someone to draw Thalia's attention away from Luke's absence, as if the presence of two strangers (Percy and I) could mask it.
Well, it's too late for that now. I meet Annabeth's gaze and she sighs. I take this as permission to leave. Percy follows me out.
Falling into step with me, he asks, "Do you think she'll be okay?"
In the back of my mind, I wonder who he's talking about: Thalia or Annabeth?
I glance upwards. The sky is a cheery blue, not a cloud in sight; nothing remains of last night's storm.
"Yeah. Yeah, she'll be fine." And somehow I really believe it.
"Good." He looks relieved. "I haven't had breakfast, so I'm gonna head over the mess hall…you coming?"
I shake me head.
"All right then. See you around." He gives me an awkward smile that tells me he's already forgotten my name. Whatever.
"Yeah, see you."
He hurries along to the dining pavilion, and I decide to my way to the forges. I need something to lose myself in. I walk in the direction of the Armory, my pace faster then it needs to be.
But as fast as it is, I still hear it when the sobs of two heartbroken girls start up again.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Dess, happy birthday to you!" my brothers, my friends, and Cheryl all sing.
"Blow out the candles, Dess!"
Rolling my eyes at Jake's enthusiasm, I obey. The flames are extinguished and everyone cheers. A knife is shoved into my hand–Cheryl shifts her body so that Gareth will be in the knife's direct path if I try to throw it at her (paranoid, much?)–and I make the first cut in the drool-worthy chocolate cake.
A hand reaches around me, grabs the knife, and makes the second cut. It's a large piece, large enough that it has all four letters of my name (which are written in purple icing) on it. The slice is plopped onto the nearest plastic plate. The hand places it in front of me along with a fork.
As the arm withdraws, I turn.
Luke grins back at me and reaches forward to tug on the string of my party hat. It stings a little when it hits my skin, but I just roll my eyes and turn back to my cake.
I devour two slices of cake in rapid succession, trying to ignore Luke, who is poking me incessantly in the back. Finally I can't take it. I catch his hand and squeeze it hard, hard it enough that surely it must be causing him some pain.
But he just laughs and leans forward, placing a kiss on my neck.
I escape Luke and his endless poking by chatting with Annabeth, making fun of Grover, listening to Clarisse rant about her idiot brothers, and chasing Cheryl around while brandishing a knife. And don't look at me like that, I promise the blade was fake. Really. It wasn't even sharp enough to cut through butter.
After a couple of hours, the party winds down and my brothers push me into a chair. They shove present after present into my hand, and I follow the usual routine; unwrap the thing, exclaim over it for a few seconds, and then thank whoever got it for me profusely.
My brothers run out of gifts to hand me, and Jake, Zeth, and Gareth exchange stunned looks when they realize that I haven't received anything from Luke.
Normally I would be really, really pissed, but the expression on Beckendorf's face makes me suspicious. He has a hand over his mouth like he's trying to hide a smile. Both Beckendorf and Luke have been disappearing for hours at time for the past week or so. I've noticed them hanging out a lot more then they usually do, talking, and whenever I walk up to them they suddenly fall silent or change the subject.
Now, if Beckendorf was a girl and about five years older, I might assume that Luke was cheating on me. But since neither of those things is true, I know better. I'm about to call them out on their suspicious behaviour, but then Luke plunges a hand into his pocket.
As he pulls out a small, square, velvet box, he gets down on one knee right in front of me. Zeth's and Jake's mouths fall open in horror while Gareth's face turns a familiar shade of purple-red.
I just roll my eyes. "Luke, stop being an idiot, I know you're not actually proposing to me."
His features twist into a disappointed expression. He gets up while muttering under his breath that I've ruined his fun.
He presses the velvet box into my hand and I open it. Inside is a beautiful golden bracelet. All seven links gleam in the sunlight; between each is a little charm. Upon closer inspection I realize that each charm is in the shape of some sort of food. There's a burger, a gingerbread house, a taco, a small slice of cake, a plate of spaghetti and…
"A banana split. Like the ones he used to make." He watches me carefully like he's worried that he's completely messed up and I absolutely hate his gift. But I don't. The food thing isn't exactly conventional, but in a weird, twisted sort of way, it's thoughtful. And I do miss his banana splits.
I smile up at Luke and he grins back, relieved. I get up, ignoring Cheryl who is performing the classic face palm while obviously thinking: oh-my-gods-he-made-her-a-bracelet-with-freaking-foods-that-contain-carbs-on-it-that-is-so-not-romantic.
I take a few steps toward Luke and ask him, "Is this what you've been working on for the past week?"
He nods, and after glancing briefly at Beckendorf, I question, "And you've been spending so much time with Beckendorf because he's been helping you? All this time, when you disappeared for hours you were actually in the forges, making this for me?"
"Yup. Why, were you worried that I was sweeping some Apollo girl off her feet?" Luke teases.
I make a face but, after a second's hesitation, answer honestly, "Yeah, maybe."
That wipes the smirk off his face. He stares at me, and then says softly, "Well you didn't need to be. You never need to be worried about that."
My lips tug upward at the corners. "Yeah?"
He reaches forward and pulls me into his arms. "Yeah."
He holds me for a few seconds, and I stand there, enjoying the feeling of being wrapped up in the safety and warmth of his arms. I draw back slightly and he leans down to kiss me, and it's absolute bliss–
"Ew, would you two get a room?" Jake complains loudly.
Luke smiles against my lips, and I pull away, laughing.
"Well, if you really want us to." Luke starts towing me toward the cabins.
Jake turns green. "No, I don't want you to! You can't do stuff like that in the Hephaestus cabin, it's gross!"
Everyone laughs.
A few minutes later, the party finally comes to an end and everyone drifts off to do their own thing after wishing me one last 'happy birthday'. Luke and I end up in the forest, in our usual spot by the creek. We sit on the large rock and for a while neither of us speak. It's not an uncomfortable silence, but eventually I do break it.
"Why did you make me that bracelet?"
He stares at me like I've grown a second head. "Because it's your birthday, you're my girlfriend, and you would kill me if I didn't get you anything."
"It's just that tons of guys just buy some cheap box of chocolates…"
"No, no, that's Valentine's day, babe–I mean Dess!" he adds hastily under the pressure of my glare.
"Drop the joking attitude for a second, will you?"
"Okay," he says. He stares at the creek. "Well, you've seen that knife Annabeth has, right?"
I nod and he continues, "I gave it to her. And I once gave Thalia this button from a Green Day concert, she liked collecting buttons from all sorts of bands…"
"So you felt that because you gave them something, you had to give me something?"
"No, it's not like that." He frowns. "When I gave them those things, I felt like I was making them a promise. I was promising that I would always be there for them, no matter what… But I broke my promise to Thalia. I wasn't there when she need me most. So giving you that bracelet…it was sort of my way of redeeming myself. It was my way of promising you that I'm always going to be there for you…" he trails off, still staring at the water.
"You never failed Thalia. She'd beat you over the head with a wooden club if she ever heard you say otherwise."
His lips twitch upwards and he says, "I know."
He turns his face to me and reaches out a hand, pressing it against my cheek.
"It doesn't really matter if I failed her or not. I guess what I'm really trying to say is…I'll never fail you. You can always count on me," he looks me in the eyes. "Always."
And I believe him.
Author's Note: I know Thalia isn't the type to cry a lot, but she's just had the world ripped out from under her feet, so don't hold the OOCness against me.
Reviews are appreciated, have an awesome day.