The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the killer headache that attacked my eyes. My eyebrows pulled together as my eyelids fluttered, trying to get rid of the little black spots that made everything look like a Dalmatians coat. The pain stabbed at my temples and the back of my eyes, causing a small groan to slip my lips.
"Acacia!" someone breathed. With gritted teeth, I turned my head on its side and blinked at Annabeth and Percy. The two sat side by side, for once without the thought of arguing. Annabeth's lips were pursed tightly, her eyes wide and shining. Beside her, Percy looked ten shades too pale and his hands were clenching the chair he was sat on, so hard his knuckles were burning white. Behind them, Grover slid off the other bed with a nervous bleat and stood closer, his hooves shuffling on the floor.
"What happened?" My voice came out croaky and irritated, searing my throat like I was coughing up magma. Annabeth winced and Percy gulped. Neither of them looked like they wanted to explain. Brief flashes of a grand throne room on Mount Olympus broke my train of thought, but it aggravated my head too much. They stopped pretty sharpish.
Before anything else could happen, the door opened and four figures entered. I choked loudly, trying to push myself up. Will Solace, the best healer here, hurried forward, scowling down at me and pushing me gently back down. I pursed my lips tightly, blinking the pained tears out of my eyes.
"Um," Zeus scowled slightly, stopping at the end of my bed and flicking his gaze irritably toward Percy. My cousin shuffled a little, but didn't leave my bedside. It was reassuring to know he and Annabeth were there for me. Even Grover, shaking and so pale, it looked like he'd seen a ghost, was standing his ground behind them. Fortunately, Zeus paid him no attention.
"Acacia," Chiron started grimly, wheeling himself to Zeus's side and staring at me with intense eyes, like I was about to disappear. "It's good to see you awake." Behind him, Apollo hung back, his iPod headphones deep in his ears and turned up full blast, his hands in his pockets and his eyebrows pulled together.
"When did she wake up?" Will murmured at Annabeth, pressing his hand to my forehead. I gritted my teeth again to stop myself complaining. Will scowled at me.
"Err... only a few seconds before you came in," Annabeth gulped. He nodded once.
"The point please," Zeus frowned. Will gulped, glancing at him in confusion. Zeus sighed. "Will she live?" Will hesitated again, turning back to me in deep thought. Annabeth let out a small whimper and Percy's jaw locked. Grover bleated.
"I'm fine," I forced myself to croak. Zeus raised an eyebrow. I had to admit, I sounded anything but fine. My father sighed again and snapped his fingers impatiently. Apollo scoffed in the background.
"Could ask nicely," he mumbled sourly, waving Will out of the way and stepping forward. He hesitated for a second too long, then took my hand gently. I shuffled uncomfortably, but his hand started to glow a soft gold colour. It heated my hand, sending an odd tingling sensation up my arm. Apollo's eyes met mine for a moment, before he dropped his gaze and cleared his throat, letting my hand fall to the bed again. "She'll be fine. It'll scar though."
Zeus nodded, not moving for a moment. His eyebrows pulled together ever so slightly. For a while, I didn't know where to look. My father stood at the end of the bed, or the Sun God shuffling nervously on my right? I settled for my toes poking out the end of the sheets.
"Very well," Zeus suddenly said, spinning on his heel and heading out of the room. I bit my lip, trying not to feel annoyed. But when your own Dad doesn't even ask how your feeling, after almost dying, it's incredibly hard not to feel a least a little hurt.
Chiron grimaced at me, like he knew how I felt. "How are you feeling?" he asked me softly, leaning forward slightly. I couldn't help snorting sarcastically, gritting my teeth and slowly pushing myself up. Will and Apollo both made to stop me, but Will pulled back when I scowled at him and Apollo snatched his hands back as Chiron cleared his throat loudly.
"Sore," I answered him, eyebrows pulling together. "My head's pounding, my neck is killing me and it's far too bright in here."
"Ouch, sorry about that," Apollo grimaced, shaking himself slightly. I frowned in confusion for a moment, until I remembered he was the Sun God and may as well radiate light. My cheeks flushed bright red as Apollo slipped to the back of the room again.
"Moving on," Chiron sighed, smiling a little. "You gave us quite a scare there you know." Annabeth scoffed weakly, muttering under her breath.
"Never save my life again," Percy scowled down at me.
"Wasn't planning to."
"Cheers!"
"What? You told me not to! Jeez, I was only agreeing." Percy's mouth twitched slightly as I rolled my eyes at him and even Annabeth managed a small chuckle. Chiron smiled wryly at the three of us, but my face straightened and I took a deep breath. "Is anyone going to tell me what happened?" No one would meet my gaze.
"Maybe you should rest first," Will suggested weakly, taking a bottle of nectar from the cupboard and holding it out to me.
I scowled, folding my arms across my chest like a moody child. "Tell me what happened."
"Acacia," Chiron started, shaking his head.
"Then I'll presume the news is terrible, like camp is completely destroyed, get really wound up and make the situation worse," I said stubbornly. They all blinked. "Just tell me what happened. I need to know." Will's gaze fell to the floor and Chiron sighed heavily, but said nothing. Annabeth's eyes were swimming with tears again and Grover bleated anxiously. Percy took a deep breath.
"Well, after Luke disappeared and the empousa got to you, there were a few... err, casualties," he said cautiously. I gulped, raising an eyebrow. His jaw locked. "Grace from the Aphrodite cabin was killed by a hellhound, while Silena got a broken legs trying to protect her. Austin from... Apollo's cabin, err..." He glanced back toward Apollo nervously, but the god had turned his back to us.
Will's eyes narrowed slightly and his fists clenched. "He died," he told me through his teeth. I gulped, shuffling awkwardly.
"A-And Ben from A-Athena's c-cabin," Annabeth stammered, silent tears trailing down her cheeks. Chest tight, I took a rattling breath and tried to calm myself down. But looking from Annabeth to Will, it was almost impossible. One way or another, Luke was going to pay for what he did here. And I'd be on the front line of that fight, without hesitation.
"Lee Fletcher has a broken rib, Clarisse dislocated her shoulder and Beckendorf got a pretty nasty cut down his back," Percy added bleakly. "But they'll be fine. We were just waiting for you..."
"I'm fine," I insisted, lifting a hand to my throat. My fingers shook slightly and I winced as they made contact with a large dressing.
Will gulped, frowning at it. "It's been bleeding like mad," he told me. "It's healing, but really slowly. Should be okay before summer ends." I blinked at that. When summer ends... what would I do? How was I going to explain this to Mary? Did I want to? Maybe...
"You don't have to decide right now," Chiron assured me carefully. I blinked, staring at him like he should know the answers to all of my problems and be able to snap his fingers and make things work. Instead, he smiled wryly. "Rest. You have been through a lot. There is still two weeks of the summer. You have plenty of time."
I didn't think two weeks was plenty of time. And as it turned out, I was right.
My options, as it turned out, were more varied than I thought. Option One; I stay at Camp Half-Blood, where I'd been subjected to constant training and more tests from the Olympians. Option Two; I could return to Mary Cunningham and her daughter Felicity in Scotland, on the understanding that out there, the gods couldn't protect the three of us from Hades or Hera. Option Three; I attended a boarding school full of mortals I'd never met before in New York, where I was close enough to return to camp in an emergency but separated from everyone else.
I immediately refused Option Two. As much as I missed Mary and Felicity, I would not subject them to two angry, psychotic gods. My problem was, the other two didn't sound brilliant either. Staying at camp didn't seem like a good idea after everything that had just happened, but being separated from everyone I knew I cared about.
I didn't ever think there might be an Option Four.
But on the first morning of the second week, I was picking my way through the remains of the cabins under the slightly unnerving observation of Apollo and Mr. D when Percy caught up with me.
He didn't look happy. I couldn't blame him. In front of me was the burnt down remains of Cabin One, which some of the other campers had kindly begun to rebuild. Since Luke had brought an army of monsters through the camp, most if not all of the cabins had been brought to the ground. Right now, all of the campers were grouping together to rebuild. Annabeth was instructing the Athena cabin to organise everything, while Clarisse had separated all the able campers into twelve groups. The one working on Zeus's cabin was made up of Lee Fletcher, Travis Stoll, Silena Beaugard, Charles Beckendorf and Jake Mason. They'd all taken five minutes to talk, but they didn't stop for long. As far as I could see, no one wanted to allow themselves any time to think about what had caused this.
"Hey," Percy's voice came. I glanced sideways at him, careful not to twist my neck the wrong way. He was stood in baggy jeans and a dirty CAMP HALF-BLOOD t-shirt, with a completely shattered expression. "I didn't know they'd let you out of the infirmary."
"Reluctantly," I admitted with a grimace, jerking my head back to the Big House, where Apollo, Mr. D and Chiron were hovering on the porch. "Both Apollo and Will have forbidden me from helping anyone."
His lips twisted. "Still not healed?"
"Almost," I argued. "By the end of the week, the bandage will be taken off, then I should be able to go back to normal. Or at least, as normal as things get."
He hesitated, shifting on the spot as he glanced back at the Poseidon cabin, where Annabeth was snapping irritably at an Aphrodite camper I thought might be called Drew. "Look, err, Argus took me back to my Mum's place a few days ago to visit."
"Is she okay?" I frowned. I knew first hand that a trip to the Underworld didn't usually go well.
But Percy nodded furiously with a strange smile. "Oh yeah, she's great," he assured me, and I almost asked him why he was smirking like that. "Got rid of my stepdad, which is a plus, and she's got enough money to go back to college."
"That's great, Percy," I smiled. "I'm really pleased for her."
"She's worried about you, though," he told me, pulling his eyebrows together slightly.
"Why?" I asked slowly, and he suddenly shifted with a guilty look.
"Well, she was asking how you, Annabeth and Grover were after the attack," he started with a grimace. "And . . . well, I told her about you being in the infirmary, and how you didn't have anywhere to go. She's worried about you being alone."
My chest tightened as he voiced every single one of the worries that had kept me up at night. "I'm not alone, Percy," I frowned. "I'll be fine."
"Well, that's what I was saying," he started, but whatever he was saying, I didn't find out. At that precise moment, Drew started screaming back at Annabeth about how it wouldn't hurt for the cabin to have a feminine touch, and one of the younger campers – a little girl about three years old – began to wail.
My lips tugged. "Looks like she's trying to paint your cabin pink," I said. Percy scoffed darkly, turning on his heel and racing back toward the two arguing girls. Honestly, he was braver than I was. Sighing heavily, I turned and moved toward the crying girl as two of the Aphrodite campers tried desperately to calm her down.
I spent the rest of the day sat by the creek teaching the little girl – who turned out to be a Hermes kid named Mathilda – what little Ancient Greek had could remember from Annabeth's lessons. I was pretty sure she didn't understand most of what I was saying, but the company seemed to calm her down.
Unfortunately, the company grew a little intense when we received a visitor at midday. By this point, Mathilda had relaxed considerably, and she was perched on my lap as I held the book out in front of her. I'd pulled her hair out of her face and wrapped it in a bobble, and she was dressed in a small pair of denim shorts, a red pair of Converse, and a CAMP HALF-BLOOD t-shirt that was a size too big.
"Look!" she suddenly shrieked, wagging a finger to the left. Before I could stop myself, I tensed on the spot, squinting to the left as one of my hands reached for the dagger I'd taken to keeping in a hidden sheath on the back of my waistband.
But it didn't take me long to notice I recognised the person – or rather god – making their way toward us. Mathilda twisted to look up at me as the man stepped into view, his expression torn. "Who's that?" she whispered behind a hand, as though she knew she shouldn't be disrespectful enough not to know him already.
I wasn't entirely sure how to tell her it was her father.
"Acacia," Hermes acknowledged, nodding stiffly. Mathilda stared up at him with wide eyes, and he met her gaze long enough to smile kindly at her. "Hello, Mathilda." She smiled back happily, waving a hand in return. "Keeping busy?" he asked, glancing back at me.
"Annabeth and Drew were arguing in the common area," I replied, surprised I managed to keep my voice even. "She got upset, so I brought her up here."
"Teaching now, are we?" he chuckled with no humour.
"Only basics. I'm not as good as Annabeth."
"I'm sure you're doing fine," he said, settling down on the creek and watching Mathilda turn the pages of the book with no idea of what she was reading or looking at. For a moment, he said nothing, and I resorted to staring at the book awkwardly. But, after a few seconds, he cleared his throat and glanced back up at me. "I hear you're recovering well."
It didn't seem like a question. "Very," I agreed, refraining with great difficulty from reminding him that the speed of my recovery didn't change the fact that Luke had tried to kill us all.
He scanned my expression, clearing his throat a few more times before speaking again. "Acacia, I have no right to ask you to forgive him for this," he started.
"Good," I interrupted before I could stop myself. His eyes widened. "Because I can't. I won't."
Hermes stared at me in shock. I didn't care that I was purposefully being rude to a god. I'd done everything they had asked me to up until this point, but that was one thing I never could.
"Well," he coughed, frowning slightly. "I do not dispute the fact that he must pay the consequences for his actions." I didn't think he wanted to know my opinion of what the consequences should be. "But I have to ask you to help him. To stop this before there is any further bloodshed."
I stared at Mathilda's book for a long time, trying not to show how uncomfortable the thought of helping Luke made me. Hermes didn't rush me for an answer, but I could tell he was getting agitated. I wasn't entirely sure if this was helping my chances of completing my tests, or hindering them.
"I'm not sure he can be helped," I admitted quietly.
"All I'm asking is that you try," he replied.
I looked up at him, gulping hard. "His actions killed three demigods. Countless more are injured, and everyone refuses to say his name." The god stared at me expectantly, and I found myself sighing heavily. "What if I can't?"
He smiled sadly. "If he is unreasonable, then you tried your best. That is all I am asking."
"Is this my test?" I asked.
"No," he replied, shaking his head furiously. "I wouldn't ask that of you."
Mathilda suddenly looked up at me, pointing to a picture of Zeus in the book. "Is that your Daddy?" she asked in a loud voice.
"Yes, honey," I answered carefully. Her little eyes widened, and she giggled, dropping her gaze back to her book. Pursing my lips, I glanced between her and Hermes with a sinking feeling in my chest. "Okay. I'll try."
The god sighed in relief. "Thank you, Acacia Grace. And I believe you're missing dinner." He pointed behind me to the dining pavilion, just as the horn sounded. Grimacing once, I hauled Mathilda into my arms and got to my feet, leaving the god staring out over the creek.
Travis Stoll, another Hermes camper, took Mathilda off me with a grateful smile as I entered, and I ended up spending a long time stood by their table talking with most of them, avoiding the mention of Luke's name like the plague. I didn't feel like admitting I'd promised their father to help Luke if I could. Even the Ares table collared me as I passed them, assuring me time and time again that Cabin One would be restored to its former glory before I was let out of the infirmary.
"Busy day?" Percy asked with a small smile as I slumped with my back to him at Zeus's table.
"Um," I replied wryly. "Not as busy as you, by the looks of it. The Poseidon cabin is really coming on."
"Should be done by this time tomorrow," he agreed. "Would've been finished today, but Annabeth kept pulling me away to break up fights. Apparently, having a child of the Big Three on hand works quite well."
"You should have shouted," I sighed.
"You're resting," he replied sternly. "Will would have had my head. Anyway, I got plenty done. Even managed to help Clarisse and Annabeth finish off the Ares and Athena cabins."
I turned, wide-eyed. "You? Helped Clarisse?"
He grimaced. "Neither of us was thrilled about it, but the quicker we get it all done, the better. The younger kids are freaking out. They don't understand."
My stomach lurched as I remembered my promise to Hermes, but gulping hard, I set my expression and sighed heavily. "I know what you mean. I just spent the entire day trying to figure out how to answer Mathilda's questions without telling her that her big brother's lost his mind. She keeps asking about him, misses him like mad."
Percy frowned. "Give it time. Kids her age are smarter than anyone gives them credit for. She'll learn."
"I really hope so," I admitted. "The last thing we need is him twisting all the others as well." Percy didn't say anything, and I sighed again, turning back to my table just in time to see a figure drop into place opposite me.
No one looked over this time, not like when Annabeth made an unannounced visit. No one stopped talking. In fact, if anything, they spoke louder. No one wanted to see the look of complete horror on Apollo's face as he gawped at me, his hands clutching the edge of the table so tightly, it crumbled under the strain. I stared with wide eyes, feeling every ounce of strength I had left disappear in one breath.
"Tell me you didn't," he almost whispered. My chest was so tight at the sight of him so distressed, I couldn't speak. His face was ten shades paler than usual, and his bright eyes seemed to have lost their shine. "Tell me you didn't."
"D-Didn't what?" I gulped.
His hands shook. "You promised Hermes to help . . . that boy."
Behind me, Percy choked on something and my stomach sank, but by the look on my face, Apollo had already worked out the answer. His shoulder's sagged and his face fell, his eyes still locked on mine.
"Why?" he questioned, his gaze intensifying. "Why help him?"
"I only said I'd try," I insisted quietly with a slight frown, dropping my gaze to my plate. "I don't even think it's possible."
"Then why bother?" he retorted with an angry edge to his voice.
I couldn't look at him, still staring at my empty plate with a sinking feeling and a tight throat. "Because if, on the off chance it works, it could stop anything like this happening again. Because I can't stand the thought of anymore demigods dying, or explaining to the younger kids that one of our own did this. Because no matter what I think, Thalia thought he was worth saving, and I can't bring myself to think she made that sacrifice for nothing."
Apollo groaned quietly, hanging his head and mumbling something I couldn't hear. It took a moment before I could bring myself to look up at him. "I can't let this happen again," I insisted. "I'll try anything to stop it."
He flicked his eyes up to meet mine, hesitating for a moment. "Anything?"
I stared, not entirely sure what I was supposed to say, or even think. A few times, I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again with a painful shifting in my chest. Paling even more, Apollo gulped hard and leant across toward me. Without taking his eyes off mine, he slid something across the table. When he pulled his hand away, I saw my locket shining in the sunset, and my throat closed. "You have this for a reason," he told me under his breath, leaning so close his breath trailed over my skin. "If he hurts you," he continued, his voice dropping dangerously and his eyes flashing in anger. "I'll kill him."
With that, he pushed himself to his feet and stalked out of the pavilion, leaving me shivering and terrified.
I barely realised what I was doing for the rest of dinner. Like everyone else, I filled my plate and took it to the hearth to scrape some in, mumbling a prayer to my father. Percy didn't say anything as I sat back down to eat, still sitting with my back to everyone. I ate my dinner like it was an automatic reflex, despite the fact my stomach was twisting with nausea.
It wasn't until I was walking back to the Big House infirmary that I spoke at all. Most of the campers were heading toward their make-shift rooms in the Big House, with a few slipping off to their cabins in the common area. None of them seemed to be in the mood to talk, probably because everyone knew I'd just upset one of our resident gods.
Percy, on the other hand, raced to catch up to me before I disappeared. "You okay?" he asked carefully.
I scoffed, slipping my locket through my fingers thoughtfully. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to wear it again. "Not really."
"How bad?"
My eyes flicked toward my cousin, already trying to assess the damage I'd caused with Apollo. For what felt like the hundredth time, I found myself thanking whatever gods would listen for a cousin as trustworthy and dependable as Percy Jackson. "Bad," I admitted with a misplaced smile. "Really bad."
He sighed. "I think we just have a knack."
I laughed lightly. "For offending gods? Sure, I can't really argue with that."
"I take it you don't really want to stay here all year, since Apollo's hanging around?" My laughter faded immediately, and though I didn't say it, I knew he'd already worked it out. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about earlier."
"Apollo?" I blinked.
"No," he frowned, shaking his head. "You remember I said my Mum was worried about you being alone?"
I sighed, rolling my eyes in mild irritation. "Vividly."
"Well, my Mum decided you should stay with us."
My feet froze on the spot, and Percy jerked to a halt, trying not to laugh as I stared at him in shock. "Why?" I frowned, a little more abruptly than I'd intended to.
His eyebrows rose. "You have nowhere else to stay, and she thinks you do a better job of keeping me out of trouble than everyone else does."
My jaw dropped. "Percy, the first time I met you, we were attacked by two Kindly Ones. The second time, we both ended up in the infirmary. After that, we were busy trying not to be killed while we hunted down my Dad's Master Bolt. How is that staying out of trouble?"
He shrugged. "Look, she's worried about you. You're one of my best friends. She just thought it was a better solution than sending you to Scotland."
I hesitated. Truthfully, it sounded so much better than my other options. I couldn't go back to Mary and Felicity, it was far too far away. On the other hand, a boarding school sounded like some form of cruel torture, and I couldn't stand the thought of being within a mile of Apollo.
"A daughter of Zeus and a son of Poseidon under one roof?" I winced.
Percy smirked. "What could go wrong?"