Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.
Author's Notes: So this is the last of the rewritten chapters, woohoo! We will be getting directly into SoM after this, and new chapters. Readers from the old version, I'm sure you can understand why after the A/N from the first chapter of this version. However, I still have new twists to give to you, so don't hold your breath yet. ;)
As always, hope you enjoy, and until next week,
~TGWSI/Selene Borealis
~The Finding Home Saga~
~Finding Home~
~Chapter 28: I Talk Things Over With Chiron~
I woke up with a drinking straw in my mouth. I was sipping on something which tasted like liquid chocolate chip cookies – specifically, like my mom's chocolate chip cookies. Nectar.
I opened my eyes.
I was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, my torso bandaged up like I had almost been sliced in half. Argus was standing guard in the corner. Katie was sitting next to me, holding my nectar glass and dabbing at my forehead with a damp washcloth, all the while she sobbed big, fat, ugly tears, which was probably the most uncharacteristic thing that I had ever seen her do.
"Oh, Percy," she breathed when she noticed that I was awake. "I – I'm so sorry. Lu – you were turning green and grey when we found you. If it wasn't for Chiron's healing..."
"Now, now," the centaur in question said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit."
He was positioned near the foot of my bed, which was why I hadn't noticed him until now. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair once more, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, drawn, like he had been up all night grading Latin papers back at Yancy Academy once again.
"How are you feeling?" he asked me.
I opened my mouth to answer him, but no sound came out. It was like my body had recognized just how much I didn'twant to tell him how I was feeling, even though my brain was a bit behind and was doing its best to catch up.
I didn't want to tell Chiron that my heart felt like it had been torn in half – just like my side – at how I hadn't been able to save Luke from Kronos, which left me all but certain that he was doing to die once the gods found him. I didn't want to tell him how I was certain of it because I knew as soon as I told him, the gods would go after Luke with a vengeance, and his blood – my boyfriend's blood– would be on my hands.
I didn't want to tell him that the prophecy had been right, after all. I had failed to save what mattered most in the end.
But, after a few minutes of silence, I realized he was not going to press onwards without me answering his question. So, with all of the lying abilities I could muster (which, considering everything I had kept from my mom in the past, was quite a bit), I told him, "I feel like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved."
Chiron nodded thoughtfully. "Apt, considering the dagger that Luke used to stab you had been coated in pit scorpion venom, meaning you were almost in Hades' realm by the time the naiads got you to us. But, enough about that. Please, Percy, if you can, please tell me exactly what happened to you. Any and all information that you can remember could be crucial."
Shakily, I nodded. I didn't want to, but I figured I didn't have much of a choice in this, either.
I couldn't stop the inevitable, I realized with what felt like a knife to my chest. I could only soften the blow.
Between sips of nectar, I told him and Katie the best story that I could come up with on the spot. According to my narrative, I had stopped by the sword-training arena to talk with Luke in order to get some advice about whether or not I should stay at camp for the rest of the year or go back to my mom's. Luke had agreed to talk with me about it, but he'd wanted to have the conversation in the woods, where we could simply hang out and have a few Cokes without anyone else hearing us. Not long after we'd gotten there, he'd proceeded to give me a pseudo-monologue about how I shouldn't stay at camp, because I needed to have experience in the "real world," but I shouldn't stay at my mom's, either. He'd revealed to me he had been working for Kronos all along, that he had been the one to steal Zeus' master lightning bolt and Hades' helm of darkness. He'd given me the option to either join Kronos like him, or to die, and I had chosen death because I had secretly become Demeter's champion not long after my quest. It had been her way of protecting me, in case Zeus decided at the last minute he wanted to kill me after all.
As I spoke, telling these half-lies and empty truths, I realized I had an ulterior motive. Although I wanted to soften the blow for Luke, I also didn't want to protect him all that much anymore, not really. He had stabbed me. He had tried to killme, even if he had all but said he'd believed he'd been doing it for my own good.
My trust in him – my trust in myself – had been broken.
After I finished telling my tale, the room was quiet for a long time.
"I can't believe that Luke would do that," Katie eventually said. Tears continued to stream down her face, even as she hastily wiped at them with a tissue from a box on my nightstand. "I know that he wasn't the same after his quest, but to do that to us, to do that to you..."
Her voice faltered.
"This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured, after she had finished speaking. "I will go at once. There is simply no time to waste."
"But what about Luke?" I asked. "He's still out there. We should find him. And what about the prophecy?"
Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy, we cannot go after Luke," he spoke gently. "It's too dangerous. The gods – "
"The gods won't even talk about Kronos," I interjected. "Zeus declared the matter closed!"
"Percy, I know that this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You are not ready."
I didn't like it. I longed to get out of this bed and chase down Luke, whether it was to drag his ass back to camp before he did something stupid myself or hurt him just as bad as he hurt me. But, I also knew that Chiron was right. As I tried to sit up, my vision tunneled and my side pulsated with pain. Immediately, I laid back down with a grimace. "Ow."
...Yeah, I definitely wasn't going to be going anywhere anytime soon, even with ambrosia and nectar.
"Quite," Chiron agreed. "As for the prophecy, am I correct in assuming that you viewed Luke as your mentor at this camp, that you trusted him more than you would if he was simply your friend?"
I blinked. He thought I was talking about that prophecy? Not to insult him or anything, but it was obvious enough what that prophecy had been referring it, and now it had been fulfilled. As I'd said, I'd failed to save Luke in the end.
No, the prophecy I was worried about was the other one, the Great One. Lady Styx's words from two months ago were powerful, and at this point, dangerous. It seemed there was only one answer for who the big bad behind it could be, and his name began with a nice, fat 'K.'
But Chiron doesn't know you know that prophecy, a voice from the back of my mind reminded me, whispering. And it might be even more dangerous for you if he did. What if he tells Zeus? What will Zeus do if he knows you know, even with you being Demeter's champion?
"...Uh, yeah," I said tentatively. Then: "You've been ordered to not talk to me about Kronos, haven't you?"
Chiron glanced upwards, something akin to nervousness in his eyes. "Remember, Percy, names have power," he replied softly.
"So that's a 'yes,' then."
"If you choose to look at it that way, yes," he responded with an incline of his head.
"We just can't sit back and do nothing, though!" I protested. I waved my hands for emphasis, no matter how the action made my side twinge even worse than before. "No matter what Zeus says – " here, there was a sickening clap of thunder from above, and both Chiron and Katie looked at me worriedly, although neither of them said anything. It was probably good that they did; all I would've told them was "boo fucking hoo" " – Kronos is out there, and he's only getting stronger!"
"We will not sit back," Chiron promised me. "None of us will, Percy. Too much is at stake to do so. But, at the same time, you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants you to be mad at the gods, because he desperately wants you on his side."
I scowled. "Even though I'm Demeter's champion?"
He gave me a grim smile. "Yes, even though you are her champion. Which, I must say, is surprising to me. Demeter is not one to often employ mortals in her care, and when she does she chooses to make it official long before now. But, that is neither here nor there. Do not give Kronos what he wants, Percy. Once you have healed, train patiently. Your time will come."
"Assuming I live that long," I muttered under my breath.
Chiron looked at me strangely then, as if he suddenly knew I had heard the Great Prophecy, but he said nothing other than: "You'll have to trust me, Percy. The matter of Kronos will be dealt with in due time. But, for ow, you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice in this matter..." he trailed off, giving me the feeling he had a very definition opinion of what he wanted me to do, and was using all of his willpower not to tell me it. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for ninth grade and become a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision."
"Wait," I said. I still had more questions to ask him, even if he couldn't tell me all that much and I wasn't exactly willing to provide truthful answers to the ones he asked me.
But Chiron's expression told me there could be no more discussion, that he had said as much as he could.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," he assured me. "Argus will watch over you."
"And I will, too," Katie said quietly.
He smiled at her. "Yes, Katie will too."
With all that being said, he rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the steps, two at a time.
As soon as the sound of his wheelchair hitting the stairs had stopped, my best friend turned to look at me again, with the most sorrowful expression I had ever seen on her face. "Percy..." she began softly, her voice weak from her crying.
"No," I replied stiffly. "Don't."
"But Percy..."
"Please," I pleaded with her. "Don't. Just...just help me up. I want to go outside."
She shook her head. "Percy, that isn't a good idea. Will said you still need time to recover. It'll probably be months before you can use your powers again, and if you don't rest you'll – "
"I don't care," I bit out, sliding my legs out of the bed.
Katie caught me before I could crumple to the floor, my vision tunneling to the point I almost passed out. A wave of nausea rolled over me.
"I told you," she hissed.
"I'm fine," I insisted.
Shakily, I managed a step forwards, then another and another, all the while I heavily leaned on Katie. Argus followed us outside, but he respectfully kept his distance. Or, at least, as respectfully as he could, with all of his eyes. They each looked as watery as my own felt.
By the time that we reached the porch, my face was beaded with sweat and my stomach had twisted itself into knots. But I managed to make it all of the way to the railing, which was as much of a victory as it was a lucky support for me to lean on while I had a look around camp.
It was dusk, I realized sadly. Twilight. The time of day when darkness descended like Death's cloak upon the earth. The camp looked completely deserted, the cabins dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods, the beach, and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun.
"What are you going to do?" Katie asked me.
"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Did Will really say I wouldn't be able to use my powers for that long?"
She nodded. "At least."
I knew what Chiron probably wanted me to do. Even if I couldn't use my powers, there were other ways I could train while I was here at camp: sword-fighting, maybe archery if I felt masochistic enough again, you name it. And if I stayed at camp like Katie and the di Angelos were this year, he could see to that training. He could train me himself, even.
But...I wasn't so sure that was what I wanted. If I was able to start using my powers within the timeframe Will had specified, I had a feeling I wouldn't get as much training with them as Katie had with hers. But I wanted to harness my abilities as much as I could, if only so I didn't pass out every single time I used them like during our quest. Maybe I could even give the whole "siren abilities" thing a go, just to see if I had them.
Plus, I also missed my mom. I didn't feel comfortable with telling her about my relationship with Luke...or everything else which had happened to me now that Gabe was dead, but I wanted her support. I wanted her to tell me that everything was going to be alright like I was a little kid again, though I knew it really wasn't going to be.
But again, I didn't want to leave Katie when it had originally been my plan to stay behind with her and Luke. I especially didn't want to leave her now, when some of the only people she would have for company were Annabeth, Clarisse, Lee Fletcher, and the Stolls.
When I told her this last part and nothing else from my total musings, however, she merely laughed and shook her head. "I'll be fine, Percy," she said. "Really. This isn't the first year I'll be spending at camp year-round, and it won't be the last one. It's not like I have a Dad to go home to."
"I'm sorry," I said automatically at the mention of her dad, no matter how I had already known he'd died five years ago.
"Don't be." She brushed her arm against mine gently. "It's not your fault. But, what will be your fault is you having a miserable time here because you chose to stay here with me, even though you want to be with your mom. So...go home with her. Go to school. And most of all, have fun. And when you and Silena get back next summer, the three of us will hunt down Luke together. We'll ask for a quest, and if we don't get the approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway so that yu can do whatever you need to extract your anger on him. Capisce?"
"We're Greek, not Italian," I said, managing a lackluster smile. "But, yeah, sure. Agreed."
Katie held out her hand. I shook it.
"I've got to go," she said afterwards, apologetic. "I have to talk with the Stolls about which one of them wants to be...well, which one of them wants to be the new counsellor of Cabin Eleven. But I'll see you later, right? Before your mom comes to pick you up?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Before my comes to pick me up, I'll make sure of it."
I watched her walk down the steps of the Big House and towards the cabins, looking brave, determined, and vulnerable all at once, all simultaneously. Vaguely, I wondered what the Stolls were doing right now, since they were pretty much the only ones in Cabin Eleven. I wondered what they thought about Luke, if his betrayal was even common knowledge yet or a tightlipped secret until I had woken up, as well as what he had done and his allegiance to Kronos.
Knowing them, their thoughts on such matters couldn't be good, even with how happy and mischievous they usually were.
But I didn't dwell on them for long. No. I couldn't. Instead, with the passing of a few minutes, I began to dwell on how truly alone I felt. For the first time since I had arrived at camp, I felt just like I had before I'd found out I was a demigod: lonely, friendless, and ashamed of myself and my worth. I couldn't help but look out at the Long Island Sound with watery eyes, my heart shattering to a million pieces inside my chest, even as it beat pure and strong.
"I'll be back next summer," I said. Although, to who I was talking to as I spoke, I had no clue. "I will. I'll survive until then. And when I come back, I'll find Luke and I'll bring him home, somehow, someway."
It was the only thing I could think about, the only solution to the destruction I had been unable to prevent.
As soon as I finished speaking, a gentle breeze blew by me. And although I would later deduce it as nothing more than a trick of the wind, in that moment I was almost certain I could hear a voice say, "See that you do, Percy Jackson."
Word Count: 3,042
Next Chapter Title: My Best Friend Shops For A Wedding Dress
