𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐑 ∣ 𝗉𝗃𝗈

14

Dinner was fun.

It was a little too chaotic with Percy Jackson and Leo Valdez bickering without a care in the world, but sometimes, chaotic dinner was a perfect way to close the day. Penelope casted a glance around the big table and noticed a certain emo kid at the farthest side from her, eating slowly and quietly. Just as Penelope wanted to look away, a certain thought that never came to her suddenly pulled her to the reality.

Shouldn't Nico still be in the Lotus Hotel?

Penelope widened her eyes at the question. Did the plot change? But then, what would happen next? The girl blinked, trying to get herself together. Deep down, Penelope probably knew that somehow the plot had already been ruined long ago, it was that the girl had just noticed that now.

And to think I'm smart, what the fuck.

Penelope took a deep breath. She could not use the 'knowledge is power' skill now that she knew the plot had changed, but she still had another year and a few months before she turned twelve years old. Before her life turned upside down probably because prophecies and demigod life, but there was still a lot of time to train and she could still train and prepare herself for the worst-case scenario.

"Penelope?" Lucifer muttered, poking her arm, trying to catch his daughter's attention without catching the others' instead.

The said girl shook her head before turning to her father, tilting her head. Lucifer who had noticed the sudden silent of her daughter just mouthed 'Are you okay?' which the girl replied with a nod of her head.

Truth to be told, Penelope was confused big time. Did this mean that maybe her twin and his friends somehow knew their origins already, then? What would happen to Bianca? Did she also have escaped from the hotel somehow?

Penelope did not like the feelings of not knowing anything, and now that she was thrown into a world where she should have known the plot but suddenly the said plot got ruined, she did not know what to do.

Again, her train of thought got cut off when she heard her father asked, "Do any you have siblings?"

Penelope whipped her head so fast it almost felt like it was going to crack. The girl stared at her father, wide eyes. Why would Lucifer ask something like that?

"I used to have a twin sister." Percy, her twin brother, said.

Penelope stiffened as the word 'used to'. It kind of broke her heart as she remembered her not so lovely childhood memories. The dark days where her only light was her grandmother. How bitter she felt regarding her mother's blatant favoritisms. 

Having an urge to know what was the reason behind his words, the girl turned her head to him, asking, "Used to?"

Percy nodded, his emotions were apparent in his face; guilt, anger, and frustration. "She's dead."

"What?!" Penelope, who did not expect such answer, burst out. Of course, she would. The girl was across from him, very much alive and kicking, why would he say that she was dead.

Her eyes narrowed as emotions swirled around in them. However, before anyone could decipher what kind of emotions raging inside her sea-green eyes, the girl gritted her teeth, forcing herself to build her walls up, to forget the pain in the corner of her fragile heart.

Calm down, Pennie.

You have Lucifer and Mark now. You don't need Sally or even Percy.

Your past is in the past, you have your own family now.

Penelope wanted to curse herself as she chanted down the words in her mind to calm herself. Her several years of training to steel her heart were obviously in vain. The girl had always thought that she had forgotten about her past, that she had become strong and cold hearted, but it looked like the small child inside her was really weak after all.