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The next few days were boring. It looks like I had a slight concussion after all, which meant I wasn't allowed to train or heal. Well, at least that was a good thing. So I spent my free time trying to cheer Percy up. Ever since Tyson became his brother (in theory he always was) the other campers would say a few inappropriate things. Percy always tried to talk his way out of it "He's not my real brother," he would object whenever Tyson wasn't around. "He's more like a half-brother on the monster side of the family. Like ... Like a half-brother across two corners or something." But they weren't buying it.
After dinner, Percy and I went to the beach together, and he got upset about his dad. "I mean, he could have warned me or something. Hey Percy it's your dad, oh by the way your new friend is your brother, oh and he only has one eye" "You know it's not that easy, I'm sure the gods are trying their best" "Why are you so sure, are you talking to your father?" The truth is, Dad has been visiting me in a few dreams since last summer. I learned from Lee and Michael that this is normal and that dad started visiting them when they were my age too. "I think every God takes care of us in their own individual way, even if they don't show it. I mean, through Tyson, no monster has attacked you all year." Percy sighed and lay back on the sand. The sun was beginning to set "How's Annabeth?" he asked me after a while. "She's fine considering the circumstances... she's trying to find a way to heal Thalia's tree." We fell silent again. I hoped Annie would find a solution, Chiron had hinted at something. "Are you taking part in the chariot race?" "I think my brother is going to kill me if I did, you heard how Micheal reacted to the news but..." I thought about how much my big brother had been annoying me the last few days. Daily health checks, constantly setting any of our siblings or his friends to check that I really wasn't exercising. Countless times I find Beckendorf or Travis Stoll looking at me suspiciously when I even took a walk. "But?" asked Percy. "I convinced Kayla to participate with me and that we can scare Michael to death." Percy sat up. "You sound a little too happy to give your brother the heart attack of his life." he laughed. "He is annoying the crap out of me, everywhere I look is someone who is watching me." "Let's make a deal, we only attack each other if it's really necessary " he replied, and I thought a moment, I mean he has Tysoon on his team so maybe that isn't a bad idea. As a answer I threw my arms around his neck. "Let's do it like that." "No problem Sunshine"
On the way back to my cabin, I saw Helena Mourre sitting on a bench. Her short blonde hair looked almost silver in the moonlight, and her brown eyes were fixed on the lake. Her face had color again, and her wounds looked healed. Still, I was interested in why she was fighting. "Hi Helena, are you feeling better." She winced slightly and looked at me in surprise. "Uhh yes, I'm better..." "Good" I replied and sat down next to her. There was a copy of Romeo and Juliet on her lap, but she seemed to have forgotten about the book for a long time. "That was pretty brave... how you defeated the bull," she began, "how did you come up with that?" I had to smile. "You shouldn't take tips from me. That action was a thought that seemed logical at the time, but in hindsight..." I showed her the burn scar on my leg that I had managed to hide from my siblings and the rest of the camp. "It will heal, yes, but it will never really go away. But the question I ask myself is why did you volunteer to guard the boarders?" She sighed and stared back towards the lake. "I think you should know best. From what I hear, it's not often there's a Daughter of Apollo who dislikes healing. Just as you don't want to be associated with your father's clichés, I don't want to be associated with my mother's. " "How do you know..." Yes, it was known that it was not my favorite task, but not even my siblings knew the real reason behind it. "I can feel it," she said meekly, "not only that, sometimes, without wanting to, of course, I hear the voices of the people around me in my head." "You are an empath" Charmspeak was rare among the Aphrodite children, but empaths came around maybe once every few millennia. "Exactly. I don't think anyone knows... And I can't just sit still, I feel like I should be doing more with these powers." I looked at her for a while longer. Oh and how I understand her, she had these powers to prove to her mother that she was worthy of being the right one. "How are you with weapons?" "Not so good, but I can fight with my powers." I looked at her questioningly. "Well, even monsters have feelings and if you make them insecure it's easier for everyone to defeat them." "Okay, tomorrow after breakfast we will meet in the sword arena" With that, I stood up.
