¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

004.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter four

━━ PERCY STOPPED ELISA outside of the silver tent. "What'd you promise Bianca?" he asked her.

               Elisa scowled at him. "Mind your business," she snapped.

               Percy grabbed her arm, stopping her from storming off. "I came here to save you and the di Angelos, this is my business."

               "Well, look where it got you," Elisa spat. "Lost a friend and messed everything up. Did you some good, didn't it?"

               Elisa knew she had taken it too far. Something she was good at. She wished she could've taken the words back, even if the boy had only made the mess worse, he didn't deserve to get his head bitten off by Elisa. ( No matter how much he already did get on Elisa's nerves. ) It was just ...

               Everything had gone to shit in a matter of minutes, but that always seemed to be the case. Dr. Thorn had kidnapped them, that Annabeth girl was taken because she protected them, and then Bianca joined the Hunt. Even if Elisa promised Bianca to protect Nico, and it was what Bianca truly wanted, Elisa wasn't okay with it.

               She never had siblings growing up, and whoever her godly parent was ( because she still had no idea ), might have had other mortal children. Elisa didn't know them, she had never met them. And with the way things were going, she may never. It's been nearly two years, and she was almost there. Then the fucking empousa attacked her again, and suddenly, Elisa was stranded in Bar Harbor, Maine with no ticket back to New York City.

               Elisa had promised herself to never get close to anyone else besides Callum. She told herself she'd probably never see the son of Aphrodite again; it wouldn't matter if she died, he would never know. But she met Grover, Bianca, and Nico, and they fucked up those plans with what seemed to be the greatest of ease. She thought it would be easier to get through life without getting attached to anyone else. It would be easier if they left her or were killed by some monsters, or if she left them or was killed by that empousa out for her blood specifically.

               Elisa was right, it was easier to get through life. It was numbing, she felt no emotions besides fear and anger for two years. It was also lonely, the only person she had on her side for a long time was Callum ... and he was back in New Mexico, halfway across the country.

               She ripped her arm out of Percy's grip, looking for Nico. She ignored the shocked and pained look in his eyes, storming off. She found Nico with Grover; Nico was showing Grover the collection of Mythomagic cards he had made. He was trying to explain the rules to the satyr but Grover seemed to not be getting it.

               "Nico," Elisa said, sitting beside him. "You're confusing Grover."

               "Then help me explain!" Nico insisted. "You and Bianca are the only ones who can play with me."

               She looked at Grover from over Nico's head. Grover didn't seem to understand what she was trying to tell him: Bianca joined the Hunt, Nico's my responsibility now.

               Nico was shuffling through the cards, trying to decide which one to show the satyr next. Grover shook his head and shrugged as Nico decided, excitedly pulling out a holographic card.

               "Look at this one, Grover!" Nico said, a wide grin on his face. "It's an Apollo card! I don't use it very often, but it's a really popular card."