Indigo Eyes

Chapter 13

Yeah, Dionysus was biased, but if there was anyone that deserved credit for this when she had no reason to help, no reason to save them all numerous times, it was Cressida.

She met the eyes of each of her friends before mouthing the words, "Thank you," before the applause died down and her father resumed his speech as she was lowered to the ground and curled into her brothers' sides.

They were happy to be home, to say the least.

The rest of summer went by pretty peacefully. Cressida liked getting back to routine, even more so when Percy 'accidentally' put himself on the same rotation as the Dionysus cabin. Her brothers, being the overprotective oafs they were, were apprehensive about the son of Poseidon joining them but he was their little sister's first friend, and they couldn't exactly protest to that. They were better about it when Annabeth convinced her cabin to join them as well, her logical argument more than able to defeat their fear of the daughter of wine.

Similarly, the Apollo cabin, specifically a boy a year younger than her named Will, was actually wanting to treat her now when she was sent to the infirmary.

Yeah, ok, she was a little annoyed that people only started talking to her after she saved them all on a quest, but on the bright side, it was something to rub in their faces.

Pollux was right. She proved them all wrong. She proved what she could do.

But Castor was also right. The world wasn't as bad as she thought. And people could be nicer than she thought.

She'd half expected to be ignored again once they returned to camp but Percy and Annabeth seemed intent on inviting her to do things with them because they wanted her there and not because they pitied her. Much like when they'd asked her to join them when they watched the Fourth of July fireworks display.

That was unfortunately the night that Grover also left on his search for Pan. He'd asked for luck as he left but Cressida had only hugged him and said he wouldn't need it because if there was anyone that could find the lost god, it was him.

The satyr looked as if he was about to cry.

However, it was when August came that their peace seemed to end.

Despite the good times he was having at camp, Percy was still uneasy about the lines of the prophecy only he knew. The one about being betrayed by one who calls you a friend. He figured it must've been Ares, but boy was he wrong.

The last meal had been fun as they were awarded their end-of-summer beads. Cressida probably liked this one best, another reminder of her friend. The bead was pitch black with a shimmering green trident in the centre.

"The choice was unanimous," Luke had announced. "This bead commemorates the first son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!"

The entire cabin, Ares included, broke into cheers as the Athena and Dionysus cabin steered their siblings to the front to share the applause.

It was just a shame that most of them would be leaving for the next year.

Percy had yet to gather the courage to speak to Cressida again about the promise she made to him to explain everything. She was having such a good time and the campers were actually interacting with her and he didn't want to ruin that high with questions that probably had very sad answers.

What was also sad was when the true meaning of that line from the prophecy came to light.

When Luke turned out to be the lightning thief. When he turned out to be the one behind everything, the one working with Kronos whose presence was inside the Tartarus pit.

And when Luke was the one that tried to kill Percy. His first attempt had been with the flying shoes that were cursed to drag Percy and the backpack down to Tartarus, had Percy been wearing the shoes and had Cressida not been there. Luke didn't plan for the fact that they'd actually be able to convince her to join them.

He was also lucky that Cressida's brothers had left after the feast, meaning she was in the woods practising her powers to distract herself from how much she missed them. She was using her vines when she felt the earth split open, the fissure reaching deep into the Underworld. And then the dryads came running towards her.

She followed them through the woods where she came to find Percy laying on the ground, a nasty-looking wound on his hand as his skin began to turn pale.

"Percy? Percy!" she called as she shook him, but she got no response. She grabbed her emergency square of ambrosia that she also kept on her when practising her powers and stuffed it in his mouth. "Guess we gotta do this the hard way," she said to herself as she hoisted Percy's body onto her shoulders the way firefighters did, holding his arm and leg to keep him steady as she began to run.