²Olden Crown, heroes of olympus

024.

               Elisa pursed her lips, tears burning her throat. "I remember the good things about her."

               "Do you?" Drew looked at her closely, her eyes rimmed red. "Do you, Elisa? You never talk about her anymore. You don't even talk about Beckendorf."

               "... Because it's hard to talk about them," admitted Elisa. "Because I miss them."

               "But not talking about them makes me feel like I'm going to forget them," Drew protested. "I can't forget Silena—all the good and the bad." She took a shuddered breath. "Whenever I think of Silena, I think of her—" Her voice broke, but that didn't stop Drew. "I think of her dying moments. How I didn't get to say goodbye. How she was the spy for Luke. How she betrayed us all."

               "That's not how you should remember her," Elisa said weakly.

               "You don't think I've tried that?!" countered Drew, voice ringing around the pink cabin. "You don't think I've tried to forget what she did? You don't think I've tried to focus on the good memories, Elisa? I have! But now—all I can think about is the fact that Silena was the spy."

               She took a shuddered breath, wiping her tears. "Every moment," she said. "Every memory I have of Silena is tainted by what she did."

               Elisa didn't know what to say. It was the same for her. That's why it was so hard to talk about Silena, she couldn't forget the girl's betrayal either. Even if Silena thought she was doing good—or was manipulated into believing it—Elisa couldn't just forget.

               And again, months later, months after the battles were supposed to have ended, the only thing Elisa could do was hug Drew as she sobbed.

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Piper gave Elisa a cautious look outside the Big House. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

               "Told you I'd talk to you later," said Elisa.

               The daughter of Aphrodite frowned. "You're not seriously gonna play peacemaker for Drew, are you?"

               "I'm not playing peacemaker," disagreed Elisa, shaking her head. "I'm definitely not a peacemaker."

               "But for Drew, you would be." Piper crossed her arms. "You saw the way she spoke to me, why are you defending her?"

               "'Cause Drew's been through a lot," said Elisa. "And having a new child of Aphrodite arrive probably stirred up all those ... emotions."

               Piper's eyebrows pinched. "What do you mean?"

               Elisa sat down hard at the pinochle table. Slowly, Piper sat opposite of her. The daughter of Dionysus took a deep breath. "Have you heard anything about Silena?"

               For a moment, Piper only picked at her nails. Then she said, "... Very little. I know she was a daughter of Aphrodite, like me. Why?"

               "She was Cabin Ten's counselor before Drew," explained Elisa. "Everyone loved her. Um ... she was dating Beckendorf—"

               "I've heard of him!" said Piper, snapping her fingers. "He was a son of Hephaestus, like Leo."

               "Yeah," said Elisa. "Yeah ... Beckendorf died this summer. He and Percy went on a mission for the war to stop Kronos. Only Percy made it back. Silena was ... devastated. But none of us had time to really grieve for Beckendorf." She swallowed. "Right after Percy got back, there was a war council. We had to decide how to act from the information Percy got—that there was a spy among Camp Half-Blood. A spy for Kronos."