Turning Tides | P. Jackson Books 1-5

Camp

"Did you lie to me?" Ayden asked. Her voice wavered slightly. She trusted them, it was naive of her. She was childish and now it had put her in a horrible position. "Did they all lie?"

"Oh god, don't cry," Achlys shook her head. Ayden's eyes burned, but she didn't want to cry. Not in front of Achlys.

"I won't and I don't want to talk-."

"Why did you call me?" Thalassa walked from the water's edge. Ayden felt a pain start in her chest. She pressed her palm to the pain trying to massage it away. "What's wrong?"

"You can handle her, she wants to know what we did to her," Achlys laughed as she disappeared into a mist. Ayden stared at Thalassa.

"What's going to happen?"

"Nothing is going to happen. Who told you-."

"What's going to happen? Is it to me, or my friends? Am I a danger to them?" Ayden's face broke for a moment as she took a deep breath. "What is the price I have to pay for this?" Thalassa looked at the ground. That was enough to tell Ayden she'd trusted the wrong people.

"We don't know for sure," Thalassa reasoned. "You are the first that took the markings."

"The first, what does that-." Ayden realized. "The people you wanted me to find, are they like me?" Thalassa nodded. "More conduits, right?" Ayden looked at the pebbles at her feet.

"They wouldn't take the marking since they didn't know what the price would be for sharing such a power, but Ayden you have to understand that we would do anything to protect you." Thalassa stepped forward as Ayden stepped back. She didn't know how many more lies she could take before she broke.

"What is the consequence?"

"It could be many things, with your age, and your powers-."

"Thalassa!" Ayden clenched her hands. "Don't lie to me."

"You aren't a god so it could take time off your life, it could doom you for eternity, you could be killed by the use of all the magic, you could lose control, people around you could get hurt, it could be anything Ayden," Thalassa stepped forward. "That's why we've been training you. That's why we've been taking care of you. We won't let anything happen to you, I promise." Ayden shook her head. She was betrayed, again. "Ayden, understand."

"I could hurt my friends." She felt so stupid.

"We don't know for-."

"But there's a chance," Ayden pressed her hand to her chest as a tear slid down her cheek. "All I want to do is save them and I can't do that if I'm going to hurt them."

"You have control, you know you have control." Thalassa assured her. Her eyes were listening as well as she watched the girl in front of her fall apart.

"Are you using me, is that why you protect me cause I'm the guinea pig?" Ayden asked. She tried to not let it hurt as much as it did. She thought these people truly cared for her, but to them, she was just an experiment. "It was all fake."

"No," Thalassa shook her head. "No Ayden, it wasn't fake-."

"Then why didn't you tell me before." Thalassa gave her a sad smile.

"You needed help, you needed support and power. You need protection and guidance you wouldn't have let us give that to you if you knew the truth," Thalassa reached out, but Ayden pushed her hands away. A tear of blood fell from her eye.

"You're just protecting your experiment," Ayden shook her head. She laughed a little as she wiped the tear away. It left a smear of blood on her face. "I get it. I get it now."