HIRAETH

Chapter 16

Percy's POV

Caleb stared blankly at the ground, his face emotionless.

Artemis looked up at the sky, at the new stars adorning the it. Annabeth was trying to pick her dad off of her, who was fussing over her in some type of way. I stole at glance at Caleb. His hair was completely white, silvery in the moonlight. Annabeth had told me he had held up the sky all night.

How could he had lived?

Thaila grabbed my arm. I glanced at her and she pulled me over to Caleb.

He didn't give a sign that he noticed us.

"Hey."

He blinked his golden eyes a few times before they focused onto Thaila.

"Why are you here. And how... How are you alive?"

Exactly what I wanted to ask.

His head dropped down, but he didn't say a word.

Thaila sighed. "You can't stay silent forever you know."

"I don't know why I'm alive." he whispered. He glanced at Zoe's dead body. "... It doesn't feel right."

"Don't think that way." Annabeth knelt beside him and grabbed his hand, which made me uncomfortable. "You tried."

He slipped his hand out of hers and ran his fingers through his hair, which kinda reminded me of myself. "My hair's white, isn't it?"

I nodded. He sighed and stared at the pegasi. "You guys should be going to Olympus now."

"What about you?"

"I can't go." he said a little too quickly.

Annabeth paused. "My dad can take you to the hospital."

"No, I'm fine." he stood up with some difficulty. "I'll go back to camp."

"How?" Thaila asked.

"Don't worry about me." his golden eyes turned to me, unreadable as the sea.

"Try not to get killed."

~

"Your dad seems cool."

"I guess so. We've been arguing for so many years."

"Yeah, you said."

"You think I was lying about that?"

"... I didn't say you were lying. It's just... he seems okay. Your stepmom, too. Maybe they've, uh, gotten cooler since you saw them last."

She hesitated. "They're still in San Francisco, Percy. I can't live so far from camp."

I bit my lower lip, wondering if I should say this.

"So what are you going to do now?"

A town passed by in a blur of lights, fast enough to imagine that we were on an airplane.