The Faded Angel

Chapter 25, blonde hair

    

            "Hope," Percy sighed out. I looked at him and bit my bottom lip, giving him a sheepish smile. I knew he didn't want me to do anything excessive, but I wanted to help him.

"Please," Percy gave out another sigh, before looking at me, with changing expressions as he pondered over his thoughts. Wondering if he should let me train the children.

I wanted to sneak into his thoughts and listen to them, but I held back on that decision, after all. He had the right to his privacy and I had to respect that. 

"You're going to do it even if I say no, aren't you?" He asked.

"Bingo," I said. Percy chuckled softly, and pulled me closer to his side, draping his arm over my shoulder.

"Alright, train the kids, but Hestia will help you," I smiled brightly and nodded in agreement with his terms.

After that, the rest of the day seemed to go by uneventfully.  The kids were decently easy to help, and with Hestia helping. There wasn't much struggle.
The only thing that was bothering me was the little girl with golden blond air.

I had a watchful eye on the girl. She looked oddly familiar to me, but I couldn't place my finger over the thought of where I could have seen this poor child.

"Hope," I turned around to see Hestia walking over to me. I then glanced behind her to see the children picking up and putting away their weapons.

The training was over, and I hadn't noticed. A sigh of relief passed through my lips as I rubbed my belly. It had gone silent, as people began to swiftly make their away out of the training grounds.

Despite the large number of people that had been training there, the place was empty in a matter of minutes.  I glanced around, only to see a few new faces coming and start to clean the place up for the next set of people.

Whispers filled the air as I glanced at the people here. I watched as they gathered into a small group and greeted each other, their glances and looks of concern and fear were enough to let me know, but one stood out among them all. I knew him well. He looked towards me, with an expression of bewilderment, and it slowly turned a look of excitement. 

I bit my lip and turned around trying to pretend as if hadn't seen him. I felt my heart speeding, as I silently prayed that he wouldn't come after me, but of course, my enhanced hearing caught the heavy footfalls, hurridly coming in my direction.

"Hope!" His deep and rough voice called out, stopping me dead in my tracks. It would be impossible to say I hadn't heard him calling out to me.

I took a deep breath, before turning around to face him with a large fake smile plastered on my lips.

"Hey, Max..." My voice faded out, as I looked at the broom he was holding in his hand. A large nervous smile spread across his lips, as he nervously glanced at me.

"Sorry, I got excited to see you again Hope. I've missed you," 

I looked at him and gave a small chuckle as he nervously gripped the broomstick so tight his knuckles began to turn white from the pressure.

"Where have you been?" Max asked falling silent after his question, still keeping a firm gaze on me.  I gave a small frown and glanced around. The other workers had begun to do their work and were minding their own business.

"The same as everyone else, helping out best to my abilities," It was half the truth. I didn't want to go into a long explanation to my old childhood friend, so I awkwardly smiled and glanced behind him, where one of his co-workers was waving at him to return to work.