𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐: 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐆𝐎
"I love you so...please let me go."
ERIS IGNORED WILLOW'S EYES DRILLING INTO HER AS SHE HELD THE PHONE UP TO HER EAR IN THE BIG HOUSE.
Phones weren't allowed at camp but Chiron always kept one just in case.
"Missing?" Eris groaned. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Eris paced back and forth. "How can he be missing? I've only been gone for a day. Did something happen to make him run away?"
"No, honey," Lena said quickly. "I promise. Nothing happened at all. He just went up to his room after dinner to play a game and when I came to check on him he was gone. I didn't call the police because I thought maybe it was some demigod stuff but—"
Eris looked up at the ceiling. Why me?
"Shadow travel," Eris muttered bitterly. "Oh, he is so grounded."
"Trust me, he is," Katherine added.
"I...I'll handle it," Eris replied tiredly. "He's probably off in Italy again. You know how he feels about American food. Says it's a disgrace and all that jazz."
"Baby, are you sure?" Lena asked. "We're happy to help. You don't have to do this alone."
Eris shrugged, "I usually figure stuff out myself anyway. I'll be fine. Give me like..." she scrunched up her face in concentration, "a week. Then we'll be home. Sorry, I have to be away longer than I thought."
"Oh, honey, no you're fine," Lena said softly, "Actually when you get home there's something we have to talk to you and Nico about. Katherine and I were thinking about—"
Someone cleared their throat and Eris remembered Willow was waiting for her.
She chewed on her lip, "I-I have to go. But I'll call you back as soon as I can. I love you guys."
They told her they loved her back and Eris hung up.
Eris looked up, "So...you're getting married?"
"I am," Willow sucked in a deep breath, "and I'm like really fucking happy about it, Eris." Her eyes got a little watery and she looked down at her finger where a transplant diamond ring lay.
For some reason Eris's eyes felt misty, "I'm happy for you," she said honestly. "I just...it doesn't explain anything."
Eris turned to her and Willow avoided her gaze. "I mean you left," Eris murmured, "You just stopped coming around. Is it because of Luke because—"
"It's not because of Luke. It's because I'm getting married," Willow told her. "I...I wanted you to get used to not having me around all the time y'know..."
"What does that have to do with—" Eris frowned, "Willow, I can always just visit you. I don't think getting married means I have to cut you out of my life—"
"You can't visit me, Eris," Willow cut her off quietly. "And I won't be able to visit you anymore I..." she fiddled with the shiny ring on her ring finger.
"What are you— Willow, don't be ridiculous—"
Willow sat down on the couch and patted the space next to her. "Come here."
Eris frowned but did as told.
Willow sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over her face. "I don't know how to say this...I...I love you, Eris," she said. "More than anything okay? You have to know that before I say—"
"Willow..."
"I talked to Hades," Willow said finally, "I think he's taken a liking to me because of you. Pretty cool guy once you get to know him. Aubree and I never thought about getting married because what's the point? I mean, we're just gonna be ghosts forever. Same routine every day and no kids or growing old together. I mean sure we could choose rebirth but it's tricky, we'll have no memories and no way of finding or remembering each other or falling in love with each other again."
Willow scoffed bitterly, "There's no purpose of living if I can't have Aubree in my life. And I'm getting older, y'know. And then I talked to him about it...it just happens to come up and he said...he offered..." she stumbled over her words.
"I don't understand..."
"He offered to give me and Aubree the option of rebirth after we got married. We won't have our memories and we'll have to start life all over again as new people and in bodies but he can guarantee that we will find each other again and fall in love just as people with a different face than our original ones."
"And if you do rebirth—"
"I won't remember you or anyone else and you won't know where I ended up because I'll be a newborn baby somewhere with a different life...yeah. And Eris, you've grown so much. I'm so proud of you, I'm always proud of you. And you're strong, strong enough to not need your annoying older sister following you around all of the time—"
"W-Willow, y-you're m-my big sister," Eris stuttered for the first time in years like she was a twelve-year-old going on her first quest. "I'll always need you."
Willow smiled slightly before looking down, " So that's why I haven't been around as much because you need to get used to me not being there for you all the time because I said..."
Eris swallowed. Her hands felt sweat and her stomach turned. Please don't say it. Please don't leave. Please don't say what I think you're going to say.
"You said..."
She looked Eris in the eyes, "I said yes."
"So you're just gonna leave," Eris muttered bitterly. She wiped tears away from her eyes. "And I'll just never see you again?! You'll be some stranger?!"
Willow reached her hand out but Eris flinched away. Willow's eyes met her and for the first time, Eris could see how tired Willow looked. Like she had been awake for years without rest.
"I've been taking care of you my whole life, Eris," Willow said weakly, "it's time that I take care of myself now."
Eris sniffed and shook her head. "Yeah...uh..." she started towards the door. "I'm tired and stressed so I'm just gonna...yeah. You have a nice life with Aubree or whatever."
Willow stood, "Eris—"
Eris slammed the door shut behind her.
...
THE DOOR TO THE ART CABIN OPENED.
Eris gritted her teeth, "Busy," she said shortly without looking away from her painting. Her fingers moved quickly with the paintbrush on her hand.
"Doll," Jeremiah's voice came from behind her. She could hear his footsteps approaching, "Everything okay?"
"Everything's fine."
"Really?" Cause you're not wearing your prosthetic."
Eris sighed deeply and put her paintbrush down. She leaned against her metal cane, her fake foot gone and thrown into a random corner. "It started to hurt."
"Damn and here I thought we were past the lying stage in our relationship," Jeremiah told her. He helped lead her over to her bed.
She rolled her eyes, "Shut up," she muttered, her face warm.
He put her leg on top of her lap. "Phantom pains?" He asked quietly and she nodded. He sighed worriedly, "You have to tell me this stuff, Lewis." He carefully but with well-practiced ease started to massage her stump as the physical therapist recommended.
She hissed, "D-Didn't want to—be a bother."
"I want to take care of you," Jeremiah rolled his eyes, "You're never bothering me."
"It hurts too bad," she told him breathlessly, "it aches." She didn't know if she was talking about her phantom pain or Willow leaving. She leaned forward, "Kiss please?"
He leaned in and pecked her on the lips before pulling away.
"Did something bring this on?" He asked, "It's only this bad when you're upset."
She looked away, "No."
"Lewis."
She met his eyes and squeezed her knee. Sometimes it baffled Eris how gentle Jeremiah was around her compared to everyone else. How soft he really was.
She slumped back against the headboard, "It's Willow," she licked her lips, "She...she came to visit me..."
"Willow?"Jeremiah murmured, "But she hasn't visited in—"
"I know," Eris cut him off quietly.
She told him what happened.
"I don't want her to do this," Eris' voice cracked, "I hate that she's doing this but I feel so selfish she gave him everything to raise me and now I feel like I've just been holding her back the entire time. And now I feel like I'm a bad sister because I know I should want her to be happy but...why does she have to never see me again to be happy?! Huh? I mean..." she sniffed. Jeremiah gathered her into his arms. "What kind of bullshit is that?!"
"Oh, Eris," he murmured. He pecked her forehead and held her tight.
"I'm just tired," she sobbed, "I'm tired and it hurts."
"Where does it hurt?"
"It hurts everywhere! I feel like—like I'm about to die!"
The paintings in the room started to rattle and some dropped to the floor. Bottles of paint crashed to the ground and leaked out paint at high rates. The bed started to vibrate.
Jeremiah looked around before grabbing Eris's hand and placing it over his heart. His hand glowed a faint red color, "Eris—"
"—it hurts!"
He used his other hand to push her head up to look at him."Just focus on me."
"B-B-But—" she stuttered, tears leaking out of her eyes at uncontrollable rates. "I-I-It h-hurts s-so bad. M-My heart—
"There's no one else in the world," Jeremiah continued. He held her hand tighter and pressed her forehead against his.
"Everyone leaves!"
"It's just me and I'll never leave you, Eris."
"Y-You can't promise me that," she sniffed. She took deep breaths.
"I can and I will. I just did."
"Jeremiah—"
"I love you, Eris."
She looked him in the eyes and he clutched her tighter. "I love you too," she said softly like a prayer. The room stopped shaking.
He leaned forward and kissed her again. This time softly and she could taste his strawberry chapstick. Time slowed down and she could finally feel his heartbeat under her hands. It was strong and kept a good tempo like a song.
"Eris," he said it again. This time firmer. "I. Love. You. I'm in love with you."
She swallowed and looked at him with stars in her eyes, "I love you too. I mean, I'm in love with you too."
"And regardless of how this war ends or whatever happens. Even if Willow leaves. Everything will be fine. I promise."
"You don't know that—"
He yanked her closer until they were chest to chest, "I do. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine," he repeated in her ear.
She squeezed him close and shut her eyes, "Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine..."
There were a few moments of comfortable silence before Eris pulled away slightly and said, "Can you stay the night please?"
He nodded, "Of course. Anything you want."
"Anything I want," she repeated quietly as Jeremiah tucked her head in under his chin. "Anything I want..."
...
THE NEXT MORNING, PERCY WALKED AROUND WITH ANNABETH TO INSPECT THE CABINS.
Actually, it was Annabeth's turn for inspection. His morning chore was to sort through reports for Chiron. But since they both hated their jobs, they decided to do them together so it wouldn't be so heinous. They couldn't find Eris so they were stuck following each other around.
They started at the Poseidon cabin, which was basically just Percy. He'd made his bunk bed that morning (well, sort of) and straightened the Minotaur horn on the wall, so he gave himself a four out of five.
Annabeth made a face. "You're being generous." She used the end of her pencil to pick up an old pair of running shorts.
He snatched them away. "Hey, give me a break. I don't have Tyson cleaning up after me this summer."
"Three out of five," Annabeth said. He knew better than to argue, so they along.
Percy tried to skim through Chiron's stack of reports as they walked. There were messages from demigods, nature spirits, and satyrs all around the country, writing about the latest monster activity. They were pretty depressing, and my ADHD brain did not like concentrating on depressing stuff.
Little battles were raging everywhere. Camp recruitment was down to zero. Satyrs were having trouble finding new demigods and bringing them to Half-Blood Hill because so many monsters were roaming the country. Thalia, who led the Hunters of Artemis, hadn't been heard from in months, and if Artemis knew what had happened to them, she wasn't sharing information.
They visited the Aphrodite cabin, which of course got a five out of five. The beds were perfectly made. The clothes in everyone's footlockers were color-coordinated. Fresh flowers bloomed on the windowsills. Percy wanted to dock a point because the whole place reeked of designer perfume, but Annabeth ignored him.
"Great job, as usual, Silena," Annabeth said.
Silena nodded listlessly. The wall behind her bed was decorated with pictures of Beckendorf. She sat on her bunk with a box of chocolates on her lap, and Percy remembered that her dad owned a chocolate store in the Village, which was how he'd caught the attention of Aphrodite.
"You want a bonbon?" Silena asked. "My dad sent them. He thought—he thought they might cheer me up."
"Are they any good?" He asked.
She shook her head. "They taste like cardboard."
He didn't have anything against cardboard, so Percy tried one. Annabeth passed. They didn't taste too bad so Percy grabbed a handful for Eris to have later.
They promised to see Silena later and kept going.
As they crossed the commons area, a fight broke out between the Ares and Apollo cabins. Some Apollo campers armed with firebombs flew over the Ares cabin in a chariot pulled by two pegasi. He'd never seen the chariot before, but it looked like a pretty sweet ride.
Soon, the roof of the Ares cabin was burning, and naiads from the canoe lake rushed over to blow water on it. Then the Ares campers called down a curse and all the Apollo kids' arrows turned to rubber. The Apollo kids kept shooting at the Ares kids, but the arrows bounced off. Two archers ran by, chased by an angry Ares kid who was yelling in poetry: "Curse me, eh? I'll make you pay! / I don't want to rhyme all day!"
Annabeth sighed. "Not that again. Last time Apollo cursed a cabin, it took a week for the rhyming couplets to wear off."
He shuddered. "What are they fighting about anyway?" He asked.
Annabeth ignored him while she scribbled on her inspection scroll, giving both cabins a one out of five. Finally, she said, "That flying chariot."
"What?"
"You asked what they were fighting about."
"Oh. Oh, right."
"They captured it in a raid in Philadelphia last week. Some of Luke's demigods were there with that flying chariot. The Apollo cabin seized it during the battle, but the Ares cabin led the raid. So they've been fighting about who gets it ever since."
They ducked as Michael Yew's chariot dive-bombed an Ares camper. The Ares camper tried to stab him and cuss him out in rhyming couplets. He was pretty creative about rhyming those cuss words.
"We're fighting for our lives," Percy said, "and they're bickering about some stupid chariot."
"They'll get over it," Annabeth said. "Clarisse will come to her senses."
Percy gave her a doubtful look but she ignored it.
Percy scanned more reports and they inspected a few more cabins. Demeter got a four. Hephaestus got a three and probably should've gotten lower, but with Beckendorf being gone and all, we cut them some slack. Hermes got a two, which was no surprise. All campers who didn't know their godly parentage were shoved into the Hermes cabin, and since the gods were kind of forgetful, that cabin was always overcrowded.
Finally, they got to Athena's cabin, which was orderly and clean as usual. Books were straightened on the shelves. The armor was polished. Battle maps and blueprints decorated the walls. Only Annabeth's bunk was messy. It was covered in papers, and her silver laptop was still running.
"Vlacas," Annabeth muttered, which was basically calling herself an idiot in Greek.
Her second-in-command, Malcolm, suppressed a smile. "Yeah, um . . . we cleaned everything else. Didn't know if it was safe to move your notes."
That was probably smart. Annabeth had a bronze knife that she reserved just for monsters and people who messed with her stuff.
Malcolm grinned at Percy. "We'll wait outside while you finish the inspection." The Athena campers filed out the door while Annabeth cleaned up her bunk.
It was weird to be alone in the cabin with just Annabeth. Not because he was uncomfortable around her because he wasn't. She was one of his biggest best friends but sometimes the way Annabeth looked at him made him uneasy. She looked at him sometimes like he was everything, everywhere, all at once.
He watched Annabeth straighten up. She closed her laptop, which had been given to her as a gift from the inventor Daedalus last summer.
He cleared his throat. "So . . . get any good info from that thing?"
"Too much," she said. "Daedalus had so many ideas, I could spend fifty years just trying to figure them all out. I've been trying to find stuff about the UnGodly Hour but it's basically a dead end. The only way to learn more about it would be to ask Eris or Jeremiah but..."
"Yeah," Percy muttered. "That would be fun."
She shuffled her papers—mostly drawings of buildings and a bunch of handwritten notes.
"You know . . ." She brushed her hair behind her ear like she did when she was nervous. "This whole thing with Beckendorf and Silena. It kind of makes you think. About . . . what's important. About losing people who are important."
Percy nodded, "Yeah," he said without thinking, "Like Eris."
Annabeth turned so fast that her hair flew in the air like a tornado. "Eris?" She questioned quietly. "Oh well, yeah she's our friend and—"
Percy swallowed, his face felt warm. "Y-Yeah. Y'know cause of the UnGodly Hour and stuff. I just don't want to see her hurt..."
Annabeth looked down, "She's really important to you. Isn't she?"
"She does," he didn't even have to think about it.
"And she's important to Jeremiah too..."
The mention of Jeremiah's name made Percy's chest feel tight. "Yeah. She is," he said a bit snappily.
Annabeth searched his face carefully and whatever she saw made her frown. "Oh..." she muttered bitterly.
Percy shook his head, "Like . . . is everything cool with your family?"
Annabeth looked disappointed, but she nodded. "My dad wanted to take me to Greece this summer," she said wistfully.
"I've always wanted to see—"
"The Parthenon," he remembered.
She managed a smile. "Yeah."
"That's okay. There'll be other summers, right?"
As soon as he said it, he realized it was a boneheaded comment. He was facing the end of his days. Within a week, Olympus might fall. If the Age of the Gods really did end, the world as they knew it would dissolve into chaos. Demigods would be hunted to extinction. There would be no more summers for them.
Annabeth stared at her inspection scroll. "Three out five," she muttered, "for a sloppy head counselor. Come let's to Eris's cabin next."
They walked to the Art Cabin in uneasy silence. Annabeth walked up the steps of the porch. She knocked once. Then twice. "Eris?"
The door opened and Percy's smile disappeared from his face.
Jeremiah stood tiredly in the doorway. His hair was wrapped in a satin durag and he wore a white tank top and blue flannel pajama pants. "She's asleep. She wore herself out," he said tiredly.
Percy's eyes scanned over the bruises on Jeremiah's neck. His fist clenched. Wore herself out?!
Annabeth blinked in surprise, "Oh, Jeremiah. Is Eris okay..." she tried to peek over his shoulder.
Jeremiah eyed them both and Percy stared back. He wasn't close to either of them. They were just Eris's friends but that didn't mean they had to be his friend.
"She had some problems with her foot," Jeremiah said finally.
"Her foot?" Percy stepped up onto the porch. "Is she alright? I can get an Apollo kid up here and—"
"I just said she's fine, Jackson," Jeremiah snapped harshly. "I'm her boyfriend. I took care of it. She's fine now. Some stuff is going on with her sister or whatever."
"Willow? What happened?" Annabeth started.
Jeremiah shrugged, "Ask her yourself. If you want to know something ask her yourself. I'm not breaking her trust in me because you guys are nosey—"
"We're not nosey. We're worried she's our friend—" Percy started to snap.
Jeremiah glared at him, "Really? She's just a friend to you, Jackson?"
They glared into each other's eyes viciously until Annabeth grabbed Percy and pulled him back. "We're here for dorm checks but I'll come back around later. Tell her Beckondorf's shroud burning is tonight. And tell her she owes me a week's worth of whatever architecture designs I want for keeping my mouth shut about this to Chiron, okay? Sleepovers aren't allowed."
Jeremiah spared Percy one more glare, "Yeah. Whatever."
Then he shut the door in their face.
...
JEREMIAH ROLLED HIS EYES AS ERIS FIDDLED WITH HIS TIE.
They stood outside of the burial sight as others already started to set up for the ceremony. Eris stood in front of Jeremiah in a knee-length dress and grey cardigan. She was wearing heels so she was practically matching his height and her hair was in a ponytail.
Jeremiah stood in front of her in a regular black suit and dress shoes.
"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked again.
Eris paused, "I'm...decent."
"Decent?"
"Yep," she focused her eyes back on fixing Jeremiah's tie. "and that's all you're getting out of me. Today isn't for me. It's for Beckendorf. Okay?"
He hummed lightly as he watched as she finally finished tying his tie. "You're good at that," he said nonchalantly, "Good practice for when we're married, huh?"
She accidentally tightened the tie so much he started to choke. "Sorry, sorry," she said quickly, undoing the tie. "It's just...you think about that stuff?" She asked quietly.
He scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Yeah. All the time."
Her throat felt dry, "What...what else do you think about?"
He gave her a knowing smirk, "I think about how good you look when you—"
She smacked his chest, "Not that!" She looked around to make sure no one heard, "You know what I mean..."
He looked away, "I don't know just...normal stuff. Get engaged after you graduate, you'll go to art school and I'll figure out something. Then we'll get married after you graduate and settle down and have a kid or two when we turn thirty. We can move wherever you want. I don't really care as long as I'm with you."
"Kids," Eris breathed out, "You want kids with me."
"I want everything with you."
She pulled him in for a kiss by his tight, ignoring the attention they were drawing. "You're such a sap but..."
"But..."
"If you ask me about Marriage again and the kids in stuff again in about ten years..." she trailed off.
"Hmm?"
She shrugged, "I'll think about saying yes."
He leaned down towards her face, "Yeah?"
She smiled, "Yeah." She kissed him on the nose. She tugged him along. "C'mon."
That afternoon they had an assembly at the campfire to burn Beckendorf's burial shroud and say their goodbyes. Even the Ares and Apollo cabins called a temporary truce to attend.
Beckendorf's shroud was made out of metal links, like chain mail. The metal melted in the fire and turned to golden smoke, which rose into the sky. The campfire flames always reflected the campers' moods, and today they burned black.
While holding Jeremiah's hand, Eris prayed to her father to allow Beckendorf's spirit into Elysium. Maybe he'd even choose to be reborn and try for Elysium in three different lifetimes so he could reach the Isles of the Blest, which was like the Underworld's ultimate party headquarters. If anyone deserved it, Beckendorf did.
Afterwards, Eris caught Percy standing in front of the dying fire. Most of the other campers drifted off to their afternoon activities. She told Jeremiah he'd see him later and walked towards Percy. He gave her a kiss before leaving.
"Hey."
Percy turned around, "Oh, hey."
"You clean up nice," she told him.
He flushed, "Uh, thanks." He ran a hand through the hair he tried to gel down.
She stood beside him, "Are you okay? I know you guys were friends."
He looked up at her surprised. "I'm fine. Guess we'll have to get used to it," he kicked the dirt under his feet. "Since the war is coming and stuff."
Eris looked down. She really hoped he wasn't going to ask her about the UnGodly Hour again.
"Are you okay? Jeremiah said you were going through some stuff when we came by earlier today."
She blinked up at him, "I'm fine. Just some phantom pain with my foot," she gestured to her metal foot that stuck out because of the exposure of her heels. "And..."
She told him what happened with Willow.
"Eris—"
She shook her head, "Not right now," she told him. "I'll cry about it again later. There other stuff going on anyway."
They were cut off by Silena sitting on the other side crying, while Clarisse and her boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez, tried to comfort her.
Percy walked over to her with Eris silently following. "Hey, Silena, I'm really sorry."
Eris cringed.
She sniffled. Clarisse glared at Percy, but she always glared at everyone. Chris would barely look at Percy. He'd been one of Luke's men until Clarisse rescued him from the Labyrinth last summer, and she guessed he still felt guilty about it.
Percy cleared my throat. "Silena, you know Beckendorf carried your picture. He looked at it right before we went into battle. You meant a lot to him. You made the last year the best of his life."
Silena sobbed.
"Good work, Percy," Clarisse muttered.
"No, it's all right," Silena said. "Thank . . . thank you, Percy. I should go."
"You want company?" Clarisse asked.
Silena shook her head and ran off.
"She's stronger than she looks," Clarisse muttered, almost to herself. "She'll survive."
"You could help with that," I suggested. "You could honor Beckendorf's memory by fighting with us."
Clarisse went for her knife, but it wasn't there anymore. She'd thrown it on the Ping-Pong table in the Big House.
"Not my problem," she growled. "My cabin doesn't get the honor, I don't fight."
"All right," Percy told her. "I didn't want to bring this up, but you owe me one. You'd be rotting in a Cyclops's cave in the Sea of Monsters if it wasn't for me."
"Percy," Eris started, "That's not fair."
Clarisse clenched her jaw. "Any other favor, Percy. Not this. The Ares cabin has been dissed too many times. And don't think I don't know what people say about me behind my back."
"So, what—you're just going to let Kronos crush us?" Percy asked.
"If you want my help so bad, tell Apollo to give us the chariot. I don't see you all over Eris about it!"
Percy looked at Eris but she stared back unwaveringly. He shook his head at Clarisse, "You're such a big baby."
She charged Percy, but Chris got between them. "Whoa, guys," he said. "Clarisse, you know, maybe he's got a point."
She sneered at him. "Not you too!" She trudged off with Chris at her heels.
"Hey, wait! I just meant—Clarisse, wait!"
Percy sighed. "Why can't she just listen?"
Eris shrugged, "She's stubborn and no offense but you were kind of a...jerk."
"Me?"
Eris nodded, "I mean yeah. You know how Clarisse is. Maybe you should be talking to the Apollo kids about it instead. Maybe they'll listen but insulting her probably isn't the way to go about it."
"It's not like you any better!"
"Oh, so you're mad at me now?" Eris snapped.
"Yeah! You're the one with the literal power to kill Kranos and you're doing nothing!"
"Do you understand that I could die if I do the UnGodly Hour?" she asked. "The consequences. Even if I do it my life will never be the same. I need to be here to take care of my family, my moms, and Nico. I never asked for this."
"And you think I did," he snapped back, "I don't want this destiny. This shouldn't be my responsibility. And how are you gonna protect your family if there's no world for them to be safe in? The world is gonna end, Eris. The sky is falling!"
"I know!" she screeched. She stopped. "I know...I just...I...I don't wanna die. I'm tired of bad things happening all the time. I mean...when am I finally gonna get a happy ending? Y'know."
His eyes softened. "Eris-"
She sniffed, "And, yeah, I'm being selfish but I think I've been selfless enough times in my life to make up for it. You wanted to be a hero so be a hero. Figure it out. I'm done."
She laughed bitterly, "I'm tired. I've lost everything. I've been beaten, bullied, abused. I lost two sisters, my foot, and hell even my sanity because of this stupid war. I've held the weight of the world on my shoulders literally. I'm done."
"What do you mean you're done?"
She huffed, "I mean when this war is over. I'm done with the quest and destiny and saving lives stuff. I'm focusing on school and college and being normal. This isn't the life I want. I want to-I need to be happy. I know you may not support me but at least don't insult me."
She turned on her heel, "I'll see you later. Alright."
She walked away and ignored the feeling that maybe Percy was right about her.
SORRY FOR THE WAIT!
Please comment it helps me update more often!