The nightmares never stopped. It was always his mother, trapped in the meaty fist of the Minotaur, looking at him helplessly as she kicked and shouted with all her human might.
His mother, the woman who had raised him and loved him like no other, turning to golden dust...
Dust...
"Whoa!"
He woke up with a gasp and the distinct feeling that he'd been run over by a semitruck. Frantic hands were trying to keep him down as he thrashed wildly on instinct, choking on his own spit, only to start calming down when the unmistakable scent of lavendar started to fill the air.
"There we go," said the same voice from before. He blearily watched in confusion as a hand continued to wave a handful of lavendar bushels in his face, the scent so potent that he already felt drowsy again. "Good Hera, you almost undid all our hard work from the night before. How's your pain level from one to ten? Ten being the worst, of course. Is your vision fuzzy?"
"Um..." Percy said, his mouth dry from what had to be his embarrassing habit of snoring as he turned his head and squinted at the figure next to him.
It was a girl.
Correction, it was a pretty girl, but one he had never met before. Her black hair was pinned neatly back from her face with a flower-shaped brooch, and her eyes were a dark brown that continued to sweep up and down his figure in worry.
There was a certain glow or feeling about her that he couldn't say applied to any of the little beasts other people called girls from his school, and he smacked his lips once, twice, before he said, "who are you?"
"It's Calliopsis," the girl said, her voice sweet but her hands preoccupied as she began to check the various wound dressings he had. He didn't even notice them until then. "Hm. Your heartbeat is kind of high... definitely need more ambrosia."
"Cal - Cal what?" He said in a bewildered voice.
The girl seemed more interested in running a hand down his injuries and mouthing silent words to herself as she lightly frowned, but she still indulged him and said, "Calliopsis. It's a genus of the family Asteraceae. Sorry, I know you've had a rough night, but I need you to sit up a little."
What the heck was Asteracae?
Her hands were rough with calluses but her touch was gentle as she patiently supported his shoulders and let him lean most of her weight into her arms as he struggled to sit up.
He was embarrassed by the lack of strength and was even more defeated when she beamed encouragingly at him and fluffed his pillow happily.
"Good! Will and I were worried that you might have had lingering neurological issues after being tossed around like a rag doll, but luckily your brain is still intact," the girl continued to chirp like she didn't just lay a bomb on him that his brain almost exploded. "Okay, yeah - sit up - there you go - now just let me take care of you, okay?"
There was a particular brand of humiliation that applied to this scenario of a pretty, wide-eyed girl who started to spoon-feed him what tasted like buttered popcorn in pudding form.
Even her name, Calliopsis, was strange, and there was always something green that flickered at the edge of her irises as she looked at him and gently brushed aside any strands of his hair when he lapped pathetically at the spoon presented to him.
"At least you have an appetite," Calliposis said, looking pleased as she set down the now empty bowl and spoon on a bedside table with a clink. "But ambrosia isn't always good on an empty stomach. Is there any fruit you're craving? Maybe apples? Grapes? Oranges?"
He startled at the strange question, but she still looked at him with a smile, and when a strand of her black hair fell across her eyes, he felt himself croak, "erm... oranges?"
She beamed and looked down to her left. She bent down at the waist and then presented to him a handful of fat, ripe oranges, all so perfectly round and unblemished that they looked unreal.
"My mother always did love her fruits," Calliopsis said cheerfully as she got to work peeling them. The scent of bright citrus filled the air, and she didn't seem to mind how some of the juice from the peel stuck to her hands, and she pressed the first peeled slice against his lips. "These are a treat, Percy Jackson."
He didn't even get the chance to ask how she knew his name before he bit into the fruit and flavors danced across his tongue. It was amazing. It tasted sunny and warm, like the orange had spent an entire summer in the fields before being picked and eaten on a hot day, and so sweet that it tasted like honey.
"Wow," Percy said after swallowing hastily and opening his mouth eagerly for another. He felt embarrassed when he realized that she was laughing a little, but there was no way he was going to reject another piece of the amazing fruit. "You said your mother grew this? Are we at her house right now?"
"No, we aren't," Calliopsis said, her bright eyes crinkling at the corners with her smile. "And watch your words, young man! I grew these myself, all for you of course. Ahh. This one looks particularly juicy."
He glanced down at the empty spot on the floor that she had swooped down to and gathered up the perfect oranges. There was no basket or anything else to indicate where they'd been, and he felt rather disturbed as he asked himself if this girl just magically produced fruit from nowhere.
"Where are we?" Percy finally managed to ask after at least twenty minutes of the girl who smelled like lavendar and oranges handfeeding him. He would have snatched the fruit and ate it himself, but he felt like his arms were made of jello.
"Camp Half-Blood," Calliopsis said, looking satisfied with his consumption of all the fruit. She waved her hand and the peels in her lap disappeared, popping away and leaving behind the smells of citrus. He gaped. "Your entrance was the most dramatic one we've seen yet! I almost had a heart attack when I saw you collapse."
His eyes rapidly darted back and forth between the girl's nonchalant face and her lap, where there was no trace of the orange peel.
"Um... what just..." Percy sputtered attractively.
"You need to regain your strength. After all, that was a nasty fight you just went through, and ambrosia and nectar can only do so much," Calliopsis continued to chatter like he hadn't said anything as she adjusted the blanket over his waist. "Of course, Will and I did our best to dress your physical wounds, and you took a lot out of him! I don't think he's had to heal so much in such little time. Oh, sorry, sugar, you look a little sick. Want me to grab a bucket?"
The girl liked to talk a mile a minute and couldn't stand still while she did. She leaned in slightly closer, and her dark hair smelled like sweet tangerines, and he tried not to jump as she placed a hand on his forehead and muttered something about nausea.
"Who are you?" He managed to croak.
She paused.
When she smiled, it was small and sympathetic, and she said, "you'll find out soon enough. I don't know if any of that information's good for you and your state of mind. Maybe we can work up to your question, instead; you ever played twenty questions?"
Sure. He had to go through at least a dozen icebreakers like that every year when he inevitably had to go to another school after being expelled from the previous.
But it was the first time that someone seemed so enthusiastic about it, so he swallowed his sarcasm and muttered, "uh-huh. I know how to play."
She beamed and he watched with a slightly open mouth at the daisies that popped out at her feet. "Amazing! Okay, well, why don't you go first? I have to update your chart and it might take a while."
"Right, sure," Percy said faintly as he watched the pretty, possibly witchy girl take out a clipboard from the base of the cot and started to scribble down on it. "Um... how old are you?"
"Fourteen!" Calliopsis said, scratching out whatever she was writing furiously and not seeming to mind that she was making a mess with the pen. "What about you, tough guy?"
"... Twelve."
"Really?" Calliopsis said, looking surprised as she tapped the pen to her bottom lip and glanced over him again. He squirmed at the gaze, uncomfortable with how her eyes seemed to pierce his skin. "Huh. You're pretty short for your age, aren't you?"
"Hey!"
"It's not a bad thing!" She laughed. "Okay, sorry. It's your turn again."
He wondered if any of this had merit, especially since he was already starting to feel bone tired again, but no one except this girl had been willing to answer any of his questions.
For the sake of his sanity, he needed to make it past this dumb game and humor her enough so she could finally be transparent about everything that happened.
"Did you grow those oranges?"
"I did! I already told you, my mother might have a green thumb, but I totally beat her in fruits. What's your favorite color?"
"Erm. It's blue. Did you grow those oranges recently?"
"Right again! I've been practicing lately so it's not as hard to control anymore. What's your pain level?"
"I... I guess a seven?"
"Is that a question or an answer, sugar?"
"An answer. Sorry."
She smiled at him like she didn't mind how much of an idiot he was as she continued to scribble on his chart. Despite how confident she seemed in her medical treatment for him, it was easy to see her age in the way she swung her feet slightly in the air in the stool beside him.
"How long did it take for you to grow them?" Percy asked.
His suspicions were growing steadily into the BEEP-BEEP WARNING area of his brain as she laughed and spun once in the stool.
"Now you're asking the hard ones! Well, before I answer that, let me ask my own question; how long do you think it took me to grow those oranges?"
Percy glanced back down at the spot on the floor. No dirt, no leaves, no basket. No sign of fruit or something to hold them, and certainly no sign of the orange peels that had disappeared, and he felt dread climb in his stomach as he said, "five seconds."
Calliopsis beamed. "Almost! It was closer to three. I've definitely improved since last summer."
"Calliopsis - "
"Just Calli's fine, sugar."
He hesitated, but at her insistent look, he sighed and said, "fine. Calli..."
"Yes?"
"Your mother..."
Her eyes were twinkling brighter than ever by this point. Sparks of green, pink, purple, and even blue bloomed across her irises, and when he looked closer, he realized with a lurch that they weren't sparks, but the petals and buds of newly formed flowers.
Holy crap.
"Go on, Percy," Calliopsis encouraged, her voice soft but excited as she leaned in and smiled at him. "Don't tell me Chiron was sent for nothing. He spent a long time training you, so the answer's on the tip of your tongue, isn't it?"
"I, uh..."
"Gods dammit, you can't go in there, Annabeth!"
"Get out of my way, Will!"
Percy jumped at the sudden burst of voices outside the door, and he winced as he jostled the bruise on his side.
Calliopsis tutted and gently pushed him back down, seemingly unperturbed by the shouting match occuring outside what had to be a clinic, and she didn't even flinch as the door slammed open and rattled dangerously on its hinges.
"Annabeth!" Groaned a boy who had to be Percy's age with blond curls and bright blue eyes. He seemed on the verge of tearing his hair out as he stormed after the girl who had shoved open the door in the first place. "I told you, you can't be in here until he's cleared for visitors! His BP dropped to eighty over fifty last night and don't even get me started on his heartrate - "
"Who took it? What was stolen?" Burst the girl with anger, ignoring her companion, who threw his hands up and proceeded to make a bunch of gestures that Sally Jackson would not have approved of. "You're the one, aren't you? Answer me!"
Percy felt like his head was going to explode as the girl with blonde princess curls and stormy grey eyes tried to practically climb into his bed and interrogate him. Her pretty face was marred with a fierce scowl and her bright orange t-shirt did nothing to take away from her anger.
He shrank into himself, sputtering uselessly as she continued to shout, and he felt his vision start to swim as all three of them started to talk over one another.
"Violation! Cross-contamination! This is why these rooms have doors, dad dammit!" Will, the boy who seemed two seconds away from ripping Annabeth away from Percy, howled. "I swear to the gods, Annabeth, you infuriating little - "
"Okay, I think we just all need to take a deep breath before Percy passes out again," Calliopsis said, the only calm voice in the chaos. "Annabeth, why don't you - "
"Back off, hippie," Annabeth snapped, but the insult only made Calliopsis roll her eyes and smile again. "He has to be the one. It's the only explanation, and the solstice is only days away - "
"I think I wanna go home," Percy said faintly, and just as he blurted that out, he felt his eyes flutter close and his shoulders jerk a little.
"Crap, crap! Annabeth, off, now! Hold on, let me just - "
The weight of Annabeth was shoved off of his blanket and was replaced by shorter blond curls and an anxious expression. Will grabbed Percy's seizing wrist, waited for two seconds, and said, "his BP's dropping again! Heartrate is going through the roof, shit - he's going into shock!"
"Annabeth, get the crash cart," Calliopsis said somewhere in the distance, her voice now firm and in command as her blurry face hovered over Percy along with Will. "Hang on, sugar. We got you..."
Just as she slipped something over his nose and mouth and Annabeth shouted out the door for the cart, all Percy could think was at least he got to eat those oranges before he died.
As he finally slipped under, the sounds of Will's shouting and Annabeth's panicked scrambling filling his ears, he looked up at Calliopsis, who wasn't smiling any longer.
His eyes closed, his breath letting out a single word as he let himself go.
"Demeter..."