"I laughed at your jokes."
"Knowing that you held a dagger for my heart."
Ahalya Roy
The Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around one side of a bonfire. One of the girls blew a silver dog whistle, and a dozen white wolves appeared out of the woods. They began circling the camp like guard dogs.
The Hunters walked among them and fed them treats, completely unafraid, but Ahalya decided she would stick close to the tents (even though she liked dogs quite a lot). Falcons watched them from the trees, their eyes flashing in the firelight, and she got the feeling they were on guard duty, too. Even the weather seemed to bend to the goddess's will. The air was still cold, but the wind died down and the snow stopped falling, so it was almost pleasant sitting by the fire.
Ahalya watched Thalia pacing in the snow at the edge of the camp, walking among the wolves without fear. She stopped and looked back at Westover Hall, which was now completely dark, looming on the hillside beyond the woods. Ahalya wondered what she was thinking.
Ahalya wanted to go to and talk to her but something in her heart stopped her step towards Thalia. She was quite in a dilemma truly.
And coming to the part where she was listening to what her heart felt was also really crazy because that thing was quite an idiot, so she took a deep breath, said some affirmations, and decided to go in Thalia's general direction when one of the Hunters brought her very essential backpack back, from her dorm room, though how they'd snuck into Westover Hall unseen, she didn't know.
Ahalya swore she would have continued if the interruption had not come. It was not her fault that she had lost all her nerves. It was unlike for her to be nervous but then again even Ahalya had to be regarded for her emotions.
Also noticing the surroundings, she saw that even, Grover and Nico came back from their walk, and the former looked like he was gonna help Percy and Ahalya herself was kind of in dire need of some physical help too. So, Ahalya again moved against where Thalia was and went towards the group.
"Hey guys do you have something to help me, my hand is cut and is hurting like a bitch" she started and thought that this must have been the most awkward scene to ever be in, but Grover just moved to offer her some ambrosia cut in squares, which did immensely relieved Ahalya.
"It's green!" Nico said with delight, and she looked to see what he shouted at— and the scene that was playing in front of her, was a where the sweet satyr was helping an injured Percy.
"Hold still," Grover told him. "Here, eat some ambrosia while I clean that out."
He winced as he dressed the wound, but anyone could see that the ambrosia square helped. Between that and the magic salve Grover used, his shoulder would be good as new within a couple of minutes.
Nico rummaged through his own bag, which the Hunters had apparently packed for him, Nico laid out a bunch of figurines in the snow—little battle replicas of Greek gods and heroes. She recognized Zeus with a lightning bolt, Ares with a spear, and Apollo with his sun chariot.
Ahalya never really paid attention, but right now even at the look of the sun god made her stomach plummet, as if her mind was warning her against something very unbecoming.
Her body burned like a fire was licking her soul all alone and her heart was pierced with a thousand poisonous broken glasses.
Ahalya professed that she was to die right here and all, from the mention of a god, how pathetic was that but fortunately, Percy's voice created an anchor for her to come back to reality "Big collection," he said.
Nico grinned. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."
"You've been playing this game a long time?"
"Just this year. Before that..." He knit his eyebrows.
"What?" the son of Poseidon asked.
That was the thing about Nico and Bianca, somehow life for them one year ago was always foggy, like it was lost in a murky pond.
"I forget. That's weird."
He looked unsettled, but it didn't last long. "Hey, can I see that sword you were using?" Percy showed him Riptide and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword just by uncapping it.
"Cool! Does it ever run out of ink?"
"Um, well, I don't actually write with it."
"Are you really the son of Poseidon?"
"Well, yeah."
"Can you surf really well, then?"
Percy looked at Grover, who was trying hard not to laugh.
"Jeez, Nico," he said. "I've never really tried."
He went on asking questions. Did Percy fight a lot with Thalia, since she was a daughter of Zeus? If Annabeth's mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't Annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff? (Percy looked like he was struggling with the decision to not to strangle him) Was Annabeth my girlfriend? (At this point, even Ahalya thought that Nico was in harm's way).
Though it was sweet of Percy to even go on with all the questions, Ahalya knew how hard it was to fulfil Nico's innocent curiosity. She held the boy so close to her heart that it was kind of scary even though they had known each other for not long. It was something in the boy that was so special.
At least very special to her.
Ahalya figured that any second Nico was going to ask Percy how many hit points he had, and he'd lose his cool completely, but luckily for everyone at that very minute, Nico thought that he had enough of these answers and ran off somewhere deep in the camp.
And therefore, there it came again, the awkwardness had settled in like an uninvited guest. Truth to be told Ahalya was actually quite bad at starting conversations (a problem right now) and taking social cues on time (she was probably missing one right now). God, this was getting embarrassing, maybe she should get up from here an... "How do you know?" came the voice of Percy Jackson who was sitting just on the opposite side and was kinda staring at her very intensely.
Ahalya was startled by the sudden voice but acted as if it did not affect her "What do I know?"
"Oh you know, how you are so aware of everything about this world"
Ahalya considered his question for a second. What was she supposed to answer to that? Could she reveal what her mother spoke in her ears or look him in the eye and say every lie she had meticulously constructed for so many years?
She settled for just an answer.
"Because my mother quite visits me frequently," Ahalya said as if that was supposed to answer every doubt Percy Jackson held against her.
But the boy was not satisfied and urged her on to explain, and maybe he was persuasive and manipulative, or perhaps he was just a kind boy but something about Percy made her want to spill her heartstrings to him.
Like she could speak about her most heinous crimes, and he would look at her as if she was as normal as an innocent child.
All that Ahalya had hidden from this world was up to her tongue's tip and here at this very second, she thought, really put her mind to it, and formed words in her mind about why would Percy Jackson use a name that was not known to him like hers for his own selfish devices?
There was nothing she could give to him.
Yet.
And so, from that point onward, Ahalya spoke what she wanted to and told them her half-heart truths, all the things that seemed she could reveal. Because at the very end even she was just a girl begging to be heard in the raging world.
Ahalya told Percy and Grover about her mother (who she was importantly), how she came when she could, her stepmother, and most importantly her father. She loved him, with all her heart and more and so she spoke chapters about him to Percy and Grover, both of them heard her intently. Heard her truly. She was not used to that.
But somewhere in the middle of her story, Percy asked something, he thought was too crucial to miss "How were you never attacked by monsters and how do you know to fight?"
Two questions she saw a mile away, scratch it she saw it coming light years away.
Ahalya took a deep breath because oh boy was that a muddle to explain but the questions had already risen and she would not lie in this "Percy I am a child of a minor god, of course, I am attacked way else than the children of Olympians but that doesn't mean I am not".
"And for the defending part, my mother has always impressed on me to learn how to defend myself because at the end of the day— even kids like us are attacked, and what are we supposed to do, when creatures eventually come for us, we are not guarded as well as the kids of the Olympians, so in order to not die, I was trained."
The explanation must have left a heavy effect because Percy looked like he had nothing to say and all he did was look at Grover to know if whatever Ahalya just said was indeed a truth.
A horrible truth at it.
The satyr was distraught in his own mind, but then again all he did was nod at the son of Poseidon, to confirm everything Ahalya had said because how could he even just disagree with something that was so blatantly true?
"Ahalya, I never knew that. Why doesn't anybody do anything about it?" Percy turned back to ask and Ahalya felt a laugh escaping her, not a bitter one but the one that a person fashions themselves with when a toddler asks a stupid question "Because Percy people like us aren't important, when gods can't even handle their own children".
It wasn't a vicious comment, but Percy knew it carried the truth of innumerable children, that remained unseen to all.
And Ahalya was just a part of it. She was trying very hard to not be, but it was this very despair that led to Kronos having much support from many unclaimed, unknown children.
She was stuck in her own head (it was very pretty in any case just like her) but was no less than the word surprised when Percy suddenly grabbed her hand, looked her in the eye, and spoke "When everything goes all okay, I will make sure that kids of minor gods do not need to survive so cruelly".
He said it like he would maintain it. Like he truly meant it and for the first time Ahalya understood why the titans were hesitating in understanding this boy.
Percy Jackson was truly a good soul.
"I think it is not so easy to break the chains of habit, Percy, they are gods of ancient stor..." her words were cut off by a sharp voice, carrying the strength of a thousand arrows "Percy Jackson and Ahalya Roy."
Ahalya turned to look at the source of the voice and saw that the person had dark brown eyes and a slightly upturned nose. With her silver circlet and her proud expression, she looked so much like royalty that it made Percy immediately say "Yes, ma'am."
She studied Percy distastefully like he was a bag of dirty laundry she'd been sent to fetch.
Ahalya couldn't blame Zoë for looking at Percy like that cause, well everyone knew, how boys were the root of every problem, most times at least.
Not all men but always men as they have said.
"Come with me," she said. "Lady Artemis wishes to speak with thee two."
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