ᵖᵉʳᶜʸ ⁻ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᵃ ʳᵒᵗᵗᵉⁿ ᵈᵃʸ
˚ ✦ . . ˚ . . ✦ ˚ . ★⋆.
PERCY THOUGHT HE HAD REACHED HIS TWENTY-FOUR HOUR LIMIT of miserableness that day; Annabeth had disappeared and no one was taking it seriously, he was back to eating alone again, Menodora seemed to have gone right back to her leave-me-be attitude, and now Thalia and Chiron had teamed up with Mr. D against Percy. Except for Annabeth dying, or camp Half-Blood under attack, Percy couldn't imagine things getting worse.
Then Murphy's law burst into his dreams and gave him a big, fat middlefinger, as if to say, suck on that, Jackson, because that's exactly what's going to happening!
In his dream, Annabeth had been climbing up a hillside, navigating through old, broken columns and black marble. When she reached the top, Percy could see exactly what she was; Luke Castellan in excruciating pain. Good, Percy thought.
He was crumpled on the rocky ground, trying to rise. A black fog of darkness encircled him, making it hard for Percy to see him properly. His face was full of cuts, the sweat that drenched his face seeping into the cuts.
Luke called out her name, begging for Annabeth to help him.
She ran forward.
Percy had tried to scream, warn her that he was a traitor, but his voice didn't work.
They started talking, Luke trying to convince Annabeth to help him out. Just when Percy thought that she'd leave him to die, the ceiling of darkness above Luke started to crumble. Black rocks fell, and Luke yelled in pain.
Just as a crack appeared in the ceiling, Annabeth ran over to Luke. The whole ceiling dropped onto her hands. She had managed to hold it somehow, tons upon tons of rocks. She shouldn't have been able to do that (although Percy was infinitely thankful she could).
Like the slimy rat he was, Luke rolled free, thanking Annabeth for her help. He still seemed pretty shaken, but Percy wanted to strangle him nonetheless.
"Help me hold it!" Annabeth screamed, the pain breaking through her voice.
And like the slimy rat he was, Luke left Annabeth to die.
Just before Percy woke up, the ceiling crumbled again, pushing Annabeth further into the ground.
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
When Percy had walked out of his cabin, he was met with a disturbing sight: Thalia was talking with Menodora a few feet away from the Hermes cabin. As she spoke, Thalia had this smile on her face that Percy was unfamiliar with. It wasn't the sarcastic smile that she flashed at Percy most of the time, or the genuine smile that graced her face when she was Annabeth. This was new, foreign, and Percy didn't trust it.
As yesterday's meeting replayed in Percy's head, he got furious with Thalia. Keep an eye on her, Chiron had said. Not, go ahead and manipulate her into a friendship.
Percy hadn't realised how hard he had been staring at the pair until Aspen Bukowski's head bopped from the Hermes door, meeting his fiery eyes with her cold ones. She, too, gave Thalia a disapproving look. She then turned back to Percy and frowned, as if to ask what on earth Thalia was doing.
Percy shrugged in return, telepathically telling Aspen that he didn't know.
Aspen rolled her eyes and popped her head back into the Hermes cabin.
For a person who had always managed to find her way to Percy, Menodora didn't acknowledge him in the slightest. Maybe she hadn't seen him, which Percy doubted. Menodora was voluntarily ignoring him.
If Thalia had said anything bad about Percy, or had mentioned the baby pictures Percy's mom had showed her before they got to Westover Hall, Percy was going to make sure to slap her with a fierce wave of water no amount of wind could stop.
"—turned into a pinecone. Those seven years were heavy. Percy!" Thalia said with feign excitement. "You sleep alright? You look... rough."
Percy rolled his eyes before ignoring her comment. What on earth had happened to that super sentimental moment they shared earlier? Was it as fake as her telling Menodora about her thrilling life as a tree?
"What are you two talking about?" Percy asked Menodora rather than Thalia, but naturally Thalia felt the thundering urge to speak out of place.
"I told Menodora that I had her stuff in my cabin, and that I'd give them to her after breakfast. Then we spoke about other stuff," Thalia said, lifting her eyebrows as if to challenge him to tell Menodora about the meeting.
Percy wondered if Menodora could see past Thalia's hypocrisy. Even if she did, she mirrored Thalia's hypocrisy to perfection; she seemed absolutely clueless, encouraging Percy's compulsion to snitch on Thalia.
"I'm going to go back," Menodora said, pointing at the Hermes cabin with her thumb. "Aspen and Ethan are waiting for me."
"Okay," Thalia said. "Before you go, I don't think Percy gave you a proper tour of camp yesterday. I can show you around before capture the flag, it'll make things easier on you."
Guess she kept the Percy slander for when Percy himself showed up.
"Percy did a good job showing me around," Menodora said, smiling at Percy. "But, I'll go with you too, Thalia."
Percy had done an absolutely atrocious job showing Menodora around. He had limited the camp to twelve cabins and his bunk bed while there had been so much more to see. He made a promise to himself to do a proper tour around camp with Menodora when Thalia's hypocrisy would leave some space for Percy.
"See you guys later." Menodora walked back to the Hermes cabin and before she closed the door, she looked over her shoulder, flashing Percy a distinctive, yet genuine smile.
Percy sheepishly smiled back, completely forgetting about Thalia.
"Wipe that smirk off your face, Jackon," Thalia grumbled, not a hint of the smile she wore earlier to be found.
"Or what?" Percy said sharply. "You're going to tell me the only reason we're friends is because Mr. D asked you to spy on me?"
Thalia's frowned so intensely that Percy was afraid Zeus might turn her into a muppet of an angry Bert. Who knows, maybe she'll be guarding Sesame Street from hangry cookie monsters and pessimistic Grouches.
"You always fail to see the bigger picture, Percy. I'm not spying on her, I'm making sure she can be trusted. Learn the difference," Thalia advised before turning on her heels and walking to the Dining Pavilion. For someone who had been turned into a symbol of wisdom for seven years, Thalia could be annoyingly dense sometimes. It was like she was saying that grapes and raisins weren't the same fruit.
Percy took a deep breath, to stop his ADHD from calling up a wave to flood the Zeus cabin. That's what his mother would do whenever Gabe Ugliano was being his usual ugly self (the deep breathing, not the cabin flooding).
He tried again multiple times, but the anger didn't cease. He decided to ease it with a stomach full of food.
During breakfast, Percy confided his dream to Grover, who in return confided the observations he had made while stalking the Hunters to Percy.
"Why would you be camping outside their cabin? You're a stalker with hooves, Grover," Percy had decided. "But... do you know what Zoë dreamt?"
"She speaks really old-fashioned when she's upset, so it was a bit hard to understand. But something about Artemis being in trouble and needing the Hunters. And then she called Argus a boil-brained lout... I think that's a bad thing. And then he called her—"
"I—Hold up, Grover. Artemis? In trouble?" Percy said, trying to understand how the those two went together in one sentence.
Grover nodded stiffly, not wanting to believe it either. "Zoë thinks she might be kidnapped. She wants to leave camp immediately."
It was hard for Percy to imagine; a goddess being kidnapped. It had happened to Persephone, but at least she got to leave for six months. Or four? Either way, Percy doubted Artemis would be granted the same privilege.
Zoë had had her dream a few hours after Percy's, that had to mean something. "I've got to talk to Zoë."
"Can I come?" Grover asked, the mention of Zoë's name washing away all the worry from his face.
"No," Percy said, getting up from table Three.
"Aw, come on..." Grover bleated.
"But before you go, Percy, uhm..." Grover reached into his coat pocket, and revealed a three-folded display, like a traveling brochure. "Remember what you said? About how weird it was the Hunters were there at the same time as us?" Percy nodded as Grover handed him the brochure. "I found this in Annabeth's backpack
"I don't understand," Percy muttered, scanning the brochure. It was about the Hunters of Artemis. The front read, A WISE CHOICE FOR YOUR FUTURE! Inside were pictures of young maidens doing hunter stuff; chasing monsters, shooting bows. There were captions like: HEALTH BENEFITS: IMMORTALITY AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU! and A BOY-FREE TOMORROW!
"I think Annabeth was considering joining them," Grover said.
˗ˏˋ 'ˎ˗
Percy wished he could say he took the news pretty well.
He moped around camp all day, trying not to barehandedly strangle any Hunter that crossed his path. He tried to enjoy the usual camp activities. But everytime there was a dummy he had to kill in either javelin-throwing or archery classes, he saw Annabeth. So instead of aiming for her chest, he accidentally planted his javelin into an Ares kid. You can imagine how Percy got his butt kicked out of the class.
Thalia and Menodora crossed his path multiple times too, which wasn't that big of a surprise to Percy; he was absentmindedly following them around.
After Thalia threathened to fry him with lightning if he kept following them, Percy went over to the pegasus stables to sulk.
Silena Beauregard from the Aphrodite cabin was argueing with a Hunter. When she looked over at Percy, he instantly turned on his heels, deciding not to get involved. He didn't want to get expelled from camp because he attempted to murder a Hunter.
As a last resort, Percy found himself in an empty chariot, watching down on Chiron's target practice on the archery fields. Percy figured the centaur was the best person to talk to, but something held him back. Percy knew Chiron would hold back information in the hopes to defend Percy.
Percy was aware of the constant urge Chiron felt to protect Percy, just like he had done yesterday. Chiron knew what a toll Luke's betrayal had taken on Percy; Chiron was afraid Menodora might turn into a new Luke and hurt Percy all over again.
Percy tried to imagine himself back in the Hermes cabin for the very first time, only the one showing him around being Menodora instead of Luke. She smiled that same smile Luke had done, friendly and welcoming, and the scar that was supposed to be on Luke's face was the tattoo under her eye.
And that memory was as far as Percy allowed himself to imagine Menodora as that traitor. Menodora would never give him shoes that would give him a free trip straight into Tartarus. Nor would she frame him for stealing the Lightning Bolt. Nor would she give him sixty seconds to live.
As much as Percy hated to admit it, he couldn't fully believe it. What if she could do all those things? What if she was like Luke?
No, Percy scolded himself, not everyone's Luke. You can trust others. You can trust Menodora.
But could he? Yes, you can, you fool!
A heated argument between himself and himself broke out, making his head hurt. He groaned, slumping into a sad pile of Percy.
His eyes darted around, hoping to see something to distract himself from his head. Maybe a monster to fight, or a Hunter. Same thing.
His eyes fell on the dusty window of the Big House's attic from which a distinct green light poured out. The Oracle of Delphi was awake. Percy jumped up, hoping that was the Oracle's way of telling Percy to get his butt up there so she could tell him about his quest to save Annabeth.
Percy's blood hummed in his ears as he darted into the house, taking three steps at a time up the stairs.
Percy could already hear her. Even as muffled out her voice was by the many walls, it made him physically shiver. He had only done this once, and he still had nightmares about it.
But... the Oracle only spoke in the presence of someone, and Percy was pretty sure he wasn't in the attic yet. Someone else had secretly gotten to the Oracle before him.
The voice died down, and the sound of metal against metal resonated through the attic.
Percy opened the trap door and entered the attic.
The Oracle of Delphi laid limply on the floor, as if it had been wasting away there for ages. The mummy still wore her tie-dyed hippie dress, dressing her fragile skin and bones. Percy never remembered historical facts very easily, but he was sure that he had been told the Oracle had never moved from her three-legged stool.
Somewhere between the mess of junk and taxidermy, the sound of shaky breaths was heard. For a moment, Percy thought it was the Oracle's spirit. Had it left it's host?
He had stumbled back in fear, falling to the ground.
When he sat up straight, throwing the bent sword off of him, he saw a pair of wide light hazel eyes staring at him—more like through him. They rocked back and forth, tossing anxious looks through the attic, always falling back on the lifeless mummy.
"Menodora?" Percy stammered as he got up. With squinted eyes, he saw her body curled up in a dark corner, rocking herself like a baby. She seemed in complete distress.
Hesitantly, Percy walked over to her, taking a busted shield from the floor in case she tried to stab him. He could never be too sure.
Percy frowned in disgust, gently dropping the shield. He sounded like Chiron had yesterday. Menodora needed to know that she could trust Percy.
The scarce sunlight reflected on the tears that varnished her cheeks. Percy knew how scary the Oracle could be, but not to this point?
Percy kneeled before her and hesitantly placed his hand on her knee. It made her jump, but at least she noticed him.
She started shaking her head profusely, muttering inaudibly under her breath.
"Don't worry, nothing's going to hurt you. You're safe, I'm here," Percy said, not sure what to do. Call Chiron? Thalia? He contemplated it, but he didn't feel comfortable leaving her on her own.
She shook her head again, as if to dismiss Percy's consolations. "She—she showed me—she showed me things, Percy."
"You received a prophecy," Percy muttered, more to himself than to Menodora. Chiron mentioned an unfinished prophecy concerning Menodora. Had Thalia sent her here?
Menodora shook her head again. "No, no, no. She showed me. I saw everything."
"But—that's not how it works." Percy frowned, trying to imagine what on earth happened in the attic. "She speaks. She only speaks."
"I can't do this," Menodora said, frantically rubbing her temples. "I don't want to."
"It's a prophecy, it's inevitable. It will happen," Percy said, knowing what that meant more than anything. If it hadn't been for Hades' Helm of Darkness, his mother would've remained dead, because he couldn't save her from the Minotaur, because he failed to save what mattered most in the end.
Sometimes he still had nightmares about it. And how embarrasing it might sound, he'd run to his mom's bedroom and fall asleep in her arms, making sure he woke up to her breathing and alive.
Menodora's teary eyes met Percy's confused ones. "But... I don't want to go. I don't want you to go. I don't want them to go. I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to."