ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter seven

━━ "SO, WHAT'S YOUR greatest fear?" Pollux asked Elisa curiously, sitting inside Cabin Twelve. He and Castor were lounging on their beds; Castor was sleeping on the bottom bunk while Pollux slept on the top. Elisa figured that fit them pretty well.

               "Why are you asking?" she asked, brushing her hair down. She had changed into what she normally wore to bed; an oversized shirt she had taken from Callum those years ago and a pair of pajama pants she had taken from a store a year ago.

               "What you're most afraid of can tell a lot 'bout you as a person," said Pollux. "Mines flying. I've always hated heights."

               "Then why is your greatest fear flying and not just heights?" asked Elisa.

               "The thing about heights is you're not in the air, flying you are," said Pollux.

               "What's yours?" asked Elisa, nodding to Castor.

               "Dogs," said Castor, shrugging. "I was attacked by one as a kid."

               Elisa's features twisted into an expression of sympathy. "Geez ... Who's dog was it?"

               "Our neighbors at the time," said Castor. "They didn't leave there very long after that. Mom complained, and I'm not sure if they got kicked out of their home or if they moved out themselves."

               "Castor had this really cool scar on his arm, though," added Pollux, throwing himself onto his back.

               Castor scowled and hit the bottom of Pollux's bed. "How many times do I have to tell you? Stop that! You might break the bed one day!"

               Pollux rolled his eyes, moving to lay on his side that would face Elisa. "What's yours?" he pried.

               Elisa shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "Fire," she said. "Just ... bad memories."

               She hoped the two would pick up on the hints to not pry any further, and luckily, they seemed to get it. Fire wasn't something Elisa was too fond of after what had happened back in Durango; that and empousai. Many nights, when Elisa had managed to finally fall asleep, there was a fire at her feet, licking and snapping at her ankles, wanting to swallow her whole.

               There were times that was all it would be; her fear of the fire is enough to drive her mad, but there were times it seemed the fire wanted to torment her more. The orange flames were turn blood-red, wrenching screams escaping the flames that licked at her skin, causing burns.

               No matter how fair Elisa ran, the flames followed her. Her feet felt as if they were going to melt off, the fire slowly moved from her feet and over her calves, up to her knees and waist. Eventually, the flames reached her chest, and that's when she could hear the panicked yells of her old neighbors' last moments of life. She could hear the taunting laugh of the empousa and Gabrielle Barnett, an empousa who had tricked Elisa into trusting her.

               Worst of all, Elisa could hear the last words Silas had told her; panicked and desperate yells for her to come back, to not run into the flames to try and save Liliana. Even though Elisa had never witnessed her mother's death, it still haunted her. The unknown gave Elisa just enough for her to form her own details of what happened to her mother; a horrific death caused by meeting Dionysus and having Elisa. Silas and Liliana's deaths were completely avoidable, Mr. Ortiz and everyone else who lived in that apartment complex.

               Their deaths haunted her, their death was a painful reminder of her failures, of her mistakes. She didn't know what that empousa was talking about, but there were many days Elisa thought she might have just agreed to save all those people.

               Guilt had been eating away at her soul for two years. It was driving Elisa mad; she wasn't exactly sure when she was first called that, but she sure believed them now. There was no doubt in Elisa's mind that she had snapped. She hadn't been the same since then, Callum would've called it trauma. Maybe he was right—he probably was—but maybe something else was wrong with Elisa.

               She was always plagued by odd things as a kid, and now that she knew she was half-Greek god, it made sense. Odd dreams, never the same dream twice, nothing was the same about them; different people, different landscapes, different moments and times in history. It was like Elisa was reliving a moment in time; a maddening moment in time, and she was living as a person who had been driven to insanity. She was reliving the very moment their sanity snapped.

               Elisa knew all too well what it felt like to lose your mind; it was like a snap, something so quiet it could be replicated by snapping fingers. They always saw the world differently than those who were sane, but none of them saw it the same, even after they lost their mind. Some saw it as a bare land to wreak havoc upon; others saw it as something to preserve, although they went about it in odd ways. Maybe they were preserving it through paintings and other types of art ( Elisa knew that whatever they were creating wasn't what the world actually looked like, of course ). It was like they were seeing the world through some broken glass; use one shard and see it one way; a hellscape. Use another shard and see meadows upon meadows of lush flowers that had rows of teeth that wanted to bite people's skin off.

               She wasn't sure why she had the dreams she had; divine intervention by the Fates to help her along her way to the brink of insanity. If that was true, the Fates were doing a terrific job. When Elisa wasn't plagued by dreams of flames biting at her skin and yelling out to her, she was seeing people live through something so horrific they couldn't take it anymore and their minds snapped. Then, when Elisa wasn't asleep, she was plagued by monsters that wanted to bite her head off.

               The horrible thing about the monsters? They were tangible, and so was Elisa. Meaning they could hurt Elisa, they could actually kill her. Elisa could feel the physical pain of the dreams, sure, but she isn't so sure that she could be murdered in her dreams.

               She wasn't so sure if she wanted to find out, though.

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Sleep never came easy for Elisa anymore. Not since the attack in Durango. It was even worse since it was the two-year mark soon. She stayed up long after Castor and Pollux had fallen asleep. She rubbed at her face, trying to ignore the light snoring Castor was making. No one knew what had happened two years earlier, not even Grover, who was the only one to ever make a comment about Silas. ( And Grover soon figured out he should never mention Silas Flowers around Elisa again, it was a touchy subject he didn't want to touch. )

               Elisa turned on her right side, facing the front door of the cabin. Moonlight poured into the cabin, dancing along the floorboards as dark clouds moved along the sky. She sat up, shuffling along until she reached the door. Elisa wasn't sure what she was doing, but she knew to not go exploring at night. Castor and Pollux had warned about the cleaning harpies; Aello, Celaeno, and Ocypete. The twins had warned her about how they liked to feast on half-bloods that go wandering at night.

               She heard a lot of rustling outside of Cabin Twelve, and a figure came storming by. She heard talking—three people; an angry voice with an old-fashioned tongue, a quivering voice, and a confused, tired one.

               Elisa cracked the door, glancing back to make sure Castor nor Pollux had stirred, and hurried after the voices as Castor let out a sharp snore. She knew it was none of her business, and she still didn't care. She cared about the fact she heard Grover and Bianca talking to someone that talked suspiciously like Zoë Nightshade.

               Elisa had a hard time understanding Zoë, a really hard time. The most she could figure out was that ... Zoë wanted Grover and Elisa to leave them alone? Seriously, that's all she understood. However, the two didn't leave them alone and continued after Zoë and Bianca to the Big House.

               A man with pale blue eyes all over his body stepped in front of Zoë. Elisa figured that was the worst thing he could do since the Hunter called the man a "boil-brained lout". Elisa had no idea what that was, but by the expression of the man, she figured it was an insult.

               "Zoë—" Bianca started to say but Zoë interrupted her.

               "My lady is in trouble!" she spat at the man with a hundred eyes. "Get—"

               But Chiron finally came out ( with what looked to be curlers in his tail ), looking exhausted and ill-rested. "What do you need?" he asked Zoë.

               "I have said it a million times!" said Zoë. "The Hunters and I need to leave this place immediately. I need permission—"

               "I am not the one to give you permission, Zoë," Chiron reminded her. "Only Lady Artemis can do that. I'm sorry, but you can not leave Camp Half-Blood unless she orders it."

               Zoë's regal features set into hard lines. "How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?" she hissed.

               Elisa's stomach churned at the Hunter's words. "Lost?" she blurted.

               Chiron finally seemed to notice Grover and Elisa. "Miss Bardales, you need to be in your—"

               "My goddess is lost!" Zoë howled. She pointed a finger at Elisa and Grover. "This half-blood and satyr do not matter—"

               Elisa scowled. "Watch your fucking mouth—"

               "Please, Miss Bardales," said Chiron, holding up his hand. "Zoë is right, you should be in Cabin Twelve, right now."

               "My goddess is missing," Zoë reminded everyone. "Taken. Kidnapped. She has been kidnapped. I can not get orders from my lady if my lady is taken!"

               "I understand," said Chiron, looking pale. "Miss Bardales, Grover ... please ... I ask you to leave. Miss Nightshade and I will handle this—in the morning."

               Zoë's eyes bulged. "We will not!"

               Grover grabbed Elisa by the arm as Zoë started yelling louder. He was dragging her away, and Elisa was watching them furiously. She didn't know if she was mad about Zoë talking about her, or how Bianca hadn't even glanced at her. She didn't know how a goddess could be lost—or kidnapped, or taken, or whatever—it just didn't seem possible. That was a goddess, and Artemis was a goddess that hunted animals, she should've been able to protect herself.

               "Why'd you follow us?" Grover asked her as they walked for Cabin Twelve.

               "How were you following them?" Elisa shot back.

               Grover flushed. "I—I—It doesn't matter!"

               Elisa narrowed her eyes. "Yes, it does."

               "... I was camping outside the Artemis cabin," Grover admitted after a moment of silence. "But—but, Zoë had a dream about Artemis! Who could have taken her?"

               "Is it common for goddesses to get kidnapped?" Elisa asked.

               "I ... I guess. Persephone was." Grover shrugged. "I just didn't think it would be Artemis."

               "That is if she truly got kidnapped," said Elisa. "Zoë said she was 'lost', which I don't know how possible that is, either."

               Grover chewed on his bottom lip nervously. He still had a tight grip on her arm, and Elisa's arm was starting to hurt and go numb. He looked at Cabin Twelve, his face covered by the shadow of the building. The moon looked a sickly yellow now.

               "We'll talk about this tomorrow morning," said Grover. "Try and get some sleep. We have that Capture the Flag game tomorrow."

               Elisa looked at Grover, who knew all about her troubles with sleeping.

               He winced. "Sorry," he said quietly.

               Elisa grabbed the metal doorknob of Cabin Twelve, cracking the door open. "Get some sleep, too," she said. "Try to not stalk the Hunters, why don't you?"

               Grover gave a garbled sound. "I was not stalking them!" he insisted.

               "Sleep," Elisa repeated, entering the cabin and softly closing the door behind her.

               Castor and Pollux had not moved since Elisa left. Her heart was beating irregularly after what she had learned. Grover said to sleep, but she knew it would be near impossible now. There were too many things whirring around her head; How had Artemis been taken or lost? If she was taken, who took her? What did they want from her? And what did that mean for them, if something was out there that could kidnap a goddess?

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The next morning, after Elisa barely got an hour of sleep, Castor and Pollux had insisted that they take her to the meadows after breakfast. Elisa barely said a word to Dionysus, who was bleary-eyed and irritable. ( Castor told Elisa that Dionysus was always like that in the morning. He told her to not take it to heart. Not that it really mattered considering Elisa could barely care what her father thought of her. )

               Elisa didn't have the energy to tell the twins to leave her alone, and just let them drag her to some meadows in Camp Half-Blood. They were talking excitedly among themselves, jumping from topic to topic, not noticing how even more reserved Elisa was than she had been the day before. Maybe it was the full nights-rest Pollux and Castor got compared to Elisa's odd, scary night that made them so. Or maybe that was just Pollux and Castor Winward, twins with bundles of energy Elisa wished she had.

               The twins had Elisa watch as the satyrs chase the wood nymphs through the snow, saying it was something they'd done every winter. The nymphs had promised to kiss the satyrs if they got caught, but from what Elisa saw, the nymphs hardly ever did. Most times the nymph would let the satyr get some good traction running at full speed, then they would turn into a snow-covered tree and the satyr would slam into it headfirst and get a pile of snow dumped on him. Elisa would have found it funny if she hadn't seen what she had seen the night before.

               Elisa tried for a smile as Castor started laughing loudly. Castor and Pollux were the ones who laughed with their whole bodies. It didn't take Elisa long to figure it out when Castor started slapping her on the shoulder, laughing at some joke Pollux had said. Elisa wasn't sure how she laughed; she hadn't truly laughed in a long time, too worried about getting attacked by a monster or helping Grover try and get some half-bloods to safety.

               She wondered if she laughed like Castor and Pollux; laughing with her whole chest, laughing until she couldn't breathe, laughing till she turned red in the face. The most she could muster was a smile and a half-hearted chuckle. Castor had seemed to catch on.

               He looked at her as another satyr took a running start. "You okay?" Castor asked.

               Elisa shrugged, kicking some snow into the air with her foot. "Just didn't get a lot of sleep. New bed, new area, y'know?"

               The two didn't react as they heard a dull thud echo through the meadow. Pollux started laughing once more, turning to Elisa and Castor. Elisa faked a smile as Pollux's face turned somber.

               "What's wrong?"

               Elisa wasn't sure how many times she was going to have to say it to them. "Nothing. Just got little sleep is all."

               Pollux started to smile slowly once more. "What? Castor snoring too loud? You'll get used to it eventually. I did."

               Castor's face burned red as he started to scowl. "I do not snore!"

               Pollux rolled his eyes. "'Course you don't think you do. You never hear yourself snore, you're always asleep!"

               Elisa looked over her shoulder as the sound of crunching snow came from behind them. Grover and the ever-lasting-pain-the-ass Percy came walking up to them. Grover and Percy looked as bad as Elisa felt; heavy eye bags, dull skin, and bedraggled hair. Grover's lips looked bloody and scarred, as if he had been chewing on them ever since last night.

               "Elisa," he said nervously, looking at Pollux and Castor. "Can we talk?"

               "Yeah, sure," she said, waving Pollux and Castor away. She ignored Pollux's exaggerated waving and Castor's suspicious looks, turning back to Grover and Percy. "About what we heard last night, right?"

               Grover nodded looking at Percy. "Yeah, and he needs to tell us something."

               Percy's sea-green eyes widened, looking at Elisa. She could tell he didn't want her to know whatever Grover thought Percy should tell her. Grover looked at Percy pleadingly, and Percy sighed.

               "Okay," he started, "I had this dream—about Annabeth and this guy named Luke. The guy you asked about when Dr. Thorn was talking to us. Luke was ... He used to be a camper here, then he—he sided with Kronos—"

               "Kronos?" Elisa blurted, her voice betraying her with cracking. "Luke sided with Kronos?" she asked. "Like ... Nevermind."

               "Kronos is rising," said Percy. "He's coming back. Because of Luke. But—but he was with Annabeth, holding up something—a cave or ceiling maybe. I don't know, it was too dark to tell, but it looked like it was about to crush him. He lured Annabeth over, and she took it from him. And then he left her. He left her there to—to suffer!"

               Grover swallowed nervously, pulling out some hair from his goat legs. "A cave ceiling collapsed on her?" he asked.

               "Yeah." Percy nodded. "What the hell does that mean?"

               Elisa frowned. "A ceiling?" she asked. She was trying to rack her mind for any myths that involved something like that but nothing came to mind. Having to hold up a ceiling? Even that seemed a little far-fetched for Greek myths. "But ..." she continued, "that could be tied to the dream Zoë had last night."

               "Whoa," Percy held his hand out, stopping Elisa from continuing, "what do you mean? Zoë had a dream like that?"

               "Well, I don't know if she had a dream about Annabeth or that Luke guy holding up a ceiling, but she stormed by Cabin Twelve at, like, three in the morning, yelling about talking to Chiron. She looked panicked, scared."

               "How do you know?" Percy asked.

               "I told you." Elisa rolled her eyes. "Zoë and Bianca came running by Cabin Twelve and I have trouble sleeping ..." She looked at Grover, who was starting to blush. "And Grover was hiding out by their cabin."

               Grover let out a loud squawk as Percy turned to him.

               "You were stalking them?" said Percy. "You're a stalker with hooves!"

               "I am not!" insisted Grover. "Anyway, Elisa and I followed them to the Big House. She told us to leave but—she got real upset when Argus wouldn't let her in. It was kind of a dangerous scene."

               "What did she say?" asked Percy.

               Grover grimaced. "Well, she starts talking really old-fashioned when she gets upset, so it was kind of hard to understand. But something about Artemis being in trouble and needing the Hunters. And then she called Argus a boil-brained lout ... think that's a bad thing. And then—"

               "Wait, how could Artemis be in trouble?" Percy asked.

               Elisa and Grover looked at each other. The two exchanged some sort of look that Percy could only tell was I don't want to tell him; you do it. Eventually, the satyr sighed.

               "Well, finally Chiron came out in his pajamas and his horsetail in curlers and—"

               Percy's face blanked. "Chiron wears curlers in his tail?"

               Elisa glared at him as Grover covered his mouth like that was the thing he shouldn't have said.

               "I'm telling him," she snapped. "And yes, he wears curlers—Is that a bad thing?"

               Percy shook his head. "Not really, Elisa. I just can't believe—"

               "Anyway! Zoë said she had to have permission to leave camp—and immediately. But Chiron told her no. He reminded her that the Hunters were supposed to stay here until Artemis told them they could leave. And—well—she said, 'How are we to get orders from Artemis if Artemis is lost?'"

               "What do you mean lost?" Percy asked. "Like, she needs directions?"

               Elisa's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the son of Poseidon. "How could you think she needs directions? That—Are you serious?"

               Percy blushed. "I don't know how well Artemis knows where she's at!"

               "She's the Goddess of the Hunt!" Elisa said, sounding exasperated. "She's got to have been across the entire country at least once. You think she would need directions?"

               "Guys, guys," Grover broke in, "Zoë meant taken. Kidnapped."

               "Kidnapped?" Percy repeated. "How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?"

               "Wasn't Persephone kidnapped?" offered Elisa.

               "But she was, like, the Goddess of Flowers," said Percy with a roll of his eyes.

               The daughter of Dionysus frowned. "Watch it, Fish Boy, my dad's the God of Vegetation."

               Grover looked offended. "Persephone's the Goddess of Springtime," he corrected Percy.

               "Whatever." Percy waved his hand. "Artemis is a lot more powerful than that. Who could kidnap her? And why?"

               Grover shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kronos?"

               Elisa paled. "He can not be that powerful already? What is like doing to help him now?"

               Percy shook his head, rubbing at his eyes. "Anything he can. He tried to use the Golden Fleece to heal Kronos back together."

               "But he didn't, right?" Elisa asked miserably.

               "No," said Percy. "But he's still getting stronger. Slowly. Over time."

               "How slow is this slowly?" she asked.

               Percy and Grover looked at each other. "We knew he was starting to reform summer of '06."

               She hated to do it, but Elisa thought back to Durango. She thought back to the day she was attacked; that empousa had talked about Kronos. But at the time, Elisa hadn't understood a word the empousa was saying, she didn't even know about Kronos at the time. Elisa had no idea who Kronos was, or what he had done, she knew nothing at all. And that empousa had tried to get Elisa to join her and Kronos, so it's clear Kronos was re-forming long before the summer of '06.

               "I think he's been re-forming a lot longer than that," said Elisa. "When I was first attacked, this empousa mentioned him. She talked as if he was already re-forming by then."

               That was all she was going to say about that day to Grover and Percy. Elisa did it out of necessity, not because she wanted to tell them anything. She didn't want pity, she didn't want to give it, she didn't want to think about it. She had done things to survive—not things she was proud of.

               Grover looked even more nervous. "I think somebody would know if Kronos had fully re-formed," he said. "The gods would be more nervous. But still, it's weird, Percy; you having a nightmare the same night as Zoë. It's almost like—"

               "They're connected," said Percy.

               "You think so?" asked Elisa.

               Percy nodded. "We don't really get coincidences, Elisa."

               Over in the frozen meadow, a satyr skidded on his hooves as he chased after a redheaded tree nymph. She giggled and held out her arms as he ran toward her. Pop! She turned into a Scotch pine and he kissed the trunk at top speed.

               "Ah, love." Grover sighed dreamily.

               "I've got to talk to Zoë," blurted Percy.

               "Um, before you do ..." Grover took something out of his coat pocket. It was a threefold display like a travel brochure; the brochure Artemis had given Elisa, the one over the Hunter of Artemis. "You remember what you said—about how it was weird the Hunters just happened to show up at Westover Hall? I think they might've been scouting us."

               "Scouting us? What do you mean?" Percy asked.

               Grover gave Percy the brochure. Percy read the front, flipping the brochure open. His eyebrows pinched together as he read on. His lips pinched in a thin line. Elisa watched him with raised eyebrows.

               "I found that in Annabeth's backpack," said Grover.

               Percy looked up, staring at Grover. "I don't understand."

               "Well, it seems to me ... maybe Annabeth was thinking about joining."

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It seemed to Elisa that Percy hadn't taken the news well. And she took her leave before he could truly blow up in anger. She didn't know if that was the kind of person he was, but she wasn't taking any chances.

               She found Castor and Pollux back in Cabin Twelve, playing some sort of card game. It seemed that Castor was losing as he was the one who was cursing the most. Pollux waved at Elisa cheerfully as she walked over. She watched over the game, watching as Castor miserably lost to Pollux.

               Then the three went to the sword-fighting arena once again, Elisa wasn't as excited as she had been before. ( She really wasn't excited the first time, mind you, but she hadn't known what to expect, either. ) Elisa tried to object but they weren't listening to her. Castor found Acantha stashed away in one of the draws they gave her and tossed it to her.

               Elisa caught it, scowling. "I already trained yesterday," she remained them as they walked out of Cabin Twelve. "And we have that Capture the Flag game tonight. Don't you think I should save my energy?"

               "You can take a nap after we practice," said Castor, shrugging. "But that Capture the Flag game is exactly why you need to train. The Hunters are relentless. And you've only trained properly for one day, and that wasn't even a day's worth of training. And—"

               Elisa groaned, blocking out the rest of Castor's words.

               She still had to train. No matter how much she groaned and complained, she couldn't get out of it. Castor threw a shield at her, nearly hitting her in the face before barking orders at her. Being covered in sweat while it was cold out was not a nice feeling.

               "I can feel my sweat freezing to my skin," she complained.

               "It is not that cold," said Castor, rolling his eyes. The jab Elisa had made the day before seemed fine, or he was acting like it was fine. "You need to guard yourself better," he told her.

               "You need to be aware of your back," advised Pollux. "Remember that monsters could sneak up behind you."

               "Yeah, yeah," said Elisa, rolling out her shoulders. "The quicker we get over with this, the quicker I can take a hot shower."

               Percy ended up showing his face halfway through her training. Elisa scowled at him and told him to leave, but Percy smiled and shrugged.

               "You fight pretty well," he commented.

               "Yeah? Well, the end of this spear might just make its way through your leg if you don't leave," she threatened, pointing the tip of Acantha at Percy's chest.

               He swatted the spear away. "I'd rather have that than my head shoved in a toilet."

               Elisa stopped and blinked. "What?" she asked.

               "Clarisse tried to shove my head in a toilet my first day at camp," said Percy. "Lucky you, she's not around to do her little camp initiation."

               Elisa heard Pollux chortle behind her. "Man! You should've seen what happened to her!"

               "Wait, what happened to her?" asked Elisa. "And why is she not here? Where is she?"

               "Elisa!" snapped Castor. "Training!"

               She scowled, turning to face him. She heard Pollux and Percy laughing behind her as Castor pointed at her and then pointed to a spot in front of him.

               "Hurry up," he said. "Quicker we're done, quicker you can take a shower."

               Elisa raised Acantha, raising so the tip of the blade was leveled with Castor's chest. "I hate you sometimes," she said.

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Elisa truly hated the feeling of being sweaty. It was gross, and left her feeling disgusting. And now that she was living in an area with running water at all times again, she was going to take full advantage of that. But first, she had to get Percy Jackson to leave her alone.

               And that seemed to be an impossible task so far. But Elisa was just as stubborn as Percy seemed to be, and she was going to prove it to him. It just may take a while, however.

               She was wiping her hair out of her face as Castor and Pollux talked among themselves. Percy had hung around since his arrival, giving Elisa unwanted advice. ( Slightly unwanted, but she wasn't going to ever admit that. While she thought it might have been a good idea to keep in mind what he had said considering he has been properly training longer than she has. )

               Percy watched her. "How'd you get so good with a dagger?" he asked.

               Elisa and Pollux had tested out her abilities with a dagger; she used the dagger Callum had given her, Scion, while Pollux used a dagger he had one of the Hephaestus kids had made.

               She glared at Percy. "If I wanted you to know, Fish Boy, I would've told you."

               "Oh, we're doing nicknames, now?" said Percy. "Well, Grape Girl, I was just being nice."

               "My past is my past," spat Elisa. "I don't ask about yours, so don't ask about mine."

               Percy shrugged. "I'll just get Grover to tell me."

               "Why do you want to know so bad?" demanded Elisa.

               "Because I want to know why you won't tell me," said Percy.

               Elisa frowned, a heavy feeling of anger settling in her chest. "Because it's painful, asshole. I'll tell you this if you'll leave my past where it belongs; I lost the only family I had to a monster that hunted me for two years like a was prey."

               Percy jerked his head back, his eyes widening. "I'm—I'm sorry," he stammered.

               Elisa squared her shoulders like she was about to fight Percy. "Yeah? Well, me too."

               Percy opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water as Elisa stormed off. Castor and Pollux were watching them the whole time, Percy realized. Another wave of complete guilt washed over him as the twins turned back around. He saw the blue hair of Elisa's hurrying back to Cabin Twelve, the spear she had gone.

               Percy felt the urge to pull out his hair, as if it would've done him any good. Any chance of talking to Elisa, to maybe become more than annoyed acquaintances were gone. Percy didn't know why he wanted to; her father hated him and Percy hated her father. But there was always that small voice in the back of his head, reminding him of old conversations he had with Annabeth.

               Annabeth and he had started off on the wrong foot, the only reason being that Athena, Annabeth's mother, hated Percy's father, Poseidon. Percy himself had to remind Annabeth that they weren't their parents, and that they could be friends even if their parents hated each other.

               Maybe that was the very reason he wanted to be semi-friends with Elisa. He didn't know if they would ever be as close as he and Grover were, or as close as he and Annabeth were. Percy highly doubted they would be. Maybe Elisa would just be another Clarisse; they can get along to help save the world, otherwise, they hate each other's guts.

               However, Percy knew Elisa wasn't as hateful as she portrayed herself. She couldn't be. He didn't buy it. If she was, would she have teamed up with Grover to help save two demigods she didn't know?

               Or maybe, Percy just wanted to spite Dionysus and become friends with his daughter. It wasn't like Dionysus could blast Elisa's own friends to bits, right? Well, it was still highly possible ... just not as highly possible as before.

               "Good going," muttered Castor.

               Pollux covered the lower half of his face, like he was trying to hide a smile. "Don't take it to heart," he told Percy. "She seems pretty hot-headed."

               "Really?" Percy said sarcastically. "I haven't noticed."

               "You were prying, though," added Castor.

               "I was just being curious," Percy defended himself. His shoulders sagged. "I was," he soon admitted. "I need to apologize."

               "Wait until she cools off," offered Pollux. "I doubt you want to be yelled at again."

               The boy nodded. "You're right, I don't."

               Now he just had to figure out a way to apologize to Elisa Bardales without pissing her off even more. Or maybe he should just scrap the whole idea of a friendship with her and let her hate him. It certainly would be easier.

               But there again was another little voice inside his head that said, You should apologize, Percy. You were prying into her life, especially when it's none of your business.

               And that voice sounded oddly like his mother, reminding him to be a good person.

👑 APR. 14TH, 2022 / not very plot-heavy, kinda hate certain points, but it's el oh el