[1] 𝐼𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑢𝑠 - 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑜𝑛

2.06

-

KATNISS FOUND CASSIOPEIA AND ANNABETH soon enough. They made it to Hephaestus and he reprogrammed the spider to take them back to camp. Chiron and the other campers seemed very relieved to see her. Katniss met Quintus, but he turned out to be a traitor. He snuck out one night through a labyrinth tunnel in the woods.

And Percy still hadn't returned.

Katniss did not cope well with loss. She thought that was relatively clear.

She was irritable. She sometimes slipped into Ancient Greek and camp lake would become violent when she came too close (she wasn't apologizing for accidentally tipping Sherman Yang's boat into the water).

Her only calm were the nights where she could sit on the beach and look at the stars. A week after the volcano incident, she stepped out onto one of the big rocks. The waves lapped harshly against it, occasionally going over her bare feet.

"You look for him."

Katniss flinched at the voice, but she turned towards it immediately. She was a goddess. She could help.

"Mother. Tell me, I beg of you, where is he?"

Thetis's black hair fell over her back in ocean-like curls, but her skin was as pale as a snowflake.

"You do not want to know."

Katniss narrowed her eyes. "He is not dead then."

"He might as well be."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Thetis sighed. "You truly wish to know?"

"I would not be asking if I did not."

Thetis reluctantly waved her hand and an image appeared in the waves, one certain area calming enough so Katniss could see the picture.

Percy was eating dinner at an island. Across from him was a girl that was horribly familiar. She had almond eyes and caramel-color hair braided over one shoulder. She had one of those faces that seemed timeless.

The two of them laughed over their meal, their eyes meeting.

The air in Katniss's lungs died. "Calypso."

It had been a couple thousand years since Katniss had seen her half-sister. She had always looked up to her.

Her jaw hardened. "Who sent him?"

Thetis shrugged gracefully. "Aphrodite, of course. She is the love goddess. And I believe Hera as well."

It made an insulting amount of sense. Hera was the goddess of family but she only liked perfect families (coming from the goddess who married her brother - but okay). Katniss's family was so incredibly messed up it wasn't even funny. And Aphrodite was all about enjoying the naiveté of love, having fun in her little world of bliss and damning the consequences. It wasn't reality.