stollen things || c. stoll

4.7 ~ You've Heard Of Party Centaurs, Get Ready For Therapy Centaurs

I was sitting on the beach during free time, watching some campers canoe around the creek. Some of them flipped over, but I managed not to laugh at them. I'd done it countless times. It felt good to have a day of rest. Still, I would so much rather have been with Connor. We hadn't spoken in days. It was honestly getting painful.

As if Hermes had heard my thoughts (which he very well could've) I heard soft footsteps behind me. Connor sat down next to me on the sand. "Hey."

"Hi." I deadpanned. I didn't know what he wanted me to say, he was the one that began ignoring me in the first place.

"Any reason why I haven't seen you in forever?"

"You tell me." Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh, but all I could think of was him spending all his time looking at Silena. "Maybe because you haven't signed up for watch with me. Or because you haven't made an effort to sit with me during campfire. Or, it could be the fact that you haven't even looked at me. You've been too busy staring at Silena Beauregard to even think about me. Your girlfriend."

"I'm not staring at Silena." He said sternly. "It's not what you think."

"Oh, so that's what you took out of that." I rolled my eyes. "If it's not what I think, then what?"

"I can't tell you," His shoulders slumped. "It would only make things between all of us worse."

"As if they could get any worse. Connor, you've been ignoring me for days."

"You've been ignoring me! And not just me, but Travis, and Charlie, and Silena as well! You can't pin this on me," He stood back up. "Maybe you could explain all the time you're spending with Lee Fletcher."

"I don't have to explain anything, Lee is my friend. And I thought you were too." I stood, but I've always been smaller than him and it didn't hold as much power as I'd hoped. I still had to look up to meet his eyes.

"Gods, Maddy, I am your friend! In fact, I'm more than that. We agreed to keep this under wraps, but I didn't think it meant to the point where we didn't even look at each other!" He snapped.

"I have to wonder why you stay away from me. If there's some other reason that isn't Silena or something I did."

"What are you saying?" He stepped back.

"You knew Luke. You're his brother, Connor."

"Don't do this." His eyes filled with pain. "You don't know what you're talking about. You can't mean that." Without waiting for a response, he rushed off back in the direction of the camp.

I didn't really mean it. I shouldn't have said it, regardless of whether I thought it true or not. But it was an easy explanation.

In the following hours, my heart only sank deeper and deeper. I regretted every word I'd said, but I couldn't go running to him already. He'd probably break up with me on the spot, if we hadn't already. He needed space, but all I needed was to run to him and apologize. It was pathetic. If I talked to Silena, Beckendorf, or Travis about it, they'd go straight to Connor. Or worse, I'd get into an argument with one of them as well. Madge was sick of hearing it. Lee wouldn't want to talk about it.

So I went with the unexpected route. Just after dinner, I had around a half-hour before I was supposed to go to Zeus's Fist. So I headed to the Big House. I knocked on the door and waited on the porch. I knew that Chiron had come back after dinner, I'd watched him gallop over.

He opened the door. "What's wrong, child?"

"I know that this is out of your pay grade, and we should have all eyes on the Labyrinth, but can we talk for a bit?"

He raised an eyebrow, but nodded and stepped aside. He led me to his office and I sat down opposite him at his desk. Glancing around, I took in everything. I'd only been in Chiron's office once, to watch the orientation film. There were papers strewn across the desk along with a few CDs and records. His record player was sitting in the far corner, next to his boom-box.

"What is it you'd like to talk about?" Chiron's eyebrows furrowed.

"Well," I started. I couldn't believe I was about to talk to Chiron, trainer of heroes for centuries, about my boy problems. "I don't know if you were there a few weeks ago, but at dinner—"

"So that's what this is about. Yes, I was there. What has happened between you two? You were always so close."

"That's the thing. I haven't spoken with Connor for weeks, and then today, our first conversation is an argument. And- and I accidentally told him that I think he's the spy." I dropped my head onto his desk and continued, muffled. "And now I'm the girl that told her boyfriend she thinks he's an enemy and that she doesn't trust him."

"Ah. I see. So, do you think he is a traitor?"

"No! Not at all, not anymore. I had suspicions because he was avoiding me, but from his reaction I can tell that he's not. And I feel horrible about it." It was all I could do not to break into sobs.

"Then what can be done? Either you tell him the truth now or you both most likely die within the next week or so."

What a way to cheer me up.

"I believe you will do the right thing. Now, I fear we are getting closer and closer to an attack, so I advise you to hurry to Zeus's Fist with your weapons."

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