Half-Blood Means Two Things || Marauders Era | Percy Jackson ||

|| 21 - I'm The Food Queen Now ||

Watch your back.

The words haunted me for weeks.

Every night, I'd take out the note and stare at it, wishing I could tell who it was from. I didn't show it to anyone, but that didn't matter much. Lily, Rowan, Emilia, and Thea weren't talking to me.

After I'd stumbled back into the dorm room at, like, three in the morning, looking like I'd tried to wrestle a hellhound, instead of finding them all peacefully asleep, they were awake, and Lily was crying. Let's just say, I've never been tackled by so many people so quickly. But when they'd asked me where I was and why I was covered in dirt and blood and ash, and I couldn't tell them that Vega left me in the forest to die... Let's just say, I've never had so many release me from a hug that quickly

When you decide you can trust us, we can trust you.

Those words haunted me for weeks, too.

And that was how I lost my only friends at Hogwarts.

After my night in the forest, I wrote Hecate an extremely detailed letter about Albus Dumbledore and everything I'd noticed. I'm unashamed to say that when I dropped that silver drachma, I felt no guilt.

But everything got worse the next day at breakfast. I'd walked in, looking like a zombie. I was thankful for the ambrosia I'd brought from home because it healed up all the cuts and headaches, but it did nothing for the bags under my eyes. When I walked into the Great Hall, it was accompanied by confused whispers and suspicious glances. I didn't even get to sit down before McGonagall was at my side with Madam Pomfrey. I was rushed out of the room in an instant, with the eyes of every single student on my back.

When I got to the Infirmary, Madam Pomfrey ran a dozen checks on me and told me at this rate, I wouldn't make it to the end of the year in one piece. She didn't enjoy writing to my parents that I was getting hurt left and right at what was supposed to be the safest place in all of Europe.

Joke's on her, I had thought, the people you're writing to can't read English. I'd set it up so Griffin was my guardian. He wouldn't be concerned with detentions. I almost chose Maeve or Chiron, but seeing how my first week had gone, I was really glad I hadn't. I was fairly sure Griffin wasn't even looking at them. Besides, he had more trouble with reading than most demigods, so he didn't even try. He stayed at Camp year-round, so there was no point in learning to read English.

I'd been half-way through a concussion test when Dumbledore came into the room. I had tensed badly enough for Madam Pomfrey to ask if I was having a stroke.

After he'd talked to McGonagall in hushed voices that I couldn't hear, he'd run to my side and bombarded me with questions that didn't make sense if he was the one who'd tried to get rid of me.

"What happened? Where is Professor Vega? Where exactly did the attack happen? How did you get out? Did you meet any other creatures in the forest?" His voice was calm, but I could tell from the tightness in his eyes that he was concerned.

But McGonagall had asked the only one I cared about. "Are you alright, Myers?"

I had nodded. I turned to Dumbledore, perplexed, but I wasn't allowed to answer his questions because Madam Pomfrey had told him, in a forcibly polite voice, to leave me alone until after she'd made sure that I was a-okay. Dumbledore, surprisingly, had nodded his understanding, and that was the last time he'd spoken to me.

I didn't know why he left me alone after that because I hadn't answered a single question of his. I'd tried desperately to speak to him, but I was too freaked out, remembering Alceithes words and the Red Caps attacking... all because he'd sent me in there.