CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
the last night
VERONA
( CAMP HALF BLOOD )
June passed by in the blink of an eye.
Literally. She had blinked and June was beyond them, a series of memories of campfire songs, capture the flag games, busy dinner rushes and the crying that came with the return of the summer campers, particularly in the Aphrodite cabin, where this would be the first real summer without Hart present and returning from Ohio for the season. It dimmed the prospects, but they had worked through it — well, most of them had. Catarina had shut herself off, if there could be a word to describe what she looked like. The blonde had completely decided to ignore the fact that Hart was gone, not wanting to face her reality and instead had immersed herself in helping out the Apollo cabin in the Infirmary, suddenly interested in medicine and healing. She looked deader than she had last summer, in the nicest way. Verona had noticed her deteriorating over the year while the rest of them got better. Her hair if possible had become slightly lighter, in a pale, dim soft of way, her eyes had become rimmed red more than white, as though she hadn't been sleeping enough, and her smile had turned into a small frown.
Yet, she seemed unready to speak about anything to do with Hart, so she had shied away from all contact to do with grief in the slightest.
Verona got it, she really did.
She had grown up with Silena as her own version of Hart, though if it was possible, a slightly closer version. Though her sister was only one year older than her, in a place like Camp Half Blood it felt like she held the knowledge of five more years. One year at Camp was equivalent to an eighth of a lifetime of knowledge, you learned more in three months than most mortal kids did in their whole lifetime. Silena had, in every metaphorical and practical way, become Verona's family, whole heartedly and without any backing away, and when she left for college this year, Verona would be sad to see her go. Nonetheless, she knew that if there was one person that would stick by her for the rest of her life, it was her older sister.
Silena and her were in it together until they day they died, as they had promised each other one afternoon while sparring on the gym mats in the arena.
July came with an explosion of fireworks.
The fourth of July, campers spread out around the Long Island Shore on everything from beach towels to tiny chairs, gathering around with their dates, their siblings or simply on their own and watching as the Hephaestus cabin released into the air a series of fireworks telling stories of past heroes once again. They lit up in the sky in every possible colour, illuminating faces in hues of orange to purple and tones of pink and blue. They moved, telling stories of supposed heroes who had saved the gods and Olympus, stories the campers could relate to more than any mortal one. Last year, the fireworks had started with the story of Jason and the Argonauts.
This year, it started with the story of the Trojan war.
Connor groaned with an efficiency from beside Verona, his head hanging back against the soft beach towel, hair slightly rustled in the wind and arms tucked behind his head as he watched the fireworks display the story out of in front of him of the birth of Paris, prince of Troy, and the prophecy the Oracle had predicted of his lead in the downfall of Troy. He was lying down beside Verona, his legs out in front of him near the edge of the beach, eyes darting around the sky.
She tilted her head from beside him, watching the way the yellows and purples that came from the fireworks danced off his face as though they were creating a saccarine pattern across his cheeks. She was lying beside him, a jacket under her head and her knees bent, arms hugging herself. She glanced up at the fireworks again, following along as Thetis was forced to marry Peleus, resulting in a wedding taking place on Olympus. Her eyes widened as a figure appeared through the fireworks that she vaguely recognized through the story, a memory haunting the back of her mind from two winters ago. "Is that—"
"Our good friend Eris," Connor turned his head to face her, a lazy smirk decorating his features. He was close enough that she could feel his breath on her face, but far enough away that there was enough room for her to breathe between them still. "Yeah. Almost forgot she was apart of this story."
"Right." Verona let out a shaky breath, glancing up at the sky again, where the red and yellow hues showed an apple being thrown through to Olympus, landing at the midst of Athena, Hera and her mother.
Connor glanced her way, and Verona noticed the way he pulled his eyes along her face throughly, before landing back to meet her own. "Did you ever find out what happened to her — Eris?"
She shrugged as easily as she could lying down so close to Connor, her teeth creating a dent in her cheek when she bit into it nervously. "Aph—mom was kind of vague about it," She explained, recalling the first dream she had after returning from her quest where her mother had appeared. Connor's eyes dragged along to the part of her cheek she was biting into, before snapping back up to her eyes. She grinned as she thought of what her mother had said. "However, and stick with me because I know you'll love this—"
"I'm listening closely, goldilocks—"
"—Enough with the goldilocks!"
"Alright, alright, princess," The lazy smirk returned to his face as she became aggravated, and she found that she had actually missed when he called her that — only a little bit, though. Just a tiny bit. Nothing more than that. "What's the however about then?"
"Oh, right," She grinned again, glancing back up at the sky where the story had progressed to a series of images showcasing the different goddesses offering Paris things in return for the title of the fairest. Paris picked Aphrodite's offer to have the most beautiful woman alive at the time. "So, apparently Eris appearing by Hermes express in the middle of the hall of the gods caused quite the commotion with Zeus. Made him very iffy, very, very annoyed."
"Well, that's our number one goal, isn't it?" Connor's grin matched hers as he let out a laugh, the sound gracing her ears happily. She wondered if she was a puppy right now, they would probably have perked up at the sound like a warning bell or something — warning, your heart is in danger of exploding, please proceed with caution!
Her eyes drifted towards the fireworks again, the sound of crackling as they exploded in the air debilitating her ears momentarily. She trailed along the story, as Paris went to Sparta and met King Menelaus, and his wife, Helen, who was the most beautiful woman and person who Paris wanted to marry. She could feel Connor's eyes on her, burning holes of ember sucking the breath out of her as she watched the story progress, Paris and Helen going to Troy to get married, and King Menelaus returning to Sparta to find his wife had been supposedly kidnapped by Paris.
"This has to be the stupidest thing someone's done," Connor commented, his eyes glancing over from her face to the sky. He adjusted the arm tucked under his head, facing her slightly as he caught the bewildered look on her face when he started speaking. "Starting a war in the name of love, I mean."
She let out a small laugh at Connor's naivety, shrugging as Sparta sailed to Troy, beginning the ten year long series of battles to get between their walls that would one day become named the Trojan war. "All wars begin in the name of love."
"How poetic," Connor scrunched up his face, smiling lazily again. The lazy smile suited him better than any other for some reason, highlighting the mischief in his eyes and the desire to scheme that surrounded his features. Even now, Verona was sure a dozen plans of schemes he and Travis were thinking of had been pulled through his head. "But untrue."
"How so?"
Connor stared at her for a moment, deciphering his thoughts. "Luke started this whole demigod on demigod war to Olympus because he was angry at the gods—"
"Because they lacked giving him the love he wanted." Verona cut him off, raising an eyebrow. He seemed surprised as his eyes followed her train of story, deep in thought and digesting what she had just said. "Luke felt like he was unloved by Hermes, so he went against them all. Paris was in love with Helen, which sparked a ten year war between Troy and Sparta. All wars develop because of greed and power, but they start because of love."
Connor shook his head, the fireworks illuminating his features. "I don't believe that. How can something like love start entire wars and kill dozens of people?"
"Love hurts people, Connor. It changes them and it causes them to do things they wouldn't do if not for it," She shrugged, the conversation feeling as though it had gone from light hearted to an extremely dark turn. She could still feel his eyes on her, taking in whatever he said in depth and questioning it. He would probably continue to. It was hard to explain to other people what she had understood about love, because despite how many words somebody put it in, unless you were a child of Aphrodite or had felt a love like that before, you would never understand fully what it was like to have your breath taken away in such a way that you'd do anything for a person.
Verona wasn't sure it was all that healthy, but that wasn't the point.
If love felt as though you were drowning in the depths of something thicker than water, you would claw your way up, and claw away anybody who got in your way to fresh air and a life with brightness and the warmth of the sun.
She shrieked lightly, her elbow hitting against the side of Connor's chest as Silena took a seat beside her, grabbing her right arm and pulling at it happily. It seemed that Beckendorf had trailed behind her, his hands tucked in his pockets as he smiled at his girlfriend. She obviously loved the son of Hephaestus, as anybody could tell when she refused over and over to do the rite of passage the Aphrodite cabin had once had in place, something Drew enjoyed and had still been pushing her to do for weeks on end.
"C'mon," Silena tugged at her arm, smiling brightly, her long hair flowing in the wind. "You and I are gonna hang out for a while, like we used to in the old times."
"No Beckendorf?" Verona grinned, before glancing over at the older boy. "No offence, Charlie."
He chuckled, ruffling her hair in the same way he did like an older brother as he plopped down heavily beside Connor, nudging the boy who was two sizes less muscly than Beckendorf. He resisted to let out a groan at the pain that would probably leave a bruise yesterday, Verona could tell by the look on his face that it had hurt at least a little. "None taken, Ver. Silena's like a parasite, always around me anyways."
Silena guffawed jokingly, flicking his head from where she was standing. "Please. You love me for it."
She winked in a way Verona had seen her do to very few people around camp, before pulling her sister along the beach towards a blanket and a bucket of popcorn, the two sitting down and laying a second blanket over their legs as they watched the fireworks begin a new sequence of stories. This one was of Persephone, and how she ended up as Hades' wife in the Underworld.
"You know what?" Silena commented, her voice happy as she munched on a piece of popcorn and nudged her younger sister to catch her attention. "I don't think I'd be unhappy in the Underworld. Elysium doesn't sound so terrible, to be honest."
"How does the fields of punishment sound?" Verona teased her, eyes light as though she believed they would not be dying any time soon.
"Oh gods," Silena feigned a dramatic reaction, a hand to the heart and all. "You wound me. I will do not be going to the fields of punishment. I'm an angel."
"An angel with devil horns, sure," She snorted, taking a few pieces of popcorn into her hand and popping them in her mouth like a fun game the way Connor did when he was bored. She pulled her hands up to Silena's head, placing her pointer fingers there in the shape of horns. "I can just see it now—"
Silena swatted her hands away, laughing. "Stop! You suck so much."
Verona laughed equally as happily, retracting her hands from Silena's head and back towards the popcorn. "Too bad sis, you're stuck with me for life."
"What a long time that'll be," Silena drawled. "I can just imagine you on the steps of you're house in a rocking chair, threatening the passerby's and telling them they'd look nice as the devil."
Verona laughed, the vague image of herself and Silena, grey and laughing at the passerby's, judging their clothes and accessories and makeup, adding things they would have to their own, their fashion sense not going away before they made it to the age of eighty, old and grey. She probably wouldn't make it that far, but she hoped Silena would.
"We're still gonna go on that quest one day." Silena muttered, watching the sky as the fireworks erupted to the part of the story where Persephone eats the six pomegranate seeds, thus sealing her fate as future queen of the Underworld forever. "The one to find mom's seashells that were lost after Troy. The ones that speak to you in you're ear. We'll find them and we'll bring them to her again."
Verona grinned, recalling the plan they had formulated for years when they were younger after hearing the story of Aphrodite's seven seashells, that whispered fate of seven couples into your ear should you find them. They last they had been used was to whisper the fate of Helen and Paris, before being lost during the Trojan war. "You still wanna do that?"
"Of course," Silena nodded rapidly. "It's gonna be so much fun, Ver. You and me on a quest together when we're older. We can go anywhere, I've heard the seashells were lost at sea and ended up all around the world, should you look close enough. It'll be like a trip, with a few monsters along the way. You still wanna do it, right?"
She looked like an excited puppy, grinning at the thought of their future. Verona glanced up at the fireworks, as the story of Persephone concluded when Zeus ordered she spend six months up on Earth with her mother Demeter, which is when spring and the flowers bloomed, and six month in the Underworld with her now husband, Hades, which is when winter came and the winds of spring and summer disappeared, autumn taking place to ease into it.
"Yeah, of course, we're gonna have so much fun."
Silena grinned, leaning back on the beach and watching the fireworks, the two sisters enjoying each other's company as they once had when they were kids for as long as they could.
The sinking feeling in the pit of Verona's stomach didn't go away the entire night, not even when she had made it back to her cabin.
August came before Verona could even stop it. The clouds had subdued from the July sunshine to an end of summer shade, one that had spread through a significant portion of the west. Chiron had warned the campers that the gods had begun fighting against Typhon, the storm giant and one of the most feared monsters Olympus would likely ever face. Despite their combined efforts, everybody from Hermes to Ares and Athena, and even surprisingly, Verona's mother, anybody other than Poseidon, who was fighting Oceanus, they had been futile. He still matched on towards New York, towards Manhattan, towards Olympus. The amphitheater campfire these days could be seen dim and small, reflecting the apparent saddened mood of the collectivity of the campers. Then, on a day near the beginning of August as the tides slowly rushed in from the shore and surrounded the beach near camp, the day became much worse and the campfire became practically nonexistent, the campers moods reaching a new all time low, the rock bottom of the pit.
The end of the world started on a bright morning when the sun was shining way, way too high in the sky.
And it started when Silena let out a wail and sunk to the floor, crying her eyes out in front the entire camp in her pyjamas.
Percy had just returned from his mission that Beckendorf had went to complete with the son of Poseidon the day before. The son of Hephaestus had left after kissing Silena goodbye and taking with him a bag full of explosives in order to blow up the Princess Andromeda, one of Luke and Kronos' boats that sailed across the ocean. He had sailed in like a sea turtle from the shore, meeting Connor halfway up the beach and the two sadly trekking there way up towards Camp.
Verona had been painting her nails when Silena screamed that Beckendorf and Percy were back and had dragged her out of the cabin, nails half done and only partially dry, running straight towards where Percy, Connor, Chiron and some other campers were crowded, speaking quietly. She was wearing no makeup, fresh from waking up and her hair hadn't been done yet, her eyes deadset around Camp looking for her boyfriend before she even reached Percy, as if he may have been hiding to surprise her as he did often.
Verona's heart fell into her stomach the second she saw the solemn look on Percy's face.
Her older sister didn't catch on, still looking around for her boyfriend, eyes darting. She had stayed up all night practically, worried for Beckendorf, and Verona and Catarina had ended up distracting her with a few rounds of scrabble, until the words began blurring for all of them, their various levels of dyslexia coming into play. Then they had locked themselves in a separate room of the cabin with James, who they had managed to awaken, and played twister. When that was all over and their limbs were aching from stretching the wrong way, James had let Silena give him a haircut to distract herself. For a daughter of Aphrodite, she was residually bad at hair cutting, and Verona thinks James regretted letting her cut it very much.
"Where's Charlie?" Silena demanded, still looking around, brown eyes darting helplessly.
"Sil—" Verona stepped forward as Percy darted a helpless look between her and Chiron over and over again, not knowing how to break the news to the son of Hephaestus's girlfriend.
Verona grabbed her arm, but she shook her head and pried it from her grasp, shaking slightly. "No, he must be hiding. Percy, where's Charlie?"
"Silena, my dear, let's talk about this in the Big House—"
"No," The tidal wave finally came crashing down on her as she realized what was actually happening, her expression sinking to one of whole hearted despair. "No, no, no..."
Verona froze, watching her cry, tears cascading down her face as she covered her eyes with her hands, trying hard to keep them in but tiny, hiccuping sobs coming out of her mouth. The rest of the campers stood equally as frozen, nobody knowing what to do. Beckendorf had been such an integral part of the camp that it felt lost without him, he had been the one building and planning and holding together the Camp's effort against Kronos and Luke, and now he was gone — for good. This loss was a big one for all of them, but Silena especially. Just yesterday the two had been happily lip locking in front of the dining pavilion as Verona teased them that one day one of them would swallow the other's tongue and have to have it surgically removed, and none of them would ever see Beckendorf for quite a while, not until they died.
She eventually moved at the same time Clarisse did, the two girls appearing on either side of Silena and grasping her up, pulling her up. The two wrapped their arms around her simultaneously, and she buried her head in Verona's shoulder and grasped Clarisse' hand tightly, her knuckles turning white as she sobbed. "Come on, girl." Clarisse offered. "Let's go to the Big House. We'll make you some hot chocolate."
She only sobbed harder as the two of them pulled her along away from the crowd and towards the large blue house situated in the camp, her eyes distraught. She pulled her head up from Verona's shoulder, shaking as they walked together.
"Charlie, he—he," She hiccuped, not being able to say anything else. "This—this is all my—my fault, I—that miss—mission—"
Verona hushed her, rubbing her arm. "It's not your fault, Sil. You didn't know what was going to happen on that boat."
Then Silena only shook her head, crying again and the Verona's heart felt like it was itching to implode as she watched her sister shake, blaming herself for something she hadn't even done. And The sun continued to shine bright in the sky, as if it hadn't just lost one of it's brightest companions.
NOTE ———————————— pls beckendorf's death was so sad i hated reading it.