chapter eight

─── thunder, lightning and general over dramaticness

ℑ woke with a start at the his words, finding thunder rumbling through the cabin as I sighed. I rubbed my hand over my face, trying to remind myself that I wasn't in the room with the other two people, but instead in Cabin One.

The ceiling above my bed was domed, decorated with a blue and white mosaic that shifted to represent the sky outside. Thunder rumbled through the room, gold tiles flashing like veins of lightning as I sighed.

There wasn't any regular furniture in the cabin, unlike everywhere else. There was a singular bed, that the others had put together, and that was it. No bathroom, nothing. Luke had told me to use Three's and that my new cousin, the Andromeda person, wouldn't mind but that had still felt super awkward.

The walls were carved with alcoves, each holding a bronze brazier or a golden eagle statue on a marble pedestal. In the centre of the room, a twenty-foot-tall, statue of Zeus in classic Greek robes stood with a shield at his side and a lightning bolt raised, ready to smite somebody.

I looked up at him, my eyebrows narrowed as I wondered what I actually had in common with this god. I wasn't a man, I didn't have black hair, I hoped that I didn't look perpetually grump and I certainly didn't have a beard.

This was supposedly a big honour, that's what everyone had said, but I hated it. I didn't like sleeping in a cold temple, on my own, with a statue of my father glaring down at me like he hated me for merely existing in the temple to his honour. I missed people, I missed being in the thick of things and one part of me wondered what staying in Cabin Eleven was like, whether that was more fun. Did my cousin feel this way? The only daughter of Poseidon, I was sure that she and I had that in common and she would know exactly what this was like.

Also, didn't help that I had a crick in my neck. The whole, summoning lightning thing had really taken a toll on me and I was shattered still.

Next to the bed, new clothes were laid out for me: a dry pair of jeans, a new pair of sneakers in my size and an orange shirt for the Camp. I knew that I needed a change of clothes, but putting the tattered purple shirt down felt wrong. I pulled it off, yanking the orange shirt on and shivering for a moment as I looked down at the tattoos on my arms. Sighing, I covered it with the dark blue hoodie and the windbreaker, taking some comfort that at least, I had that.

I thought of my dream as I laced my shoes up, hoping that something would come back to me about Lupa, the ruined house in the woods or anything more about the two people having the argument. I knew that they were real, both the wolf and the people, but the more I tried to think, the more my head ached like someone had taken a hammer to it. My tattoo burned and I scratched at it quickly, before taking a quick drink of water.

I needed to find those ruins, so I could find out my past. I needed to stop what was growing in that rock spire as well. I had a lot to do. Looking up at the statue, I wondered if it would speak to me.

"You're welcome to help me out here." The statue said nothing. "Thanks."

After the campfire, when people started heading back to their cabins, I had gone up to Piper and formally asked her to come with me on the quest. She'd still been in a state of shock, but she nodded, rubbing her arms, which must've been cold in her clothes.

"Aphrodite took my snowboarding jacket," Piper muttered. "Mugged by my own mom."

"I think you look stunning and I'm sure we can get you a new jacket."

"Thanks, Cress," She had grinned and that had been that. Piper was coming on the quest. I huffed, before standing and stretching, trying to get the crick in my back out as I turned to stare at the walls. My eyes caught onto something.

One of the brazier's had been moved out of one of the alcoves, to create a sleeping niche, with a bedroll, a backpack and some pictures taped to the wall.

I wandered over, brushing my finger along the side of the bedroll and bringing it up to my eyes to look at the dust. No one had been here for a long time at least two to three years. Some of the photos that were once taped to the wall had lost their stickiness and fallen to the floor.

Two of the pictures showed Annabeth and Luke. One when she was about eight, and him fourteen, both of them standing in front of an alleyway with a large grin plastered across both of their faces. The other was the pair laughing hysterically by the campfire. They looked happy and young, Luke didn't have that scar and Annabeth didn't look scared.

Finally I picked up one of the photos that had fallen. It was a strip of pictures from a photo booth or something: Annabeth and Luke, but with another girl between them. She was maybe fourteen, with black hair, a black leather jacket, and silver jewellery, so she looked kind of goth; but she was caught mid-laugh, and it was clear she was with her two best friends.

"That's Thalia." I could have jumped out of my skin, feeling like a kid who'd just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Turning, I found Luke standing further behind me. "Sorry, should have knocked. That's Thalia, she's the other child of Zeus who lived here, but not for long."

"It's alright," I waved him off, handing the photo back to him as he hummed. "Not like I think of this place as home."

He was dressed for travel. He was in the same jeans and hoodie that I'd seen him in the day before, a thick jacket over the top of that and a woolly hat on his head. His sword was slung across his back, and he had a bag in his other hand.

"Don't suppose you've changed your mind about coming with us?" I was hoping that he was about to say yes. The way everyone had described him, he was the best of the best, and if he was coming on the quest, then surely we'd succeed.

"You've got a good team, I'm not needed on this one." Luke shrugged. "I need to go back to New York, see Andi's mom, try and see if she went North and then rendevouz with some others. Got to take Annabeth with me."

I was hoping he wouldn't say that because I was worried that I was going to lead Leo and Piper off a cliff or something.

"You're gonna do fine." Luke patted my shoulder, squeezing as I nodded. "Something tells me that this isn't your first quest."

Part of me told me that Luke was right, but I didn't feel any less terrible about it. Everyone thought that I was brave and confident, and would lead the others well, but all I really wanted to do was go home, or wherever had been home for me. I obviously had people who were worried about me, trying to find me, and I just wanted them to know that I was safe.

"You know who I am," I guessed, looking up at the tall man. "Don't you?"

"Perhaps." He nodded, sitting back on the base of Zeus' statue. I wanted to tell him that it was blasphemous but I really didn't think that Luke would care all that much.

"You had this look last night, like I reminded you of someone."

"You do." Luke nodded. "You remind me of my Andi. Daughter of the Big Three, survived on her own for way too long, snarky, funny, kind. She'd like you."

"Someone else as well?"

"Perhaps." Luke shrugged. "It's too early to say, but look, you'll do great. I know you're going to do great."

"The first thing Chiron said to me was you should be dead," I patted my pockets, double checking that I had the little stuffed bird and the golden coin.

"He's never been known for his ability to not terrify people." Luke laughed. "Look, most demigods would never make it on their own. A child of Zeus...? It really doesn't get any more dangerous than that. The chances of you reaching eighteen without finding Camp or dying? Microscopic. Look, like I said, it does happen. Thalia ran away when she was young. She survived on her own for years, I was on the run for years before I came here which is how Thalia and I met and of course, Andi managed to survive for years because she didn't know that she was a demigod, and her mom was super smart. Maybe you're like that. Maybe you were on the run like we were, or you were being protected by someone."

I looked at the tattoos on my arm. "And these marks?"

Luke looked at them. They bothered him.

"The eagle is the symbol of Zeus, so that all adds up. The fifteen lines, they could stand for years, if you'd been making them since you were three years old."

"I didn't get them when I was three. I got them when I was older." I knew that much for a fact.

"Alright, maybe you got them in retrospect, or they're a sign of something else. SPQR is the motto of the old Roman Empire: Senatus Populusque Romanus, the Senate and the People of Rome." Luke shook his head. "I don't know why you'd brand them on your arm, that's still a mystery. I hope someone else didn't do that to you though."

I didn't want to tell him that I think someone else had, but that it was a good memory, because that sounded weird.

"I, uh...had a weird dream last night?" I felt like I should tell him that, but it was kind of a stupid thing to say. Yet, Luke barely looked surprised.

"Happens all the time to demigods. A lot of us have reasons for it," he said. "What did you see?"

I told him about the wolves and the ruined houses with the two rock spires, though I hesitated about Octavian and the other girl, keeping it to myself for the moment. Luke's face grew dark, his fingers drumming on his legs. When I hesitated a second time, he looked up once more.

"And..." He prompted.

"I dreamt about people. They couldn't see me, but I was listening and they were arguing and I think it was about me."

"That's good." Luke stopped drumming his fingers to nod his head and shoot me a grin. "Maybe you'll slowly start to get your memories back."

"It wasn't a memory. It was like real time." I explained. "It was raining and they were saying my name and talking about trying to find me, and spreading out."

"Interesting." Luke hummed. "Do you remember where the house is? Maybe they were there, or near there?"

"The amnesia thing still holds true." I sighed. "I'm sure I've been there before. I know it, from somewhere, I'm sure."

"Redwoods are northern California. Never run into a Lupa though." Luke conceded. "I've met a lot of monsters and other immortal figures, she's not one of them but then again, we're not welcome in California so maybe...?"

"She said the enemy was a 'her'. I thought maybe it was Hera, but-"

"Never trust a god." Luke shrugged. "That's a given."

I thought that was wrong. They were gods, surely we had to trust them.

"But you're right, I don't think it's Hera. Not this time at least. The thing rising out of the earth, that's not great." Luke sighed. "You have to stop it, that's your goal, not just to find Hera."

"I got that much," I muttered. "You know what this is, don't you? Or at least you've got a guess. I saw your face last night at the campfire. You looked at Chiron, but tried to hide it like you didn't want to scare us."

Luke groaned.

"Cressida, the thing about prophecies, the more you know and try to change them, the worse it can be. The consequences are normally disastrous." Luke folded his arms across his chest. "Chiron believes it's better that you find your own path, and whilst normally, I'm all for letting everyone have the full knowledge, this entire situation is confusing and he's right, you need to find your own path. I'm worried that if you know everything, you won't go on the quest and then, you'll never get your memories back, whoever's missing you won't get you back and Andi won't be able to come back."

"And Hera is killed?"

"Yeah." Luke didn't sound too put out if that happened.

"Brilliant." I sighed. "But I don't even know where to start. Where am I supposed to go?"

"Follow the monsters," Luke suggested. I pulled a face before sighing.

"Alright. How do I find storm winds?"

"Personally, I'd ask a wind god," Luke stood up for fully. "Aeolus is the master of all the winds, but he's a little...unpredictable. No one finds him unless he wants to be found. I'd try one of the four seasonal wind gods that work for Aeolus. The nearest one, the one who has the most dealings with heroes, is Boreas, the North Wind."

"So, if I looked him up in the yellow pages?"

"He's not hard to find. Settled in Quebec years ago." Luke grinned. "Hope you speak French."

"I'll brush up on the way." I muttered, but there was a little excitement in me. Now, I had a goal and a purpose. Go to Quebec, find the North Wind, track down the storm spirits, find out who they worked for and get to the ruined house, free Hera, get my memories back. All in four days.

Easy peasy.

"Thanks, Luke." I looked at the photo booth pictures still in his hands. "So, um...you said it was dangerous being a child of Zeus. What ever happened to Thalia?"

"Oh, she's fine now," Luke shook his head. "She became a Hunter of Artemis—one of the handmaidens of the goddess. They roam around the country killing monsters. We don't see them at camp very often."

I was starting to understand how appealing that might have been. At least I might still have my memories, but then my friends elsewhere wouldn't have me.

I stared back down at the photo, focusing on Thalia's face. The photo was important, I knew that deep in my gut, but I was missing something crucial. There was a connection to her, I was sure of it, but another voice was telling me not to pry.

"How old is she now?" I asked.

"Hard to say. She was a tree for a while. Now she's immortal."

"What?" My jaw dropped, causing Luke to chuckle.

"Don't worry. It's not a rite of passage for children of Zeus. It's a long story, but...well, she was out of commission for a long time. She was two years younger than me and, I'm twenty-three now, so she'd be twenty one or so. But she still looks the same as in that picture, like she's about fifteen or sixteen?"

Something the she-wolf had said in my dream nagged at me. "What's her last name?"

Luke hummed, eyes narrowing.

"Grace. Thalia Grace." Luke answered easily. "She hated using it, reminded her of her mom who was apparently a piece of shi-"

Every nerve in me froze, my fingers going numb as I dropped the photo to the floor, not listening to anymore of what Luke was saying to me.

"You okay?" Luke asked.

A shred of memory came back to me, not a lot but enough for me to know that something in my past was dangerous, if not deadly. Chiron had told me that I should be dead, but I was beginning to think that it wasn't a comment about me being a loner, but instead something about my family.

Lupa's words in my dream began to make sense to me. I had to admit, it was a clever joke at my expense, and I could practically here her growling laughter in the cabin.

"Cressida. What is it?" Luke drew closer, a hand on my shoulder as I tried to process it. I didn't know whether to tell him, but Luke had known Thalia, so maybe he could help me.

"You have to swear not to tell anyone else," I said.

"Cressida—"

"Swear it," I urged. "Until I figure out what's going on, what this all means—" I reached into the pocket of my windbreaker, wrapping my hands around the stuffed toy as I tried to anchor myself back to the present, lightning crackling through my veins. "You have to keep a secret."

"Alright." He nodded instantly. "Until you tell me it's okay, I won't share what you say with anyone else. I swear it on the River Styx."

Thunder rumbled, even louder than usual for the cabin. You are our saving Grace, the wolf had snarled. I picked the photo up from the floor.

"My last name is Grace," I said. "This is my sister."

"Cressida-" Luke's eyes went wide. "Fuck, I should have seen it. Of course you're Cressida. You went missing."

"You know about me?"

"Of you, there's a difference." Luke shook his head. "I only knew a name, but it adds up. Thalia always said that you and here were opposites."

Then the doors of the cabin burst open. Half a dozen campers spilled in, led by the bald guy from Iris, Butch.

"Hurry!" he said, and I couldn't tell if his expression was excitement or fear. "The dragon is back."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

Cress is just a sweetheart and I love her dearly. I cannot wait until we get more into the books, so that you guys can meet everyone and see how things have changed. Also, do love Luke and Cress talking and Cress seeing him disrespecting the gods and just kind of letting it slide.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx