CHAPTER NINETEEN
—stupid sympathy

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  —JUDITH wanted to be out of the Sun God's car as soon as it 'landed' in Camp Half-Blood's lake. Thalia had practically reinvented the concept of climate change in the span of the half hour she was at the wheel. That, and Apollo must not use air conditioning because everyone was practically boiling alive by the time they were at camp. Luckily, they were about to be cooled off by the chill December lake water.

  "Alright, everyone out," Apollo called around the bus and everyone started filtering out to swim to shore. Judith stared at the murky water as it flooded into the vehicle, soaking her ankles and rising to her knees. She hadn't gone in the water since summer, hadn't felt compelled in the slightest to ever go in again, frankly. Water had only brought dark things — dramatic, she knew, but it was true. Judith tried to not dwell too long on Bryce and how he possibly could have died by drowning. It was equally likely he had died before then, but something told the girl he had been lost to the sea and not the smoke.

  Percy was almost out, having made sure Nico got through before him when he turned to see Judith still in her seat, stiff as a board. "Hey, let's go."

  Judith was startled out of her stupor and steeled her face as he looked at her curiously. She stood up in the aisle on shaky legs. "I just don't want to get my hair wet," she said strictly and went to wade into the water, refusing to meet his eyes. She made absolute sure to keep her face above the surface, leaving no chances for getting caught beneath the surface.

  Percy surpassed her and made it to shore, no doubt having used his mermaid abilities. She slowly reached the beach and climbed out sluggishly, feeling a draft of icy air hit her skin. A dryad came up to offer her a towel but saw that she wasn't wet in the slightest and Judith looked down curiously, picking at her hoodie around her waist like it was playing tricks on her. But as she looked up, her eyes couldn't stop from honing in on the son of Poseidon's back as he walked away.

  Something twisted uncomfortably in her chest and she only barely recognized it as gratitude.

  Ellis, one of Judith's half siblings, had found her rather quickly considering the whole camp heard and felt the crash of Apollo's chariot bus. "Hey, kiddo," he greeted with a smirk.

  Judith rolled her eyes and continued walking to their cabin. "Don't call me that."

  "Ooh, what's got you riled?" He asked.

  "Nothing, I'm tired and hungry," Judith grumbled. "Is she ...?" The girl let the question hang.

  Ellis shook his head and didn't meet her eyes. "No, she's not back," he answered, knowing what she was asking.

  Clarisse had been gone for over a month on a 'special' quest for Chiron. Judith had practically demanded the centaur to tell her where her sister had gone but he had refused to tell her anything. She hadn't been in contact with the older girl at all and didn't know if Chiron had been either since the quest was 'top secret.' It was all very suspicious and Judith didn't like it one bit.

The girl was quick when changing into new clothes, throwing on a black sleeved shirt under her orange camp tee. She'd noticed the frigid air and slight snow drifts that Mr. D had allowed into the camp. The girl would have been happier about it if she hadn't just been outside in the freezing cold, fighting a monster for hours.

  Ellis resumed a conversation with her when she returned from the small changing area. "How about your quest, though? Did you get Grover?"

  "Yeah, he's fine. He had two other demigods with him. But, uh, Annabeth —"

  "She's dead?!" Ellis interrupted, his eyes wide and unbelieving.

  "What? No, she's not dead," she harshly rejected. "Just lost. Manticore got her."

  "But she's not ... dead?" The boy asked, confused.

  "That's what Artemis said." Judith shrugged, handing to her forehead as she felt a headache coming on.

  "Artemis? Oh, no. No, don't tell me the Hunters are here."

  Judith nodded gravely and Mark groaned as he walked by them on the way to his bunk. "Prissy little girls," he grumbled. "Clarisse would have a conniption."

  "I'm going to have a conniption," Judith corrected. "And who knows how long they're going to be here this time? They're going to be here the whole time Artemis is on her hunt. That could be ages."

  The two boys moaned simultaneously, outwardly voicing her internal feelings on the matter. Judith frowned, she felt that her brothers had entirely disregarded the whole Annabeth issue, had simply rolled over it like it was nothing —when, in fact — it was everything. It was a failed quest ( it wasn't even a full fledged quest! ). It was supposed to be 'get in, get out, and go,' and it had turned on its head and failed, Judith wouldn't stand for it. For that reason, the girl went out to find someone who would care.

  Finding Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard was pure luck on her part. They would be concerned, they would care.

   "Oh, J," Silena breathed after Judith had said her part, even telling them how nobody seemed to care that Clarisse was still gone as well. "I'm sure Annabeth is okay; she's smart. And Clarisse? Maybe not as smart, but she's too stubborn to be killed by some monsters, you know that."

  Judith hung onto her every word, thinking she might have made a mistake by going to someone else. She didn't want sympathy, she wanted action! "But —"

  "Hey, Silena is right. If anyone was to get lost or be sent on a top secret quest alone, it should be them." Beckendorf smiled gently, adding in his two cents. "Those two are the most capable of looking after themselves."

  Judith stared between the both of them expectantly, waiting for one of them to realize how crazy this all was and to suggest she do something about it. She was just waiting for someone to agree with her, back her up. Tell her to go against camp rules and fix the problem. But it never came.

  As the three stood there in a triangle, Percy came up and joined their circle. "Um, Chiron told me to go around and tell people about the capture the flag game tomorrow. Apparently, it's tradition?" The boy shrugged, not knowing that he had just delivered terrible news to someone who was already in a bad mood.

Judith groaned to herself and rubbed her face in exasperation.

  Charles pinched the bridge of his nose as well, having experienced two of these games against the Hunters in his stay at the camp. "Yeah, an awful tradition. We're going to get pulverized, just like every year."

  "And we don't have Clarisse or Annabeth to help out this time," Silena hissed at the realization.

  Percy backtracked. "Wait, where's Clarisse?"

  Judith looked at him. "She's been gone for weeks on a quest for Chiron. He won't tell me what it is," she said bitterly. Silena and Charles took this as their leave as they had already gone through this discussion with the younger girl and weren't about to watch her blow up yet again.

  Judith watched them walk away with annoyance, still empty-handed in her pursuits. She eyed Percy for a moment, knowing — just knowing he would be the one to give her what she wanted, but also hesitant to let it be him. If she voiced that she wanted to leave camp for Annabeth, he'd be all for it, maybe suggesting a plan of his own, and she didn't know how she felt about that. But she joined him on his excursion anyway, deciding Annabeth was more important than her affliction toward the son of Poseidon.

  "What kind of quest?" He asked, seeing she was following him around.

  Judith huffed. "I just told you Chiron won't tell me anything."

  Percy pursed his lips for a moment. "I know, I was just —"

  "Yeah, whatever," she waved him off. "I'm as clueless as you are. Chiron's been at the very bottom of my list lately."

  Percy nodded in agreeability. "We told Chiron and Mr. D about Annabeth and everything. They were going to do nothing," he told her in disbelief, sounding just like Judith had when talking to Silena and Beckendorf. "But they agreed to sending out a search party tomorrow."

  Judith would much rather have the search party go right then to find her sooner rather than later. She voiced this to Percy and he sympathized, agreeing with her wholeheartedly. He was also quite unimpressed that they were going to be playing a capture the flag game in the meantime when there were other things to be worrying about — tradition or not.

  After Percy finished his rounds of alerting the different cabins about the game tomorrow, he sidled up next to Judith as she aimed to go back to her own cabin. She had assumed they were done discussing their opinions, but apparently he had more to say.

  "So, I take it this capture the flag game doesn't usually end well, does it?"

  Small talk. Why was he so obsessed with that?

  Judith shrugged, digging up a memory of the last game against the Hunters. The girls were lethal with a bow and brought out specialized arrows in order to not truly harm the campers, but they were always bed ridden afterwards. "It's rough, yeah."

  "But why do they hate us?" Percy continued.

  "Well, they don't get our lifestyle so they choose to hate us for it. A few of them used to be campers so that adds to the rivalry, I guess."

  "Are they all demigods?"

  "Why are you asking me this? Go bother Zoë about it or something. And I'm sure Grover is dying to talk about them," Judith rumbled. "I turned them down for a reason, I don't want to be any part of their group, I don't even want to think about them."

  "You really think Zoë's going to talk to me, much less look at me? And you're right, Grover probably is fawning over them, it's exactly why I won't go to him." He sighed. "That's why I'm asking you."

  "Oh my gods," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "whatever. No, there are full blooded mortals. Anyone Artemis deems worthy can join, as long as you're a girl."

  "And she thought you were worthy?" He asked then, scuffling his shoes in the dirt as his hands clenched and unclenched. Judith — for the life of her — couldn't pinpoint why this topic always had him so riled up; it couldn't possibly be all because of Bianca and her decision.

  "It doesn't matter what she thinks of me. I told you, I'm not joining anyway," she said.

  Percy was silent for a moment. "You could be immortal."

  "When have I ever given you the impression that I want to be immortal? Besides can you see me wearing silver tiaras and parkas?"

  "I don't know, immortality just sounds like the ultimate reward, you know?" He trailed off before chuckling. "But no, I can't see you wearing a tiara or a parka. I don't even think I can see you shooting a bow. It's always been you and a sword."

  "I'm trained in all weapons," Judith said. "I just don't prefer a bow and arrow. And the gods have kind of ruined the whole immortality thing for me."

  "I can see that," Percy nodded, another slew of silence following his response as they walked. "I'm glad — glad that you didn't."

  "Glad that I didn't ... what?"

  "Choose to join them."

  Judith's walking rhythm faltered. She seriously couldn't fathom what went through his head whenever this discussion was brought up. So what if she hadn't joined the Hunters? Why was it any concern of his? It wasn't like he had a bone to pick with any of the Hunters, not like Thalia did. As far as she was concerned, Percy didn't even know Artemis' Hunters existed before today.

  "Well, I didn't do it for you or anything," she said adamantly, making it clear that she did it all for herself, for her own reasons.

  "I know that. I'm just glad that you didn't," Percy confessed, hands now stuffed deeply in his pocket as he looked around the camp with interest. "Bianca's choice just came as a huge shock and I still don't think I'm over it."

  "Why does it bother you so much?" She asked, briefly forgetting that she really didn't care what his reasons were. If the boy was going to keep whining then she might as well humor him now and get it over with; maybe then, he'd stop bringing it up.

  The boy shrugged, trying to blow off the question like it didn't bother him, but Judith knew better. "I don't know. It was like, we just got her. Just saved her. And she immediately chose to leave. But that doesn't really bother me as much as her just ditching Nico. He's ten!" Percy took a deep breath. "And right after Annabeth goes missing? It kind of just felt like a lot all at once, I don't know."

  Judith didn't explicitly say it, but she understood. He felt like everything was falling apart right in front of him. A small quest that was supposed to be easy turned into a big mess. And the dumb son of Poseidon probably felt responsible, even though he was poisoned and completely out of it for a large portion of it.

  "Well, I think Nico will be okay," Judith commented, nudging her head somewhere to the side where Nico was sitting. They both watched for a moment to see the boy explaining mythomagic to a few Hermes kids. The daughter of Ares had no doubt they would try and make bets around the game and coerce Nico into gambling as well.

  As if feeling the eyes on him, the young boy looked up and grinned at the sight of them. He waved energetically and pointed to his new orange shirt, showing off the new camp gear he'd been given. Percy lightly raised his hand to wave back and Judith just nodded.

  "I hope he will be."

  "He will," Judith said with conviction. "We'll make sure of it."

NOTES;
OKAY SO MY WRITING FEELS SO JUMPY AND ROUGH AND I LITERALLY CAN'T STAND IT

edited : 07 / 10 / 2020