CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
—stupid parties

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  —THE party lasted a lot longer than Judith had anticipated — and frankly, wanted. She wasn't a socialite and if the school dance they had gone to before the quest was anything to go off of, she wasn't a fan of dancing either.

  She had mainly kept to the sidelines of the party, distancing herself from the gods and goddesses that were roaming around. She especially didn't want to come across her dad, but as her luck would have it, he was also on the sidelines. She came upon Ares stuffing a small sandwich into his mouth wholly. Judith honestly wondered how her mother ever dealt with this man, but then she thought about her step-dad and how much worse he could be at times.

  Judith knew Ares noticed her as soon as she felt the hardened fire within her. She wasn't sure if that was just their blood connection or if his eyes truly could incite the deepest heat and anger just by looking at someone. Both answers seemed plausible.

  "Your friend sure knows how to deceive his way out of things," the man's deep voice boomed even though he kept it quiet enough to keep from prying ears.

  Judith looked up at him, choosing to ignore the friend comment for the time being. Fighting against it at this point just felt futile. "He's not deceiving anyone."

  "You're too in cahoots with him to understand," the man growled. "He's dangerous and will bring the end as we know it."

  The girl looked far away from her father then. "Don't you want war? You say he's going to bring war to the gods, isn't that what you thrive on?"

  Ares stuffed another sandwich in his mouth before answering. "However much war thrills me, his prophecy decides the death or life of the gods. That's a war even I never want to see. I can find and make war where and whenever I please."

  Judith thought on it for a moment, seeing where her father was coming from. "But I know him. His allegiances are with the gods."

  Her own father crossed his arms and fully turned to her now. "You must know by now what your fatal flaw is," he blatantly said. Judith nodded, knowing her tendencies. "You've shown plenty of it on your quests." The girl could sense his eye roll underneath the dark aviator sunglasses. "Well, Jackson's is his downfall."

  "What's that supposed to mean? What's his flaw?"

  "You've seen how loyal he is. He took the sky from you without thinking it through because you were in pain. It makes him weak, not strong," Ares snapped. "At any point Kronos could turn the tides by taking something he loves and bending Jackson to his will because that boy will do whatever it takes to make sure they are safe, no matter what."

  Judith didn't answer now.

  "You see a hero, but I see the start of an oncoming storm that could destroy anything it touches," Ares growled. "He's malleable, Jude, like gold. Maybe valuable, maybe nice on the surface, but oh so pliable."

  The girl gulped at how his tone lessened at the end, like he was turning less scolding and more pleading. He brought up good points, and she couldn't help but roll them over in her mind.

  "Before you go," Ares said, clearing his throat gruffly, "give me your sword."

  Judith was confused but didn't disobey. She unbuckled the hilt and pulled it out of her belt loops, forming her sword. Ares took it and held it tightly in his hands. The god lifted his sunglasses and Judith already knew to look away as he worked. Soon, the heat she felt from his direction died down and he returned the blade to her.

  "I can't have that kind of power in just any sword," Ares explained. "It could turn you power hungry."

  Judith took the sword and held it for a moment, no longer feeling the energy that once surged through it. She missed it, but knew what power would do to someone, she'd seen it plenty of times from Thalia in the past day.

  The next time Judith looked up, Ares was gone. She wasn't phased by his exit; she didn't really want to say a pleasant goodbye to him anyway.

  Now though, Judith felt like she needed to speak to only one person. She found him easily as he was leaving the dance floor.

  Judith punched Percy's arm as he neared her. "What was that for?" He cried.

  "Multiple things," she said easily.

  Percy looked away, exasperated. "What is it this time?"

  "You could have died in there," she stated first. "The gods were about ready to strike you down right there."

  Percy scoffed. "Okay, wait — it's not my fault your dad has it out for me or that Annabeth's mom wants to do me in, either. Dionysus just doesn't like any demigod, obviously. That doesn't mean you have to hit me."

  She hit him again anyway just to show she could and she would.

  "On the mountain. When you took the sky, it was an idiot move," she said next, crossing her arms. She had listened to what her father had said, but as usual, she would take it with a grain of salt.

  Percy mimicked her stance and narrowed his eyes. "You're such a hypocrite, you took the sky first. What was I supposed to do? Let you die under the weight of the sky?"

  "I could have handled it," Judith answered, though she saw the lie in her own words.

  "Sure, Judy," Percy said. "Next time you do something stupid first, I'll make sure to not copy you."

  "Don't call me Judy, Perseus," the girl threatened to hit him again and he flinched away. He started to laugh, though. She didn't see how the situation was so funny, but she also started to chuckle.

  Percy reached up to pull on one of her longer braids. A lock of strands within it had turned gray. She flicked his fingers away to grab it for herself. "A little souvenir for our stupidity."

  Judith frowned at it but smirked when she saw Percy's. It was directly at the forefront of his forehead and extremely visible. It was like he'd dyed it purposefully. "Old man," she called him.

  "Old woman, then," he challenged.

  Judith rolled her eyes. "Annabeth's got it too." They scanned the room for the blonde, seeing her discussing things with a minor god, an enthusiastic grin on her face. Her gray streak was less visible against her hair color, but they knew it was there.

  "I'm glad she's back," Percy said.

  Judith nodded. "She would have been smart enough to get us out of multiple situations this quest."

  They both nodded, their eyes drifting to the ground as they thought of Bianca and Zoë, respectively.

  "Percy," Judith started, "what are you going to tell Nico?"

  The boy looked at a loss. "I ... I don't know. I made a promise that I know I shouldn't have made. It's going to hurt him so much."

  Judith, despite her conscience telling her not to, let her hand fall on his shoulder. "He's strong. At least, I think he is."

  Percy shrugged, trying not to disturb Judith's hand from him. She didn't offer affection very often so he would take what he could get.

  —THE three half-bloods and Grover were escorted back to camp by Argus and Judith could feel something different as soon as she stepped through the borders. She knew exactly what it was and raced through the camp to find the missing link.

  She jumped up as soon as she saw her to call out, "Clarisse!"

  The older girl spun around and beamed, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Jude."

  They knocked elbows in an Ares greeting.

  The younger girl slightly frowned to herself at the desolate tone and unenthusiastic handshake, but she was quick to forget about it as they stepped back. They both looked over each other, noticing the differences. Clarisse tugged at the graying braid just like Percy had and Judith saw new scars littered around the girl's face and a new, choppy haircut.

  "You had me worried there for a bit," Judith said.

  Clarisse let out a chuckle, although disheartened a little. "I've missed you too. We have a lot to talk about. Right now I think there's a cabin-head meeting, but we'll talk later."

  And Clarisse was off. Judith found it strange how she was acting and hoped nothing drastic happened on her secret quest, but she knew that was a far-fetched wish. Something big always happened.

  As it would be, it seemed Clarisse and Judith's talk would have to wait a while as Percy raced up next to her, Annabeth and Grover tailing him. "Nico's gone," he panted.

  "What? Where?"

  "I told him about Bianca and he ran off into the woods. Judith, he — I know who his parent is."

   "Who is it? Percy, you're acting weird," she raised an eyebrow. She was mildly concerned for the young di Angelo boy, but Percy was obviously bothered by something else.

  Annabeth stepped forward instead. "It's Hades. At least, that's what Percy's saying. He opened the ground and talked about the Fields of Asphodel."

  "Hades ... but that means ..."

  Grover stepped up next. "But they were born before the pact. And he's younger than Percy."

  "But it would still be detrimental to the peace of the gods to tell them," Judith agreed.

  They all nodded. Now that they were all on the same page, they ventured out into the woods to see if they could find the runaway boy. But as it got darker and darker, there seemed to be less and less hope of finding him.

  Soon, they had to call it because the harpies would come for them. They could only hope Nico was far from them as well.

  "He'll be okay," Judith said to Percy quietly as they all walked to their cabins.

  "Judith, he hates me. Chiron mentioned the possibility of him joining Kronos. If he understands who he truly is then Kronos could manipulate him."

  The girl was overwhelmed by what Percy was unloading on her. "Percy. Like I said, he's strong. Obviously stronger than I thought. He may hate you now, but he'll come around ... probably."

  Percy glared at her. "That helps," he said sarcastically.

  She shrugged helplessly. "Get some rest."

  "Yeah, you too."

  And they parted ways, both of them looking over their shoulders at different points to check that the other one was still there, though both were a little confused as to why they had the urge to keep looking.

NOTES;

SHORT SHORT. BUT THAT'S OKAY, BECAUSE NOW YOU GUYS CAN GO READ ASHES WHICH I THINK IS MUCH MUCH BETTER.

edited : 07 / 25 / 2020