Glass Heart

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Chapter Quote:
“The strength of a man is in his character. A strong man is great man of wisdom who understands, his top priority is to his family.”
~ Ellen J. Barrier, The Price We Must Pay for Our Father’s Sins
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Chapter 22: Glass Heart

Voices floated around me, some calm, some frantic, and it made me wonder who they were.  My body ached, my head pounded, and I couldn’t quite remember what had happened.  Where was I?  Certainly I wasn’t on my boat.  There were too many voices around me.  Was I back at camp?  If so, how did that happen?

“Her eyesight has returned?” A deep voice asked.  It sounded familiar to me but I couldn’t place why.

“Yes, your grace.  She was only struck by one curse.  From our intel, she was protecting the boy and jumped in front of him.  He’d saved her just before when one of the arai grabbed her by the leg.  Witnesses claimed he gave one look at her blind on the ground and went berserk, killed all the arai.  They’d never seen anything like it.  I see why your father chose him for his cause.  Once set on something, it is near impossible to talk him out of it,” a woman said.

“Will he survive?”

“We don’t know.  The other curses he didn’t feel the effects of at first because of his determination to get rid of the monsters.  But that last curse, it nearly killed him.  If Shiloh had gotten him in the water when she did, it would’ve killed him.  The cold water prevented his insides from overheating, causing them to fail which ultimately would’ve led to his painful death.  He was unconscious when we found them.  She passed out on the way here, most likely from all the panic and the adrenaline rush leaving her.”

“When she wakes, let me know immediately.  I must speak with her.  Before my brother carries out his idiotic plan,” the man grumbled.  Footsteps followed and receded away from me.  Silence ensued.  The talk of my eyesight had brought all the memories flooding back to me.  I remembered hearing the screams of the arai as Luke killed them, from rage that had come from the desire to protect me.  It didn’t scare me, but it made me wary.  It was his rage last time that had caused him to join Kronos’ army.  But hopefully, since his rage wasn’t at the gods this time, he wouldn’t do anything stupid.  Again.

I opened my eyes, expecting to still be blind, but colors and shapes and objects greeted me.  I let out a relieved sigh.  My sight had returned.  I forced myself to sit up and figure out my surroundings.  I was in an underwater room.  The window looked out over a terrace.  Merpeople swam by.  Some saw me looking at them and waved.  I waved back.  Turning around, my feet shuffled towards a curtained off area.  Throwing back the curtains revealed Luke.  He was wearing sweatpants and a tee shirt.  His face was bruised and scratched, his arms had deep cuts in them from the arai’s leathery tails whipping at him.  His eyes were closed, but he was breathing, and that was all I cared about.  Was he awake?

“Luke?” I took his hand in mine. “Hey, wake up.”

“He won’t wake up miss.  Not anytime soon at least,” a woman said.  I turned around.  She smiled at me. “I’m Lynn.  I’m the one who helped you last night.  Welcome to Atlantis.”

“Thank you for helping me.  I thought we were done for.  And what do you mean he won’t wake up?”

“The curses inflicted upon him caused a lot of damage, both physically and mentally.  You two have been here three days.  You’ve been in and out of consciousness, although I believe you don’t remember it.  He, on the other hand, has not.  Mind you, he’s mumbled a few things, he moves as well, but never wakes.  Do not worry though.  We are doing everything we can to make sure he wakens.”

“I believe you,” I said, smiling at her even though on the inside I was worrying incessantly about him.  There’d been at least thirty arai.  If he had killed twenty-nine of them… the chances of him surviving… I didn’t want to think about it.

“On another note, miss, your father wishes to speak with you.”

“Lead me to him.” Giving Luke a kiss on the brow and shutting the curtains, I followed Lynn.  The palace was stunning, even if half of it was damaged from the Titan War, still being rebuilt.  The place was sprawling, and went farther than the eye could see.  I wondered how mortals hadn’t found the place yet, how it hadn’t somehow shown up on someone’s radar.  Merpeople floated past me, some greeting me, some completely ignoring me.  One actually came up to me and begged me to play with him; he couldn’t have been older than five.  Lynn told him I couldn’t play with him now, but maybe another time, that I had business with Poseidon to attend to.  The boy nodded and swam off.  Lynn noted, “He likes to play with all the new guests.  His names Rory.  Depending on how long your stay is, you may have to end up playing with him.”

I shrugged. “I don’t mind.  I like little kids.”

Lynn led me to a massive throne room.  Poseidon sat on his jewel encrusted throne- sapphires, aquamarines, tanzanite, and other blue gems adorned it.  It was magnificent.  It dawned on me that this was really the first time I was actually seeing my father.  I’d caught a brief glimpse of him during the Battle of Manhattan but I’d been dealing with a few murderous demigods so I couldn’t really marvel at the sight of him.  Besides, I hadn’t known he’d been my father then anyway.

Poseidon’s eyes met my own.  A smile broke out on his face. “Welcome, Shiloh.”

Lynn had left, leaving me all alone.  I knelt in reverence but my father told me stand. “Hello father.”

“I’m proud of you, daughter.”

“Uh, for what?  I haven’t really done anything extraordinary.” The truth blurted out of my mouth before I could stop it.  I should’ve just said thank you and left it at that, but no.  My brain just had to go blabbering.

“You stopped a man from returning to the Underworld.  You saved your friend from your exploding boat.  You judo-flipped a man.  Maybe it’s not extraordinary, but it’s been interesting.  It’s making me wonder who’s more unpredictable: you or Percy.”

I smiled. “You wanted to speak with me about something?  I doubt it’s about me and my not-so-extraordinary adventures.”

Poseidon chuckled. “Yes, I do want to speak with you.” His face turned serious. “Is it true you fought arai?”

“Yes, sir.”

“This isn’t good, them appearing now.  It’s been centuries since I last heard of them… How did you defeat them?”

“I didn’t.  I killed one when it tried to go for Luke.  That’s why I went blind for some time.  It was Luke who killed the rest.  When I got taken by the curse, he sort of went berserk on them.  His adrenaline kept him from feeling the full effects of all the curses until he hit the last one.  I think that’s the one that’s keeping him incapacitated.”

“You always did make friends with strange people.  Just like your mother,” Poseidon said in amusement.

“My mother was the same way?”

“She chose me didn’t she?”

“How is she?”

“Good.  She misses you though.  How long has it been since you’ve talked to her?”

“Since the day she and I had the argument about fighting in the war…” My mother had been totally against it.  She and I had never really argued before, but the one we had before I went back to camp had been brutal on both sides.  It had turned into a screaming match, with her furiously slamming her door, me ending up in tears and running to Camp Half-Blood in the middle of the night, and both of us giving each other the cold-shoulder.  My mother had been petrified that I might die.  She’d already lost her parents, her sister, her brother, and two of her close friends.  It would kill her if I died.  But then I argued that Camp Half-Blood needed all the support it could gather.  I was a good fighter, I’d been training my whole life.  And it seemed wrong to me to let my friends die fighting for my freedom when I was just as capable as doing the same.  I’d made up my mind; I was going to fight in the war.  Nothing would change that.  After the battle, I sent her word that I was alive, that the gods had won.  She only responded with “Good.”  The simplicity of the answer hurt.  I thought maybe she’d want me to come back home, but she said nothing about.  I took that as a sign she didn’t want me to come back.  It’d numbed me.  Feelings didn’t register with me for a few days.  That is, until Luke came around.

“You should talk to her,” my father insisted gently.

“So she can yell at me again?” I retorted like a stubborn child.

“No, so you can both make amends.  She wanted to tell you to come home after the war but didn’t think you wanted to, knowing she hurt you as much she did.  Yes Shiloh, she’s not completely blind to that.  In fact, it’s been eating her conscience ever since.  More than once she’s driven to camp to talk to you in person but always decided against it, thinking you didn’t want her to make a scene with you.”

“I was twenty years old, already considered an adult.  Why couldn’t she let me make my own decision?”

“Because she’s a parent, and a parent’s only concern is the welfare of their children.  I’m no different.  If I could’ve prevented you and Percy from fighting in this past war, and the one that I feel is brewing now, I would.  Never believe I condone my children fighting wars that I and my siblings have caused.  My brother has a knack for pissing people off.  He does it quite well.  But that’s not my point.  My point is, when you get a chance, or when you feel ready, talk to your mother.  She wants to see you again.” I nodded but didn’t say anything.  Placing his hands on my shoulder, Poseidon said, “Listen, I must take care of other matters.  There’s some rebuilding issues I need to attend to and then Amphitrite and Triton have been having issues that I must sort out.  Gods know what they’re arguing about now.”

Kissing me on the top of my head, my father left.  I was torn between wanting to visit Atlantis and going to check on Luke.  Naturally, Luke won out.  He was still in the same position I’d left him in, but his face was contorted into pain.  He mumbled something unintelligible.  Sighing, I took his hand in mine and sat down.
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Luke 

“I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!” I cried out.  There were about fifty demigods surrounding me, all glowering, all radiating anger. “None of you deserved it, none of you deserved your fate.”

“Why do you get to live?  What makes you so special?  Why do you get a second chance” One asked.

“It was supposed to be my punishment, staying at camp.  It still is.  I still attend camp and every day, I see the people I hurt, and I see the empty places that were taken by people I once knew, and they’re dead because of me; I know this.  I want to change.  I wish I could.  If there was any way I could, I would.  And I’m not alive because I’m special.  I’m alive because I had help.”

“Yes, that daughter of Poseidon.  Shiloh, is it?  She’s here somewhere.  Michael, you have her don’t you?”

Michael grinned. “Right here!” He dragged my girlfriend onto the scene by her hair.  Her hands and feet were bound together by rope.  Her eyes were closed but tears streamed down her face.  Shiloh was sobbing for them to free her.

“Let her go!” I begged. “She has nothing to do with this, just let her go!  Just let her go…”

“It wasn’t just her you know.  Annabeth and Percy helped,” another person said.

“Don’t, stop!  It wasn’t their doing!  Hurt me, don’t hurt them!  They’re innocent!”

Michael turned on me. “This helplessness?  Now you see how we felt when you caused us to die.  Now you feel the helplessness we felt.  And you will continue to feel it.  Forever.  You will never be able to forget us.”

I woke up, covered in sweat.  Shiloh was holding my hand.  When she saw my eyes open, a breathtaking smile broke out on her face.  She kissed me on the forehead.

“Thank the gods you’re awake.  I was so worried about you!” she exclaimed. “How are you feeling?”

I wanted to respond.  I wanted to tell her about my dream.  But I physically couldn’t bring myself to do it.  My body felt dead, my heart felt like it’d been turned to glass and shattered into a million shards, with those shards travelling all through my blood stream, causing endless pain.  Nothing but hopelessness and despair filled my mind.

All I could do was stare at the ceiling and listen to Shiloh frantically call out for someone to check on me.
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