Chapter Quote:
"The shattering of a heart when being broken is the loudest quiet ever."
~Carroll Bryant
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Chapter 21

Luke

The next few days consisted of sleep and story-telling. Considering he'd been possessed for most of it, hearing Alec and Isabelle recount their tale was as enrapturing to him as it was to the parents and Chiron. None of them really left the infirmary unless to sit outside. Physically, they healed incredibly quickly. Emotionally and mentally turned out to be a different story. Apparently, having your energy zapped by an immortal being returned at a slower rate than usual.

Bryn went in and out of consciousness. Every time, Luke was at her side. He refused to leave her, worried if he did, something would happen to her. It was only on the fifth day that Silena and his mom finally convinced him to at least go bathe. Kissing Bryn on the head, he left the infirmary. Admittedly, the shower felt good. He'd had one when he returned but had been so exhausted, he didn't take the time to enjoy it. This time he did. Luke could feel his muscles relax and the tension melting away.

Stepping out, he hastily threw on clean clothes and headed back to the infirmary. Silena sat outside, fiddling with her necklace. Upon hearing him approach, she hurriedly stood up.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, Bryn's awake." Luke made for the door immediately, but she grabbed onto his hand, effectively stopping him. "Luke, she's not okay. Whatever Amara did to her, Bryn's pretty bad off. She's not saying anything. She's barely looking at us."

His heart constricted. Could immortals stop putting his girlfriend through so much crap? Could they not find some other demigod to pick on? Bryn had been fighting for her life before she could remember. She didn't deserve this. Any of this.

"Thank you for the warning," he said, his voice tight. Squeezing his hand, she let him go, and Luke took a cautious step into the infirmary. His family and friends sat around Bryn, talking gently to her. She refused to look at any of them.

"Hey, Bryn," Luke said. Her head snapped up. Any sign of being incoherent disappeared momentarily, and while he could tell she wasn't herself, she still knew him, and that was a start. That was a good thing.

"Hey guys, why don't we give them a moment," Silena suggested. Luke hadn't realized she'd come in behind him. Derek, the twins, Alec, Isabelle, and Hallie either gave her a kiss on the head or hugged her. Bryn didn't return any of the affections. Her focus remained solely on her boyfriend.

Once everyone had left, Luke approached her, and Bryn stood. He wrapped her in his arms, pulling her as tight as he dared against him, not wanting to hurt her more than she already was.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered.

"I'm okay," she said despondently. He vaguely heard metal scraping but figured something had brushed against the door outside.

"I'm sorry, Bryn. Whatever Amara put you through, I swear on my life I will take her down for it. I'm not going to let her hurt you again. I'm not letting any of them touch you again. I love you."

Bryn hesitated. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

Luke heard his sister scream his name, saw Alec and Derek rushing forward to grab a thrashing and sobbing Bryn by the arms who was shouting, "It's all your fault! It's all your fault!"

But he couldn't place why he saw this all from the ground. Luke couldn't remember falling to the floor, or when his mom caught him. He couldn't focus on anything in particular, and that terrified him.
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Derek

Silena had been peering through a crack in the door to watch her brother and Bryn. The others told her it was an invasion of privacy, especially since she was the one who insisted everyone leave. But with a single death glare, they all promptly shut up. Then, without warning, Silena burst into the infirmary screaming Luke's name. The group rushed in after her, and Derek felt his blood run cold. A knife had embedded itself in Luke's back, by the looks of it, his spine. It had been Bryn's doing. Her hand was still wrapped around the hilt.

Derek snapped into action, darting forward to get his sister away from Luke. Alec had the same idea and helped him drag her away. She fought them viciously, screaming everything was Luke's fault. The parents, having heard the commotion, were suddenly in the room.

"What happened?!" Percy demanded.

"Knock her out! Someone!" Alec barked.

"Look out!" Hallie warned, diving for cover. It was too late for Derek and Alec, though. Bryn crackled with energy, letting it explode outward. The two demigods prepared for impact, but it never came. Brady and Bradley had somehow gathered her power and contained it, directing it towards the fireplace in the back of the room and slowly releasing it. They proceeded to grab hold of her, too, as Chiron injected something in the neck. Within seconds, Bryn slumped to the ground, still weeping softly as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

"What the hell was that?" Hallie breathed. "What's wrong with her?"

"Annabeth, get Dionysus down here," Chiron ordered. "Everyone else, do exactly what I say. If we're to save Luke's life right now, we have no margin for error."

No one argued, not even Annabeth, which stunned Derek, although he also figured if anyone could get the sarcastic god of wine to listen to them, it would be Annabeth Jackson. Chiron ordered everyone to have a specific job. The twins and Alec were tasked with restraining Bryn to a bed, using special cuffs to dampen her powers. Meanwhile, the rest of them helped the centaur stabilize Luke.

Miraculously, the dagger missed Luke's spine, but only narrowly. Derek found that strange. If Bryn had intended to kill him, she wouldn't have missed his spine. Maybe, just maybe, there was some part of her left in her head.

Silena worked methodically, not saying a word. Derek kept a careful eye on her. He knew she wasn't okay, but like her mother, she put logic over emotions during times of crisis. It had to be one hell of a situation for that not to happen.

Two hours later, Luke was resting soundly in a bed, all bandaged and medicated. Chiron predicted he'd make a full recovery. The rest of the demigods collapsed onto the floor or into chairs after the ordeal, processing what just happened. None of it seemed quite real. What had Amara done to Bryn to make her try and kill Luke?

Dionysus had come in amidst the chaos with Annabeth. He sat at Bryn's bedside with Penn and Michael, working his magic on Bryn, figuring out what had happened to her.

"Well?" Penn prodded.

"I'll say this: Luke's lucky to be alive," the god said. "Amara didn't succeed completely in twisting Bryn's brain into mush, so she hesitated at the last second and stabbed something other than his spine. I can get the madness to stop, but some of it, she'll need to overcome herself. I can at least right her thoughts, get rid of the murderous tendencies, and make her sane again."

"Do whatever you can, and I'll repay you."

"Your daughter saved Olympus along with these other kids. Consider this my repayment."

"And if she hadn't? If you didn't owe her that?" Michael asked heatedly.

"We'd work out some agreement."

Penn placed a reassuring hand on her fiancé's arm, and he grudgingly stayed quiet.

"Children, you should leave and get some rest. You've all had some taxing days, and I fear your troubles are not over yet," Chiron said.

"I want to stay here," Derek argued. "I don't want to leave them."

The others echoed his statement, but Chiron remained firm. With further convincing by the adults, they left, already impatient to hear the conditions of their family.

Bradley let out an exhale while Brady sunk against a tree. Everyone mutually joined them, saying nothing; the shock of the day had no words. Derek reached out for Silena's hand, lacing his fingers through hers. She squeezed it gratefully, and they took comfort in each other's presence.
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Luke

Luke went in and out of consciousness. Sometimes he remembered, sometimes he didn't. Usually, someone was next to him, but he couldn't tell who specifically. His memory was better with audible things. At one point, he swore he heard Bryn talking, saying, "How bad was it... oh my gods... I could've killed him..."

Sobs followed, and every atom in his body screamed for him to sit up and go to her, but he couldn't move. Paralysis had overtaken him. For all he knew, it was a dream.

It was only on the third day that he woke fully without falling back asleep within a few seconds or minutes.

"Luke?" Bryn's relieved voice whispered next to him. He turned his head to find her sitting at his bedside, his hand gripped in hers. The worry in her eyes was genuine, and whoever the Bryn had been the other day, it wasn't her now. It was his Bryn.

"Hey, Cat Woman," he greeted with a tired smile. "You doing okay?"

"Yes, now that you're awake," she said. Bryn stood up, releasing his hand and sitting on his bed a conservative distance away. He found it slightly odd but decided not to dwell on it. "How are you feeling?"

"I've had better days," Luke joked, attempting to sit up. He let out an involuntary yell as pain exploded on his backside. Bryn gently forced him back down.

"Don't. You're not healed yet."

"Gods... what happened?" he asked. Suddenly, Bryn couldn't look him in the eye, finding her hands in her lap much more fascinating. Softly, he repeated, "Hey, what happened?"

"I, um..." Bryn wiped something off her face. Luke couldn't see what it was; her hair hid her face from him. "I stabbed you. In the back. I nearly killed you."

Bryn's voice cracked, and her body started shaking. It took a moment for Luke to realize she was crying. He didn't care about the pain in his back returning because he'd be damned if he let her cry without him being able to comfort her. Clenching his teeth through the blinding pain, he sat up and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. She continued to weep and apologize. "I'm sorry, Luke. I'm so sorry. I didn't know what I was doing. Amara got into my head and twisted my thoughts and turned you into my enemy, and I nearly killed you, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. You didn't have any control. It's not your fault," he consoled.

Bryn pulled away from him. "But I still stabbed you."

"You could've severed my spine, but you didn't. Part of you fought back enough to stop that from happening. I don't know what Amara did to you, but I'm here for you. I'm always here for you. What do you say, when I get out of the infirmary, before we tackle killing those bastards, you and I go to Paris again? Just the two of us. We can forget the world around us again."

Bryn shook her head. "I-I'm heading back to London."

"Oh," Luke said, trying to hide his disappointment. "For how long?"

"I don't know. I just... I need a break from everything. I need time to myself, to work through things."

Something about her tone seemed off, and it worried him. "When you say you need a break from everything, do you mean things at camp or... or us too?"

She slowly stood up, backing away from him and shying away when he reached for her. "I'm sorry, Luke. I can't do this anymore. Not right now."

"Bryn, please, don't do this. You don't have to do this alone."

"But I do. I'm sorry." Then, before he could say anything else, she hurried out of the infirmary. Luke sat in a stunned silence. The world was going to hell again, he'd just been stabbed, powerful demons were trying to take power, he had another quest to prepare for, and all he could think about was Bryn. All he could think about was how he could handle everything as long as she was by his side. But now she'd broken up with him, and his world was crumbling down around him.
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I've had this song planned for this chapter since the beginning of this new trilogy- it's a great song, and I highly recommend you listen to it for this chapter! I'm not sure when the new book will be posted as I'm going to try and knock some other books out to clear my workload (on top of my actual job and everything from life in between) before adding any more. Hope you enjoyed this book, and I'll see you in the next one :)