Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
“Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.”
~Cary Grant
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Chapter 14: The Bad Guy's A Saint

“How do you lose a dragon?” Luke blurted out.  Percy looked over at him, concern settling over his face.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Luke answered.

Percy obviously didn’t believe this but he let it drop.  Facing Annabeth, he said, “Chiron said we need to get back immediately.  Peleus isn’t the only thing that’s missing.”

“What else is?” she replied.

“Bryn’s belongings.  All of them.”

“I’m almost done packing.  We’ll be down soon,” Luke said.  Percy nodded.  Annabeth grabbed her son’s backpack and patiently waited for him to zip up his suitcase.  They headed downstairs and into the car.  Silena took the middle.  On the way, Luke told them what happened in his dream, avoiding the part about telling Bryn not to come back until she decided to tell him the truth.  The group fell silent, each trying to figure out what she was doing.  Silena chose to use music to help her focus.  Luke peered out the window.  Derek chose to sleep, his face smushed against the window.  Luke could only think of how amusing that must be for any passer-byers.
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Derek 

In most cases, dark rooms, for demigods, meant two things.  First, something really bad had happened.  Second, something really bad was about to happen.  This time, it was the former.  There was three people.  Two of them Derek had dreamed about before: Ty and Scott.  The former was sitting down next to a bed, blocking Derek’s view of who was actually in it.  The latter was pacing restlessly up and down the room.

“Would you stop that?” Ty groaned.

“She hasn’t woken up in three days.  We need to get her medical attention.  We’re way in over our heads,” Scott argued.

“No, she told us we couldn’t.  How are the others?”

“Fine.  Exhausted but fine.  They’ll live.  I’m not sure about her though.”

“She shouldn’t have done that.  They were supposed to do it in equal parts!”

“She did it to make sure we survived,” Hallie piped up, albeit weakly, from the doorway.  She was leaning against it for support.  Scott rushed over to her and helped her to a chair.  A few seconds later, Brady and Bradley made their way over.

“How is she?” one of the twins asked.  They looked worse than Hallie.

“Hasn’t woken up yet.  Her heartbeats faint… but she’s still alive,” Ty said.

“Can we have some alone time with her?  Just me and Brady.”

“Yeah, sure.” Ty got and with Scott, helped Hallie back to her room.  The two boys continued down a dimly lit hallway.  In a whisper, Scott inquired, “What do you think?”

Ty shook his head. “Bryn won’t be alive in the morning.  It would take a miracle and we’ve run out of those.”

Derek woke with a shout.

“Oh my gods!” Percy shouted, throwing his fries up in the air.  It was a good thing the car was stationary or else Derek was pretty sure they would’ve crashed into something.

“What’s wrong?” Silena demanded.

“Bryn.  She’s not- she’s- Luke, she was right.”

“What do you mean?” Luke looked at his friend.

“She’s dead.  I don’t know when… or how, but she’s as good as dead.  Ty said she’d be dead by morning unless they had a miracle and that they’re all out of those.  She wasn’t lying to you Luke.  She is dead…”

“She faked being dead once.  She could do it again,” Luke grumbled.

“Not this time she couldn’t.  Hallie said Bryn did something to make sure the rest of them lived.  I don’t know what she meant by that but whatever it was, it didn’t sound good.”

“So she’s really-” Silena began.

“Yeah… she is…” Derek trailed off.  Luke’s face had gone a deathly white as he looked down at the floor of the car.  Silena fiddled with her thumbs and said, “I thought that maybe there could’ve been a way to save her… I guess not now.”

“Bryn made her choice.  You three know better than anyone that once she set her mind to something, she succeeded.  If she didn’t want your help, even you had caught her and talked to her, she wouldn’t have listened.  Do not blame yourselves, all right?” Annabeth said.

“Yes mom…”
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Luke 

Numbness settled into his bones.  After he told Bryn not to come near him until she decided to tell him the truth, Luke found out she had been.  Now he couldn’t tell her he was sorry.  Bryn wouldn’t come back to him in a dream now.  He’d seen the hurt on her face, he’d heard the undertone in her voice when she said “Then I guess this is goodbye.”  Luke had had the chance to tell her he loved her and he’d blown it.  Again.

The remainder of the trip was silent.  Luke didn’t speak.  Silena and Derek preoccupied themselves with reading and music.  Percy and Annabeth discussed multiple topics, the only ones that caught Luke’s attention were when they were speaking about the missing dragon.  He still couldn’t understand how you lost an entire dragon.  Apparently is was possible though.

Pulling up to camp, they were greeted by Chiron.  He greeted them amiably but his expression was grim and worried.  He led them over to Thalia’s Pine Tree.  The Golden Fleece glittered in the branches but the sight seemed strange without Peleus there.

“He went missing about three days ago.  The thing is, the dragon stealer did not leave the Fleece completely unprotected,” Chiron explained.

“What do you mean?” Percy asked.

“Whoever took Peleus left a protection spell on the tree.  Allow me to- Derek don’t!” Chiron was too late though.  The son of Hades reached out to touch the tree but his hand struck a barrier about a foot away.  It literally blew him away a good twenty feet.  The demigods raced to his side.  Except for being a little dazed, he seemed unfazed overall.

“What in the- how?  How is that possible?” Annabeth demanded.

“A powerful protection spell.  It requires multiple demigods to do so.  Some of the Athena kids decided to try and figure out how many were there.  From what they could tell, there were six demigods total.  Two of them stayed away from the tree so we think they were the guards.  The other four performed the incantation.  If only four did it, then they must’ve been powerful indeed,” Chiron said.  Derek, Luke, and Silena shared a look, silently agreeing not to tell their centaur mentor about the Bryn who wasn’t dead even though she was supposed to be was, now, actually dead.  They were confused themselves about the whole situation.  How would they explain it to Chiron without confusing him too?

“So the bad guy is also a saint?” Luke said.

“It looks like it.”

“But who would want a dragon?” Percy pointed out.

“Hannah.  It has to be,” Annabeth said.

“Did she order the person to put the protection spell up?  I doubt it,” Silena added.

“I doubt it.  The person must’ve done it on their own,” Chiron said.

“If Hannah is planning to use that dragon against us, how many of us will be able to kill a dragon most of us have grown up with?”

“If there’s a way we can get him back without killing him, we will.  Why don’t you go unpack?” Luke and Silena helped Derek back on his feet.  The three demigods trekked off.  Luke plopped down on his bed after he changed into his pajamas.  He couldn’t be bothered to fully unpack just yet.  Silena entered the cabin a few moments later.  She climbed onto the bunk above her brother.  He heard her rustling in the covers for a few moments before silence.

Luke stared up at the ceiling, on the bottom of Silena’s bunk for what felt like hours.  He couldn’t get his last conversation with Bryn out of his head.  He would do anything to take back those words now.  Her expression when he told not to come back until she decided to tell him the truth, there was no other way to describe it other than heartbreak.

“I’m sorry, Bryn,” he whispered.

“Luke?” Silena’s upside down head hung from above. “What’s wrong?”

He told her the whole story.  He couldn’t keep that from her anymore.  Luke still kept quiet about the curse.  That would be too much for her right now.  But Silena understood.  She gave her brother a big hug, whispering that they would figure this all out.  That they would make Bryn proud by saving the world.

“I don’t know how in the hell we’re going to do it, but we will,” Silena declared. “Now come on, let’s get some sleep.  Chiron wants us to help train the campers tomorrow.”

“You’re the best Silena,” Luke said.

“Yeah, I know.  Now get some sleep.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you in the morning little Lena.”

“Shut up.  You know I hate when you call me that.”

“I know.”

“Jerk.”

“You still love me.”

“Yes but that doesn’t mean I have to admit it.”

“Night Silena,” Luke laughed.  But she was already asleep.
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Poor Luke!  Let’s hope Silena can help him out of this funk.  Review :)