The Forgotten Daughter

The Last Day of Summer

Aliana slowly faded back into consciousness. A subtle pain shook her chest and she snapped awake, sitting bolt upright. That turned out to be a mistake because the pain surged through the rest of her body - an incessant ache. She looked down and relaxed when she saw her bandaged torso and no sign of blood.

Lying next to her, Mason was unconscious. His skin was pale and clammy. He lay motionless. For one terrifying moment, she thought that he was dead. Then, his chest rose and fell slowly, but steadily. She let out a long relieved breath.

Then she realized that she had no idea where they were. She quickly examined their surroundings and found that they were in the infirmary at camp. Her shoulders stiffened. She was in camp. They were in camp. He was in camp. Her heart beat way too fast as her mind whirled with a billion questions. How did they get to camp? How had they crossed the border? What in the gods names had happened?

"Welcome back." A soft familiar voice sounded from the foot of her cot.

Aliana looked to see Annabeth and Percy standing near the doorway. She opened her mouth to talk, but hesitated when she realized... she had NO idea what to ask first.

Annabeth must have sensed her confusion. She sat down next to her. "I'll explain from the beginning." She went on to tell Aliana about how Mason had smashed the stone which had somehow given her her powers back because then the ambrosia has worked and they were able to carry her over the border. Apparently, destroying the stone had also given Mason back his powers. They were able to bring him through the border as well.

"So what's the catch?" Aliana murmured.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked.

"If getting his powers back were as simple as just smashing the stone, he could have done that from the beginning." Aliana met Annabeth's gaze. "So... what's the catch?"

Percy leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "There's your catch." He nodded towards Mason.

Aliana looked at the unconscious boy then back at Percy a little confused.

He sighed. "According to Chiron and the Apollo kids, he's in a coma and they don't know when... if he'll wake up."

Aliana returned her gaze to Mason. "He knew something like that would happen, but he did it anyway. He sacrificed his life for mine."

"Yeah." Percy's voice was dark. "He's also the guy who stole your powers and shot you."

"To be fair," Aliana pointed out. "He wasn't aiming for me."

Percy opened his mouth to protest, but Aliana silenced him. "I'm not saying that what he did was okay. And I'm not saying that I'll forgive him just like that. All I'm saying, is that I understand why he did it." She turned to look at him. "He felt alone. He'd had everything taken away from him and he just wanted to get something back."

Percy huffed like he was angry that she'd made a good point.

She smirked. She loved to annoy him.
                                      *   *   *
"It's nice to see you out of bed." Percy trotted over from the cabins.

Aliana grinned. "I couldn't agree more."

They started walking towards the arena.

"So," Aliana spoke up. "What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?" He looked at her.

"Well," She met his gaze. "It's the last day of Summer. Are you leaving or staying?"

His shoulders slumped. "I don't know."

"Well, you're going to have to make up your mind." She observed. "Unless you want to get eaten by harpies."

They reached the training grounds and spotted Luke mutilating the training dummies on the opposite end of the field.

Aliana glanced from Percy to Luke. "I'm going to head over to the infirmary." She turned to leave. "See you around, Water Boy."

He turned to face her. "Yeah, see ya, Aliana."

She chuckled. "You know what. Call me Ali." Before he could answer, she turned and jogged away.
                                    *   *   *
She froze as a dark shadow surged forward, surrounding her. No. The dreams were supposed to stop. The prophecy was over.

A deep menacing laugh echoed out of the shadows. "Did you really think it would be that simple?" A cold presence swirled around her. "Like you said. There's always a catch."

She clenched her fists and glared into the fog. "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

The cold shifted as if he were circling her. "I'm a simple man with simple desires." His voice was smooth, almost soothing. It made her want to vomit. "All I want from you," he continued, "is your suffering."

A spike of cold fear lurched through her chest. She kept a brave face, trying to hide the swirling terror inside of her. "What did I ever do to you? Why do you look like Kronos?"

He chuckled. "You were born." He sneered. "As for why I look like Kronos. That's something only you can answer. I don't pick my form, I just use it."

She shook her head, her mind reeling. "But Mason..."

"Are you really going to give that puny mortal so much credit?" He scoffed. "That boy may have wielded the stone, but he never posed any real threat to your race - his race."

"'Everything is not what it seems.'" She recited.

Suddenly, the darkness collapsed around her.

Aliana jolted awake. She'd fallen asleep in the infirmary with her head resting on Mason's cot. She watched the even rise and fall of his chest. Her heart was pounding in her ears and the nightmare kept replaying in her mind. A cold sweat ran down her spine and her fists gripped the edges of Mason's blanket.

She stared out the window at the other campers messing around so obliviously. She wished she could be that carefree, but that wasn't an option anymore. She looked down at Mason's coarse blanket. "The prophecy's not over yet."