Risen from the Sea

Crap..

As soon as the hydra dissapeared I was completely surprised... did I actually defeat it??

Soon I snapped out of my haze and ran over to Aspen and Amy. Aspen was trying to force feed her some ambrosia. She wasn't taking it. She was surrounded by a pool of blood that seemed to come from a head injury and where her back had hit the tree when she was thrown back by the hydra. Aspen was doing his best, and being very optimistic, probably too optimistic...

Just by looking at Amethyst I could tell she was dying and it would take a miracle to keep her alive. I looked at Aspen who was on the verge of tears and biting his lip... he looked pained, as if he were falling apart. I kneeled down and put my hand on his shoulder, shaking my head "Aspen... She isn't going to take the ambrosia...You know its not your fault..."

"But...I was supposed to protect her... it was my job."

"Oh gods Aspen." I leaned forward and hugged him, "I'm so sorry..."

"Her mom, Aphrodite... she trusted me to care for her, to take care of her," he choked out the words.

I didn't know much about what to do in this type of situation, but at camp they taught us the proper ways to treat the body,and in this case it meant praying to her mother to retrieve the body.

I sat down beside Aspen again and pulled Amethyst up onto my lap, "I'm so sorry Amy... I'm so sorry that I couldn't keep the hydra back, and that it had to be you. I'm so sorry.... For everything."

Then I grabbed Aspen's hand and put it in Amethyst's, "You need to stop beating yourself up for this, it wasn't your fault, and you need to be here for her now, she needs you now more than ever, okay?" I look up at him, with tears forming in my eyes.

"Okay..."

Then I began to pray to Aphrodite, umm I'm not very good at this, but Amy needs you... And I think this is it for her... And I think it would be best if you could... Possibly take Amy back to camp... For proper... Services. And make sure she knows I'm sorry, because all I have done since I met her was assume things and judge her and I wish I could take all that back. Just please help your daughter...

I opened my eyes and saw Logan holding Amy to his chest and Maya trying to comfort him, and that's when I knew she was gone. Suddenly a woman with long silky auburn hair, who had a face more beautiful than any model I'd ever seen appeared in the woods near us. "Hello, " she said and I realized she had tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks, and she walked over to where Aspen was with amethyst. She knelt down and slowly removed Amy from his arms. "Thank you, Ailee Hunter, for contacting me, and alerting of my daughter's certain condition." Aphrodite, of course. That explains the unreal beauty and why she was crying... So I guess the gods do really care about us...

"It was the least I could do." I whisper tears rimming my eyes.

"None the less, I am grateful," she said and with that she dissapeared, leaving nothing but a slight glimmer in the air, as if she had never been there. I turn around redirecting my focus to the next problem: Aspen. He was a mess, beside himself with grief, crumpled to the ground tears streaming from his eyes. I knelt beside him, gently pulling him up and in to a hug.

"I'm so sorry Aspen. I'm so sorry."

He pulleed slightly away from me and looks directly into my eyes and said, "Youre only supposed to bring three on a quest, its too dangerous with more... I knew that. But I let her come anyways. I knew. I could have saved her."

"Oh Aspen, you need to stop. Amy wouldn't want this for you, she knows you did your best, and that you loved her," I said as he nodded and put his head back on my shoulder taking comfort from my warmth.