Adele Black: The End

49 Hours

Adele Black: The End 

49 Hours 

When I stepped into Camp Half Blood, it hit me that things were going to be different from that point on.

George and I had left on not so good terms, and I wasn't sure if there was going to be any chances to communicate with him. I wasn't sure if he wanted to communicate with me. I wanted to communicate with him, but even though the words would be trapped in his ear because there was no other ear for them to go out of, he wouldn't comprehend them. He, much like everybody else back in England, couldn't comprehend why I would want to come back to Camp after everything. Camp Half Blood is my home, and it always, in some way, will be. Nothing can change that.

However, coming here this summer, and so soon after the battle of Hogwarts ended? I might have ruined my relationships with people who I care about. I left so soon, and while I don't doubt my decision, I know that there are some things that I can't just run away from.

It's hard not to run away when running is something you've done all your life.

And as soon as I stepped back into Camp I wanted to run again. My stomach twisted into knots and it felt like I was slowly loosing grip on reality. I walked towards the direction of the Athena cabin, and while I heard other campers talking to me, I didn't acknowledge them. All I wanted to do was collapse on the cot and let the blankets swallow me whole. And before I knew it, I was doing just that.

I felt numb. I wasn't sure how long I was curled up in bed, and I didn't want to know. But as soon as my eyes darted to the picture on the wall next to my bed, that numbness was gone.

It was a picture taken what felt like eons ago, but in reality was only a few summers ago. Grover was in the middle, one arm around my shoulder and his other around Annabeth's shoulder. Percy stood on the other side of Annabeth, and Thalia stood on my other side. It seemed like so long ago. Our faces looked different there. Well, at least three of our faces did. Annabeth, Percy and I looked much older now.

Our eyes, once light and carefree, were now full of storms and memories that were forever in the forefronts of our minds. Wars and battles we've won and lost caused the flickers of happiness to dissipate away from our eyes and instead be replaced with a heaviness that we shouldn't have ever known before the age of eighteen.

Thalia, in all her Hunter glory, looks just like she does in the picture, but now she has a tiara on her head to symbolize her importance to a goddess.

And Grover... Well, he looked the most different, because instead of hooves he now had roots and instead of arms he now had branches.

That's when the numbness washed away and instead replaced itself with the overwhelming tide of grief. A noise broke free from my throat, and I suddenly it seemed like waves upon waves of salty tears flooded out of my tear ducts and down my face. I felt somebody sit down on my bed, and I think my name was called. But I wasn't sure, because suddenly, I was sobbing out in grief and screaming all my sadness and fear and guilt out. Everything that I had been keeping in a jail cell in the back of my mind for years was releasing itself, and I didn't know what to do. There was nothing else that I could do.

A sharp and quick jolt of pain made its way onto my face, and suddenly I seemed to snap out of whatever trance I was in.

"Adele, are you with us now?"

I looked up, and realized that Clarisse had slapped me across the face.

"What was that for?" I asked, rubbing my cheek. It felt warm from her hand.

"I told her to slap you, because I was freaking out, and she was the nearest one outside the cabin—" Annabeth's frantic voice rang out.

"Thanks," I said to both of them, before getting up and briskly walking out of the cabin.

I found myself absent-mindedly wandering to the Big House, and I'm not sure how long it was before I became aware of myself again, because all of a sudden I was sitting on an armchair with Chiron across from me, a blanket over his lap and him sitting comfortable in his wheelchair.

"It hurts," I said suddenly, my voice soft and pained.

"My child, it's completely normal to feel alone and feel pain. Adele, what you've gone through... it's more than most demigods will ever go through," he said, wheeling over to me. He took my hand and held it tightly and gave it a squeeze.

"I don't think that I've ever mourned," I said to him, squeezing his hand back, but still not looking at him. "I never got to completely grieve over my father, and some days I think about what life could have been like if he had lived. Maybe I would be safe. Maybe I would have a dad, but then I feel guilty for thinking of him as my dad..."

"There is no reason for you to feel guilty. It is emotion, guilt... Guilt is unique to humans, and is something that most gods and goddesses will not know," Chiron said, rolling his eyes as thunder rumbled above him, "and possessing something like that has a great power that most people know not."

"I feel guilty for thinking of him as my dad, because he's not my dad. Sirius may be my father, but he's not my dad," I said. I looked up and my gray eyes met Chiron's ancient orbs and I took a deep breath and said, "He's not my dad, because you're my dad, Chiron. You've been here ever since I can remember, and you've been here for me when nobody else has. And I know I won't be around forever, and maybe this is all one sided on my end, but I just wanted you to know that you're my dad. Not Sirius, you."

It was silent, and suddenly Chiron grabbed my other free hand. "I hope you know that I love you as if you were my own. I know that our time together is never as long as it should be, with heroes such as yourself. I cherish our time together, and I always hope and give my thanks to the fates every time I am with you. Gods knows that you face so much."

I felt a tear role down my cheek, but then I started to chuckle. "Chiron, I hope you know that after all these years, I still don't know why you haven't changed that blanket. You've had that since forever."

"I haven't had it for too long, my dear. Only for about seventeen years or so," Chiron said with a look on his face that was hard to decipher. It was a mix of happiness and sadness, with a little bit of worry in it.

"Well you should change it," I said.

"I quite like it, Adele, it's very comforting. If it's with me, then I feel safe and sound and know that it won't have to be used for anything else."

I arched my eyebrow and his weird words. Not the weirdest words I've ever head him say, but it was weird nonetheless because of the fact that a blanket was the subject.

"Chiron, Rachel's spoken again," Annabeth said, barging into the room with urgency.

"Let's go, Adele. Let's hope that she's spoken something we will never have to face any time soon."

He wheeled out, and I caught sight of the blanket on his wheelchair, covering his legs. The side of the blanket facing the ceiling was gray and silky. A normal blanket, albeit a weird choice considering it was made of silk and not fleece. But then my eyes caught the other side of the blanket briefly, and embroidered in the grey silk were brown and black owls.

Chiron wasn't using a blanket— he was using a burial shroud made for a child of Athena. 

Here we go.... I updated a bit earlier than I expected, but I figured you have all waited so long so I should just upload it! So I hope you enjoy the 1395 words I have here, and I can't wait for you to see what I have in store!!!