𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

23. AS THE FATES FORETOLD

MAIA'S SLEEP HAD STARTED dreamless — something that genuinely scared her. After a few minutes of nothing, like static, her dream changed. She was in Camp Jupiter, walking around New Rome. The wind pushed her blonde hair into her face, but, before she could make a fuss about it, or tie it up, she heard a voice.

"Maia."

She turned and was met with a woman, with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair. She was slightly taller than Maia, and looked tired. However, she still wore a smile.

"Do I... know you?"

"A daughter doesn't recognize her own mother, what has this world come to?" She answered, a glint in her eye.

"Mom?"

"Yes, dear."

"But, you're... You don't look like— you're not really tall? Or blinded by justice or whatever it is. You're meant to be blindfolded. And you don't have wings? You look, well, normal, actually."

"It would be pretty inconvenient for me to walk around blindfolded and with wings, don't you think?"

"I mean, I guess so, but you look..."

"This is the form of myself your father fell in love with."

"Oh." Maia didn't really know what to say. She was beautiful, don't get her wrong, it was like looking at a slightly distorted image of herself, more mature and sure of herself. And a lot more elegant. But it was just weird.

"I thought, it'd at least be fair to show you who your father saw as your mother."

"Right... so, you're here because?"

"I simply wanted to congratulate my daughter, is that not alright?"

Maia scoffed, "I think you're a little late on that. Sixteen years, maybe?"

"Maia, I've wanted nothing more than to be a part of your life, I promise. But it is forbidden."

"Then how come Margot was bragging that you'd visited her plenty of times during her quests? And Elizabeth, before she moved to New Rome? Doesn't seem so forbidden to me." She argued.

"Maia... Most of your life, I've been forbidden to see you." She said, finally.

"What? How does that make any sense?"

"Maia... you're different from the rest of your siblings."

"Yeah, I got that." She crossed her arms. "I get reminded of that every day. Charles won the laurel wreath while I almost set camp on fire. Liz literally got into her dream school and I almost got skewered to death by Octavian. I can keep going, if you'd like."

"Maia, what I'm trying to say is that—" The goddess staggered back for a second, clutching her head. Her image flickered, where there was stood a shorter brunette, there was now a tall blonde who glared at Maia.

"Mom, what—"

She turned back into the Fortuna Maia was getting used to seeing, and took a moment to catch her breath.

"There's no time, dear. I must warn you. Things will not be easy for you. The gods are pretty much out of commission. My greek counterpart battles for dominance, and she seems to be set on winning." She pursed her lips, "I just wanted a couple of minutes with my daughter, is that too much too ask?"

"Um... Okay?"

"Maia, I think you've noticed. You are not... the norm for my children. Usually, your siblings can manipulate luck any way they want to, but are extremely lucky and carry a positive aura. You, on the other hand, are not. This has happened before, only a handful of times, hundreds of years ago. I had hoped it wasn't you, and for that I am truly sorry."