Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

TWELVE | Ophelia

DOGS HAD ALWAYS LIKED Ophelia. She didn't know why. She'd never owned one, far too busy on the run or dodging between dumpsters to care for a pet. But she had met dogs in the street sometimes, especially when she was little. She remembered one in particular: a black lab with fur so soft, she could almost sink into it.

As Ophelia sat on the top step of the empty Camp Half-Blood amphitheater, she smiled at the massive black hound currently trotting towards her. Mrs. O'Leary, Percy's hellhound. The dog's red eyes watched Ophelia carefully, black tar-like drool dripping to the ground.

"What's up?" Ophelia asked.

She didn't expect an answer. And she didn't get one. The hellhound settled next to her panting in the warmth of the evening sun.

"I'm right there with you," Ophelia said. "Too hot for me."

She'd thought about going inside somewhere. But Cabin 11 swarmed with returning campers and the Big House had the new Oracle girl, Rachel. The last campers, a few charioteers from Cabin 5, had pulled up an hour ago. Even with their numbers depleted, Ophelia didn't want to be in the mix of so many.

By now, she suspected most people had heard about Alex's…altercation. It had taken hours before he'd been willing to tell her. But he had. And frankly, she wasn't sure what to think.

Ophelia laid back into Mrs. O'Leary's cool fur. She could hear the hellhound's heartbeat and didn't mind the slight sulfur smell from her breath.

"You know what? If he gets himself killed, I'll kill him first," she said.

Alex wouldn't admit it, of course, but they owed Hermes for stopping Zeus from vaporizing him on the spot. But had she been in his place, she couldn't say she wouldn't have said the same.

She hadn't seen Leah since that morning, when she'd left the girl asleep and gone to defend the lobby of the Empire State Building. She'd heard from Alex and Kitty later, though, of how Leah had manipulated the Mist and hidden the wounded from Kronos.

If the gods had seen fit to punish her for being a child eager to prove herself worthy of love to her mother, a child who later helped other children of other gods, maybe she would march right back up to Olympus with Alex and challenge Zeus too.

What was to keep Zeus from holding her accountable for the war? Ophelia had been with Luke almost from day one. She'd been on the Princess Andromeda when Percy and Annabeth had attacked. She'd been one of the first pledges to Kronos's cause to awaken him.

A thirteen year old who had been alone on the street for half of her life had been offered a home with Luke. She'd been offered a mother and guide with Hecate. She'd been offered love with Alex. 

What had the Olympians offered her? Certainly not a satyr guide to a safe camp, not even a bed in her own cabin.

The air around her began to cool. The shadows lengthened and grew darker. Ophelia sat up from Mrs. O'Leary.