Changing the Future

Chapter 73

We all want things in life. It's a part of our nature.

I wanted to see my mom again.

I wanted this whole mess to be over, for Nico not to be trapped inside a dumb golden jar, for Polybotes to not march on Camp Jupiter, for Gaea and her disgusting bastard of a husband to rot in the Void for all eternity.

Most of all, I wanted Luke.

Now, there are things we all need as well: food, water, shelter, etc. One could go so far as to argue that we require Maslow's hierarchy of needs to fully feel safe and comfortable wherever we are.

But demigods don't get that option. They don't have that safety guaranteed to them like so many others do. We have Lamia and other monsters to thank for that.

Needs, needs, needs.

I have always put the needs of others before mine, even before I became a goddess. I have always done everything in my power to help people, no matter the risk to myself, and I will continue to do so. But now I have one need above all others...

Revenge.

0o0o

The moment I woke up in the infirmary of Camp Half-Blood, I escaped.

I had no need to be confined to a bed that could be used for someone else, forced to stare at Will in the bed across from mine, watching the agonizingly slow and long healing process he'd have to endure.

Will was hooked up to so many machines and wrapped up in so many bandages that it looked like he was a burn victim in a coma. His siblings had placed him in the bed that got the most sunlight, something that he so direly needed after being held in near darkness for over six months. Wherever I could make out his skin through the bandages, I saw stitches and gauze and wiring, which would've made me sick to my stomach had I not been trained in this type of medicine years ago.

Thank the gods Naomi Solace wasn't around, or she would've burned this camp to the ground before promptly ripping Apollo's head off.

I had waited until all the medics had their back turned to me and vanished within my own shadow, appearing on the shores of the beach. I must've looked insane – a girl wrapped in enough bandages to look like a poorly made mummy in the middle of summer while wearing one of those dreadful hospital gowns standing on the beach, staring off into the horizon.

Trust me, I would've called social services on myself, too.

With a snap of my fingers, my appearance completely changed. Gone were my rags and sad hospital gown, my black leather jacket, my Camp Jupiter shirt, black jeans, and black combat boots hiding any unhealed wound. I pulled my hair into a single braid, tossing it over my shoulder like Reyna usually did.

That reminded me, I needed to head to Camp Jupiter in the coming days. If my internal clock was right, I had been in Tartarus for four days while only twelve hours passed in the mortal world.

How the hell did...he and Will survive for seven months in mortal time? If twelve hours seemed like an eternity, I dreaded to know what anything more than that would be. But I knew I would be doing this again a second time, so I pushed that thought out of my mind.

I continued staring out at the ocean. It didn't take long until I sensed someone's presence, setting their arm across my shoulders.

There was only a handful of people who could do that without my giving verbal permission, coupled with the fact that no one from either camp knew where I'd escaped to, it could've only been one person.

"Hi, Apollo," I greeted, my voice raspy from all the screaming and crying I'd recently done.

I leaned into his chest, the warmth radiating from him enveloping me like a blanket, hiding me away from the horrors of this world.