Just Add Water

the other side of the coin

Smoke carrying burning cloth and flesh clogged Annabeth's nostrils. It was all that could keep her from crying until her eyes dried up and the sun shriveled her to dust.

She's gone. That thought came back, persistent as ever as the funeral pyre lit up for all to see, but, she's gone and we couldn't even burn her body.

Thalia Grace—her sister, her best friend—was now a tree after all. And that smell...the burning of cloth and flesh...she couldn't take it anymore. Her nose pressed to Luke's shirt, and she felt some sort of relief when her eyes didn't burn up like the pyres as she cried. Luke held her there, murmuring words of comfort—sweet promises.

She couldn't take them, though. Not when Luke didn't believe in them, either. She'd seen it in his eyes. Worlds got yanked beneath her feet, and Thalia Grace turned into a tree with her as a witness, and now what could she do?

A warm hand found her shoulder. It was Grover; he didn't smile. He understood her pain—something about satyrs reading emotions well. Her fingers gripped Luke's shirt tighter. This time, she peered at all the spectators, their faces awashed in grimness and somberness and orange and red.

Some were crying as well, tears shining against their cheeks like broken mirrors. They'd lost friends, too.

Then her eyes landed on the boy her age, who had chased after her on that hill with its newest pine tree. His hand was linked with Grover's, and he looked straight ahead. His face shone with a type of kindness that she'd forgotten should've marked her face as well. He was good friends with Grover Underwood, apparently. Had Grover brought him here, like he'd brought her and Luke and Thalia? It didn't matter, because she was lost in this strange new world with just half of her newfound family; nothing would be the same again.

Names mangled up with the shrouds. Some demigods had stepped out and said a few words in memory. Timmie Bates. He was the best runner, the best friend I've ever had. Dia Lagari. She made the best cupcakes, always had my back. Conny Miller, Susana Rebollar, Samuel Clarke, Ivan Agnello. So on and so forth.

Not long after, it had been time for Thalia Grace, and when Luke had stepped out with his tongue stuck between his teeth, she'd hidden behind him and waited for him to choke out a sentence or two. She helped ground me, made me better. She was more than just a daughter of Zeus. A runaway girl, ready to protect her family. She protected us 'til her last breath.

He hadn't finished that sentence; what was left unsaid didn't need clarifying. Everyone knew: and she'll protect us from now on. Annabeth wished Thalia had left this camp to die instead.

Her claiming wasn't much. That was what the people here called it: claiming. A claim from the divine, that this child is mine and mine alone. She already knew who her mother was, however. And she'd told Chiron so, to save everyone's questions. An owl had come anyway, swooping out of the clear sky and landing on her shoulders, reminding her that even if her dad and stepmom didn't want her, at least she could be acknowledged by her real mother, the one that had guided her to Luke and Thalia and helped her find salvation. She felt a smidge of pride at that. In seconds another claiming took place, a glowing hologram over Luke's head, bearing the sign of Hermes, the caduceus. Cabin seven and cabin six, respectively.

A vice grip had curled around her hand, and she was dragged away toward a cabin with an elaborate structure, granite gray and embellished with stone owls.

"Where are you taking me?" she'd insisted, and the boy holding her turned around, his expression softening.

"Cabin six, remember? Where Athena kids live? You're one of us, now."