Mortem Obire

Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The golden child's mistake

"So... What's it like being here all the time?" she asked, taking a big drink as they sat off to one side, watching out of the corners of their eyes as the older kids duked it out with celestial bronze weaponry which flashed in the rare glimpses of the sun from behind the clouds.

Annabeth shrugged, humming under her breath. "'s okay, I guess," she muttered, sounding oddly listless, gaze seeming a little far away as though they were peering at something which wasn't there. "I've got... Luke... and Chiron," she mumbled, one arm crossing over her chest, fingers clutching at her other arm as she sat there, swinging her legs back and forth. Her voice became distant, as though she wasn't quite living in the present. "I just wish... she..." A croak escaped her, voice unable to form the words.

"Thalia Grace," Harriet finished for her softly, the flash of gold crossing her vision, there for but a second and gone the next. A girl with electric blue eyes and dark hair surrounded by monsters. Someone who would've suffered a similar fate to that of the original twins', if not for the mercy of a father. Her fingers curled into fists, part of her wondering then on the gods. Beings who could be cruel, kind, monstrous, beautiful, and numerous other conflicting things.

"You truly are your father's daughter, you know."

Harriet closed her eyes, letting out a soft breath, stiffening only when she spotted the rigid line to Annabeth's shoulders and the grey eyes which narrowed, colours shifting like a storm cloud before the thunder and lightning. "Who told you about her?" she demanded, teeth grinding together. "You haven't even been here for a whole day!"

Harriet blinked, cursing her social ineptitude as the other girl glared at her, climbing to her feet and storming off. It was only last summer that Thalia had 'died' as such. She knew all too well how sore such wounds of the heart were while they were healing. Yet wounds always left scars. That she too, knew all too well. It was only last summer when she had been busy saving the twins from their ghastly fate. The same something which had kept her busy – too busy to worry about others. Harriet bit her lip, staring at her toes as they became so very interesting all of a sudden. Was that selfish of her? She could only wonder as she sat there, the silence falling within the little bubble she sat in sounding terrible to her ears. She wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them to her chest as she pondered about the lives torn away.

She had the gift of sight, of prophecy for a reason.

"You can be selfish, Harriet," the voice of her usual dream visitor whispered to her as gold encompassed her vision, the tides of a new vision sweeping her away as she sat there, glancing at the space the other girl her age had occupied only moments before. "Take that which you wish and never apologise for doing so..." The words echoed in her ears, and she thought she could feel a phantom of a presence at her back. "Otherwise you'll only drive yourself insane." The feeling lingered at her back for a few more moments. Then the breeze came along, and that feeling was washed away. She was alone there, so infinitely alone in both presence and her very being itself.

"You're unique, darling... isn't that such a brilliant thing to be?"

"Harry!" Laurel called, and she looked up, spying the older girl running towards her. "You finished too?" she asked, peering down at her curiously. "My legs feel like jelly!" She glanced around. "Alex should be done soon too, I think – we need to save some energy for tonight's game of Capture the Flag!"

"That's probably a good idea," she mumbled, resting her chin on her knees as she waited there for their swordplay lessons to come to an end.

Annabeth never returned.