νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 1-26: We end things for now

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So, yes. Thalia had returned from the dead.

I was the only one to snap out of it. Everyone assumed it was because I was the newest, the least aware of Thalia's story. That just wasn't true. The truth was I'd had personal experience with... "coming back" in a sense, I guess you could say. I mean, Thalia was very much alive. I could feel her pulse, she could bleed, she needed to breathe and eat and drink, all unlike me. But, she'd come back. I'd "come back." I was able to accept this the best.

Everyone else was in a state of shock as I helped Thalia walk to the infirmary. They did a bunch of check-ups on her, all shocked as they did it, but her vitals were perfectly fine. She was glowing with health, they said, and I knew it was the magic of the Fleece.

I took it upon myself to explain what had happened. Annabeth was in a state of shock. Almost everyone else was, too. I don't know if I was the best person for the job, since I said it all bluntly and didn't hesitate to give Thalia an attitude, but I told her how it was; she died, got turned into a tree, Luke betrayed the camp, poisoned her tree, then we rescued the Fleece. Tree was healed, but apparently, so was Thalia. Now, the year is 2007, and she's very much alive and at Camp Half-Blood.

She asked me a lot about myself, which I didn't like since I don't really know her. I just told her my name and how I got to camp and went on the quest with Annabeth, and then I lied and said I had to go to archery practice. I just didn't want to deal with her anymore, really.

It was a little weird at first. She moved into Cabin 1, the Zeus cabin, and started getting adjusted to daily life. She got a lot of stares at first, reminding me of Tyson, and... well, me, but after a couple of days, it was basically like any other new camper and things were mostly okay.

The rest of the summer went fine I suppose. Chiron forced me to train and hone my demigod abilities. Over the past several decades, I had never really needed to use my powers. I was very good at shapeshifting, since I used it the most often, and my lying (Chiron said my ability to lie is similar to a thing called charmspeak, but not quite the same), but I never really needed to do much else. It's not like I attracted monsters and fought them a whole lot. I typically just fist-fought like a normal teenager. But, now I'm at Camp Half-Blood, and Chiron made me train my powers.

I forced myself to go easy using the powers that Melinoe had bestowed upon me, because the more I used those, the more ghostly I looked. Chiron assured all of the other campers that its okay, and children of the Underworld often exhibit different side effects from their powers (I hadn't told anyone about Melinoe just yet) but that still got me weird looks. Children of the Underworld aren't very common, since Underworld deities tend to have a disdain for mortals and the Overworld in general, and their children tend to be freaky and a little more powerful than people would like to admit.

Ironically, I was honest about Apate, mostly since it was kind of obvious. It's also ironic because I do not like Apate. Sometimes, I'm ashamed to be her daughter. I'm a lot more comfortable saying I'm a legacy of Melinoe than a daughter of Apate, but I only mention the latter. I mean... okay, I just realized that doesn't make any sense.

Personally it's more comfortable to accept that I am related to Melinoe. Socially? Not so much. Being the daughter of the goddess of deceit already makes people wary of me. But a legacy (apparently, legacies are wildly rare since most demigods don't live long enough to reproduce) of Melinoe? I can't go around saying that. People aren't just uncomfortable with Melinoe like they are with Apate. They fear Melinoe. She's the goddess of ghosts and funerals, as well as the bringer of nightmares and madness. So, you tell me. Which are you less scared of; a person lying to you or a person sending a ghost of someone you used to love to attack you? If you chose the second one, please seek professional help.