Flowergirl, Percy Jackson

015. Mother Nature

Clarisse pulls Silena's head onto her lap, blood staining her jeans. Lila reaches out, brushing charred hair away from Lena's face, her fingers stinging and bleeding from the after effects of those wounds. 

"What were you thinking?" Clarisse manages, her voice cracking. 

Tears are falling from Lila's eyes, but she hardly registers them. Everything is a little blurry. 

Silena tries to swallow, but her lips are dry, and she only chokes, coughing up blood. With each cough, a little of Lila's soul retreats back into herself.  "Wouldn't . . . listen. Cabin would . . . only follow you."

"So you stole my armor," Clarisse says. "You waited until Chris and I went out on patrol; you stole my armor and pretended to be me." She glares at her siblings. "And NONE of you noticed?"

Lila sobs. "No, Lena..."

This isn't real, it can't be. Someone places a hand on her shoulder, but she hardly registers it. 

"Don't blame them," Silena insists. "They wanted to . . . to believe I was you."

"Why?" Lila begs. 

"You stupid Aphrodite girl," Clarisse begins to sob. "You charged a drakon?"

"All my fault," Silena says. A single, silvery tear falls from her eyelid, tracing down her cheek, marking a path of clear skin underneath all that blood and dirt. "The drakon, Charlie's death . . . camp endangered—"

"It's not your fault," Lila squeezes her hand, shoulders shaking.

"Stop it!" Clarisse agrees, at the same time. "That's not true."

Silena slowly opens her hand, her fingers pried apart to reveal a silver bracelet with a scythe charm. The mark of Kronos. Lila can't help herself from recoiling at the sight. 

"You were the spy." Percy says quietly.

It begins to make a little more sense. Silena, insisting that she didn't deserve respect. Silena, drowning in self-loathing. Silena, doing everything she could to fix her mistakes. The puzzle pieces begin to slot together, the truth unfolding before Lila's eyes, and there's nothing she wants more than to erase it from her memory, from existence. Silena can't be the spy... she can't be. 

Silena nods, the movement laboured. "Before . . . before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so . . . charming. Handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised . . . he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt . . . Charlie. He lied to me."

Any affection Lila held for Luke begins to melt away, dissolving like Silena's skin. It's all replaced with hate - for Luke, for herself, for not noticing when something was wrong. How long has she known them both? She should have realised.

Someone screams from behind them. 

Clarisse scowls at her cabinmates. "Go, help the centaurs. Protect the doors. GO!"

They scramble away, glad to escape the heavy circle. 

Silena takes another breath, desperate for air. "Forgive me."

Lila bends over her, tears dripping onto Silena's armour and cheeks, washing away some blood. "Stop it." 

"You're not dying," Clarisse insists.

"You can't die," Lila insists, trembling. Her own breathing is shaky, too. "You promised me. On the Styx, remember." 

"I kept my promise," Silena whispers, smiling up at her. "You look after Clarisse, Li. And you .... look after Lila."