The three of them meet after the sing-along. They all look shockingly different, from their hair, their skin, their clothes.
From the moment they make eye contact, though, they know they're siblings. Their eyes are too similar, all filled with that...
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𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗫 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗣 the hill she'd crested twice before, when she entered Camp for the first time and when she'd returned from her quest. Monsters were behind her.
This time they were allies. Luke had called them 'guards' but Bella didn't believe that for one second. If push came to shove, they'd kill her without a second thought. She couldn't believe Sera and Luke had sided with literal monsters.
She thought back to the last time she'd seen Percy. Nevermind. It was clear Sera and Luke had turned against the gods. The only 'friends' that left were the monsters.
Doesn't mean she had to like it.
"Demigod!" one of her guards snapped. She was a draecaena—a female warrior with two snake bodies for legs. "If you're thinking of running. . ."
Guards, her ass. Did Luke expect her to believe that?
"I'm not planning on running," she snarled, turning back to face the tree.
She swallowed, hard. It wasn't just a pine tree she was poisoning, it was a demigod. A hero. Bella had been told stories about Thalia, and how she'd given her life for her friends. She'd even looked up to the daughter of Zeus.
She grabbed the bag the draecaena offered her. Her hands shook. She- she didn't know if she could do this.
She, not for the first time, thought about what this would do for Percy. He was there, hidden inside camp. She would go to him if she knew it wouldn't bring monsters down upon their safe haven. But he was so close.
This would ruin him. Their army could crush them, once the poison took its toll. He didn't even know about their army.
He didn't know. Bella did. Bella could, somehow, tell him. She needed to.
Her hand stilled. She reached in, and pulled out the syringe Sera had handed her.
"I'll do it," she said, so that none of her guards could doubt her. "I'll do it for our lord, Kronos, may he rise and bring with him a new age!"
She poisoned Thalia to the cheers of her monster allies.
𝗟𝗨𝗞𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗔 to pray to her mom. Seraphina had nodded at her, agreeing, but she hadn't seen his face. She hadn't seen the look he was giving her, face all twisted up in desperation.
This is Kronos's plan! she wanted to shout. Pray to him for answers!
And she would, if she wasn't so sure Luke might shank her for it.
Instead, she kneeled on the floor of her room, eyes closed. If they were open, she might have seen the view of the moon rising over the ocean from one of the top levels of their cruise ship. She saw nothing but darkness.
