poison tree ✴︎ - perseus jackson

011. hope summers becomes percy jackson's number one hater.

  𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐃 habit that she had when she was angry or frustrated was that she stayed silent. But she didn't stay silent until she wasn't mad anymore, no, Hope stayed dead silent until either the person who made her mad recognized they were wrong or until she felt like not being mad anymore. That was a new habit that Percy had to learn of the hard way.

"𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑹, who stole the bolt?" Percy asked, looking at both Annabeth and Grover. The two looked at each other, sparring a glance at Hope before looking at Percy. Hope would not like this news at all.

"Who would Ares cover for if he didn't steal the bolt?" Annabeth asked, looking at the two, seeing as Hope pulled a confused face, before realizing something.

"No, no it can't be. She wouldn't." Hope denied, shaking her head.

"Hope..." Grover tried to reason, but she kept shaking her head, denying it.

"Clarisse is Ares's favorite daughter and she would be the only one he would cover for. She would also do anything for his acknowledgment and approval." Percy said, connecting the dots.

Hope snapped her head towards the blonde boy, her grey eyes spiraling as irritation and anger grew inside her. "You're not actually believing this, are you?" Hope asked. She was already mad about the fact Grover and Annabeth were framing her best friend of stealing the bolt, but Percy? Why would he even consider it?

Yeah, maybe Clarisse was a bit mean towards him, but that was just how Clarisse was and Percy knew that. The two had already butted heads with each other the moment they meant but Hope knew Clarisse wouldn't stoop that low just for her father's approval. Right?

"Hope. It makes sense. I know she's your best friend, but why would Ares cover for anyone else that isn't his favorite kid?" Percy tried to reason, but Hope just shook her head.

"No. You guys don't know her like I do. She wouldn't do something like this, not even for Ares. And if you guys are actually considering her being the thief, then maybe you guys aren't as smart as people make you out to be." Hope hissed, looking at all three of them before pushing past them, going towards the front of the truck where most of the animals were.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 had never experienced this side of Hope. Yeah, he met the side of Hope where she hated him with everything and the side where she cared about him, but he's never seen the side where she hated him so much she was silent. He would have much rather kept it like that than knowing what it felt like to.

He'd tried to talk to her before going to sleep, but she wouldn't even look at him, not even sparing him a glance. All she would do was look down at her hands as she produced small little volts of electricity.

Annabeth had been in Percy's position before, and she hated it. So using her knowledge of how Hope was when she was in this state, she warned Percy to leave her be, to let her cool off, but Percy being Percy didn't listen. It was a surprise Hope hadn't ripped off his face or electrocuted him.

It had been morning now, Hope was still in her corner, staring at the small electricity she hand conjured up with one of her hand fingers dug into her palms. Even though she promised Percy she would stop hurting herself in that way, she didn't care about that promise anymore. Percy didn't care how Hope felt about this whole situation, so why would he care what Percy would say when he saw the fresh new scars.