The Missing Prophecy (pjo/kotlc) book 3

Chapter 18

Terminus POV:

It's been three years since Dad disappeared. Mom's tried to cover for him, but life's been hard without him. Dad always encouraged, helped, and critiqued Reyla's art. Her art has gotten so good, but she rarely paints anymore. She even splashed white paint over one of her murals on the wall. It's obvious that mom misses him. A lot. She spent most of her time the first year in the praetors' office, begging for them to send out a search team. And they did. But they never found anything. They just couldn't find Echidna's hideout, and it was hard because it was on Camp Half-Blood's territory and there was politics involved. Camp Half-Blood was insulted that Camp Jupiter thought that they could just send in their search teams all the time, that Camp Half-Blood wasn't doing a good enough job, and the tension between the two pantheons increased until the camp leaders decided enough was enough and they decreed that Romans stay on Roman territory and Greeks stay on Greek territory. That way they could let tempers cool to avoid a potential war. We never heard what happened to Char, Sil, Matt, and Ana. But we've missed them. Mom's sure they've survived, though. She says they're made of 'tough stuff'. Then she told me a story about the Argo II and went to her room to cry again. It's sad, really. I've tried to get over it, and I can tell so has Reyla, but she's an empty shell of herself. Mom doesn't know how to help us, seemingly as she can't help herself. Reyla and I have picked up more responsibilities. Mom still goes to work everyday, as a grocery store employee. The grocery stores in New Rome are much different than the ones in the mortal world. She doesn't reshelve, she guards the food from pests like birds, harpies, bugs, stray eagles, you know, typical stuff.

"Terminus! You left your stupid stinky socks on the couch again!" Reyla complained from the living room.

"Sorry!" I called back. Reyla had the 'grumpy teen' phase mastered perfectly, and it was even worse without Dad there to help calm her down. Because only he could. I've learned that it's best to just do what she says and not pick a fight. It's just not worth it.

I go into the living room. Reyla's cleaning again. It's a weird habit of hers. She will scrub a spotless floor, dust a dustless painting. It's just her thing. I pick up my socks.

"Why are you cleaning again? You just cleaned this room an hour ago!" I say, to start conversation.

"Terminus! You're so annoying!" She growls.

"Wow, I'm sorry. Who put salt in your coffee this morning?" I snark.

"Ugh!" she grumbles. "Leave me alone and pick your shit up after yourself!"

"Reyla!" Mom shouts from the kitchen. "You watch that mouth!"

Reyla slams her mop down and stalks out the door.

"Reyla Zhang, you come back here!" Hazel stomped outside.

As you can guess, this happens often. Reyla will say something, Mom'll get mad, she'll yell, Reyla will go outside and hang out with her 'girlfriends', a bunch of seventeen year old girls who think they're better than everyone else.

Mom comes back inside. "Who gave her the keys to my car?"

"Not me, I didn't touch them. She probably just took them," I shrug.

Mom sighs. "Sometimes, I think, I'm not prepared to handle two teenagers. Oh, what've I done? I've failed her again, haven't I? Did I miss her school football game again?" yeah, Reyla plays football. She's not a cheerleader. She's one of the best players on the team.

"No, that's on Friday," I say. I wasn't about to admit that it was me who'd pissed her off.

"Oh, Frank, why can't you be here?" Mom mutters to herself, staring at the portrait of Dad on the wall. She touches it gently. "Why did you leave?"

I can sense this is about to get emotional, so I'm about to sneak out of the room when Mom suddenly said, "Terminus, wait, will you?"

I nod, waiting.

"Can you- can you get her? You have a car, right? No, you have the motorcycle?" Mom drops her head into her hands. Since Dad's left, her control over the mist has waned, making her question reality.

"Yeah, Mom, I have a car. I'll go talk to her." I give her a hug and leave her staring at Reyla's painting of Dad.

I know where Reyla went. The place she swore me not to tell Mom about. Every city has its bad parts, even perfect cities like New Rome. I headed to Ginger's Pub, the hotspot for alchoholics, criminals, people wanting to stay low and under the radar, and my sister and her 'friends'.

I go inside. It's intimidating. Buff fauns with tattoos bleat angrily at backwards-footed antipode, small humans with backwards feet who can run incredibly fast. Naiads, Dryads, and other ancient Roman creatures were there. Behind the bar is an old faun called Gring. Sitting in the darkest corner of the pub was Dariya, Rugira, Marina, Aelia, and, you guessed it, Reyla. Reyla's group of 'friends' had a very bad reputation of dealing with criminals and other things. I don't like them. I go up to them anyways. Reyla's wearing a tank-crop top and jean shorts with a hooded Harry Potter-like cloak.

"Rey. Can I talk to you, please?" I ask, putting my hands on their table.

"Whatever you have to say to her, you can say to all of-" Rugira starts, but Reyla interrupts:

"Can it, Ruge. What do you want, Terminus?"

"Worth a try," Rugira muttered.

"To talk to you in private," I say over Rugira. I silently urge her to listen to me for once.

"Fine." Reyla pushes past Rugira and Aelia and leads me out of the pub. "What do you want, Terminus?"

"Do you know what you're doing? Do you really?-"

"Stop it right there, if you're here to lecture me on my life decisions again, you can get your perfect ass out of here." Reyla interrupts.

"Fine!" I grump. "Let me talk. Do you know what you're doing to Mom? She's already unstable, do you want to encourage it? Reyla, we're seventeen. If you make mom go schizo, we'll have to join the legion again or live at the orphanage. Plus, you already know she's having a hard time. Please, Reyla."

"No! Hold your goddam horses, have you ever thought of me in your musings? In your intense thinking sessions where you lock yourself in your room for hours? Is mom ALL you think about? How about the fact that someone other than her exists?!" Reyla yelled.

"Rey, wake up and smell the tea, we've ALL noticed. You're being an insensitive, moody little prick right now, and you need to stop, because all you're causing is drama. I know you miss Dad, but just accept already that he's gone and he's not coming back!" I regret saying that. I wish I could take it back, but it's too late. Reyla turns and runs away, tears streaking down her face.

"Reyla- wait!" I call, chasing after her.

"No!" She hops in her car and drives off, away from me.

Oh, what've I done, I think to myself.