Echoes of the Outcast: Abandoned Bonds, Lycaon's Resurgence

Chapter five

The Truth

It had been a few days since the accident during Capture the Flag. Percy's wound was still healing, no ambrosia or nectar could heal it. Multiple children of Apollo had tried their best to heal it and fix it. Even Chiron had tried, but to no avail. Sometimes his wound still bled, but it was only if he strained his hand.

Annabeth had been worried about it, as water didn't heal it either. No one knew why it didn't heal. Except for Percy.

His mind had been a mess ever since Capture the Flag where he'd gotten hurt. He wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to tell at least Annabeth about what had happened, but he was sure it'd end badly if he ever told her.

Percy stared at the lake. The water was calm and glinted in the sunlight. His hand was still aching, but it had just turned into a somewhat dull ache over the last few days.

"Hey," Annabeth said as she sat down next to him. Percy glanced at her before looking back at the lake. "How are you doing?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I think I'm doing okay, but my hand..." He glanced down at his hand.

A frowned appeared on her face. "Yeah. It's quite odd."

He nodded. "Everyone keeps saying that." He sighed. "I know that it's odd, but that's not what I want to hear."

"Then what do you want to hear?" She asked him quietly.

He sighed. "I don't know." He knew. He wanted to hear it could be fixed. Not only his hand. But his whole life. Because of Lycaon, his life had been turned upside down, and it was only a question of time before something went wrong. He was terrified of accidentally turning and hurting his friends.

Why couldn't they just get some piece after the war? The Camp was still hurting after the Titan War, and now this was happening. He didn't want that.

He couldn't ignore the beast inside him. He could feel it turning inside him. Listening to every word that was being said. Though he wasn't sure if it understood the words. But he knew it was listening. It was just under the surface, and he had to control himself, to not get his pulse up. He wasn't sure what exactly triggered it, but he wanted to stay safe. He wouldn't want to hurt someone by accident.

Annabeth leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Maybe..." He started to say but stopped. What was he supposed to say?

"Maybe?" Annabeth asked and looked up at him.

"Maybe my powers are just acting off... because of the war..." He spoke slowly. "I mean, I did use them a lot, so it'd make sense... I think..." He frowned.

She looked at him for a moment before she shrugged. "I don't know. I wish I could help, but I can't." She muttered.

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"That's okay."

∞

It had been two weeks since the accident. His hand had started to heal. He still needed daily checkups with Will at the infirmary, but the wound was healing slowly. Which was good.

Percy was tired. Every day he somehow ended up in a conversation that evolved around the Capture the Flag incident. He was tired of listening to it. Couldn't everyone just let it go? It had been two weeks since it had happened. And he was fine. Of course, his hand wasn't fully healed, but he was fine.