Adrasteia

Dad

On the first page of our story
The future seemed so bright.
Then this thing turned out so evil;
I don't know why I'm still surprised.
Even angels have
Their wicked schemes.
And you take that
To new extremes.

But you'll always be my hero,
Even though you've lost your mind.

                             ~~~~~

"Hey Perc," I said, sitting down at the lake next to my closest friend. "What're you thinking about?"

He sighed and skipped a pebble across the surface of the water expertly. "I just... I don't know, Ads. I'm not cut out for this kind of stuff! You know, like saving the world kind of stuff? I'm only fifteen! I should be worried about passing my tests and fitting in! Instead I'm kept awake at night, trying to figure out how to stop the great titan Kronos from taking over the world, because everyone looks up to me to save them!"

"Well, I guess you just have to stop Luke, right? Once Luke's out if the way, then we should be fine. And Luke's a couple million years younger than Kronos." He turned to look at me, but I continued to look out at the water. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, Addie. I really am. I know how close you and Luke were," he said softly, placing his hand on mine.

"Who doesn't," I joked quietly. Nobody honestly knew exactly how close Luke and I were, though. Not even Annabeth and Thalia. When I found out Luke had turned against us, I couldn't function for weeks. It got so bad that Chiron had excused me from training and just let me handle the chores. My whole world had revolved around Luke, and now he's gone. I promised I'd always stay by his side, but this... This was just taking it too far. I played with my locket. "It's fine, Percy," I said. "Things happen; life goes on." But neither of us was fooled. I sighed heavily.

"Addie! Percy!" We turned around as Grover came up to us, and our hands lost contact. "Dinner's being served," he said.

"Thanks, Grover." Percy stood and looked down at me. "Come on, Ads." He offered a hand, but I shook my head.

"I'll be fine, I'm not that hungry. You guys go on ahead." They frowned.

"Addie, Chiron told me to make sure you eat something. You've barely eaten since we got back from the quest two months ago. And you didn't eat a thing today. You've gotta have something eventually," Grover reminded me.

"He's right. Hey, maybe they've got broccoli and cheese soup tonight!" Percy said. I smiled wearily.

"Fine, fine. I'll go for the soup." They cheered.

"You're gonna explode from all that broccoli and cheese one day," Grover joked. I shoved him lightly.

"It would be a tasty explosion though, wouldn't it?" We laughed and headed toward the dining pavilion. We got some food, and I waved at Percy and Grover as they headed to the Poseidon table. I sat down at the Ares table next to Clarisse after offering some food to the gods.

"Hey sis," she said with a mouthful of food. I laughed.

"Hey Clari." I looked down at her plate and grimaced. "I have no idea how you can eat all that, especially after they get all mixed up!" I said, thoroughly disgusted and refraining from shuddering. She laughed, her mouth still full. "Gross! Keep your mouth closed when you eat!" She just grinned and swallowed her food. She pointed at my plate with her fork.

"You hardly eat anything at all!"

"I can always go up and get some more," I pointed out.

"But you never do." I grinned.