Rising Storm (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Chapter 81

Chapter 81: Alex

Camp half blood is my home. Who ever thought I would be happy to go back somewhere? I’m not even sure why I agreed to not blowing up the island, but like he said, Clarisse can drop a bomb. The mirror belonged to Circe, and could have tried to screw with me. Leo, I don’t think I can leave him behind again. I’m am trying an act of defiance. (Because, you know, I’m not defiant enough already.) But honestly, my life shouldn’t have to revolve around Circe.

We burned the dead, although there weren’t that many. I felt bad about this, because they died for something they had nothing to do with. “It’s not your fault.” Leo comforted, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

“We need to stop trying to blame somebody.” I say quietly. “It’s easy to say that the gods are the only ones to blame, but it’s not always true. Like right now.” Leo didn’t say anything. I feel like everything was so much more distant between us now, like he felt extremely embarrassed about something or other, but I couldn’t think of why. This whole ‘human emotion’ thing is a real chore.  

I walked over to where Piper and the rest of the Aphrodite campers were standing, watching the final ashes of some girl named Drew. The thing was, nobody seemed very upset, and this coming from the people that burst into tears when they chip a nail.

Piper turned. “Hey! What’s going on between you and Leo?” I was used to this question by now. Every Aphrodite camper seemed to be ridiculously concerned with what was going on between me and Leo. Instead of rolling my eyes like I usually do, I just shrug. Piper raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound good. Well hey, I have an idea. There is a party at the Aphrodite cabin tomorrow night: a victory party/Halloween party, considering that we spent Halloween in battle.” Well I really needed that pick-me-up. “Why don’t you come with Leo and I’m sure we can figure out something from there?” that didn’t sound promising.

By the time night arrived, I didn’t feel like getting much sleep. I wanted to climb back up a tree, fall asleep, and wake up to have none of this ever happen. I sat down at the edge of the lake, staring out at the black water. If I got caught I would be in major trouble, but I really didn’t care anymore.

“I’m surprised to see you out here at this time of night.” I nearly screamed. Nico Di Angelo sat down next to me. Gods did he scare me. He’s quieter than a dead spider. Ok, maybe that wasn’t the best metaphor.

“Oh my gods, Nico!” I take a couple of seconds to catch my breath, and I laugh. I see a smile creep up on the ghost king’s mouth. He actually was kind of attractive when he smiled, which he rarely did. Maybe it had something to do with fact that he enjoyed the company of the dead more than the living.

“You seem scared.” Thank you captain obvious.

“Well duh. You just scared the shit out of me!” Nico shakes his head.

“No, not like that. You seem emotionally scared. Like you are scared of yourself.” I look at him peculiarly.

“You can sense that in people? Is that just a Hades thing?” He shrugged.

“Not really, I just know how you feel. I know what it looks like.” He was right of course. I was scared of myself. My life was just me, trying to run from my fate. Now that I finally knew my fate, I wanted things to be back the way it was before. I wanted to run again, but there was nowhere to run to. “You can’t run away from yourself. Believe me I’ve tried.” He didn’t have to say more. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I knew that I can’t do it alone anymore. For a moment, nobody spoke.

“Why don’t people like you very much?” that came out ruder than I meant it to be. Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Probably has something to do with the dead people, and the odd silence and the anti-socialness.” I snort in laughter.

“Ya, but still. When you’re not being all anti-social you actually give good advice.”

“What can I say? I’m king.” I punch his arm playfully. I hear the harpies in the distance.

“Oh crap. I better go if I don’t want be eaten, or worse…” I didn’t have to finish my statement. “Thanks Nico.” Then I ran off back to my cabin.