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Cassia couldn't really process what had just happened. She remain a blank slate, her eyes void of the deafening emotions that are running through her brain at the exact moment, loud screams and voices that told her she hadn't tried enough; and that's why Luke is still alive.
"Cass." Percy's hands find her chin, tilting her face up so their eyes met, a sparking connection that immediately snapped her from her trance.
"Wha- yeah?" She winces as a nurse dabs at her bull-induced wounds, "sorry, I spaced out for a bit. Were you saying something of any little importance? Otherwise leave me to my overthinking."
"I was explaining how Luke poisoned Thalia's tree, but judging by your face.. I can already tell you knew that-" he pauses, frowning as she grimaces, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you."
"Are you kidding?" She laughs, "you saved me from literally shoving my whole foot up Luke's ass. That's a start, right?"
Percy chuckles, "oh, my Cassia. Always so violent."
Cassia notes the butterflies in her stomach at his choice of words, a slight bolt to her chest that restarted her heart and its feelings for Percy Jackson. As much as she tries to ignore it, far more important things on her mind than developing feelings over a boy that the whole camp practically drools over. Ever since Luke, she thought she'd never be able to feel such a connection again; the one where the feelings are fatal, that it would surely feel like a hole through her head if anything were to happen. It scares her, absolutely terrifies her. But, she knew she couldn't repress these feelings any longer, that sooner or later she was going to have to come face-to-face with her demons and slay them. There's no going around it.
She shrugs, "it's my job. It's like playing good cop bad cop, Perc. You can use your peaceful protesting reasoning while I get straight to the point: homicide."
He shakes his head with a sigh, falling more for this girl everyday, before jumping from the hospital bed, "maybe you should get your head checked out too while I'm gone."
"You're leaving?" Pouts the daughter of Artemis, her eyes wide and her lip jutted.
"Only for a couple of minutes, Cass-" he places a chaste kiss to her hair, a norm between the two, before instructing the nurse to check the girl for a concussion, "behave, got it?"
Cassia rolls her eyes, "you're no fun."
—
Thalia's tree. A thick oak that sported beautiful blossoms during the springtime. It also kept the barrier around camp half-blood strong, securing the Demi-gods inside and making sure no dangerous creatures could murder them in cold blood; as they did Thalia.
But, as a group of half-bloods stand around the trunk, its branches withering and its bark rotting, they knew that something terrible had happened and neither them nor Thalia were no longer safe from the horrors outside this camp.
