Lightning

Chapter 18: Doors

Last chapter: "How the hell do you know my name?"

"I am hecate, goddess of magic. We need to talk"

"Did I do something?"

"No. But i'm just here to warn you that you have a huge decision to make when this is all over. Go home and never see camp again or go to camp and never see your home again"

"Wait what?"

"I can't tell you anymore. I wasn't even supposed to tell you that"

"Bullshit. If you can tell me something like that you can elaborate on it. What's going to happen?"

"The only thing I can tell you is that the thing you feared most is going to happen."

"What kind of an answer is that?!" She asked, getting more and more sick of this woman. She was being mysterious and Hope was sick of it. Like just tell me what happened or don't say anything at all. Because now, I will be distracted throughout the whole quest!

Hecate reached her hand out and threw her into the wall behind her. Hope's head slammed against the wall.

"You should watch your words before you tell a god what to do" Hecate said before vanishing.

Annabeth opened the door to see Hope laying on the ground. "What the hades happened?"

"I'll tell you in the car" she mumbled before getting up and leaving the store. Annabeth paid for the things she picked out and followed her to the backseat of the car.

"What happened?"

"Hecate showed up and told me that after the quest, I can either go home and never go to camp again or go to camp and never go home again.."

"Did she tell you anything else?" Christine asked from the front seat

Hope shook her head. "She got really mad at me when I asked her what would happen and she threw me into a wall." Hope looked down at the floor of the car and blinked away the tears in her eyes. It was either she goes home and doesn't see the friends she made at camp, ever again. Or she sees her friends and loses her home. The obvious choice would be to go home because family doesn't abandon family. But then she thought of Dean and Christine and all the other people she'd befriended and she didn't know what to do again. She was silent the rest of the trip, wondering what to do. If anything she could always just iris message the people from camp. The importance of family had been drilled into her head from the moment she was born from her family and those around her. She never realized how hard this decision would be when she got to it though. She gripped the leather steering wheel and looked through the rearview mirror at the lane next to her as she switched lanes. Her eyes were as hard as steel as they looked at the street in front of her.

She glanced at Christine and the first words she had said since the gas station spilled from her "If I go back home, would you be pissed at me?"

"What? Why would I be pissed at you?"

"Because I would be leaving. I wouldn't be seeing you again.."

"It'll be fine. And besides, we could iris-message each other. You need to go to your family Hope, even if it means I wouldn't see you again.." Christine said as her eyes filled with water. She would hate to see her go. She had grown close to the girl and didn't find it fair that their time together had been cut short. She understood why though. Family was important to her. Hope needed to be with the people who loved her, even if Christine wasn't in the picture. She'd get over it. Maybe.

"After this is all over I don't think I could go back to camp and see everyone. I would regret my decision and start rethinking everything. Can you tell Dean and everyone else what happened? Make sure they're not mad at me?"

Christine's lips curled up into a small smile "of course I would. I would've done it even if you didn't ask"

Hope smiled a little and drove a little faster

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I'm so sorry this chapter is so short. I hope you guys are all okay, considering everything. I hope your family, friends, and you are okay. All you need is a little hope, trust, and pixie dust. And to social distance and stay inside. Don't forget the last two or I won't be able to see a beach again lmao.