Protecting Home: Forgotten Power, Part Two!

Epilogue

The Wanderling Forest was alive with activity, but no one was smiling. All the elves were dressed in green, paying condolences to Grady and Edaline, and Juline and Kesler. Keefe had led the five remaining elves through the line, his expression stoic as he kept his arm around Biana's bare shoulders.

All of them had changed. By the way they stood around each other, and the way they acted, they were all more protective and less trusting of anyone outside their group. Biana barely ever left Keefe or Fitz's side after having to tell Sophie and Dex's parents that they wouldn't be coming back, and Linh was perfectly fine with Tam being more protective of her. When Fitz wasn't angry, he walked around numb to anything happening around him. And Keefe. Keefe hadn't lost his mischievous smirk and humorous personality, but he was a lot more serious, and pranks weren't that often.

Behind the elves were the demigods. No one knew them, but Sophie and Dex's parents still accepted their presence. None of them were fond of the green instead of black, but they were willing to wear it as it was elven custom. The Wanderling Trees intrigued many of them, as well as the planting of them, which Keefe explained to them. Annabeth and Hazel couldn't get the prophecy out of their heads as they walked among the trees, and Percy didn't like seeing his friends sad. Frank had stayed close to Hazel's side, and Jason and Piper almost never let go of each other's hand. Leo couldn't stop fidgeting and was constantly building small things before taking them apart and building something new. They stood in a line behind the elves, who stood in front of two trees.

The Wanderlings belonged to Sophie and Dex. They were the same ones that has been planted all those years ago when they were kidnapped and pronounced dead. But now, they really were. The Wanderlings served as more than a reminder of the first attack against Sophie again. Dex's tree was tall and bright, while Sophie's was small and pale. It didn't seem like a contrast fitting for the two cousins.

Keefe and Biana stood closest to the two trees. In Biana's hand was a piece of a gadget Dex hadn't finished, and in Keefe's were a charm for Sophie's bracelet and a Panakes flower. Slowly, he stepped towards the trees and attached the Moonlark shaped charm to her bracelet and Biana put the device at the foot of Dex's tree seconds later. Hesitantly, Keefe took the flower in his hand and tore off the petals one by one, letting them fall at the base of Sophie's tree. As he dropped the final one, a breeze blew them around Sophie's tree as it started to grow again.

The petals spun in circles up the tree as it grew, and once it stopped they settled below it. Biana started crying as they stared at what used to be a pale, scrawny tree. Sophie's tree was now sturdy and tall, with large, star shaped yellow leaves and brown seed pods. Weaving their way up the trunk were ribbons of blue, purple, and pink, and a few Panakes blossoms had grown and fallen from it. One of the thicker branches had spread out and intertwined with Dex's tree, scattering a few petals below it.

Biana knelt down and started sobbing, her face hidden in her hands. Keefe rubbed her back, his fingers running over the scars Biana now wore boldly. They weren't going to ignore what had happened to them anymore. There wasn't much to hide anyway.

Tempest kept herself out of the view of everyone. Of course she had gone to the planting; she was the one who felt responsible for Sophie and Dex's deaths. But she knew that if anyone recognized her, she probably wouldn't be allowed to leave. Everyone probably saw her as a murderer, and she was a bit worried about how they would react if they saw her.

As she watched Biana cry in front of the trees, she met eyes with Hazel. Quickly, she held up her hand in a shushing gesture. Pulling out a piece of paper, she wrote a short note to Hazel. She knew she would see the daughter of Pluto soon, but she had other things to do before then. She pulled out her pathfinder and set in on a random facet before stepping into the beam.

___________

Dex hesitated before stepping through the door of a building called DOA Recording Studios. The man at the counter looked up as he entered. "Ah, hello. I'm Charon. Who might you be?"

" Um... I'm Dex. Do you happen to know where my friends went? "

Charon's eyebrows knit together, "Your friends?"

" Yeah. We were fighting a monster and then I showed up here. "

"You remember them?"

" Of course I remember them! They're my friends! "

Charon leaned forward on the desk, "Well, Dex, do you have payment for travel across the Styx?"

Dex looked at the man, " Well, I don't know what the Styx is, but I have this. " he put a luster on the counter.

Charon picked it up and studied it. "I figured as much," he said, looking back at Dex , "You're an elf, aren't you?" Dex nodded and Charon stood from his chair, " Come with me. "

They walked through a back door Dex hadn't seen when he walked in. "You see, years ago, we had a girl show up claiming to be an elf." Charon explained as they stepped into an elevator and went down, " We just thought she was a unique case, but then, many years later, a man she recognized also showed up. They both claimed to be elves, and they both knew everyone else who said they were an elf and showed up. Eventually , Hades created a few islands for elves, since they follow different customs than humans and demigods do.

"For a short time, there were a lot of elves showing up. A few of the elves who had been there the longest and were known to be just people came up with their own Judgement counsel for the elves. Actually, a little while ago, we had a girl show up. When she got to the island, everyone there was sad and I think I heard someone mention a Moonlark, but she was immediately taken to whatever they call their island for heroes. "

"Sophie." Dex muttered sadly. Sophie had died. He hadn't kept his promise to his parents.

"You know her?"

"She's my adopted cousin." Dex explained as they left the elevator.

" Huh. "

Dex paused before reaching into his pocket and taking out the rest of the lusters in his pocket, which amounted to 4, "Thank you. Here, " he held out the coins, "I don't think I'll need them anymore."

Charon stared at his hand, "Do you know how much they're worth?"

Dex shook his head, "I don't know how much exactly, but I do know that it's a large amount of human money."

Charon greedily took the coins out of Dex's hand. "Well, hope you enjoy the afterlife!" He called behind him, keeping his focus on the coins as he went back into the elevator.

Dex took a deep breath and walked towards the island. A single strip of land led from where he was to an island in the middle of a strange lake. Making his way across the land bridge, he started running when he saw the familiar smile of his cousin, they wrapped each other in a hug, and Dex knew that if he wasn't dead, he would've been crying.

Sophie laughed as she returned the hug. "Hey Dex!" She said softly.

"Hi Sophie!" Dex replied as he moved away, smiling. As he looked up at his cousin's face again, her saw her warm, brown eyes were now unusually grey, but she was still smiling. She hugged him again, but this time it was shorter.

"I haven't seen you in so long."