First Lie || Deception Book I ||

The Dream Pt. 2

"Y-you're brother is Kronos," I stammered. Everything made sense now. Who else, other than one of the original titans, could have the power to immediately regenerate a monster? Plus, there was that icy wind and frost. I was facing a titan and the Lord of the North at that. I was so fucked.

The titan glanced at me curiously. "You didn't know? Hm. I would have thought that if not your aunt or uncle, your mother would have at least told you."

"W-what?" I asked, not sure that I'd heard correctly. "What does my mother have to do with this?"

Before the titan could say anything, the cavern glitched, like a TV screen, before clearing again. The titan frowned. "Damn it, you're waking up." He looked at me thoughtfully. "You go ask her what she has to do with it. There's no time for me to explain. Oh, and congrats on deciding to join the war against the Olympians."

Oh, right. Right. That. The only reason I wasn't dead.

The cavern slowly started to fade and dissolve. The titan stood there, his blue eyes piercing in the encroaching darkness, the diamond on his breastplate glowing brightly. "Last thing. Tell your mother to reconsider her choice, and that if need be, she'll always have a place here."

I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I couldn't speak or move. The last thing I heard before the darkness took me was the titan saying, "I have a feeling that we'll meet very soon, great-granddaughter."

I was dimly aware of my consciousness returning, and the memory of my dream hit me full-force.

Great-granddaughter? That was messed up. I sighed mentally. Despite having it come from a Titan, I knew he wasn't lying, and I needed answers. Koios, Titan of the North. My great grandfather. I also needed to know how he'd managed to numb my powers, if it was just his ability, or if there was an object that could do it.

I slowly opened my eyes, the ceiling of the sick room in the big house greeting them. I raised my head slightly, and my eyes fell on Luke, who was sleeping in a chair next to the bed. How cliché, I thought. The girl wakes up after a near-death encounter and the first thing she sees is the person who saved her.

I tried to sit up and winced. "Ow."

Luke jolted awake, his hand reaching for his sword, but relaxed when he saw me. "Ri! You're finally awake!"

I smiled weakly at him. "What happened? The last thing I remembered was killing the monster and then . . . I thought I heard you call my name."

Luke didn't respond, just pulled me in a hug.

"Uh," I muttered awkwardly. "What-"

"Don't ever do something like that again," Luke replied, pulling away. He swiped at his eyes briefly. "You gave me a heart attack. I thought- I was-"

Oh. I grimaced. "Trust me, I wasn't planning on dying."

"That's not the point!" Luke said. "Well, it is, but how could you have just- Anna, do you know how I felt the past few days? If you'd died, I-" He wiped at his eyes angrily. "Whatever. You're fine now. That's what matters."

I gaped at him. "You're a real sweetheart, you know that?" I pulled him down and hugged him. Luke hugged me back fervently, and I could feel his knee-wobbling relief.

"Ahem," someone interrupted from the door. "Leave my patient alone."

I flinched and quickly pulled away.

"Gods, Will, it's just a hug," Luke complained.

"I'm just doing my job!" he said.

I studied him thoughtfully. I'd heard of Will, the camp's youngest healer and one with promising talent, but had never actually seen him. They weren't kidding when they said young. A ten-year old-ish boy with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes, stood in the doorway, a bottle of nectar and a few squares of ambrosia in a bag in his hand.

"You're very young," I commented. "How old are you? Eleven? Ten?"

"Ten," Will confirmed, setting the godly food and drink on the bedside table.

I smiled. "That's a lot of talent."

Will blushed. "Thanks. Don't give me too much credit. Chiron was the one who healed your leg. Anyways, you should be fine by today after you drink the nectar, but I'd recommend staying until tomorrow."

"Okay," I said. "Thanks."

Will nodded and quickly left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Drink up," Luke said, handing me the bottle. "And you can tell me, how you, the strongest demigod in camp, managed to get hurt to that degree. What the fuck happened?"

I sipped the nectar slowly. It tasted like the drink Apollo had jokingly called "Morctar" which was a portmanteau he had coined from "Mortal Nectar." It was a blend of sweet syrup from the maple trees in Mount Olympus, honey from Aristaeus himself, and a whole bunch of other stuff that Dionysus had mixed in. Regardless, it had become my favourite drink, and tasting it now was like a punch to the face. I was suddenly filled with an overwhelming nostalgia and homesickness for Olympus. The clean, beautifully built buildings and temples, the crystal clear waters, the gardens, flying through the clouds at sunrise and sunset with Blackfire, and the joy and calmness of the city in the clouds.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I nodded, shoving down the homesickness. "Just thinking."

"So," Luke said, settling in his chair. "What happened?"

I launched into a recount of what happened when I walked off into the woods, briefly describing everything. I left out the tidbit about my shadows, instead saying that my control over the Mist had disappeared for a couple of seconds. Luke was a good listener, and he didn't interrupt me, though I could see his thoughts whirling.

"You positive that you've never seen this creature before?" Luke asked once I finished.

"Yeah, I've never seen it before. Have you?"

Luke shook his head. "Never. Maybe someone's been breeding them. Even then, it still doesn't explain how your magic disappeared."

I shuddered. "That's a horrible thought. And yeah, I don't know either. Even if it was only temporary." I hadn't told Luke about my encounter with Koios and wasn't planning to soon. Somethings had to be kept a secret.

Luke ran his hand through his hair, meeting my gaze worriedly. "I'm sorry, Ri."

I blinked. "For what?"

"For Percy."

Oh my gods, Percy. I'd completely forgotten.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm not forgiving you for it, not now, but at least you now know that you've fucked up, big time."

"I just- I wasn't thinking," Luke finally said. "I was so focused on just getting the bolt to him, that I didn't consider how it would feel on Percy's part."

Hmph. As long as I could find a way to get Percy out of those shoes, it'd be fine. I grabbed the bag of ambrosia and tucked it in my pocket.

Oh, shit. "What day is it?" I asked Luke as I quickly flung off the covers. "How long have I been out?"

"Anna!" Luke said, standing up. "You can't just get up and start walking around! You were near death a few minutes ago!"

"What. Day. Is. It?" I repeated as I quickly slipped on my shoes, grabbed my dagger and ring from the table next to the bed, and checked to make sure that all my weapons were on me.

"You've been out for four days," Luke replied. "Today's July nineteenth." 

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