Wild Heart ⋆ Riordanverse¹

xviii. circe's island

xviii. circe's island

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WHEN THEA WAKES UP, HER HEAD IS IN ANNABETH'S LAP. Annabeth is dabbing at Thea's cheek with a dry cloth, her face pinched with concentration.

"Oh, thank the gods," she sighs once she sees that she's awake. "You've been out for hours. I thought you were—"

"Dead? Please, been there, done that." She winces when she tries to sit up and lays back down after her leg flares with pain. "Shit, shit, that hurts."

"You got saltwater on it, of course it hurts you idiot." Annabeth is silent for a second. "Thea, are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" She blinks at the sun. "Am I about to die or something?"

"Thea, come on. You jumped into the sea of monsters after Beckendorf, you could've died. And you've been . . . different."

Thea shuts her eyes. It's only Annabeth and Percy in the rowboat. "I didn't want to lose him. If you had a cousin, would you want them to die?"

"No." Annabeth glances at Percy. "Luke talked about your mom and you've been . . . different since then. Do you think he'd bring her back?"

"Yeah," she answers, without hesitation. "If they got her on their side, the war would be different. Have you heard about her before?"

"Andraya Vasquez," Annabeth says. "Grandaughter of Hecate, messenger and warrior of the gods. Everyone knows about her, until she, you know, everyone wanted to be just like her at camp. She was a legend. Malcolm told me about her, I just . . . didn't realize she was your mom at first."

"Well, yeah. But she knew more about the gods than almost anyone. More than some of them did." She sighs, her eyes still shut. "Since she was barely seventeen she was doing things for them. She knew the gods better than any other person that wasn't one. But there's always a price to pay for things like that."

"...You think they did it?"

Percy elbows Annabeth in the side and chastises her.

"Can't say for sure, but honestly? Probably. I had a dream about her the other night. She and Lord Apollo dated. And they were so in love. It was obvious. But they both kept saying that they couldn't tell anyone because his family wouldn't allow it. And we all know what happens to those people."

Death.

Percy looks pale. "Oh. I've never thought of it like that."

"Yeah." She heaves herself up into a sitting position, her leg mostly dead weight. "She was dangerous, and intelligent, and—she was just great. If they managed to bring her back and told her what happened to me? Yeah, she'd probably side with them."

"She'd go against her grandmother?" Percy asks.

"This is something my mom always told me," she says as she looks intently into his eyes. "Never count on the gods. Never count on them to be a part in your plan. She said to love and worship them as you should, but realize that even if they're gods, they're more mortal than us."

Annabeth doesn't say anything. Thea can tell she wants to disagree, but as she mulls over the information she can't. Because her mother was right. The gods pride themselves on not being mortal, yet they are more foolish and sensitive than the "weak" mortals. They became what they sought to outlaw.

"I told him about the prophecy," Annabeth blurts. "At least what I know. That at sixteen one of the Big Three kids would make an important decision. We, uh, we couldn't wait until you woke up."