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chapter thirty-nine. ☄︎. *. ⋆
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IWAS PRETTY THANKFUL my aunt seems to be fonder of me than of my father. Artemis welcomed me into her tent easily, healing my poisoned injury immediately, the only issue arising being her second-in-command. Zoë Nightshade already held me to a distaste, claiming that I was "weak and helpless" during the fight with Dr. Thorn. For what it was worth (and it wasn't worth a lot), I agreed with her.
I was riddled with guilt. No, something beyond guilt—it was hatred. I hated myself. I hated that Annabeth was gone and there was nothing I could do about it. And, most of all, I hated Percy.
When we arrived at Artemis's camp, Thalia was the first one to let loose on him. If I wasn't almost as angry as her, I would have felt sorry for him; I'd never been on the receiving end of one of Thalia's monologues, but even watching it from afar made a pit of dread form in my stomach.
"What were you thinking back there, Percy?" she shouted. "You and Theo would take on Dr. Thorn all by yourselves? You knew he was a powerful monster! If we'd stuck together, we could've taken him without the Hunters getting involved. Annabeth might still be here. Did you think of that?"
By the way she glanced sideways at me, I could tell she wanted to unleash on me, too, but I figured between the poison and losing my best friend, she wanted to cut me some slack. I was grateful for it, really, but I would've taken on a thousand of Thalia's furious lectures if it meant we could have Annabeth back.
I stood to the side while Thalia yelled at Percy. I wanted to join her, but the wound in my side still ached and I was afraid that opening my mouth would break a hole in the dam that was keeping my tears back.
𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧
GROVER SAT WITH ME. He didn't talk, and neither did I, but it was nice to have the company.
Artemis debriefed Bianca and Nico on who they were—more especially, who their parents were. Bianca was in denial at first. Nico, in a way I could tell was probably true Nico fashion, was pumped. He asked all sorts of questions; "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does Poseidon have mega-waves that can take out your enemies with one hit? Is Percy her boyfriend?"
If I weren't so miserable, I would've cracked a smile. Then he asked the last question and directed it towards me, and my heart plummeted through my stomach to land in my feet. But then Artemis invited me into her tent, which was good timing, because I was about to burst into tears, and I wasn't sure Nico would've liked to witness that.
