mastermind - percy jackson

xvi. oracles, fates, and the future

"a single string the fates shall snip"

Annabeth, Cassandra, and Percy were on their way out when Percy spotted Hermes in a side courtyard of the palace. He was staring at an Iris-message in the mist of a fountain.

Percy looked at Annabeth and Cassandra. "I'll meet you at the elevator."

"You sure?" Cassandra asked. Then she took a second to study his face. "Yeah, you're sure."

They watched him walk away before Annabeth pulled Cassandra toward the elevator.

When they made it, Annabeth seemed like she had a million questions to ask Cassandra and she kept tapping her foot.

"What's wrong?" Cassandra finally asked her.

"I just..." She paused, before saying, "You didn't get a gift."

"Uh, no. I guess I didn't" Cassandra said with a shrug.

"Why?" Annabeth asked.

"No idea" Cassandra lied. "But it's not a big deal, Annabeth."

"It's just really weird" Annabeth commented, sounding slightly frustrated that it wasn't making sense. "If anyone should've gotten something, it was you."

"It really doesn't matter" Cassandra said. "I don't need anything from the gods anyways."

"But the gift isn't about what you need" Annabeth argued. "It's about giving you something you want, as a way to show their appreciation."

"I don't want anything from them either" Cassandra said. "Now can we drop this? I really don't want to argue with you right now."

Annabeth took a breath. "Sorry. It's just confusing. And after Luke..."

"I get it" Cassandra assured. "I still hate him, but he was like a brother to you. Losing people you love is hard."

She nodded and closed her eyes for a second. "Is it dumb? That even after everything he's done, I still care about him?"

Cassandra shook her head. "When you love someone, it's easier to ignore everything that they've done to hurt people. Because you know what it was like before. And you can choose to focus on the good and ignore the bad."

Annabeth gave her a small smile. "You're really good at giving advice, Cassie. You should consider being a therapist or something."

If I live long enough.

"Maybe" Cassandra said instead, not wanting to ruin the good mood Annabeth was in. "I just don't know if I'd be good at acting like the bad things they've done are okay. I don't know if I told you, but my fatal flaw is not being able to forgive."

"Oh" Annabeth said. "No, I don't think you told me that." She didn't seem super shocked though.

"Sorry. There's just been a lot going on, I must've forgotten."

"Yeah, I actually wanted to ask you..." Whatever Annabeth was saying was blocked out.

There was a flash, and images ran through her mind. Thousands of possibilities of what her life could have been like if she had changed one simple decision.

She saw herself leading the Hunt again, alongside Thalia before the picture quickly shifted to her having stayed with her mother.

"Choose" A voice hissed in her mind.

Another flash, and she saw two strings being presented to her and a pair of scissors being held over them.

The first string was dark blue, and the second was silver.