²OLDEN CROWN. heroes of olympus

013.

OLDEN CROWN
━━ chapter thirteen

━━ IT WAS HORRIBLE. Abilene couldn't get Phineas out of her head—not his death, but the words that were shared. The old seer knew that Ceres had gone silent with her; he knew that Hazel used to be dead; he knew that Frank's life apparently relied on an already-charred piece of firewood ( which even Abilene didn't know ); worst of all, the earth spoke to Abilene again. This time, when she wasn't asleep. It was exactly like how Ceres used to speak to Abilene—but Ceres had gone silent. She didn't speak anymore. And for a while, so why start talking now? Unless ...

               The sleepy voice still rang in Abilene's mind—I've been forced to draw a line, the voice griped. To make a gamble. And Percy Jackson is right—he is more important than Phineas. He has a bigger role than that old seer, only Percy Jackson can't see what I have in store for him.

               If Percy was right, the woman whose face appeared in a hill and spoke to him in a sleepy voice was Gaea. And that voice—Abilene had heard that voice before, and from Ceres. Right as Phineas raised the left vial, the sleepy voice spoke to her. The woman spoke to her as the left vial shook, and it seemed pretty obvious this was Gaea's doing—shaking the earth as Phineas raised his left hand, and speaking to Abilene with Ceres's voice, talking about being forced to draw a line. Abilene couldn't stomach what her brain was coming up with, but she couldn't stop thinking about it.

               The water didn't help Abilene's queasiness any. And as the Pax sped down the Columbia River, she tried to forget. Helping Ella make a nest out of old books and magazines they stole from the library seemed like an easy way to forget, but the harpy shied away from the girl like she was scared. It hurt, seeing how Ella stared with Abilene in fear, but Frank told her to not take it personally.

               Ella doesn't let me and Percy touch her, Frank had told Abilene. But this wasn't just Ella not wanting to be touched; she looked petrified of Abilene, like Abilene had personally caused Phineas to come back alive. It hurt, to be looked at like you were able of cursing someone to deal with the likes of Phineas.

               They hadn't really planned on taking the harpy with them, but Ella acted like the matter was decided. "Friends," she muttered. "'Ten seasons. 1994 to 2004.' Friends melt Phineas and give Ella jerky. Ella will go with her friends." Now she was roosting comfortably in the stern, nibbling bits of jerky and reciting random lines from Charles Dickens and 50 Tricks to Teach Your Dog.

               Percy knelt in the bow, steering them toward the ocean with his freaky mind-over-water powers. Abilene sat next to Frank on the center bench, their shoulders touching, which made her feel as jittery as a harpy. She remembered the way he looked at her as she pinned the medals to his shirt; she remembered the way Frank laughed with her; the way he looked at her on the hillside of Mendocino as poisoned grass burned around them. If Abilene could get away with ripping her heart out and throwing it out into the river, she would have. She hated feeling like this.

               A week ago, if someone had suggested that Frank was a child of Mars, she would have laughed. Frank was much too sweet and gentle for that. She had always felt protective of him because of his clumsiness and his knack for getting into trouble. Abilene knew Frank would hate to know she used to think of him that way, but he was a sweet guy. And a guy who seemed genuine. But since they left Camp Jupiter, Abilene saw Frank differently—he had more courage than she'd realized. He was the one looking out for her. She had to admit being cared for was nice, even if she would never admit it.