The Unclaimed

Chapter 13: I tell a technically immortal hunter my life story

   I had expected to feel tired, by the time we got to Pennsylvania border I thought I would be ready to pass out. My endurance was above average but we had been running for hours on end. Yet instead of feeling tired, I felt more alive than ever. We had already faced a few monsters, and killed them all, but I had no sensation of any of them being the one from the prophecy. I wasn't sure how long we had been running for, I had lost track of time some point after we got into Pennsylvania, but eventually Artemis slowed down.
   "Time for lunch," Artemis announced. All the hunters cheered. "Let's set up camp and then eat." Remembering what the other hunters had showed me just earlier that day, I assisted Thalia in setting up her tent.
   "So," Thalia said, giving me a look. I raised my eyes brows.
   "So are you going to finish the rest of that thought or do I have to try and read your mind?" I asked jokingly. She shoulder bumped me playfully.
   "So what are you thinking of the Hunt so far?" She asked.
   "I've been in the hunt for less then 24 hours and you all have already made me feel more welcome here then I ever did at camp." I told her truthfully. When she heard what I said, Thalia sent a sad smile in direction.
   "Was life at camp really that bad?" She asked me. "I never spent much time there, I joined the Hunt almost immediately after I got turned back into a human. I was a tree for a while but that's a whole different story. The point is, when my brother and all my friends were there, they loved it." I looked down at my feet.
   "They must have had pretty different lives then I did," I whispered. "Camp itself wasn't that bad, at least not to start. I excelled at training from day one, it came easy to me. I was also able to relax, I no longer had to spend every ounce of my energy on making sure Michael was safe. On making sure that we were safe; we spent must of our lives running from the law and running from monsters. I thought camp would be a break from that." Thalia had been listening intently, but she interrupted me at this point.
   "And it was, wasn't it?" She said. "When you got to camp you became safe from any mortals that might have been looking for you and no monster can breach camp boundaries." I shook my head in disagreement.
   "Monsters don't just come in the shape of creatures that disintegrate when you slice them with your sword." I reminded her. "And mortals are easier to evade then demigods are. The pranks and the comments, they started out small. No one wanted Michael to figure out what was going on, nearly everyone loved him. Plus all the Hermes campers were really protective of him, fights would break out at camp if anyone hurt him. Which is why I did everything I could to hide my pain and misery from him. For the first time in so long he was happy. He felt safe and didn't have to worry about where our next meal was coming. I couldn't take that away from him." I blinked my eyes rapidly to try and get the dampness in the corners to disappear.
   "Hey, don't cry," Thalia said soothingly. "We don't need to talk about this anymore if it makes you upset." I shook my head.
   "If I'm going to spend the rest of eternity with you, then you deserve to know the whole truth of everything that happened." I took a deep shaky breath. "Overtime though, the other campers started to become harsher in their statements and more careless about their pranks. Michaels a smart kid, he began to notice a change in my behavior. He kept asking me if I was alright and what he could do to make me happier. Then the information of me having Artemis's blessing got leaked and I became a total outcast. Michael tried to get the other campers to treat me better but he couldn't. He tried to convince me that he wanted to leave camp, that he'd be happier on the run with just me than he was at Camp." By now tears were streaming down my face, I didn't bother to try and hide them.
   "He wanted to run away," Thalia asked shocked.
   "Yes and no," I told her. "He wanted to run away because he wanted me to be happy. He could tell that I was miserable, but no part of him actually wanted to leave camp. And I knew that. I loved him for caring and for wanting to protect me, but to agree to his plan would have been the most selfish thing I could of done. So I lied. I did the one thing I had promised myself that I would never do to him. Everyday I made myself put a smile on my face. Whenever I was with Michael I would joke around and laugh. I'd ignore the comments that the other campers made. Only when Michael wasn't with me would I respond to them, only when he wasn't there to see how broken I was would I accept how I was feeling." Remembering how everyone treated me at camp felt like I was being stabbed. As I spoke, every insult that had ever been said to me came to mind.
   "Didn't Michael pick up on the fact that you went from miserable to happy overnight?" Thalia questioned. "And why didn't Chiron or even Mr. D put a stop to the other campers?" Even more shame washed over me.
   "He would have if that's how I had acted." I had manipulated my little brother so he saw me how he needed to. To this day I still felt overbearing guilt about it. "I convinced him that we needed to take a few days to think about it, that running away that night would have been irrational. Over those days, I slowly started acting happier. I attended all my training sessions, actually ate my meals at the dining pavilion, and I stuck up some secret deals with the other campers. I convinced them to lay off of me when Michael was around. I told them they were free to insult me or fight me whenever they wanted, as Michael didn't know about it. Most of them agreed to my terms. They knew they couldn't get away with much if they insulted me by Michael, he would complain to his Hermes siblings or Chiron. By accepting my offer, they could speak their minds without being worried that I'd turn them in. It was a win-win situation. When most of them stopped insulting me and Michael gradually saw me become happier and more involved around camp, he thought everything was better. As soon as he thought I was happy, he never mentioned running away again." From the look of sympathy she was giving me, I had a feeling Thalia was reading the image of pain in my facial expression.
   "But you weren't happy which leads to my next questions," she said. "How did Mr. D and Chiron not realize what was going on? And if they did realize, why didn't they stop the other campers?" I shrugged.
   "They knew what was going on." I told her honestly. "That's why they agreed without a second thought when I asked for permission to train separate from the other campers. Why they didn't interfere, well they thought I had to learn how to defend myself. If they intervened every time I was treated badly then the other campers would have viewed me as a baby." Thalia shook her head,
   "That's no reason for them to have let you," I cut her off.
   "They did the right thing." I said softly. "Their way of dealing with everything may have been a leading factor in my misery, but they had no way to react. I had to fight my own battles if I wanted any respect. Them defending me every step of the way would have made everything worse." Thalia seemed to think about what I said. I could tell that she knew I was right, but didn't want to admit it.
   "It's still not fair that you had to go through all that though," she said and I nodded in agreement.
   "But since when has it been a guarantee that life has to be fair?" I said truthfully. I continued on before she had a chance to respond. "We should go back to where the other hunters are. They're probably getting worried and are also probably very hungry." She looked like she wanted to disagree but I quickly spun around so my back was facing her. I wiped the tears off my face, took a deep breath, and began to walk in the direction of the hunters.