The Child of Hera

Chapter 30-Birdie

The next day, Birdie woke up feeling like 50,000 drachmas and a denari.  She wasn't sure why, until the memories came flooding back to her.  Luke.  Oh LUKE!  YAY!  YAY!  YAY!

Ok, she thought, calm down.  You're acting like a girl.

Good, said the Aphrodite side of her.  It's about time.

But acting like a girl is juvenile.

Oh, be a teenager for once.

"This is ridiculous," she mumbled, as she pulled herself out of bed.

She looked around her room, and found it incredibly clean.  Much cleaner than she ever would have left it, had it been up to her.  

She walked over to her closet and found her only camp half blood T-shirt and jeans cleaned and ready to wear.  That was odd, she had fallen asleep, clothed.  She hadn't put pajamas on.  Bleh.  Probably some kind of crazy Hera magic.  She was the goddess of healthy marriage and children, so naturally, housecleaning must have been one of her top priorities.

Whatever.  She got dressed quickly, since the clothes magically attached themselves to her, with holes for her wings.  She slipped on her jacket, grabbed her bracelet and necklace, and ran out the door.

She was surprised.  She thought she had woken up late, but it was still dark.  She checked the clock on her bedside table.  4:30.  Terrific.  Oh well.  Might as well take a shower.

She hated taking a shower.  It was awful.  She realized that it was necessary, so she did it.  That didn't mean she had to like it.  Every day, she had to force herself into the spray.  Oh, it was terrible!

She remembered being in one of her monster gangs.  They weren't allowed to take showers.  Thank goodness.  But then in another, they were forced to take them publicly.  That was not her favorite.  Whatever you can do to survive.

After she was done, she got dressed again, and grabbed her stuff.  She glanced at the clock as she made her bed.  It was only 5:00.  Oh well, at least she could be up now.  She left the room, but glancing back, she realized she had subconsciously made an effort not to mess it up.  

Like it mattered.  First lesson she ever learned out in the open.  It never matters.  It never matters what you think, compared to your superiors.  It doesn't matter what you say, as long as you're not insulting someone bigger and stronger than you.  It doesn't matter what happened to you, because nobody cared.  Ever.

She wondered where she had made the turning point.  Did she automatically become bad, as soon as she was kidnapped?  Or was there a time, when she realized, that smashing other's survival, would benefit her own?

She shook her head to clear the thoughts, as she ran to the camp-fire.  The coals were still burning from last night.  She warmed her fingers over them, and then pulled her hair into a messy pony tail.  Looking over, through the smoke, she saw a small girl.  Probably eight.  Eight.  Had she been through what Birdie had been through, or was this girl just lucky.

"Oh, not lucky I think," said the girl, startling Birdie.  "Perhaps fortunate, or at the right place at the right time.  But Revenge would argue with me for centuries, if I were to say I was lucky."

"Um, that's great."  Something disturbed Birdie about this girl.  For one thing, she couldn't pick up on her thoughts, but apparently, the girl could pick up on her's.  "So who are you?"

"Oh, forgive me.  I am Hestia," said the girl, smiling.

"Oh.  Hearth goddess.  Gotcha."

Hestia smiled, and went back to tending her flames.

Birdie looked out at the horizon, over the smoke.  The sun was just starting to come up, and the sea was illuminated with brilliant oranges and reds and pinks.  The cold sky looked clear and free of clouds.  Zeus must've been happy.  

She wrapped her arms around herself, to fend against the cold.  Her thoughts slowly drifted to Luke. He had kissed her. To be fair, she kissed him first, in capture the flag, but that was so she could steal the flag. He had kissed her! Honestly, she wasn't quite sure who had made the first move, but she didn't care. He had kissed her! Oh it had felt so good. He had KISSED her!

Birdie had had a crush on him since the moment she laid her hand on his head. She immediately sensed the pain and heartache he had gone through. His father abandoned him, and his mother was crazy. Thalia had been turned into a tree. Annabeth...she didn't want to think about what kind of pain she caused him. No wonder he betrayed his family. A lot of it was never there for him.

She could relate. Birdie's mother only visited her once. She was a homeless eight year old girl, and all her mother said was to become powerful. To make her proud. She set out to rid herself of her mother's influence. She joined monster gangs. She fought. She did everything she could to be the exact opposite of Hera. No one knew this, not even Luke, but she had joined Kronos's army. And Octavian's reinforcements. She had been to camp half blood twice before, but she never returned, because of what they might do to her if they found out. Seeing them forgive Luke so easily...that helped her stay. At least Luke had an excuse to be forgiven. He had saved Olympus by sacrificing himself. She hadn't done anything like that. She was still a monster.

A pair of hands wrapped around her eyes. "Guess who?" it asked.

"Hmm, let's see. Piper."
"How'd you guess?"

Birdie raised an eyebrow as Piper came to face her. "You want the obvious answer, or the complicated one?"

"Both," she insisted.

"You didn't bother disguising your voice. Plus, I could sense your thoughts."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Well you're no fun."

Birdie smirked. "It's my job to be no fun. That way, everyone else can be as crazy as they want."

"Don't be ridiculous. That's Annabeth's job."

"I'm so telling her you said that."

"Please don't."

"We'll see. Why are you up early?"

"Well," Piper began, "The girls and I thought about having a little slumber party tonight, and wanted to know if you wanted to come."

"Who will be there? And where is it?"

"We'll be at Rachel's cave. So, obviously Rachel, Reyna, Calypso, Hazel, Annabeth, and me."

"This doesn't have anything to do with Luke and I getting together?"

"I'm not making any promises. But come on, it'll be fun."

"Sure...I guess.

"You're hesitating. Why?"

"I've never exactly been to a sleepover. I was on the run for most of my life."

Piper blinked. Then broke into a smile. "This is gonna be awesome! I have my own slumber party protege!"

This time Birdie blinked.  Apparently she was going. Whether she liked it or not.

Hey!  New record!  I've never written such a long chapter.  I hope you liked all this insight on Birdie.  Hmmm.  Kronos's army?  Yeah, she joined monster gangs, so I figured that that should be one of them.  But Luke doesn't know.  I wonder when he'll find out.  *Insert Evil Laugh*  I love being an author!  Happy reading!  Adieu.