Shattered

Fate

The group began to slow down to a medium paced jog. They were just outside Keystone. Now all they needed to do was locate Lady Artemis and the hunters.

Bianca traveled in the middle of the group, whilst Phoebe scouted up ahead. Percy and Zoe hung back – whispering to each other while covering the rear.

The daughter of Hades paid no mind to their hushed discussion. She was too busy with her own thoughts, of the daughter of Zeus who was jogging besides her.

The younger girl began to feel a crimson flush rise to her cheeks. She had no idea what was going on with herself. The last time she check, she was perfectly sane. That is – until the end of the quest – no thought had crossed her mind regarding her tomboyish cousin.

Ω

It had literally appeared out of nowhere, and all of a sudden...

She didn't quite believe it herself at first.

She couldn't have a crush of Thalia, could she? She had been wrestling with the thought for a while now.

She was crushing on Thalia Grace! Oh gods. Can demigods be with each other? Her mind went back to how Percy and Annabeth might've had been a thing. Maybe there was no rule against it? Maybe godly blood didn't count.

She didn't really care that Thalia was a girl. She knew that she should, but she didn't.

Bianca's faced burned a deep crimson hue, as she tossed out the blasphemy that pounded in her head. Luckily, no one paid mind. As her motions became automatic, her thoughts began to wander. They began to drift back to Mount Tam.

The place where the feelings had started...

They were alone.

Thalia's leg was broken, but she seemed to be relatively unharmed beside that. Bianca was grateful that she had decided to stay back. The daughter of Hades was nearly unscratched, all that marred her skin were fading scars.

Thalia leaned heavily on Bianca, but she didn't mind. The two demigods slowly ambled down the peak. Their progress was anything but quick.

They eventually made it to the garden. The Hesperides were playing on their harps, a truly beautiful melody. The melancholic tune almost seemed to be the funeral knell for the death of Annabeth Chase.

Bianca cleared her thoughts from her deceased friend. It would be pointless mourning her, when they had more important matters to attend to.

They needed to get to Olympus.

It had taken the better part of an hour, but they finally reached the shore.

Lady Athena had promised them a mode of transport, in the form of a favor from Lord Poseidon. Bianca was perplexed. She was led to believe that the wisdom goddess, and the god of the seas were bitter foes. Why would Lord Poseidon agree to a favor from his arch enemy? To top it all off, he would have to take two children of his brothers, whom he so despised.

To say that Bianca was weary, would be putting it far too lightly.

And by the look of things, the two would probably have to just stay by the bay until the end of the meeting, and Lady Athena, or Lady Artemis were to come and take them home.

She was, however, proven wrong when she heard the bubbly neigh of a hippocampus. Of course, she had never seen one earlier, but she knew what she was looking at.

The creature seemed to resemble a horse for the most part, but certain features of a fish could be made out. The entire lower half of the horse-like creature was that of silvery fish with rainbow like tail fins.