Fall From Glory || A Percy Jackson story

Chapter 8: The Favor of Hecate

I folded up the plans and stored them in my pocket, striding outside with a new purpose. The power in my limbs suddenly felt natural, like it was just another surging riptide that needed to be controlled, restrained, and directed to do what I needed. I broke into a sudden sprint, making it back to camp just as dawn was breaking. 

Campers woke up slowly, rubbing their eyes and emerging to eat breakfast. Most stopped short in surprise, seeing me already reclining in the dining pavilion. I'd been skipping a lot of meals lately.

Jason and Piper finally made it as campers continued to stream in, and I hopped to my feet to greet them. They looked tired but content, and I suspected they had just had one of their rooftop nights where they reminisced about Leo. And Annabeth, probably, but I hadn't overheard any of that.

"Percy!" Piper said excitedly, throwing her arms around me. "You're eating!"

I kept my arms to my sides, remembering the crushed doorknob. It was a bit awkward.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly when I didn't hug her back. "Well, obviously not. I'm sorry for asking that. How are you doing today?"

"I'm better than I have been," I admitted. "I even felt some emotions today, how about that?" She chuckled, and I continued. "I don't want to hug you because I might kill you. Apparently I almost killed myself by using more power than my body could handle during the fight with the Fates, and I wasn't recovering." Talking about that day usually sent a stabbing pain through my heart that I covered up and ignored, but this time, it was anger. 

I was definitely feeling again, which was good. I might keep my promise after all. And, of course, emotion was my strongest weapon. I knew that, and the Fates knew it too. That's why they tried to emotionally destroy me like that. What a plan. Didn't even last a year. 

I barely kept the snarl off of my face as I continued my explanation. "The gods said that the only way for me to survive was to make me into an immortal, but we came to a compromise so that I'm only half immortal. It's really weird. I have ichor now, but my aging is only slowed down. It turns out that in order for that to work they had to strengthen my body, and I accidentally crushed my doorknob already."

Piper laughed, pulling away. "I appreciate your consideration," she joked. 

I nodded. "Of course. Well anyways, now I need to go on a mission, because I found something that might help me deal with... umm, losing Annabeth." My voice almost started to choke up, but the crushing sorrow was nearly drowned out by the smoldering fury that was slowly building in my chest.

Piper nodded worriedly, and Jason patted my shoulder. "We'll support you, man, but stay safe. Remember you have a family to come back to, and make sure you don'y do something stupid," he said.

"Yeah," I said, smiling. It had been months, and no one had seemed like they's started to get tired of comforting me. "I'm lucky to have you guys," I said, and I meant it. "I need to leave pretty soon, so if you would update Frank, Hazel, and Reyna, that would be sweet."

They both nodded in agreement and warned me to be careful again before I left, waving goodbye as they started their own breakfast. I walked quickly and reached the Hades cabin soon, wanting to say goodbye to Nico as well. I knocked and waited a couple of seconds before Nico's somehow intimidating bedhead was glaring at me.

"Hey, Nico," I said, and he smiled slightly when he saw it was me. 

"Hi, Percy. Are you feeling better? You feel more alive, today."

I cocked my head to one side, puzzled. "Alive?" I asked.

"You reminded me of what it felt like to talk to a dead person, before. Now it feels way more alive."