Resurrected

Silena's POV

So, yeah, Luke coming back was very weird. I mean, I was super excited and all, and so was Annabeth, since we had seen Tommy come back to life at his burial ceremony. We had tried to pin him down, but all we could do was follow Ethan and Tommy’s progress as they sprinted towards the Infirmary. Clarisse tagged along with us, muttering something about forgiving Tommy. Annabeth, I noticed, was more excited than she should have been.

“Do you think Kronos’ll have any influence over him?” She asked, hyperventilating, “Do you think he’ll be normal? Will he even remember anything?”

“Annabeth, I don’t know!” I panted as we sprinted up to the gate, “you need to calm down. Percy, remember?”

“Right,” she breathed, “sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry to me!” I exclaimed to her, “just make sure your boyfriend doesn’t hear you squealing like a lovestruck schoolgirl at the mention of Luke Castellan.”

“I was not squeal—”

But I silenced Annabeth with a knowing look as we arrived at the door. She looked down at the stone landing and I instructed,

“Take a deep breath, Annabeth. He’ll be just like he was in the good old days. When everything was fine and we al had good times. I know he will.”

But saying those things wasn’t as good as actually seeing the smiling face of Luke Castellan, sitting up in an Infirmary bed, his sparkling blue eyes like sapphires. He was still attractive, still charming, and I had to work hard to keep myself from blushing. I forced myself to remember what he had done to Charlie, to me, in order to resist him.

“Luke,” I said, a bit more coldly than I wanted too, “I see you’re back.”

His smile melted, and he looked genuinely guilty.

“Look, Silena, I’m so sorry. He…he brainwashed me. I couldn’t resist him by that point. Annabeth, you knew I was afraid…”

He looked to Annabeth for help, and even though she had been through so much with Percy, she nodded her head. I guess she really wanted to have the good old days back.

“Anyway, I’m fine now. I mean, I’m really different, but I haven’t changed for the bad. I’ve gotten better. I mean, look, the scar’s fading!”

He pointed to the left side of his face, and at the same time Annabeth and I noticed that the scar given to him by Ladon, the drakon who guarded the Apples of Immortality, was fading, if not gone completely. Luke looked younger and older than I remembered him, I realized, and that scared me.

“Look, Luke, I don’t care. You got Charlie, me, Ethan, and Tommy killed, and I’m sorry, but that’s not something I forgive easily.”

I realized that my voice was bitter, almost resigned, as if I was a school principal, being forced to expel the beloved troublemaker. I didn’t want to hurt Luke with my words, but the words needed to hurt him all the same.

Luke looked into my eyes and sighed, saying,

“Silena, I’ve said that I’m sorry, and I know that’s not enough. I’m asking you to forgive me, just this once. Besides, I’m pretty sure Kronos can’t control me any more.”

“Pretty sure doesn’t sound confident, especially from you,” I responded.

“I know it doesn’t,” he sighed again, “look, I know my case for forgiveness might not be strong, but I’m begging you to trust me. Please.”

He looked at me again, and I saw true pleading in his eyes, a sorrowful cry for help. But a voice in my mind said,

The last time he asked you to trust him was when he gave you your scythe necklace. That necklace got Charlie killed. And yet you went along with Luke’s plan. Why should you trust him?

Despite that truth, all I could come up with was, “I’ll think about it.”

I then walked out of the Infirmary, leaving Annabeth alone with her old crush, and feeling bitter about the one person I wanted to have back besides Charlie. After thinking for a while about what to say next to Luke, I decided not to worry about it, and to sleep on it. I had other things to think about, including Charlie.

Gods, I hope he’s doing alright, I thought to myself as I finished my dinner and walked back to the Aphrodite cabin.

Most of the campers in Cabin 10 were avoiding me for obvious reasons, but tonight, they seemed more relaxed. So, I took the chance and talked to them for a few hours before drifting off to sleep. It was good to actually have someone to talk to, especially at a camp like this. The campers told me that a new-ish camper, Jason Grace, was going to arrive tomorrow. I didn’t know who they guy was, so I had no idea what to expect. Most of the girls thought that he was extremely cute, right up until the point when Piper showed up.

“Did I hear any of you girls talking about my boyfriend?” A voice asked, entering the cabin.

“No!” a chorus responded from the bunk beds, followed by some scattered giggles.

Gods above, I can’t believe Mom had these Barbies for kids, I thought.

“Good,” Piper responded, closing the door responded. She was in a pair of pajamas and a Camp t-shirt, and even in those clothes, she looked like a leader. I realized that I was proud to have her as the Head Counselor. She actually deserved it, and from what I had heard about her fight with Drew, I felt like she was one of the few Aphrodite kids I could actually trust. But I didn’t need to think about much more today, I needed sleep.

In my dream, I saw the Argo II’s sails, poking over the horizon, and my heart soared.

Yes, I thought, Charlie’s coming back!

But then, my vision changed, and I zoomed in on the crew of the ship. Four figures were standing on the deck, stoically looking out over the bow, waiting for their Camp to be visible. But then I realized something: Why were my dreams showing me this?

As soon as I had asked that question, my dream changed again. I was suddenly sitting in a chair in a pitch-black room, and the only thing in front of me was a huge, neon-lighted figure of the number 3.

“Why are you here?” I asked the number as it quietly buzzed with electricity.

The number was bright red, like fresh blood from a wound. Soon, I got bored with the number 3, and decided to look around. I tried to get up out of my chair, but I couldn’t move. I found myself bound with old rope, like from a ship, chafing into my skin.

I looked to my right, and nearly jumped out of my skin. Sitting next to me, looking as dead as a corpse, was Charlie, silently staring at the number ahead of him.

“Ch-Charlie?” I asked, and the corpse started to move. It turned it’s head towards me, and in a raspy voice, like hundred-year-old paper crackling, he said,

“I can’t warn them. Do you hear me, I can’t warn them!”

Then, I realized what the number meant. In my dream, I screamed like a little girl in a horror movie. Three. Three people per quest. Four people on the Argo II. And Charlie couldn’t warn them. Neither could I. The old ship’s rope held me fast, all the way until morning, when I woke, screaming.

Notes

Enjoy!
-Grafon