Resurrected

It seemed like I was the only one who got a bad break, coming back to life. Tommy got reunited with Ethan, Ethan got a superpower, though it sounded like we all had gotten one, and Charlie had seemed happy, care-free, no memory. Me, I was left with a sharp memory, clear and painful, like an icicle working its way through my soul.

Seeing Charlie after my memories had returned from the Underworld had been amazing. I had experienced euphoria, expecting him to turn to me and embrace in his strong arms. But no such luck. He just watched as Ethan proceeded to beat the snot out of Percy, Tommy had an emotional breakdown, and I tried as hard as I could to get him to remember. He wasn’t even phased. He just went on with life as if nothing bad had happened. Even when he tried to help Percy out, he hadn’t looked as concerned as he should have. It was like he was only a memory of himself, a ghost.

The worst part was the rejection. Looking into his brown eyes, no recognition apparent, I broke down. I couldn’t take it. Charlie was my life, my companion, I was physically incomplete without him. Looking at him, a part of me died. I trudged back towards the Aphrodite cabin, my head in my hands, tears flying down my face. I needed some time alone. I realized that talking to my half-brothers and sisters probably wouldn’t do me much good, so I veered aside, towards the stables. My mind slipped back toward to how I had gotten here. And then, I was in a memory.

I had realized my mistake, flying back towards Camp on a pegasus on that night so long ago. I cursed myself over and over again for falling into Luke’s plan. But I had kept with it for Charlie. He could never know that I had a crush on Luke. Then, he had died, and I had kept on in his memory, hating Luke even more every day. I had landed behind the Ares cabin, and slipped into Clarisse’s armor. The rest was easy. Clarisse and Chris didn’t even notice our absence. By the time we got back to Manhattan, I was ready to obliterate the Titan army. Stupidly, I had tried to take down the drakon, and it had spit in my face. I don’t think I’ve ever felt greater pain. But, despite the burn, I felt satisfied. Even though I hadn’t fully atoned for my wrongs, I had tried to make it up.

At the judges table, they didn’t exactly feel the same. Originally, they had told me I was heading straight to Tartarus for spying for Kronos, but then one of the judges mentioned how I had tried to make up for it, and they actually assigned me Asphodel. I would lose my memory, they told me, I would drift forever, they said. But, just my luck, it didn’t exactly happen that way. My mother, Aphrodite, visited me after about a day in Asphodel, and gave me my memory back. Every day, I would look towards Elysium at sunset, and try to see Charlie, relaxing on the beaches. But I never could. I just drifted on, day after day, until, after I have no idea how long, I felt a pulling sensation on my shoulders, like I as a little kid again, being lifted onto my dad’s shoulders. Then, I popped out through the Hollywood sign. And now, here I am.

I snapped out of my memory at the stable door, blocked by a figure in a camp t-shirt. I could hear soft sobbing, tears of joy, relief and sadness mixed into one. With a start, I realized Clarisse la Rue, her brown eyes ringed in red. I looked into her eyes, and, even though she outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds, she embraced me with surprising gentleness. I remembered how she had comforted me after Charlie had died, how she had been so helpful to me, and how she had looked so pained when I had gotten spit at by the poisonous drakon. In a voice that was cracking from emotion, she said,

“I’m so sorry, Silena. It was all my fault. You have no idea how much I’ve been wanting to tell you that since you died. I just wish I hadn’t been so big-headed during that whole situation, putting my cabin’s pride in front of everything. I should have realized how bad the situation was. I’m so sor—”

“I’m back now, so stop apologizing, okay?” I didn’t mean to snap at her, I just wasn’t in the mood for more sadness. I had had enough of that for today. It was also unlike Clarisse to be so emotional. She was usually tough as nails, the violent leader of the Ares cabin. I wondered what I had happened to her since I’d been dead.

“Besides,” I continued, “I have other things on my mind, and I need some time alone, okay?”

“Alone?” She asked, “Isn’t Charlie supposed to be with you?”

“That’s the problem,” I muttered, “He doesn’t…doesn’t remember me. He doesn’t remember who I was, who we were, how much we were in love. Nothing.”

A seething anger began to rise in my chest, but I forced it down dejectedly. There was no use in getting angry with Charlie for something that wasn’t his fault. But still, something was irrationally making me angry. I said good-bye to Clarisse and walked into the stables, beginning to clean one of the pegasi. It clamed me down to be in the stables, and I realized that I was alone in the quiet room, nobody else but me. I had all the time in the world to think. After I had finished cleaning about five of the pegasi, the girl who I remembered as Piper walked into the stables, looking for someone. When she saw me, her face lit up like she had found who she was looking for.

“Hey,” She called in a smiling greeting, “We’ve been looking for you. Leo and I, I mean. With Charles coming back from the dead—”

“Just call him Charlie,” I said subconsciously. That was my automatic response whenever someone called Charlie by his formal name.

“Okay,” She continued, “With Charlie back from the dead, and the awkward situation with the Hephaestus cabin, we were wondering if you might want to talk to us about him. And, by the way, we heard from Clarisse about Charlie’s amnesia. We’ve dealt with this kind of amnesia before, and we think we can help.”

Just then, the wiry Mexican kid, Leo, walked in, and Piper filled him in.

“Yeah,” He agreed, “We can definitely help with his amnesia. When Jason, Piper’s boyfriend, was kidnapped by Hera and got to our camp, we helped him clear his memory by visiting the Hypnos cabin. Maybe that’ll help Charlie.”

I still felt a pang of that irrational anger as Piper and Leo talked. From my Aphrodite heritage, I could tell that Leo found Piper very attractive, but had never made a move on her. I could also tell that he had a much bigger crush on someone else. Someone not at camp, a crush he hadn’t told anyone about yet. And, with a tinge of annoyance, I could also tell that Piper had a little bit of a crush on Charlie, which didn’t make me trust her any more than I had before. As I opened my mouth to speak, I realized my mistake. In a silky voice, laced with poisonous charmspeak that I hadn’t meant to put in there, I said,

“Why fix this problem, if it means nothing to you? Leo, I know it’s in your nature to fix things, but you only want to help out because Charlie is threatening your position as head counselor.”

As I looked at Leo’s eyes, I could see him nodding his head, hypnotized.

“And Leo,” I continued, “I know you find Piper attractive. It’s a shame you never acted upon that when you were at the Wilderness school.”

Piper looked at me in horror, saying, “What? Wait, Leo? Seriously? Silena, why are you using charmspeak on him? He’s a friend, you can trust—”

“I trust no one!” I snapped, the enchanted words coming out of my mouth with a level of charmspeak that I had thought not possible, “Just because I was in your cabin doesn’t mean that we are the same. You got your boyfriend, mine died. Now he’s back, and you have the audacity to have a crush on him! But that doesn’t matter, because you both will follow my instructions very carefully.”

Looking at them, I realized how hypnotized they really were. I could have told them to jump off the Eiffel Tower and they would have bought the first ticket to Paris. They nodded their heads slowly, like zombies, as I continued,

“You both now like each other. You both will reject any other boy of girl you ever liked. You both are bound to these instructions until further notice. Understood?”

They both nodded again. Even I could feel how powerful my charmspeak was. I had never ever been so powerful before. I realized with a horrible start that that must have been my power. I could control love like never before. With that realization, a buzzing feeling started to pulsate through my mind as a voice, like metal on metal, Kronos’ voice, stabbed through my mind and made itself heard, rasping,

“Good, Silena, you have realized your newfound power. The Sting of Cupid is an exceptionally rare curse, I mean, gift. You, along with Tommy, Ethan, and your, uh, friend, Charlie, have one month to redeem your souls. I know you can’t, so I’m just waiting for the month to be over as a formality. With your return of your four souls, I can bring back the one whom I can most control, the one who gave me a body before. He will not like it, but I will overpower him again. Good-bye, Silena. I look forward to seeing you, in a month’s time.”

Then, I sank to my knees. Leo and Piper were looking into each other’s eyes longingly, and I knew Kronos had influenced me to say those words. I had nothing against those two, and hadn’t meant what I said. But, with my new power, I had said it anyways. Sluggishly, I got to my feet, the world spinning before me. I tried to summon my charmspeak again, to tell Piper and Leo that they didn’t really like each other, that they were only friends. But it was too late. It was all wrong. Like time moving forward, nothing could stop them as Leo reached for Piper’s face, and they kissed. I hated myself for what I had done, but I was about to pass out, unable to act.

As I watched them together, that same anger came back into my mind, but this time, I controlled it. With my last bit of strength, I summoned a single word, so heavily laced with charmspeak that it was practically dripping with enchantment,

“No!” I screamed, loosing all of my energy into that one syllable. And it worked. Leo and Piper snapped out of their hypnosis, just realizing what they were doing. They released instantly, and both of them looked both appalled and extremely confused.

As they snapped out of the spell, they both said one word each. Piper cried out,

“Jason!” And, Leo cried out beside her,

“Calypso!” Then, they both passed out, their eyes rolling back in their heads. I thought that I should have been confused, but I realized what had happened. They both had said the names of their deepest loves as they came back to reality. I thought that I would pass out too, but someone caught me. It was Clarisse, grasping my arms with a protective strength.

“Woah, girlie, let’s get you and the lovers here to the infirmary. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

And so, after a sip of nectar, I helped Clarisse drag Leo and Piper to the infirmary, where a confused Chiron was about to become even more confused.

Notes

This one is SUPER long, but I needed it to be in order to fit in a lot of stuff. Hopefully you guys like the couple plot twists I put in. And NO, the Leo-Piper thing will NOT be going on for much longer, but I needed to use it as a way for Silena to discover her new power. Two more chapters to be posted by the end of today. Enjoy!