The Thorns of a Rose 6

The Thorns of a Rose 6

- The saltiness of tears –

Percy’s POV
“Goddess, please accept my offer.”I muttered as I threw a Drachmae into the rainbow coloured light. The moment the coin hit the light, it disappeared. “Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth please.”I said next with a sigh.
It took a few seconds before Annabeth’s face appeared and she wasn’t alone. Also Grover was with her. “Percy!”she spoke the moment she saw me. “Hey guys.”I said with a sad smile. It had been three days since our encounter with the Amphisbaena. Three days since Althea’s dad had died.
Annabeth and Grover had returned to Camp the next day but I had stayed. Althea needed me for the moment. “How’s our flower doing?”Grover wanted to know. He and Althea were quite close. Guess it had something to do with the whole ‘protect nature’ thing they shared.
“Not so good.”I told them. “She hasn’t said a word ever since her dad died, not even to me. She cries herself to sleep and wakes up screaming a few hours later because she relived the moment of her father’s death in her nightmares. Today was the funeral however and…”. I stopped and sighed. “I think she reached her breaking point. A funeral makes everything kind of final, no?”.
“It does.”Annabeth agreed, her eyes grim. “How did the mortals react on the whole thing?”. I couldn’t help but smile at the story that had appeared in the paper. “According to the police and the newspapers, Mr. Lockwood got mugged in the park while he was on his way to pick his daughter up from the school dance.”.
“I know there’s the Mist but leave it up to the mortals to confuse huge fang bites with knife wounds.”Annabeth scoffed. “It’s a good thing though they saw it like that.”I reminded her. “Would you like to explain to the world what in Hades’ name an Amphisbaena is and why it attacked Althea?”. “No.”she admitted.
“Thought so too.”I said with a smile. “Anyway… Tell Chiron I’ll give him a head’s up when I’m returning to Camp and that I’ll try my best to convince Thea to come with me.”. “Will do.”Annabeth assured me. “Take good care of her Percy.”.
I frowned at her words. “What’s that supposed to mean?”I questioned. Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Seriously Seaweed Brain, you’re still clueless about it? It’s even clear to Grover that you’re in love with Althea.”. “Bèèèèh.”Grover spoke up in agreement.
“Love?”I repeated confused and shook my head. “You’re seeing ghosts Wise Girl.”. “No I’m not.”she replied. “And you know that too. Just don’t mess it up Jackson.”. And with that the call ended.
I sighed in defeat. Great… Even my closest friends saw through me. Althea had always been my best friend and somehow… Also something more. Much more. It only took me a while to realise that. I ran a hand through my hair as I made my way to Althea’s room to check up on her. My mom and I had agreed that since Althea’s apartment was right next to ours, I could stay with her for now so that she could be in a familiar interior.
When I pushed the door open, Althea was right where I left her: sitting on her windowsill seat, hugging her knees while looking up at the dark sky. The sight made my heart shatter and I knew I just had to make sure she would talk to me.

Althea’s POV
“Petal?”Percy’s soft voice echoed through my room. I only blinked causing more silent tears to fall. I was surprised I had any tears left in the first place…
Percy sighed and I could hear how the floorboards slightly creaked as he adjusted his stance. “Petal, please… Talk to me.”he begged. I swallowed at his question, my tongue feeling thick in my mouth.
“Why did Annabeth and Grover show up?”I choked out in a hoarse voice. It had been a question that bugged me from the start really. Only now I had found the strength to ask it. Percy took a deep breath and leaned against the doorframe.
“Because I called them after you ran out of the dance.”he told me. “How did they get here so fast? I thought they were at Camp?”I questioned. “They came to New York with me.”Percy admitted. “It was Chiron’s idea. After I…”.
I turned my head so I was facing him. “You what?”I asked a bit curious. Percy bit his lip as he walked into the room and took a seat on the edge of my bed. “The moment that I went to Camp, I got dreams about you. Bad ones where you would get attacked by something or someone and you would die in the end. After my second dream, I told Chiron and also told him I wanted to come back. He send Annabeth and Grover with me for back-up.”.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”was my next question as I locked my blue eyes with his sea green ones. "Didn’t want to disrupt your normal life.”he said. “I thought that, if I played it right, you wouldn’t even notice that you were in danger until after I and the rest eliminated it. That thought proved to be wrong however.”.
“Did you know it would be an Amphisbaena?”I asked. He shook his head. “In my dreams you got attacked by an invisible force.”Percy explained. “That’s why Chiron send Annabeth and Grover along in the first place. Because we didn’t knew what we were dealing with.”.
“Did you know it would kill my father?”I wanted to know. “No.”he spoke and in his eyes I could see he spoke the truth. Percy was as affected as me by losing my dad. “If I had known… I swear Petal, I had done everything to save him. Just as much as I would do to save you.”he told me.
His words made that more tears started to fall from my eyes and I catapulted myself into his arms. Percy didn’t waste any time to pull me close to him and whisper comforting words in my ear.
“I miss him.”I said through my tears. “I know.”Percy replied. “I know.”. He placed a kiss on my hair, kept whispering soft words to me and rocked me a bit back and forth until I finally fell asleep.