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Swirling green eyes looked at her curiously. She didn’t know how he always knew, but every time she dreamt of him he acknowledged her. He’d wave and go on with what he was doing or he’d stop to have a small conversation. These conversations were few and far between, but they were always enlightening. The dreams were disorienting, Tartarus was a place that
At first it only happened every few months. She found that the dreams only appeared in tense moments. The first dream had been when Thalia’s tree started dying. She saw him huddled up in a cave. He’d given her a sad smile and said, “I wish I had a golden fleece.” Not long after, Clarisse was sent on a quest to find that exact thing. How had he known? Why had he told her?
Annabeth hijacked her quest on the off chance she could see Luke. Luke had killed Percy and now he was killing Thalia. Annabeth was desperate for an explanation and would do anything to get it. Clarisse, unsure what was going on with her dreams, never spoke up. How could she say that the long dead son of Poseidon haunted her?
Percy Jackson gave good advice. A lot of it was along the lines of ‘running is always an option,’ but nonetheless that was something Clarisse needed to hear every now and then. She needed to run from her siblings. She needed to run from a monster she couldn’t beat (even if she wasn’t about to admit that).
Then, she had a dream after Gaea. He didn’t speak to her. He just walked along the side of the Styx picking things out of its waters. He hummed softly, but his face was in a grimace, like the song hurt him. His pace was quick, but he shuffled as if he was hurt.
“Why am I here?” Clarisse asked finally, “Why are you still haunting me? Gaea is gone.”
Percy pointed up the river. His hand shook, but Clarisse chose not to ask about it. What is wrong with him?
“Why won’t you answer me?”
He grinned. His teeth were sharp and bloody. Red blood – His blood. He just kept on pointing.
“I hate you, Percy Jackson.”
“I hate the pit,” he responded. Clarisse figured hating that place was a given. Even the monsters hated Tartarus and it was their home. She couldn’t imagine living down there, if what Percy did was considered living.
“What are you pointing at?”
“You’ll find out, won’t you?” Percy sounded certain. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
“Is that your blood?”
“I’m not supposed to talk,” Percy shrugged, “it kinda kills me.” He’s dying . He’s alone and dying. He’s talking to her and it’s killing him. Why is he talking to her after what she did? After the dishonor she did to him she didn’t deserve his advice, even if she might not be alive without it.
She watched the river flow past as Percy continued to pull things from it, “Does this really help? The Styx, I mean.”
Percy nodded and looked at her, “It takes one drop of water to make a splash.” A drop of his blood fell from his mouth, it hit the ground and in the distance Clarrise heard a growl. Percy turned away from the grown and ran.
That is when Clarisse woke up. She looked wide eyed at the cabin around her. Had there been something she could’ve changed with even just a small action? She knew there was. Everything could be different. Selina could be alive.
It was later that day that someone told her by way of the camp gossip chain that Annabeth had gone to the oracle for a quest. No one knew what the quest was… but Clarisse had a solid guess.
One drop.
Clarisse found Annabeth standing in a group with a few others: Nico, Grover, Will, Thalia, Leo, and Piper.
“What is your quest?” Clarrise asked.
Annabeth scowled, “Like I should tell you.” Clarisse didn’t dare feel hurt because she deserved this. Her treatment of Jackson was less than stellar.
“We need all the help we can get,” Will pointed out.
“I want to help,” Clarrise tried again, “I owe you that.”
“Fine. Nico and I are leading a group to the pit. We’re gonna get Percy Jackson out.”
“Can I come?” Clarisse asked, “I owe Jackson that and a whole lot more.” I owe him a lot for the advice he’s given me.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes and nodded, “We need the manpower, might as well. Pack a bag with food, water, and anything else you think you might need. We will not be stopping because if we do we will probably die so pack light. We’re leaving tonight.”
Clarisse nodded and said, “Anything you need me to bring specifically?”
Annabeth narrowed her eyes and said, “Empty water bottle, bring that.”
Clarisse nodded.
One choice… one drop… can cause a splash right?
Yeah, that’s what Percy said.
This was her choice, a chance to fix her mistake.
Connor found her in her cabin packing. He stood in the door watching for a minute before asking, “Are they going down there?”
Clarisse nodded without faltering in her packing. She couldn’t get distracted from this.
“You’re going too?”
She, again, nodded. She stuffed a change of clothes in her bag.
“What if he isn’t down there? What if they’re chasing a ghost? What happens then?”
“He’s down there,” Clarisse was getting mad. Why did Connor want Percy to be dead? He was the one that got mad at them for the shroud.
“Make sure he gets out safe, yeah?” Connor asked.
For the first time Clarisse stopped. She looked up at Connor and asked, “Why the hell are you asking me this?”
Connor swallowed and looked away. He didn’t want to meet her eyes as he admitted, “You aren’t the only one that didn’t treat him very well. I- that is to say, the whole Hermes cabin, owes Percy an apology for how we treated him after he was claimed. A lot more people than just us do, but… The people going on the quest don’t really have that kind of guilt. You do so I figured…”
“I’m not going on the quest just to let the asshole die, Stoll. You’ll get your stupid apology.”
Connor nodded and shuffled, “Uh.. cool. So… good luck, I guess.”
Clarisse rolled her eyes and went back to packing.
“How does Chris feel about you going to Tartarus?”
Clarisse shook her head and said, “He doesn’t know.”
Connor let out a curse and asked, “doesn’t that seem like something you should tell him?”
“Probably Connor, why don’t you do it? Thanks for volunteering.”
“I- Clarisse, I ca-”
Clarisse zipped up her backpack and set it on her bunk. She glared at Connor hoping he’d get the hint. He did and left, running with a speed only the Hermes kids were capable of.
She knew she should tell Chris that she was leaving, but how could she do that to him? How could she tell him she was going to a place where only the strongest demigods of this generation had made it out alive and that was only because they had help? How could she tell him that after what happened to him in the labyrinth?
She couldn’t, so she didn’t. She walked to the border of camp where the rest of the questers were waiting knowing that she might never see her boyfriend again.
You’re running. Clarisse could hear Percy whisper.
This is the stupid fucking drop. Clarisse growled back to the imaginary figure in her head.
He didn’t respond. Probably a good thing since he’s a figment of her imagination.
Would this make Ares proud? That seemed to be what the source of most of her actions were. Would her father appreciate her as a daughter?
She had to survive this first.
They got this.
Right?