𝟬𝟬𝟴. what it's like to lose a friend

"SO, LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT," Piper said to Annabeth as they rested in a secluded cave during her half-hearted tour. "You're telling me that last summer, there was this huge war between the gods and the Titans? Aera joined the Titans to support Luke Castellan and eventually became one of Kronos' most loyal followers. Kronos entrusted her with his demon army before he took over Luke's body as a mortal vessel transitioning into his final form.

While Typhon kept the gods busy, Aera led the Titan Army into their siege on Manhattan. When they failed to get past your defenses surrounding the city, she compelled her former head counselor, Jolina Kamarov, and two other Aphrodite kids into strapping themselves to Greek firebombs and rushing towards Mount Olympus. There wasn't enough time for you to defuse the bombs without hurting them, so they died and the Titans invaded Olympus. In the end, the gods won and Kronos was defeated. Your boyfriend Percy was granted a favor from the gods for saving Olympus but instead of accepting immortality and leaving you behind, he basically blackmailed the gods into paying their child support? He had them promise to claim all their children by the time they turned 13, and to pardon Aera and all the other demigods who were on the Titan's side for their betrayal?"

Annabeth despondently kicked one of the skulls on the cave floor. It barely rolled past another creepy bone before stopping face down. "That about sums it up."

"Yeah," Piper remarked, leaning back against the cave wall, "Yeah, I think I might have missed all that on the news."

"Don't blame you." Annabeth shrugged halfheartedly. "From what you told me, you've had a busy couple of months, too."

Busy? More like boring. Piper's juvenile attempts at capturing her father's attention by getting herself in trouble seemed completely obsolete compared to Aera's literal uprising against her ancestors.

Piper had no trouble believing Aera had tried to overthrow the gods. Everyone knew Aera worshipped nobody but herself. She was most definitely not someone Piper wanted to get on the bad side of, but to hear all these campers and Annabeth describe her as some off-the-rails, bloodthirsty murderer seemed almost laughable to Piper.

Aera was normally pricklier than a porcupine, but when she smiled, Piper thought she looked like a little girl who was excited about playing dress-up with her dolls. Yeah, she had one of the cattiest attitudes Piper had ever encountered in any private school her father threw her to, but Piper also couldn't count the number of times she was secretly holding back a laugh when Aera shamelessly called someone out for their BS. Not to mention, Aera had pushed Jason off the bus seat when she got flustered by his hug. That didn't seem like something a ruthless criminal who commanded an army of monsters would do.

It was hard to see Aera in such a serious, menacing light, but Piper supposed with the right motivation, that girl could've accomplished anything with her charisma...

"She must have loved him a lot," Piper assumed, thinking about why Aera would work for the bad guys. "This Luke Castellan."

"Not him," Annabeth replied tersely. "Aera didn't love Luke. She loved his power. He was much older than her, everything she wanted to be, and when she finally realized he wasn't as perfect as she thought he was, she abandoned him."

"What do you mean?"

Annabeth drew in a shaky breath, her expression pained. Piper could tell this was hard for her to talk about, but she needed to know what kind of person Aera was. She needed to know what she had done.

"It was Aera," Annabeth finally responded after an uneasy pause, "who dealt the final blow to Luke in the throne room of Mount Olympus. That's why the Council agreed to spare her life. Because she destroyed Kronos."

Piper felt the air escaping her lungs. "But, why..." She was at a total loss for words.

"Would she betray her cause after giving up everything for it?" Annabeth gave her head a bitter shake. "I don't know. But I'm glad you weren't there to see her that day, Piper. She was filled with so much hatred, so much rage, I could hardly recognize her. What she did to her own siblings, forcing them against their will to their own deaths..." Annabeth's hand lingered over the hilt of her dagger at her belt as if anticipating something to pop out of the velvet curtains at the entrance of the cave. "...it's unforgivable."

Now Piper was extremely glad she was not on Aera's bad side. But it also made Piper extremely nervous. If Aera could do something like that to her own siblings, who knows what she could do to Piper if she found out she had been lying?

"Jolina Kamarov," Piper relayed. "The previous head counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin. Aera didn't get along with her? What kind of person was she?"

"I personally didn't know her," Annabeth responded. "Everyone at camp used to think Jolina was the most beautiful demigod alive. Chiron and I always thought there was some kind of sibling power struggle between them. I mean, Aera has never liked following the rules, and I heard Jolina was pretty strict with her siblings. Aera wanted to get Jolina removed several times, but the rules are that the oldest camper gets priority on the head counselor position unless someone who has gone on one more quest challenges them and wins. Aera used to beg Chiron to let her go on a quest so she could challenge Jolina. But I never would have expected Aera's hatred for Jolina..."

"Would be enough to murder her?" Piper filled in.

A dark expression passed over Annabeth's face. "I don't want to imagine who else Aera could have hurt if Percy hadn't stepped in that day."

At the thought of her boyfriend, the blonde girl stopped and practically slumped onto a boulder. All the energy seeped out of Annabeth like she'd been holding it together for as long as she could.

"You look ready to drop," Piper observed, feeling bad for her. "How long have you been searching for your boyfriend?"

Annabeth rubbed her temples. "Three days, six hours, and about twelve minutes."

"And you think Aera had something to do with it?"

Annabeth shook her head again miserably. "Percy and I had been so excited because we both started winter break early. We met up at camp on Tuesday, figured we had three weeks together. It was going to be great. Then, we heard from Chiron that the satyrs he'd sent to keep an eye on Aera had lost her."

"She ditched her own parole?" Piper asked dubiously. Why was she not surprised? Aera was the type of girl who would flake on her own funeral to go to the shopping mall.

Annabeth let out a scoff. "Percy offered to sacrifice our holiday to search for her himself. Can you believe that? He thought something happened to her. It's dangerous for demigods to be out in the world by themselves. Maybe an old foe of hers had returned for revenge. She's made plenty of high-risk enemies over the years.

I told him it was nothing for him to worry about. Aera made her own choices. It was only right for her to live with them. We got in a fight. Percy apologized and we made up before the night ended. Neither of us wanted to ruin winter break. After the campfire, he—he kissed me good night, went back to his cabin, and in the morning, he was gone. We searched the whole camp. We contacted his mom. We've tried to reach Percy every way we know how. Nothing. He just disappeared. If I had known that was going to be the last time I saw him, I never would have argued with him about something as stupid as..." Annabeth cut herself short.

Secretly, Piper wasn't really sure if Aera was capable of abducting a whole boy when they had been stuck at the dorms of the Wilderness School for the past three months, but she figured it was best not to plead Aera's case. Annabeth didn't look like she wanted to be convinced.

"Why does she hate him so much?" Piper asked, changing the subject. "Percy."

Annabeth tensed again. Piper had to admit she owed Leo five bucks. Annabeth did have lasers for eyes. The way she glared at the wall of the cave made Piper wonder how there wasn't a giant burning hole there. It also made Piper wonder if Aera's guts were made of steel for daring to go against Annabeth.

"Aera's disliked Percy since he got to camp," Annabeth said wryly. "She got jealous when I went on my first quest with him. We had been waiting for one for years and she was mad she didn't get to tag along. I guess Aera saw Percy as the ultimate rival. Aera's always said whatever Percy could do, she could do better." Her grip tightened around her dagger. "I don't get it. Percy has tried to be her friend so many times. He never gave up on her when she betrayed us. He used to tell me Aera was hurting in ways I couldn't see, but then she would turn around and hurt him every chance she got. She acts like he stole something from her..."

Or someone, Piper thought, but she didn't voice it. She had always been good at reading people, but she didn't think it'd be easy for Annabeth to hear what she had gathered about their history. The poor girl was going through enough.

"How long were you and Percy together?" Piper asked instead.

"Since August," Annabeth answered carefully. "August eighteenth."

"Almost exactly when I met Aera and Jason," Piper remembered. "But we've only been friends a few weeks."

Annabeth winced. "Piper...about that. Maybe you should sit down."

Piper knew where this was going. Panic started building inside her like her chest was filling with water. "Look, I know they both thought—they both thought they just appeared at our school today. And your satyr scouts lost her a week ago. But that's not true. I've known Aera and Jason for four months. Steven McKinley catcalled me in the hallway and Aera punched him in the face. I invited her to eat lunch with me and we've been friends ever since. She's had a crush on Jason forever and she's finally just now got him to start hanging out with us."

"Piper," Annabeth said tenderly, as if suppressing another wince. "It's the Mist."

"Missed ... what?"

"M-i-s-t. It's a kind of veil separating the mortal world from the magic world. Mortal minds—they can't process strange stuff like gods and monsters, so the Mist bends reality. It makes mortals see things in a way they can understand—like their eyes might just skip over this valley completely, or they might look at that dragon and see a pile of cables."

Piper swallowed thickly. "No. You said yourself I'm not a regular mortal. I'm a demigod."

"Even demigods can be affected. I've seen it lots of times. Monsters infiltrate places like a school, pass themselves off as human, and everyone thinks they remember that person. They believe he's always been around. The Mist can change memories, even create memories of things that never happened—"

"But Aera and Jason aren't monsters!" Piper insisted. "They're my friends! As much as you hate Aera, she's still a demigod or whatever you want to call her. My memories aren't fake. They're so real. The time we set Coach Hedge's pants on fire because Aera thought they were a crime against the fashion industry. The time Aera invited me to watch the meteor shower on the dorm roof with her and Jason and I had to third-wheel them..." She found herself rambling, telling Annabeth about all the adventures they'd shared together the past semester.

Piper had admired Aera and Jason from the moment they met. They were the perfect power couple in her eyes. Jason was so patient and kind. He was attractive and athletic, but he wasn't a jerk about it like Dylan was. He brought calm to Aera's chaos. He even put up with Leo's dumb jokes. When Aera and Piper had fought over some stupid shampoo in the dorms, Jason had bought them two new bottles so they could each have their own.

On the other hand, Aera was always unapologetically herself. For someone like Piper who found herself unable to do the same, it was like watching all the hidden, taboo parts of herself come to life. Piper could always go to Aera about anything, no matter how embarrassing it was. Aera would never judge her. During a late night talk, Piper had opened up to Aera about her father and how abandoned he made her feel. She had never confided to anyone about her honest feelings, not even Leo. Aera was a good listener. She brushed Piper's hair and put it in a braid crown as she ranted. Aera helped Piper feel heard and accepted.

All of that couldn't be fake.

Annabeth pursed her lips. "Piper, your memories are a lot sharper than most. I'll admit that, and I don't know why that is. But if you know Aera so well—"

"I do!"

"Then what city is she from?"

Piper felt like she'd been smacked between the eyes. "She must have told me, but—"

"Did you ever notice Jason's tattoo before today? Or Aera's? Did Aera ever tell you anything about her parents, or her friends, or her last school?"

"I—I don't know, but—"

"Piper," Annabeth said lowly, slowly, like an executioner about to deal the killing blow, "what's Aera's favorite skincare product?"

Piper's mind went completely blank. She didn't know Aera's favorite skincare product. How could that be? Aera loved skincare products. She started to cry. Piper felt like a total fool, but she sat down on the rock next to Annabeth and just fell to pieces. It was too much. For the first time in her life, Piper had finally made one decent friend and now this. Did everything that was good in her stupid, miserable life have to be taken away?

Yes, the dream had told her. Yes, unless you do exactly what we say.

"Hey," Annabeth said softly, tapping Piper's shoulder. "We'll figure it out. You have other friends here. We've all been through a lot of weird stuff. We know what you're going through."

I doubt that, Piper thought. If the dream had told her the truth.

But she couldn't say that.

Piper had been hopeful when she heard Aera's history. Not because she wanted Aera to be this awful criminal, but because she thought Aera, of all people, would understand what she was going through. Aera was a traitor after all, and pretty soon, Piper was going to be one, too. Now that she knew her whole friendship with Aera had been fabricated, Piper didn't know who or what she could rely on anymore.

She brushed a tear from her cheek. "You brought me up here so no one would see me blubbering, huh?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I figured it would be hard for you. I know what it's like to lose a friend."

"She's not as terrible as you think," Piper defended. "Aera protected me on the Skywalk."

"She'll do that," Annabeth acknowledged, nodding grimly, "but it's all manipulation. Aera does these things to make you feel safe around her, and that's when you're most vulnerable to her powers."

"Her powers?"

"Aera can make your heart start, stop, speed up, or slow down just by touching you," Annabeth explained. "She can control your emotions too if she concentrates hard enough. And with all that harsh training she did while working for Kronos...well, let's just Aera's probably one of the most dangerous demigods I know. She's even beat Percy in hand-to-hand combat and Percy's the best swordsman I know. Don't tell anyone I said that, though."

Piper cracked a smile. For a moment, Annabeth looked like she wanted to laughed too and Piper thought she'd be a cool friend to have in better times.

Forget it, Piper reminded herself. You're not going to make any friends here. Not once they find out.

"Point is," Annabeth said, her smile fading, "you're not missing much. Aera's not a good friend. She doesn't feel remorse for anything she's done."

"How do you know?" Piper questioned. Annabeth took another deep breath.

"When a demigod dies," Annabeth said tentatively, her breath quivering, "we burn a shroud. Those who regret the most cry the most. Aera never shed a single tear for anyone she's ever hurt or killed. Not Silena. Or Luke. And she loved those two more than anyone else."

More than anyone else. The way Annabeth spoke about Aera led Piper to believe that maybe Percy Jackson wasn't the only lost half-blood Annabeth had been searching for.

"People grieve in different ways," Piper said.

Annabeth considered this, but Piper could tell it was more for her sake than Aera's. "Maybe. But a word of advice, Piper? Don't get too close to Aera. It's all just a game to her. She'll do anything and everything she can to win, and before you know it, you'll only lose yourself to her."

"Sounds like you know her well." The words slipped out before Piper could tame her tongue.

"I used to." Annabeth bit her lip. For a split second, her grey eyes turned wistful. As polar opposites as they were, Piper could imagine Annabeth and Aera being friends. They both wore that same determined expression and carried themselves with the same level of daring confidence, like they constantly had something to prove.

"Now," Annabeth said, her grey eyes hardening back into that calculative stare Piper was getting used to being intimidated by, "Aera's just another problem for me to solve."

‧₊˚♡

Later on in their tour, all of the cabins seemed pretty cool, but none of them struck Piper as hers. No burning signs—wombats or otherwise—appeared over her head. Piper was most drawn to Cabin Eight until she found out that the Hunters had to swear off boys forever. Then they came across the next cabin, Number Ten, which was decorated like a Barbie house with lace curtains, a pink door, and potted carnations in the windows. They walked by the doorway, and the overpowering smell of perfume almost made Piper gag.

"Gah!" she grimaced. "Is that where supermodels go to die?"

Annabeth smirked. "Aphrodite's cabin. Goddess of love. Drew's the head counselor."

"Figures," Piper grumbled. If that was Aphrodite's cabin, no wonder Aera wanted to leave so bad.

"They're not all bad," Annabeth said lightly, as if reading her mind. "Silena used to be part of Cabin Ten."

It was hard for Piper not to miss used to. Earlier, Annabeth had mentioned burning a shroud for her. She didn't want to pry, noticing the way Annabeth's facial features screwed together.

"We should keep moving."

As they passed, a few Aphrodite kids were lugging pink cardboard boxes out of their cabin and leaving them by the burning hearth in the center of the U-shaped formation of cabins. The boxes were each filled to the brim with designer clothing, makeup, and headshots of models from what looked like a photoshoot.

A girl with two pigtails was asking a taller boy about a box of assorted pink Christmas candies with BEAUREGARD CHOCOLATIER labelled across the top in gold letters. "What should we do with these?"

"Garbage," he answered, not even looking up from his hot pink clipboard.

"But," she protested, "the pink candy canes are Aera's favorite."

"Lacy, c'mon," he crooned, half exasperated, half pitiful. "You really think she's going to stick around long enough to have hot cocoa with us? Quit dreaming."

"Besides," another girl wearing a diamond ring added, setting the fourth cardboard box by the fire pit. "I think Aera's on a diet."

"She has lost weight, hasn't she?" Lacy asked.

"I wonder why she suddenly grew her hair out," the boy said out loud.

"And who's that Jason guy?" the other girl wondered. "I thought she swore she'd never date another half-blood after what happened with Luke."

"What happened with Luke?" Lacey asked.

"Aera had a crush on him for years! He could have let her down nicely since he was practically an older brother to her. But you know what he did instead? He started going out with an empousai!"

The boy gasped, utterly scandalized. "No way! You mean, that Kelli chick? Aera was so much prettier than her!"

"Didn't Aera send her to Tartarus, like, twice?"

"I would too if she tried interfering in my slow burn long-game romance!"

Lacy pouted. "Poor Aera. She must have been so heartbroken when Luke died. Mom went way harsh on her."

The others nodded in agreement.

Wordlessly, Annabeth continued leading Piper towards the other cabins, but Piper could tell that their gossip had bothered her. Annabeth started walking like there was a pole taped to her back. There must have been a hundred different versions of the Titan War going around camp.

What struck Piper more was Cabin Ten's attitude towards Aera. They didn't regard her with the same malice the other demigods did. Instead, they spoke of Aera like she was a distant cousin they hadn't seen in a long time. Aera had committed the ultimate betrayal, killing members of her own cabin, her own siblings. Didn't they hate her?