Chapter 36: One final hurrah

When I woke up, everything hurt.

I was in the infirmary, and based off of the rising sun I saw through the windows, it had been an entire day since the battle.

I rubbed my eyes, taking in the full view of the infirmary. Around me were a bunch of injured campers, all lying on beds while being treated for their injuries. Apollo cabin members worked tediously, checking in on all of the injured campers and feeding them ambrosia.

"Hey, there you are, Sleepy," Kai said as he walked towards me. "How are you feeling?"

I groaned. "Like someone hit me with a truck."

Kai gave me a smirk. "Well, take pride in the fact you saved our camp. You did a good job."

"Thanks, but what happened? I kinda blacked out after I reunited the masks."

That's when a guy came over to us. He had shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a regular T-shirt along with shorts, and had a ukulele strapped to his back.

"How is she doing Kai?" The guy asked.

"She seems to be doing fine. If you want Will, you could check her out in an hour," Kai answered.

Will nodded and turned towards me. "Alright. But before I go, do you need anything, Rose?"

"Well, not medically, but I would like an explanation as to what happened," I said.

"After you reunited the masks, Ares and his army all stopped fighting us and left. Chiron then took the masks and put them in a secure place," Will explained. "Now we're rebuilding the camp."

I sighed a breath of relief. "Thank the gods. Is everybody okay?"

"Yeah," Kai said. "Amethyst and Oman are still healing, but everyone else is doing good. In fact, Arthur and Geneva were just made head counselors of their cabins."

I smiled. "That's good. Can I go now though? After yesterday, I am in dire need of food."

Will nodded as he helped me out of my bed. "Sure, you're good to go."

Kai and I then headed to breakfast, where we met up with Alexander, Arthur, and Geneva.

"Hey, Rose!" Geneva exclaimed. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good. How are you guys?" I answered. I grabbed a goblet of chocolate milk and slurped the entire thing down in a few seconds.

"Well, we have to clean up camp now, but besides that, we're doing pretty good," Arthur answered.

After finishing my breakfast and parting ways with my friends, I headed to the Hecate cabin. When I entered, I was greeted with a huge round of applause. Even Devon, the psychotic West Ham fan, was clapping.

"There she is!" Oliver shouted. He patted me on the back. "The saviour of camp!"

The cabin exploded in cheers and applause.

"Thanks guys," I said. I then realized somebody was missing. "Um, where's Lou Ellen?"

Millicent shrugged. "I have no idea. Maybe she's at the sword fighting arena."

I nodded, thanking Millicent before going to the arena. I know it was weird to be searching for her, but I needed some closure.

When I arrived, Lou Ellen was slashing a straw dummy with a sword. When she finished, I walked over to her.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," she replied. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good, uh, what about you?"

She shrugged. "Um, fine I guess. Yesterday was pretty rough, but I'm glad it's all over now."

"That's good to hear. Uh, look. I don't want to accuse you or anything, but are you angry with me? If I did anything wrong, then I'm sorry. I just need to know since you seemed mad before I left."

She remained silent, staring off into the distance.

"When you first arrived at camp, I'll admit, I was a bit jealous."

I looked at her quizzically. "Really? Why would you be jealous of me?"

"Well, the second you arrived at camp, everyone greeted you like you were a saint. And then during our training, you did really well. The worst thing I did was during Capture the Flag, when I told the other team our strategy out of envy."

Wow, I thought. All this time I thought Lou Ellen didn't like me, so when she told me that she was envious of me, I felt stunned. Also, she sabotaged me during Capture the Flag? I'd been wondering who told the other team when we won, but I never suspected it'd be Lou Ellen.

I blinked. "Oh. I didn't know you felt that way."

"Yeah," Lou Ellen said.

I looked down at the floor. "Are you still jealous of me?"

"Not really. After you left, I started to realize that being jealous of you was pointless. I should've known that I was good enough, and that I just needed to be myself."

"So, we're good?" I asked.

She smiled. "Yeah, we're good."

We embraced in a quick hug before leaving the arena, finally on good terms.

For the rest of the day, I continued on with my normal schedule, occasionally helping the other campers clean up and rebuild camp. During dinner, Chiron congratulated us on the success of our quest and proposed a toast to new beginnings.

After dinner, the six of us sat together at Zephyros Creek.

"Ah, good memories," Kai said. It had been this exact spot where Oman had picked us up on our quest.

"Yeah, this quest was one hell of a ride," I agreed, basking in the moonlight.

Arthur nodded. "Even though we almost died constantly, there was always a certain element of fun to it."

We all laughed in agreement.

"Remember when Oman thought there was a crabman on the ship?" Kai asked.

I chuckled. "Do you remember Billy?"

Arthur and Kai nodded sadly.

"Yeah, that guy was one pain in the butt. I really didn't need to know about his relationship with Klementine." Kai said.

"Remember when you guys thought I died? That was hilarious," Alexander said, giggling to himself.

Geneva glared at him. "Not to us it was."

Amethyst raised up a glass. "To a successful quest."

We all clinked our glasses together and drank our beverages. After talking for about an hour, I said good night to my friends and headed back to my cabin.

As I laid in bed, I took a deep breath. So much had happened over the last week. About two weeks ago, I had been a homeless girl, with nothing but a hateful sister. Now, I was home, with loving friends and a new family.

Amethyst and Kai were really the ones to thank for this though. If I had never met them, I never would've known I was a demigod or that there was a place where I would be accepted. The two of them not only saved my life on numerous occasions, but they also gave me a new one here, at camp.

In addition, I felt like I had changed as a person. Before the entire quest had started, I was a scared, witty little girl who took pleasure in finding banana peels off the streets and making clever jokes. Now, I had become someone I could respect, a person who had grown past my father and sister's deaths.

For all that had happened, good and bad, I was glad that Amethyst had chosen me for the quest, because in the end, that's what really got me to this point.

Eventually, I fell asleep, finally at peace.

Of course, just when I'm feeling satisfied, I had to get a weird vision.

My dream started in the creepy dark cave. The blonde woman from my last visions was still chained, looking even more sickly than before. The two magicians were still working on the caged woman, both of which I knew were Circe and Pasiphae.

"You all have failed me miserably!" the earth-voice boomed. "This is not what I promised to reward you for. The heroes successfully took down Ares, all because you couldn't handle a few measly demigods."

"I'm quite sorry, Lord Erebos. It will not happen again," Circe apologized.

Who the heck was Erebos and why was he an earth speaking person?

"Sadly, I still need all of you. Clytius and Pasiphae, what is the situation on phase two? Were you able to convince them?" Erebos asked.

Pasiphae nodded. "We were, sir."

"Good," he said. "Now, what is the status of my awakening?"

A skinny, ginger haired boy began pressing buttons on a console screen. "Um, if these statistics are correct, you should wake within the next five years."

Erebos laughed. "And when I do, Olympus will pay."

My vision cleared out. Now I knew what the last line of the prophecy was. The forgotten king rises.

Erebos was the forgotten king.

And he was rising.

The End…