A Chat With Dad

I pulled my hood up and grabbed a handful of snow and threw it. Pain swelled in my chest as tears streamed down my face. A wind blew past me and I could smell the scent of death.

"Why are you here?" I looked over at the forest line.

A man in a purple suit stood staring at me. His purple suit moved with faces of dead people. He had black eyes that had a tint of purple, black hair and pale skin. He was at the edge of the forest in the shadows.

"To see my daughter." He said stepping out of the shadows, he had a soft oily voice.

"Why come see me? I thought you'd be busy in the Underworld." I growled.

"I make time for children of mine," Hades responded taking a few steps towards me.

"If that were true you would've stayed with me and my mom and not leave!" I climbed to my feet.

"Mariane was a caring woman, but I couldn't. You wouldn't understand."

"Then make me understand!" I raised my voice and the sharp pain intensified where my scars were on my arm and back.

"Your wounds are more serious than that girl thought they were." Hades changed the subject.

"Don't change the subject! Just answer me this, why did you claim me when you did?"

"Because I saw potential strength in you and I had to let them all know who your parent was instead of leaving you to be unclaimed. I knew you were destined for great things."

"Can you promise me something?" I asked as tears stung my eyes.

"Yes."

"Promise, promise on the River Styx that if I somehow die, you'll protect my friends the best you can."

"I don't know if I-"

"Dad, swear on the River Styx."

"I swear on the River Styx to protect your friend from danger to the best of my abilities."

"Thank you and I'm sorry."

Hades patted my shoulder and vanished leaving a lingering smell of death.

I sat down against the tree and wiped my tears away. Gods, just send me on a quest! I wanted to desperately yell. I felt tired, sore and angry. I rethought what Juniper had said about taking care of myself.

I sighed, she was right. If I didn't take care of myself properly there's no way I'm going on a quest. I stood up and walked back to the cabins. Fortunately, I found Juniper as soon as I walked into the clearing. She was in the middle of playing some tunes on the ukelele.

"Juniper!" I called to her.

Juniper looked up, dropped her guitar and walked over to me.

"Can you look at my scars?" I asked her.

"Do they sting?" She asked.

"More than a sting."

"Yeah, I'll look at it, come on." Juniper put her arms around me and we walked to the infirmary.

We entered the infirmary and she sat me down. I took my sweater off revealing my orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. I'd worn the same shirt the night of the attack so it was ripped.

"Does this hurt?" Juniper pressed her hand on my scars.

Pain shot through my body and I yelped.

"Sorry, you've probably hit it or you did something in training," Juniper said and moved her hand away.

"Probably did something when I went against Clarrise." I hissed.

"Yep, Clarrise goes for weak spots when training. She probably hit it and you never noticed."

"Obviously. Can you just take the pain away or something?"

"Yes, I can." Juniper grabbed a square of ambrosia and gave it to me.

"Thanks," I took a small bite and the pain weakened. "Love you."

I stood up and grabbed my sweater. Before I walked away Juniper took my hand.

"I know you didn't eat much at dinner." She said.

I stood looking at my feet, silent.

"Peck, please, the only reason you're in so much pain is that you won't take care of yourself."

"I'm just not hungry."

"Just eat more or you won't go on a quest or anything."

"Alright, I'll eat more and take care of myself."

"Thank you and you'd best mean it."

"I do." I faced her and smiled.

"Thank you." Juniper smiled up at me from where she sat.

"We should go to the campfire." I pulled her to her feet.

"Alright, let's go," Juniper said and put her arm over my shoulder.

We stepped out of the infirmary and walked down to the Amphitheater. I slipped my sweater back on when I sat down next to Juniper and Alex.

"So, did you hear, August needs help with a Demigod?" Alex told us in a hushed voice.

"No, what kind of help?" I responded as Juniper shook her head.

"Monster help." Alex looked at the fire.

"That makes... sense," I said.

"Yep. So, what are they going to do? Send some other Demigods to help him?" Juniper asked.

"I wish I could go, but I just got back from a quest. But, Mr. D and Chiron were thinking you two, I could go on border patrol for the next few nights till you get back." Alex blinked.

"Juniper and I have been waiting for a quest for a while so maybe they'll let us go. Plus, we know August well and we've fought off a monster together a-"

"And nearly died." Juniper squeezed my hand.

"True, true but we still killed it together so, that was a success," I said.

"I think they'd ask you to help..." August went silent as Mr. D walked over.

"Peggy, June, Chiron wants to speak to you." Mr. D looked down at us.

"Wrong names Mr. D its Peck an-"

"Don't care, Chiron wants to speak to you." Mr. D cut me off.

Juniper and I exchanged a look then stood up and followed Mr. D to the Big House. I hadn't been to the Big House in two months. I was met with the fresh scent of hot chocolate as soon as I stepped in.