Slowly, because of Rose's bruises and Percy's new form, we traced our way back to Circe's dock. We just took one of her ships instead of reusing the stolen broken-down boat. "Besides," Will pointed out, "it's not like any of the spa guests will ever leave anyway."
Everyone was quiet. Percy was constantly moving- pacing, cracking his neck, drumming his fingers against the wall. His new form was taking time to get used to, he said. "I feel like an invader in Luke's body," he admitted. "So many souls have been housed here. Luke's, Kronos', and now mine." I'd only known him for a 일 또는 two, and even I thought it was strage to see Percy's eyes in someone else's head, and hear his voice come out of someone else's mouth.
Hermes couldn't deal with seeing his son alive again. He went below deck and took Percy's dead body with him. Annabeth clutched Percy like a lifeline the entire way back, and he did the same. They did not want to lose each other again. Will fiddled around with the mostly full container of ointment for my hand and hummed to himself, while I tested my hand my shooting arrows repeatedly into my pack. It ripped, but I didn't care. After awhile it was just a 큰 덩어리, 한 조각 of cloth, barely holding anything.My hand stung a little, but I ignored it. After the past week 또는 so, the pain didn't even register. Rose sat 의해 Will, letting the tune of his songs dissolve into her skin and heal her bruises a little. She pulled at her fingers, carefully testing the flesh that had been melded together again. We'd brought her staff when we left camp, and she played with it, conjuring useless items and making them disappear. Whenever I missed a shot, she would reverse the arrow's path in slow motion to show me where my aim was wrong. Overall, Rose wasn't in bad shape. She was lucky she'd only been there two days. After her cut-off fingers had been healed 의해 Hermes, all that was left were the few marks where Circe had beaten her. She was shook up, mostly, but otherwise not much was wrong.
After my backpack couldn't take any 더 많이 arrows, I went below deck and leaned against the wall, near where Hermes was sitting. Percy's dead body, still covered in blood, lay on one of the benches. I tried not to look at it, but I couldn't help staring. Hermes and I were both silent for several minutes, until I got the guts to ask what I came for.
"You saved Luke's body?"
Hermes looked up, a quizzical expression across his face. "You know about Luke? I thought 당신 were new to Camp Half-Blood."
"I am," I explained, "but Will filled me in on the way to Circe's Isle. Everything seems to be connected to Luke and Kronos."
Hermes sighed. "Yes, I saved Luke's body, but not for sentimental reasons. If I had a choice on what to do with the body based on emotions, I would have burned him with a shroud. The gods thought it was safest to preserve the body that had housed Kronos, to see if we could find traces of Kronos left inside. No one knows what happened to him. Nothing has been found yet, but Apollo is making some more...investigations." He sounded sad and appalled at this last fact, that the gods were investigating his son's body for bits of evil.
"They rebuilt him," Hermes said. "The gods even sucked all of his blood back into his veins to simulate a normal body. But they never found anything, and they still wouldn't let him truly die." He swallowed.
"But 당신 gave him up. To help Percy."
The god of theives nodded. "I did hesitate to do it, but I had to. Once I saw Annabeth...." He trailed off, but I understood. It was hard to watch someone be in such pain.
I had another thought. "If Percy's soul could be transferred into another body, why didn't we just put it back into his own?"
"For many reasons- he'd 로스트 too much blood to stay alive, if we brought him back to life as himself he'd have just died again. The Achilles curse faded once Percy died, but the curse on Luke stayed. Luke's body housed two souls, so the enchantment grew a 초 skin to contain both of them. When they both left the body at the same time, only one of the layers died. One was still there, and that's what's keeping Percy's soul trapped in."
"Why were 당신 even there? I thought gods were forbidden to help on quests."
"I could sense that 당신 were all in grave danger. Rules are meant to be broken. Besides, ever since the war ended Zeus has been a bit 더 많이 lenient."
Will appeared at the 상단, 맨 위로 of the stairs leading up, and called out to us that we'd arrived at camp again. Hermes took the body and we followed upstairs. Percy was intensely concentrating on the water, willing it to solidify. It did- the new body couldn't change the soul's capabilities- and we climbed down a ladder and walked to the hill.
Once we got to the top, demigods and satyrs stared at us. I have to admit we looked strange. A bruised Rose was leaning on me, using her staff as a cane. Percy, as Luke, had locked fingers with Annabeth. Hermes carried Percy's red body. Only Will fit the camp's version of normal.
Their cries ranged from "Oh my gods, Luke!", "No! No, not Percy!" and just outright screaming. Guards holding spears and loaded bows approached, but with a simple "Stop!" called 의해 Chiron they lowered their weapons. Chiron trotted forward, and looked "Luke" square in the eye. "Luke?"
"No. It's me," Percy's voice said.
Chiron looked from him to Hermes to me. "Come with me to the Big House. 당신 all have much to explain." He gestured at Hermes. "Lord Hermes?"
"Yes, I will be staying for awhile," he answered.
We all walked down to the Big House, drawing even 더 많이 attention. Campers screamed and ran towards us, trying to 펀치 Luke 또는 hug Annabeth, but Chiron and Hermes stopped them all. We came to the room where we'd had the meeting only three days earlier. It seemed so long ago.
Hermes laid Percy's body across the Ping-Pong table, and we told him all that happened. He simply accepted it all, even when Hermes told him that Percy would be Luke until he died. Only when he went to the 언더월드 would he look like himself again. Chiron nodded, and then walked to the doorway. "Percy, go to the ampitheater. Don't talk to anyone. Will, go with him and take the body. Kendall, Rose, and Annabeth- tell the other campers to go to the ampitheater immediately. Lord Hermes, thank 당신 for your help." Hermes shook his hand and vanished. We all scattered, and in five short 분 every camper was in the ampitheater. Chiron repeated our story, having Percy stand at parts and showing his empty body. Even the drastic adventure sounded run-of-the-mill told so many times in the presence of people who'd lived like this their whole lives. But even though my mother was gone and Percy had, in a way, been killed, I felt somehow at peace. Rose was back, and I felt like I belonged here at this strange place. Looking at Percy and the crowd of demigods, I noticed one thing. They were a family. They knew each other and cared deeply when one of them fell. It was a family I knew I wanted to be a part of.