Epilogue

Clover sat at the edge of the margins, kicking her feet over the giant pages beneath her. Her colorless sky behind her was the best she would ever experience the rest of her life, but in front of her was the world she had left behind. A world where people were free to do as they chose and were able to discover so many things.

Incredibly large girls, boys, families and parents stood in line outside the bookstores closed doors. Many of them had huge smiles on their faces, ready to receive the next story that they had been dying to come out. Clover smirked to herself, remembering those days of excitement and pain of waiting a year for a brand new world to come flying into her hands.

She knew no one could see her. She was just a memory; words that were secretly written in the margins of the story. She could see the readers, but the readers couldn't see her.

Clover wondered if Rick had forgotten her and Tyler, being trapped into his own story and forced into the small places between the quotes of so many well developed characters. Her mind flashed back to the day she and Tyler had first been pushed into the margins. It was so long ago... a year or more maybe. Rick had taken over her's and Tyler's story, but that didn't bother her in the least. What bothered her was the deep love many of Rick's fans had toward the books. She knew in her heart this last book was going to let them down.

So many memories of her and Leo had faded into the white, cream pages; unheard of for the rest of her life. Many times, Clover had caught herself rereading Leo and Calypso's story of love and wondering if Leo really had forgotten her.

Did he still love her?

Clover sighed and shook her head, forcing her thoughts to other things. It wasn't worth thinking about Leo. Besides, she had Tyler for a best friend. She didn't need a boyfriend... not anymore... Especially if they caused as much pain as she had experienced EVERY time.

The store manager, a familiar one Clover had stared at many times- named Stella- walked over to the locked doors. The store's keys jangled in her fingers and she slid the key into the lock. Outside, the kids up front were jumping up and down- no doubt thinking of all the adventures they would read about their favorite hero: Percy Jackson.

Clover felt a sad pang in her heart. These kids would be let down because of her. Hopefully Rick had done a good job patching the holes Clover and Tyler had made.

'Nah,' she thought. 'They're mine to own.' Those holes were her trophies, won from the heartache she felt and the love she had sacrificed.

Stella unlocked the door and kids came pouring in, running toward the new copies of the book they so dearly wanted. Clover quickly swung her legs into the safe pages of the book as a brown haired teenage girl picked her copy up. Clover's heart soared when she realized she would be able to be in a home- a real home- with a family, a dog maybe, and lots of love.

She needed the love. She was still trying to recover from her experience.

Clover quickly got to her feet, then ran into the pages, calling, "They're here! Tyler they're here! Blood of Olympus is out!"

The smile on her face was brighter then any she had ever made.

------

Erased may have been forgotten, but Clover's story was in every single copy of the Heroes of Olympus series.

Clover waits, even now, as you, the fellow fans of Rick Riordan's book, open the pages to his imagination. She waves to you, smiling and inviting you to come into the book she so dearly tried to keep together. Her dreams may have been crushed, but she will help you though all the heartache you feel from this final book.

Percy Jackson may have finished his story, but Clover has just begun hers.

THE END