daughter of heaven || percy jackson

2.12

⎯⎯ ୨ 2.12: love's a moving target ୧ ⎯⎯

THEY ARRIVED IN long island just after clarisse, thanks to the centaurs' travel powers.

though they had just succeeded in completing their quest, the group's mood was disheartening. nobody really said much, except annabeth, who kept pestering the daughter of hera with questions to distract her, but it was futile.

when annabeth first brought up the theory that luke had meghan, it was hard to believe at first. but when she thought about it, it all made sense. and, well, how could she question the smartest girl at camp?

melanie just insisted that she was fine. here she was, bottling up her emotions, bottling up her teardrops, unable to do anything about a monster holding captive the love of melanie's fucking life.

it just wasn't fair. 

when they finally got to camp, the centaurs were anxious to meet dionysus. they'd heard he threw some really wild parties, but they were disappointed. the wine god was in no mood to celebrate as the whole camp gathered at the top of half-blood hill.

the camp had been through a hard two weeks. the arts and crafts cabin had burned to the ground from an attack by a draco aionius. the big house's rooms were overflowing with wounded. the kids in the apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid. everybody looked weary and battered as they crowded around thalia's tree.

the moment clarisse draped the golden fleece over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from gray to liquid silver. a cool breeze rustled in the branches and rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley. everything came into sharper focus: the glow of the fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the strawberry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach.

gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

everybody cheered. it was happening slowly, but there could be no doubt - the fleece's magic was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and expelling the poison.

chiron ordered a 24/7 guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the fleece, saying he'd place an ad in olympus weekly right away.

in the meantime, clarisse was carried on her cabin mates' shoulders down to the amphitheater, where she was honored with a laurel wreath and a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

nobody gave melanie, annabeth, or percy a second look. it was as if they'd never left. in a way, that'd be the best 'thank you' anyone could give the trio, because if they admitted that they had snuck out of camp to do the quest, they'd get expelled. and really, she didn't want any attention. her mind was much too preoccupied.