[act one; chapter thirteen - food for the worms to eat]
They were the first to come back from a quest alive since Luke. So, the moment they stepped foot within the Camp boundaries, they were treated as though they were heroes. As if they had accomplished something no one else in the world ever had. According to Camp tradition, they wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in their honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where they got to burn the burial shrouds their cabins had made for them in their absence. Always a precaution—one that Andromeda had always despised.
Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls—Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it, Andromeda agreeing with a snicker as she leant against her best friend's side. She punched them both and told them to shut up.
Since Percy had no cabin mates, the Ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.
It was fun to burn.
Andromeda's was a silver-amethyst color, the embroidery a dark forest green, the symbol of Dionysus simply, yet elegantly, stitched into the middle in the same color of green. Andromeda wished she could keep it for decoration, to hang it somewhere as a reminder of her newest accomplishment. She settled, then, for thanking her brothers and Silena Beauregard from Aphrodite cabin for the beautiful shroud.
As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, Percy was surrounded by his old Hermes cabin mates, Andromeda and her brothers, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest, "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past."
The only ones not in the mood were Clarisse and her siblings, whose poisonous looks told Percy they'd never forgive him for disgracing their dad. For fighting him and winning.
That was okay with him though. He had all of the people who cared about him, who he cared about, around him. That was what mattered. Who mattered.
Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen Percy's spirits and Andromeda's sad attempt at hiding her laughter only lifted them while he spoke. "Yes, yes, so the little brat didn't get himself killed and now he'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday..."
Andromeda helped Percy move back into cabin three, but it didn't feel so lonely to him anymore. Not like it had been in the very beginning. He had his friends to train with during the day. And at night, he lay awake and listened to the sea, knowing his father was out there somewhere, always watching, always listening. Maybe he wasn't quite sure about Percy yet, maybe he hadn't even wanted him born, but he was there, now. Paying attention. And so far, he was proud of what Percy had done.
As for his mother, she had a chance at a new life. Her letter arrived a week after Percy got back to camp. She told him Gabe had left mysteriously—disappeared off the face of the planet, were her words. She'd reported him missing to the police, but she had a funny feeling they would never find him. Andromeda had a good laugh after receiving a letter of her own from his mother, explaining the details in full.
On a completely unrelated subject, Sally sold her first life-size concrete sculpture, entitled The Poker Player, to a collector, through an art gallery in Soho. She'd gotten so much money for it, she'd put a deposit down on a new apartment and made a payment on her first semester's tuition at NYU. The Soho gallery was clamoring for more of her work, which they called "a huge step forward in super-ugly neorealism."
But don't worry, his mom wrote. I'm done with sculpture. I've disposed of that box of tools you left me. It's time for me to turn to writing.
At the bottom, she wrote a P.S.: Percy, I've found a good private school here in the city. I've put a deposit down to hold you a spot, in case you want to enroll for seventh grade. You could live at home. But if you want to go year-round at Half-Blood Hill, I'll understand.
He folded the note carefully and set it on his bedside table. Every night before he went to sleep, he read it again, and tried to decide how to answer her.
On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth and Andromeda, who'd seen the show many times before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky—a project they worked on every year for weeks at a time. The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors.
As Annabeth, Andromeda, and Percy were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell them good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human.
"I'm off," he said. "I just came to say...well, you know."
Percy tried to feel happy for him. Really, he did. After all, it wasn't every day a satyr got permission to go look for the great god Pan. But it was hard saying good-bye. He'd only known Grover a year, yet he was his oldest friend.
Annabeth gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on—a long running joke of theirs, Percy had come to understand.
Andromeda crushed him in a hug of her own, whispering some words in a language Percy didn't quite understand, before she shoved his face away from her with a laugh, earning a groan from the satyr. That, too, was a common occurrence.
Percy asked him where he was going to search first.
"Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan..."
"We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?"
"Yeah."
"And you remembered your reed pipes?" Andromeda questioned.
"Jeez, Dromeda, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like old mama goats."
But he didn't really sound annoyed. It made a wide smile come to Andromeda's face—that smile alone made Percy want to share his own.
(He did.)
Grover gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway—nothing like the boy Percy used to defend from bullies at Yancy Academy.
"Well," he said, "wish me luck."
He gave Annabeth another hug. He slapped the back of Andromeda's head with a laugh of his own. He clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes.
Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion (Andromeda booed under her breath at that one, earning a shove of her shoulder by Percy), Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware.
"Hey, Grover," Percy called.
He turned at the edge of the woods.
"Wherever you're going—I hope they make good enchiladas." Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him. And, as the realization settled, Andromeda wondered when they would see him next. If they would.
"We'll see him again," Annabeth said, almost as if she could tell what Andromeda was thinking. As if she could hear her thoughts.
She tried to believe it. The fact that no searcher had ever come back in two thousand years...well, it didn't leave Grover, one of her longest friends, with much hope. History was, after all, not really on his side. Or anyone else like him. But she had to hope, she knew. She had to believe that Grover would change the tides, that he would make it back. He would be the first.
Soon, it was a special day that she had always tried to avoid. But when she walked out of her cabin at the crack of dawn as always, only to find the whole camp awake with lots of brownies, donuts, fruits, and other food, all of them singing happy birthday, she officially gave up on avoiding it. For the first time in years, Andromeda let herself celebrate July 7th. Her birthday.
July passed.
Percy spent his days devising new strategies for capture-the-flag and making alliances with the other cabins to keep the banner out of Ares's hands. He got to the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting scorched by lava, trying to beat Andromeda's time, though he never succeeded at that part. But it was certainly fun to try.
From time to time, he'd walk past the Big House, glance up at the attic windows, and think about the Oracle. He tried to convince himself that its prophecy had come to completion. That it was all behind him, behind his friends. It was done, now, never to influence them again.
You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.
Though, in the beginning they had thought the god to be Hades, it had turned out to be Ares.
You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.
Done. The master bolt had been delivered. And the helm of darkness was back on Hades's head.
You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.
Though something about that line lingered heavily in Percy's mind, and though Andromeda had, in fact, betrayed them, something about it felt unfinished. Not yet completed.
Daughter of Madness will defend.
Andromeda had done that. She had protected him, guarded him, defended him from Ares. She had fought the god of War to keep him safe.
And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.
Percy had failed to save his mom, but only because he'd let her save herself, and he knew, at the end of it all, that was the right thing.
So why was he still uneasy?
———
The last night of the summer session came all too quickly.
The campers had one last meal together. They burned part of our dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads.
Andromeda got another bead for her necklace. She laughed when she saw Percy's reaction to the bead for his first summer. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center. She had a feeling she was one of the only people to notice his rosy cheeks. He was embarrassed, or, perhaps, surprised.
"The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!"
The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares's cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. But, while they got claps on the back and enough cheers to cause ringing in their ears, Andromeda stood, with all too clear hearing thanks to her new hearing aids, amongst the Apollo kids. When Percy glanced her way, she tipped her chin, a silent applause of her own.
No words were needed.
Later that night, when the campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat, everyone had returned to their cabins. They were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their expensive suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport to return them to whatever home they had come from.
After this summer, Andromeda had made the decision to leave for the first time since she had arrived. It had been almost ten years since she had ever lived outside of Camp. Since she had lived within the world. So, for the last time before her departure, she wandered towards the training arena. Nothing about it was out of the ordinary, not for her. But to find Luke rushing out, his steps quick, his breaths even quicker—that was not ordinary.
"Hey!" She yelled out, gaining his attention.
The blonde boy looked at her with wide, frantic eyes. "H-hey Stormy! What are you doing?"
Andromeda's brows furrowed. She tried to hide her frown; tried to hide the subtle shake of her hands or the way her breaths quickened. The ringing in her ears became unbearable, and though she ached to reach for her hearing aids, to numb the world out, she couldn't. "Gonna go practice for a little. Don't wanna get rusty while I'm away. You okay?"
He had some sweat on his brow line, and his fists were white at his side, his new sword on his hip. He nodded. But there was a hitch to his breath, a small twinge of one of his veins in his neck. His right fist flinched, just enough, at his side. It wasn't enough for a normal person, or even a demigod, to notice. But not her. Never her. "Yeah, just finished practicing is all."
"Oh. Cool." She nodded. She forced a small smile, allowing the edges of her lips to tug upward. "You haven't seen Percy anywhere have you?"
The boy shook his head, the inner corners of his eyebrows pulling inward. "No. L-last I saw him was this morning, I've been busy all day."
Andromeda forced her smile to get a little wider, to soften just a bit, and shook her head. "That's okay."
"Yeah, anyway, I gotta go."
"Yeah." She sidestepped, just enough to let him pass by. And with the vines tapping at her feet, Andromeda looked towards the woods. She felt her breath leave her, as if she were suffocating on dry land. And she turned, running into the forest, her eyes scanning up and down, looking for any sign of a near-dead body.
She knew what Luke was capable of—she had taught him everything he knew. She had taught him how to be dangerous with anything. Everything. A rock was enough to cause enough damage to stop a heart. He knew that, and she had been the one to put those skills in his hands.
As she neared the creek, she noticed, just on the other side, was an all too familiar boy, blisters and patches of red covering his usually tan skin that was now a sickly pale shade.
She stopped just before him, falling to her knees, her hands immediately going to his chest and neck, searching for signs that he was alive. His eyes blinked open as he looked at her, looking as if he was on the brink of falling asleep, as if he were a light fading away from the world. A dying star. "Lea?"
She murmured, "Yeah." Her hands fell to the red patches of skin around his body, feeling the rough patches that were too similar to the ones that marred her own body. She looked back at his eyes, searching for answers. "Scorpion." It wasn't a question—she already knew.
Percy nodded, then, with wide eyes. He had forgotten, only briefly, that she was a granddaughter, a legacy, of Apollo. That she had his gifts.
She cupped his face in her warm hands, mumbling under her breath—a hymn—allowing her magic, her abilities, to track down the damage on his body. Every inch of it. Every ounce of scorpion venom in his blood. She felt it drain from his body, dissipating until it no longer remained. She felt it, then. Felt it come in contact with whatever abilities she had, felt how it disappeared into, quite literally, nothing.
But, even then, it wasn't enough. Not enough to dull how much of it was inside of him.
Percy vaguely remembered the feeling of Andromeda moving him through the forest or the sound of her terrified yelling, of her screams echoing through the woods.
He had never heard her be scared before. Not like this.
"H-help!" Her voice had cracked as she cried out. "Somebody help!"
Then everything went black.
———
Percy woke with a drinking straw in his mouth. He was sipping something that tasted like liquid chocolate-chip cookies. Nectar, he remembered Andromeda explaining once.
He opened his eyes.
He was propped up in bed in the infirmary of the Big House, his right hand bandaged like a club. Argus stood guard in the corner. Andromeda was sitting beside the bed, her skin pale and lightly covered in sweat, asleep, leaning back against the chair she sat in. Annabeth sat next to him, holding his nectar glass and dabbing a washcloth on his forehead.
"Here we are again," he said, a small laugh in his tone.
"You idiot," Annabeth said, which is how Percy knew she was overjoyed to see him conscious. She shook her head with the smallest of smiles. "You were green and turning gray when Andromeda got you here. If it weren't for her and Chiron's healing..."
"Now, now," Chiron's voice said, cutting her off before she could really even begin. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit."
He was sitting near the foot of the bed in human form, which was why Percy hadn't noticed him before then. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers.
Annabeth reached over the bed and lightly tapped Andromeda's shoulder. The girl shot up nearly right away, and looked around with wide eyes before they landed on Percy. She immediately slapped him before she covered her mouth with her hand.
"Sorry, sorry." It was strange seeing her flustered and freaked out, but incredibly amusing, not that she seemed to notice. She scooted her chair closer to his bed, reaching for his hand. She held it between her own, shutting her eyes. Her hands, the smallest bit, began to glow. She muttered under her breath, before opening her eyes again. She smiled at him. Just enough. "Θα είσαι εντάξει." (You'll be okay.)
"How are you feeling?" Chiron asked.
"Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved."
"Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened."
Between sips of nectar, Percy told them the story, even going far enough to the point of when Andromeda had found him, hidden and dying in the forest.
The room was quiet for a long time.
Andromeda was now sitting completely silent in her chair, her back perfectly straight as she stared at the wall. Her fists were in her lap, her knuckles white.
"I can't believe that Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him...he was never the same after his quest."
"This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once."
"Luke is out there right now," Percy said. "I have to go after him."
Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods—"
"Won't even talk about Kronos," Percy snapped.
"Percy." Andromeda sighed, though she knew she wouldn't be able to get through to him. But he could tell that she agreed. She was with him, through it all. He could see it. He could tell.
"Zeus declared the matter closed!"
"Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready."
Percy didn't like it, but part of him suspected Chiron was right. One look at his hand, and he knew he wasn't going to be sword fighting any time soon. "Chiron...your prophecy from the Oracle...it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? Lea and Annabeth?"
Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place—"
"You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?"
His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..."
Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows. A warning. A reminder.
"All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!" He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing."
"No." Andromeda muttered. "It's not."
"We can't just sit back and do nothing," Percy said. He looked at her, at the way she could hardly keep herself pieced together.
"We will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come."
"Assuming I live that long."
Chiron put his hand on the boy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice..." Percy got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all his willpower not to advise him. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision."
Percy wanted to protest. He wanted to ask him more questions. But Chiron's expression told him there could be no more discussion; he had said as much as he could.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you."
He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear...whenever you're ready, they're here."
"Who's here?" Percy asked.
Nobody answered.
Chiron rolled himself out of the room. Percy heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time.
Annabeth studied the ice in his drink.
"What's wrong?" He asked her.
"Nothing." She set the glass on the table. "I...just took your advice about something. You...um...need anything?"
"Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside."
"Percy, that isn't a good idea."
He slid his legs out of bed. Andromeda caught him before he could crumple to the floor. A wave of nausea rolled over him.
Annabeth said, "I told you..."
"I'm fine," he insisted, his hands grasping Andromeda's arms. He didn't want to lie in bed like an invalid while Luke was out there planning to destroy the Western world.
He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on Andromeda as Annabeth watched from afar. Argus followed them outside, but he kept his distance all the same.
By the time they reached the porch, Percy's face was beaded with sweat. His stomach had twisted into knots. But he had managed to make it all the way to the railing.
It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun.
"What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked him.
"I don't know."
He told the two girls he got the feeling Chiron wanted him to stay year-round, to put in more individual training time, but he wasn't sure that's what he wanted. He admitted he'd feel bad about leaving them alone, though, with only Clarisse for company...
Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy."
He stared at her. "You mean, to your dad's?"
She pointed toward the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted—two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had gotten from Waterland in Denver.
"I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him...I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided...we'd give it another try."
"That took guts."
She pursed her lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least...not without sending me an Iris-message?"
Percy managed a smile. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."
"When I get back next summer," Annabeth said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?"
"Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."
She held out her hand. Percy shook it.
"Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told him. "Keep your eyes open."
"You too, Wise Girl."
He watched her walk up the hill and join her family, still leaning against Andromeda. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be led over the crest and into the mortal world.
Andromeda turned towards Percy with a small smile, letting him hold onto her for stability. "You know how I told you about Ariadne offering to take care of me?"
He nodded.
"I agreed. I'll come visit and stuff and I expect IM's every week." She explained. After a beat of silence, she speaks again, her voice soft and tender. "You'll be fine Perc. You're strong and stupidly brave. You'll make a good hero."
"I need you."
She shook her head, smiling, "No, you don't. Neither does Annabeth or my dad, or Grover, or anyone else here. The world was like this before I was born and it will stay this way long after I'm gone. You don't need me." She spoke calmly, though that melancholy tone returned to her voice, the same it had been the first night on the docks. The night where she told him the things she hadn't told anyone, even after only knowing him for a few days. "You didn't let anyone change you—these past few months. You kept your heart, that's a hard thing to do. But you did it. And you will continue to do it. So, I'm proud of you, Fish Face."
He smiled. "I hope you have fun with Ariadne."
"Me too."
She made sure he had a good grip on the banister before letting go of him. She quickly wrapped him in a hug, holding him, just as he held her. And then, for just that moment, they let themselves bask in the peace of the moment. She released him carefully, her warm hands leaving his own feeling cold. Before running off, she kissed his cheek and let her legs carry her down the hill.
There, at the bottom, was a woman dressed in a simple tan suit with dark skin and hair. She smiled kindly at Andromeda and put her arm out, waiting to pull her in, to keep her safe.
Andromeda let the woman, Ariadne, envelop her in her arm; let the woman lead her away.
But before she could pass the Camp borders, she turned. Amethyst met green and time stopped, just for a moment.
She smiled at him and continued on.
And he knew he would remember that smile until the day he was food for the worms to eat.
And that's the end of the fully edited act 1!
I hope you enjoyed!