The entire trek through the maze was a blur. Meeting and updating Hephaestus about who were in his forges felt like a blink. I felt numb. My mind was racing with what happened in the forges. The kiss and his promise kept replaying in my mind. At one point, I was in denial of his death.
He couldn't be gone.
There were points were Annabeth would check on me and I would give her one worded responses. All the way until we arrived back to camp, she would cast me worried glances. I barely got any sleep, always offering to take first watch.
When we arrived back at camp through Zeus's Fist, we surprised some campers. The tents were still pitched around the boulders. Some of the demigods stopped and stared. A few started to murmur about it only being Annabeth and I who returned. Beckondorf and Lee Fletcher were the first to rush up to us.
"Annabeth! Ivy!" Beckondorf greeted, peering over our shoulders to see where everyone else was. I saw two demigods rush towards the direction of the cabins and Big House. "Where's..."
He trailed off when he saw tears spring in my eyes. Lee frowned and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I stifled a sob. I'm not going to cry. I've cried enough throughout the maze. I'm not going to cry. He exchanged a concerned expression with the others.
"Let's go talk with Chiron and the war council." Annabeth said thickly.
As we made our way deeper into camp, I saw a familiar tall blonde. I heard him say my name cheerfully. He yelled over his shoulder to call his twin. My lower lip trembled as I ran towards him. He frowned.
"Ivy?"
"Cas." I choked out, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face against his chest.
"Hey, hey." Castor wrapped his arms around me, looking down at me in concern as he saw tears falling from my eyes. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"He's gone." I fisted his shirt in my hand as I sobbed. My heart was hurting. It felt like my heart strings were being tugged at repeatedly and Apollo was playing it like a harp. "He's gone."
"Ives!" Pollux jogged over with a beaming smile. It quickly fell when he saw me sobbing. The twins exchanged a glance. Pollux placed a hand on my back and rubbed soothing circles. "Why don't we take you back to the cabin to rest, yeah?"
"I can...I can tell them what we learned." Annabeth choked out. She placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Go rest, you need it. I'll check on you once it's done."
She mumbled something to Pollux who gave a curt nod. The twins led us back to our cabin. I sat on the purple velvet couch and curled up against the couch arm. Pollux went to the soda fountain machine and got a large cup of root beer. My brothers sat next to me. None of us talked, but just their presence was enough comfort. It didn't take me long to fall asleep.
The next couple of days, I was laying in my bed. I only went out of the cabin for food. Annabeth, Clarisse, and Silena would come and check up on me. Silena would give me looks of pity, brushing my tangled knots out of my hair and braiding it into an intricate braid. She would say how the entire Aphrodite cabin has my back. At one point, she even offered to cut and dye my hair to help me get my mind off of him.
Annabeth and I would be on the couch, a blanket over our legs. My head would be rested on her shoulder as she talked about the newest architecture that is being used for vineyards and wineries. We would drink root beer and snack on sour gummy worms. I made sure not to eat the blue ones for it brought my heart aching memories. She would talk about her plans for the new school year and what she was excited for.
Annabeth brought up that Chiron wanted to presume Percy was just missing. That we will give him two weeks before we proclaim he is dead. There was still hope he was alive, but hope can be a very dangerous thing. The next couple of days I was debating to fall into the hope of Percy being alive or that he was gone.
Clarisse on the other hand, gave me the wake up call I needed. At first, she was empathetic, well as empathetic as she can be. But as days turned into over a week, she got frustrated. She stormed into my cabin.
"Where is she?" She asked strongly. My brothers quickly pointed at me in my bed and quickly scurried out of the cabin. With a huff, she took long strides toward me. She tore off my blanket. I didn't move. "I have been nice and sympathetic to you Ives. I know you're hurting, but it's time to get off your butt."
She grabbed a hold of my ankles and started to pull me off the bed. One of the grapevines that grew along the wall reached out and smacked her hands. Clarisse sighed, let go, and rolled her eyes.
"Ivy, I know you really liked Percy, but this isn't healthy. You haven't gone outside, which you love." Clarisse crossed her arms. I glanced at her and her expression softened. "At least come outside and get some Vitamin D. You're looking pale. Okay?"
"Okay." I mumbled, sitting up on my bed. A smile grew on her face. "Just for you."
"Let's take a walk around camp." Clarisse wrapped an arm around my shoulder. The both of us walked outside. Some of the campers stopped talking and eyed me. I felt my shoulders hunch, trying to make myself smaller. Clarisse noticed and turned to glare at the others. They quickly turned away and pretended they never gave me looks of pity. "Ignore the punks, Ives. Besides, Water Boy may be alive. Hold on to that hope. A while back you told me the same thing."
I responded with a meek nod. We walked in the direction of the Big House. We had small talk, Clarisse doing anything she can to get my mind occupied. Then we heard yelling and commotion from inside the Big House. With a confused expression being shared between the both of us, we ran inside. Some of the Apollo campers were rushing around while others were holding Chris down as he yelled. He was in hysterics.
"Hey, hey." Clarisse rushed towards him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke softly to him. Chris seemed to calm at her touch. He looked at her with eyes of a dying storm. "Hey, Chris."
I studied him. A strong pull came from my gut and I knew what to do. I walked near him as he muttered things under his breath. None of it made sense. Something was telling me I had to focus on the amygdala in his brain. The small part of the brain was where anxiety and our fight or flight comes from.
"I think I can help him." I uttered, looking to Clarisse.
"Go ahead." She nodded, almost in a pleading way.
With a hesitant hand, I placed it on the top of Chris's head. The children of Apollo stepped back. The pull in my stomach grew stronger as I concentrated on curing his amygdala. Chris stopped muttering and relaxed in his bed. The tugging sensation went away.
I stepped away, my head feeling lightheaded. The sensation of cotton being stuffed into my head made it hard to concentrate. My hand reached out to the wall to brace myself. The room seemed to spin momentarily. My shoulders felt heavy, as if a force was pushing down.
"Woah." Seth, a son of Apollo, came and placed a steady hand on my shoulder. He led me to a nearby chair to sit. "You okay? What happened?"
"I think she cured Chris." Clarisse said in awe.
Chris was laying in his bed, his eyes shutting. He went to sleep. Any tension he had in his body was gone. Chris looked more at peace.
"I didn't heal him fully, but he's better." I told Clarisse. "Once my dad comes back, he can fully heal him. But he shouldn't be..."
Clarisse nodded, understanding what I was saying. Chris will no longer be calling her Mary and having episodes. I left the two alone and went outside. As my mind raced with the hope of Percy even being alive, I found myself sitting on the shoreline of Long Island. My arms wrapped around myself and brought my knees up. The waves crashed softly against the shore. There was only three more days until Percy's M.I.A. is turned to R.I.P.
🍇
The three days flew by and we were having a funeral for Percy. All the hope I had was squashed instantly like a bug under s heavy boot. We were all in the amphitheater. Annabeth and I stood beside Chiron with the fire in front of us. She hand the green silk burial cloth in her arms. It was embroidered with a trident.
"Percy Jackson is assumed dead." Chiron said to all of the camp. My heart clenched. I stared at the fire with an expressionless face. "After so long a silence, it is unlikely our prayers will be answered. I have asked his best surviving friends to do the final honors."
Annabeth glanced at me to help her. I grasped the silk material and the both of us set it on the flames. She wrapped and arm around my shoulder as tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn't stop staring at the green silk being eaten by the red and orange flames. Annabeth faced the audience to do a small speech.
"He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He..." Annabeth trailed off. I glanced at her to see her face turning red. "He's right there!"
I quickly turned my gaze up to see him already staring at me. Campers turned and gasped. They all swarmed toward him with beaming smiles. Annabeth scowled, grabbing my wrist and storming in his direction.
"Percy!" Beckondorf grinned.
Campers started to crowed around him and clap him on the back. Chiron made his way over to Percy. Anger, relief, and hurt were all swirling in my chest. I didn't know how to react yet. I was just staring at him with a blank face. Percy was trying to peer past some of the taller campers.
Questions were running through my mind as I tried to process everything. Where was he? Why didn't he send an Iris-message? Why is he barely here now? What took him so long?
Percy managed to catch my eye and my gut started to swirl in anger.
"Well," Chiron sighed with obvious relief. "I don't believe I've ever been happier to see a camper return. But you must tell me-"
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Annabeth shoved campers aside. She was still tugging me along. Annabeth the let go of my hand, her face scrunched up in anger. At one point, I thought she was going to punch him. She hugged him and then quickly pushed him away. He stumbled back with wide eyes. "We thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!"
"I'm sorry," Percy said, looking at me as I stood frozen behind Annabeth. His eyes were showing waves of guilt and relief. "I got lost."
"LOST?" Annabeth yelled. "Two weeks, Percy? You had Ivy and I stressing about you-"
"You got lost?" I repeated, anger biting at my tone.
The campers looked between Percy and I. Some took a step back when they saw my face. Clarisse made her way to the front. Her brows her furrowed in anger.
"Vine Girl." Percy breathed out, stepping past Annabeth.
"Where in the Hades were you lost at?" I went toward him, my fist clenching. "I spent days, thinking you were dead! You had me worrying about you-"
Percy cut me off by pulling me into a hug. I immediately melted into him and buried my face into his chest. Tears fell down my cheeks as I choked back a sob. His hold tightened around me and he buried his face into my neck.
"I thought you were dead." My voice cracked. I weakly beat my fist against his chest. "You were gone for two weeks, two weeks, and I thought you were dead."
"I'll never leave you like that ever again." Percy mumbled against my skin. "It was horrible being away from you like that. I thought I was never going to see you again."
"Where were you?" I hesitantly pulled away from him, my heart aching to still be closer to him. My mind was trying to process where he could have been at. "Why did you think-"
"Ivy." Chiron interrupted. Percy and I separated the and glanced at him. "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!"
Without waiting for us to respond, he picked up Percy, Annabeth, and I as easily as if we were kittens. Chiron slung us onto his back, and galloped off toward the Big House. We sat around a table as Percy explained how he'd caused the explosion at the Mount St. Helens and that he had gotten blasted out of the volcano. He told us how he'd been marooned on an island and that Hephaestus had found me and told him he could leave. That a magic raft had carried him back to camp.
The words marooned and island kept coming to my mind. I stared Percy down, feeling like he wasn't fully telling us something.
"You've been gone two weeks." Annabeth's voice was steadier now, but still looked shaken up. "When we heard the explosion, I thought-"
"I know. I'm sorry. But I figured out how to get through the Labyrinth." Percy said. "I talked to Hephaestus."
"And?" I crossed my arms, my mind still processing the words island and marooned.
"He told you the answer?"
"Well, he sort of told me that I already knew. And I do. I understand now." Percy went on to explain how we will need a mortal to see through the mist and how he knew one called Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
"Percy, that's crazy!" Annabeth's jaw dropped.
"Rachel Elizabeth Dare?" My scowl deepened as my stomach knotted.
Marooned.
Island.
Calypso's island is where heroes get marooned at. My heart tugged and squeezed at the thought of him being with a Titan that is known to fall for the heroes that land on her island.
"Calypso." I mumbled under my breath and everything made sense.
Percy must of seen my expression or heard me and slumped in his seat.
"There is precedent, however. Theseus had help from Ariadne." Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and stroked his beard. "Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortal on her Underground Railroad for just this reason."
"But this is my quest." Annabeth said. "I need to lead it."
"Calypso." I scoffed, standing up. Everyone looked at me as I slammed my hands onto the desk. "You were stranded with Calypso?"
"Ives-"
"I can't-and you tried to hide that from me?" I narrowed my eyes at him, pain laced in my voice. A voice echoed in my mind, repeating how Percy said he would come back to me. And he did...after he was with Calypso and he tried to hide it. "Ugh, I can't believe- you are just so- Ugh!"
I threw my hands up in frustration and stormed out of the room. I heard Percy call my name and Chiron telling him to let me cool down. That they needed to finish discussing the next move for the quest. I quickly tuned them out and went straight to my cabin to have a large root beer and a pack of sour gummy worms.
And the tension is here