𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘.
percy had spotted her with the demigod from earlier.
immediately, he pulled her away without apologizing. he didn't explain himself. he couldn't, anyways.
percy found a quiet fountain in a corner garden and sent an iris message to tyson, who was under the sea.
that made cherry stop arguing with percy about how nosey he was.
percy told tyson all of the things that went on, as cherry made comments about it.
"yay!" tyson said. "that means it was good! it saved your life!"
"it sure did, big guy." percy said. "but now it's ruined."
"not ruined! i will visit and fix it next summer."
"seriously? they'll let you take time off?"
"yes! i have made two thousand seven hundred and forty-one magic swords! the boss says 'good work'! he will let me take the whole summer off. i will visit camp!"
cherry smiled.
"i'm so excited! we can bake again." the redhead cheered.
tyson was excited.
they talked for a while about things like poseidon and all the cool things they could do together next summer.
then tyson's boss started yelling at him, saying he had to get back to work.
then, cherry started yelling at his boss for even thinking of slightly raising his tone at tyson.
tyson covered his ears.
when the iris message cut out, percy called his mother.
cherry stayed to greet her, and then let them have privacy.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
cherry sat beside annabeth.
she nursed the red mug of hot chocolate in her hands.
grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about our strange encounter with the magic of pan. within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.
a couple of the senior campers, beckendorf, silena beauregard, the stoll brothers, and even clarisse were inside the big house.
"the important thing is you have prevailed. and you saved annabeth!" chiron encouraged them.
cherry was glad, but her mind kept going back to thalia.
she wished that the girl would show up and say hi. but she wouldn't.
annabeth smiled at percy gratefully, which made him look away.
"luke is alive." percy said. "annabeth was right."
annabeth sat up. "how do you know?"
he told annabeth and cherry what his father had told him at the olympus party.
"well." annabeth shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "if the final battle does come when percy is sixteen, at least we have two more years to figure something out."
chiron's expression was gloomy. sitting by the fire in his wheelchair, he looked really old.
"two years may seem like a long time," he said. "but it is the blink of an eye. i still hope you are not the child of the prophecy, percy. but if you are, then the second titan war is almost upon us. kronos's first strike will be here."
"how do you know?" percy asked. "why would he care about camp?"
"because the gods use heroes as their tools," chiron said simply. "destroy the tools, and the gods will be ruined. luke's forces will come here. mortal, demigod, monstrous.. we must be prepared. clarisse's news may give us a clue as to how they will attack, but-"
"oh, where's clarisse? i miss my girlfriend." cherry managed to joke.
percy made a face.
there was a knock on the door, and nico di angelo came huffing into the parlor, his cheeks bright red from the cold.
cherry smiled at him.
he was smiling, but he looked around anxiously. "hey! where's.. where's my sister?"
cherry's face fell.
dead silence.
everybody had been waiting for the group to appear, to tell nico in person.
that was the last thing percy wanted to do, but he owed it to bianca.
"hey, nico." percy got up from his comfortable chair. "let's take a walk, okay? we need to talk."
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
nico, obviously, did not take the news well.
cherry, annabeth, and grover helped percy search the woods for hours, but there was no sign of the little boy.
"we have to tell chiron," annabeth said, out of breath.
"no," percy said.
everybody stared at him.
"how would you just not tell him?" cherry asked.
"we can't let anyone know. i don't think anyone realizes that nico is a-" percy began.
"a son of hades," annabeth said. "percy, do you have any idea how serious this is? even hades broke the oath! this is horrible!"
"i don't think so." percy said. "i don't think hades broke the oath."
"what?" cherry and annabeth spoke in unison.
"he's their dad," percy said, "but bianca and nico have been out of commission for a long time, since even before world war 2."
"the lotus casino!" grover said, and he told annabeth about the conversations they'd had with bianca
on the quest. "she and nico were stuck there for decades. they were born before the oath was made."
"but how did they get out?" annabeth protested.
"apparently some guy came and got them. like, a lawyer, or something. he drove them to westover hall."
"maybe it's part of this great stirring thing. i don't think
nico understands who he is. but we can't go telling anyone. not even chiron. if the olympians find
out.." percy trailed off.
"it might start them fighting among each other again," annabeth realized. "that's the last thing we need."
grover looked worried. "but you can't hide things from the gods. not forever."
"i don't need forever," percy said. "just two years. until i'm sixteen."
annabeth paled. "but, percy, this means the prophecy might not be about you. it might be about nico. we have to-"
"no," percy cut her off . "i choose the prophecy. it will be about me."
"percy, why do you do this?" cherry asked, with a frown.
"why are you saying that?" annabeth cried. "you want to be responsible for the whole world?"
"i can't let nico be in any more danger," percy said. "i owe that much to his sister. i.. let them both down. i'm not going to let that poor kid suffer anymore."
"the poor kid who hates you and wants to see you dead," grover reminded
"maybe we can find him," percy said. "we can convince him it's okay, hide him someplace safe."
"what happens if luke gets to him before we do?" cherry asked.
"i'll make sure he's got other things to worry about. namely, me." percy nodded.
when the group returned, they lied to chiron. he probably didn't believe the story of nico's disappearance, but he accepted it anyways
chiron believed the first attack would be at camp.
hopefully, not until summer.
« ───── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ───── »
cherry was waiting for her dad to pick her up.
hopefully, he wouldn't strangle percy the second he spotted him.
"percy, try to keep your mind on school. and rest. you
will need rest." chiron advised.
percy looked at annabeth. "what about you?"
her cheeks flushed. "i'm going to try san francisco after all. maybe i can keep an eye on mount tam, make sure the titans don't try anything else."
"goodluck. i hope you have fun. it won't be that bad." cherry hoped.
"you'll send an iris-message if anything goes wrong?" percy asked.
annabeth nodded. "but i think chiron's right. it won't be until the summer. luke will need time to regain his strength."
"all right," percy said. "just take care of yourself. and no crazy stunts in the sopwith camel."
"but if you do, please get it on video." cherry pleased.
annabeth giggled. "deal. and, percy-"
whatever she was going to say was interrupted by grover, who stumbled out of the big house, tripping over tin cans.
his face was haggard and pale like he'd seen a specter.
"he spoke.'" grover cried.
"what's wrong?" cherry asked, with a frown. "are you okay?"
"i was playing music in the parlor." he stammered, "and drinking coffee. lots and lots of coffee! and he spoke in my mind!"
"who?" annabeth demanded.
"pan!" grover wailed. "the lord of the wild himself. i heard him! i have to.. i have to find a suitcase."
"calm down." cherry held his shoulders.
"yeah. what did he say?" percy asked.
grover stared. "just three words. he said, i await you."