𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

Back To Camp & Chariot Race

Y/n Pov:

We arrived on Long Island just after Clarisse, thanks to the centaurs' travel powers.

When we got to camp, the centaurs were eager 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 entire 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 (Not Malfoy, Aionius). The Big House's rooms were overflowing with wounded. My cousins, the kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid. Everybody looked weary and battered as we crowded around Thalia's tree. 

The moment Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from grey 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'smagic was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and expelling the poison. 

Chiron ordered a twenty-four/seven guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the Fleece. He said he'd place an ad in Olympus Weekly right away. 

In the meantime, Clarisse was carried on her cabin mates' shoulders down to the amphitheatre, where she was honoured with a laurel wreath and a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

Nobody gave Annabeth or me a second look. It was as if we'd never left. In a way, I guess that was the best thank-you anyone could give us because if they admitted we'd snuck out of camp to do the quest, they'd have to expel us. And really, I didn't want any more attention. It felt good to be just one of the campers for once. 

Later that night, as we were roasting s'mores and listening to the Stoll brothers tell us a ghost story about an evil king who was eaten alive by demonic breakfast pastries, Grayson whispered in my ear, "Everything was boring when you left. Nobody shouted at me to stop singing in the shower."

"You don't sing in the shower," I whispered back. "You sob in the shower."

He smiled at me.

"What?" I demanded.

Grayson nudged me. "It's good to have you back, Y/n/n."

I smiled at him. "It's good to be back."

~

The next morning, after the party ponies headed back to Florida, Chiron made a surprise announcement: the chariot races would go ahead as scheduled. We'd all figured they were history now that Tantalus was gone, but completing them did feel like the right thing to do, especially now that Chiron was back and the camp was safe. 

I teamed up with Percy this time since Tyson decided to not race, and Annabeth teamed up with Grayson. Percy would drive, I would defend, and Tyson would act as our pit crew. While Percy worked with the horses, Tyson fixed up Artemis's chariot and added a whole bunch of special modifications. We spent the next two days training like crazy. 

Percy and I agreed that if we won, the prize of no chores for the rest of the month would be split between our two cabins. I was fine with that since I didn't care about the price, I wanted to win.