ᥴꪮ𝘴ꪑꪮ𝘴 ➪ 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚕𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 [𝟷]

♎︎

𝚒 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑,
𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎
𝚒𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎,
𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚔

𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚞𝚜

Cʜɪʀᴏɴ ʜᴀᴅ ɪɴsɪsᴛᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴛᴀʟᴋ about it in the morning, which was kind of like, Hey, your life's in mortal danger. Sleep tight!

Polaris didn't mind too much. She'd hurried off the the Hermes cabin, refusing to speak to anyone. She knew her voice would shake uncontrollably if she did. She wasn't ready to talk about the maze yet.

That night, as she laid in her sleeping bag on the floor of the overcrowded Hermes cabin, her mind was racing too fast to fall asleep.

Like she always used to, she climbed out the window and up the rickety drainpipe. She laid out underneath the stars, million miles away, and reveled in their light.

They'd always been there for her, and to feel their presence be cut off from her like that . . .

She shuddered.

"Mom?" She asked nervously. "Are you there?"

Her voice sounded weak, even to her own ears.

The stars moved, not unusual. She saw, in the sky, images of Percy and Annabeth and herself,  traveling and running and hiding. The stars froze, stuck on the faces of her two best friends. They were staring at each other, staring at her.

"I'll go with them," Polaris promised. "I'll be more prepared this time."

And it was true. She couldn't let Annabeth and Percy, the two people she cared for the most, get lost in the maze without her. She'd abandon her powers for this, for them, as long as she could remain by their side.

The nine stars on her brow felt heavier.

Pᴏʟᴀʀɪs ᴡᴀs ꜰᴇᴇʟɪɴɢ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴅᴇᴛᴇʀᴍɪᴍᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴇᴠᴇʀ the next morning when Chiron called a war council. They met in the sword arena, which she thought was pretty strange— trying to discuss the fate of the camp while Mrs. O'Leary chewed on a life- size squeaky pink rubber yak.

Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. Polaris, Clarisse, and Annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing. Polaris remained quiet, despite her newfound confidence.

Tyson and Grover sat as far away from each other as possible. Also present around the table: Juniper the tree nymph, Silena Beauregard, Travis and Connor Stoll, Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. That's how they knew it was serious. Argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. The whole time Annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard his whole body turned bloodshot.