LUNACY; percy jackson

05.11

[act five; chapter eleven     -     the last olympian]

"What were you thinking?" Clarisse cradled Silena's head in her lap.

Silena tried to swallow, but her lips were dry and cracked. "Wouldn't...listen. Cabin would...only follow you."

"So you stole my armour," Clarisse said in disbelief. "You waited until Chris and I went out on patrol, you stole my armour and pretended to be me." She glared at her siblings. "And NONE of you noticed?"

The Ares campers developed a sudden interest in their combat boots.

"Don't blame them," Silena said. "They wanted to...to believe I was you."

"You stupid Aphrodite girl," Clarisse sobbed. "You charged a drakon? Why?"

"All my fault," Silena said, a tear streaking the side of her face. "The drakon, Charlie's death...camp endangered—"

And with an unfortunate certainty, Andromeda knew exactly what she meant. She knew what she was talking about—it was all too familiar to her. It was familiar to the feeling she had when she held a letter in her hand, signed with Eliza Taylour's name at the very bottom.

"Stop it!" Clarisse said. "That's not true."

Silena opened her hand. In her palm was a silver bracelet with a scythe charm—the mark of Kronos, identical to the one her own sister had given to Andromeda in proof of her betrayal.

A cold fist closed around Percy's heart. "You were the spy."

Silena tried to nod. "Before—before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so—charming. Handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised...he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt...Charlie. He lied to me."