ᥴꪮ𝘴ꪑꪮ𝘴 ➪ 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚕𝚢𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 [𝟷]

7

𝚒 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎
𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒
𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚙
𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛.

"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 armor," Clarisse said in disbelief. "You waited until Chris and I went out on patrol; you stole my armor 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—"

"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. A cold fist closed around Polaris's heart. She felt like she was back in the labyrinth, with a weight pressing her down.

"You were the spy," she said.

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."

Polaris met Annabeth's eyes. Her face was chalky. She looked like somebody had just yanked the world out from under her feet. Percy looked devastated.

Behind them, the battle raged.

Clarisse scowled at her cabinmates. "Go, help the centaurs. Protect the doors. GO!"

They scrambled off to join the fight.

Silena took a heavy, painful breath. "Forgive me."

"You're not dying," Clarisse insisted.

"Charlie . . ." Silena's eyes were a million miles away. "See Charlie . . ."

She didn't speak again.

Clarisse held her and wept. Chris put a hand on her shoulder.

Finally Annabeth closed Silena's eyes.

"We have to fight." Annabeth's voice was brittle. "She gave her life to help us. We have to honor her."

"I told myself-" Polaris paused. Her cheeks were wet. "That I'd take the spy and feed them to Lecter. But I never—I always they'd betrayed us of their own free will. Not this. Never this."