The Dissonant Notes Of Fate

Epilogue

PERCY watched as Campers trickled in from New York by car, pegasus, and chariot. The wounded were cared for. The dead were given proper funeral rites at the campfire.

Michael Yew was wrapped in a gold shroud. Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf were burnt together, on one pyre, no doubt so they would reach the Underworld together. The Ares, Hephaestus and newly returned Aphrodite cabins all claimed them as heroes, and lit the shroud together.

Even Ethan Nakamura was given a shroud—black silk with a logo of swords crossed under a set of scales. As his shroud went up in flames, Percy turned to glance at Thalia. Her lips were parted slightly, eyes filled with emotion. He knew she hadn't liked Ethan. But at the end, his sacrifice was all that mattered. He'd paid a lot more than an eye, but the minor gods would finally get the respect they deserved.

Dinner at the pavilion was low-key. Percy sat next to Thalia and Luke at the Zeus table. For once, no one said anything about the tables. No one cared.

The only highlight was Juniper the tree nymph, who had screamed, "Grover!" and gave her boyfriend a flying tackle hug, making everybody cheer. They went down to the beach to take a moonlit walk, and even though Percy didn't know them that well, he was happy for Grover.

Mrs. O'Leary romped around happily, eating everybody's table scraps. Nico sat at the main table with Chiron and Mr. D, talking in low tones and nobody seemed to think this was out of place. Everybody was patting Nico on the back, complimenting him on his fighting. Even the Ares kids seemed to think he was 'cool'. Percy hadn't had much interaction with the son of Hades, but seeing him be accepted as a part of the demigods—it was nice.

Slowly, the dinner crowd trickled away. Some went to the campfire for a sing-along. Others went to bed. It was peaceful.

When the others had left, Luke had told them everything that had happened and how he'd ended up in California. He told them about Reyna, and he told them about the Romans, and he spoke of Jason. Thalia had told him about her younger brother, before he'd gone on his Titan-hunt. And he had watched the colour drain from her face as Jason continued his story. He'd watched her clench her jaw, and he'd taken her hand when Luke got to the part where Jason had killed Koios.

Percy had to admit. It hurt, that after all those millennia alone, when he'd gotten out, most of his brothers had been killed in war. But they were immortals. They would reform soon, and he would see them again. They were family, after all.

That evening, in the Zeus cabin, he'd held Thalia close as she'd sobbed, crying from relief, that finally, she had confirmation that her brother was alive. And he'd promised to help her find the Legion, wherever it was, so she and Jason would be reunited again.

He slept there now, sometimes beside Thalia, sometimes on the bunk above her. It was nice, but it was also a sort of "fuck you" to Zeus. A final rub in the face.

Camp went late that summer. It lasted two more weeks, right up to the start of a new school year, and they were the best two weeks of his life. There was no solitude. There was no travelling, no gods hunting him down, no Titans trying to force him to be their blade once more.

There was peace.

There was Thalia.

And Percy found he quite preferred that to the ten years of battle he'd known immediately he was conceived, and then the thousands of years of being alone.

Grover had taken over the satyr seekers and was sending them out across the world to find unclaimed half-bloods. So far, the gods had kept their promise. All of them. They had left the Titans alone. Occasionally, he met up with some of them for some mission or just to hang out and catch up. Gaea knew they needed it. They had agreed to all gather together at Mnemosyne's library at the end of every month—even those who had worked with Kronos—just to make sure they were all fine and that none of them were planning world domination. And also to see how they were getting on. Iapetus and Klymene had opened a casino in Las Vegas. Mnemosyne was a history professor at NYU. Themis had had another child—a demi-titan. Thetys had opened a spa somewhere in Cali. The list went on and on and on. His family wasn't whole. It wouldn't be for a while. But that was fine. They would recover.