Ivy Pittaluga had always made a solemn vow to keep her distance from Percy Jackson, determined to keep her world separate from the camp hero.
However, she realizes that fate has a mischievous plan in store for her. Suddenly thrown together as unlik...
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The entire trek through the maze was a blur. Meeting and updating Hephaestus about who were in his forges felt like a blink. I felt numb. My mind was racing with what happened in the forges. The kiss and his promise kept replaying in my mind. At one point, I was in denial of his death.
He couldn't be gone.
There were points were Annabeth would check on me and I would give her one worded responses. All the way until we arrived back to camp, she would cast me worried glances. I barely got any sleep, always offering to take first watch.
When we arrived back at camp through Zeus's Fist, we surprised some campers. The tents were still pitched around the boulders. Some of the demigods stopped and stared. A few started to murmur about it only being Annabeth and I who returned. Beckondorf and Lee Fletcher were the first to rush up to us.
"Annabeth! Ivy!" Beckondorf greeted, peering over our shoulders to see where everyone else was. I saw two demigods rush towards the direction of the cabins and Big House. "Where's..."
He trailed off when he saw tears spring in my eyes. Lee frowned and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I stifled a sob. I'm not going to cry. I've cried enough throughout the maze. I'm not going to cry. He exchanged a concerned expression with the others.
"Let's go talk with Chiron and the war council." Annabeth said thickly.
As we made our way deeper into camp, I saw a familiar tall blonde. I heard him say my name cheerfully. He yelled over his shoulder to call his twin. My lower lip trembled as I ran towards him. He frowned.
"Ivy?"
"Cas." I choked out, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face against his chest.
"Hey, hey." Castor wrapped his arms around me, looking down at me in concern as he saw tears falling from my eyes. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"He's gone." I fisted his shirt in my hand as I sobbed. My heart was hurting. It felt like my heart strings were being tugged at repeatedly and Apollo was playing it like a harp. "He's gone."
"Ives!" Pollux jogged over with a beaming smile. It quickly fell when he saw me sobbing. The twins exchanged a glance. Pollux placed a hand on my back and rubbed soothing circles. "Why don't we take you back to the cabin to rest, yeah?"
"I can...I can tell them what we learned." Annabeth choked out. She placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Go rest, you need it. I'll check on you once it's done."
She mumbled something to Pollux who gave a curt nod. The twins led us back to our cabin. I sat on the purple velvet couch and curled up against the couch arm. Pollux went to the soda fountain machine and got a large cup of root beer. My brothers sat next to me. None of us talked, but just their presence was enough comfort. It didn't take me long to fall asleep.
