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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Later that night, we had a camp burial. I had never seen the burial shrouds used on bodies before, and now one of them was my brother. Guilt gnawed at my stomach while my heart was tearing at the seams from grief. Everyone was gathered in the amphitheater. I stood beside Pollux who had an arm around my shoulder.
Castor was wrapped in a deep purple shroud embroidered with grapevines. He was only seventeen. Pollux had tried to say a few words, but choked up and took the torch. He lit the funeral pyre in the middle of the amphitheater, and within seconds the row of shrouds was engulfed in fire. Smoke and sparks went up to the stars above.
I cried myself to sleep that night. Pollux and I shared a bed, seeking each other's comfort. The cabin felt weird now that Castor was dead. It felt empty. We usually joked with each other before the three of us went to sleep. Now, two of us were crying and one was dead.
I didn't get much sleep that night.
The next day was to help treat the wounded, which was almost everybody. The satyr and dryads worked to repair the damage to the woods. Pollux and I stayed together majority of the time. Percy and the others would come by to check up on me. I would tell them I'm fine, but it was clear they could hear it in my voice that I was not.
A little before noon, Dad came back to camp. Pollux and I were handing out drinks to everyone, making sure they were hydrated. Everyone else was too busy helping others and fixing the camp. We needed to be the ones to make sure they were okay. Dad was dressed in a black suit, a deep purple tie and violet dress shirt, his curly dark hair carefully combed. He leaned against the doorframe.
"Dad." Pollux breathed out, his voice cracking a little.
Dad's eyes were glassy. He was trying to hold back his tears in front of the campers. The others in the infirmary watched us, not used to their camp director looking like this.
"Let's go take a walk." Dad softly said.
Pollux and I walked out Dad out of the infirmary. We walked in silence as we went to the amphitheater where no one was around. Dad stopped at the bottom step, staring at the stage where Castor's burial was.
"I tried to help save him Dad, I swear." My lower lip trembled. Pollux squeezed his eyes shut, a tear sliding down his cheek. My voice felt raw from crying earlier today. "I didn't make it in time, and I'm sorry-"
My voice cracked and I choked on a sob. Pollux wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled my near him. His chest shook. Tears started to stream down my face. Dad was still staring at the stage.
"He's dead because I didn't-"
"Don't say that." Dad cut me off, his voice thick with emotion. A tear slipped down his cheek. "I know you tried your best. I know."
My chest heaved as I cried. The pain in my heart came back. The tearing and the pulling from the inside out. The ache of longing for my brother to come back. Pollux was sobbing beside me.
