𝓓𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓮

𝑿𝑳𝑰𝑰𝑰...𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒔

𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⭑
‧₊˚ ⋅ જ⁀➴๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭ ⭑

Compared to Mount Olympus, Manhattan was quiet. Friday before Christmas, but it was early in the morning, and hardly anyone was on Fifth Avenue.

Argus, the many-eyed security chief, picked up Annabeth, Grover, Elara and Percy at the Empire State Building and ferried them back to camp through a light snowstorm.

The Long Island Expressway was almost deserted. As they trudged back up Half-Blood Hill to the pine tree where the Golden Fleece glittered, Elara half expected to see Thalia there, waiting for them.

But she wasn't. She was long gone with Artemis and the rest of the Hunters, off on their next adventure.

Chiron greeted them at the Big House with hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches.

Within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.

Annabeth, Percy and Elara sat with Chiron and some of the other senior campers Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers. Even Clarisse from the Ares cabin was there, back from her secretive scouting mission.

Elara didn't know how she would tell her Lysander died.

She had a new scar on her chin, and her dirty dark hair had been cut short and ragged, like someone had attacked it with a pair of safety scissors.

"I got news." she mumbled uneasily. "Bad news."

"I'll fill you in later." Chiron said with forced cheerfulness. "The important thing is you have prevailed. And you saved Annabeth!"

Annabeth smiled at Elara and Percy gratefully, which made Percy look away. Elara didn't smile back three lives had been lost.

"Luke is alive," Percy said, "Annabeth was right."

Annabeth sat up. "How do you know?"

Perch told her what his dad had said about the Princess Andrameda.

"Well." Annabeth shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "If the final battle does come when Percy is sixteen, at least we have two more years to figure something out."

Elara knew what Annabeth really meant: get Luke to change his ways. She couldn't help but side-eye her friend a bit. Luke had done so much and hurt so many people, including killing her brother. He was past redemption.

Even if Luke did stop, the punishment the Gods would give him would probably be so severe it would become one of the myths.

Chiron's expression was gloomy. Sitting by the fire in his wheelchair, he looked really old.

"Two years may seem like a long time," he said. "But it is the blink of an eye. I still hope you are not the child of the prophecy, Percy. But if you are, then the second Titan war is almost upon us. Kronos's first strike will be here."