𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑫 • 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝐽𝐴𝐶𝐾𝑆𝑂𝑁 [2]

XIX

There were too many good-byes.

That night was the first time Elaine actually saw camp burial shrouds used on bodies, and it was not something she wanted to see again.

After all the commotion faded away, Elaine had no choice but to face her brother's death.

No one could bring themselves to decorate a shroud for him by nightfall. Call them selfish, but the entire Apollo cabin felt the effects of losing their head councilor.

Even their father seemed despaired, setting the sun an hour earlier than usual. This would no doubt be confusing to mortals, but she could appreciate the sentiment.

Among the dead, was one of Dionysus's sons had gone down fighting an enemy half-blood. He was wrapped in a deep purple shroud embroidered with grapevines. His name was Castor. Elaine was ashamed that she'd seen him around camp and never even bothered to learn his name. He'd been seventeen years old.

When it came time to say final goodbyes, Elaine found speaking very difficult. With every word she forced out, an invisible force tightened around her throat. "Lee was one of the first people to make me feel included here. He listened, and he cared. He was more than a brother, he was a friend."

She turned to Michael, but he put his hand up, declining his turn to speak. He hadn't spoken a word since witnessing their brother's death in the woods, and Elaine wasn't expecting him to be vocal any time soon.

Castor's twin brother, Pollux, tried to say a few words, but he choked up and just 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, sending smoke and sparks up to the stars.

***

They spent the next day treating the wounded, which was almost everybody. Elaine had never seen Will so exhausted. When she offered to take his shift so he could get some rest, he feverently refused, saying he needed the distraction. Elaine understood, though she was concerned with how long Will had gone without sleeping.

At noon, the Council of Cloven Elders held an emergency meeting in their sacred grove.

The three senior satyrs were there, along with Chiron, who was in wheelchair form. His broken horse leg was still mending, so he would be confined to the chair for a few months, until the leg was strong enough to take his weight.

The grove was filled with satyrs and dryads and naiads up from the water—hundreds of them, anxious to hear what would happen. Juniper, Annabeth, Percy, and Elaine stood by Grover's side.

Elaine allowed herself to be dragged from her bunk to the meeting, though she couldn't recall who'd collected her or the trip to the grove.

Silenus wanted to exile Grover immediately, but Chiron persuaded him to at least hear evidence first, so the friends told everyone what had happened in the crystal cavern, and what Pan had said. Then several eyewitnesses from the battle described the weird sound Grover had made, which drove the Titan's army back underground.