𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑺 • 𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝐽𝐴𝐶𝐾𝑆𝑂𝑁 ²

TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
—dumb sheep

🗡🗡🗡

  —BEHIND every demigod, stood death. Always looming, always one step behind, but never far.

  Death had its ways of catching up. One misstep, one faltering mistake, and it was upon you. A demigod could only pray that the Fates took mercy on them in times of weakness, for one single string was all that was keeping them alive. And perhaps, that day, the Fates did smile down on them. But it was impossible to tell because every loss, no matter how small, hurt.

  The first time Judith saw a burial shroud, she was thinking of Bryce Tanner. A boy lost too soon, a boy killed in pursuit of a hero's welcome. And it hadn't really felt real.

  The last time Judith stood before a burial shroud, she was inconceivably angry. The sea green fabric had ignited a harsh flame of hatred toward the world for being able to take something from her. That had been real, too real. And even after his miraculously heroic return to the land of the living, that spark hadn't gone out.

  So now as she stood before three new shrouds, paying respects to three lost campers, she did her best to restrain a fiery hell inside. The Ares cabin lost Maya Brown, one of their sisters. Judith hadn't been close with the girl but there was a part of her that broke knowing her own family had passed. She was wrapped in a deep red fabric with no other embellishments and was laid next to Lee Fletcher in his golden shroud and Castor in purple.

  It was sometimes hard for Judith to remember that — although half-god — they were susceptible to the touch of death.

Clarisse said a few words about their sister, eliciting clenched teeth from even the toughest of their family. Michael Yew, Lee Fletcher's successor as head of the Apollo Cabin, said a few words for his brother, tearing up all the while. And then Pollux tried to as well, but he had not only lost his only brother, but his twin, his other half. He choked up and decided to light 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.

Judith stared at the fire with blank eyes, knowing that it couldn't compare to the one in her chest.

The next day, Judith helped with the wounded campers, but her skills were limited. She was designated as a restraining hand whenever a camper thrashed about.

  The girl had been uninvited from Grover's emergency meeting with the Council of Cloven Elders as she had called Silenus an oaf, but she didn't want to sit in on it anyway. Those old goats were annoying. But she got the rundown from Percy that Dionysus had showed up and come through in their favor. The satyrs would disperse around the U.S. to try and restore the Wild and national parks.

At dinner, Judith enjoyed the company of her sister and even her brothers as they talked about their feats in the battle. They made sure to hold a moment of silence before eating to honor Maya, her empty spot at the table donned with flowers they had taken from the Demeter kids' gardens. Clarisse's eyes were glued to another table, though. The Hermes table.

  "He seems cool," Judith commented, gaining her attention.

"Yeah." Clarisse chuckled. "He is cool." Chris was laughing boisterously with his family.

Judith wondered how well her sister would take it if she revealed whatever she and Percy had going on. Not well, she imagined. Speaking of, she noticed the boy getting up from his table, his eyes set across the pavilion. Judith followed his gaze and noticed Nico leaving from his isolated spot.