Chapter Text
The rest of the day when the Battle of Manhattan had ended was as strange as its beginning. Campers trickled in from New York by car, pegasus, and chariot. The wounded were cared for. The dead were given proper funeral rites at the campfire.
Silena's shroud was hot pink but embroidered with an electric spear. The Ares and Aphrodite cabins both claimed her as a hero and lit the shroud together. No one mentioned the word spy. That secret burned to ashes as the designer perfume smoke drifted into the sky.
Even Ethan Nakamura was given a shroud—black silk with a logo of swords crossed under a set of scales. As his shroud went up in flames, I hoped Ethan knew he had made a difference in the end. He'd paid a lot more than an eye, but the minor gods would finally get the respect they deserved.
Dinner at the pavilion was low-key. The only highlight was Juniper the tree nymph, who screamed, "Grover!" and gave her boyfriend a flying tackle hug, making everybody cheer. They went down to the beach to take a moonlit walk, and I was happy for them, though the scene reminded me of Silena and Beckendorf, which made me sad.
Mrs. O'Leary romped around happily, eating everybody's table scraps. Nico sat at the main table with Chiron and Mr. D, and nobody seemed to think this was out of place. Everybody was patting Nico on the back, complimenting him on his fighting. Even the Ares kids seemed to think he was pretty cool. Hey, show up with an army of undead warriors to save the day, and suddenly you're everybody's best friend. To be honest, I was rather proud of him.
Slowly, the dinner crowd trickled away. Some went to the campfire for a sing-along. Others went to bed. I sat at the Poseidon table by myself and watched the moonlight on Long Island Sound. I could see Grover and Juniper at the beach, holding hands and talking. It was peaceful. Too peaceful, even.
"Hey." Annabeth slid next to me on the bench. "Happy birthday." She was holding a huge misshapen cupcake with blue icing.
I stared at her. "What?”
"It's August 18th," she said. "Your birthday, right?”
I was stunned. It hadn't even occurred to me, but she was right. I had turned sixteen this morning— the same morning I'd made the choice to give Luke the knife. The prophecy had come true right on schedule, and I hadn't even thought about the fact that it was my birthday.
"Make a wish," she said.
"Did you bake this yourself?" I asked.
"Tyson helped."
"That explains why it looks like a chocolate brick," I said. "With extra blue cement."
Annabeth laughed.
I thought for a second, then blew out the candle.
We cut it in half and shared, eating with our fingers. Annabeth sat next to me, and we watched the ocean. There were some crickets and monsters making noises in the woods, but otherwise all we could hear were the waves crashing.
"You saved the world," she said.
“Yeah.”
"You sound disappointed," she noticed, raising her eyebrows
“I’m not.” I brushed some of the cake crumbs off of my hands. “Not really. Things ended better than I had expected.”
“Then what’s wrong?"
I finished my cupcake slowly while she sat back and waited. Finally, I said, “I feel like I could have done more.”
She opened her mouth to protest, as I had expected her to, but instead of saying anything she froze.
“There are so many things that I could have done differently Annabeth.” I continued. I could almost see what it would have been like if Luke had survived, or if other campers had. Silena, Ethan, Berkedorf…the list felt endless.
“I could have too.” She whispered. She looked down at her hands on the table. I fiddled with the cupcake wrapper until she raised her head again and stared me straight in the eyes. “But we can’t live the rest of our lives thinking about this Percy. We have to move on."
“But Luke-“
“Luke made his own choices, Percy.” She cut me off irritably. I tried not to take it personally but I was already upset as it was.
“You would have done anything to save him if you could have.” I retaliated, lowering my own voice. I knew she would have, she had loved him, but that didn't matter anymore.
“But I can’t Percy! I can’t! Listen to me. You have to let go or you will go insane!” She snapped back, keeping her voice low too. “That’s how the world works. You can’t save everyone.”
“I know that!”
“No, you don’t. I know you.” She stood up, finally raising her voice. “But someday you will have to.”
I watched her walk away until she disappeared from my view. It wasn’t until I noticed the remaining campers whispering that I decided to leave as well. I didn’t know what they had heard, and I didn’t want to either.
Camp went late that summer. It lasted two weeks more than usual, right up to the start of a new school year, and I almost wish it hadn’t.
Of course, Annabeth would kill me if I said anything like that, but thankfully I knew better than most that the only way to win an argument against her was to never have it in the first place. Meanwhile, Grover had taken over the satyr seekers and was sending them out across the world to find unclaimed half-bloods. So far, the gods had kept their promise. New demigods were popping up all over the place—not just in America, but in a lot of other countries as well.
"We can hardly keep up," Grover admitted one afternoon as we were taking a break at the canoe lake. "We're going to need a bigger travel budget, and I could use a hundred more satyrs.”
"Yeah, but the satyrs you have are working super hard," I said. "I think they're scared of you.”
Grover blushed. "That's silly. I'm not scary.”
"You're a lord of the wild, dude. The chosen one of Pan. A member of the Council of—“
"Stop it!" Grover protested. "You're as bad as Juniper. I think she wants me to run for president next.”
He chewed on a tin can as we stared across the pond at the line of new cabins under construction. The U-shape would soon be a complete rectangle, and the demigods had really taken to the new task with gusto.
Nico had some undead builders working on the Hades cabin. Even though he was still the only kid in it, it was going to look pretty cool: solid obsidian walls with a skull over the door and torches that burned with green fire twenty-four hours a day.
Next to that were the cabins of Iris, Nemesis, Hecate, and several others I didn't recognize. They kept adding new ones to the blueprints every day. It was going so well, Annabeth and Chiron were talking about adding an entirely new wing of cabins just so they could have enough room.
The Hermes cabin was a lot less crowded now because most of the unclaimed kids had received signs from their godly parents. It happened almost every night, and every night more demigods straggled over the property line with the satyr guides, usually with some nasty monsters pursuing them, but almost all of them made it through.
"It's going to be a lot different next summer," I said. "Chiron's expecting we'll have twice as many campers.”
"Yeah," Grover agreed, "But it'll be the same old place.”
He sighed contentedly.
I watched as Tyson led a group of Cyclops builders. They were hoisting huge stones in place for the Hecate cabin, and I knew it was a delicate job. Each stone was engraved with magical writing, and if they dropped one, it would either explode or turn everyone within half a mile into a tree. I figured nobody but Grover would like that.
"I'll be traveling a lot," Grover warned, "between protecting nature and finding half-bloods. I may not see you as much.”
"Won't change anything," I said. "You're still my best friend.”
"Yeah," he agreed. “You’re still my best friends too.”
In the late afternoon, I was taking one last walk along the beach when a familiar voice said, "Good day for fishing.”
My dad, Poseidon, was standing knee-deep in the surf, wearing his typical Bermuda shorts, beat-up cap, and a real subtle pink-and-green Tommy Bahama shirt. He had a deep-sea fishing rod in his hands, and when he cast it the line went way out—like halfway across Long Island Sound.
"Hey, Dad," I said. "What brings you here?”
He winked. "Never really got to talk in private on Olympus. I wanted to thank you.”
"Thank me? You came to the rescue.”
"Yes, and I got my palace destroyed in the process, but you know—palaces can be rebuilt. I've gotten so many thank-you cards from the other gods. Even Ares wrote one, though I think Hera forced him to. It's rather gratifying. So, thank you. I suppose even the gods can learn new tricks.”
I didn’t reply. I hadn’t really done much compared to him.
The Sound began to boil. At the end of my dad's line, a huge green sea serpent erupted from the water. It thrashed and fought, but Poseidon just sighed. Holding his fishing pole with one hand, he whipped out his knife and cut the line. The monster sank below the surface.
"Not eating size," he complained. "I have to release the little ones or the game wardens will be all over me.”
"Little ones?! That was gigantic!”
He grinned at me like I had said something cute. "Tell that to the game wardens. You're doing well with those new cabins, by the way. I suppose this means I can claim all those other sons and daughters of mine and send you some siblings next summer.”
"Ha-ha.”
Poseidon reeled in his empty line.
I shifted my feet. "Um, you were kidding, right?”
Poseidon gave me one of his inside-joke winks, and I still didn't know whether he was serious or not. "I'll see you soon, Percy. And remember, it’s all about perspective, yeah?”
With that he dissolved in the sea breeze, leaving a fishing pole lying in the sand, leaving me utterly confused about what he had just said. I picked it up as I contemplated what he meant by that.
That evening was the last night of camp—the bead ceremony. The Hephaestus cabin had designed the bead this year. It showed the Empire State Building, and etched in tiny Greek letters, spiraling around the image, were the names of all the heroes who had died defending Olympus. There were too many names, but I was proud to wear the bead, its weight was a constant reminder. I put it on my camp necklace—four beads now. I felt like an old-timer. I thought about the first campfire I'd ever attended, back when I was twelve, and how I'd felt so at home. That at least hadn't changed.
"Never forget this summer!" Chiron told us. He had healed remarkably well, but he still trotted in front of the fire with a slight limp. "We have discovered bravery and friendship and courage this summer. We have upheld the honor of the camp.”
He smiled at me, and everybody cheered. As I looked at the fire, I saw a little girl in a brown dress tending the flames. She smiled at me with red glowing eyes. No one else seemed to notice her, but I realized maybe she preferred it that way. I shifted in my seat and waited impatiently for Chiron to end his speech.
"And now," Chiron said at last, "early to bed! Remember, you must vacate your cabins by noon tomorrow unless you've made arrangements to stay the year with us. The cleaning harpies will eat any stragglers, and I'd hate to end the summer on a sour note!”
I hopped up and scurried through the crown of campers making their way to their cabins. A few of the campers stopped me, to pat on the back or a 'good night’, but I left as soon as I could.
Hestia's smile shifted to a frown when she saw me approaching her. That alone made me want to turn around and walk away but I really needed to talk to her.
“Hey.” I stood near her awkwardly, unsure of how to go about this.
“Hello Perseus, shouldn’t you be going to sleep?” She replied solemnly.
I shrugged, shifting on my feet. I should have planned this better before coming to see her.
But she seemed to understand, gesturing to a spot on the floor next to her. I slowly took a seat.
We waited quietly as the rest of the campers filtered out of the area. A few of them sent me a few curious looks, notably Annabeth and Nico, but I sent them away with a little shake of my head.
It wasn’t long until it was just Hestia and me there. I fumbled for words.
“Just let it out.” She said calmly as she continued to poke at the fire.
“You already know?” I guessed. She nodded.
“I heard your argument with Annabeth, as did your father. He is particularly worried.” Oh. That made some sense.
“He shouldn’t be.”
“I doubt he could not be worried. Demigods tend to do things that get themselves killed when they start to obsess over life and death. Things like trying to steal souls from Hades’ domain.” Somehow I could tell that she was trying to warn me even if she sounded like she was only stating some facts.
I didn’t know what upset me the most: the accusation that I was obsessing over this or that I would be that stupid. I decided that the latter option sounded the worse.
“I wouldn't do that. I know I can’t change the way things went.”
“But?” I pretended to not notice the fact that she didn't seem to believe me much.
“But I don’t understand how everyone can be so calm about this.” I sat up straight. “People died. I can name dozens of campers that I saw dying and I know I’m not the only one. How can everyone just ignore that? How can they just move on like none of it ever happened??”
The glow of her even softened as she gazed into my eyes sadly. “We didn’t just move on Perseus. We had their funerals. We honored their deaths.”
“But that's not enough! You can’t just say ‘well it's too bad you died’ and be done with it. That's not how it works." Admittedly I snapped at her.
“That's not how it works for you.” She said, pity still lacing her voice. “But everyone deals with it differently."
I stared at her, growing even more irritated.
There were many things that I wanted to tell her then. I wanted to rant to her about how we had held all of their funerals within a few hours, a blink of an eye compared to all the years that they could have had ahead of them if they hadn't died and I wanted to snap at her that giving them elaborate shrouds and calling them heroes didn't measure up to the sacrifice that they had made for us. I wanted to ask if they even cared. Would Berkedorf care about what his funeral looked like when he realized that he was dead? Would Silena? Would they even know what their funerals were like, to begin with?
There were many things that I wanted to say to her then but the longer I took to decide on what to say them more I felt like a 5 years old trying to throw a tantrum.
So instead of saying anything, I chose to scowl at her.
She signed and put down the stick that she used to tend to the flames. Seconds later, a very familiar jar appeared in her hands and she held it out to me expectingly.
I accepted it instantly, feeling a sharp spike of fearful curiosity as I placed it on my lap. I held on to it as firmly as I could. I felt the small changes in temperature underneath my fingers as I send her a questioning look. I could not understand why she had given it to me.
“What do you feel?” She asked.
“I feel like I want to open it.” I always do, even though the thought of it also terrifies me.
“No.” she shook her head in amusement. “I meant what can you feel.”
I shifted anxiously, glancing briefly at the jar. “It feels warm.”
She nodded so I continued. “And I can feel the Spirit-“
“-Elpis."
“-Elpis- flapping around.”
“Flapping?” She asked, more amused than I thought she should be.
“Fluttering.” I corrected, though I supposed that it didn’t really matter either way. “What is this about?"
She smiled at me warmly as she continued. “You already know the answer to your other question Perseus."
“What?” I cocked my head at her, trying to digest what she said. I had been so focused on Elpis' soundless fluttering that it actually took me a few seconds to remember which question she was talking about. “Hope?"
She nodded.
“Hope? That’s it? That’s why?” I tapped the jar softly, feeling Elpis moving around and warming it up even more. Was hope really enough?
She nodded again before explaining. “Moving on is easier when you have something else to look forward to. All of your friends have something to look forward to, and I know that you do as well. You just have to let yourself move on like they have."
“It's not that simple.” Hope isn't enough, I decided, even if it sounded nice.
“It is.”
"It's not. Hope doesn't change the fact that I could have done more. It doesn’t change that if I had done things differently-“
“Percy-“
“It's not that simple.” I insisted, hugging the jar to my chest. If Hestia had been any other god or goddess I probably would have been zapped into a plant or something right there and then for cutting her off but she let it slide. "Just because I can't change the past doesn't mean that I don't wish I could because people died when they didn't have to, when I could have saved them, and no amount of hope can erase that!"
“Maybe someday you will change your mind.” She looked like she was at a loss of what else to say.
“Maybe.” I conceded. I decided that she deserved at least that much for being so patient with me.
“Then I wish you a good night.” She held out her hands towards me in expectation.
“Good night Lady Hestia.” I stood up and carefully handed the jar to her, silently wishing that I could hold on to it for just a little longer. For a second I felt that the fluttering changing to something stronger, something steadier like the beating of a heart, but I ignored it.
I was already turning around when I noticed her staggering at the weight of it. By the time I understood what was going on the jar had tipped out of her hand and crashed onto the floor. From amidst the shattered pieces, a small glowing yellow wisp began to float aimlessly. I instantly sprang forward, catching it within the palms of my hands.
I barely had a second to see the look of horror on Hestia's face before everything exploded around me.