𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

chapter thirty-five. ☄︎. *. ⋆

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WE ARRIVED IN LONG ISLAND just behind Clarisse, since the centaurs could clear a mile in the blink of an eye. The centaur whose back Percy and I rode on spent the entire ride gushing about how excited he was to meet the god of parties and wine—the vivacious and boisterous Dionysus. Percy and I shared one look and burst into a fit of laughter.

Turns out, our centaur wasn't the only one anxious to meet Dionysus. When we got to camp, the entire herd rushed up to the Big House to meet the guy, but they were disappointed. The wine god was in no mood to celebrate as the whole camp gathered at the top of Half-Blood Hill.

All of my siblings looked weary and worn out when I joined them. From the rundown Will gave me, our cabin had been working day and night with no rests trying to help heal all the injuries that had happened. I was overcome with guilt and immediately wanted to apologize to them all, but they told me it was alright. Will said they were just happy I came back alive. I decided I could agree with that.

The moment we had all been waiting for came. Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over a low-hanging branch on the tree. As soon as she dropped it, the branch lifted itself up and carried the Fleece to a higher position, where it waved in the wind. A cool breeze rustled through the branches and rippled through the grass, all the way to the strawberry fields.

Gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

Everybody cheered. I felt somebody shuffle into place next to me, and turned to find Connor Stoll gazing up at the tree with a wondrous smile on his lips.

"Pretty cool, huh?" he said, sparing me a sideways glance.

"Pretty cool," I agreed, smiling. I nudged his arm. "I should thank you."

He turned to me, puzzled. "Why?"

"For getting blown up by that trick arrow a few months ago."

Connor flashed me a crooked smile. "Blowing things up is what I do best."

I laughed, and Connor and I followed Ares's cabin down the hill. I was in such a good mood, I even cheered a little bit for Clarisse. I could've sworn she gave me a grin at one point.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

THE NEXT MORNING, after the party ponies headed back to Florida, Chiron made a surprise announcement: we'd be reinstating a chariot race for the end of the summer. I had never been involved in a chariot race, but I was apart of the spectating crowd for the last one—it was my first year at camp, and that was the summer Chiron outlawed chariot races due to the many injuries and maimed campers.

     This year, Annabeth teamed up with her assistant counselor, Malcom. Will and Michael veered off, their heads already lowered together, deep in conversation about the technicalities of their chariot. I could've teamed up with Lee, but.. well, Lee's not the sharpest Crayon in the box. I figured he would've somehow turned our javelin around and stabbed me in the gut mid-race.

That left me with one option.

"Oh, come on," I said, my voice teetering dangerously close to 'whiney'. "We would be unstoppable. You can't deny that."

"I'm with Tyson," Percy argued. We were in the stables, which is a place I wouldn't choose to be in of my own accord, but I was trying to convince Percy to be my partner so I didn't have to be by myself. Percy gave a white horse one last brushing. "Can't you squeeze yourself in with Will?"

"Him and Michael already have a game plan," I said. "It's too complex. I wouldn't fit into it."

"Sorry, Theo." Percy shrugged. "Already got Tyson."

Suddenly, I remembered a few days ago, when the chariot races had been announced. I narrowed my eyes. "Tyson doesn't want to ride a chariot," I reminded Percy. "He doesn't like how easily they fall apart."

Percy paused. I knew I'd gotten him. He sighed, shaking his head, though I'm pretty sure I caught a faint smile on his lips. "Fine."

     I grinned. Before I rushed out of the stables to start prepping our chariot, I surprised myself once again by throwing myself onto Percy in a hug. He stumbled back, and I felt him move his arms awkwardly like he didn't know what to do with them, but he eventually figured it out and his hands slid around my waist.

     He smelled like the ocean.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

AS IT TURNED OUT, chariot making isn't as easy as the name suggests. Percy and I gave up on handcrafting our own from scratch, and instead enlisted the help of Tyson. He tinkered the entire thing within a day's work.

As Percy and I rolled onto the track, I couldn't help but admire the attention to detail Tyson had put into this thing. The wheels were realigned with magical suspension so we glided along with barely a bump. The rigging for the horses was so perfectly balanced that the chariot turned with even the slightest tug of the reins. The bronze reinforcements had intricate designs on them. If I squinted, I could see little scenes from our quest that Tyson had carved by hand into the bronze—us fighting the Hydra, Tyson riding Rainbow toward the Princess Andromeda, the CSS Birmingham blasting its canons at Charybdis.

Tyson had also made us two javelins, each with three buttons on the shaft. The first button primed the javelin to explode on impact, releasing razor wire that would tangle and shred an opponent's wheels. The second button produced a blunt (but still very painful) bronze spearhead designed to knock a driver out of his carriage. The third button brought up a grappling hook that could be used to lock onto an enemy's chariot or push it away.

I figured we were in pretty good shape for the race, but Tyson still warned us to be careful. The other chariot teams had plenty of tricks up their togas.

"Go," Tyson said, beaming at us. "You will win!"

"Yeah, okay, big guy," Percy said, climbing onto the chariot with me. "We'll win this one for you."

I nodded, smiling at Tyson, when Chiron blew the starting signal. I scrambled for the reins, but luckily, the horses already knew what to do. We shot down the track so fast I would've fallen out if my arms hadn't been wrapped in the leather reins. Percy held on tight to the rail. The wheels glided beautifully. We took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot.

     "Oh, we've got this!" Percy shouted, but out of the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of Annabeth's Athena chariot coming up behind us. I handed Percy the reins.

     "Don't get a big head just yet," I told him, turning around and crouching to rummage through my quiver safely. When I found the arrow I was looking for, I nocked it in my bow, stood, and aimed it for Annabeth's chariot.

     She knew what I was doing before I could even draw the arrow back. Her and Malcom's chariot veered to the left—just as I'd hoped. Annabeth had her eyes on me instead of the Ares chariot, who'd snuck up behind her for a sneak attack. The two chariots collided and sent each other skidding. I grinned.

     "Keep your eyes on the road, Annabeth!" I called, and we left the Ares and Athena chariots in the dust. Percy lifted a hand for a high-five. I acquiesced, then shot my loaded trick arrow at the Hephaestus chariot, since it was riding a little too close for comfort.

I caught a glimpse of Beckendorf's expression of shocked betrayal before their chariot was thrown backward in a huge explosion. Beckendorf and his partner rolled to the side, smoking. I saluted. Did I feel a little bad using the arrows Beckendorf had crafted for me against him? Maybe. Did I feel better when it put me and Percy in first place? Yes.

We were doing brilliant—up until the Apollo chariot caught up with us. I couldn't bomb my own brothers. Will and Michael looked like they didn't feel the same about me, though; Michael was arming himself with a nasty-looking trick arrow with green goo dripping from the arrowhead.

"Theo!" Percy called from the front of the chariot. When I turned to look at him, he thrusted the reins into my hands and picked up one of the javelins Tyson had made us. I watched over my shoulder as Percy threw it at the Apollo chariot. It landed in their right wheel and caught in the cogs of it. The entire ride stuttered and slowly began to fall apart—first, the right wheel shot toward the audience. Then Will lost control of the reins and the horses went crazy. Michael tumbled out the back of the chariot, and Will followed, landing right on top of him.

Grinning, Percy stumbled back to the front of the chariot with me, his hand atop mine when we made the final turn. I was sure we were going to capsize with the amount of momentum we'd gained and shot through the turn with, but I kept control of the reins, and the horses sped across the finish line. The crowd roared.

Once the chariot stopped, our friends mobbed us. They started chanting our names, but I yelled over the noise: "Hang on! Listen! It wasn't just us!" The crowd didn't want to be quiet, but I raised my voice so I could be heard: "We couldn't have done any of it without Tyson!"

"My brother!" Percy shouted, louder and prouder than I'd ever heard him. He was beaming. "Tyson, my baby brother!"

Tyson blushed. The crowd cheered. Percy threw an arm around my shoulder and messed up my hair, and the crowd's cheering got a lot louder after that. I saw Will make a kissy face at Michael, who threw his head back and laughed.

I ignored them. Nothing—not even a few gross jokes about me and Percy—could ruin my good mood.