❛004❜

THE NEXT MORNING after breakfast, ivy decided to tell grover and percy about her dream. although reluctantly, since she was still angry at percy, and she wasn't going to stop until he apologized. she walked up to the poseidon table and yanked percy to his feet, signaling grover to follow them.

"princes– ow! since when are you that strong?! goddamn," percy complained until they reached their destination.

ivy glared at him, waiting for grover to catch up with them. "you didn't wake me up for dinner."

percy winced, tugging at the collar of his camp t-shirt while a blush creeped up his neck. "i was going to. but then i got to your cabin– you were sleeping and... you looked adorable so i kinda didn't have the heart to wake you up."

despite her anger, ivy felt butterflies on her stomach at his words. she opened her mouth to argue with him, but grover had already reached them. the brunette glared at percy, and said , "you ought me my chocolate," before turning to grover and explaining her dream.

they sat in the meadow watching the satyrs chase the wood nymphs through the snow. the nymphs had promised to kiss the satyrs if they got caught, but they hardly ever did. usually the nymph would let the satyr get up a full head of steam, then she'd turn into a snow-covered tree and the poor satyr would slam into it head first and get a pile of snow dumped on him.

when ivy told grover and percy her nightmare, the satyr started twirling his finger in his shaggy leg fur. the son of poseidon gritted his teeth furiously, gripping tightly at riptide as if imagining how he was going to run luke through it.

"a cave ceiling collapsed on her?" grover asked.

"yeah. i don't remember any stories about ceilings... what could it mean?"

the satyr shook his head. "i don't know. but after what Zoë dreamed –'

"whoa," percy raised his hands in a pausing motion. "what do you mean? zoë and ivy had the same dream?" there was an emotion ivy had never seen on his face, she couldn't recognize it. it was anger, maybe frustration... but it had something else she couldn't pinpoint. it looked good on him.

"i... i don't know, exactly. about three in the morning she came to the big house and demanded to talk to chiron. she looked really panicked."

"and you know this because...?" ivy questioned grover with a raised eyebrow.

grover blushed. "i was sort of camped outside the artemis cabin."

"why?"

"just to be, you know... near them."

percy snickered, "you're a stalker with hooves."

"i am not! anyway, i followed her to the big house and hid in a bush and watched the whole thing. she got really upset when argus wouldn't let her in. it was kind of a dangerous scene."

ivy tried to imagine that. argus was the head of security for camp – a big blond dude with eyes all over his body. he rarely showed himself unless something serious was going on. she wouldn't want to place bets on a fight between him and zoë nightshade.

"what did she say?" ivy asked.

grover grimaced. "well, she starts talking really old-fashioned when she gets upset, so it was kind of hard to understand. but something about artemis being in trouble and needing the hunters. and then she called argus a boil-brained lout... i think that's a bad thing. and then he called her –"

"whoa, wait. how could artemis be in trouble?" percy said.

"i... well, finally chiron came out in his pijamas and his horse tail in curlers and –"

"he wears curlers in his tail?" the son of poseidon asked with laughter on his voice.

ivy snorted, "i always knew his curls couldn't be natural."

grover covered his mouth.

"sorry," both said simultaneously.

"well, zoë said she needed permission to leave camp immediately. chiron refused. he reminded zoë that the hunters were supposed to stay here until they received orders from artemis. and she said..." grover gulped. "she said, how are we to get orders from artemis if artemis is lost?"

"what do you mean lost?" ivy asked. "did she not take a map to her hunting?"

"no. i think she meant gone. taken. kidnapped."

"kidnapped?" percy looked bewildered. "how would you kidnap an immortal goddess? is that even possible?"

ivy shrugged, "it happened to persephone, didn't it?"

"but she was like, the goddess of flowers."

grover looked offended. "springtime."

"whatever," percy dismissed. "artemis is a lot more powerful than that. who could kidnap her? and why?"

grover shook his head miserably. "i don't know. kronos?"

"he can't be that powerful already. can he?" ivy tugged at the ends of her hair.

the last time they'd seen kronos, he'd been in tiny pieces. well... they hadn't actually seen him. thousands of years ago, after the big titan-god war, the gods had sliced him to bits with his own scythe and scattered his remains in tartarus, which is like the gods' bottomless recycling bin for their enemies. two summers ago, kronos had tricked them to the very edge of the pit and almost pulled them in. then last summer, on board luke's demon cruise ship, they'd seen a golden coffin, where luke claimed he was summoning the titan lord out of the abyss, bit by bit, every time someone new joined their cause. kronos could influence people with dreams and trick them, but ivy didn't see how he could physically overcome artemis if he were still like a pile of evil bark mulch.

"i don't know," grover said. "i think somebody would know if kronos had re-formed. the gods would be more nervous. but, still, it's weird – you having a nightmare the same night as zoë. it's almost like –"

"they're connected," ivy said.

over in the frozen meadow, a satyr skidded on his hooves as he chased after a redheaded tree nymph. she giggled and held out her arms as he ran towards her. pop! she turned into a scotch pine and he kissed the trunk at top speed.

"ah, love," grover said dreamily. beside him, percy was growing at the scene bitterly.

ivy thought about zoë's nightmare, which she'd had only a few hours after mine.

"i've got to talk to zoë," she said, standing up.

percy stood after her, "i'll come with you."

the brunette shook her head, her curtain bangs getting on her eyes a bit by the action. "they don't like boys. she'll probably agree to speak with me if i go alone."

"she'll agree to talk to you no matter what you do," he said with a scoff, but sat back down next to grover. "she wants you in her circus, doesn't she?"

ivy rolled her eyes, not saying anything as she walked away.

that night after ivy found herself seriously bummed out to be taking a step back from the capture the flag game against the hunters. the game was small, thirteen hunters – including bianca di angelo, and about the same number of campers. after some persistent nagging at chiron, the brunette managed to convince him to let her fly a pegasus over the forest while the game took place.

zoë nightshade looked pretty upset. she kept glancing resentfully at chiron, like she couldn't believe he was making her do this. the other hunters didn't look too happy either. they huddled together in the dining pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armour. some of them even looked like they'd been crying. ivy guessed zoë told them about her nightmare.

after her conversation with grover and percy, ivy had shared her dream with zoë. the hunter thought it was connected, too. but they couldn't exactly figure out how since they didn't even know what beast artemis was hunting.

on team that was representing camp, there was beckendorf and two other hephaestus guys, three kids from the ares cabin (though it still seemed strange that clarisse wasn't around), the stoll brothers and nico from hermes cabin, plus tobias, silena, and sydney. it was weird that her sisters wanted to play, tobias was probably the only one other than herself that enjoyed the game. usually they sat on the sidelines, not having any interest in fighting. but when they heard the hunters, they were raring to go.

"i'll show them love is worthless," silena grumbled as she strapped on her armour. "i'll pulverize them!"

that left thalia and percy.

"i'll take the offence," thalia volunteered. "you take defence," she told percy.

"oh," percy hesitated, sharing a glance with ivy. "don't you think, with your shield and all, you'd be better defence?"

thalia already had aegis on her arm, and even their own teammates were giving her a wide berth, trying not to cower before the bronze head of medusa.

"well, i was thinking it would make better offence," thalia said. "besides, you've had more practice at defence."

ivy wasn't sure if the daughter of zeus was teasing percy for the fiasco that was his first game.

"yeah, no problem," percy tried to say casually, but ivy could tell that he was lying.

"cool." thalia turned to help sydney with her armour.

the brunette turned to a soured face percy, she noticed how his armour was crooked. she looked around, everyone was on a far enough distance for her to fix it and not get teased. ivy bit on her bottom lip as she took a step towards percy and reached for the straps of his armour.

"your armour is crooked," she told him.

percy looked down at where her hands skillfully took care of the problem. "good thing i have you to fix it, then."

ivy rolled her eyes, her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest at the close proximity. "don't get yourself killed, seaweed brain," she patted his chest two times before taking a step back from him.

"i wouldn't dare, princess," percy said with a smirk.

laughing at his confidence that she definitely did not find attractive, ivy ran to the stables to get the pegasus that was going to keep her company. the pegasus's name was june, she was of a beautiful honey color with a dark mane.

"hey girl," ivy cooed at her with a smile, running her hand through her mane. june neighed in appreciation, flapping her wings happily. "ready to see the hunters bash some heads?"

the brunette opened the stable door, june strutted outside. ivy took out the two sugar cubes she had been saving from her pocket, holding them out to the pegasus. june ate them happily, bending herself from her tall stature so ivy could swing herself onto her back.

once ivy was set to go, june took off into the air and brought her to the pavilion. they hovered in the air over chiron, who was getting ready to initiate the game.

chiron's hoof thundered on the pavilion floor.

"heroes!" he called. "you know the rules! the river is the boundary line. blue team, camp half-blood, shall take the west woods. hunters of artemis, red team, shall take the east woods. i will serve as referee and battlefield medic. no intentional maiming, please! all magic items are allowed. to your positions!"

thalia shouted, "blue team! follow me!"

they cheered and followed.

ivy bent down and told june, "follow them, that's the team we're cheering for."

june huffed in understanding. looking down at the crowd from above, ivy noticed someone had fallen behind. taking a closer look, she realized it was percy. she was going to call out to him and tease him about being a slowpoke. but he tripped. ivy had to stifle a laugh.

from a distance, ivy saw how the blue team set their flag at the top of zeus's fist. this cluster of boulders in the middle of the west woods that, if you look at it just the right way, looks like a huge fist sticking out of the ground. if you look at it from any other side, it looks like a pile of enormous deer droppings, but chiron wouldn't let anyone call the place the poop pile, especially after it had been named for zeus, who doesn't have much of a sense of humor.

she thought it was a good place to set the flag. the top boulder was six metres tall and really hard to climb, so the flag was clearly visible, like the rules said it had to be, and it didn't matter that the guards weren't allowed to stand within ten meters of it.

nico, beckendorf, and the stoll brothers were set on guard duty.

thalia seemed to be ordering people left and right, percy just watched as she shouted orders. everybody looked confident in the plan the daughter of zeus was setting.

ivy huffed in annoyed when she couldn't hear what they were saying, specially when thalia and percy started arguing. thalia even shocked percy, making the boy jump a feet back. ivy winced, knowing how much it hurt to be shocked by the daughter of the god of lightning.

after that, the team broke into smaller groups. the horn sounded, and the game began.

silena seemed to be directing a group, they disappeared into the woods on the left. thalia's group gave it a few seconds, then darted off towards the right.

percy climbed zeus's fist, getting him closer in height to ivy but not close enough to speak.

far above the ground the daughter of aphrodite had a good view over the forest. ivy remembered how the hunters had stormed out of the woods when they fought the manticore, and ivy had expectant something like that – one huge charge that could overwhelm the blue team. but nothing happened.

she caught a glimpse of silena leading tobias and sydney. they ran through a clearing, followed by five of the hunters, leading them deep into the woods and away from thalia. whatever plan they had seemed to be working. then ivy spotted another clump of hunters heading to the right, bows ready. they must've spotted thalia.

nico tried to climb the boulders to get the view percy was getting. the son of poseidon looked down at beckendorf. ivy wasn't sure if he saw what she saw, given that she was at a higher altitude.

her suspicions were confirm when percy jumped down the boulder, racing towards the boundary line. the stoll brothers and nico cheered after him.

thalia is going to kill him, ivy thought as she followed him from high above.

percy ran at top speed, leaping over the creek into enemy territory. ivy could see the red team's silver flag up ahead, only one guard, who wasn't even looking in his direction. there was fighting all over the woods, no one paid attention to percy.

the guard turned at the last minute. it was bianca di angelo. her eyes widened as percy slammed into her and she went sprawling in the snow.

"sorry!" percy yelled. he ripped down the silver silk flag from the tree and took off.

the son of poseidon was ten meters away before bianca managed to yell for help.

zip! a silvery cord raced across the boy's ankles and fastened to the tree next to him. a trip wire, fired from a bow! percy went down hard, sprawling in the snow.

thalia yelled something at percy from the left. before she reached him, an arrow exploded at her feet and a cloud of yellow smoke billowed around her team. they started coughing and gagging. ivy could smell the gas from above the woods – the horrible smell of sulphur.

the brunette hauled june up so the smell couldn't get any closer to them. it was unsportsmanlike to use fart arrows in a game, she had thought the hunters stood for fair game. she frowned at the thought.

percy got up and started running again. only a few more metres to the river and the blue team had the win. more arrows whizzed past. a hunter came out of nowhere and slashed at percy with her knife, but he parried and kept running.

there was yelling from the blue team's side of the river. beckendorf and nico were running towards percy. ivy thought they were coming to welcome him back, but then she saw they were chasing someone – zoë nightshade, racing towards percy like a cheetah, dodging campers with no trouble. and she had the camper's flag in her hands.

"no!" ivy heard percy yelled as he poured on the speed.

the son of poseidon was a meter from the water when zoë bolted across to her own side, slamming into him for good measure. the Hunters cheered as both sides converged on the creek. chiron appeared out of the woods, looking grim. he had the stoll brothers on his back, and it looked as if both of them had taken some nasty whacks to the head. connor stoll had two arrows sticking out of his helmet like antennae.

"the hunters win!" chiron announced without pleasure. ivy landed with june next to him on the ground. she heard the centaur mutter, "for the fifty-sixth time in a row."

"perseus fucking jackson!" thalia yelled, storming towards the boy. she smelled like rotten eggs, and she was so mad that blue sparks flickered on her armour. everybody cringed and backed up because of aegis. it took all of her willpower not to cower.

"what in the name of the gods were you thinking?" she bellowed.

ivy could see percy's balled up fists, his eyes narrowed dangerously, and his lips pressed up tightly together as his jaw ticked. "i got the flag, thalia!" percy shook it in her face. "i saw a chance and i took it!"

"i was at their base!" thalia yelled. "but the flag was gone. if you hadn't butted in, we would've won."

"you had too many on you!"

"oh, so it's my fault?"

"i didn't say that."

"argh!" thalia pushed percy, and a shock went through his body that blew him backwards three meters into the water. ivy gasped and took a step closer to the scene. campers gasped. some hunters stifled laughs.

"sorry!" thalia said, turning pale. "i didn't mean to–"

percy stood up slowly, his sea-green eyes dark, and his posture tense. a wave erupted from the river, blasting into thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe.

"yeah," he growled. "i didn't mean to either."

thalia was breathing heavily. ivy was too stunned to do anything to stop her friends.

"enough!" chiron ordered.

but thalia held out her spear. "you want some, seaweed brain?"

if possible, percy's expression turned even more murderous at the use of the nickname ivy had for him.

"bring it on, pinecone face!"

the son of poseidon raised riptide, but before he could even defend himself, thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into his chest.

percy sat down hard. there was a burning smell, ivy had a feeling it was his clothes.

"thalia!" chiron said. "that is enough!"

percy got to his feet and willed the entire river to rise. it swirled up, hundreds of gallons of water in a massive icy funnel cloud.

"percy!" chiron pleaded.

he was about to hurl it at thalia, ivy finally snapped out of her stunned state.

"percy, stop it!" she said, she wasn't using any charmspeak.

the boy froze at her words, turning to look towards her but then he stared off at something in the woods behind her. the water splashed back into the riverbed. ivy blinked in surprise that he backed down so easily, she turned to follow his line of sight.

someone... something was approaching. it was shrouded in a murky green mist, but as it got closer, the campers and hunters gasped.

"this is impossible," chiron said. ivy never heard him sound so nervous. "it... she has never left the attic. never."

and yet the withered mummy that held the oracle shuffled forward until she stood in the centre of the group. mist curled around their feet, turning the snow a sickly shade of green.

no one dared to move. then her voice hissed inside her head, too close to a snake for ivy's comfort. apparently everyone could hear it, because several clutched their hands over their ears.

i am the spirit of delphi, the voice said. speaker of the prophecies of phoebus apollo, slayer of the mighty python.

the oracle regarded percy with its cold, dead eyes. then she turned unmistakably towards zoë nightshade. approach, seeker, and ask.

zoë swallowed. "what must i do to help my goddess?"

the oracle's mouth opened, and green mist poured out. ivy saw the vague image of a mountain, and a girl standing at the barren peak. it was artemis, but she was wrapped in chains, fettered to the rocks. she was kneeling, her hands raised as if to fend off an attacker, and it looked like she was in pain. the oracle spoke:

six shall go west to the goddess in chains,

one shall be lost in the land without rain,

the bane of olympus shows the trail,

without the wielder you must sail,

campers and hunters combined prevail,

the titan's curse must two withstand,

and one shall perish by a parent's hand.

then, as they were watching, the mist swirled and retreated like a great green serpent into the mummy's mouth. the oracle sat down on a rock and became as still as she'd been in the attic, as if she might sit by this creek for a hundred years.

a speaks!

the thalia and percy fight in the creek is what made me a percy simp frfr.
next chap is going to have some percy pov btw so thats fun. but should i write like what percy think ab ivy's appearance now like after her glow up? idk u guys help me w making that decision pls

thoughts???