❛014❜

IVY GASPED FOR air, her lungs finally getting the release they had been craving for. looking around she saw some beautiful hippocampi, one being rainbow who was holding tyson and clarisse, another holding grover and annabeth, the last holding percy and herself. all of her friends seemed to be sleeping, annabeth had the fleece covering her. she knew they didn't die by drowning like she almost did by the rise and fall of their chests.

blinking rapidly out of shook, her gaze fell in a troubled percy. he reached out and placed both of his hands on her cheeks, looking frantically all over her.

"gods, don't do that," he said, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. it was different from the ones they had shared before. she couldn't pinpoint what was different, perhaps it was that they were alone, their friends in another realm with no interruptions. but ivy enjoyed it, her head was placed on his chest with her arms securely around his middle. he was almost cradling her, his hand grabbing her head against him in a protective manner as if... afraid? but of what?

ivy breathed in his salty smell, "do what?" she croaked. her throat ached, no doubt the aftermath of drinking too much water.

percy didn't change his position, "the almost dying thing. fuck, you scared me."

"i didn't die, did i?" she pulled herself slightly away from his chest to look at his face. he was frowning at her like a grumpy child who got his favorite toy taken away. "besides, what even happened? i– the last thing i remember was the ship going down."

"rainbow was nearby so we asked him for help," percy said, retracting his arms from her. she hid her disappointment. "when you guys came up everyone was fine except you. i had to take the water out of your lungs, clarisse said you would probably wake up in a hour or two. so i waited to you woke up."

ivy nodded slowly, running her fingers through the hippocampus mane, "and the cyclops?"

percy shrugged, "we didn't kill him, but he probably thinks he killed us." he yawned at the middle of his sentence. she could see the exhaustion on his features, the darks circles under his face and heavy eyelids making each blink difficult.

"hey," she said softly, fixing herself in the front of the hippocampus. "go to sleep, i think we both need it."

"are you sure?" he asked, even if he seemed ready to jump at the idea.

ivy hummed in response, resting her head in the mane of the hippocampus. she closed her eyes, the hectic day drained her of energy.

"alright," percy mumbled. he put his head against her back, his arms loosely placed on her waist. to hold himself in place or to make sure she didn't go anywhere, ivy didn't question it before she fell asleep.

ivy woke up at the sound of neighing and whinnying. she opened her eyes, in the distance the sun was setting behind a city skyline. she could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red-and-blue neon, a harbour filled with sailboats and cruise ships. if she had to guess, they were somewhere in the florida coast.

"good to see you're not gurgling water," annabeth's voice snapped ivy out of admiration.

the brunette raised an eyebrow, "you don't need to sound so relieved, annie bell."

her best friend rolled her eyes with a small smile, "we need to wake up percy. the hippocampi won't move anymore."

ivy nodded, turning around to look at percy who was sleeping on her back. thankfully, he wasn't drooling. "perce, wake up," she shook his shoulder.

percy slowly opened his eyes. his line of sight was directly drawn to the city behind her, his expression was confused.

"i think we're in miami," ivy glanced at annabeth, who shrugged as if saying maybe.

"the hippocampi are acting funny," the blonde informed him.

sure enough, their fishy friends had now slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. they didn't look happy. one of them sneezed.

"this is as far as they'll take us," percy said. "too many humans. too much pollution. we'll have to swim to shore on our own."

none of them were very psyched about that, but they thanked rainbow and his friends for the ride. tyson cried a little. he unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the birmingham wreck. he hugged rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island and said goodbye.

once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. percy insisted on grabbing ivy's hand to shore, saying that she didn't know how to swim. she pushed his head underwater for that, it was satisfying until she remembered he could breathe underwater.

the waves pushed them forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world. they wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. porters bustled around with carts of luggage. taxi drivers yelled at each other in spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. if anybody noticed them – six teenagers dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster – they didn't let on.

now that they were back among mortals, tyson's single eye had blurred from the mist. grover had put on his cap and sneakers. even the fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery omega on the pocket.

annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the miami herald. "fucking hell, it's june eighteenth! we've been away from camp ten days!"

"that's impossible!" clarisse said.

but ivy knew it wasn't. time travelled differently in monstrous places.

"thalia's tree must be almost dead," grover wailed. "we have to get the fleece back tonight!"

ivy scowled at him, "well if you think like that of course it's gonna be dead. positive vibes, didn't you say trees feel things or whatever?"

clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "how are we supposed to think positive?" her voice trembled. "besides we're hundreds of miles away. no money. no ride. this is just like the oracle said. it's your fault, jackson! if you hadn't interfered –"

"how the fuck is this percy's fault?!" ivy exploded. "you are the stupidest–"

"stop it!" percy said.

clarisse put her head in her hands. annabeth stomped her foot in frustration. ivy crossed her arms over her chest.

the thing was: she'd almost forgotten this quest was supposed to be clarisse's. for a scary moment, ivy saw things from her point of view. how would she feel if a bunch of other heroes had butted in and made her look bad?

"clarisse," percy said cautiously, "what did the oracle tell you exactly?"

the daughter of ares looked up. ivy thought she was going to tell him off, but instead she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:

"you shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

you shall find what you seek and make it your own,

but despair for your life entombed within stone,

and fail without friends, to fly home alone."

"ouch," grover mumbled.

"no," percy said. "no... wait a minute. i've got it."

the black haired boy searched his pockets, he came up empty except for a single golden drachma and said, "does anybody have any cash?"

ivy, grover, and annabeth shook their heads morosely. clarisse pulled a wet confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.

"cash?" tyson asked hesitantly. "like... green paper?"

percy nodded slowly, "yeah."

"like the kind in duffel bags?"

"yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g –"

percy stuttered to a halt as tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the airtight bag full of cash that hermes had included in their supplies.

"tyson!" ivy said with a laugh. "how did you –"

"thought it was a feed bag for rainbow," he said. "found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. sorry."

he handed percy the cash. peeking her head inside, ivy saw fives and tens, at least three hundred dollars.

percy ran to the kerb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers. "clarisse," he yelled. "come on. you're going to the airport. annabeth, give her the fleece."

ivy watched stunned as percy took the fleece letter jacket from annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in clarisse's arms.

clarisse said, "you'd let me –"

"it's your quest," percy told her. "we only have enough money for one flight. besides, i can't travel by air. zeus would blast me into a million pieces. that's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. you have to get the fleece back safely."

ivy could see her mind working – suspicious at first, wondering what trick percy was playing, then finally deciding he meant what he said.

clarisse jumped in the cab. "you can count on me. i won't fail."

"not failing would be good."

the cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust. the Fleece was on its way.

"percy," annabeth said, "that was so –"

"generous?" grover offered.

"insane," annabeth corrected. "you're betting the lives of everybody at camp that clarisse will get the fleece safely back by tonight?"

"it's her quest," percy said with a shrug. "she deserves a chance."

"percy is nice," tyson said.

"yeah," ivy said, her pride showing in her blue eyes against her will. "really nice."

"come on," percy told them, his cheeks tinted the lightest shade of pink. "let's find another way home."

just when he turned a sword was pointed at his throat.

"hey, cuz," said luke. "welcome back to the states."

his bear-man thugs appeared on either side of them. one grabbed annabeth and ivy by their t-shirt collars. the other grabbed grover and tried to do the same to tyson, but the cyclops knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at luke.

"percy," luke said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or i'll have oreius bash your friends' heads together."

oreius grinned and raised annabeth and ivy off the ground, kicking and screaming. the brunette was sure the bear man wouldn't be sorry when bashing her head.

"what do you want, luke?" percy growled.

the son of hermes smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face.

he gestured towards the end of the dock, and ivy noticed what should've been obvious. the biggest boat in port was the princess andromeda.

"why, percy," luke said, "i want to extend my hospitality, of course."

the bear-man twins herded them aboard the princess andromeda. they threw them campers down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. a dozen of Luke's assorted goons – snake people, laistrygonians, demigods in battle armour – had gathered to watch them get some hospitality.

"and so, the fleece," luke mused. "where is it?"

he looked them over, prodding percy's shirt with the tip of his sword, poking grover's jeans.

"hey!" grover yelled. "that's real goat fur under there!"

"sorry, old friend." luke smiled. "just give me the fleece and i'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

"blaa-ha-ha!" grover protested. "some old friend!"

"maybe you didn't hear me." luke's voice was dangerously calm. "where – is – the – fleece?"

"not here," percy said. ivy knew it wasn't wise to tell him anything, but she knew how good it felt to throw something at your enemies face. "we sent it on ahead of us. you messed up."

luke's eyes narrowed. "you're lying. you couldn't have..." his face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "clarisse?"

percy nodded

"you trusted... you gave..."

"yep," he popped the p.

"agrius!"

the bear-man flinched. "y-yes?"

"get below and prepare my steed. bring it to the deck. i need to fly to miami airport, fast!"

"but, boss –"

"do it!" luke screamed. "or i'll feed you to the drakon!"

the bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in ancient greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white.

the rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before.

"you've been toying with us all along," percy said. "you wanted us to bring you the fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

luke scowled. "of course, you idiot! and you've messed everything up!"

"traitor!" percy dug for something in his pocket and threw it at luke. as expected, he dodged it easily. ivy hadn't understood what she was trying to do until a coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-coloured water.

ivy prayed silently, in hopes to help percy's plans. she thought with all her heart: o goddess, accept my offering.

"you tricked all of us!" percy yelled at luke. "even dionysus at camp half-blood!"

behind luke, the fountain began to shimmer, percy uncapped riptide.

luke just sneered. "this is no time for heroics, percy. drop your puny little sword, or i'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

"who poisoned thalia's tree, luke?"

"i did, of course," he snarled. "i already told you that. i used elder python venom, straight from the depths of tartarus."

"chiron had nothing to do with it?"

"ha! you know he would never do that. the old fool wouldn't have the guts."

"you call it guts? betraying your friends? endangering the whole camp?"

luke raised his sword. "you don't understand the half of it. i was going to let you take the fleece... once i was done with it."

that made ivy's confidence in percy's plan waver. why would he let them take the fleece? he must've been lying, she realized.

"you were going to heal kronos," percy said.

"yes! the fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. but you haven't stopped us, percy. you've only slowed us down a little."

"and so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed thalia, you set us up – all to help kronos destroy the gods."

luke gritted his teeth. "you know that! why do you keep asking me?"

"because i want everybody in the audience to hear you," a smirk crept up percy's face.

"what audience?"

then his eyes narrowed. he looked behind him and his goons did the same. they gasped and stumbled back.

above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an iris-message vision of dionysus, tantalus and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. they sat in stunned silence, watching them.

"well," said dionysus drily, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

"mr d, you heard him," percy said. "you all heard luke. the poisoning of the tree wasn't chiron's fault."

mr d sighed. "i suppose not."

"the iris-message could be a trick," tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

"i fear not," mr d said, looking with distaste at tantalus. "it appears i shall have to reinstate chiron as activities director. i suppose i do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. it didn't bolt away from him. he lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. "i got it!" he cackled.

"we are no longer in need of your services, tantalus," mr d announced.

tantalus looked stunned. "what? but –"

"you may return to the underworld. you are dismissed."

"no! but – nooooooooooo!"

as he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. but it was too late. he disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. the campers exploded into cheering.

luke bellowed with rage. he slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.

ivy felt triumphant, until luke turned and gave percy a murderous look.

"kronos was right, percy. you're an unreliable weapon. you need to be replaced."

ivy didn't have time to think about it. one of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. a dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around them, the brass tips of their spears bristling.

luke smiled at them. "you'll never leave this boat alive."

"one on one," percy challenged luke. "what are you afraid of?"

luke curled his lip. the soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.

before he could say anything, agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. it was the first pure-black pegasus ivy ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. the pegasus mare bucked and whinnied

"sir!" agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "your steed is ready!"

luke kept his eyes on percy.

"i told you last summer, percy," he said. "you can't bait me into a fight."

"and you keep avoiding one," percy tilted his head with a pout, mocking him. "scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

luke glanced at his men, and he saw percy had trapped him. if he backed down now, he would look weak. if he fought percy, he'd lose valuable time chasing after clarisse. ivy saw what percy was doing, his chances of winning against luke weren't the best. but he could put up enough of a fight for them to figure out a plan.

"i'll kill you quickly," the son of hermes decided, and raised his weapon. backbiter was a foot longer than percy's own sword. its blade glinted with an evil grey-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. ivy could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. she didn't know how the blade had been made, but she sensed a tragedy. someone had died in the process. luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.

he grinned at percy wickedly.

ivy shared a panicked look with annabeth, the blonde seemed to be working something, but she couldn't tell what.

"luke," annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."

"sorry, annabeth," he said. "you bring your own equipment to this party."

the shield was a problem. fighting two-handed with just a sword gives the fighter more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield offers better defence and versatility. there are more moves, more options, more ways to kill.

luke lunged and almost killed percy on the first try. his sword went under percy's arm, slashing through his shirt and grazing his ribs.

the son of poseidon jumped back, then counter-attacked with riptide, but luke slammed the blade away with his shield.

"my, percy," luke chided. "you're out of practice."

he came at the black haired boy again with a swipe to the head. percy parried, returned with a thrust. he sidestepped easily.

when luke lunged again, percy jumped backwards into the swimming pool. he blasted out of pool a few seconds later, straight at luke's face.

the force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. but before percy could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again.

the son of poseidon attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn't even faze him. he dropped to a crouch and jabbed at his legs.the pain must've been intense because percy collapsed. his jeans were ripped above the knee. percy was hurt. ivy couldn't see how badly from where she was standing. luke hacked downwards and percy rolled behind a deckchair. he tried to stand, but his leg wouldn't take the weight.

"percy!" ivy shouted in worry.

the boy rolled again as luke's sword slashed the deckchair in half, metal pipes and all.

percy clawed towards the swimming pool. ivy knew never make it before passing out. luke knew it, too. he advanced slowly, smiling. the edge of his sword was tinged with red. red with percy's blood.

"one thing i want you to watch before you die, percy." he looked at the them, where bear-man oreius was still holding annabeth and ivy by the necks. "you can eat your dinner now, oreius. bon appétit."

ivy glared at luke. she wasn't going to be anybody's dinner, and she wasn't going to let any of her friends die.

"he-he! He-he!" the bear-man lifted the two girls and bared his teeth.

with a simple flick of her wrist, ivy willed a pink light to oreius's eyes, temporarily blinding him.

"ah!" he screamed, dropping annabeth and ivy to cover his eyes.

before anyone could recovered from what they just saw, all hades broke loose.

whish!

a red-feathered arrow sprouted from oreius's mouth. he crumpled to the deck.

"brother!" agrius wailed. ivy raised her left hand and the pink light appeared to blind him. blinded, he let the pegasus's reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head and fly away free over miami bay.

for a split second, luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins' bodies dissolve into smoke.

then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. a dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.

"ponies!" tyson cried with delight.

ivy's mind had trouble processing everything she saw. chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. there were centaurs with black arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. some wore brightly coloured t-shirts with day-glo letters that said party ponies: south florida chapter. some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. one had his face painted like a comanche warrior and was waving a large orange styrofoam hand making a big number one. another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. a third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.

they exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even luke was stunned. ivy couldn't tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack.

apparently both. as luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom-made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. it smacked luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.

his warriors scattered. ivy couldn't blame them. facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it's a centaur, armed with a bow and whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.

"come get some!" yelled one of the party ponies.

they let loose with their paintball guns. a wave of blue and yellow exploded against luke's warriors, blinding them and splattering them from head to toe. they tried to run, only to slip and fall.

chiron galloped towards ivy and annabeth, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited them on his back.

she saw percy trying to get up, but his wounded leg didn't let him. he was only able to stand with grover's help, who had ran to his side through the chaos.

luke was crawling out of the pool.

"attack, you fools!" he ordered his troops. somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed.

ivy knew any second we would be swamped by luke's reinforcements. already, his warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn.

tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into miami bay. but more warriors were coming up the stairs.

"withdraw, brethren!" chiron said.

"you won't get away with this, horse man!" luke shouted. he raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deckchair.

she would've laugh if everything wasn't happening so fast.

ivy was relieved to see palomino centaur hoist percy and grover onto his back. "dude, get your big friend!"

"tyson!" percy yelled. "come on!"

tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after them. a painted centaur joined them, the cyclops jumped on his centaur's back.

"dude!" the centaur groaned, almost buckling under tyson's weight. "do the words low-carb diet mean anything to you?"

luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx. but by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase and not ten stories above the ground. ivy was sure they were going to die. they plummeted towards the docks, but the centaurs hit the tarmac with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the princess andromeda as they raced into the streets of downtown Miami.

ivy had no idea what the miamians thought as they galloped by.

streets and buildings began to blur as the centaurs picked up speed. it felt as if space were compacting – as if each centaur step took us miles and miles.

"chiron?" the brunette ask from the centaur's back.

chiron sighed, like he knew exactly what she was going to ask, "i did know about your powers, ivy."

"how– why– and you never told me?" she gaped. "did you know my ancestors came from apollo, too? how long have you been keeping this from me?"

"you must understand i wasn't sure you were a fitzgerald, ivy. it could've all been a coincidence on your last name, i didn't want to jump to conclusions. i haven't seen a fitzgerald in a long time."

ivy perked up at that, "so my ancestor that was a son of apollo... he went to camp? you taught him how to use his powers?"

chiron looked at the sky nervously, he seemed to be looking for the right words, "yes, they went to camp. but i saw you're powers are different, dear. your essence as a daughter of aphrodite makes them manifest differently... so really, no one has ever have your powers."

"then, i– how would i know how to control them?" she was panicking inside, she has used her powers twice in spurts of anger. having powers without control was a dangerous thing to deal with. most of all when they were influenced by emotions.

her mentor smiled kindly at her, "i'll help you, dear. it won't be easy, it'll take time and work."

annabeth nodded from behind her, squeezing her arm to show her support.

ivy felt herself calm down, even if her powers were nerve racking. she felt her eyelids grow heavy, suddenly ready to take a nap for no apparent reason.

"sleep for a while, ivy," chiron said. "you're just getting used to your powers. it's normal for them to tire you."

nodding, the daughter of aphrodite was dulled to sleep in the centaur's back. leaving the city behind as they raced through marshy fields of high grass and ponds and stunted trees.

waking up after a power nap, she found ourselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. the trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions and mini-refrigerators and mosquito netting. they were in a centaur camp.

"dude!" said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "did you see that bear guy? he was all like, 'whoa, i'm blind and i have an arrow in my mouth!'"

the centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. "that was awesome! head slam!"

the two centaurs charged at each other full-force and knocked heads, then went staggering off in different directions with crazy grins on their faces.

chiron sighed. he set ivy and annabeth down on a picnic blanket next to grover and percy. "i really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. they don't have the brain cells to spare."

"chiron," percy said, "you saved us."

he gave the boy a dry smile. "well now, i couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name."

"but how did you know where we were?" annabeth asked.

"advanced planning, my dear. i figured you would wash up near miami if you made it out of the sea of monsters alive. almost everything strange washes up near miami."

"gee, thanks," grover mumbled. ivy snorted at the satyr.

"no, no," chiron said. "i didn't mean... oh, never mind. i am glad to see you, my young satyr. the point is, i was able to eavesdrop on percy's iris-message and trace the signal. iris and i have been friends for centuries. i asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. it then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. as you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. distance for us is not the same as distance for humans."

ivy looked over at the campfire, where three party ponies were teaching tyson to operate a paintball gun. she hoped they knew what they were getting into.

"so what now?" percy asked chiron. "we just let luke sail away? he's got kronos aboard that ship. or parts of him, anyway."

chiron knelt, carefully folding his front legs underneath him. he opened the medicine pouch on his belt and started to treat percy's wounds. "i'm afraid, percy, that today has been something of a draw. we didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. luke was not organized enough to pursue us. nobody won."

"but we got the fleece!" ivy said. "clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now, at least that's something."

chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. "you are all true heroes. and as soon as we get percy fixed up, you must return to half-blood hill. the centaurs shall carry you."

"you're coming, too?" percy asked.

"oh yes, percy. i'll be relieved to get home. my brethren here simply do not appreciate dean martin's music. besides, i must have some words with mr d. there's the rest of the summer to plan. so much training to do. ivy will have to work on her powers. and i want to see... i'm curious about the fleece."

ivy didn't know exactly what he meant, but it made me worried about what luke had said: i was going to let you take the fleece... once i was done with it.

had he just been lying? ivy wondered. she'd learned with kronos there was usually a plan within a plan. \the titan lord wasn't called the crooked one for nothing. he had ways of getting people to do what he wanted without them ever realizing his true intentions.

over by the campfire, tyson let loose with his paintball gun. a blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backwards into the lake. the centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck and blue paint, and gave tyson two thumbs up.

"ivy, annabeth," chiron said, "perhaps you two and grover would go supervise tyson and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?"

annabeth met his eyes. some kind of understanding passed between them. ivy raised an eyebrow at her best friend, her look went completely ignored.

"sure, chiron," annabeth said. "come on, goat boy."

"but i don't like paintball," grover said.

"and i don't want to be anywhere near paint," ivy added.

"yes, you do," the blonde hoisted grover and ivy up, forcibly leading them off towards the campfire.

once they reached it, ivy huffed and took her arm away from annabeth's strong grip. grover went to sit a little away from them, where tin cans had been waiting to get on his goat stomach.

"are you going to tell me what that was about?" ivy questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

annabeth tucked her hair behind her ear nervously, "i– i kind of told percy a bit about the prophecy."

"you what?!"

"he basically forced me!" annabeth argued, "and i just told him about the reached seventeen line. it might not even be about him, you know how prophecies are."

ivy sighed, she tugged at the ends of her hair without saying anything. she truly wanted to believe that the prophecy didn't belong to percy, really. the prophecy being his scared ivy more than the prophecy itself, she just couldn't figure out why.

a speaks!

anyways i can be the only that yawns when i read that someone yawned? i yawned when i wrote this smh.
if ur wondering no percy didn't give ivy mouth to mouth. its a slow burn. let it be slow✨

thoughts???