pocket full of posies
❛ vi. lost in the darkness ❜

━━━━━ IT WAS THE first winter since Posie arrived at Camp Half-Blood where she hadn't spent it there. Since she was ten, she had spent every waking day at Camp. After running away from D.C., it was the only place she could call home—until her aunt and boyfriend, Shiloh and Isaque took her in. Took her in, sort of. Half the time she was living with Shiloh and Isaque, Posie was spending her time in the Underworld, trying to train with Hades. And then by October—Posie was going to Maine, heading to Westover Hall, so she never spent that much time with the two.

At least Camp Half-Blood looked the same. Despite the control of the climate and weather, Mr. D always let it snow the few weeks before Christmas. Posie figured that was one of the only times the god would feel generous. The snow wasn't coming down in droves, instead falling lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights except they were balls of real fire (courtesy of some of Hecate's children ). More lights glowed in the woods, and a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body. Posie hated that part, she always wondered if the spirit of Delphi was trying to get into the spirit, roasting marshmallows with the rats and cockroaches that were up there with her.

The only part of Camp Posie hated was that her siblings were never here during the school year. They all got to go back to the mortal world while she was stuck there, waiting for them to come back. Only now, she had been in the mortal world too. Lee would be coming back in a couple of days, so he could spend some time with Posie before he had to head back to his mother in Rhode Island.

"Whoa!" Nico gasped as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yes," Posie answered, shouldering the bags the hunters had brought back from Westover Hall. She smiled at him. "It's for training."

"Training?" repeated Nico. "Why is there lava pouring down it? What kind of training is that?"

"Lava's for a little extra challenge," Percy cut in, his expression tense. Posie shot him a look for his callousness. "C'mon. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoë, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoë said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered, almost tripping over his shoes.

Zoë gave the satyr a stern look. "We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble." Grover smiled, not noticing the Hunters didn't want him around. He hurried to walk in front of them, facing them as his back faced some beached canoes. "It's easy to get lost here if you don't" —he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking— "like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

Posie figured the Hunters knew there was no way of getting rid of Grover anytime soon. Zoë rolled her eyes and huffed, but made a small gesture for him to continue. Grover's grin widened as the Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows, and they all followed the satyr toward the cluster of cabins. As Bianca was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in Nico's ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico's face slipped into a scowl and he looked away.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the leaving Hunters. He winked at Percy, and said; "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

Percy's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Posie's father climbed through the bus's open doors. He rested one shoulder against a clear door as he grinned at them. "Later, Thalia." He waved lazily. "And, Posie? Keep your head up. The sun's in the sky, not at the ground."

Posie stared at her father for a moment. Then, she sighed and pulled her bag strap higher. "Okay, Dad. I'll ... I'll try."

Apollo's teasing smile melted into a small, almost sad one. He pursed his lips and nodded. He closed the doors and sat in the seat. The engine revved, and those who remained—Posie, Percy, Thalia, and Nico—all were smart enough to look aside or close their eyes. The sun chariot took off in a blast of heat, and when Posie glanced up, she spotted a red car soaring over the Camp's woods. The chariot ( car? ) started to glow brighter and brighter until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight. The lake steamed as Posie started to march away, while Percy, Thalia, and Nico trailed after her.

Posie wasn't the only one who looked upset; Nico still looked grumpy at whatever Bianca had whispered to him. "Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," Percy answered. "He's ... well, you'll see."

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

Camp Half-Blood, as expected, was pretty empty. During the summer, it was buzzing with life. Sun shined down until late in the afternoon. There were so many pranks, so much laughter, and a lot of time outside. Now, it was winter—cold, silently, and no one wanted to be outside. And it was mostly empty. One the year-rounders would be here—the campers who didn't have homes to go to, or campers who didn't want to go back to any home that was outside Camp Half-Blood's borders. But there weren't too many of those kinds of campers, either—Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus Cabin was stoking the forge outside the camp armory. The Stoll brothers ( but not twins ), Travis and Connor, sons of Hermes, were picking the lock on the camp store. A few kids from the Ares Cabin were having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest. That was about it. Even Clarisse—who typically stayed year-round—wasn't anywhere Posie could see.

Percy stepped in line with Posie. "Cabin Seven looks empty," he pointed out the opposite.

"'Course it does." She glanced at him. "No one's there. My siblings go home for the year."

"I thought ..." He glanced at her. He twisted the strap of his backpack. "I thought someone stayed year-round—I mean, besides you."

Posie gave him a hard look. "Why ask, Percy?" Before she could let him answer, she continued; "I mean, it doesn't matter. Yes, Cabin Seven's been empty since the summer session ended."

The Big House was decorated similarly to the rest of Camp — twinkling strings of red and yellow fireballs that danced with the cold wind. They warmed the front porch, but managed to not set anything on fire ( Hecate's children were amazing at that kind of stuff ). Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled of hot chocolate and cinnamon and firewood. Mr. D, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor. Both Chiron and Mr. D were staring intently at their cards, and both were silent as they mulled over their next moves. The only thing that made noise was the crackling fire, or the occasional sigh they gave.

Chiron's brown beard was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a little longer, too. He wasn't posing as a teacher this year, so Posie figured he could afford to be more casual. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoof-print design on it ( Posie was pretty sure she had suggested him to get it last winter when she saw him looking through some catalogs; she did love sweaters ), and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

The centaur smiled when he saw them. "Percy! Posie! Thalia! Ah, and this must be—"

"Nico di Angelo," Posie answered, laying a hand on the boy's shoulder. She pulled him forward, and Nico was taking in everything around him—Chiron and Mr. D, the Big House, and the twinkling fireballs. "He and his sister, Bianca, are half-bloods."

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

Posie's brows furrowed. "Chiron ..."

The centaur's smile melted. "Posie, what's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

She glanced at Percy and Thalia, both of their expressions were tight, and she realized she would have to explain everything herself. But before she could try and stumble through an answer ( while trying not to cry ), a bored voice drawled; "Oh, dear. Not another one lost."

It was Mr. D. Posie had been trying to ignore his presence. The god—his real name was Dionysus, but everyone here just called him Mr. D—was wearing his typical wine-red dress shirt and dress pants. But just vaguely, from one leg cross over another, Posie caught a glimpse of his socks—black socks that were decorated with cartoonish panthers and leopards, his sacred animals. On top of his dress shirt was a clean fleece jacket. On top of his curly black hair was a golden laurel that was crooked; he must've won the last hand of cards. Posie had been trying to pretend he wasn't there, it was better that way most times. Mr. D didn't have a lot of sympathy or patience for campers here, and he never even pretended to like them. Basically, the textbook definition of a god—a blunt, evasive, and unemotional one.

"What do you mean?" Thalia snapped the question. Her eyebrows were furrowed together. "Who else is lost?"

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like a madman. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!" He gave Posie a sheepish grin as she leaned closer to examine the slap mark.

"The Hunters?" she asked.

Grover nodded.

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

Posie winced. She had seen the orientation film herself, and she hated every minute of it. She hated it more after being claimed by Apollo and learning the god in that film was her father. It was a film that "explained" things—the fact Chiron was a centaur, that the Greek gods were very much real and still running things, and that monsters wanted to maul them and rip their limbs apart. It was meant to help new campers, but Posie was left shivering after watching it.

"But ..." Grover glanced at Nico almost fearfully. "Oh. Right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. He looked between Chiron and Grover. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG-13," Grover answered, patting the boy's shoulder.

"Cool!" And Nico happily followed Grover out of the room.

There was a moment of silence as Chiron waited for Nico to be far enough away to speak again. When he was certain, the centaur took a deep breath and turned to the remaining demigods waiting for him—Posie, Percy, and Thalia. "Now," he started, "perhaps you three should sit down and tell us the whole story."

And so they did, but it was pretty hard with three kids with ADHD all chiming in with the odd things they remembered hours after the matter. Posie pulled the sleeve of her sweater down to cover her burned hand as Thalia and Percy started to explain more of the fight—the two started to talk over one another, trying to share their experience first.

"—Dr. Thorn managed to take me, Percy, and the di Angelos outside," Posie interrupted them. "He took us into the woods and then into an open space. He said this General would explain things, talking to the di Angelos mainly. He talked about this stirring of monsters, too. They—Thorn and the General—must be working with Kronos and ..." she glanced at Thalia, "and Luke."

"Yeah," Percy agreed, leaning forward. "Then Annabeth swooped in—with her cap of invisibility, you know? So Thorn's ... well, thorns missed us. Annabeth managed to figure out that Thorn is a manticore—"

"As I totally about ran him through with my spear," added Thalia, shooting Percy a dirty look. "Convient you forgot to add that part, Percy."

"Anyway," Posie started hastily as Percy returned Thalia's glare, "Thalia and Percy both managed to keep Thorn busy until the Hunters showed up. Um ... but Thorn got the upper hand against Percy and Thalia—"

"—He surprised me, that's all—" Percy grumbled.

Posie shot him a look. "Thorn got the upper hand," she insisted. "He was going to kill them, but Annabeth—" She debated for a moment on how to say it without making the other two upset. "Annabeth jumped on Thorn's back, trying to help."

"The Hunters tried to shoot her," Thalia hissed, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat.

"The Hunters were aiming for Thorn," corrected Posie. "They were trying to take him down, but Annabeth got in their line of fire—And she was doing what she thought was best!" she insisted to Percy and Thalia, knowing one or both would try and correct her. "But Thorn jumped off the cliff with Annabeth still on his back."

The silence was palpable. Posie tucked her cold fingers into the sleeves of her sweater, looking at Chiron. The centaur was brushing down his beard, tapping his set of cards against the wooden table. "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately," he told Mr. D, looking at the god.

Both Thalia and Percy sat up. In unison, they offered; "I'll go."

Posie slunk in her seat. "How many can go?" she asked, knowing even Grover and Annabeth's siblings would offer to go searching as well. She wanted to go, too, of course, but she remembered Hades and the Underworld. She couldn't be much help with the search if she was constantly disappearing to train in the Underworld.

But she also couldn't just not go on the search knowing Annabeth was out there. Annabeth had to be out there.

Mr. D sniffed. "I will never allow both Thelma and Perry to both go out for the search. That would be asking for trouble."

Posie pursed her lips. "Could I go?"

Mr. D's purple eyes seemed to bore into her. "... Perhaps, Poppy."

"It's Posie ... sir."

"Why would you let Posie go, but not me?" Percy blurted, his face warped with frustration. "Posie and I work together well, we can—"

But the God of Wine held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad—and godly–was going to happen if Percy didn't stop talking. "From what you have told me," Mr. D said, dropping his hand, "we have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell—"

"Annabeth," the son of Poseidon snapped. Posie couldn't blame him—Annabeth had lived at Camp for five years since she was seven, and Mr. D still pretended to not know her name. But he pretended to not know any campers' names, besides his own sons.

"Yes, yes," he said. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."

Before Percy could launch himself out of his seat, Posie placed a hand on his knee. She shot him a warning look, too. It wasn't fair, she agreed, but Mr. D was here as punishment, meaning he was already in a foul mood before any "annoying campers" tried his patience. It wasn't far that Zeus had sent Mr. D to Camp to dry out for a hundred years as a result of bad behavior. But it wasn't just a punishment for the God of Wine—it was a punishment for every camper that came into contact with Dionysus.

"Annabeth may be alive," Chiron said, but she could tell he was having trouble sounding upbeat. He had practically raised Annabeth all those years she was a year-round camper, before she had given living with her dad and stepmom a second try. "She's very bright. If ..." His eyes looked glassy in the light of the fire as he wheeled around, "if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

"That's right." Thalia nodded adamantly. "Luke would want her alive."

Posie didn't have the heart to admit she didn't think Luke was anything like what once Thalia knew him as.

"In which case," stated Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

Percy stood up from the table, his chair screeching against the floor. Posie winced as her hand fell into her lap.

"Percy." Chiron's tone was full of warning, but the son of Poseidon paid him no mind

"You're glad to lose another camper," Percy snarled. "You'd like it if we all disappeared! Wouldn't you, Mr. D?"

Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"

"Yeah," growled Percy. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization just as much as it is ours. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

For a second, there was no sound except the crackle of the fire. The light reflected in Mr. D's eyes, giving him a sinister look. Posie tugged on Percy's sleeve, trying to force him back into his seat. The god opened his mouth to say something—probably a curse that would blast Percy to smithereens—when Nico burst into the room, quickly followed by Grover.

Nico had become an accidental saving grace. He bounded into the room faster than Posie thought was possible. He grinned at them all, such a large smile it looked almost painful for her. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, a strand of hair standing up straight as he whipped around in search of something. "So cool!" the black-haired boy awed, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're ... you're a centaur!"

Chiron managed a nervous smile. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for—ah—first encounters."

"And, whoa!" Nico gasped and looked at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"

Mr. D turned his eyes away from Percy ( thank the gods, Posie thought ) and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"

"Dionysus, right? This is amazing! I've got your figurine."

"My figurine," the god repeated dryly.

"In my game, Mythomagic," Nico explained eagerly. "And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got, like, five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

"Ah." Mr. D seemed truly perplexed, which was the thing that saved Percy's life. "Well, that's ... gratifying."

"Percy," Chiron said quickly, "you and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing Capture the Flag tomorrow evening."

"Capture the Flag?" Percy frowned "But we don't have enough—"

"It is a tradition," Chiron insisted. "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."

Chiron jerked his head towards Mr. D, who was still frowning as Nico talked about how many defense points all the gods had in his card game. "Run along now," Chiron told them. "And, Posie, I need to talk with you."

Thalia glanced at the daughter of Apollo questionably, but Posie had to shrug. "Well, okay." Thalia looked at Mr. D and Nico. Then she hooked her arm around Percy's. "Come on, Percy."

Posie watched as Thalia hauled Percy out of the Big House and down towards the cluster of cabins. Chiron led Posie outside, back to the front porch of the Big House. He wheeled over to the outdoor pinochle table, which was covered in a layer of snow. "Your hand," he said. "It's burned."

Posie wiped away any snow on one of the chairs before sitting down. "Um ... yeah, about that ..." She tried to explain it as quickly as she could, but every word didn't seem to explain it how she wanted it to be. "I guess the point is ... I can die by my powers. There's some phrase about that, right? Something about dying by the sword."

"Live by the sword, die by the sword," Chiron rattled off the phrase. "It's a proverb. Biblical. Matthew 26:52. But I wouldn't ..." His brows pinched together. "Posie, that proverb refers to sinners, people who are consumed by violence. So much violence they die from it. Posie, you are not a violent person."

"Maybe not," she agreed, dragging her finger through the thin layer of snow on the table. "But ... the curse I wield—plagues—can kill me. I think it fits. You don't?"

Chiron didn't answer. He interlocked his fingers, setting them in his lap. "How did you learn?"

"Artemis," Posie answered. "I showed her the burn mark. It hadn't healed after I had some ambrosia and I thought it was weird. She told me ..." She pursed her lips and took a deep breath. Tears burned in her eyes. She wiped them away quickly, saying; "She told me my body is weaker because it works hard to control the curse. And I got the burn mark because I touched some of Percy's poisoned clothes."

Chiron's expression was hard to read. "Posie ..."

"She talked like you knew. Like Apollo knew, too," the girl blurted. "Did you?"

The centaur looked pained. He sighed and looked out the snowy grounds of Camp Half-Blood. "When Apollo told me you had inherited his gift of foresight, he warned me of ... things. Things he had since in his own dreams, I suppose."

"What things?"

"A blonde woman who cried green tears," Chiron answered. "And a young girl potentially having powers Apollo hid from—"

"—Like plagues," replied Posie. "Did he mention them being dangerous to that young girl?"

"... Yes." Chiron pursed his lips. "In passing. Leaving me to assume that is what your father meant."

"And you weren't ever going to tell me?" she asked.

"Like I told you last summer, Posie," Chiron started, "there are things I cannot tell you, or anyone else at this Camp." He looked at some of the dryads passing through the trees, giggling. "I always wanted to warn you, of course, like how I think Percy and Thalia need to read the Great Prophecy. But the gods have rules, and you know what happens to people who break those rules."

Posie's chest stung, not a sting that meant her hands would glow green or another burn was forming, but a sting. She wanted to cry. "Artemis also said you could heal the burn, with a hymn to my dad or something."

"Yes," Chiron agreed eagerly. "It won't take any time at all. And, by the way, Rose from Cabin Eleven was looking for you. Once I heal that burn, you will need to find her."

✿

Posie kept rubbing the formerly burned palm. She found Rose at the end of the canoe lake's deck. The daughter of Hermes must've stopped there after Thalia crashed the sun chariot into the water. Rose was taking blades of grass or small pebbles and skimming them across the thin ice. A small pebble skated across the ice, until it dropped into the lake at the edge of broken ice ( the broken ice was from Thalia's horrible driving, of course ).

She stopped behind Rose. "Hey," she greeted awkwardly. "Chiron said you ... were looking for me. Earlier, I mean. Before Thalia ..." She gestured to the large patch of broken ice. "You know."

Rose glanced back. Her unruly brown hair was pulled away from her face, brown curls twining together into a ponytail. Her blue eyes usually had a spark of mischief behind them like she was planning a prank ( and she always was ), but now ... she looked defeated. She brushed at her eyes, blinking quickly. "Skipping rocks isn't as fun with the ice, you know," she pointed out.

Posie raised her eyebrows at Rose's teary eyes, but she didn't mention it. Rose tended to put spiders and snakes in your bed if you got on her bad side. "I ... can imagine. What's your record? Skipping rocks, I mean. Mine's ... six, I think."

"Thirteen times," Rose admitted. Another pebble skated across the ice. "Do you know how we became friends?"

Posie slowly sat down beside Rose. Her feet dangled low enough she could scrape the toes of her shoes against the ice. "Uh, yeah. My first archery lesson in Cabin Eleven."

Rose laughed lightly. "You were so bad."

"And you made fun of me," Posie grumbled. "Yeah, I remember that vividly."

"And Wyatt came to your rescue." Rose poked the daughter of Apollo in the side with her elbow. "That's when your crush on him started, right?"

Posie rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "It's not a crush, Rose."

Camp Half-Blood was a small place, so everyone knew everyone, but Posie and Rose had never become friends until Wyatt Fitzgerald. Even when Posie stayed in Cabin Eleven her first month at Camp, before being claimed by Apollo and moved to Cabin Seven, she and Rose didn't talk. There were a lot of people in Cabin Eleven, and Posie was too busy keeping her head down so as to not be noticed by the wrong crowds.

Posie remembered her month-long stay in Cabin Eleven—Luke, the head counselor at the time, was trying to help her figure out who her godly parent was. They were having a hard time then, too; she wasn't showing any obvious traits to one of the Olympians. She wasn't too wise, so not a daughter of Athena. She wasn't skilled with forgery, so there was no chance her father was Hephaestus. And she definitely wasn't one for violence, so no one batted an eye with Ares never claimed her.

A week into her stay, she had her first archery lesson with Cabin Eleven. It didn't go well, and not too many things changed because her archer lessons still go horribly with Cabin Seven. But Posie remembered how embarrassing it was—every arrow she fired sailed right past the targets, or they got lodged in the ground right before the targets. Looking back on it, Posie knew that Rose was just trying to be friendly, but Posie felt the embarrassment crawl into her throat after Rose had made a joke about her lack of archery skills. And then Wyatt jumped in to tell Rose to knock it off, and then Rose and Wyatt started bickering like siblings. Then, after that, Rose and Wyatt started sitting with Posie during every meal, forcing her to engage with them in a conversation.

"He joined Kronos," blurted Rose.

Posie stopped gazing at the icy lake to look at her friend. "What?"

"I told you." Rose looked up, her blue eyes almost ... dancing with anger. "Wyatt ran away. He joined Kronos. He's gone."

"Wha-what?" Posie backed away, pulling her legs back onto the dock. "How do you know? That can't be. I mean, I didn't think ..."

"Wyatt's gone," insisted the daughter of Hermes. Her voice was practically shaking with anger. "And so is Ethan Nakamura. Their beds were empty, and their stuff was gone. You know what happens to all the campers who ran away—they've been joining my bastard brother."

Posie watched nervously as Rose stood up. "Rose, wait—have you told Chiron?"

Rose's chin wobbled. "No. Last week, I had to tell them about three other campers who ran away. I think it's only making him feel worse."

Posie stood up. She grabbed Rose by the arm to squeeze it. "You need to tell him. He needs to know."

"You're taking this well." Rose looked at the daughter of Apollo. "How?"

She scoffed. "I've gotten pretty used to bad news," admitted Posie. She pulled Rose in for a hug, telling by the tight expression from Rose that she wanted to cry. "If they want to fight for Kronos, then it's better that Wyatt and Ethan are there and not here."

She pulled away, and Rose gave her a tight smile. "I know you're right, but ... I don't know. Wyatt was like a brother. He used to listen to me whenever I would rant to him about Luke—after it was revealed Luke was a traitor, 'course." She frowned and looked off. "I should've known. Wyatt started distancing himself after you went away to live with your aunt. I guess he thought that was the best time to run away, when you weren't here."

Posie frowned. "I left back in August. Rose, when exactly did Wyatt and Ethan run away?"

"Last night, after light's out," answered Rose. "Connor and Travis did the Cabin Eleven's light's out, and they were there, but when we all woke up this morning—gone." She sighed, stepping away. "Now that I think about it, I heard them arguing. Something about waiting too long."

A heavy feeling settled on Posie's chest. The more Rose revealed, the worse she felt about Wyatt and Ethan's betrayals. They were lost to the darkness Kronos was spreading. "You—you need to tell Chiron, Rose. I'm serious. They could've been arguing about something Kronos was planning. Chiron needs to know."

Rose licked her lips. "I know, and you're right." She looked at the Big House. "I just thought Wyatt was better than that. But he was close to Chris, though, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised."

Posie squeezed her arm. "There is a chance Wyatt and Ethan didn't join, you know."

Rose gave her a look. "You don't actually believe that, do you, Posie?"

✿  FEB. 17TH, 2024  /  OKAYY WE'RE BACK i have about a quarter of the next chapter written because it was supposed to go into this one but it was becoming WAY too long so i split it up (but it's fine bc i came up with a cool title for that chapter lol)

but idk when the next one will come out bc i'm about to go out and eat with my sister so lol

i don't know my inspiration for this fic completely tanked and i can't tell you why - lowkey i think it was cause i was kind of dreading this chapter these next few chapters will not be a good time for perposie *sobs* like i mean the next four chapters maybe? posie's not letting go of that "you suck at archery" line until much later LMAO

i kind of hinted at the fact apollo knows posie's going to the underworld to train with hades ... he DOES know(?), like it would be hard for him NOT to know cause he's the god of foresight and all - he literally says in titan's curse that he sees everything (obvi exaggerating, but still). and i'm having fun making him a little more human even though i know that goes against everything that is trials of apollo with him becoming mortal to reconnect with what it means to be human, but i'm having fun and that's what matters!

i want to add this - i got a "hate comment" on ao3 regarding posie and her fatal flaw (fear). basically, what they said was that they feel she has regressed and that her fear is holding her back (and that she's a dead-weight because of it, which i don't particularly agree with that part but ,, whatever *eye twitches*). this is true! and it's very intentional on my part - posie's character arc is never perfectly linear, and she's definitely not gonna conquer her fear/fatal flaw in the first two acts, that would just be boring if she did. the thing i want to stress is: everything posie thought she once knew has been ripped out from underneath her, and the unknown of basically everything has increased her fear.

eg. where she stands with apollo - like other gods, he isn't around, so posie thought she understood where she stood with him. she was just another half-blood in his cabin, but every time she has seen him, he's acted like he's father of the year. on top of that, every time she's met him, her world turned upside down again AND AGAIN. or with all her visions/gift of foresight - posie was used to having dreams/visions of her past with beau in d.c., but her visions started to show her the future and then they started showing her liviana (which will come into play more later on). not even her gift of foresight is not what it was.

and of course, hades. everything she's learned about hades - a "bad guy"/"evil god", but offering to help her? that changes everything she thought she knew about him/everything she was taught about him from chb/chiron. not even to mention, hades is the very opposite of everything her father is. yet, a god who has nothing to do with her is offering more help than apollo (yes, i am pushing the daddy hades agenda here! hades is posie's surrogate father in time, and onesimus is the surrogate older brother. i call it as i see it!) mentioning onesimus, the reason posie isn't telling people things is because the one person she told EVERYTHING to (by choice or not) has basically abandoned her. yeah, she's not gonna tell anyone anything anymore if she can help it. like, the only reason posie told chiron about what artemis told her is so she could be healed

all in all, posie's almost having an identity crisis of sorts. yeah, she is letting fear control her; yes, her character has regressed in a way. everything she thought she knew is not what it was, and i feel like it's a very reasonable reaction to everything.

i try to sprinkle those things in as organically as i can, but some of you just miss it on PURPOSE I SWEAR. like, i skim read too I GET IT but if i don't understand, i go back and re-read. someone once asked who beau easton was *sobs* they commented that question on a paragraph that called beau posie's FATHER - like what more can i do for you except read it for you atp?

anyways,, thoughts? opinions??

(not edited nor proofread)