pocket full of posies
❛ xiii. the party ponies ❜

━━━━━ WAKING UP BY being smacked in the face by salt water was not the way Posie wanted to wake up. Percy was shaking her shoulder. She looked around, her eyes wide, and then wildly turned to face forward, ears burning.

Seeing his face so close to her made her momentarily forget about her nightmares. Seeing the gaunt face of Liviana as her eyes glowed a dangerous green and her tears were the color of poison as the man spoke to her ( Don't forget, he said. We've met. And will again—soon. ) would seemingly be hard to forget, but here Posie was.

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, and a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Um," Posie cleared her throat. "Where are we?"

"Miami, I think," Annabeth answered from her own hippocampus. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

And with that, there was a whining noise, and then they began swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them sneezed. After a moment, Percy turned to the others and declared, "This is as far as they'll take us. Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

Posie wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she knew there was no other option. She slid off her hippocampus's back and into the ocean, wincing from the cold.

You've changed, Onesimus suddenly said. Like, a lot.

Of course I have, agreed Posie. Last summer, I would've passed out from the thought of going on a quest, and here I am—swiming in the ocean after fighting for my life against a Cyclopes.

No, I mean— Onesimus stopped for a moment. Well, yes. That. But I mean ... everything else. It's a good way. I like it, kid. You're stronger now.

Posie wasn't so sure she agreed, but she took the compliments in stride, knowing how Onesimus was. But ... she was different—if you ever looked at Posie last summer and said, You're going to go on two life-threatening quests and make some of your best friends! she would've laughed in their face. But that person would've been right. No really, even Percy knew how to help Posie calm down from a panic attack before it became uncontrollable.

She was still Posie Easton, just ... more comfortable ( and uncomfortable ) in her own skin. A bit more confident, a ton more scared of herself, and a lot more accepting to other's help.

Why are you saying this, Onesimus? she asked curiously.

I just ... want to make you feel better, he said. Knowing I couldn't help you when you had that—what'd you call it?

Panic attack, supplied Posie.

Yeah, that. I felt a bit helpless not being able to help you, he admitted. This whole quest. I told you you'd get answers, but ... you don't really see it as answers.

You mean when Apollo spoke to me about the plagues? she asked.

That, and ... Onesimus trailed off. Forget it. It hasn't happened yet.

Posie wanted to ask what he meant, but she knew that tone—Onesimus wasn't going to say anything more. In fact, he would only just disappear for a good while until he knew she wouldn't ask.

She heard a sniffle and turned to see Tyson starting to cry as he slid off Rainbow's back. 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 CSS 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. 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 kids 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. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from Camp for ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse gasped.

But Posie knew it wasn't. Time traveled differently in monstrous places.

"Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight!"

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "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—"

"Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest fucking—"

"You guys!" Posie broke in. "We need to work together to get back to Camp—which means we can't fight."

Clarisse put her head in her hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration. Posie sighed, knowing Clarisse had a reason to be upset—they had hijacked her quest.

"Clarisse," she said softly, "what did the Oracle tell you? Word for word. What was the prophecy?"

She looked up, and Posie thought Clarisse was going to rip her head off. At least yell at Posie, but instead, the daughter of Ares 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,
You shall fail without friends, to fly home alone.
And the enemy turned, into the unknown."

"Oh." Posie shuffled on her feet.

"Ouch," Grover let out a low whistle.

Geez, Dad, she thought. Barbaric much?

She had a pretty good idea what her father would say: I only hire my Oracles, Little Posie! I don't have any say in what they preach. And sure, maybe Apollo would've had a point, but still ...

"No," Percy spoke up, looking thought—which was either the time you needed to duck or he was about to say something genius, there was no in between. "No ... wait a minute. I've got it."

He searched his pockets for money, and found nothing but a golden drachma. "Does anybody have any cash?" He looked to the others.

Posie, 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 looked at him. "Yeah."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?"

"Yeah, but we lost those bags days ago—" Percy stopped dead in his tracks as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the airtight bag full of cash that Hermes had included in their supplies. "Tyson!" he gasped. "How did you—"

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," Tyson admitted. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

He handed Percy the cash. Fives and tens, at least three hundred dollars. Suddenly, Percy bolted to the curb, grabbing 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."

Posie wasn't sure what Percy was doing, but she watched as Percy took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in Clarisse's arms.

Clarisse balked. "You'd let me—"

"It's your quest," said Percy. "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."

Posie could see Clarisse's mind whirring—suspicious at first, wondering what trick Percy was playing, then finally deciding Percy meant what he said. She 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," said Posie, "that was really smart of you."

"I was thinking generous," Grover said.

"I'd say insane," corrected Annabeth. "You're betting the lives of everybody at Camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"

"It's Clarisse's quest," Posie argued back, frowning. "Clarisse was right—we hijacked this quest, Annabeth. Sure, Clarisse could pulverize me into a Posie Pancake—but she's resourceful! And not entirely a bad person. This is her quest, so this is her Fleece to deliver."

"Posie's right," agreed Percy. "Clarisse deserves a chance."

"Percy is nice," Tyson commented.

"Percy's too nice," Annabeth grumbled.

"Come on," Percy told the others. "Let's find another way home."

That's when Posie turned to find Percy was held a swordpoint.

"Hey, man," said Luke in a mock-friendly tone. "Welcome back to the States."

His bear-man thugs appeared on either side of them. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson and Posie, but Tyson 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 Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.

If Posie was just a bit braver, maybe she would've pulled out one of her daggers and gutted one of the bear-man, but she just wasn't. Stabbing Polyphemus? That took built-up adrenaline, anxiety, anger, and fear. Now, she was just scared.

"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 Posie 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 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 armor—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, almost smugly. "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 ..."

"Yeah."

"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.

Posie glanced at everyone, her heart racing. It didn't feel like the start of a panic attack now, but she couldn't be too hopeful. And with neither bear-man even moving to restrain her, that meant they considered her weak—vulnerable. He thought she was too worn down from waiting for her problems to go away, or for her to receive her answers. ( Sure, maybe Luke was a little correct, but that doesn't matter! )

For a moment, she thought back to that ring. The ouroboros ring that appeared in her hand as she and her friends escaped from the Underworld. What good could a black marble ring do? It did nothing, besides serve as a reminder for all Posie's problems.

If Luke considered Posie weak, that meant he thought she couldn't do anything—which wasn't the truth. She just had to be careful, and hopefully, she wouldn't poison her friends and just some nasty monsters.

"You've been toying with us all along," Percy spoke up, jabbing his chin towards Luke. "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke scowled. 'Of course, you dumbass! And you've messed everything up!"

"Traitor!" Percy dug something gold out of his pocket and threw it at Luke. As expected, he dodged it easily. A gold drachma flipped through the air and sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water. The gold coin shimmered and disappeared into nothing, which meant Iris was listening.

"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled at Luke. "Even Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood!"

Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer. Posie glanced at Percy nervously, but he acted like he hadn't seen her. He uncapped Riptide and lifted it.

Luke just sneered at the son of Poseidon. "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."

Percy hesitated, a look flashing across his face—realization. "You were going to heal Kronos," he 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."

"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 the scene unfold.

"Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

"Mr. D, you heard him," said Percy. "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—No!"

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. Luke turned and gave Percy a murderous look.

"Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced."

Posie wasn't sure what he meant, but she wasn't given time to ask. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around the captured, the brass tips of their spears bristling.

Luke smiled at them. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

✿

"One on one," Percy challenged Luke bravely ( Stupidly, corrected Onesimus ). "What are you so afraid of?"

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill them 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 Posie had ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus 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 noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

Luke glanced at his men, and he saw Percy had trapped him in a corner. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought Percy, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse.

"I'll kill you quickly," he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than Riptide. Its blade glinted with an evil grey-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with Celestial bronze. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.

He grinned at me wickedly.

"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 you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill.

Luke lunged and almost killed Percy on the first strike. His sword went under Percy's arm, slashing through his shirt and grazing his ribs.

Percy 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 Percy again with a swipe to the head. Percy parried, and returned with a thrust. Luke sidestepped easily. When Luke lunged again, Percy jumped backward into the swimming pool—his best chance at fighting. He spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke's face.

The force of the water knocked the son of Hermes down, spluttering and blinded. But before Percy could strike, Luke rolled aside and was on his feet again. Percy attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn't even faze him. Luke dropped to a crouch and jabbed at Percy's legs.

Posie winced as Backbiter sunk into Percy's thigh and Luke ripped it out. Percy collapsed and Luke gave him no time to breathe—he hacked downwards and Percy rolled behind a deckchair. He tried to stand, but his leg wobbled, unable to support his weight now.

"Perrrcy!" Grover bleated.

Percy rolled again as Luke's sword slashed the deckchair in half, metal pipes and all. The son of Poseidon clawed towards the swimming pool, and Posie couldn't watch as Luke advanced slowly.

She wanted to step in, but she knew she would get pulverized by Luke, too. With two daggers against his sword, there was no chance, unless ...

You have a good chance, said Onesimus. Only if you keep it on the blades.

And what if I don't? she asked.

Then it could spread to everyone here, or ... worse.

Onesimus was so wonderful at making Posie feel better.

"One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy," said Luke, looking at the bear-man Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth and Grover by the necks. "You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appétit."

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

Luke then pointed at Posie, who froze, blood running cold. "Leave her. We might be able to ... convince her."

Like hell you will! Onesimus growled.

Percy glanced at Posie, a stunned look on his face. Before she could muster a response, all hell broke loose.

Whish!

A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius's mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck.

"Brother!" Agrius wailed. 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.

Posie'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, and others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER. Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, and 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 I. 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. Posie couldn't decide if these centaurs were here to help or cause mayhem—or both.

Apparently, it was 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, and Posie 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 Annabeth and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited them on his back. He trotted over to get Posie, and dropped her behind Grover.

Posie saw Percy struggling to get up, his wounded leg keeping him on the floor. Luke was crawling out of the pool.

"Attack, you fools!" the son of Hermes ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed.

Posie knew that in seconds, they 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, horseman!" Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deckchair.

A palomino centaur hoisted Percy onto his back. "Dude, get your big friend!"

"Tyson!" the son of Poseidon yelled. "Come on!"

Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after them. He jumped on the 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. Posie 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.

✿

Posie wondered what the people of Miami saw 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. In no time, they had left the city behind. They raced through marshy fields of high grass and ponds and stunted trees.

Finally, they found themselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions, 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 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. Posie winced, watching them. She knew Lee and Will would have something to say about that, and she Austin, Kayla, and Michael would find it awesome.

Chiron sighed. He set Annabeth, Grover, and Posie down on a picnic blanket next to Percy. "I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. They don't have the brain cells to spare."

"Chiron," I said, still stunned by the fact that he was here. "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.

"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."

Posie looked over at the campfire, where three party ponies were teaching Tyson to operate a paintball gun.

"It was good you stopped by," she agreed.

"Posie," noticed Chiron. "Any more visions?"

"Um ..." She rubbed her arm. "A couple."

"Yeah," grumbled Percy. "A couple thousand."

She gave the son of Poseidon a dirty look.

"I see." Chiron pursed his lips. "We will have to discuss once we are safely back at Camp."

"I think we should be a part of the conversation, too." Annabeth crossed her arms.

Posie pursed her lips, but only looked off. These were her dreams, she shouldn't have to share them with everybody. Recalling, sharing, and admitting made it all much more real. It made it much more real that a man was talking to her and managing to convince her to listen to the Sirens.

Look, started Onesimus, it might be best you share the dreams—all of them. So they can help, too. Chiron might even be willing to give some answers.

The way you promised to, Posie thought bitterly. Immediately, she regretted it. I'm sorry, that was uncalled for.

No, you have a point, he agreed. And ... it's going to change. Soon. I promise. This time, it won't be just a ring.

Onesimus, she said, getting ready to ask a question that's been following her for nearly a year now. Why did I get the ring from the Underworld? Was it Hades who gave it to me, or ... another god down there? Or was it something else entirely?

Not surprisingly, he didn't respond. That's how he always was when he was backed into a corner. Posie couldn't help but feel bitter.

"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."

"I'm tired of hearing about Nobodies," Posie grumbled.

"But we got the Fleece!" Annabeth spoke up. "Clarisse is on her way back to Camp with it right now."

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?" Posie asked.

"Oh yes, Posie. 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. And I want to see ... I'm curious about the Fleece."

Posie didn't know exactly what he meant, but it made her worried about what Luke had said: I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it. Posie thought there was no way Luke was telling the truth, and not because of the whole son of Hermes stereotype, but because he was Luke Castellan, the guy who joined sides with Kronos.

Over by the campfire, Tyson let loose with his paintball gun. A blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backward into the lake. The centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck and blue paint, and gave Tyson two thumbs up.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "perhaps you, Posie, 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.

"Sure, Chiron," she agreed. "Come on, goat boy."

"But I don't like paintball."

"Neither do I," sighed Posie, knowing she had no other choice. "But there's no arguing with Annabeth."

Before she could get too far, Chiron called, "Posie." She turned and saw that his eyes were almost ... sad for her. "We do have many things to discuss when we get back."

She swallowed the bile in her throat, spinning the black ring on her finger. "Of course, Chiron. Um ... about what exactly?"

"Many things, my young child. This quest was quite ... eventful for you."

✿  OCT. 23RD, 2023  /  lowkey trying to get through the rest of sea of monsters so we can start on titan's curse bc shit goes down in titan's curse (but i can't believe i'm about to start on titan's curse when it feels like yesterday i was just starting this book)

i'm not exactly sure just how many chapters are left in this chapter- maybe three? four? there's a lot of additional sections i want to add for posie's character development so i'm not sure how many chapters those will take

posie being flustered by percy is actually so funny bc they both have zero idea why, and annabeth and grover have to watch like "🧍‍♀️are you serious rn?"

OH I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS- now that grover and percy have their empathy link, that means when ever there was a perposie moment, grover was on the island, knitting (or crocheting or whatever) his bridal trail furiously 😭😭

i can't just hear him bleating under his breath about percy constantly being flustered by posie and it makes me giggle

anyways,, thoughts? opinions?? what do we think of the new prophecy line??

(not edited nor proofread)