CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
SILVIANA           DUVALL

At dawn, the Romans broke camp for their trip back to Camp Jupiter, but Finley Briggs and Jason Grace did not join them.

Jason was a different story—his new role as Mythological Liaison (he hated it when Leo called him that, but Sylvie thought it was hilarious) was no secret to anyone, so his staying behind was nothing surprising.

Finley was no longer a Roman demigod, though.

Now, of course, biologically she was. She was born to Isla Briggs and Bacchus, not Isla Briggs and Dionysus. But after everything she had been through—both inside and outside of Camp Jupiter—no one was going to make her go back.

In fact, Reyna herself had given Finley the tenth score mark on her forearm tattoo. Finley officially had served ten years in the legion, meaning she could retire and do anything she pleased.

Finley chose to spend that time at Camp-Half Blood.

No one gave that notion a second glance. In just a span of four days, Finley had become a fan-favorite around camp. Pollux immediately made room for her in his cabin, Connor was scarily keen on dubbing her as his new pranking partner, and Clarisse called dibs on teaming up with her in the next capture the flag match.

Sylvie was happy for her. She really was. She didn't know the full extent of what Camp Jupiter was like for Finley all those years, but she did know that Finley was glowing here in a way that Sylvie wasn't even aware was possible.

When she passed Finley by, Jason was already pestering her into letting him take her on a tour of camp, now that it was less tarnished. The closer Sylvie got, the louder she could hear the teasing bickering, their voices full of laughter and energy.

"It's dawn, Jason!" Finley threw up her hands, though her agitation was forced. "You can't let me breathe for five seconds before you go back on your color-coded schedule!"

Jason grinned, leaning casually against a nearby tree. "I don't have a 'color-coded schedule.' I promised you I would show you Camp Half-Blood!"

"I'm at Camp Half-Blood. Right now. I died"—she pointed to a spot on the field—"over there."

Jason rolled his eyes dramatically, pushing off the tree. "That's not the same. I'm talking about a tour, Finn. The real tour. Not the 'I've already been here for four days and know where the snacks are' tour."

Finley crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, I see. You want to give me the full 'official' Camp Half-Blood tour, complete with highlights like the armory, the stables, and—what?—your sister's big tree? You should've told me that when I signed up."

Jason's smile widened. "Exactly. You'll see things you didn't even know existed. Like the secret garden Leo planted behind the forge. Or the hot springs the satyrs refuse to tell anyone about, but I know all the best spots."

"Hot springs, huh?" Finley tilted her head, brow raising flirtatiously. "Are you trying to seduce me, Jason Grace?"

Jason's face was set aflame. "What? No! I—" He stammered, but a smirk grew on Finley's face, clearly enjoying flustering him.

"You sure about that, Wonderboy?" Finley leaned in just a bit, her tone mockingly sweet. "Because you sound a little too eager to show me those secret spots."

Jason spluttered, throwing his hands up. "That's not what I'm—I swear!"

"Are priests even allowed to say things like this?" she teased. "Do I need to get down on my knees for you, Father?"

"FINLEY!" Jason cried, face redder than camp's strawberries.

Finley's laughter echoed across the field. "I'm just messing with you, Jace. Relax."

Jason, still sputtering, managed to glare at her through his embarrassment. "You are evil. You know that?"

"Oh, yeah, so evil," Finley dramatized with a wink, her grin still wide. Though, she negated the whole statement by stepping forward and kissing Jason shamelessly on the lips.

Sylvie thought Jason's face was red before, but this was some serious rosacea.

Her small smile didn't leave her face the entire time she watched the two interact. There was something comforting about the way they effortlessly joked around. She couldn't help but notice how light they seemed—how much freer they were around each other.

It was nice. It reminded Sylvie where she was going.

She resumed her walk over to the hearth in the center of the common.

Percy didn't even have to look to see that Sylvie was coming. He didn't even move when she sat next to him (probably closer than she needed to, but she didn't care). He just grabbed her hand out of instinct.

"Sitting in front of the fire in August," Sylvie mused. "Of course you are."

Percy smiled softly. "I was talking to Hestia."

"Wh—And she didn't want to say hi to me?" She frowned. "And to think I had something special with her."

"We were talking about you, Applejack," he said. "She's very fond of you. Trust me."

Sylvie chuckled, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Now my boyfriend's sitting in front of fires in August, gatekeeping me from Hestia, and talking about me behind my back," she joked. "Do we need to break up, Fishstick?"

Percy couldn't help himself from laughing too. His free hand, the one not holding hers, drifted slowly up her arm, his fingers brushing softly against the skin. He traced the twisting scar on her forearm, the line of it curling in an almost hypnotic pattern. His touch was gentle, as though he was memorizing each curve and ridge of it. Sylvie knew he was, because he had already done it so many times with the scar on her face. She had already done it so many times with his own scars.

"You know, I talked to Frank and Reyna—"

"Oh, so you were talking about me behind my back too!" Percy accused. "Maybe we do need to break up. This connivery is eating me alive."

Sylvie nudged his side, but he didn't go very far at all. "Since when do you use words like connivery?"

"Until my girlfriend started conniving on me."

"Conniving on—" Sylvie shook her head, nose wrinkling. "Don't say it like that, you're not even using it right!"

"Of course the conniver would know."

Sylvie wanted to roll her eyes, but she was just so happy to be here with Percy that she couldn't even pretend to be upset. This was the boy who was going to ask Sylvie to marry him one day, and Sylvie was going to say yes.

"You know," she said, "I actually had a reason for talking to you. But if you don't want to hear it..."

Sylvie pretended like she was about to get up, but Percy latched onto her arm quickly. "Hey, wait! I'm nosy! You can't tease me with that kind of stuff."

She grinned as she sat back down, lacing their fingers together again.

"I was just thinking about our next date," she told him.

Percy turned his head. "Our next date?"

"Yeah, we, um..." Sylvie's throat closed up as images of Tartarus flashed in her mind. Her stomach grumbled uncomfortably. "We talked about it before. I think we mentioned something about, you know, New Rome."

Percy's face went blank for a moment as the realization hit—Sylvie could see in his features as he remembered their moment in Tartarus. For the most part, they tried not to think about it, but it had been so traumatizing of a place that they couldn't even help it.

"Oh," he said. "You were thinking about New Rome?"

"I was," Sylvie said, finding it easier to speak when Percy's thumb had unintentionally started running along her wrist. "You know, a few days ago I didn't even think I'd get the chance to have a future. I didn't think... Well, I'm just really happy to be here, Perce. I wanna—I want to have a future. I wanna have one with you. I wanna go to college together, in New Rome."

Her heart pounded in her chest as she spoke, the weight of her words sitting heavy between them. Percy didn't say anything in response, but to be fair, that was more than likely because she had started anxiously rambling before he could even think.

"And I was even thinking about asking my dad about doing my senior year here in New York," Sylvie continued, "because I'm probably too codependent now to stay in Louisiana for too long, but I'm realizing that kinda sounds obsessed and weird, so if this is me going too far, then—"

Percy surged forward and kissed Sylvie desperately.

Sylvie's words were lost the moment Percy kissed her, his lips crashing into hers with an intensity that left her breathless. All of the nervousness, the anxiety, the uncertainty she'd been holding inside just melted away. The world around them seemed to fade as she pressed herself closer to him, her hand tangling in his hair while his free hand cupped her face with a tenderness that made her heart race.

When they finally broke apart, Sylvie was too dazed to form a coherent thought. Percy's forehead rested against hers, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. The air between them felt charged, as if something had shifted in the universe, aligning in a way that made everything feel right.

Then Percy let out one, great big, "WHOOOOOOOP!"

Sylvie flinched back at the volume of his voice, but he was so ridiculous that she had started cackling. "Perseus!" she tried reprimanding him through her laughter.

Sylvie slapped his arm playfully, but they were both grinning like crazy, so it didn't even matter. Percy even pulled her back into his side, his arm wrapped around her waist.

"What, Silviana?" He beamed, and Sylvie couldn't have even dreamed about taking that smile away from him. "I'm excited! Let me be me!"

"You are so dramatic!"

"What's up, Nico!"

Sylvie's brows furrowed. "What?"

She looked over her shoulder in confusion, but her question was answered when she saw that Nico had walked over to them.

"Oh," Sylvie realized. "Hey, Nico!"

"Sylv just told me some good news," Percy bragged. "Sorry if I got a little loud."

"We might spend our senior year together," Sylvie explained, "here in New York. And after graduation—"

"College in New Rome!' Percy pumped his fist like he was blowing a truck horn. "Four years with no monsters to fight, no battles, no stupid prophecies. Just me and Sylv, getting our degrees, hanging out at cafés, enjoying California—"

"And after that..." Sylvie kissed Percy on the cheek. "Well, Frank and Reyna said we could live in New Rome as long as we like."

"That's great," Nico said. Sylvie was a little surprised to see that he meant it. "I'm staying too, here at Camp Half-Blood."

Sylvie gasped. "Nico, that's awesome!"

She couldn't help herself from feeling seriously excited. Sylvie would be spending her future with Percy, and until then, at camp, she would still be spending it with Percy. Not only him, but Annabeth, Finley, Leo, Jason, Piper, Mickey, Phoenix, her Demeter siblings, and every other friend she had at camp. Now, as she'd just been told, Nico would be here as well.

For someone who thought she was going to die four days ago, life was seriously started to look up.

"So," Nico said, "since we're going to be spending at least a year seeing each other at camp, I think I should clear the air."

Percy's smile wavered. "What do you mean?"

"For a long time," Nico said, "I had a crush on you. I just wanted you to know."

Percy looked at Nico. Then at Sylvie, as if to check that he'd heard correctly. Then back at Nico. "You—"

"Yeah," Nico said. "You're a great person. But I'm over that. I'm happy for you guys."

"You... so you mean—"

"Right."

Sylvie's eyes sparkled. She gave Nico an astounded, beaming smile.

"Wait," Percy said. "So you mean—"

"Right," Nico said again. "But it's cool. We're cool. I mean, I see now... you're cute, but you're not my type."

"I'm not your type... Wait. So—"

"See you around, Percy," Nico said. "Sylv."

She raised her hand for a high five.

Nico obliged. Then he walked back across the green, to where Will Solace was waiting.

Sylvie watched Nico walk away, her grin still stretched across her face. She couldn't help but feel entirely humored at the revelation, despite how serious it had been. The urge to laugh only grew stronger when she faced Percy again, and he looked more confused than he did when Annabeth tried explaining how she was born.

"Oh, my gods," said Sylvie. "I love him so much. That was amazing."

Percy blinked out of it, mouth agape.

"Did he just say I wasn't his type?"

"Oh, my gods!" Sylvie cackled.

"I heard that right?" Percy asked. "That whole conversation wasn't a dream?"

"I need to update the list!"

"Do NOT update the list!"

"Me, Rachel, Calypso, probably Jason, definitely Reyna, Nico—"

"I'm about to lose my shit here, Sylvie!"

Sylvie had never laughed harder in her life. Although she was giggling, she grabbed Percy's face and pulled him into a giddy kiss.

Percy forgot everything and kissed her back. It was blissful oblivion, better than her wanting to spend her future with him; he was the only real thing in the world, Percy, the feel of him, one hand on his neck, one of his moving to grab her back.

Sylvie tried her hardest to tamper her grin. But still, after all these months, Percy seemed so eager for it. He still knew exactly what she liked. He still remembered the little places that Sylvie liked to be held. There was something about being so known that had Sylvie deepening the kiss.

Sometimes love was so simple that you laughed because you never expected it could be. Sometimes, to love was to remember.

It was here, that it was finally just Percy and Sylvie.

It was here, where the hearth sparked like wildfires, that all was well.

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

AND A BONUS SCENE <3
FINLEY                  BRIGGS

Around two in the morning, Finn gave up trying to sleep. She sat up in bed and gazed out of the window. Moonlight turned the woods silver. The smells of the sea and the strawberry fields wafted on the breeze. She couldn't believe that just five days ago, she'd turned seventeen. She couldn't believe that just four days ago, the Earth Mother had awoken, almost destroyed everything, killed Finley, then fell back asleep just like that. She couldn't believe that tonight seemed so peaceful... so normal.

Tap, tap, tap.

Finn nearly hit the top of her bunk. Jason was standing outside the window, rapping on the frame. He grinned. "Come on."

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, trying not to wake up Pollux. "It's after curfew. The patrol harpies will shred you!"

"Just come on."

Her heart racing, she took his hand and climbed out of the window. He led her to Cabin One and took her inside, where a huge statue of Hippie Zeus (???) glowered in the dim light.

"Um, Jace... What exactly...?"

"Check it out." He showed her one of the marble columns that ringed the circular chamber. On the back, almost hidden against the wall, iron rungs led upward—a ladder. "Can't believe I didn't notice this sooner. Wait till you see!"

He began to climb. Finn wasn't sure why she felt so nervous—she was avidly known for being a troublemaker—but her hands were shaking. She followed him up. At the top, Jason pushed open a small trapdoor.

They emerged on the side of the domed roof, on a flat ledge, facing north. The whole of Long Island Sound spread out to the horizon. They were so far up, and at such an angle, that nobody below could possibly see them. The patrol harpies never flew this high.

"Look." Jason pointed at the stars, which made a splash of diamonds across the sky—better jewels than even Hazel Levesque could have summoned.

"Beautiful." Finn snuggled up against Jason and he put his arm around her. "But aren't you going to get in trouble?"

"Who cares?" Jason asked.

Finn laughed quietly. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" he asked in return, his glasses pale bronze in starlight.

He kissed her, and... okay, Finn didn't really remember what happened after that. Her mind kind of went blank. It was one of those sparks-literally-flying-and-electricity-crackling-Jason-Grace kisses that made her go dizzy. It was Finn's chaos brewing in his fierce storm.

Her heart raced as his hands found her hips and pulled her over his lap, just like he had done in her bedroom on the Argo II. Her hand found the back of his neck, pulling him closer. It was like the whole world disappeared, leaving only the two of them, suspended in that breathless moment under the stars.

For a split second, she felt as if everything that had happened before—everything she had been through—was nothing but a distant memory. This moment was its own universe, and she was lost in it, swallowed by the intensity of the kiss.

She had been sober for 35 days, and yet, Finley Briggs was drunk. She was drunk on Jason Grace, and this was a type of intoxication she would never get rid of.

Her fingers gripped him like she was trying to bruise, as if she needed more of him to ground herself, to anchor her in this strange and sudden peace. Jason's breath was warm against her skin as he kissed her deeper, a spark of something wild igniting inside her. She made a muffled noise in the back of her mouth but Jason swallowed it quickly.

When they finally pulled apart, Finn realized she'd ended up lying down, and Jason was now hovering over her with his hands bracketed beside her head. She was breathless, her chest heaving. His eyes were wide, glowing with an unspoken thrill. He smiled—genuine, unrestrained, the same way he always did when he was with her.

"I really like this side of you," Finn breathed, trying to regain her balance, both physically and mentally.

Jason grinned, one hand moving to trace the edge of her jawline with his thumb. He leaned down so his face was inches from hers. "Oh, yeah? Which side is that?"

Finn tried to cover how utterly disarmed she felt. "The side that doesn't give a fuck about rules or consequences. The side that sneaks into my cabin at two in the morning."

"Yeah, well, I figured I could ditch the color-coded schedule for one night."

She threw her head back, groaning on the roof. "Gods, Wonderboy, don't ruin the moment right now."

Jason smirked, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face before his hand was holding himself up again. No, Finn did not find his insane level of upper-body strength attractive.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured. "I... love you so much, you know that?"

Finn's breath hitched. She blinked up at him, her lips parting in surprise even though she'd heard those words from him before. There was something about the way he said it now—soft, raw, like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to the world.

"I know," she whispered, her voice barely audible. She leaned up on her elbows so that their faces weren't even an inch apart. "I love you too. I always have."

Jason closed the gap between them, and don't ask Finn what happened afterward. She went so blank with happiness that she couldn't breathe.

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

BAILEY YAPS :(

GUYS??????

I'm so serious what do I do right now. Like this was the last chapter of this book. Ever. Like Heroes of Olympus is done for. LIKE?????

I really don't know what to do right now because I started writing for the Wild Saga 155 DAYS AGO and I have written EVERY DAY since then. I've never taken a break with this series but it's because I love it so so much. It's actually changed my life and I'm so grateful to be here posting for this story because everything about it means the world to me

Thank y'all so much for the support. I seriously can't express how much love I have for each and every single one of you. Thank you for  being here through Sylvie's entire journey and Persylv's as well. Thank you for falling in love with Finn just as much as I did and being with me throughout the whirlwind that was Jinley. Thank you for putting up with my stupid jokes and my mediocre writing. I'm really so so grateful I have created a parasocial relationship with all of you in my mind

I don't know what to say because this really is that moment when you finish your entire series on some random day at 4:32 in the morning BUT HEY IT'S ALL OKAY OVER HERE IN FLAYEDCRANK NATION