CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

Sylvie finally understood why Camp Half-Blood felt obligated to finish the chariot races last summer.

Back then, while Tantalus had started them back up with a craving for chaos, they still retried the races. Maybe it was in spite of him, or maybe it was to prove something even if his punished ass wasn't there anymore. Either way, Sylvie understood the chariot racers now.

For some reason, for the Demeter cabin, it felt right to finally participate in chariot racing. Eurydice was the one who stopped them from competing, and it wasn't quite the same as Tantalus forcing them to try and be killed, but it felt like the same concept.

So now, Cabin 4 was having a chariot race with the Athena kids.

Maybe it was in spite of Eurydice, or maybe it was to prove something even if her traitor ass wasn't there anymore. Either way, Sylvie was taking part in this chariot race with a newfound fire inside of her.

She and Katie were the two competitors—Sylvie fighting and Katie driving. Although they were going against the Athena cabin, Annabeth was unfortunately not there. Fortunately, however, she was missing because she was picking up Percy to bring him back to camp. So Sylvie would take her wins, especially since Annabeth's absence might actually give her a chance to win.

Instead of Annabeth, Sylvie and Katie were going around the track against Malcolm Pace and another Athena camper Sylvie didn't really know the name of. Miranda, Cedar, and the rest of Cabin 6 were spectating in the stands. Florian wasn't present because he was a traitor who'd rather spend his time with Castor and Pollux.

(Sylvie is realizing now that it was probably too soon to refer to another Demeter kid as a traitor. She takes it back now and is very apologetic. Florian, if you're reading this, she's sorry.)

((She also wasn't actually judging her brother too harshly. All of her half-siblings were coping with the news of Eurydice in their, own different ways and she did respect that.))

Katie urged their horses to sprint as fast as they could. Even without Annabeth there, Malcom and Unknown-Athena-Kid were still serious competition. They had tricks up their sleeve just like every other cabin—only these tricks were perfectly strategized due to their mother's obsession with war plans. Sylvie had just knocked away a javelin shooting for her chariot's tire using Cereal (again, much scarier of an object than it sounds).

"Faster!" shouted Katie, though Sylvie hoped she knew that she couldn't communicate with horses. Not like Percy could.

Sylvie groaned internally. Did she really have to think about Percy with every passing thought? It was getting tiring. Three years, and she still hadn't gotten a grip.

"Yes!" Katie cheered. Somehow the horses had understood her. Their chariot had just passed up Athena's.

"That's right, Katie!" called Cedar's voice.

But Malcom's chariot was still right behind.

Sylvie suddenly had an idea—albeit a little insane. She turned her attention away from the Athena kids by facing forward, surprising basically everyone watching.

"What the hell are you doing, Sylvie?!" Miranda shouted.

Yeah, she was little ray of sunshine this summer.

Contrary to Miranda's belief, Sylvie did have a plan. She tuned out the shouts of her bewildered spectators. She closed her eyes to block out the world around her. She forced herself to hear no one's voice in her ears except for one.

It's just you and me.

Power surged through Sylvie's veins like the roots of weeds. Suddenly, a tree stump starting growing in the middle of the track. It rose behind their chariot, blocking Athena's from advancing any further.

Sylvie grinned as she could just feel that her idea had worked. Her eyes snapped back open, flickering a leafy-green one moment before the auburn color returned.

"Atta girl, Sylv!" Katie hooped.

"Yes ma'am!" cheered Cedar.

Sylvie turned her head to look back at Malcolm and Unknown-Athena-Kid. She couldn't help but laugh maniacally as the two Athena kids were stumped. Literally.

"This is cheating, Duvall!" Malcolm shouted.

Shaking her head with an excited grin, Sylvie faced forward again. She and Katie were close to the finish line now. They were doing so good in getting there.

Until Sylvie caught sight of Percy Jackson watching.

It happened quicker than when Sylvie grew the tree—she tripped into Katie, Katie lost control of the reins, Sylvie accidentally made a multitude of vines sprout before the horses. The horses freaked out, and next thing Sylvie knew, the Demeter chariot was crashing completely.

She and Katie were being flung out like a catapult launch. Katie ended up in the stands, toppling Travis Stoll, who had literally just shown up to watch the race finish with his brother Connor. Sylvie rolled onto the field, sliding in the grass, and not stopping until she was literally at Percy's feet.

Yup. It's official. Sylvie finally needed to die.

"Uhh," Sylvie groaned, mind spinning from the hard landing she'd taken. She was so dazed, and she hoped Percy being here was just a product of that. Only her imagination.

"I think you tripped a little," said Percy.

Nope. Not her imagination. Sylvie was going to kill every witness and then herself.

"Asshole," she wheezed.

Percy let out a laugh; thankfully, a kind one. "Come on, Applejack, up you get," he said.

Sylvie finally mustered up the courage to look at Percy. He was holding out two hands for Sylvie. This whole ordeal was doing terrible things to her already-non-existent ego, but it was also not surprising that it was happening to Sylvie. Out of everyone, she was the first person she'd expect it to happen to.

So Sylvie figured she didn't have much else to lose. She took Percy's hands, and he pulled her up.

Sylvie realized in disappointment that Percy had grown over the months, more than Sylvie had. While she only rose about three inches, Percy was now a little bit taller than her. His hair had grown out again, back to that messy head of jet-black, and his tan was deeper. Sylvie noticed those differences, but also, she noticed that he was still the same Percy she'd grown to adore. He adorned the lingering, troublemaker smirk that never seemed to go away. He was wearing a basic outfit of shorts and a T-shirt. He had on his beaded necklace and a few friendship bracelets, both from camp. And he was, of course, a stupid, adorable dork.

"You were doing good there for a second," Percy commented. "Until you crashed the chariot and got booted."

"It's good to see you, too, Fishstick," Sylvie's glared, but her cheeks were hot and it wasn't because of the sun. More because of the sea, actually.

Their hands dropped back down to their sides, and Sylvie finally was able to step back. Percy didn't respond, only staring. Sylvie must've had grass and dirt still smeared on her. She tried wiping it off her face and armor, though she doubted she made an improvement, because Percy was still looking at her.

It was a rare sight to see Sylvie in armor like this—actually, it was the first time Percy had ever seen Sylvie wearing it. She hardly wore the leather strap-on armor (with the arm guards and skirt-kilt thing Sylvie never learned the name of) that was over her clothes right now. She also hardly wore her hair in a high-ponytail like this.

Sylvie probably looked like a fucking idiot to him, even without the whole crashing-her-chariot-at-the-sight-of-him fiasco.

"Where's Annabeth?" Sylvie said to break the silence, wishing they could just forget about it.

Percy blinked. He tried to concentrate.

"Uh—What?"

Sylvie's eyes squinted in concern. She wondered for a moment if it was Percy who'd been flung out of a chariot, not Sylvie.

"Annabeth. She brought you to camp, right?"

"Oh," Percy swallowed, prying his gaze away. "Yeah. But then she got mad at me for some reason. Said something about talking to Clarisse."

So that's why Percy was acting so weird. Annabeth was mad at him, and the news that she was in cahoots with Clarisse was probably a bit stunning to him. It made sense now—for a moment there, she was worried.

Then—

"Wait, why is she mad at you?" Sylvie knit her eyebrows.

One of Percy's hands shifted behind his back, like he didn't even realize he was doing it. "I think it's 'cause I got my school blown up, or something. But it wasn't my fault! I was attacked by empousai."

Sylvie didn't even want to ask what empousai were.

"Hey, Duvall!" a voice called.

She turned to see Connor Stoll (and everyone else in the stands) making it back to the fields on camp. Travis had his arm around Katie, helping her walk, because she was limping with a twisted ankle.

"Good chariot riding there," Connor grinned. "You two really soared through the skies!"

Sylvie threw up a certain finger at him. However, she did tell her sister, "Sorry, Kates! It was an accident!"

"If I wasn't going to the infirmary I'd be changing that whiteboard data right now!"

Sylvie winced, deflating. "Yeah, that's fair," she muttered.

From behind Katie and Travis, Cedar starting sending Sylvie kissy faces. She was lurching to attack the little idiot, but Miranda stopped him, hopefully before Percy saw. "Come on," she told her little brother. "Let's change the whiteboard for Katie."

"What's the whiteboard?" Percy asked when they were alone again.

Sylvie flustered. She shook her head rapidly. "You don't want to know."

Percy nodded, staring at Sylvie oddly again.

"So, uh—" he cleared his throat, "you and Connor are close now?"

Sylvie couldn't have been caught off guard any faster. The question was so wild that, for a second, Sylvie thought it was a figment of her imagination.

"What?" Sylvie looked at him oddly. "No...? I mean, not really. Katie and Travis are always 'arguing' together now, so me and Connor have been around each other more. I guess?"

"That's cool," Percy nodded, still being so weird. "That you two can, you know, hang out."

"Perce, are you okay?" Sylvie questioned desperately.

"Me?" his voice went up an octave. "I'm fine. Why? Are you fine?"

"Yeah..." she tried holding the judgment back from her voice. "Apart from crashing chariots and injuring my siblings. And reuniting with a freak."

Percy nodded hastily. "Good, that's good." Then, "Wait, what?"

Sylvie exhaled heavily, shaking her head. For whatever reason, he was acting odd. So she decided to try and get him to chill out by grabbing a hold of his wrist.

"Let's go, I want to show you something."

Then she started dragging them through camp.

"Yes ma'am," Percy said, following along.

Sylvie and Percy walked into the amphitheater, where Sylvie had purposely brought him. She wanted to show Percy what was at the middle of the arena floor: a hellhound the size of a tank.

The creature looked right at them, lying on its belly, growling contentedly as it chewed the head off a combat dummy.

Sylvie grinned, "So, this is—"

"Yaaaah!" Percy had uncapped his pen and charged towards the hellhound with Riptide. Before Sylvie could even protest, Percy brought down the blade on the creature's enormous backside. Luckily, another sword came out of nowhere and blocked his strike.

CLANG!

The hellhound pricked up its ears. "WOOF!"

Percy jumped back and instinctively struck at the swordsman—a gray-haired man in Greek armor. He parried Percy's attack with no problem. Percy tried slicing at him again, but Sylvie snatched him away with incredulous eyes.

"Woah there!" the man said. "Truce!"

"But—"

"Perce, it's fine!" Sylvie tried, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing him backwards.

"That's a hellhound!" he cried.

On cue, the hellhound's, "WOOF!" shook the arena.

"She's harmless," the man said. "That's Mrs. O'Leary."

Percy blinked. "Mrs. O'Leary?"

At the sound of her name, the hellhound barked again.

"Yes," Sylvie sighed, holding her face tiredly for a moment. "The really nice hellhound I was trying to show you. Because she's really nice."

And Sylvie was right. Mrs. O'Leary was excited, even. She nudged the soggy, badly chewed target dummy toward the swordsman.

"Good girl," the man said. With his free hand he grabbed the armored manikin by the neck and heaved it toward the bleachers. "Get the Greek! Get the Greek!"

The swordsman smiled dryly. Sylvie knew him to be Quintus, because she wasn't clueless like Percy, who'd just arrived to camp. Quintus was in his fifties, she would guess, with short gray hair and a clipped gray beard. He was in good shape for an older guy. He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over an orange camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or tattoo, but as usual, he covered it under his collar before anyone could make out what it was.

"Mrs. O'Leary is my pet," he explained. "I couldn't let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might have scared her."

Percy stared at Quintus, eyes narrowed distrustfully, and Quintus still held his sword in hand.

"Alright, this is getting ridiculous," Sylvie exhaled. "Quintus, Percy's harmless. Percy, this is Quintus."

"Quintus?" Percy asked as Quintus sheathed his sword.

"That's my name," he said, holding out his hand.

Percy shook it, meeting Quintus's skin that was rough like sandpaper.

"Uh, Percy Jackson's mine," he said. "Sorry about—How did you, um—"

"Get a hellhound for a pet? Long story, involving many close calls with death and quite a few giant chew toys. I'm the new sword instructor, by the way. Helping out Chiron while Mr. D is away."

"Oh," Percy stared as Mrs. O'Leary ripped off the target dummy's shield with the arm still attached and shook it like a Frisbee. Then he stared at Sylvie. "Wait, Mr. D is away?"

"Don't ask me," Sylvie raised her hands in defense. "No one around here tells me anything."

"It's just busy times," Quintus piped up. "Even Dionysus must help out. He's gone to visit some old friends. Make sure they're on the right side. I probably shouldn't say more than that."

Sylvie figured it was something along those lines, but hearing that made her nervous. If Dionysus had gotten off his ass and actually started helping the gods recruit against the Titan threat, things must be looking pretty bad.

Off to Sylvie's left, there was a loud BUMP. Six wooden crates the size of picnic tables were stacked nearby, and they were rattling. Mrs. O'Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them.

"Woah, girl!" Quintus said. "Those aren't for you." He distracted her with the bronze shield Frisbee.

The crates thumped and shook. There were words printed on the sides, but with Sylvie's dyslexia they took her a few minutes to decipher.

TRIPLE G RANCH
FRAGILE
THIS END UP

Along the bottom, in smaller letters: OPEN WITH CARE, TRIPLE G RANCH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE, MAIMING, OR EXCRUTIATINGLY PAINFUL DEATHS.

"What's in the boxes?" Percy asked.

"You got these from a ranch?" questioned Sylvie.

"Yes," Quintus answered Sylvie first. "And: a little surprise. Training activity for tomorrow night. You'll love it."

Sylvie wasn't sure about the "excruciatingly painful death" part.

"Uh, okay," said Percy.

Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O'Leary lumbered after it. "You young ones need more challenges. They didn't have camps like this when I was a boy."

"You—You're a half-blood?" Percy asked, surprised. Sylvie understood why he was so shocked. Quintus was the first old demigod Sylvie had ever seen, too.

Quintus chuckled. "Some of us do survive into adulthood, you know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies."

"You know about my prophecy?"

"I've heard a few things."

But before Percy could press any further, Chiron clip-clopped into the arena. "Percy, there you are!"

"Hey, Chiron," Sylvie deadpanned.

He must've just come from teaching archery. He had a quiver and bow slung over his #1 CENTAUR T-shirt. He'd trimmed his curly brown hair and beard for the summer, and his lower half, which was a white stallion, was flecked with mud and grass.

"Sorry, Sylvie. Hello to you, too." Chiron acknowledged her with a nod. "Anyways, Percy, I see you've met our new instructor. Quintus, do you mind if I borrow these two?"

"Not at all, Master Chiron."

"No need to call me 'Master,'" Chiron said, though he sounded sort of pleased. "Come. We have much to discuss."

Sylvie took one more glance at Mrs. O'Leary, who was now chewing off the target dummy's legs.

"Bye, Quintus," said Sylvie. "We'll see you."

As they were walking away, Percy whispered to Chiron, "Quintus seems kind of—"

"Mysterious?" Chiron suggested. "Hard to read?"

"Yeah."

Chiron nodded. "A very qualified half-blood. Excellent swordsman. I just wish I understood..."

Whatever he was going to say, he apparently changed his mind.

"First things first. Percy, Annabeth told me you met some empousai."

"Yeah." Percy went into a more detailed explanation of his fight at Goode, and how Kelli (the empousai) had exploded into flames.

"Mm," Chiron said. "The more powerful ones can do that. She did not die, though, she simply escaped. It is not good that the she-demons are stirring."

"What were they doing there?" Sylvie asked. "Waiting for Percy?"

"Possibly." Chiron frowned. "It is amazing he survived. Their powers of deception... almost any male hero would've fallen under their spell and been devoured."

"I would've been," Percy admitted. "If it wasn't for Rachel."

"...Rachel?"

Percy's head snapped to Sylvie, eyes widening for a moment. "Uh, yeah."

"The mortal girl from Hoover Dam?"

"Yeah," he repeated dumbly, scratching his neck. "Turns out she'll be going to my high school. We, uh, met again. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Yeah, sort of," Percy shrugged in defense. "She found me, then the empousai attacked, and then she snapped me out of being tricked by them."

"Ironic to be saved by a mortal," Chiron interjected, noting how Sylvie had opened her mouth to respond, "yet we owe her a debt. What the empousai said about an attack on camp—we must speak of this further. But for now, come, we should get to the woods. Grover will want you both there."

"Where?" asked Percy.

"At his formal hearing," Sylvie said grimly, dodging Percy's eye contact.

"Yes," Chiron seemed just as dismayed, "the Council of Cloven Elders is meeting now to decide his fate."

Chiron let Sylvie and Percy ride on his back because they needed to hurry. They galloped past the cabins, and plunged into the woods. Nypmhs peeked out of the trees to watch them pass. Large shapes rustled in the shadows—monsters that were stocked in here as a challenge to the campers.

Chiron took Sylvie and Percy through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers.

A bunch of satyrs were sitting in a circle in the grass. Grover stood in the middle, facing three really old, really fat satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes. They were the Council of Cloven Elders.

Grover was telling them the story of his travels to defend himself. He twisted the bottom of his T-shirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. Of course, Grover had also gotten taller than Sylvie since last winter. Now she was the shortest in the little group of four that was Sylvie, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover.

Standing off to one side of the circle was Annabeth, Clarisse, and Juniper (Grover's girlfriend—long story—will probably be explained later). Chiron dropped Sylvie and Percy next to them.

Clarisse nodded expressionlessly at Sylvie, then glared at Percy and muttered, "Punk," which meant she was in a good mood. Sylvie sat next to her and Annabeth—who had her arm around Juniper, who looked like she'd been crying. She was a small dryad with wispy hair the color of amber and a pretty, elfish face. She wore a green chiton and laced sandals, and she was dabbing her tinged green eyes with a handkerchief. Annabeth shot Sylvie a look, and Sylvie winced.

"Hey, Juniper, how're you holding up?" Sylvie muttered past Annabeth.

"It's going terribly," she sniffled.

"No, no." Annabeth patted her shoulder. "He'll be fine, Juniper."

Percy looked absolutely confused. Sylvie looked at him and mouthed the words Grover's girlfriend.

"Master Underwood!" Silenus the council member shouted, cutting off what Grover was trying to say. "Do you seriously expect us to believe this?"

"B-but, Silenus," Grover stammered. "It's the truth!"

Silenus turned to his colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them. Sylvie suddenly remembered that he was an honorary member of the council, but he looked like a god compared to the goats. They were more like animals in a petting zoo than satyrs to be feared. But Sylvie unfortunately knew exactly why they made Grover so nervous.

Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne. "Master Underwood, for six moths—six months—we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak."

"But I did!"

"Impudence!" said the elder on the left. It was the same satyr who'd brought Cedar to camp.

"Now, Maron," Chiron said. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to... to him."

Juniper looked like she wanted to charge the old satyr and beat him up, but Sylvie and Annabeth held her back. "Wrong fight, girlie," Clarisse muttered. "Wait."

Now, Clarisse holding somebody back from a fight might seem to surprise you. Or the fact that she and Annabeth seemed to be working together. But ever since Clarisse's secret mission for Chiron last winter, she'd been a little different. There was still a constant fire inside of her, but instead of the flames lighting up her eyes like they used to, her passion was now dimmed. Sylvie didn't blame her. She'd changed a little since last winter, too.

"For six months," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded.

"Nothing!" Leneus, the elder in the middle, chimed in. "You have found nothing."

"But—"

Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs. The satyrs didn't look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly.

"Master Underwood," Silenus announced, "we will give you one more chance."

Grover brightened. "Thank you!"

"One more week."

"What? But, sir! That's impossible!"

"One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing."

"But, sir, I—I can't lose my searcher's license. My whole life—"

"This meeting of the council is adjourned," Silenus said. "And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!"

The old satyr clapped his hands, and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and other goat delicacies. The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food. Grover walked dejectedly toward his friends. His faded blue T-shirt had a picture of a satyr on it. It read Got Hooves?

"Hi, Percy," he said, depressed. "That went well, huh?"

"Those old goats!" Juniper said. "Oh, Grover, they don't know how hard you've tried!"

"There is another option," Clarisse said darkly.

"No. No." Juniper shook her head. "Grover, I won't let you."

His face was ashen. "I—I'll have to think about it. But we don't even know where to look."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked.

In the distance, a conch horn sounded.

Annabeth pursed her lips. "I'll fill you in later, Percy. We'd better get back to our cabins. Inspection is starting."

╰━━━ ◦ ❀ ◦ ❀◦ ━━━╯

BAILEY YAPS...

HELLOOOOO ACT 3 I HAVE BEEN AWAITING YOU FOR A VERY LONG TIME

Guys lock in for this act I'm not joking. I'm locked in are you. I'm so locked in.

Basically welcome to Sylvie's reputation era in a sense??? Idk we'll see... We'll see......

But please excuse how awful this chapter is I actually hate it so much I really hate intro chapters to acts because they're so boring but:

Chapter had to get split in half with the next one because I accidentally made it 8,000 words? Don't know why Alexander Hamilton keeps possessing me guys I need to do a paranormal investigation

Persylv nation we are so back LIKEEEE did y'all spot what I spotted... Like, comment, and subscribe for more and I may just end Sylvie's pining suffering era...

Ok but lmk what you're most excited for in this act I want to hear The People's thoughts