CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

Sylvie was sort of panicked about cabin inspection, for the first ever time in her life.

Every afternoon, one of the senior counselors came around with a papyrus scroll checklist. Best cabin got first shower hour, which meant hot water guaranteed. Worst cabin got kitchen patrol after dinner.

Usually, the Demeter cabin got fives, and maybe fours on a bad day. But now, Sylvie sort of figured she was on cabin cleanup duty for the next few weeks considering what she'd done during chariot racing. Which meant: cabin inspection time, but no clean cabin.

Sylvie sped over toward the commons area, where the twelve cabins—one for each Olympian god—made a U around the central green. She startled to a stop pretty quick when her cabin was in view.

Cedar was sweeping Cabin 4 out and Miranda was making fresh flowers grow in their window boxes. Florian snapped his fingers—honeysuckle vines bloomed over their doorway and daisies covered their roof.

"Wha—" Sylvie blinked.

"Florian made us do your dirty work," Cedar grumbled, finally done with his sweeping.

Sylvie looked to Florian incredulously. "You did?" He was the last person she'd ever expect to do that for her.

"Well, someone was off with her boyfriend, so we sort of had to," Florian covered his kindness easily. Sylvie saw right through it. "You're welcome, by the way."

"Thanks," she mumbled, because addressing what Florian had actually done was deeper than she wanted to go. He had undeniably been nicer to Sylvie recently, and she knew why. She just hated it.

"Are you super embarrassed?" Miranda asked eagerly.

"Yeah, 'cus you crashed the chariot when Percy showed up?" grinned Cedar.

"That's not what happe—!" Sylvie tried arguing, but she blew out a heavy breath to calm herself. So quick to anger these days. "That's not why I crashed the chariot. And I didn't mean to."

"You never mean to," Florian quipped, leaning against the porch's railing and sending her an assholish grin.

Sylvie rolled her eyes, shaking her head lowly to hide the entertained grin growing on her face. "You don't get a say in this," she said. "You were off with Castor and Pollux, because you hero-worship them too much."

Florian shrugged easily. "Maybe if you were awesome, I'd hero-worship you, too."

Sylvie scoffed. "I'm awesome."

"Henriette, if you have to say 'I'm awesome' to prove you're awesome, you are not awesome."

She glared, but she would like to think this served as a good sign of growth, because she didn't try attacking Florian for the nickname. Sylvie pointed at her other brother, said, "Cedar thinks I'm awesome."

"Yeah," Cedar raised an excited hand, "Sylv's awesome."

"Well, Cedar never saw you trip into the camp's lake, land on a naiad, then get to a fight with said naiad."

"I did!" Miranda cheered. "Now, that was awesome."

Sylvie's face burned a deep red, and not in the fun, giddy way it usually did. Just in the embarrassed way that could only be associated with spending time around her siblings. She could say she hated it, but none of them were sobbing or angry, so this was kind of the best interaction they've shared all summer. Minus Katie. Sorry, Katie.

Then somebody behind her said, "Hey, guys."

Silena Beauregard was standing before the steps to their porch, holding her inspection scroll.

"Can I come in?" she smiled kindly.

Sylvie discreetly shared a look with Florian at the tone of her voice. However, they still granted Silena access into their cabin while Miranda and Cedar scurried away, happy to not be cleaning anymore.

She stepped into the open cabin, and Sylvie was grateful to see that the inside was just as neat as the exterior. Like always, Demeter's cabin was filled to the brim with plants—like adding one more would be too much, but somehow, the inhabitants always found space for more.  The grassy floor was neatly cut, and the oak tree in the middle of the cabin that held up the ceiling was trimmed of stray branches. All of their bunks were in order, with the sheets on their wooden cots made and their wheat-filled pillows propped up. Silena did a quick twirl, then grinned at Sylvie and Florian standing next to each other.

"You guys have outdone yourselves again. See you later."

Then Silena left the room. Sylvie and Florian finally let out the particular expressions they were holding back.

See, Silena Beauregard was great. Sylvie never had a problem with her, and she still sort of didn't. It wasn't her behavior in particular that irked the older Demeter kids, it was everyone's.

Ever since Eurydice's betrayal last winter, campers were treading carefully around the Demeter cabin. Like they were sick children or glass about to shatter. Even just now, Silena had talked to them so pitifully, and had graded them with such favor. Sylvie just wanted it all to stop. She wanted to go back to the way things were before and pretend like everything was normal. Eurydice was still here. She didn't betray her family. She wasn't off plotting their demise with Luke.

"Next thing you know they'll get us 'get well soon' mugs," Florian sassed.

Sylvie huffed, both amused and deadpan. "Don't forget the 'I'm sorry for your loss' cards."

"It just pisses me off," snapped Florian. "Part of them treating her differently is what got us into this mess in the first place, and now they're doing the same with us!"

Sylvie knew who her was. They had trouble saying her actual name out loud.

She shrugged. "I think they're acting this way because they're sorry about how they treated... her. At least, this time, it's them being nicer instead of—you know."

"Predicting her betrayal that was obviously coming but none of us saw it because we adored her too much?"

Sylvie couldn't help it. Her head turned towards the bed Eurydice used to sleep in.

The cot was as perfectly made as every other bunk in the cabin, and the neatness of it all made Sylvie's gut twist. You couldn't even tell the bunk was ever lived in. All of Eurydice's belongings were gone, her trunk wasn't at the foot of the bed, and the decorative plants she'd grown were long rotten. If anyone new were to stand in this cabin, they wouldn't know Eurydice Arandel existed. She left nothing behind but a burning impression on all the lives she changed, and then broke.

"I'm going to see Katie," Sylvie said when the thought of a different older sister became too much.

Florian nodded, letting the conversation shift easily. "Yeah, I'm sure she's going to welcome you with open arms after you broke her ankle."

"I. Didn't. Mean. To!" she cried incredulously.

"You. Always. Say. That!" Florian gestured dramatically to the whiteboard posted up on the wall.

DAYS SINCE SYLVIE'S LAST ACCIDENT!!!!

0 :(

"Alright, this summer will be different," promised Sylvie. "Just y'all wait."

Sylvie caught her mistake immediately. She groaned in despair as an amused smirk grew on Florian's face.

"Sure thing, Henriette," Florian tipped a fake cowboy hat.

Somehow, it was only funny when Percy did it. With Florian, Sylvie could only refrain the urge to strangle him with her bare hands.

╰━━━ ◦ ❀ ◦ ❀◦ ━━━╯

"Please don't try and kill me," was the first thing Sylvie pleaded as she wandered into Katie's section of the infirmary. Then, "Oh. Hey, Will. And... Cedar?"

"Hey, Sylvie," Will Solace beamed that typical, bright smile of his. He sent her a friendly wave.

"I'm learning how to help Will in the infirmary," Cedar disclosed, doing nothing to contain his excitement. "There's so many medicinal properties in the herbs we can grow, Sylvie! Why'd you never tell me?"

"I... guess I never thought about it like that," Sylvie shrugged awkwardly. "Um, Katie, you don't want to kill me, right?"

"Not anymore," Katie grumbled.

"Good!" Sylvie cheered. She held up a bouquet of wildflowers that she was hiding behind her back. "Now I don't need to bribe you with this."

"Wait!" Katie leaned forward in her infirmary bed. "I still want it..."

"Thought so," Sylvie grinned.

"We can go put the bouquet in some water for you," Will offered, a kind way of trying to give Sylvie and Katie some alone time. "If you want."

Katie grinned gratefully at Apollo's young son. "Thanks, Will. You really are the best kid, you know."

"Hey, what about me?!" Cedar protested.

She rolled her eyes fondly. "You're the best, too. When you're not trying to rub poison ivy on me."

"I'm new at this! Cut me some slack!"

"Here, just take this, buddy," Sylvie handed him the bouquet before her siblings' bickering could increase. She grabbed the top of his head and wiggled it a little, a touch that he stretched into and laughed at.

Cedar held the bouquet with both his hands. "Okay, fine. C'mon, Will. We will be back."

A blank silence.

"Get it? Will? Like you, Will?"

Will sighed.

"Let's just go," he clapped Cedar on the back. The two boys left the infirmary with Cedar desperately trying to explain his joke further, and Will's bright smile being put back on his face.

Sylvie found that she was smiling, too. She was grateful beyond compare that Cedar was making friends at camp. He'd been really bummed after Nico's "random disappearance" last winter. But he didn't let that knock him down, apparently. It didn't matter that Sylvie didn't understand Cedar's interest in healing—he was happy, and that was all she cared about.

"They're certainly going to be a duo," Katie commented.

Sylvie laughed lightly. "Yeah, that's for sure," she agreed, sitting in the chair next to Katie's bed. "It's weird that Mom somehow only has sons that can pass as Apollo's kids."

"One's into music and one's now into medicine," Katie realized, growing amused as well. "Wow. We're doing great at being Demeter kids, aren't we?"

The question was asked with so much deprecation that the smile fell from Sylvie's face, leaving with a heavy exhale.

"Sorry for throwing you off our chariot. Again."

"It's fine," Katie shook her head tiredly. "My ankle will be fine by tomorrow."

"And, hey," Sylvie searched for the bright side, "at least I got you and Travis closer!"

Katie sat straighter in outrage. "That's not a positive, I hate Travis!"

"Oh," she said blankly. "Right. Sure."

"He's annoying, and he's unserious, and have you forgotten when he decorated our roof with chocolate Easter bunnies?!"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. You hate Travis Stoll," Sylvie raised her hands in her defense. Not everyone can realize they like people as quickly as Sylvie did. She'd just give Katie more time.

"I do," Katie said gruffly.

"I'm sure," Sylvie agreed in a bland tone. Then, before she got caught in another tangent about Katie's poorly-hidden crush, "Hey, we still need to decide who's acting as senior counselor this week. I think it's our job for cabin inspections on Friday."

See, Eurydice's betrayal hadn't only been an issue for mental health reasons. Her absence meant that she was no longer Demeter cabin's head counselor anymore. Since Katie was now oldest in the cabin, it should be her, but she was absolutely adamant on taking the role. Sylvie sort of knew why. Katie was temperamental and strict—combining that with campers like Clarisse, Travis, Connor, etc. could be a very unhelpful mix. Sylvie's been in their meetings once, the last thing they needed was more arguing.

That would leave Florian to take the role next, but he didn't want it, either. It was "too much responsibility for him to handle," which really meant that he'd rather spend his time singing musicals and playing the guitar. Sylvie also understood this, because Florian could rarely be serious if his life depended on it. She'd known him for a long time, and was even close with his dad because Mr. Whitlock always brought Sylvie to and from the airport every year, but she'd only seen Florian be serious a handful of times. That could also be an unhelpful mix (again, using examples like Travis and Connor Stoll, or even Castor and Pollux).

That would leave Sylvie to take the role next, but come on. Look at her. In what universe would Sylvie Duvall ever want to carry the weight of being in charge of a whole cabin? It was way too much pressure, and it was nothing Sylvie was cut out for. Her siblings argued that she'd already filled the role once during the winter, or that she'd been on two quests which gave her loads of experience, but Sylvie still thought they were insane. They wanted her to be head counselor, but they kept a data board of how frequently she screwed up. It was ironic. And stupid.

Now, Katie, Florian, and Sylvie were sort of juggling the role. They planned to keep on doing it until Chiron made them pick—Luckily, he'd been giving them leeway because of the whole "sad, betrayed siblings" thing. He didn't have to know that their failure to pick a senior counselor had nothing to do with their Eurydice-related misery, for once.

"I can do the cabin inspections," Katie said. "It's the only thing I actually like doing."

"That's because you like being judgemental," she pointed out.

Katie shrugged. "True."

She caught Sylvie off guard by suddenly letting out a guttural growl of annoyance, very similar to Florian's frustration earlier. That's how Sylvie was instantly able to tell where the conversation was going. Her gut churned.

"If only she hadn't fucking—Ugh!" Katie gripped the sheets so hard her knuckles turned white. "We wouldn't have to be having this argument in the first place!"

Sylvie looked at where Katie held her sheets and nowhere else. She didn't want to think about Eurydice. She didn't want to see Atlas's domain in her mind. She didn't want to smell rotted strawberry fields. She didn't want to be that defenseless little sibling who dropped her weapons on purpose. She didn't want to be that weak girl crying in Percy's arms, sobbing with no seeming end.

But also:

"I don't want you to feel like that," Sylvie's voice was dry. "I really—You know, I can be the senior counselor. I wouldn't have been so adamant if I'd known..."

I wouldn't have been so adamant if I'd known I'd make you feel as suffocated as Eurydice made me feel.

Katie's grip on the sheets loosened. Sylvie heard her let out a weighted breath.

"Sylv, stop. This isn't on you," Katie sounded exhausted. "You've been carrying too much weight recently—the cabin, these quests... It's too much. You're too young."

"I don't need to be protected, Kates," Sylvie said weakly.

"Then why do you always look so sad?"

Sylvie's eyes locked on Katie's. "What?"

"Whenever you think no one's watching, you look so sad, Sylv. But I see you. The moment you're alone, you—you get this look on your face. Like you're carrying some heavy weight and you're trying to find somewhere to set it down, but there's nowhere. I've seen that look before, Sylvie, and that's why I'm scared for you. Because Eur—"

"Don't," Sylvie croaked. It was the first time one of them dared to utter her name since December. "Don't compare me to her, Katie. I'm nothing like her."

Whenever you think no one's watching. Why would Katie say that? Why would she dare say that?

"Prove it, then." Katie suddenly said, making Sylvie jerk back against her chair. "Do what she never had the guts to do, and tell me. Tell me what's wrong, Sylvie."

Sylvie's chest felt tight with the pressure. This was too much, too fast. She wanted to pinch herself and wake up three years ago, when nothing was wrong expect for a haunted farm. She wanted her dad. She wanted her eldest sister.

"You want to talk about noticing things you shouldn't, Katie?" Sylvie whispered, trying to ignore the ever-tightening vines around her neck. "Eurydice did things when she thought no one was watching, too. She used to sit outside our porch or—or look in a certain direction... when she thought no one was watching."

Whenever you think no one's watching. Whenever you think no one's watching. Whenever you think—

"But I saw. And she was always staring at the same place. The window of Cabin 11 that Luke used to sleep under." Sylvie swallowed, shaking with grief, and maybe with relief, too. "I think she was saying goodbye long before she left."

For a moment, the only response to her words was silence. Sylvie was afraid to look up, to see if Katie had left, angry and betrayed.

"Sylv," Katie whispered, and Sylvie couldn't help but finally, finally glancing up Katie's way. Her older sister looked sad for her, "Are you okay?"

Sylvie raised an eyebrow. She swallowed thickly. "Are you?"

Katie shook her head, desperate for Sylvie to latch on. To connect with her like she used to.

"I'm worried about you," said Katie.

Sylvie didn't expect the wry laugh that came out of her. "Yeah, I'm worried about me, too."

"You know it wasn't your fault, right?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Sylvie gaped in response. Her mind searched desperately through her thousands of thoughts for an answer, grasping for some semblance of an answer that would provide Katie comfort. Just like most things, Sylvie couldn't do it.

"Kates," she choked, "I—"

"BOOTS!" an excited voice cheered.

Sylvie was so shocked by who the speaker was, so bewildered of his presence, that she stood up and turned around completely. All previous thoughts and emotions washed away when Sylvie was staring at one, large brown eye.

"Tyson?" Sylvie questioned incredulously.

Tyson ran forward. If you've never been charged by an enthusiastic Cyclops wearing a flowered apron, Sylvie was telling you, it'll snap you out of a depressive state quick.

"You're back from the forges!" Sylvie communed in his excitement. "Ow, watch the ribs. The ribs."

Sylvie managed to survive his bear hug. He put Sylvie down, grinning like crazy. His teeth were as yellow and crooked as ever, and his hair was a rat's nest. He wore ragged XXXL jeans and a tattered flannel shirt under his flowered apron.

And then, as if Sylvie couldn't have been more shocked, Percy came stumbling into Katie's quadrant, too. Literally. Like, he had just been shoved and was now tripping over himself not to fall down.

Shock number three came in the form of Micheline Hayes—wearing a backwards, pink hat with her hair in a messy-yet-somehow-perfectly-messy bun—being the one who had pushed Percy in with two hands.

"I am!" Tyson answered happily, unphased by Percy and Mickey's dramatic entrance. Or the fact that the two of them were together. Sylvie couldn't relate. "You are okay? Not eaten by monsters?"

"Not even a little bit." Sylvie showed him that she still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson clapped happily.

"Yay!" He said. "Now you, me, and Percy can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!"

"Right," Katie spoke from her infirmary bed. "Excuse me, what?"

"Sorry," Percy said sheepishly, his cheeks pink for some reason. But he was staring at Sylvie, not Katie. "Tyson just really wanted to see you."

Mickey surprised Sylvie further by casually throwing an arm around Percy—to either tease or annoy him, Sylvie couldn't tell. "And I guessed correctly where you were. Because I'm your best friend, of course. Not some kelp face."

She sent a very pointed look to Percy that dared him to fight Mickey's title.

"Uh, yeah," Percy nodded stiffly. He looked so nervous that Sylvie embarrassingly found it adorable.

"Mickey," she defended him regardless. "Leave the poor guy alone."

"Oh, he's fine," Mickey grabbed his outer shoulder with the arm she'd thrown around him, shaking Percy. "Aren't you, Jackson?"

Percy sent Sylvie eyes that said Help me! but was too afraid not to say, "I'm great, yup."

Mickey sent Sylvie a perfect Aphrodite kid wink.

"Perfect," Mickey gave Percy's shoulder one last squeeze before letting go. "Well, now that my work here is done. I'm gonna get back to kicking Phoenix's ass in pegasus riding. Have fun with Jackson, Sylvie." She smirked. "And Tyson."

"Thanks, Hayes," Percy called out a little meekly as Mickey pivoted out of the infirmary room. Sylvie just flipped her off.

Before anyone else could speak, Katie was nodding. "That was a perfect exit from Micheline, honestly. Maybe all of you should try recreating it."

Sylvie wanted to break her sister's other ankle.

"You want us to copy the pretty girl?" Tyson asked.

"Sort of," Sylvie patted Tyson on the back encouragingly before Katie put her two cents in again. "Let's go find Annabeth, Tyson. How about that?"

"Annabeth!" Tyson jumped. He made the ground shake when he landed, and Katie looked one second away from throttling them all.

So they left.

╰━━━ ◦ ❀ ◦ ❀◦ ━━━╯

BAILEY YAPS...

WILL SOLACE MENTION IN 2024?!??!

MICKEY HAYES CAMEO IN 2024?!?!?!?

Idk if I should be saying this but every day I lowkey think about what it would've been like if I made Mickey and Annabeth a thing and Florian and Phoenix a thing. Just imagine in another universe those ships thrived. I'm sorry.

(Potential Wildflowers social media au book??????)

Ok but three cheers for Cedar and Will friendship. Cedar, my pacifist wanna-be healer I love you so... The best Solangelo bestie ever... All of Demeter cabin is miserable and he's j like Lalala cus he never knew Eurydice So real

Whatever you do don't think about "And I was so young when I behaved 25, yet now I find I've grown into a tall child" and Sylvie Duvall. Just don't. You might be crushed. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Chapter title lowk so true Eurydice Arandel when I find you... When I catch you Eurydice...