❛015❜

THEY ARRIVED IN long island just after clarisse, thanks to the centaurs' travel powers. ivy rode on the back of a centaur named jamal, they chatted the whole way. although the knowledge of percy knowing about the prophecy remained in the back of her mind.

when they got to camp, the centaurs were anxious to meet dionysus. they'd heard he threw some really wild parties, but they were disappointed. the wine god was in no mood to celebrate as the whole camp gathered at the top of half-blood Hill.

the camp had been through a hard two weeks. the arts and crafts cabin had burned to the ground from an attack by a draco aionius. the big house's rooms were overflowing with wounded. the kids in the apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid. everybody looked weary and battered as we crowded around thalia's tree.

the moment clarisse draped the golden fleece over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from grey to liquid silver. a cool breeze rustled in the branches and rippled through the grass, all the way into the valley. everything came into sharper focus – the glow of the fireflies down in the woods, the smell of the strawberry fields, the sound of the waves on the beach.

gradually, the needles on the pine tree started turning from brown to green.

everybody cheered. it was happening slowly, but there could be no doubt – the fleece's magic was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and expelling the poison.

chiron ordered a twenty-four/seven guard duty on the hilltop, at least until he could find an appropriate monster to protect the fleece. he said he'd place an ad in olympus weekly right away.

in the meantime, clarisse was carried on her cabin mates' shoulders down to the amphitheatre, where she was honored with a laurel wreath and a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

nobody gave annabeth or me a second look. it was as if they'd never left. in a way, ivy guessed that was the best thank-you anyone could give them, because if anyone admitted they'd snuck out of camp to do the quest, they would be expelled. and, really, ivy didn't want any more attention.

later that night, they roasted marshmallows and listened to the stoll brothers tell a ghost story about an evil king who was eaten alive by demonic breakfast pastries. ivy didn't shy away from absorbing the utter happiness camp brought her. across the she could see clarisse giving percy grief about something, gabriel sat with his siblings talking with a lot of hand gestures since he didn't have his arm sling anymore, rae was annoying little will to no end. looking towards the hermes cabin section, ivy frowned when she didn't spot ethan.

abruptly, tobias plopped himself next to her, swinging his arm around her, "two quests on the bag, sis. we should build you a shrine in the cabin."

ivy laughed, shoving a chocolate covered marshmallow in her mouth, "i agree. make sure they get my nose right, though. i heard the nose is the hardest part to draw in a portrait."

"i'm glad you're home," he shook her shoulder, "olympus knows we all go half crazy when you're running to save the world."

the next morning, after the party ponies headed back to florida, chiron made a surprise announcement: the chariot races would go ahead as scheduled. they'd all figured they were history now that tantalus was gone, but completing them did feel like the right thing to do, especially now that chiron was back and the camp was safe.

tyson wasn't too keen on the idea of getting back in a chariot after his first experience, and ivy simple didn't want to be a part of it after seeing it. at the end they concluded that percy would drive, annabeth would defend, tyson would be the pit crew, and ivy would help design the chariot. while percy worked with the horses, tyson fixed up athena's chariot and added a whole bunch of special modifications along with ivy's design.

the night before the race, ivy had her head buried in her closet, looking for her outfit for the next day. the problem? she brunette couldn't decided what to wear. for some unknown reason she had the urge to look her best at the race. she chalked it up for her being partly involved in it, but that didn't seem to be it.

after she threw yet another piece of clothing over her head out of frustration, her siblings decided that they'd heard enough whinnying from her.

"that's it!" sydney complained as she entered the massive closet. "i'm making you the fucking outfit if it gets you to stop complaining."

"i'll help," lydia added, walking in after sydney. "if you let me do your makeup and post it on my insta." she smiled sweetly at ivy, batting her eyelashes. lydia had quite the following on social media, her talent with fashion and makeup rightly earning them. she was the only person ivy trusted other than herself and silena to put makeup on her.

with a sigh, ivy relented, "fine, but my color scheme is blue and grey. why is it so hard to match blue and gray?!"

"it's not that hard to match," silena suddenly appeared, leaning against the closet door. the older girl walked close to ivy, narrowing her eyes at her, "unless you want to show off to someone..."

stopping in their tracks from rummaging the clothes racks, sydney and lydia whipped around to stare at ivy.

"did you finally notice?" lydia questioned cautiously. the three girls shared looks, leaving ivy completely out of the silent conversation.

"notice what exactly?" ivy stared at them back.

"oh dear," sydney said hopelessly, "she's still clueless."

"what do you mean?" ivy was getting frustrated now. "clueless to what? that you guys are a bunch of rabid bitches?"

"no cursing," silena chastised.

sydney smiled sarcastically, "you take the prize as the biggest bitch out of all of us."

"she means nothing," lydia intervened. "sydney just meant if you were clueless to... just how some shades of blue look awful on you."

"oh, fuck you. i look great in any shade of blue!"

the day of the chariot race was here, and everybody was buzzing about it, though they kept glancing nervously towards the sky like they expected to see stymphalian birds gathering. none did. it was a beautiful summer day with blue sky and plenty of sunshine. the camp had started to look the way it should look: the meadows were green and lush; the white columns gleamed on the greek buildings; dryads played happily in the woods.

as annabeth and percy drove onto the track, ivy couldn't help admiring the work she did with tyson to the athena chariot. the carriage gleamed with bronze reinforcements delicately. the wheels were realigned with magical suspension so we glided along with hardly a bump. the rigging for the horses was so perfectly balanced that the team turned at the slightest tug of the reins.

ivy kept the gray color of the chariot, adding blue accepts along with a bit of bronze. the designed a logo on the front, it had an owl and a trident meshed perfectly together.

tyson had also made percy and annabeth two javelins, each with three buttons on the shaft. the first button primed the javelin to explode on impact, releasing razor wire that would tangle and shred an opponent's wheels. the second button produced a blunt (but still very painful) bronze spearhead designed to knock a driver out of his carriage. the third button brought up a grappling hook that could be used to lock on to an enemy's chariot or push it away.

ivy leaned against the chariot. "sweet, right?" she asked her friends. "tyson and i do made the dream team."

tyson nodded happily. after they got back to camp, ivy had apologized profoundly for how she had acted. she explained vaguely why she had acted like that, telling him that she has had bad experiences with a cyclops in the past but that it had been wrong of her to take it out on him. being the big hearted guy he was, tyson had accepted her apology.

"it's awesome," percy said with a nod of his head. "we're gonna crush it."

"we better," annabeth mounted the chariot. "i didn't train to lose."

"and i didn't match my outfit with a losers chariot," ivy made a hand gesture to show off her clothing.

she wore an outfit put together by her sister, a white spaghetti strap dress with dotted baby blue flowers on it, a light grey cardigan on top, paired with baby blue slip on heels. she was wearing a full face of makeup, since lydia was going to post it on social media, otherwise ivy wouldn't have worn such heaviness on her face in the middle of summer. her eyelids were of the soft blue color, gray rhinestones were placed on top of her brow bone and they connected with the outer corner of her eye, there were also four other rhinestones placed below her eyes, all wrapped up with a light pink colored lipstick.

annabeth was busy poking things around in the chariot, tyson was fiddling with something in his hands, ivy huffed at the lack of appreciation to her effort.

"i– i think you, uh– i think you look pr– pretty," percy stumbled out, smiling awkwardly with a deep blush on his cheeks.

ivy smiled at percy, her cheeks reddening. "thank you," she replied a little breathlessly.

"aha!" tyson exclaimed, snapping the two demigods out of their moment.

the brunette cleared her throat, "i should get to the stands. lots of cheering to do," she said hurriedly, "good luck!"

ivy walked swiftly towards where the crowd was standing, she passed the stoll brothers. connor greeted her with a small wave before focusing back on his chariot. travis, on the other hand, nodded his head at her and smiled at her, maybe a little... flirtatious? she simply smiled and waved back, pushing the flirting aside, until he winked at her. okay, definitely flirting. she wasn't sure what she thought of that.

standing with the crowd, ivy took a spot next to gabriel. her siblings taking a place too high on the stands for her liking, she wanted to be close to the action.

"who are you rooting for?" ivy asked gabriel. his cabin wasn't taking part on the race, choosing to watch instead.

"annabeth," gabriel said without messing a beat. his eyes widen at his own words. "i– i mean, um– percy too of course. annabeth and percy. as a team. not annabeth alone."

ivy turned towards her friends slowly, mouth hanging open. "oh my god."

gabriel kept his eyes on the track, "oh, look at the ares chariot. how ugly, don't you want to criticize it?"

"you are totally crushing on annabeth!" ivy squealed jumping up and down in her spot. annabeth and gabriel weren't friends themselves, more like friendly acquaintances through her. but both of her best friends getting together would be absolutely perfect. she could see how the two could make a great match for each other, annabeth would provide the usually in-another-planet gabriel the grounding that he often lacked while he could push her out of her comfort zone.

"no," he argued weakly. gabriel looked around frantically to see if anybody was listening in to their conversation, "okay, fine. maybe i have a bit of a crush. but don't get any ideas, ivy. i know how you are with playing matchmaker."

she pouted like a child, stomping her foot but gave in to his wishes. "oookay."

gabriel sighed, dramatically whipping imaginary sweat off of his forehead, "thank you."

ivy stayed silent for a whole three second, "but maybe if i–"

chiron blew the starting signal. much to gabriel's delight.

percy and annabeth shot down the track so fast ivy wondered how they hadn't fallen off. the wheels glided beautifully, it's bronze colored gleaming in the sun. they took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the stoll brothers in the hermes chariot.

"they'd got it!" ivy yelled, but she spoke too soon.

"hijo de mil puta!" gabriel said. the brunette knew he was stressed based on him switching to spanish, that only happens when he's stressed stressed.

annabeth threw her first javelin in grappling-hook mode, knocking away a lead-weighted net that would have entangled them both. apollo's chariot had come up on their flank. before annabeth could rearm herself, the apollo warrior, lee fletcher, threw a javelin into their right wheel. the javelin shattered, but not before snapping some of their spokes. their chariot lurched and wobbled. ivy was sure the wheel would collapse altogether, but her two friends somehow kept going.

they were now neck and neck with apollo. hephaestus was coming up close behind. ares and hermes were falling behind, riding side by side as clarisse went sword-on-javelin with connor.

annabeth picked up her second javelin – a real risk considering they still had one full lap to go – and threw it at the apollo driver, michael yew.

"vamos, annabeth!" gabriel cheered for the blonde.

her aim was perfect. the javelin grew a heavy spear point just as it caught the driver in the chest, knocking him against lee and sending them both toppling out of their chariot in a backwards somersault. the horses felt the reins go slack and went crazy, riding straight for the crowd. campers scrambled for cover as the horses leaped the corner of the stands and the golden chariot flipped over. the horses galloped back towards their stable, dragging the upside-down chariot behind them.

percy managed to hold their own chariot together through the second turn, despite wacky wheel. they passed the starting line and thundered into their final lap.

"take that you putains!"

the wobbling wheel was making annabeth and percy lose speed, even though the horses were responding to percy's every command, running like a well-oiled machine.

the hephaestus team was still gaining.

beckendorf grinned as he pressed a button on his command console. steel cables shot out of the front of his mechanical horses, wrapping around their back rail. their chariot shuddered as beckendorf's winch system started working – pulling them backwards while beckendorf pulled himself forward.

annabeth drew her knife. she hacked at the cables but they didn't cut.

"la concha de tu madre, beckendorf!"

the Hephaestus chariot was now dangerously close, their horses about to trample them underfoot.

suddenly, annabeth pulled herself to the front and grabbed the reins. percy uncapped riptide. he slashed down and the cables snapped like kite string. they lurched forward, but beckendorf's driver, jake mason, just swung his chariot to their left and pulled up next to them. beckendorf drew his sword. he slashed at annabeth and percy parried the blade away.

they were coming up on the last turn. they'd never make it. percy needed to disable the hephaestus chariot and get it out of the way, but ivy suspected his priority was to protect annabeth, too. just because beckendorf was a nice guy didn't mean he wouldn't send them both to the infirmary if they let their guard down.

they were neck and neck now, clarisse coming up from behind, making up for lost time.

beckendorf threw a leather pouch into percy and annabeth's chariot. it stuck to the floor immediately and began billowing green smoke.

it was greek fire. they had seconds before everything blew up.

"eso es trampa, bolodu!" gabriel complain, his hands flying everywhere.

ivy prayed they could get rid of it, although she doubted percy could do it. hephaestus's chariot was still alongside, waiting until the last second to make sure their little present blew up. beckendorf was keeping percy busy with his sword. if he let his guard down long enough to deal with the greek fire, annabeth would get sliced and they'd crash anyway.

percy punched a button in a watch ivy had never seen on him before. instantly, the watch changed. it expanded, the metal rim spiralling outwards like an old-fashioned camera shutter, a leather strap wrapping around percy's forearm until he was holding a round war shield a meter wide, the inside soft leather, the outside polished bronze engraved with designs ivy couldn't examine from afar.

the son of poseidon raised the shield and beckendorf's sword clanged against it. his blade shattered. percy knocked beckendorf in the chest with his new shield and sent him flying out of his chariot, tumbling in the dirt.

the greek fire was shooting sparks inside the chariot. percy shoved the tip of his sword under the leather pouch and flipped it up like a spatula. the firebomb dislodged and flew into the hephaestus chariot at the jake's feet. he yelped.

in a split second jake made the right choice: he dived out of the chariot, which careened away and exploded in green flames. the metal horses seemed to short-circuit. they turned and dragged the burning wreckage back towards clarisse and the stoll brothers, who had to swerve to avoid it.

annabeth pulled the reins for the last turn, percy held on until they got across the finish line. the crowd roared.

once the chariot stopped, ivy sprinted towards her friends. everyone mobbed around the winners.

"that was amazing!" ivy exclaimed, throwing her hands around annabeth quickly before retracting and lounging for percy, too. "terrifying to watch, but awesome."

they both laughed at her comment. the crowd started chanting their names, but annabeth yelled over the noise, "hold up! listen! it wasn't just us!"

the crowd didn't want to be quiet, but annabeth made herself heard: "we couldn't have done it without somebody else! we couldn't have won this race or got the fleece or saved grover or anything! we owe our lives to ivy and tyson, percy's..."

"brother!" percy said, loud enough for everybody to hear. "tyson, my baby brother."

tyson blushed. the crowd cheered.

in the adrenaline rush, ivy planted a kiss on percy's cheek. for a half a second, it was just the two of them. not the crown, the cheering, or anything else. it dawned on her, right then and there. she, ivy mary fitzgerald was crushing hard on percy jackson.

holy fuckity fuck, ivy thought.

the roaring getting louder snapped them out of their moment. the entire athena and aphrodite cabin lifted percy, annabeth, ivy, and tyson onto their shoulders and carried them towards the winner's platform, where chiron was waiting to bestow the laurel wreaths.

that afternoon was one of the happiest and weirdest ivy had ever spent at camp, which maybe goes to show, you never know when your world is about to be rocked to pieces.

the daughter of aphrodite had accepted that she was in fact crushing on percy. she has a crush on percy jackson. percy jackson, the son of poseidon. she was crushing on perseus achilles jackson, who used to be her sworn enemy now best friend. agh! it still sounded weird.

anyways, after swallowing that dry and bigass pill of news on her emotions. ivy found it a bit difficult to be around percy without well... flirting. because she was a natural flirt, but it was hard to fight against her nature. mostly, no– entirely, based on the fact that she knew percy wouldn't return her feelings. they were friends, former enemies, he had no reason to like her. hell, she wouldn't blame him if he hated her for being so mean to him when at goode. besides, ivy had never had a crush for longer than a few months, she was sure it'll pass and everything would go back to normal in no time. so she decided to keep her crush to herself, there was no need to make a fuss out of nothing.

grover announced that he'd be able to spend the rest of the summer with them before resuming his quest for pan. his bosses at the council of cloven elders were so impressed that he hadn't got himself killed and had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two-month furlough and a new set of reed pipes. the only bad news: grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, and his musical skills hadn't improved much. he played ymca, and the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around their feet like they were trying to strangle something. ivy couldn't blame them.

later on when ivy was giving percy archery lessons with chiron, the centaur pulled her aside. they discussed briefly about her powers and how they were going to approach her so-called training. at the end, chiron concluded that it was best for her to do something she hasn't done in a long time. she was to stay as a year rounder until she got a hold of her powers, which by the way the ceiling of the aphrodite cabin looked due to her emotions, control would take a while.

gabriel had almost started crying when she told him, ivy felt just about the same. she had found an adoptive family with the delgados, and now she had to stay at camp for an unknown amount of time. a part of her feared she might never get control.

as for tyson, chiron had informed annabeth, grover, and ivy of his departure to his internship in the cyclops's forges. she was completely hyped for him, tyson was truly talented with his work and she had no doubt he would learn a lot.

when the three friends found percy looking dejected at the waved of the long island sound, ivy had no doubt the boy would miss his little brother. her heart broke a little for him.

"hey, perce," ivy made their presence known behind him.

percy turned, blinking rapidly. ivy fought the urge to run an wrap him in a hug.

"tyson..." he told them. "he had to..."

"we know," annabeth said softly. "chiron told us."

"cyclopes' forges," grover shuddered. "i hear the cafeteria food there is terrible! like, no enchiladas at all."

ivy held out her hand. "come on, seaweed brain. time for dinner."

they walked back towards the dining pavilion together, just the four of them, like old times.

a storm raged that night, but it parted around camp half-blood as storms usually did. lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in their valley. they were protected again thanks to the fleece, sealed inside their magical borders.

still, her dreams were restless. ivy heard kronos taunting her from the depths of tartarus: the little wielder finally realized who she is. no matter what you do, your friends will perish at my hand. join me, little hero. join me.

she woke up with a start.

james came running towards her, "ivy!" he stammered. "annabeth... on the hill... she..."

te look in his eyes told her something was terribly wrong. annabeth had been on guard duty that night, protecting the fleece. if something had happened–

ivy ripped off the covers, her blood like ice water in my veins. she threw on some a hoodie so she wouldn't actually flash her boobs at anybody while james tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. "she's lying there ... just lying there..."

she ran outside and raced across the central yard, james right behind me. dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. word was spreading. something huge had happened. a few campers were already making their way towards the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pijamas.

ivy heard the clop of horse hooves, and chiron galloped up behind them, looking grim. percy and grover appeared with him, ivy rushed towards them, leaving james behind.

"is it true?" the centaur asked grover.

grover could only nod, his expression dazed.

ivy tried to ask what was going on, percy too, but chiron grabbed them by their arm and effortlessly lifted them onto his back. together they thundered up half-blood hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.

ivy expected to see the fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn. the storm had broken and the sky was blood-red.

"curse the titan lord," chiron said. "he's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."

"what do you mean?" percy asked.

"the fleece," he said. "the fleece did its work too well."

ivy paled in recognition of what was happening. they galloped forward, everyone moving out of their way. there at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. annabeth in her greek armour was kneeling next to her.

her head was swarmed with questions, about luke, about kronos, the prophecy, and mostly of her.

the tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy, suffused with the essence of the golden fleece.

"it healed the tree," chiron said, his voice ragged. "and poison was not the only thing it purged."

when annabeth saw them, she ran to chiron. "it... she... just suddenly there..."

her eyes were streaming with tears, but ivy could barely register it all. the brunette hoped off chiron's back at the same time as percy. she brought annabeth into her arms, her best friend sobbed into her shoulder.

percy ran towards the unconscious girl. chiron said, "percy, wait!"

percy knelt by her side. she had short black hair and freckles across her nose. she was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and goth – a black t-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with badges from a bunch of bands ivy knew only music geeks like her dad would hear.

she wasn't a camper. ivy knew exactly who she was. annabeth had described her to detail many times before.

"it's true," grover said, panting from his run up the hill. "i can't believe..."

"how is it–" ivy sounded breathless in disbelief.

nobody else came close to the girl.

percy put my hand on her forehead. "she needs nectar and ambrosia," he said.

he took her by the shoulders and lifted her into a sitting position, resting her head on his shoulder.

"come on!" percy yelled to the others. "what's wrong with you people? let's get her to the big house."

no one moved, not even chiron. they were all too stunned.

then the girl took a shaky breath. she coughed and opened her eyes.

her irises were startlingly blue – electric blue.

the girl looked bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed. "who –"

"i'm percy," he said. "you're safe now."

"strangest dream..."

"it's okay."

"dying."

"no," percy assured her. "you're okay. what's your name?"

even before she said it, ivy knew it.

the poisoning of the tree. everything. kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play – another chance to control the prophecy.

even chiron, annabeth, and grover, who should've been celebrating this moment, were too shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future. and percy was holding someone who was destined to be his best friend, or possibly his worst enemy.

"i am thalia," the girl said. "daughter of zeus."

a speaks!

argentinian spanish, hijo de mil puta - (roughly) goddamn son of a bitch.
argentinian spanish, vamos, annabeth - let's go annabeth.
argentinian spanish, la concha de tu madre - go fuck your mother (but not really? mom's do be offended tho)
from french, putains - whore
anyway???? double update???? THE END OF SEA OF MONSTERS????
yall shit is getting real real. a lot happened in this chapter like ivy and her feeling of wtvr queen we stan
IM SO EXCITED FOR TITANS CURSE U HAVE NO IDEA

thoughts???