CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

Compared to Mount Olympus, Manhattan was quiet. Friday before Christmas, but it was early in the morning, and hardly anyone was on Fifth Avenue. Argus, the many-eyed security chief, picked up Sylvie, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover at the Empire State Building and ferried them back to camp through a light snowstorm. The Long Island Expressway was almost deserted.

As they trudged back up Half-Blood Hill to the pine tree where the Golden Fleece glittered, Sylvie half expected to see Thalia there, waiting for them. But she wasn't. She was long gone with Artemis and the rest of the Hunters, off on their next adventure. Sylvie wasn't with them, and that fact made her feel immense relief.

Chiron greeted them at the Big House with hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches. Grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about their strange encounter with the magic of Pan. Within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.

Sylvie, Percy, and Annabeth sat with Chiron and some of the other senior campers—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, the Stoll brothers, Castor and Pollux, Lee Fletcher. Even Clarisse from the Ares cabin was there, back from her secretive scouting mission. Sylvie's heart stung a little in envy, that Clarisse had come back from a real mission and Eurydice would never return from a fake one.

"I got news," Clarisse mumbled uneasily. "Bad news."

"I'll fill you in later," Chiron said with forced cheerfulness. "The important thing is you have prevailed. And you saved Annabeth!"

Annabeth smiled at Sylvie and Percy gratefully.

"Luke is alive," Percy suddenly said. "Annabeth was right."

Annabeth sat up. "How do you know?"

Much to Sylvie's despair, Percy told them something about what his dad had said—confirming Luke's health and the Princess Andromeda setting sail once again.

"Hooray," Sylvie shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

Annabeth breezed past saying, "If the final battle does come when Percy is sixteen, at least we have two more years to figure something out."

Chiron's expression was gloomy. Sitting by the fire in his wheelchair, he looked really old. Well... he was really old, but he usually didn't look it.

"Two years may seem like a long time," he said. "But it is the blink of an eye. I still hope you are not the child of the prophecy, Percy. But if you are, then the second Titan war is almost upon us. Kronos's first strike will be here."

"How do you know?" Sylvie asked anxiously. "Why would he care about camp?"

"Because the gods use heroes as their tools," Chiron said simply. "Destroy the tools, and the gods will be crippled. Luke's forces will come here. Mortal, demigod, monsters... We must be prepared. Clarisse's news may give us a clue as to how they will attack, but—"

There was a knock on the door, and Nico di Angelo came huffing into the parlor, his cheeks bright red from the cold.

He was smiling, but he looked around anxiously. "Hey! Where's... Where's my sister?"

Dead silence. Sylvie stared at Chiron. She couldn't believe nobody had told him yet. And then she realized why. They'd been waiting for the questers to appear, to tell Nico in person.

That was the last thing Sylvie wanted to do. But she owed it to Bianca.

"Hey, Nico," Sylvie got up from her chair.

Percy did, too. "Let's take a walk, okay? We need to talk."

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He took the news in silence, which somehow made it worse. Sylvie and Percy kept talking, trying to explain how it had happened, how Bianca had sacrificed herself to save the quest. But Sylvie felt like they were only making things worse.

"She wanted you to have this." Sylvie brought out the little god figurine Bianca had found in the junkyard. Nico held it in his palm and stared at it.

Sylvie, Percy, and Nico were standing at the dining pavilion. The wind was bitter cold, even with the camp's magical weather protection. Snow fell lightly against the marble steps. Sylvie figured outside the camp borders, there must be a blizzard happening.

"You promised you would protect her," Nico said, eyes narrowed on Percy.

Percy looked like he'd been stabbed by a rusty dagger. Sylve put an arm in front of him.

"Nico," she said. "He tried. We all tried. But Bianca gave herself up to save the rest of us. Percy and I told her not to. But she—"

"He promised!"

Nico glared at Percy, his eyes rimmed with red. He closed his small fist around the god statue.

"I shouldn't have trusted either of you." His voice broke. "You lied to me. My nightmares were right!"

"Wait," said Percy. "What nightmares?"

He flung the god statue to the ground. It clattered across the icy marble. "I hate you!"

"She might be alive," Percy said desperately. "We don't know for sure—"

"She's dead." He closed his eyes. His whole body trembled with rage. "I should've known it earlier. She's in the Fields of Asphodel, standing before the judges right now, being evaluated. I can feel it."

"What do you mean, you can feel it?" asked Sylvie.

Before he could answer, Sylvie heard a new sound behind her. A hissing, clattering noise she recognized all too well.

Sylvie drew her daggers, Percy brought out his sword, and Nico gasped. Sylvie and Percy whirled and found themselves facing four skeleton warriors. They grinned fleshless grins and advanced with swords drawn. Sylvie wasn't sure how they'd made it inside the camp, but it didn't matter. She and Percy would never get help in time.

"You two're trying to kill me!" Nico screamed. "You brought these... these things?"

"No!" Sylvie protested. Then, "Well, yes, they followed us, but no! Nico, we never wanted to hurt you. I promise!"

"Run," urged Percy. "They can't be destroyed."

"I don't trust you!" Nico roared.

The first skeleton charged. Sylvie knocked aside its blade, but the other three kept coming. Percy sliced one in half, but immediately it began to knit back together. Sylvie knocked another's head off but it just kept fighting.

"Run, Nico!" Sylvie yelled. "Get help!"

"No!" He pressed his hands to his ears.

Sylvie and Percy couldn't fight four at once, not if they wouldn't die. The duo slashed, whirled, blocked, jabbed, but the skeletons just kept advancing. It was only a matter of seconds before the undead overpowered them.

"No!" Nico shouted louder. "Go away!"

The ground rumbled beneath Sylvie. The skeletons froze. Percy rolled her out of the way just as a crack opened at the feet of the four warriors. The ground ripped apart like a snapping mouth. Flames erupted from the fissure, and the earth swallowed the skeletons in one loud CRUNCH!

Silence.

In the place where the skeletons had stood, a twenty-foot-long scar wove across the marble floor of the pavilion. Otherwise there was no sign of the warriors.

Awestruck, Sylvie looked to Nico.

Percy gaped, "How did you—"

"Go away!" he yelled. "I hate you! I wish you were dead!"

The ground didn't swallow them up, but Nico ran down the steps, heading toward the woods. Sylvie started to follow, but Percy slipped and fell to the icy steps, knocking Sylvie over too. When they got up, Sylvie noticed what he'd slipped on.

Sylvie picked up the god statue Bianca had retrieved from the junkyard for Nico. The only statue he didn't have, she'd said. A last gift from his sister.

Sylvie stared at it with dread, because she understood what it was now.

A statue of Hades, Lord of the Dead.

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Annabeth and Grover helped Sylvie and Percy search the woods for hours, but there was no sign of Nico di Angelo.

"We have to tell Chiron," Sylvie said, out of breath.

"No," Percy said.

Sylvie, Annabeth, and Grover stared at him.

"Um," Grover said nervously, "what do you mean... no?"

"We can't let anyone know," Percy said. "I don't think anyone realized that Nico is a—"

"Son of Hades," Annabeth said. "Percy, do you have any idea how serious this is? Even Hades broke the oath! This is horrible!"

"Wait," Sylvie realized. "Hades didn't break the oath."

"Exactly," said Percy. 

"What?"

"He's their dad," Sylvie explained, "but Bianca and Nico have been out of commission for a long time, since even before World War II."

"The Lotus Casino!" Grover said, and he told Annabeth about the conversations they'd had with Bianca on the quest. "She and Nico were stuck there for decades. They were born before the oath was made."

Sylvie and Percy nodded.

"But how did they get out?" Annabeth protested.

"We don't know," Percy admitted.

Sylvie said, "Bianca told me a lawyer came and got them and drove them to Westover Hall. I don't know who that could've been, or why."

"Maybe it's part of this Great Stirring thing," Percy suggested. "I don't think Nico understands who he is. But we can't go telling anyone. Not even Chiron. If the Olympians find out—"

"It might start them fighting amongst each other again," Annabeth said. "That's the last thing we need."

Grover looked worried. "But you can't hide things from the gods. Not forever."

"I don't need forever," Percy said. "Just two years. Until I'm sixteen."

Sylvie paled at his implications. "But, Percy, this means the prophecy might not be about you. It might be about Nico. We have to—"

"No," he said. "I choose the prophecy. It will be about me."

"Why are you saying that?" cried Sylvie. "You're not carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders anymore. Quit acting like it!"

"I can't let Nico be in any more danger," Percy said. "I owe that much to Bianca. I... I let them both down. I'm not going to let that poor kid suffer any more."

You're a poor kid suffering, too, Sylvie wanted to say. Grover was speaking before she could.

"The poor kid who hates you and wants to see you and Sylvie dead," he reminded Percy.

"Maybe we can find him," Percy said. "We can convince him it's okay, hide someplace safe."

Annabeth shivered. "If Luke or Eurydice get hold of him—"

"They won't," Percy said. "I'll make sure they've got other things to worry about. Namely, me."

And then Sylvie had to tell Miranda and Cedar about Eurydice.

It wasn't Cedar that Sylvie was worried about telling, it was Miranda. She was the sweetest of them all, with a heart so pure that just the idea of tainting it made Sylvie hate herself. Miranda was the youngest sister to Eurydice's oldest sister. She loved Eurydice almost as much as Sylvie did.

But Eurydice didn't love either of them the same. Both of them knew that now.

It shocked Sylvie when Miranda just asked to be alone. She didn't seek comfort, she didn't cry, she didn't hug Sylvie. She just asked to be alone so that she could react alone. Considering Sylvie had just shattered Miranda's view of trust and goodness in the world, Sylvie felt the least she could do was appease her little sister's request. She grabbed Cedar and left Miranda to process what had happened in Cabin 4 alone.

Cedar didn't understand, because he never met Eurydice. He hadn't gotten to know her like the rest of Demeter's kids did. He hadn't built up trust or adoration for the girl, and Sylvie felt sorry for him, until she realized he hadn't gotten his life ruined from building those things either. Then Sylvie envied him.

Now Sylvie was more-or-less babysitting Cedar in a wintry field, though it might've been the other way around. Sylvie was just sat on the frosty grass, leaned back on her hands and sulking as if she were the ten-year-old. It was cold, and she was miserable, but this was where her brother wanted to be. Sylvie wasn't going to go against his wishes.

She'd already ruined the innocence of one little sibling. She wasn't about to do the same for another.

(The news of Nico running away could be saved for another day.)

Cedar had a reason for choosing the dreary outdoors. Apparently, during Sylvie's time spent away on the quest, Cedar forced Miranda to teach him how she'd used her powers. Now, Cedar could grow flowers of his own accord, despite the harsh winter. He was honestly much better at it than Sylvie expected him to be, with so little practice and all. She could hear Cedar scurrying, gathering flowers, as a cold breeze blew through her hair. Sylvie shivered, but she didn't get up.

She looked up just as Cedar came toddling towards her, his arms a burst of color—whites, pinks, purples, blues, yellows, and even a single red.

"Shit, Cedar," Sylvie cursed as Cedar dumped his collection before her proudly. "I mean—shoot. You did good here."

Cedar sent her a maniacal smile. "I'm gonna braid your hair with them."

Sylvie blinked as his words settled in.

"Oh, gods," she groaned. "Should I be worried?"

Cedar eagerly kneeled behind Sylvie. "No way, I'm a genius at braiding hair. I used to braid my old foster sister's hair all the time."

The thing about Cedar, was that his parents died at a very young age. Before he could even remember them, actually. Practically his whole life he'd been in the social care system, searching for a place to belong to. He was half-way between one foster home and the next when Maron the satyr found him. Now, Cedar was here—somewhere he did belong.

Cedar suddenly turned Sylvie's head forwards. "Hold still!" he ordered, beginning to take handfuls of Sylvie's hair, tugging them into place.

"Ow!" Sylvie said after a particularly harsh pull.

"Sorry," Cedar said cheerfully, and began to braid in earnest.

Sylvie let out a breath and let Cedar do as he wished. She'd never been around anyone as focused as Cedar was in that moment, working through Sylvie's hair, pausing only to debate on what flowers should go where. And Sylvie, for her part, did not move at all, or let out so much as a word of complaint.

"There," Cedar said at last, tying the end of the braid off with a green ribbon in the shape of a bow.

Sylvie reached back and ran her hands delicately over the elegant braid and the flowers woven into it. She blinked in surprise. Her mouth turned up into an impressed grin. "Cedar, it's actually... really good."

"I'm not done yet!" Cedar said, and he held up the singular, red geranium. "This one's my favorite," he added as he gently tucked the flower behind Sylvie's ear, the one with a swirl and dangling wheat earrings, "because geraniums represent siblings."

Sylvie stiffened. Her mouth opened and closed, like she was trying to breathe but forgot how, before she finally said, "Are we family, then?"

Cedar stood and brushed grass from his pants. "Well, obviously."

"Obviously?"

That Christmas, Sylvie came home to her dad, and she sobbed.

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BAILEY YAPS...

ACT 2 IS OVER!!! This is crazy 'cause I did this one in 6 days. I'm scared and I'm Hamilton. Thank you to everyone reading because I wouldn't even have any motivation to write if it wasn't for y'all. Me and Sylvie love you all so so so so much. Wildflowers is yours just as it is mine <3

Okay sentimental part over EW WHO WAS THAT!

Everyone blames Percy for everything and makes him be the hero and lets him carry everyone's burdens Except for Sylvie btw. Just btw.

Oh BOTL Persylv the plans I have for you...

Also sorry this chapter was short as fuck please don't blame me... I'm just the messenger... And I cut out the book's end to give you a probably sadder end... BUT HEY! Flower braiding scene! I couldn't help myself. Cedar St. James I'm keeping you in my pocket forever.

Same with you Miranda Gardiner. I've somehow grown very fond of you.

Anywho Sylvie slowly being forced to learn how to be a big sister... Just like Eurydice was forced to... Ha

That Christmas, Sylvie came home to her dad, and she sobbed.