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"percy's back!"
the call rang through all of camp. a second later connor — who was on watch — blew his conch horn. silena got up quicker than i could blink, and ran. i followed her, clarisse and aurora behind us.
we reached the dining pavilion where percy was already standing. i looked around, but i couldn't see beckendorf. it was then that i recognized the look on percy's face, and my heart dropped. his expression was one filled with guilt.
beckendorf didn't make it.
"where is he?" silena muttered.
"lena," i tried to grab her, but she shoved her way through the crowd. "oh, gods."
i followed her closely, hoping to catch her and talk to her, but boy was she fast. i noticed people giving us looks at both of our disheveled appearances. i'd been going on so many combat mission, it didn't even matter to me anymore. but silena was a different story.
she never even left the cabin without makeup.
"where's charlie?" she demanded, looking around like he might be hiding (kind of hard for when you're built like a fridge).
percy glanced helplessly at chiron.
the old centaur cleared his throat. "silena, my dear, let's talk about this at the big house—"
"no," she muttered. "no. no."
she started to cry. my heart hurt at the loss of charlie. i put an arm around silena and pulled her close to me. i patted her back, her sobs rattling the otherwise empty pavilion. tears were threatening my own vision but my eyes found percy's.
guilt was swirling through the pools of green, and i shook my head slightly. i didn't want him beating himself up over this. not when the rest of us needed him. not when i needed him to stay strong.
it was my fault. not percy's. beckendorf asked if i wanted to come, but i said no. i could've gone with them, i could've saved him.
"c'mon, girl," clarisse took silena from my arms, "let's go the big house. i'll make you some hot chocolate."
