¹𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 ━ 𝗽. 𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻

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⋆ ˚｡⋆ʚ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ɞ⋆ ˚｡⋆
─── ❛ scorpions and reunions ❜ ───

THEY WERE THE FIRST HEROES to return alive to half-blood hill since luke, so of course everybody treated them as if they'd won some reality-tv contest. according to camp tradition, they wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in their honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where they got to burn the burial shrouds their cabins had made for them in their absence.

annabeth's shroud was beautiful, gray silk with embroidered owls.

isabella's was beyond compare, it was pink silk with a dove in the middle and flowers around it. definitely something aphrodite's children will do.

being the son of poseidon, percy didn't have any cabin mates, so the ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud. they'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with x'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word loser painted really big in the middle.

isabella had to admit it was funny.

as apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, percy was surrounded by his old hermes cabinmates, isabella's siblings and friends, annabeth's friends from athena, and grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the council of cloven elders. the council had called grover's performance on the quest "brave to the point of indigestion. horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past."

the only ones not in a party mood were clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told percy they'd never forgive him for disgracing their dad.

even dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen isabella's spirits. "yes, yes, so the little brat didn't get himself killed and now he'll have an even bigger head. well, huzzah for that. in other announcements, there will be no canoe races this saturday..."

isabella's welcome from her siblings was amazing, they organized a slumber party for aphrodite's cabin only. she hugged her siblings and cried with them, they joked and watched classic teenage movies. she decided to talk with them about the whole situation with her mortal parent and her grandma.

"you should see your mother, isa." silena told her. "maybe it's worth it."

but what if it's not? she kept that thought to herself.

her days on camp were like they used to be. she trained with her friends, went to the strawberry field with daisy, meet óscar at hephaestus's workshop. it was amazing.

she still talked with travis, they would spend afternoons together at the lake, or travis would often give her outside snacks and they'd watch marvel movies. isabella wasn't sure yet about her true feeling, but it doesn't hurt to hang out with a friend, right?

percy told isabella one day that sally sold her first life-size concrete sculpture, entitled the poker player, to a collector, through an art gallery in soho. she'd gotten so much money for it, she'd put a deposit down on a new apartment and made a payment on her first semester's tuition at nyu. the soho gallery was clamoring for more of her work, which they called "a huge step forward in super-ugly neorealism."

the boy then showed isabella a note his mother left.

i'm done with sculpture. i've disposed of that box of tools you left me. it's time for me to turn to writing.

at the bottom, she wrote a p.s.

percy, i've found a good private school here in the city. i've put a deposit down to hold you a spot, in case you want to enroll for seventh grade. you could live at home. but if you want to go year-round at half-blood hill, i'll understand.
isabella, i hope to see you around again, please take care of percy. be hard on him if needed.