Daughter Of Lightning - Book 2 (A Percy Jackson x OC fanfic)

CHAPTER 32

(Ella's POV)

We arrived in Long Island just after Clarisse, thanks to the centaurs’ travel powers.

Percy & I hadn't spoken at all since the Princess Andromeda....which I know was weird but...I don't know anymore..

I guess I've just been unintentionally trying to avoid him because I know the way Annie feels towards him & since she's my best friend it doesn't feel right to get in the way of her trying to be with him...ah, nevermind that.

When we 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 & crafts cabin had burned to the ground from an attack by a Draco Aionius (which as near as I could figure was Latin for “really big lizard with breath that blows stuff up”).

The Big House’s rooms were over flowing with wounded. The kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid.

Everybody looked weary & battered as we crowded around Thalia’s tree.

The moment Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest bough, the moon light seemed to brighten, turning from gray to liquid silver.

A cool breeze rustled in the branches & 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 seeped into the tree, filling it with new power & 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 amphitheater, where she was honored with a laurel wreath & a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

Nobody gave Percy, Annie or me a second look. It was as if we’d never left.

In a way, I guess that was the best thank-you anyone could give us, because if they admitted we’d snuck out of camp to do the quest, they’d have to expel us.

I didn’t really want any more attention. Although I wished that...no I shouldn't even be thinking like that for once....

Later that night, we were roasting s’mores & listening to the Stoll brothers tell us a ghost story about an evil king who was eaten alive by demonic breakfast pastries.

I sat far away from the others & no one even noticed that I was there.

Eventually I just settled on heading back to my cabin & calling it a night.

The next morning, after the party ponies headed back to Florida, Chiron made a surprise announcement: the chariot races would go ahead as scheduled.

We’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 & the camp was safe.