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AS UNBELIEVABLE AS it is, Manhattan seemed quiet compared to Olympus. Nobody there knew that the world had almost ended about twelve times in the past twenty-four hours, they were just all cozied up at home with their families on the day before Christmas.
Argus picked up the demigods from the Empire State Building and ferried them back to Camp Half-Blood, the expressway nearly deserted.
When they trudged up Half-Blood Hill and past the glittering Golden Fleece at the base of Thalia's tree, they were greeted by Chiron. He lead them into the Big House, ready with hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches.
Grover scurried off to tell his satyr friends about his odd encounter with the magic of Pan, and within an hour, they were all running around in search of coffee.
Annabeth, Laurie, and Percy sat with Chiron and some of the other counselors— Beckendorf, Silena, and the Stoll brothers. Clarisse was there too, having returned from her secret quest.
And she looked like it too. There was a nasty scar on her chin, and her dark hair was cut shorter and uneven, like someone had taken a pair of safety scissors to her beautiful curls.
"I got news," She grumbled uneasily. "Bad news."
She looked at Laurie with meaningful eyes, and she got a feeling that Clarisse's news was something she wasn't going to like.
"I'll fill you in later," Chiron said with a voice of forced cheerfulness. "The important thing is that you have prevailed. And you saved Annabeth!"
Annabeth smiled gratefully at her friends, her eyes shying away when they met Laurie's.
Percy caught none of it and blurted out, "Luke is alive. Annabeth was right."
There was only a beat of silence before,
"What?"
All eyes darted to Laurie. Silena and the Stoll boys looked on with anxious eyes and ears, waiting for an explanation themselves.
Annabeth leaned forward. "How do you know?"
Percy explained what his father had told him about Luke and the Princess Andromeda. How he wasn't sure how, but that the traitor of Camp Half-Blood was alive and more dangerous than ever.
Laurie's gut twisted. That was the last thing she wanted to hear.
She had stared him in the eyes and watched the fear in them as she let him fall, all for them to tell her that it had all been in vain? That it did absolutely nothing but wrench her heart and make her feel a numbing sense of guilt?
