A web of fates | Percy Jackson and the Olympians

XVII| back home

They were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so of course everybody treated them as if they had 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 so beautiful- gray silk with embroidered owls- Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. She punched him and told him to shut up.

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.
It was fun to burn.

Daphne shroud was a beige silk, embroider with a cascudus the symbol of her father.

As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, she was surrounded by her half-siblings and her friends.

Upon her return, she had received bone crushing hugs from everyone including Luke (who seemed very relieved to see her).

Despite her suspicions of her half-brother, Daphne didn't mention it to anybody. She was scared to know the truth.

So she ignored it, putting it out of her mind and hugged Luke back.

The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates (apart from Oliver) whose poisonous looks told Daphne they'd never forgive Percy for disgracing their dad.

That was okay with him.

Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen the 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...."

On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions.

They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles.

According to Daphne and Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky.

The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors.

As Daphne, Annabeth and Percy were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell them good-bye.

He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age.

His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human.

"I'm off," he said. "I just came to say...well, you know."

Annabeth gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on. Percy asked him where he was going to search first.

"Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan..."

"We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?"

"Yeah."

"And you remembered your reed pipes?"

"Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat." But he didn't really sound annoyed.