❝In a fight, they're lethal. Around each other, they melt❞
"I'm fine." I said, trying to hide the frown and tears that threatened to spill.
Percy looked at me once.
"I'm not going anywhere, unless you tell me what's wrong," he declared and I would h...
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"—assume he is dead," Chiron said. "After so long a silence, it is unlikely our prayers will be answered. I have asked his best surviving friends to do the final honors."
They were all looking forward, watching as Annabeth took a long green silk burial cloth, embroidered with a trident, and I set it up on the flames. They were burning a shroud for Percy. He'd been gone for two weeks.
I turned to face the audience. Annabeth looked terrible. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and I knew I didn't look much better. She couldn't seem to talk so I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and talked instead."He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He..." Then she saw him. The bloody boy was standing right there. Just watching us like a doofus. "He's right there!"
Heads turned. People gasped.
"Percy!" Beckendorf grinned. A bunch of other kids crowded around him and clapped him on the back. I heard a few curses from the Ares cabin, but Clarisse just rolled her eyes, like she couldn't believe he'd had the nerve to survive. Chiron cantered over and everyone made way for him.
I stood there like an idiot, mouth open, rage barely concealed. He really decided to never reach out to us, never tell us he was alive and then everyone acted like everything was perfectly fine.
"Well," he sighed with obvious relief. "I don't believe I've ever been happier to see a camper return. But you must tell me—"
"Where the fuck have you been?" I demanded, walking through the crowd, a glare fixed on my best friend. My hand was balled at my side and I wrapped him in a bone crushing hug. The other campers fell silent. I realized I was making a scene and quickly pushed him away, grabbing his arm. I still wasn't sure he wasn't a ghost. "I– we thought you were dead, maledetto idiota!"
"I'm sorry," Percy said. "I got lost."
"Lost?!" I scoffed, a scowl crossing my features. "Oh really? You were gone two weeks Percy! I wasn't even sure if you were in the underworld or not! Nico couldn't figure it out, you were completely blocked from all of us!"
"Novalie," Chiron interrupted. "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!"
Without waiting for us to protest, he picked up Percy and I as easily as if we were kittens, slung us both on his back, and galloped off toward the Big House.
Percy explained what had happened over the last two weeks but I still felt like it wasn't the entire truth. He claims he'd caused the explosion at Mount St. Helens and got blasted out of the volcano. He told us he'd been marooned on an island. Then apparently Hephaestus had found him and told him he could leave. Then a magic raft carried him back here.
