Wildflowers, Percy Jackson ₁

055, feeding time

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

Sylvie thought she knew what dying felt like before. Once upon a time, her own half-sister Eurydice Arandel had completely run Sylvie through with a sword—Sylvie even still had the gauging scar to prove it.

Once upon a time, that was the worst moment of Sylvie's life. She'd been impaled because she was a weak girl who just wanted to believe the sister she hoped was still there for her. She made a foolish mistake that ended up in Sylvie bleeding out. She had her life force fading away as Annabeth, Percy, Nico, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare tried patching her up.

Sylvie knew now that she hadn't been anywhere close to death. Whatever she felt then, she could multiply it by a million.

Her insides were on fire everywhere. This was worse than being stabbed in the back figuratively and literally. This was a culmination of every bad thing Sylvie had been put through in her sixteen years of living. Sylvie couldn't even tell if she was awake or alive or sobbing or screaming or speaking or anything. All she knew was a pain so horrible she wasn't able to see.

Blackjack brought Sylvie to the Plaza Hotel, she knew that much. It was where demigods had taken over the top floors. Under different circumstances, Sylvie would've loved the view from the terrace Blackjack dropped her on. The morning was clear and bright—perfect for a picnic or hike, or pretty much anything except dying from a stab wound and not even for the first time.

Sylvie didn't know how—either Blackjack worked his magic or Sylvie had cried loud enough for someone to hear—but Micheline Hayes and Silena Beauregard had found Sylvie bleeding out on the terrace. Things went in and out of her mind, but Sylvie was pretty sure she heard Mickey calling someone whilst crying. After that, things got even more hectic than they already were.

Sylvie's siblings—at least they weren't dead or actively dying of any wounds—had whipped up a whole buffet in the hotel kitchens; everything from pizza to pineapple ice cream. But they dropped all they were doing when Silena bellowed for them to see what was going on to the middle child of the Demeter cabin.

So Silena was there, Mickey, Sylvie's siblings, and, oddly, the Stoll brothers—who'd happened to be hanging out with the members of Cabin 4 when Silena yelled. Travis had just made Katie his girlfriend seconds before, and Connor had tagged along for moral support. Now the eight of them were providing support elsewhere, and it was catered towards Sylvie's dying frame.

Every slight move hurt, but they couldn't let her just curl up in a ball and die. Connor and Florian, together, had to lift Sylvie up and lay her down on a lounge chair.

Sylvie groaned, shifting slightly, and then a second later turned her head and vomited on Mickey's new shoes. She knew she had to be really bad, because Mickey didn't complain or cry about this at all. Well, she was crying, but it was just because Sylvie was dying.