Those blue eyes. A.C x oc fem

2.8- The Fleece works a little too well.

☆☆☆☆☆☆Victoire Avery☆☆☆☆☆☆

We arrived in Long Island just after Clarisse, thanks to the centaurs' travel powers. Percy and I rode on Chiron's back, but we didn't talk much, especially not about Kronos. I knew it had been difficult for Chiron to tell Percy and me. I didn't want to push him with more questions.

I mean, I know about plenty of bad parents, but Kronos, the evil titan lord who wanted to destroy Western Civilization? Nope, not even my
parents can compete.

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. You know, dragon.

I wasn't too sad untill they told me some of my drawings had been burned, too.

The Big House's rooms were overflowing with wounded. The kids in the Apollo cabin, who were the best healers, had been working overtime performing first aid. Everybody looked weary and battered as we crowded around Thalia's tree.

The moment Clarisse draped the Golden Fleece over the lowest bough, the moonlight seemed to brighten, turning from grey to liquid silver. A cool breeze rustled in the branches and 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 was seeping into the tree, filling it with new power and 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 amphitheatre, where she was honoured with a laurel wreath and a lot of celebrating around the campfire.

Nobody gave Annabeth or Percy 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. Even though while I was an unclaimed I had always wanted some recognization, right now I didn't mind being one of the bunch again.

But still, I won't lie and say and I wouldn't have liked it if some King of the gods sent me a letter with a 'Good job helping saving your sis' tree, stay alive until Christmas if possible.' Obviously that didn't happen.

Later that night, as we were roasting marshmallows and listening to the Stoll brothers tell us a ghost story about an evil king who was eaten alive by demonic breakfast pastries, I sat besides Melody, Val and the twins.

"Hey gu-" I tried to say.

"Not even a note." Melody started.

"You know, Vic," Cástor said. "One thing is going on a quest which everyone knows you're gonna go to that quest..." He looked at Pollux.

"But," Pollux continued. "Sneaking off to go to The Sea of Monsters is very different."

"Completely different." Val said.

I turned to her. "You're out of your cabin."

"Well, camp is celebrating, besides Chris made his choices," she said, her tone was both sad and bitter. "I didn't told him to get out of camp, if he's dead-"