Wildfires, Heroes of Olympus ₂

078, on your left!

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
SILVIANA                  DUVALL

Pushing through a curtain of mucus was almost as fun as Sylvie imagined.

(Not fun at all.)

She emerged feeling like she'd just rolled through a giant's nostril. Fortunately, none of the gunk stuck to her, but her skin tingled with revulsion.

Percy, Annabeth, and she found themselves in a cool, damp pit that seemed to be the basement level of a temple. All around them, uneven ground stretched into darkness under a low ceiling of stone. Directly above their heads, a rectangular gap was open to the sky. Sylvie could see the edges of walls and the tops of columns, but no monsters... yet.

The camouflage membrane had closed behind them and blended into the ground. Sylvie pressed her hand against it. The area seemed to be solid rock. They wouldn't be leaving the way they'd come.

Annabeth ran her hand along some marks on the ground—a jagged crow's foot shape as long as a human body. The area was lumpy and white, like stone scar tissue.

"This is the place," she said. "Percy, these are the trident marks of Poseidon."

Hesitantly, Percy touched the scars. "He must've been using his extra-extra-large trident."

"This is where he struck the earth," Annabeth said, "where he made a saltwater spring appear when he had the contest with my mom to sponsor Athens."

"So this is where the rivalry started," Percy said.

"Yeah."

"Well..." Percy contemplated for a few moments, before sticking his hand out for Annabeth to shake. "The rivalry ends here, Wise Girl. You've been the best friend a drooling twelve-year-old boy could ever have."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She grasped Percy's hand, but instead of shaking it, she pulled him into a hug. Sylvie watched with a smile.

"You've been the best friend a neurotic twelve-year-old girl craving validation could ever have, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, pulling away.

Feeling a sudden rush of adoration for her friends, Sylvie threw her arms around Percy's and Annabeth's necks and pulled them in, since they were much taller than her.

"I just appreciate you guys," she said. "So much."

Percy and Annabeth squeezed her right back. Sylvie was getting a little crushed, but she didn't care.

"Glad you joined us instead of 'gardening,' Duvall," Annabeth teased.

When they let go of her, Sylvie gasped in offense.

"It was a valid excuse! That quest messed up my botanic schedule big time!"

Percy grinned, looking fonder than ever with his sea-green eyes on Sylvie. She should've expected what he was about to do, really. But, without warning, Percy pulled Sylvie close and kissed her.