the winemaker's daughter [ percy jackson & the olympians ]

chapter twenty

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚁'𝚂 𝙳𝙰𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝙴𝚁༉‧₊˚.[𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙲𝚈 𝙹𝙰𝙲𝙺𝚂𝙾𝙽 & 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝙻𝚈𝙼𝙿𝙸𝙰𝙽𝚂]

chapter twenty: hey, so good news: we didn't die last chapter

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COMPARED TO mount olympus, manhattan was quiet.

it was the friday before christmas, but it was so early in the morning, and there was hardly anyone was on fifth avenue.

argus, the many-eyed security chief, picked up ashanti, percy, grover and annabeth at the empire state building and ferried them back to camp through a light snowstorm. the long island express was almost deserted.

as they trudged back up half-blood hill to the pine tree where the golden fleece glittered, ashanti half expected to see thalia there, waiting for them. but she wasn't. she was long gone with artemis and the rest of the huntresses, off on their next adventure. the thought saddened ashanti.

chiron greeted them at the big house with hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches ( a nutella one for ashanti since she refused to eat cheese that wasn't on pizza ).

grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about their strange encounter with the magic of pan. within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.

ashanti, percy and annabeth sat with chiron and some of the other senior campers, charlie, silena, and the stoll brothers. even ashanti's friend from the ares cabin was there, back from her secretive scouting mission ( she'd crushed her into a giant hug, glad that ares kept his word and watched out for her ). she knew she must've had a difficult quest, because she didn't even try to pulverize percy. she had a new scar on her chin, and her dirty blond hair had been cut short and ragged, like someone had attacked it with a pair of safety scissors.

"i got news," she mumbled uneasily to ashanti. "bad news."

"i'll fill you in later," chiron said with forced cheerfulness. "the important thing is you have prevailed. and you saved annabeth!" annabeth smiled at ashanti and percy gratefully.

"luke is alive," percy said, looking away from the daughter of athena. he didn't want to see that spark of hope she always got whenever luke was mentioned. "annabeth was right."

annabeth sat up. "how do you know?" ashanti tried not to feel annoyed by her interest. percy told her what his dad had told him about the princess andromeda.

"well." annabeth shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "if the final battle does come when percy is sixteen, at least we have two more years to figure something out." ashanti had a feeling that when she said figure something out she meant get luke to change his ways which annoyed ashanti even more.

chiron's expression was gloomy. sitting by the fire in his wheelchair, he looked really old. he was really old, but he usually didn't look it. "two years may seem like a long time," he said gently. "but it is the blink of an eye. i still hope you are not the child of the prophecy, percy. but if you are, then the second titan war is almost upon us. kronos's first strike will be here."

"how do you know?" ashanti blinked at him worriedly. "why would he care about camp?"

"because the gods use heroes as their tools," chiron answered simply. "destroy the tools, and the gods will be crippled. luke's forces will come here. mortal, demigod, monstrous... we must be prepared. clarisse's news may give us a clue as to how they will attack, but –"