chapter eighty-four

─── i interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to be serious

          𝕻eople are always used to me being the stupid one. I think, ever since I was young, I learnt that to make people feel better about themselves, I had to make a fool out of myself. Being serious was never really my thing.

But when you're looking at the shrouds of children you knew, who were younger than you, being burnt because they died in a fight that you helped cause? I couldn't even begin to think of a joke for that.

Throughout the entire evening, I sat away from everyone else. I didn't want company, didn't want to look at someone and think that soon, perhaps they'd be dying on my behalf again whilst I was protected so that I could kill the Titan Lord.

The funeral pyres were lit in the middle of the amphitheatre and people took the time to grieve and mourn together.

I scratched at the hellhound scars from years ago, before huffing and walking away. The next days were spent treating the wounded, repairing the damage to the woods and getting ready for the Council of Cloven Elders to decide Grover's fate. That was the only time I interacted with others. I wanted to make sure that Grover was alright.

"Haven't seen you in a bit." Luke muttered, looking down at me softly. "How's the legs?"

"Still tingling." He hummed, before we listened to the proceedings. Sileus was trying to exile Grover, but was persuaded to see sense and hear evidence. Luke, Annabeth and I were called to the stand to describe the crystal cavern, before others described the weird sound Grover had made, that had sent the Titan's army underground.

"It was panic," insisted Juniper. "Grover summoned the power of the wild god."

"Preposterous!" Silenus bellowed. "Sacrilege! Perhaps the wild god favoured us with a blessing. Or perhaps Grover's music was so awful it scared the enemy away!"

"That wasn't it, sir," Grover said. He sounded a lot calmer than I would have if I'd been insulted like that. "He let his spirit pass into all of us. We must act. Each of us must work to renew the wild, to protect what's left of it. We must spread the word. Pan is dead. There is no one but us."

"After two thousand years of searching, this is what you would have us believe?" Silenus cried. "Never! We must continue the search! Exile the traitor!"

Some of the older satyrs muttered assent.

"A vote!" Silenus demanded. "Who would believe this ridiculous young satyr, anyway?"

"I would," said a familiar voice.

Everyone turned. Striding into the grove was Dionysus. The satyrs all stood respectfully and bowed as he approached. Dionysus waved his hand, and a new chair grew out of the ground next to Silenus's —a throne made of grapevines. Dionysus sat down and crossed his legs. He snapped his fingers and satyr hurried forward with a plate of cheese and crackers and a Diet Coke.

The god of wine looked around at the assembled crowd. "Miss me?"

The satyrs fell over themselves nodding and bowing. "Oh, yes, very much, sire!"

"Well, I did not miss this place!" Dionysus snapped. "I bear bad news, my friends. Evil news. The minor gods are changing sides. Morpheus has gone over to the enemy. Hecate, Janus, and Nemesis, as well. Zeus knows how many more."

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Hecate, Puck's mother." Luke cussed beneath his breath. "We need to speak with Brooke."

"Even Zeus doesn't know. Now, I want to hear Grover's story. Again, from the top." Dionysus ignored Luke.

"But, my lord," Silenus protested. "It's just nonsense!"

Dionysus's eyes flared with purple fire. "I have just learned that my son is dead, Silenus. I am not in a good mood. You would do well to humour me."

Silenus gulped, and waved at Grover to start again.

When Grover was done, Mr. D nodded. "It sounds like just the sort of thing Pan would do. Grover is right. The search is tiresome. You must start thinking for yourselves." He turned to a satyr. "Bring me some peeled grapes, right away!"

"Yes, sire!" 

"We must exile the traitor!" Silenus insisted.

"I say no," Dionysus countered. "That is my vote."

"I vote no as well," Chiron put in.

Silenus set his jaw stubbornly. "All in favour of the exile?"

He and the two other old satyrs raised their hands.

"Three to two," Silenus said.

"Ah, yes," Dionysus said. "But unfortunately for you, a god's vote counts twice. And as I voted against, we are tied."

Silenus stood, indignant. "This is an outrage! The council cannot stand at an impasse."

"Then let it be dissolved!" Mr. D said. "I don't care."

Silenus bowed stiffly, along with his two friends, and they left the grove. About twenty satyrs went with them. The rest stood around murmuring uncomfortably.

"Don't worry," Grover told them. "We don't need the council to tell us what to do. We can figure it out ourselves."

He told them again the words of Pan—how they must save the wild a little at a time. He started dividing the satyrs into groups—which ones would go to the national parks, which ones would search out the last wild places, which ones would defend the parks in the big cities.

"You remember when he used to panic before making any decision ever." Luke cocked an eyebrow, he and I watching Grover take charge. 

"Yeah." An uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach. All of this change was beginning to get to me.

∘☽༓☾∘

Later that afternoon I found Tyson at the beach, talking to Briares. Briares was building a sand castle with about fifty of his hands. He wasn't really paying attention to it, but his hands had constructed a three-story compound with fortified walls, a moat, and a drawbridge.

Tyson was drawing a map in the sand.

"Go left at the reef," he told Briares. "Straight down when you see the sunken ship. Then about one mile east, past the mermaid graveyard, you will start to see fires burning."

"You're giving him directions to the forges?" I asked.

Tyson nodded. "Briares wants to help. He will teach Cyclopes ways we have forgotten, how to make better weapons and armor."

"I want to see Cyclopes," Briares agreed. "I don't want to be lonely anymore."

"I doubt you'll be lonely down there," I said a little wistfully, because I'd never even been in Poseidon's kingdom. "They're going to keep you really busy."

Briares's face morphed to a happy expression. "Busy sounds good! I only wish Tyson could go, too." 

Tyson blushed. "I need to stay here with my sister. You will do fine, Briares. Thank you."

The Hundred-Handed One shook my hand about a hundred times. "We will meet again, Andromeda. I know it!"

Then he gave Tyson a big octopus hug and waded out into the ocean. We watched until his enormous head disappeared under the waves.

I clapped Tyson on the back. "You helped him a lot."

"I only talked to him."

"You believed in him. Without Briares, we never would've taken down Kampê ."

Tyson grinned. "He throws good rocks!"

I laughed. "Yeah. He throws really good rocks. Come on, big guy. Let's have dinner."

∘☽༓☾∘

It felt good to have a regular dinner at camp. Tyson sat with me at the Poseidon table. The sunset over Long Island Sound was beautiful. Things weren't back to normal by a long shot, but when I went up to the brazier and scraped part of my meal into the flames as an offering to Poseidon, I felt a little less doom and gloom than I previously had. My friends and I were alive. The camp was safe. Kronos had suffered a setback, at least for a while.

The only thing that bothered me was Nico, hanging in the shadows at the edge of the pavilion. He'd been offered a place at the Hermes table, and even at the head table with Chiron, but he had refused.

After dinner, the campers headed toward the amphitheatre, where Apollo's cabin promised an awesome sing-along to pick up our spirits, but Nico turned and disappeared into the woods. I decided I'd better follow him, waving for Luke to walk ahead.

As I passed under the shadows of the trees, I realized how dark it was getting. I'd never been scared in the forest before, though I knew there were plenty of monsters. Still, I thought about yesterday's battle, and I wondered if I'd ever be able to walk in those woods again without remembering the horror that I'd seen.

I couldn't see Nico, but after a few minutes of walking I saw a glow up ahead. At first I thought Nico had lit a torch. As I got closer, I realized the glow was a ghost. The shimmering form of Bianca di Angelo stood in the clearing, smiling at her brother. She said something to him and touched his face—or tried to. Then her image faded.

Nico turned and saw me, but he didn't look mad.

"I was hoping this wasn't going to be like last time we were in the woods." I sat down on a tree trunk. "Not really in the mood to be yelled at."

"Saying good-bye," he said hoarsely.

"We missed you at dinner," I said. "You could've sat with me."

"No."

"You're leaving again, aren't you?"

"I-" He stopped. "Yeah, I am."

"Nothing I can say to stop you? Like, we're all nice people, you can come and stay with me and Luke in New York and they do really good birthday cakes?"

That drew a chuckle out of Nico.

"When will you go?" I asked.

"Right away. I've got tons of questions. Like who was my mother? Who paid for Bianca and me to go to school? Who was that lawyer guy who got us out of the Lotus Hotel? I know nothing about my past. I need to find out."

"That sounds like the start of a very, very good plan." 

He lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry I was a brat, to you. I should've listened to you about Bianca."

"By the way..." I fished something out of my pocket. "Luke had this laying around the house. Thought you might want it." I held out a lead figurine of Hades—the little Mythomagic statue Nico had abandoned when he fled camp last winter.

Nico hesitated. "I don't play that game anymore. It's for kids."

"It's got four thousand attack power ," I coaxed.

"Five thousand," Nico corrected. "But only if your opponent attacks first."

I smiled. "Maybe it's okay to still be a kid once in a while." I tossed him the statue. "Take it from someone who's old and ancient and wishes she could be one."

Nico studied it in his palm for a few seconds, then slipped it into his pocket. "Thanks."

I put out my hand. He shook reluctantly. His hand was as cold as ice.

"Ah, got you." I grinned, pulling him into a hug as I rocked him back and forth. "You are my younger cousin, so know that my home is your home. Come by any time. My mom makes super good cookies and, they're bright blue."

Nico tightened his grip if that was possible, his bony fingers digging into my ribs.

"Thank you." His eyebrows furrowed as I ruffled his hair. "You know, I can see why they chose you to be the hero."

With that, he trudged off into the woods, the shadows seeming to bend towards him as I pondered over his words.

A voice right behind me said, "There goes a very troubled young man."

I turned and found Dionysus standing there, dressed in a dark suit.

"Walk with me," he said.

"Where to?" 

"Just to the campfire," he said. "I was beginning to feel better, so I thought I would talk with you a bit. You always manage to annoy me."

"Thanks."

We walked through the woods in silence. I noticed that Dionysus was treading on air, his polished black shoes hovering an inch off the ground. I guess he didn't want to get dirty.

"We have had many betrayals," he said. "Things are not looking good for Olympus. Yet you, Luke and Annabeth saved this camp. I'm not sure I should thank you for that."

"It was a group effort."

He shrugged. "Regardless, I suppose it was mildly competent, what you three did. I thought you should know—it wasn't a total loss."

We reached the amphitheatre, and Dionysus pointed toward the campfire. Clarisse was sitting shoulder to shoulder with a big Hispanic kid who was telling her a joke. It was Chris Rodriguez, the half-blood who'd gone insane in the Labyrinth.

I turned to Dionysus. "You cured him?"

"Madness is my specialty. It was quite simple."

"You did something nice. Why?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I am nice! I simply ooze niceness, Amy Johansson. Haven't you noticed?" 

"Uh—"

"Perhaps I felt grieved by my son's death. Perhaps I thought this Chris boy deserved a second chance. At any rate, it seems to have improved Clarisse's mood."

"Why are you telling me this?"

The wine god sighed. "Oh, Hades if I know. But remember, girl, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword. As a mortal, I was never a great fighter or athlete or poet. I only made wine. The people in my village laughed at me. They said I would never amount to anything. Look at me now. Sometimes small things can become very large indeed."

He left me alone to think about that. And as I watched Clarisse and Chris singing a stupid campfire song together, holding hands in the darkness, where they thought nobody could see them, I had to smile because Dionysus was right.

Sometimes it wasn't about the big events in life, it was about the little bits in between.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

It's been a while. I kind of lost motivation for this book a bit, but we're back and better than ever. I'm excited to get into Last Olympian in the chapter after this but Andi is back.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx