CHAPTER FIFTEEN
—stupid fleece powers

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—JUDITH wasted no time getting off of her centaur's back, whose name she learned was Kladion ( with a 'K.' He specifically emphasized this fact ). Instead of giving a polite thank you for his graciousness, she high-fived him and ran off, only one thing on her mind.

It wasn't hard to find her sister as she was surrounded by campers, all of them eager to see the Golden Fleece in all its glory. Judith pushed her way through, not minding the grunts and protests she received in return. If they knew what was good for them, they wouldn't say anything about it. She had just helped save the camp, she deserved some respect.

Clarisse lightened at the sight of her. "Jude!"

They did an elbow bump, something the Ares cabin alumni had started as a greeting long before the current campers were born. "I'm glad you made it back but how ..." She trailed off in bafflement.

Judith gestured over to the herd of party ponies at the bottom of the hill. "They're incredibly fast." She avoided mentioning Luke and the minor held up they had.

"Well, good to see you," she said before turning to drape the Fleece over Thalia's pine tree. There was silence as everything around them sharpened into focus. Things that were bright became lighter, and the shadows became darker; giving more contrast to the sickly world they had become accustomed to the past few months.

Everyone cheered, all moving to fist bump the daughters of Ares for their success.

There were a few of Hermes campers that approached after the cheering died down a bit. Judith's breath trembled and she twisted her leather arm guard every which way until Clarisse snatched her wrist in her hand to stop her anxious movements. They didn't ask anything but Judith knew what was on their mind; Clarisse sullenly shook her head, feeling it was her responsibility considering she was the leader. The campers closed their eyes and took deep breaths.

"He was a good one," Clarisse made an effort.

Judith could only think of how she'd also gotten to see Luke, their other brother ( if they even considered him that anymore ); the two boys couldn't be more different if they tried. Bryce was good where Luke was not. Bryce didn't deserve his fate.

That night, there was a funeral held for him by the lake. A white and yellow shroud was made up, a caduceus stitched on it perfectly, the symbol of Hermes. The newly appointed heads of their cabin, the Stoll brothers, lit the pyre and stood back. All Judith could think in that moment was how he had wanted to come back and tell his family that he was a hero.

Well, he was a hero. To her, he was.

Judith tried to steel her face through the whole thing, but she had to leave early and go for a walk. Her throat was starting to burn with an unkempt fire.

—THE announcement Chiron made the next day about the continuation of the chariot races brought a bout of uneasiness, but after the campers began to realize they were truly safer, they warmed up to it. More teams signed up to participate — now intermingling between cabins. The centaur made sure that regulations were put in place to limit the danger factor that Tantalus had blatantly ignored.

Clarisse was more than ready to get back out there and pulverize the competition, rules and regulations or not. Judith could only laugh as she sharpened up weapons while listening to Clarisse's specialized plans for each chariot in the race. She had stayed up all night ( annoying all her siblings ), concocting her strategic takedown. At one point, Sherman finally threw a steel toed boot at her and she got the message.

Nobody could stand still the morning of the race, and Judith was no exception. Despite her small amount of sleep, she was hyped up on adrenalin and was not about to let a little fatigue ruin her and Clarisse's shot at winning again. It seemed, however, that not everyone was able to hide their exhaustion.

Her sister came running up, "Jackson looks like a dead-man walking."

Curiously, Judith scanned over the track to see the boy with slumped shoulders and awful bedhead. It was pitiful, and the daughter of Ares was lapping it up, just knowing it would give them the edge they needed against his chariot. Clarisse had been stuck on what to do with the Poseidon/Athena pairing, eventually just deciding to cross that bridge when they got to it.

Clarisse just chuckled deviously and hopped on the back of the chariot, "We got this." Judith nodded with her own smirk and guided the horses to the starting line.

Chiron waited patiently for all the competitors to line up before blowing his conch. Judith didn't even need to snap the reins for the horses to get into action. They were quickly attacked as the other teams believed they had to take out the hardest opponent first to get ahead. Clarisse knocked away a couple javelins that were thrown aimlessly.

"That all you got?!" Clarisse shouted. Judith rolled her eyes but had a big smile on her face as she attempted to catch up to Percy and Annabeth who weren't too far ahead.

She had to veer out of the way of the Apollo chariot as Annabeth had taken out both their driver and fighter with one swipe. Gleefully, Judith saw Lee and Michael curse and throw their helmets down in frustration.

Clarisse was struggling with the Stoll brothers behind them which allowed the Hephaestus chariot to go full steam ahead.

"'Risse, you need to clean this up quick!" Judith growled back at her.

"I'm handling it!" With that, she swiped quickly and the Hermes brothers were left to fall out of their chariot, taking them out of the race.

"Finally," Judith muttered and picked up the pace.

Judith could see Percy and Beckendorf sword-fighting up ahead when all of a sudden, Percy's watch transformed into a shield. Not only that but as soon as Beckendorf's sword came down on it, his metal shattered leaving his hand empty. Judith was stunned. Too stunned to realize that Percy and Annabeth had crossed the finish line a second ahead of them.

Clarisse growled but she had also seen the shield work like magic. There was a part of them that resented their loss, but at the same time, couldn't be mad that Percy and Annabeth won fair and square.

Annabeth yelled over the crowd of roaring campers. "Hold up! Listen! It wasn't just us!" The crowd barely quieted but she continued. "We couldn't have done it without somebody else! We couldn't have won this race or gotten the Fleece or saved Grover or anything! We owe our lives to Tyson, Percy's —"

"Brother!" Percy cut in, finally proud enough to call him that. Judith nodded along with the crowd; the young cyclops deserved his credit.

—CLARISSE had calmed down from the loss relatively fast since her mood was still sky high from her successful quest. Their whole cabin was relieved as no one liked dealing with an angry Clarisse.

Judith left their cabin after seeing her sister wouldn't destroy anything and instead would just retell stories about their quest. And that was something she didn't need to relive. She walked along the sand dunes and watched the water. She'd had her fair share of it that year and wasn't really tempted to stick her toes in for a dip ( she never was usually, but now she had a reason ).

She did, however, happen to see Percy and Tyson giving each other a heartfelt goodbye along the shore. Judith couldn't help herself but watch as Tyson whistled out to the water. One of the rainbow hippocampus they'd ridden earlier bubbled to the surface. Tyson proceded to sit on its back and ride off towards the horizon.

Judith just stared, confused. She then looked over to Percy as he expanded his shield from his wristwatch. She watched in admiration again at the bronze.

She walked over. "That thing's amazing," she gushed.

Percy spun to face her. "Yeah, it is," he said, noticing the artwork hammered into it.

Judith paused when she saw a figure that looked like her stabbing Orieus on the Princess Andromeda, "Wow. So where is he headed?"

She realized that might have been insensitive as Percy was obviously downtrodden about Tyson leaving so soon, but he could get over it. He breathed deeply and looked out at the water, "My dad's forges. He was given an internship to make weapons down there."

"That's perfect for him," she said. "If that shield is anything to go by, he'll fit right in down there."

He nodded, smiling softly.

"Hey, Percy, Judith." They both turned to see Annabeth and Grover at the top of the sand dune.

"It's time for dinner," Annabeth said. "Let's go."

—THAT night, the Ares cabin was alerted to a disturbance with the Fleece on the hill. Clarisse was up and ready first, ready to protect her quest reward at all costs. She was promptly throwing Judith her armor and weapons to get her up too.

"I'm up, I'm coming." She resisted a yawn.

Clarisse nodded and fled the cabin, Judith not long after, her brothers and Maya Brown still dwindling inside.

Judith stopped just behind Clarisse at the crest of the hill, both looking around confused. The Fleece was still there and intact, no monsters, no fires. They both walked closer to the gathering campers at the base of the tree. Judith paused at the sight of a girl, covered in decaying pine needles and moss, laying between the roots of the tree. Her eyes were shut tight, but she was breathing.

"That's not ... it can't be ..." Clarisse shook her head.

Annabeth looked up at them from her kneeling position and nodded slowly.

They heard Chiron gallop up. "Curse the titan lord," he said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."

"What do you mean?" She heard Percy ask as he walked up.

"The Fleece did its work too well. It healed the tree," he said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged."

Percy was the first to approach after Annabeth left the girl's side. He checked her forehead and winced as if he'd been shocked, "She needs nectar and ambrosia," he said. "Come on, what's wrong with you people? Let's get her to the Big House."

No one responded to him, and Judith only watched him dumbfounded. Surely, someone had told him the story of how the camp border came to be. Surely, he was able to put two and two together. But he wasn't, apparently. The girls suddenly coughed herself awake and sat up slowly with the son of Poseidon's assistance.

"I'm Percy, you're safe now." Judith scoffed quietly to herself; he couldn't be more wrong. This girl was in more danger than ever.

"Strangest dream ..."

"It's okay."

"Dying."

"No," Percy was quick to reassure. "You're okay. What's your name?" Judith had to wonder how he hadn't figured it out yet. Maybe it was too late at night for him to comprehend stuff, but then again, he wasn't the brightest with common sense.

"I am Thalia," the girl said, confirming what everybody already assumed and had figured out. "Daughter of Zeus."

Judith just stared, unsure of how the next few days were going to go with explaining everything to her. The whole camp was unsure of how the next few years were going to be impacted by this.

—IT didn't take long for Judith to warm up to Thalia. After being bombarded with information of her destiny and being told that she'd missed a few valuable years of her life, Thalia had needed an escape, and she found it in the combat arena. And no surprise, she'd discovered Judith. At first, the daughter of Ares was wary of this "new competition," as Clarisse had taken to calling her, but it was soon clear that their similarities would only bring them closer.

Judith was quick to find out that Thalia was going to beat her at hand to hand combat every time. Without trying, the daughter of Zeus would shock her just enough to leave one of her limbs tingling and numb. They still continued to spar with swords and spears, which seemed to satisfy Thalia's need for anything other than talk of the prophecy.

Thalia had tried to involve Percy, to maybe reconcile something between them. They were at odds with each other over something neither of them had control over and Thalia was first to say it was stupid. Clarisse has tried to sway the daughter of Zeus away from becoming his friend, saying she would regret it.

"What's her problem with him?" Thalia asked, her mouth full of apple as she glanced between Percy and Clarisse, both shooting daggers at each other.

"Where to begin," Judith sort of chuckled as they sat on the grass to sharpen their sword and spear. "Well, Percy managed to spray her with toilet water just last year as a first impression."

"That's gold!" Thalia clapped. "I take it that's where it all started huh?"

"And a few capture the flag games," Judith counted off on her fingers. "'Risse doesn't really like when someone else gets to be the hero, so when he showed up on her quest, well, you can probably imagine."

Thalia nodded, "I can see that. Aren't you two friends, though?"

Judith furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes scanning Percy as she thought about it. "'Friends' is stretching it a bit. A persistent thorn in my side is a better description."

"He seems to think you're friends," she said offhandedly. As if hearing the message, the son of Poseidon looked over and waved. Judith just scowled as Thalia was proven right.

"Yeah, well, what he thinks and what I think are two different things."

"I don't know, I feel like you're just resisting his friendship because of Clarisse and what she will think. Don't let her dictate your life, Judith."

"I do not let her dictate my life," she said indignantly, getting up. "I just don't want to be his friend."

"You have yet to give me one good reason for why you don't," Thalia said. "If you can give me one, I'll let this whole issue go."

The two stood in silence; Thalia waiting for her answer and Judith desperately trying to make one up. She could say that Percy asked too many questions, but that was the lamest excuse known to man. She could say Percy was reckless, but again, what demigod wasn't? And the only other reason that had ever existed was Clarisse's constant hatred for him ( something she'd already said would not control her life ).

"Whatever," she finally hissed. "Invite him to lunch for all I care, but you are not telling him we are friends."

"I don't have to, he already knows you are."

"Shut up, Grace."

"You got it."

NOTES;
A BUT JUMPY AND BAD BUT IT'S OKAY AND EDITED
FINALLY DONE WITH SEA OF MONSTERS. AND NOW TITAN'S CURSE IS GOING TO BE A BIT CRAZIER

edited : 07 / 04 / 2020