DIVINE » l. valdez

now that the chips are down

but the sun is still in the sky and shining above you

Hina avoided her siblings all morning. After her outburst the previous night, she wanted to be anywhere that wasn't near Apollo.

She had breakfast with Harley as he eagerly explained his latest additions to his psycho death maze.

Picking at her blueberry pancakes, Hina nodded absently as Harley's eyes were wide in excitement.

"And then it goes ZOOM BAAHHH! And they have to be super quick or else it's like CRUHHH."

Hina's eyes were zoned out, focusing on Meg as she tossed pieces of her waffle to one of the camp harpies. 

Seeing the creatures put a weird pit in Hina's stomach. Of course, the camp harpies were  completely different from the ones she had encountered on her quest, but every time one swooped passed her it gave her chills.

Sherman brought Hina out of her thoughts as he bellowed, "Morning boot camp! Let's go, you special snowflakes! I want you all in tears by lunchtime!"

Hina rolled her eyes, pushing her plate away as she stood. "C'mon, Harley."

They followed along Sherman's military-esque workout, doing countless pushups, sit ups, and stretches. 

The entire time Hina's mind was elsewhere.

Apollo's sudden appearance aligned with the loss of the oracle Delphi. Whatever was happening was the result of the shift in prophecy. 

Hina was not in the mood for danger ever again, but she had no choice. She had no control over her own life, she was at the hands of the Fates.

After Sherman's torturous five mile run, Hina took a quick shower before joining Woodrow in the amphitheater for music lessons. 

The satyr gave Hina a tired smile, his patience already wearing thin from the girl's laundry list of problems.

She felt awful that the satyr was stuck with her constant mind lapses and paranoia all while being subjected to the horrors of demigods learning to play guitar.

Unfortunately, Apollo was joining the usual suspects and had wedged himself beside Austin in the front row. Woodrow's knees shook so violently, he had to sit down. 

Hina did her best to strum through the minor scales as review, but fell short as her fingers refused to recall the basics. 

Damien, one of the few Nemesis children, groaned loudly, his arms crossed. "Do we have to watch her fail every single class?"

A silence fell over the amphitheater and Hina could see the other camper's meek agreement. Using his panpipe, Woodrow jumped in and reviewed the minor scales.

Despite her effort to ignore it, Hina could feel Apollo's eyes lingering on her as everyone became engrossed in their music. The amphitheater echoed the sounds, Austin's violin singing beautifully in contrast with the sharp sounds of a clarinet and Damien's electric guitar. 

"You killed it!" said Chiara —a child of Tyche, goddess of good fortune as Damien snapped the D string. "I needed to use that guitar!"

"Shut up, Lucky," Damien muttered. "In the real world, accidents happen. Strings snap sometimes."

"May I?" Apollo asked, extending his hand towards the instrument. Begrudgingly, Damien handed the guitar to Apollo, who reached towards the case sitting at Woodrow's feet.

The poor satyr jumped a foot in the air, a yelp escaping his mouth. 

Austin laughed. "Relax, Woodrow. He's just getting another string."