Another Son Of Hermes

Chapter 7

Annabeth waved her hand infornt of Rory's face.

"Rory, wake up!" she said impatiently. Rory came out of his daze and focused his attention back onto the book of ancient Greek words Annabeth was teaching him from, she'd volanteered to give him extra lessons as he didn't quite have the knack for it that most other demigods did. Some half bloods struggled with dyslexia because their brain's were hardwired for ancient Greek, Rory was not dyslexic and often wondered why in the 21st century it was necessary for him to learn a dead language. He would have much rather focous his efforts on a useful tongue, such as Mandarin. Rory did however have ADHD which meant he was itching to get onto the battle field , perhaps from a position where he would have minimal attention drawn to himself but fighting all the same.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked

What a question. Rory usually had a new thought distracting himself from his last one every other minute. Lately his mind had been consumed with the thought of gods, monsters and Arabella. Back in London and before that a small farm in Harrogate he'd never had female friends. At his old schools in England people had bonded over football and very little more. It was different at Camp Half-Blood, here there was excitement, not to mention the football Americans played was utterly ridiculous. Now he spent his days among his cabin mates, his brothers and sisters, people who understood more than just his hatred of Manchester United.

"The Doctor Who Christmas special." he lied

"If you say so." Annabeth muttered, her eyebrows raised. "We're late for breakfast."

***

The Hermes table was unusually quiet in the dining pavilion. They had remained awake the entire night, constructing a plan for their next big prank. Arabella, despite having stayed up the longest was as lively as ever. Rory watched her from across the room, amazed at her bright eyes and animated expression. No one could have guessed she'd spent the night attempting to learn how the camp's shower system worked (they'd begged her to get the help of someone from the Hephaestus cabin but she'd insisted on doing it herself)

Drew burst into the room, clearly distressed. Her shaking hand held an empty plastic tube.

"I'm out!" she stuttered "I'm all out." Rory sat up, had Drew run out of her medication? "Some freak borrowed my lip gloss and now there is non left!" There was a communal groan across the room. Arabella jumped onto the table.

"A worthy quest," she shouted "myself and two worthy heroes shall go to Sephora and retrieve the lipgloss." No one but Drew seemed excited by this idea.

"Who shall accompany me?" Arabella looked towards the Athena table where Percy was sitting with his girlfriend.

"Perce?" he shook his head.

"Still recovering from my battle with Kronos." he said

"How long you gonna milk that one for? Don't let the fame get to you, just because you saved the world on several different occasions doesn't mean you can have everything." she said, shaking her head, then her eyes met with Rory's. Rory sank deeper into his chair, trying to hide himself, but it was too late. She jumped down from her makeshift stage and ran toward him. Arabella grabbed Rory's arm and dragged him from the table.

"Let us consult the oracle!'

Rachel look up, briefly, from her cereal.

"I'd recommend salmon fantasy. It's a gorgeous colour"

***

"Bella, it's Sunday. The shop isn't open." Rory said after stopping abruptly at the door.

"Oh." Arabella said "I hadn't thought of that," she started to walk back in the direction of the bus stop.

"Wait." he said, Arabella turned around, impatient. Rory grinned.

"I'm a son of Hermes, that's hardly going to stop me." It was Arabella who grinned this time.

"Can you pick the lock?" she asked, suddenly eager.

"I don't need to." Rory reached toward the door handle and heard a slight click as the lock shifted beneath his touch. Many children of Hermes could unlock doors without assistance from keys or hair grips, a talent intended to assist them in their thieving ways.

Rory sat on the floor and leant against a rack of shampoo whilst Arabella ran off to look for lipgloss.

"what's this for?" she said, holding up a pot of 'illuminator'. Rory shrugged.

"You know more than me."

"Oh, you'd be surprised. I've always had male friends so I never learned make up." she explained and quickly added "Not to say boys can't wear makeup."

Even from his distance Rory could see Arabella's pretty golden eyelids and sparkly lips, he was quite certain that didn't come naturally.

"You sure about that?" he said

Arabella winked at him. 

"I did a favor for Aphrodite, I never have to re-do this."

Just as Rory had finished taking care of the CCTV Arabella materialized before of him, holding a tube of salmon fantasy lip gloss.

"Mission complete." she grinned and the two of them exchanged the highest of fives.