Daughter of Hades: Dahlia's Struggle

Corpse Pose

Shorter than the others. Sorry, lost Motivation. 

"Brat." I muttered when he was gone. I turned and headed for the pavilion and spotted Drew at the Hades table. I sat at an empty plate and grabbed food from the nymphs. "sweet iced tea." I whispered to my glass, which then filled up with the drink. "Pot roast," I said to the plate at my seat, "about one ladle-full. I'm not too hungry. Oh! And a scoop of Mashed-potatoes!" I noticed Drew staring as I took a bite. "What?" I asked through a mouthful of food.

"How did you know what to do? I was eating from the nymphs' appetizers for months before I was told to do that." Drew said with wonder. He was amazed and I was annoyed.

"Willow Ladon. She was a Hecate camper sent to bring me here. It took four freaking years to get from Mississippi to camp, what with all the monsters after the four of us, so she told us stories about camp. That's how I knew where to find it at all." I rolled my eyes at his speechlessness and continued eating.

When I was full, there was a bit of meat and taters left, I burnt my leftovers in the altar and went to my cabin. The cabin was a mess from who knows what, but I blamed Nico and Drew. I picked up about half of the mess when all motivation left my body and I flopped down on the floor.

Will found me about an hour later when he came in looking for Nico. He knocked solidly on the half open door and I groaned from the floor. "What do you want?" I asked flatly. He walked in without answering and stopped at my feet.

"I was looking for Nico. Why are you on the floor?" He started to crouch but I was not having that.

"You will not get down here. Go away. I lost motivation to move, so now I lay here. I think Nico went to the pavilion." I closed my eyes and waited for Will to leave, which he didn't. As I was about to tell him off, he spoke quietly.

"People were starting to worry because you've been missing for hours."

"They didn't check my cabin. Besides, why do they care? I've been here maybe two days." I growled, still not moving.

"Why would they not care? We thought you were a little kid in danger. Nico was about to get Chiron involved if they didn't find you soon. The woods are dangerous at night."

"Nice to know you care," I said sarcastically, "Go tell them you've found me in my cabin so nobody gets hurt."

Will sighed and left me on the cabin floor. Motivation to move had still not returned, so I stayed there soaking in my misery. I had no real reason to be miserable, but I was.

I fell asleep after a while and woke up the next morning in my bunk. "Why am I up here?" I asked the empty cabin, which turned out not to be so empty when Nico answered.

"I couldn't get to my bed with you taking up the whole floor. I had Drew move you up there." He sounded grumbly, but I knew from yesterday's threat to get Chiron that he cared.

"Thanks. When can we practice again? I don't have anything to do between now and lunch." I tried to sound like Nico did, like I didn't care, but my voice came out all bubbly anyways. I heard him huff below me and I sat up. I spotted him sitting on his bunk holding my steel dagger. I held out my hand and he passed it to me.

"Yes, you do. You have to eat breakfast and I'm pretty sure we haven't given you any chores yet." Nico grumbled. He hardly ever seemed in a good mood since the first day at camp. It was super annoying.

"I'm not hungry and I'll pass on responsibilities." I said as I jumped down from my upper bunk. Nico grabbed my arm and stopped me from walking away. This boy is gonna die. I reached for my dagger with my other hand, but he took it out of my hand. I was fighting tooth and nail, but big brother Nico had decided to make his existence my problem. 

"One, stop trying to stab me. Two, you need food. Go eat an apple or something." He was annoyed with me, with good reason, but his tone still wasn't nice.

"Like you're any better! You don't eat either. You don't even go to the pavilion!" I knew he just stayed to mope in here and cram on oreos because I'd found his stash yesterday while I was cleaning. "Cookies don't count." I added before he could answer. He sighed and let me go.

"Fine. Don't complain if you get hungry." He grabbed his sword and a handful of oreos and headed out.