The 501 (A Rick Riordan fanfiction)

Chapter 4, Sphinx

A tear streaked her face as the memory resurfaced, Pura and her were walking home from their first day of 2nd grade as Lloyd rode his dirt bike next to them.
"Haha, you're on the ground and I'm on a dirt bike! What did you get for your birthdays? Oh right! I forgot! nothing!" He was laughing, Sphinx was debating over punching him, but she knew she didn't have the courage. Or better, stab his tire with the rusty nail she was fiddling with in her hoodie pocket. But she gritted her teeth, knowing that if she laid a finger on Lloyd, she would get whipped or worse. Lloyd was still mocking them, when the front of his bike sank lower into the ground.
He had run over a nail just like she wanted, Sphinx resisted the urge to laugh.
It became harder to find the situation funny as they kept walking. She knew her and her twin would get punished for what had happened.
And sure enough, she was right. When they got home, Lloyd explained what happened, but added in extra elements to make it sound like their fault, and out of it came the scar.
From then on they were believed to be bad luck by their uncle.
She snapped out of it when she heard Nico calling her name.
"No." She whispered. "I can't tell the camp! They'll treat me differently, they'll avoid me! They'll think I'm lying!" She wiped tears on her sleeve. Don't appear scared, she told herself, that'll only make it worse.
"Up here!" She called down, trying to keep her voice confident, steady, and even. But she didn't need to, Nico already knew everything.

"I can't tell the camp! They-." Sphinx sniffed. "they'll think I'm weak."
"No, they'll think you're strong," he said, settling into the eagles nest next to her. "Sphinx! that was cut into your arm somehow! It looks at least a centimeter deep! And-."
"I let it happen.... Maybe I could have kicked him or something. I know I'm not that strong but-."
"You beat Percy Jackson at sword fighting. You know no one has beaten him since Luke Castellan? Well...since Chrysaor, don't say that you're not strong."
"I disarmed Percy, so what? He probably was going easy on me anyways."
"I don't know, I've seen Percy's easy. that, was not it.
It won't change what people think about you or Pura, but you don't have to tell-." She cut Nico off
"They already saw me run, they'll think I can't solve my own problems! And they're right!" Sphinx couldn't solve her own problems, if she could she wouldn't have been pushed around by cousin Lloyd or her uncle so much. Nico didn't say anything.
"You're stronger than you think." He told her, then as he was preparing to leave, he did something that shocked her. He hugged her. It didn't seem like a Nico thing to do.
"You and Pura are like little sisters to me, I've only known you for a day, but I know that you are awesome. No matter what your uncle or your cousin said." And at that, he left. After about fifteen minutes she started getting fidgety, this happened to her quite often. Sphinx got in trouble for it a lot in school, which meant also getting in trouble for it a lot at home.
"Ok, Sphinx," she muttered to herself. "Stop being a lazy idiot and go find Pura. Then, you can call yourself a productive idiot."

"Travis?" I asked, as I approached the Hermès cabin. His face was pressed up against one of the windows, binoculars in hand.
"Oh," he fumbled around his binoculars. "Sphinx I was just-."
"Spying on someone inside? Sounds fun." When I looked inside I was a little shocked at what I saw.
"Pura?" I called, as I opened the door to cabin 11. I walked in to find Pura and Conner talking, I didn't hear exactly what they were saying, but Conner turned as red as a ripe strawberry when I came in.
"Sphinx! What are you doing here?" He asked, his voice was mostly surprised but she could hear a small amount of rage. She flinched backwards, bumping into Travis who was standing over her in the doorway.
Nico came in to see Sphinx momentarily petrified. He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Who did this to you? Want me to kill them?"
"Little extreme," Travis let out a small chuckle. "do you really want to get kicked out of camp? Plus what are you gonna do? Raise skeletons from the ground? Will they be like the ones in Minecraft with bow and arrows?"
"Don't disrespect the bow." Pura mumbled.
"What are you? a daughter of Apollo?" Conner asked.
"So what if I was!" She shouted. Suddenly in her hands appeared a bow, on her back a quiver filled with arrows. Sphinx felt a small weight fall onto her back, and Sphinx and Pura knocked arrows in sync.
It reminded Sphinx of the time Pura and she had been in the forest.
They had been making bows, together they had hollowed out small logs to make quivers, and used sticks and feathers to fletch arrows.
Sphinx had been aiming at the small target the two had made. Let's just say, when their uncle found them out in the woods, Sphinx had been aiming her bow, when she saw their uncle, she jumped, making herself release the arrows, which then led to her shooting their uncle in the stomach. She sighed,
"Those were the days."
"I guess that's yes." Conner answered himself flatly.