Camp Wildheart

Mural Work

Percy

Percy looked at the blank sheet of paper and wondered what, exactly, they would do to fill it. It was to be their guide for the mural, which would go on a wall everyone who came would see. No, Percy was not nervous at ALL.

Keefe picked up a pencil and said, "I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it's any good."

Dex slid the paper over to Keefe, and replied, "Go ahead and sketch it out, then." Keefe began to draw, occasionally swapping out colors, and as what felt like hours stretched by in a few minutes, he turned it back around to face them. A girl, painted entirely in black, with long, almost Rapunzel like hair that looked like the mottled forest.

Inside, there was even a silver wolf, a russet fox, a sapphire blue bird and a soft brown fawn hidden among the trees. She was sitting next to a boy's silhouette under a tree, whose leaves looked like a midnight sky. 

Around them, there were swirls of what looked like colored smoke. Looking again, Percy saw that the shapes were surprisingly simple when looking closely, but would consolidate into a beautiful picture.

Slapping a hand down on the table and startling Percy slightly, Alex said, "Okay, this is amazing. All for us using this design?" As far as Percy could see, nobody's hand was kept down. Dex handed them bigger pencils, blocky and with bigger lead than necessary.

Percy was about to give him a reproachful glare when Dex explained, "The pencils are for drawing this design," he wiggled the paper with his hand, then gestured towards the wall. "Onto that wall. Paper will be here for reference."

They each picked up a pencil, except for Annabeth, who stood back and directed. Percy didn't mind, though, because now that they were super close, he had no idea where to draw next.

It took an hour to get the sketch perfect, but when they stepped back to where Annabeth was, the effect was awe-striking.

"Okay, yes," Leo said. "This is gonna be awesome!"

Percy couldn't help but agree, even when they all had to pitch in to grab the cans of paint and haul them back up, then mix them to make their own colors.

Soon, he was glad to be done hauling stuff when they started to paint, lightest colors first. Percy was swirling a light blue color onto the whitewashed wall, being careful to just cover the lines and inside while Leo and Frank worked around him. Annabeth and Alex were taking turns going up the ladder and swirling the night sky onto the stone.

"Hey Percy, can I have that paint?"

Walking over to Sadie, he handed the tray and brush to her, receiving the color she had been using in exchange, a light violet blue color. They continued that way, passing the colors back and forth and gently coating the walls with color until Sophie stepped back and called out for a break.

Percy jogged over and took a sip from his water bottle, then almost choked on it when he realized how much work they had gotten done. The colors were almost all there except for the whites and blacks, plus all the small details to be added later.

Looking around, he saw that his friend's hands and clothes were dotted with paint. It would have been funny if he hadn't gotten splashed as much as anyone else.

Wait; someone was missing. Where had Sophie gone? He was about to suggest searching for her when she walked up with a bag that looked like it was about to break. When she began to pull things out of it, Percy felt like an idiot. It was lunchtime! They had been working for longer than he had thought. The sandwiches and cookies were fairly simple, but Percy had never been more glad for peanut butter.

Alex

Alex swirled black paint carefully around the clouds of purple and blue that had dried just enough that the colors wouldn't mix into an ugly, consuming black. It was very similar to pottery, except with ladders, brushes and paints instead of clay, garrotes and wheels. Balancing up there on the ladder was a kind of peace.

Leaning back to examine her work, Alex felt the ladder tip, almost slipped off, but there was a hand on her back and the feet of the ladder were back on the ground.

"Careful with the ladder. We don't want to lose a friend to the hospital this late in the camp session!" Sophie had been working below her, and even as she returned to her spot with the lighter shade of black Alex was thinking over what had happened. They were friends, despite the age difference (two years? three?), and she was glad for it.

Finally, thankfully, amazingly, they were done. Carefully scrambling down the ladder, Alex jogged over to where her water bottle was sitting and took a sip, studying the wall critically. It was a little different, a bit wilder, maybe, but it seemed so much more real than the tiny drawing on the eight by eleven square of paper.

"Great work, everybody! Let's clean up, then head back to the Grove!"

Cleanup was less fun and a whole lot more messy than it had been to set up the colors, but they did it quickly. Alex took her time glancing around the camp, trying to see any sign of what the surprise would be. Nothing jumped out at her, or screamed secrets, or even seemed somewhat out of the ordinary (what passed for it at this camp).

It took a few minutes of walking, but they soon stepped into the semicircle of trees and saw a pad of paper and an easel that hadn't been standing in the middle of the fire circle before. It looked almost out of place, with the box of markers it took another minute for her to notice being almost too bright, too unreal in this wild place. Sophie walked over to the easel and took out a bright blue marker. Ice blue? Sophie didn't give any sign that it meant something, but Alex was hopeful. Maybe their plan was working.

When Sophie stepped back from the board, the sheet of paper read across the top 'UWMA Ball Plans'.

"We're in charge of planning the one, the only, UWMA ball. We're the oldest group, so we get this huge responsibility. Does anyone have any ideas? They ideally should be appropriate and fun for all ages." A bunch of ideas were thrown around, ranging from 'Under The Sea' to 'Arabian Nights'. Ugh. She hadn't spoken yet, mainly due to the fact that she was trying to find a theme idea that 1) wasn't objectively awful and 2) actually fit in with their surroundings. She was pretty much stuck when an idea lit inside her brain like the first spark of a blaze.

"We should do an enchanted forest theme!"

Sophie's eyes widened, and it may have just been Alex's imagination, but it seemed like she had written the words extra big.

"Let's put it to a vote."

Carter

Carter opened his eyes, blinking to bring the world back into focus.

"And, by the majority vote, we have Enchanted Forest!" Carter knew a lot about the theme, so that was a good thing. Magic and monsters shouldn't have been a problem. They knew plenty about those topics.

He knew he shouldn't have jinxed them. Everything from decorations to music would have to be curated carefully. There was even an actual, honest-to-goodness schedule planned. (Perfectionists had their downsides, but this was an example of a time when they were more valuable than gold). The plan was amazingly detailed, and Carter especially looked forward to the unique looking desserts Sophie had sketched and explained. Only one or two he had actually heard of before. They had their work cut out for them.

~~~~~

Sunday's party was much needed, and a relief to all. They had started planning decorations and getting permissions, taking stock of what they had and what they needed. Dust had abounded in the forgotten closets, but it was worth the sneezes when they found a pretty cool collection of various paper mache mythical creatures in various states of decline. They had awkwardly hauled the best of the group to the art shack and hidden them inside yet another closed, dark room to hide them until the day of the ball.

After the last of the other groves had trickled back, Biana came up to Sophie and said, "I already have SO many ideas. Bye!"

When the other girl skipped away, Carter noticed that Sophie had a hand to her forehead in frustration. What ideas would have incurred such a response from her?

EEK! Getting close >:)