ACHILLES ( annabeth chase )

four | WHY IS THERE A LARGE DOG

SIX MONTHS AND VAL HAD heard nothing. She had waited. Nothing. She'd tried to make contact. Nothing. The silence was engulfing her.

It had been half a year since Valentine Hernandez had turned up in the woods, beaten and bloody. Nobody had known what to think of her, and it wasn't like Val was giving them any answers. No matter how much they asked, she revealed nothing.

After a week of constant trips to the infirmary, Val had finally been allowed to roam Camp Half-Blood with only a few scars as remnants of her time alone.

It had taken a little while to get used to Camp Half-Blood. After all, it was quite unlike Camp Jupiter. The Romans were more ... civilised. They were quite straightforward and strict. The Greeks were nearly the exact opposite. There were hardly any rules, punishments and no one cared if you were late. Their war council was held over a pingpong table with cheese and crackers. All in all, very different.

Val didn't know if she liked the place or not. She liked the idea of fewer rules, but she found it difficult to grows out of her old habits. Like standing up straight. Not being tardy. Awaiting orders. Even just keeping her arm covered was hard. There were plenty of nosy demigods around. Smart ones too. Val found out that the Athena cabin was going to be tricky. There were intelligent and observant. A few of them had realised there was something off about Val. One of them especially.

No matter how much Val lied, how many spells she cast, Annabeth Chase would not cease to try and uncover Valentine's secrets. She was determined. Every day at least twice, Annabeth would question Val very forcefully. But Val had been through worse. She lied and bent the truth easily. Answering Annabeth was a breeze. Annabeth wasn't satisfied so easily. The girl would huff and march off, flustered and frustrated. Val would grin. Being annoying and aggravating was a speciality of her's.

Speaking of spells, Val had heard nothing in no form of what was happening at Camp Jupiter. Every single day she had spent at Camp Half-Blood, Val had tried to find some way of communicating with the Romans. And she had been unsuccessful. There was no way she could talk to them, to tell them what she'd discovered. And Val didn't know what to do. Did she leave to find Camp Jupiter and risk fatal accidents? Or did she stay and try to contact them from there?

Until she had fully decided on what she wanted to do and how she wanted to execute it, Val decided to stay and Camp Half-Blood. After all, it wasn't all bad. Most of it was quite fun. Just different. And Val was constantly on edge. None of the Greeks could figure out why. She wouldn't say anything about where she was from and how she'd gotten there. If Val wanted to stay, she would need a low profile. And not one person could know her backstory.

THE TENSION IN THE AIR was high. Like the valley was holding its breath.

One look at Camp Half-Blood wouldn't tell you that. Everything looked normal. Fauns - sorry, satyrs - were running around the strawberries, playing on reed pipes, making the plants grow with their nature-y magic. Two chariots were racing around the lake. Some Greek ships were battling an orange sea serpent inside the said lake. Smoke was rising for a few of the cabins as the people inside crafted and created. Kids in orange shirts were flying over the camp on Pegasi. An ordinary day. But something was wrong. She didn't know what.

Valentine sat on the steps of the Big House in her orange shirt and a jumper. They'd given her a newer, thinner and less destructible jumper to wear atop of her shirt. It was just a  plain black hoodie, but they seemed to have interwoven some magic into it, as Val couldn't seem to destroy it. Not that she tried. It just wouldn't tear, rip, burn or cut.

She'd been pretty bored all day. Most days she was. Val had no siblings. She didn't have friends, just nice-ish people she was acquainted with. There wasn't much to do. Annabeth had gone to some movie or whatever, so no one was pestering her. Val was bored.