Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

TWENTY | Kitty

NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS EXCEPT when planning a potentially hopeless quest to find a lost musical instrument that had once belonged to Apollo but also apparently Hermes and now Zeus wanted it? Kitty was a bit fuzzy on the details of that one. But she knew the important things: find the lyre, save like a hundred lives including Leah Kim, don't find the lyre, watch a hundred kids plus probably Ophelia and Alex end up in the Underworld. And not the nice part of the Underworld. The very not nice part.

She didn't know much at all about the Fields of Punishment. Annabeth and Percy didn't want to talk about it, no surprise there. But she did know that the clock kept ticking as they delayed leaving Camp Half-Blood. The Autumn Equinox was less than a month away. Alex had set tomorrow at noon, the day after all the summer-only kids left, as the latest they would wait for news from the satyr scouts before saying to Hades with it.

Kitty laughed at her own joke. It broke the otherwise silent concentration between Connor, Mr. D, and Chiron as they sat around a new poker table on a corner of the Big House deck. They were playing a very intense round of Seven Card Draw. Kitty had already folded. Luck had not been on her side in this third round.

"What?" Mr. D said, startling Connor.

Kitty waved him off, leaning back in the rocking chair and closing here eyes. "Don't worry about it."

"Whenever you laugh, I know my headache's about to get a million times worse," he said.

With a smirk, she just ignored him. Kitty opened her eyes again. She turned to Chiron. "Still no news?"

Chiron held up his hand. Even he got into these poker matches. Especially ones where Kitty wasn't dominating the playing field. So Kitty bit her tongue and bided her time. She started counting the number of ants crawling along the blue painted wooden banister. But she got bored on ant seventeen and switched to birds flying over Long Island Sound. Seagulls and herons could only keep her occupied so long. So she looked back at the group.

Kitty took her celestial bronze coin out of her pocket and began tossing it up and down a few inches over and over. Blindfolded skull or cornucopia. Rinse and repeat.

"Katerina." Chiron said.

Kitty glanced up and realized the other three were glaring at her. Chiron asked her to stop tossing the coin as they couldn't focus on the game. She apologized. But her foot wouldn't stop moving. Her mind raced.

Gripping the coin tight in her palm, she focused on the three people at the table. Mr. D's aura, usually a weird murky grey-ish yellow, looked much brighter than usual. Great. He was probably going to win. She focused on Connor. Still a pale gold, as with many of the Hermes kids, but not as golden as usual, or as Mr. D's. And Chiron, well. He should've folded a round ago.

As Chiron went to raise the bet, Kitty saw Will walking up the path to the Big House. His feet dragged a little more than normal. She waved. He offered a small wave back. Kitty frowned. If anyone had hurt Will Solace, she would end them.