𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗦 ⇉ 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘

𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗔 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥 wants, more than anything, to be good at something. When Hecate claimed her, she thought that her thing would be magic. But no matter how many books she reads, it never works. Her magic is weak, even with a wand to funnel through.

Valentina has not yet found the books in the Big House attic, stacked in the back because of the memories they keep. Valentina has not yet discovered her discipline.

Valentina will get what she wants.

⚔︎ ⚔︎ ⚔︎

𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗔 𝗞𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗧. She'd read nearly every book in the Big House, tried every spell. Nothing seemed to work. She wasn't like Bellatrix, who'd summoned her magic so easily. She wasn't even like Seraphina, who'd been so enamored with the incantations and spells Valentina had showed her.

She knew a lot, but couldn't do anything. She didn't even like to fight, not like Bellatrix did. Her time at lessons with the Hermes cabin were difficult, and not just because the other campers liked to stare. Valentina was bad at everything physical, even the things that were supposed to come naturally to demigods.

So when Capture the Flag came around, she was always displeased. She liked the forest, but she was useless in a fight. Luke and Annabeth always put her on guard duty or even back at the flag, where the opposing team barely ever made it. And she didn't mind, truly. Chiron was usually okay with her borrowing a book to read while she stood and did nothing.

And she'd found a good one this time. She didn't usually like going up into the attic, on account of the literal corpse rotting away up there, but she'd never seen the Oracle before. Bellatrix hadn't stopped chattering away about a quest since Percy fell out of the sky in front of her, and Valentina just wanted to see it. But there, hidden from sight, was an old cardboard file box. Inside were countless books and an even smaller lockbox that she hasn't managed to open yet.

But the books were new. They were all about potions and poultices and tinctures, and Valentina's sure she had stars in her eyes when she thought about it.

So, when it's time for capture the flag, she grabbed the three books she'd managed to sneak into the Hermes cabin and puts them at the very bottom of her messenger bag. She could never underestimate Chiron, and she definitely didn't want him to know she'd been snooping around the attic. That was a sure-fire way to get delegated to dish duty for the next month.

Her role was to watch the flag, and judging by the people Annabeth assigned to work with her–three of the most bookish and least war-ish Athena kids–there wasn't any real risk of getting attacked. The other Athena kids seemed smug enough to confirm Valentina's hypothesis: Annabeth had a plan, and it was a good one.

So Valentina didn't even have to worry. She leaned up against a tree trunk, and pulled out her book. She took great care to block the title from any grey eyes peering over in her direction, because everyone knew that Athena kids never forgot a thing.