The Silver Archer (Percy Jackson) 1️⃣

11. Dinner and A Campfire

1st Person
Adira

I spent the rest of the day with Annabeth, talking about the game plan for Capture the Flag. Despite our ages, we were the leaders of our cabins, since we both were one of the first ones. My brothers and sisters teased me about it, but they respected it. Anyway, Athena and Artemis always partnered, especially when the Hunters of Artemis were there.

They usually played dirty, and have tried to recruit me multiple times, but I declined. I wanted to be able to fall in love, not follow my mother's every step of the way. They considered me a member, just not official. I also didn't want to live forever. When they were here, I was in charge of them, except for capture the flag. They were good at Hunting, but certainly not as good as the Artemis children, but somehow, they still won, every time.

But, I felt bad about what happened with Mariana. She was claimed, but in the hardest way possible. She was flying on Brett's pegasus back again, and she fell. She was nearly 20 feet to the ground when on her first try, she shouted, "Hawk!" and she was a hawk. She got a bloody nose, not being able to control herself as long as any of the others could, but it was a start. The Hermes cabin celebrated with us. I could see Percy, cheering her on as she smiled at the red, green, white and turquoise bow and arrow with a background of a moon showing up. All the other cabins gathered around as the Bow and Arrow flickered on top of her head.

"Artemis!" Chiron spoke, smiling to himself, "goddess of the Hunt, of the after evening night sky, maiden of Childbirth, and wild animals. Hail, Mariana Lancaster, daughter of Outdoor Goddess."

That night, the two famous things were
1.) Mariana's Claiming, the (hopefully) last child of Artemis, and 2.) the Supreme Lord of the Bathroom.

At dinner, Mariana wanted to have dinner with the Hermes cabin for the last time, so I allowed her, and I would go over, chatting with Luke about moving her stuff, and Annabeth went along with me. Percy sat right next to Mariana, who was chatting her head off, as always. When we walked back over to our tables, which were right beside each other, we sat right next to each other. "So..." I said, "you and Luke?"

She blushed and stared down at her dinner. "Hmph," she said, and I nudged her. "Y'know, he knows you better than anyone here, besides me," I said. "Athena always has a plan," she and I both said, then began to laugh.

"And you and Percy?"

I blushed. "Absolutely not!" I said, but whispered it instead. "You're totally blushing!" Annabeth said, picking at her food. I dug my face into my arms.

Suddenly, a hoof pounded against the floor. "To the Gods!" Chiron shouted. Everyone raised their glasses. "To the Gods!"

The food was served and we all stood quiet as Chiron talked. "We give thanks towards the Artemis cabin, Cabin Eight, for getting us the meat we needed for this barbeque. And, we welcome another child to the Artemis cabin, Mariana Lancaster!"

Cheers erupted as 7 year old Mariana's face blushed, while Percy cheered her on. I couldn't help but thank Percy in my head. He was definitely one of the people that helped her fit in, and I was thankful. Then I realized that I was looking at Percy and my cheeks were warm, but before I could look away, Percy spotted me and I immediately looked away. Brett and Noah realized this, and looked in the direction of where Percy was sitting. Noah pointed to Percy and my eyes widened.

"No, no, no," I bickered as they began getting up. I stood up, walking around the table and pulling them to sit down, but they together were too strong. Brenna and Asher stood up, and pulled our brothers to sit down.

"Act your ages," Asher sneered, showing her perfectly straight teeth. "Remember, she's in charge about what time we go to bed."

They let out a puff and I raised my middle finger as a greeting.

"He wanted to say hi," I added, smirking.

We all got up and sent our offerings to the Gods. "Here you go, Mom," I welcomed, "Artemis," I said, throwing a piece of meat, the juiciest strawberry, and a piece of the best roll I could find. I looked over at Cabin Eight, our cabin, which was glowing the silver it always had. "Home," I mumbled. I walked back inside to see my sister playing with her food. I walked towards her and sat down where Percy sat.

"Y'know," I began, "picking at it isn't going to make it disappear. It's just gonna make a hell-uva mess," I explained. "It hurts to know that there's a pretty large chance I killed that creature and you're just picking at it."

"Yeah, thanks, Adi. It was good. Tell your cabin that Hermes sends thanks," Luke told me, who sat across from my sister. I shook my head. "Will do," I said, turning back to my sister. "No, come on, you have to eat it! I'm not playing this game, Marian-"

"You're in my seat," Percy said from behind me. I almost immediately got up. "Uh, sorry, Jackson," I said, scratching the back of my neck. "It's fine."

I turned around to Mariana. "We're going to move your stuff tonight," I said, kneeling down to her level. "So, don't fall into your bed after the campfire. Me and Brett and Carlos are going to come over to Hermes, and grab all of your stuff," I said, and I felt a grip hold me at my chest. Mariana wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me. Her small head laid on my shoulder, which squeezed me too. "I love you, kid," I mumbled in her ear. "Remember that."

"I will."

I looked at Percy, who smiled at me and I smiled back. It was weird. A few weeks ago, we were enemies, and here we were, almost friends. I hated that.

She let go, and I left the Hermes table to go back to my own. Brett and Noah were standing up, saluting.

"Reporting for duty, Adiraleise, ma'am," they said, in unison. I raised my hand and nestled Noah's hair. It messed up his hair, who I think almost cried when trying to fix it. When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table. I rolled my eyes, determined that Friday, we were going to win.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."

Chiron murmured something. I laughed, and turned around to Luke and Mariana, who were cracking up.

"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led asing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I sat on the floor as Mariana braided my hair, with Brett and Asher beside me. I wanted to sleep, but there was too much stuff to do. The embers on the fire cracked and popped, and I smiled. I've missed this.

As the campfire slowly died down, people filtered towards their cabins. Artemis was usually the last cabin out, and it was a long time after the last cabin left. We felt bad coming in and making a reckus when people were halfway, if not, sleeping. So, we decided to do that, then go back to the fire if we had some muscle left.

There wasn't much to do, and Noah only went to say hi to his girlfriend, who was an undetermined girl, but she was happy. We had to grab my sister's bed comforter, sheets, and her pillow. And then her bookbag full of stuff. Percy offered to help, but he looked like he was tired so I declined. "It's okay. You need rest for our Greek lesson tomorrow," I laughed, and he groaned.

"Goodnight, stinkbrain," I said to him as he waddled back to his bed. "Night', loser."

I rolled my eyes.

...