( ✓ ) Evermore, Piper McLean¹

04. queen of heavens

↳ chapter four ₊˚.༄
[# queen of heavens]

DINNER WASN'T ALL THAT OUT OF THE ORDINARY, OTHER THAN THE FACT that it was magically served by invisible people ("Not people, silly." Leila corrected her. "their dryads,"). Each cabin had their own table and would tribute a portion of their food to the gods by burning them. Time passed fairly quickly, and Iana scanned the crowd in search of a face that was not there. Instead of worrying herself about the whereabouts of her bestfriened, she forced herself to look elsewhere and found her eyes met with Leo's.

He wasn't the type to be a people reader, but he could always tell whenever something was off. Leo scrunched his brows and signed in her general direction. You good? Iana tried to muster up a convincing smile as she nodded but Leo's expression immediately read are you serious? She wasn't about to confess anything to him just yet, so the brunette looked away and kept her eyes fixed on the untouched plate of food.

"We should head to the amphitheater now," Lou Ellen announced as a conch horn blew nearby. "It's campfire time."

At first, Iana wasn't all that enthusiastic about sitting around burning logs with other strangers from the camp. The steps of the amphitheater were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Fifty or sixty people filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners as they all sang along to a weird song about how their grandmas dressed for war in various pieces of armor, with a few campers holding guitars and old fashioned harps. The song would've been embarrassing if it wasn't for the thirty people who participated in the sing along. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.

Ever the observer, she spotted Leo sitting with his siblings, who were a bulky bunch under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer. Nearby, she spotted Jason sitting next to Annabeth at the front. And finally, Piper. She was sitting next to a redhead and was mildly judging the entire scene. Their eyes met and Iana let out a small chuckle, her smile lingering as Piper joined her from afar.

Finally the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. A guy on a horse trotted up. At least in the flickering light, Iana thought it was a guy on a horse. Then she realized it was a centaur—his bottom half a white stallion, his top half a middle-aged guy with curly hair and a trimmed beard. He brandished a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows. "Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"

"What about capture the flag?" somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among some Ares kids (thanks to Leila's constant chatter it was easy to recognize them) who were clad in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar's head.

"Yes," the centaur said. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games."

"And kill people!" one of them shouted.