thief | ᵃⁿⁿᵃᵇᵉᵗʰ ᶜʰᵃˢᵉ

00; some quintus guy

"You will end up joining me," was the last thing she heard in her dream.

When she became aware of her surroundings again, the first thing she saw were warm, brown eyes looking into hers while they gently shook her awake.

"Finally!" the boy cheered as he noticed the girl was now awake. "We have archery, and Chiron sent me to look for you."

"I don't wanna go," she huffed. "Besides, I'm not good at archery. Why does he want me to join?" She emphasized the word 'me.'

Everyone knew that the Hermes girl was one of the worst archers in the camp, but she was still better than a certain son of Poseidon, at least.

Her friend just shrugged in response and helped her out of bed. "I'm praying that no one dies today because of your lack of skills."

"Wow, thank you very much for such trust in me," she said, rolling her eyes.

"You're welcome, little thief."

"I am not little; you're only one year older than me!" Kassandra complained as she looked for her camp shirt.

"A year is a year," the Ares's son stated, giggling.

Before the brunette could respond, a voice was heard, followed by a head of black hair that appeared through the door. "Have you woken up sleeping beauty?"

"Yes, ma'am," he gave her a military salute, but she ignored him.

"Rory! I don't sleep that much!"

Aurora raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, you're right. Obviously, sleeping from four in the afternoon until almost six and then also sleeping at night is not much."

The younger girl nodded innocently without noticing her friend's obvious sarcasm. "Exactly! I can sleep more than this."

"It was sarcasm, Kass," she rolled her eyes while grabbing the arms of her friends, dragging them towards where Chiron was.

"Oh," she said, "you always use sarcasm with a straight face. How did you want me to catch it?"

The only boy of them snorted very loudly. "Sorry, but it's hilariously weird that a child of Hermes doesn't detect sarcasm."

"Fuck off, James."

Aurora only continued dragging them to the archery range while she shook her head, amused by the playful banter between her two friends.

This was their dynamic, their unique bond that had grown over the years. James, the eldest of the three and the son of Ares, was like the older brother who always teased his younger siblings, but he'd protect them no matter what. Aurora, a few months older than Kassandra and one of the many unclaimed children, played the role of the responsible elder, lecturing them when they did something reckless, but loving them like family. Finally, Kassandra, the youngest of the trio and the daughter of Hermes, was the dreamer who often got lost in her thoughts, missing out on important details but endearing herself to her friends.

They were the "Plant Trio" because all three shared a deep love for plants and often talked about one day having a house with a garden in the mortal world.

"...because they wanted to 'ground' their designs in nature!"

"That was a joke?" Aurora asked.

"Yeah."

"It was the worst joke I've ever heard," James chimed in. "No one could laugh at that joke."

"Annie did laugh," Kassandra mentioned.

"What?" her friends asked in unison. They had suspected that Athena's daughter had a crush on their friend, but Kassandra was too oblivious to notice.

Chiron spoke before Kassandra could respond to her friends, "Well, now that we're all here, we can start with the lesson."