ғʀᴏsᴛʙɪᴛᴇ - 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐋𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐔𝐒

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғᴏᴜʀ

ʟɪᴢ

The dinner horn rang in Liz's ears, and she perked up. She stood up from the bench overlooking the cool waters of the lake, brushing her hair out of her face. She was thinking, as she usually did. She got a strange feeling from Leo Valdez, like he wasn't like the other Hephaestus children. He gave a different sort of energy.

She grimaced. He was unbearable, constantly flirting with her, calling her babe. Ugh. She shuddered at the thought. She had only known him for two seconds, and he had already acted like they were dating. Disgusting.

Maybe he thought it was funny. Maybe he thought he was charming or cool or handsome. He seemed like the type to have an overinflated opinion of himself.

Liz stood up, brushing her camo pants off. She sighed, crossing her arms. She missed Percy. Looking at the water reminded her of him. She had had a brother before Percy, Theodore Nixon. Teddy and Percy were a lot alike. They were loyal and stood up for what was right, even if it killed them.

Liz was more mature than the two, but Percy was slightly older. It didn't stop her from wanting to smack both of them upside the head for being so stupid.

The only big difference between the two was that Teddy wasn't a demigod. He didn't have special powers. He wasn't destined for greatness. But he was brave anyway. He stood up for what was right, anyway. That, and Teddy was dead.

But with Percy missing, who's to say he wasn't dead? Liz shook her head, silently scolding herself. She had to be optimistic. She couldn't think like that, or the gods would make it true. They had a cruel sense of humor, after all.

Liz trudged through the fallen leaves to the Mess Hall. It was bustling as per usual. Some kids ate pizza or burgers. Liz, unfortunately, was a vegetarian, a fact that Percy used to make fun of her for on a daily basis.

"I love animals. They're so delicious." Percy would joke. Liz would threaten to freeze him in his seat, and he would laugh as he ate his own food.

She wished she could say she didn't miss those jokes. But it felt empty at the table without them. Without him, really.

The Mess Hall didn't have a roof, which wasn't practical, but it had never bothered Liz. She enjoyed the outside, it was peaceful and chilly most days, how she liked it.

Liz sat down at the table for Poseidon. A dryad with dirt brown hair placed a salad in front of Liz, already knowing what she wanted. Liz was a creature of habit. She only ever ate iceberg lettuce with sliced tomato and cucumber while she was at Camp Half-blood.

Tyson was gone, searching for Percy, which meant Liz was all alone. She liked it that way. No one to talk to, no one to annoy her. It was peaceful. Almost too peaceful.

Liz finished her salad quickly, searching for Annabeth. Last Liz checked, Annabeth was giving the new girl, Piper a tour. But Piper wasn't there either. Neither was Jason.

But Leo was. And like Liz had caught sight of him, he had caught sight of her. He sauntered over to her table, his lopsided grin burning itself into Liz's brain.

"Hey, beautiful," Leo said confidently.

Liz groaned. "What? What do you want?"

"To get your number."

"You are unbearable."

"I know. It's part of my charm."

Liz thought about killing him. But then she would have to face Hephaestus and the rest of the camp. Though looking at his cheeky grin and mischievous eyes, Liz started to wonder if maybe it was worth it.

"Seriously, what do you want?" Liz asked.

"I saw you sitting alone. Plus, I think we got off on the wrong start. I'd like to fix that."

"Why?" Leo seemed a little taken aback by this question.

"Um... because I think you're cool, no pun intended?"

"I'm not interested in flirts."

"What are you interested in then?"

"Peace, quiet, being alone. You're none of those things, goodbye." Liz made a motion for him to leave, raising her eyebrows.

"Being alone? Babe, why be alone when you could have me?"

Liz stood up quickly, slamming her hands down on the table. "Look, you little shit. I'm not interested in you. I never will be. In the short time we've interacted, you have been absolutely incessant and awful. Go away before I wrap my hands around your throat and strangle you to death!"

There was an awkward silence as Liz realized everyone was staring at her and Leo. Her face felt hot with embarrassment, as did Leo's. He looked around, his face flushed, his eyes darting left to right to avoid eye contact.

Liz straightened her back uncomfortably and stormed off to the canoe lake. She didn't feel like heading over to the amphitheater now, not after all that.

Liz sat down on a log overlooking the cool water. Back where she always was. She took her hair out of the tight bun, running a hand through the clean, smooth strands of jet black. She shook her hair out, feeling a sense of relief.

She sighed. She felt stupid. This Leo kid was riling her up, making her angry. She was usually cool and collected. How could she let a guy like him annoy her so much in only one day?

I'll just ignore him, she thought. Or I'll be so horrible, he'll just want to leave me alone. That was what she usually did with people she didn't like.

She took a deep breath, smoothing her hair as she collected the thick strands and tied it into a ponytail. She stood up, taking another deep breath, filling her lungs with chilly air.

She took one last look at the lake before she walked away, leaves crunching under her foot. It was going to be a long week.