PHILOXENIA ➸ Percy Jackson¹

τρία

THREE—Flags and Hellhounds

─── ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽☼☾.* :☆ﾟ｡ ───

The sun was barely visible, and the cobalt sky was only beginning to be dispelled by the rosy fingers of dawn, but Lux rose nonetheless.

It wasn't an easy feat to navigate through all of the sleeping bags and not step on someone's hair or knock over a picture frame, but she has had ample time to practice. It took no time for her to get to the entrance, where she slowly opened the creaking door inch by inch until she could slip through the opening unnoticed.

Lux breathed in the early morning air, fresh and slightly damp with the clear dew that clung to the grass. She watched as the pale sunlight burst through the clouds and warmed up her face, washing away any feeling of fatigue that may linger in her mind.

She has never felt more alive.

The girl took her time to appreciate camp in the hour of sunrise, still yet to wake for a new day, as she made her way to the pier. It was devoid of the raucousness that she had gotten used to, but it was not the kind of quiet that felt eerie, but rather wonderfully tranquil and serene. The sun's rays climbed over the cabins' walls like vines of ivy, and from her view she could see Apollo's Cabin shimmer like spun gold as it soaked in the light.

Lux sat down and swung her feet over the edge of the pier, her feet barely touching the glittering water. It was so early that not even the naiads were awake yet, and on the off chance that they were, they preferred to lounge languidly under the lake. They would occasionally wave if they spotted her, and she would wave back with a blush. Other than that, this was a time of her own.

She opened the poetry book she had taken with her, a new collection by Mary Oliver that she recently picked up while roaming around the bookstore, specifically because the title caught her eye. She had read through some of the poems, but there was one that she kept coming back to.

"Hello, sun in my face.

Hello—"

The sound of footsteps was heightened by the silence, making Lux stop immediately, her brain shooting sparks of alert. But whatever she prepared herself to see, it was definitely not Percy Jackson.

"Percy?" Her jaw dropped open. "What are you doing up?"

"I should ask you that. How are you awake at this time?"

"It's because the sun's up."

He looked at her as if he was internally deciding if she has a few screws loose or not. "But it's 5 a.m."

"I know," she said, having gotten used to this reaction.

"So what? You're just casually able to wake up this early every day? That's practically a superpower."

Lux laughed. "You'll find that all of us have superpowers here. Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"It's fine, I couldn't sleep much anyways," he said flippantly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have followed you. I was just..."

"Curious?" She supplied, unable to contain a small grin at his hesitant nod. She patted the place next to her as an open invitation. "It's okay, you're not the first one."