𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌 ꨄ

e i g h t

The next two months seemed to pass by in a whirl. She continued to spend her time away from the others, and after a while it became the norm- stares, whispers, exclusion- all of it. She went down to the beach every morning and practiced her sword play. Trudged over to the Athena cabin and borrowed whichever books the campers would reluctantly give her. Listened to the same twenty songs on her Walkman on repeat. 

Luna wasn't sure when it started happening. Maybe it was when she came back one night to cabin five and one of the campers -Shae Mikheil, she learned- had said hello to her. Luna remembered stopping in her tracks, surprised that someone had acknowledged her. 

Or maybe it was that specific day when the Ares children were playing their nightly round of Bloody Drobble. She didn't know how they had so much energy after spending their day fighting and being as violent as possible around camp, but after dinner, they all usually gathered together and played this game that supposedly was just normal Drobble, but with a little twist. It had taken Luna a few weeks to finally figure out what it was about without seeming like she was trying to listen in, but when she got the hang of it, she realized exactly why the Ares kids enjoyed it so much. It was Drobble alright, except they played it in two's while the others watched. The one who won got to decide who the loser sparred with, and what weapons each of them used. 

She'd witnessed numerous of these games in which her cabin mates just fought like animals until they tired out. But it seemed fun, more or less. She never knew how much she had wanted to join them until she actually got invited. 

"Hey! Tiny emo," Yelled out one of the boys- Sherman Yang. "Wanna play with us?"  

At first she hadn't fully heard him. She took off her headphones, and blinked. "Huh?" 

He rolled his eyes. The others were watching her. "I said, wanna play with us?"

She stared at them for a split second. What did she have to loose anyway? She put her headphones down and came to sit on the floor next to them. "Alright."

So they started playing. Clarisse went first, against Edward Keller- a burly guy with curly hair and tanned skin. Everyone watched intensely as they played, leaning in closer and holding their breath in anticipation. When they counted the cards, Clarisse ended up having more. 

"Well," She grinned. "No surprise there," 

Edward groaned and threw down his cards. "Fine then. Who d'you want me to fight? Please let it not be Sherman again." 

Sherman clapped him on the back. "Stop whining, bro. I went easy on you last time." 

Clarisse scanned the circle of demigods, but even before her gaze fell on her, Luna knew she'd be the who'd get picked. "Since its your first time playing," The Ares girl explained, "You should be the one who fights first too." 

That made absolutely no sense, but Luna couldn't under any circumstances object. The cabin five campers only recognized you through strength- if she backed down now they'd never truly respect her.

"Sure," Luna said casually. "Lets see what you're made off." 

"You're very confident," Edward remarked as he got up. "For someone who's never played this game before." 

Luna stood too. "What's acting scared gonna get me?" 

"She has a point," Shae shrugged. 

"No one asked you, Mikheil." Edward scowled. 

"Oh yeah? Well you-" 

"Enough." Clarisse interrupted harshly. "Luna, you're gonna fight with a knife. Edward, you get the spear."