The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

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WHY IS APOLLO HERE?

Ariana Parker never got over the death of Leo Valdez; she didn't think she ever could.

After participating in another war, Ariana had become more and more familiar with the concept of death and how it couldn't be prevented. Though, that never stopped her from wishing Leo had never died.

There were so many unspoken things Ariana wished she got to tell Leo, so many things she wished could've been different.

Every time she thought of Leo, she mentally cursed herself. There was no point in blaming herself, or wondering how things could've been different because the reality was that Leo Valdez was dead.

Ariana had accepted that long ago.

So instead of allowing her grief and guilt to swallow her whole, she distracted herself. By distracting herself she didn't give her mind an opportunity to even consider Leo.

During the week days, Monday all the way to Friday, Ariana would attend a school in New York with Percy and Annabeth.

And on the weekend, Ariana threw herself head first into training demigods at Camp-Halfblood, she helped the romans with exchange programs and how they could join both camps together.

Camp Halfblood had changed. Seeing as it was January, there were only a few campers to begin with. Around twenty of them. Though, that number began decreasing as campers were disappearing.

Ariana had lost sleep trying to find them. That wasn't the only thing keeping her awake, however.

In addition to that, on the weekend Ariana often visited Olympus and fulfilling her ambassador of the god role - though it was more like once a fortnight.

All in all, Ariana had busied herself to exhaustion. So much so that Will Solace had opted to the lock her in the infirmary at Camp for a full week.

He got his wish, and for a week Ariana laid in a bed being supervised 24/7.

Not to mention, Ariana had rarely visited the underworld. One time she had visited, Hades and her had gotten into a fight over the fact Hades knew Nico was going to fall into Tartarus and didn't help him.

Ariana knew that even if her father wanted to he couldn't have helped her brother but she didn't care. The girl knew she was wrong but Ariana was way too stubborn to admit that.

"What'd you get for question five?" Percy asked, snapping Ariana back into reality.

She and Percy were sat in his living, doing some homework together.

Despite all the drama and the two wars the pair had been through, they had never grown distant; Ariana was thankful for that.

He and Annabeth (who was away for family business) kept a close eye on their friend and made sure she was alright.

Especially after the death of Leo, Percy barely left her side and often on the days when Ariana could barely drag herself out of bed, he would lay with her.

Ariana looked down at her book, realising she hadn't done question five yet. "I haven't done it yet, give me a minute."

Ariana didn't get the chance to do question five because Sally Jackson called out to them. "Uh Percy some man is claiming he's Apollo? He's at our door?"