Sunburn- phoebus apollo

--iii. tensions rise and friendships fall

RHEA HAS NEVER PARTICIPATED IN CHARIOT RACING, but it proved as a brilliant way of ignoring problems such as the camp's doom and her brother's conflicted views of their new half-brother. 

Rhea whistled to the tune of Perfect by Ed Sheeran as Annabeth and Percy sketched chariot designs for the race. They'd decided to team up, given that Athena and Poseidon's best (and maybe only) collaboration in mythology was creating the chariot.

"Any word from Lord Apollo, lately?" Annabeth asked, her way of creating small talk as her gray eyes focused intently on her sketch.

"hmm," Rhea hummed. "His haiku phase is really starting to ware me out though. He's been obsessed lately."

Annabeth snickered.

Percy frowned. "I thought I told you to stay away from him."

Rhea rolled her eyes. "Just because you have zero rizz doesn't mean it runs in the family."

Percy narrowed his eyes. "And here I thought you said that you weren't in a relationship with him. Fat lie."

"I'm not." Rhea corrected, laying on her side and resting her head on the palm of her hand. "It's just fun to annoy you, bro."

Percy scrunched up his face at that. "Never say that again."

"Whatever," Rhea dismissed. "Besides that, he's in his Harry Potter phase, and he absolutely refuses to watch the movies alone, so he pulls me when I'm sleeping to literally binge watch the entire series."

"I won't lie," Percy started, pointing his pencil at her. "As much as I dislike Apollo, I have to agree that Harry Potter is quite awesome."

"It's nice," Rhea agreed. "He keeps me distracted from having nightmares and so that I can actually get eight hours of sleep at night."

"Right, what's with you and the Apollo kids, Rhea?" Annabeth asked, holding out her sketch to examine any mishap. "Want to be their step-mom already?"

"Annabeth!" Rhea gasped, sitting up. "I never knew you to be so..... dirty."

She giggled. "I'm only joking. But seriously, I've seen the way you lot interact. They're protective of you."

Rhea sighed dramatically. "I have a soft spot for Apollo kids. I can't help it."

"I should've followed you and stayed here, sis." Percy grumbled. "You got all the fun while I was suffering though Romeo and Juliet." 

Rhea scrunched up her face at that. "Yeah, if there's one thing that dyslexia doesn't agree with more, it's Old English."

"True that." Percy nodded.

"You guys are such babies," Annabeth said. "I loved Romeo and Juliet."

"You don't count." Percy dismissed. "You're literally an Athena kid."

Annabeth never got a chance to retort because a group of Aphrodite girls walked by, whispering to each other until they reached Rhea and her friends.

The one that was clearly the leader of the group held out a tube of eyeliner. "Hey, Percy, Rhea, do you need to borrow some eyeliner for your eye... oh, sorry, eyes."

As they walked away laughing, Annabeth shook her head. "Just ignore them, guys. It isn't your fault you both have a monster for a brother."

"He's not our brother!" Percy snapped. "And he's not a monster, either!"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he is a monster." 

"Well you gave him permission to enter the camp." Percy pointed out.