¹ON THIS SPRING DAY. p. jackson

003.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter three

━━━━━ IF THERE WAS one good thing about not having a cabin for your father, it was getting out of those mindless chores that head counselors had to do. It was almost glorious, not having to worry about working through Chiron's reports or border patrol. Violet enjoyed her breakfast the next morning, ignoring as Travis and Connor bemoaned about being assigned to border patrol.

"Didn't you assign yourselves with that task?" asked AJ over his plate of bacon.

"Only because it's barely better than going through Chiron's reports," said Travis, like that was so obvious.

"Right ..." AJ raised his eyebrows, looking at Violet. She only shrugged her shoulders and ate a bite of her blueberry muffin.

Since Connor and Travis were on patrol duty, Violet basically had an hour of free time. There were places to hang out, but she posed the risk of getting roped into whatever was going on. A lot of times, if she was near training grounds, she'd get roped into being a punching bag for Cabin Five ( unless it came to archery, then they were her punching bag ). If she went near the Big House, she posed the risk of getting asked to help with whatever Chiron needed to be done. And if she went near the Camp Forge or the Arts & Craft Center, someone would ask her to help with whatever they were working on. But the Canoe Lake ... Well, the only time they really used the Canoe Lake was either for the Hermes Cabin tradition ( throwing in a new camper into it ) or for canoe races. And the Hermes Cabin was busy, and there were no canoe races scheduled for any time soon.

Violet sat at the end of the deck, her left leg tucked under her and her right foot dangling right above the lake water. She flipped through a book written in Ancient Greek, thumbing a page between her forefinger and thumb.

She didn't notice anyone coming up behind her until a pair of dirty shoes stopped. "What are you reading?" Percy's voice asked her.

Violet perked up, lifting her chin from her palm. "Where'd you come from?"

He pointed to the baby blue house that appeared small in the distance. "The Big House."

"Oh." She turned back to her book, flipping it back open. "Your morning chore?"

He nodded. "What about yours?"

"I kinda got out of it today," she told him. "Connor and Travis are on border patrol. You can't have the whole of Cabin Eleven out there patrolling. That would just be—"

"Chaos," agreed Percy, grinning slightly. He sat down beside Violet, setting a stack of reports beside him. His feet grazed the water but his shoes didn't get wet. "So, what are you reading?"

Violet used her forefinger as a temporary bookmark as she flipped the book closed again. "Pride and Prejudice."

Percy's eyebrows pinched as he leaned over to look at the cover better. "Is it in ... Ancient Greek?"

"Chiron translated it," Violet answered, flipping it back open. "I mean, he's immortal. I imagine you have a lot of time when you're immortal."

"Right." Percy leaned back, bracing his hands against the old wooden planks. "I didn't think you were a reader."

"Not of those nasty architecture books Annabeth read, no," answered Violet. She glanced up to smile at him. "But of romance books ... I suppose I should be with my dad being Eros."