Born to Burn

002

A STRING OF curse words left Penelope's mouth as she struggled feeding the unconscious boy the nectar off the spoon. It was obvious from a distance that she was annoyed about the babysitting duty Chiron had left her doing. The young boy continued to drool making it 10 times harder for him to consume the nectar. Fed up of the situation Penelope threw the nectar on a nearby table and buried her head in her hands.

She hated being on duty in the infirmary and generally the campers didn't appreciate waking up to see her either. Then she heard footsteps appear at the door behind her.

"He drools in his sleep," a snort came from the blonde girl. Annabeth daughter of Athena. She was head counsellor of cabin 6 and was easily the smartest girl in camp. She had curly blonde hair like how you would imagine a princess in children's stories and her eyes were a stormy grey. She was also lethal on the battle field and one of the only people who would actually talk to Penelope. She wasn't afraid of her. Penelope assumed it was because of Thalia, the girl Annabeth and Luke Castellan arrived to camp with, daughter of Zeus. The two of them obviously knew that forbidden children were nothing to fear and just like all the rest of the half bloods. Thalia however was no longer with them, she was now the tree that marked the boundary of camp keeping all the half bloods safe.

Penelope smiled at the girl. "It would be funnier if he stopped drooling all the nectar and ambrosia back out." Annabeth laughed before her face turned serious and she walked forward to stand over the boy.

"What age is he?" She asked, her grey eyes flicking to my blue ones.

"Grover said he's 12, birthday is August 18th. Makes him exactly 4 days older than me." Penelope knew what Annabeth was thinking and if she was being honest Penelope had the same suspicions herself.

"Penny, do you think..." Annabeths voice trailed off.

The daughter of Hades reached her arm out gently placing her hand on the boys forehead. "I'm not sure..." she whispered quietly as she slowly retracted her hand, "but I feel something."

The dark haired boy began to stir and his eyes slowly opened. It was obvious as panic rose in his feature obviously frightened of the unfamiliar faces and room. Penelope felt like laughing.

"You drool in your sleep" she said in a smart arse tone. The blonde daughter of Athena giggled. The boy furrowed his eyebrows, his head looked like it was going to explode but at the same time he still looked barely conscious.

"Go back to sleep Perseus." Penelope directed her tone. The boy fought to stay conscious but eventually had to give in to the tiredness.

Perseus Jackson fell in and out of consciousness over the next couple hours. Penelope decided this was the worst job she'd ever been given, worse than cleaning out the Pegasus's stables. Eventually Grover appeared to give Penny a break from the babysitting. The girl never felt so glad to feel the fresh air in all her life when she stepped out of the infirmary.

After freshening up and catching a couple hours sleep she was back out training. She strode through the camp in her bronze training armour. The sun shone brightly reflecting off the lake making it sparkle while campers canoed across it. Archery lessons were in full swing as Penelope's watched campers all raise their bows.

Penelope made her way towards the swordsmanship practice area, hoping to find Luke to do their daily training. Luke was a tall handsome young man, whom all the girls seemed to fawn over. He had short cropped Sandy blonde hair and a muscular build with a mischievous glint in his eyes resembling the rest of the Hermes children. He was by far the most skilled swordsman in camp. But he was nowhere to be seen.