𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒, apollo

𝐱𝐢𝐯. friday afternoons

THE NEXT FEW DAYS I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur. Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, who was all alright, I guess.

We also talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered that for the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed reading. Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. But still, I found myself inching to read books of myths, which apparently are not just myths, but also the truth.

The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me and Percy archery, but we found out pretty quickly that Cy wasn't meant for anything that used a bow and an arrow. And by that, I meant, that instead of shooting the arrow at the target, he almost shot one at me.

So, I decided against trying that out, because I knew that I was no better than my friend. Apollo was a bit grumpy about the fact that I hadn't even tried, but I just ignored him, focusing him out of my thoughts.

After lunch, Asher would take me to train. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armour. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and Ash complemented my reflexes several times.

But the thing was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long. Asher told me I'll get used to it, but I just think that swords aren't really my thing.

Then there was the whole father thing. The Hermes children warmed up to me quite quickly, especially the Stroll twins after I unknowingly escaped their pranks for an entire day. Apparently, nobody has ever done that, the record being only 17 hours. Ever since then, during meals, they would attach themselves to me and I didn't mind, not one bit.

Other campers, on the other hand, hadn't really engaged with me, except Clarisse who would nod at me occasionally in greeting ( and I would always return one back ), or the two children of Athena which was I starting to like the company of more and more.

Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, and even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, but unlike the rest, I wouldn't scrape part of my meal into the fire. It just seemed wasteful to me. And I wasn't about to change my opinion because the rest didn't agree.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON, I WAS sitting with Grovs and Cy by the lake, who was resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall that I witnessed in the front row. At first, his struggle amused me, but when Percy's leg slipped, me and Grover immediately rushed to grab him from the lava.

I mean, who in their right mind thought that teenagers training in rock climbing where smoking hot lava was waiting for them at the bottom was a good idea? Grover told me that it was for motivation, but the only thing that the lava motivated me was not to even try climbing that.

Anyways, Cy hadn't gotten hurt badly, but his shirt did have a few smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off his forearms too, which I know I wouldn't have minded.

We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, which seemed very boring, so I turned my attention away from them as I finally got the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.

His face turned sickly pale and for a moment I was genuinely worried about him. He simply answered with, "Fine. Just great."

I knit my brows, because it sounded like it was the opposite of what he was saying, but Percy, clueless as always, asked, "So your career's still on track?"