𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xi ━━ who do i have to speak to about if they could redo the prophecy?

01. chapter eleven

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

𝐈 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑 and instead spent that time sitting on the beach. it's not that i wasn't hungry. in fact, i was starving. i was just too embarrassed to see anyone from the hermes cabin.

the beach was far away from the dining halls and i thought the beach would be a good spot to clear my head. and i really needed some time to think.

water usually calmed me, but the ocean didn't seem to do the trick. i wished there was a river or creek nearby. the running water made me feel at ease.

all of this was too insane to believe. i was half-goddess? it seemed to an intricate ruse to make a fool of me. maybe the kids from my old school will pop out and yell 'got you!' and they'll all laugh at me until i cry.

it honestly wasn't something i'd put past them. during my time in school, all the kids were awful to me. i understood i wasn't the most friendly and approachable person, but i was never rude or vulgar either.

this seemed too well thought out for those kids though. also, according to chiron, those kids would be about ninety by now.

that thought made me nearly pass out face first in the sand. the kids i went to school with back during what felt like seven weeks ago were ninety years old now while i was still the same age.

i wondered if everyone was concerned about my disappearance. did they care i was gone? probably not. the only people that i could imagine caring were my grandparents. i bet my classmates threw a party and my school teacher was the one who brought the cake.

i wondered where i would stay for the night. i couldn't imagine the hermes campers allowing me into their cabin again. i completely freaked them all out and they probably didn't appreciate paranormal activity in their home. i figured they had already removed my cot.

i had trouble comprehending everything i had just learned that day. i hated to admit it, but i was scared. really scared. there was something wrong with me. spirits talking to me, spending seventy-six years in the labyrinth, killing my dad with just my words.

when it was time for campfire, i was so upset i considered not showing up. i remembered kayla saying i'd probably be claimed that night though so i decided i had to show up or else i would never discover who my parentage was.

the campfire was way way worse than i ever imagined. it was a singalong. the amphitheater steps were carved into the side of a hill, facing a stone-lined fire pit. fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners.

i spotted piper and rachel towards the front and rushed over to them. leo was nearby, sitting with a bunch of burly-looking campers under a steel gray banner emblazoned with a hammer. jason was upfront with annabeth. standing in front of the fire, half a dozen campers with guitars and strange, old-fashioned harps—lyres?—were jumping around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. everybody was singing with them and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. it was quite possibly the weirdest thing i had ever seen. as the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold.

i felt lame for not participating, but i was kind of in a bad mood. i wasn't really up for singing at that moment (or ever). singing wasn't my thing. it kind of ruined the mysterious thing i had going.

but finally the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. chiron, riding a horse, trotted up. at least in the flickering light, i thought he was on a horse.