Sunburn- phoebus apollo

--ii. percy get's in trouble...again

PERCY JACKSON

THE FIRST WEEK OF JUNE wasn't starting off so great for him. The whole thing with meeting Rachel Elizabeth Dare (again), slaying bunch of monster cheerleaders, and pretty much accidentally blowing up his--hopefully but who knew now--next school's band room kind of put a damper on orientation and summer break. Annabeth was also mad at him, which was never that fun to deal with either, and something was clearly wrong at camp. He didn't know what exactly it was, but there was a thick layer of tension in the air, like the whole area was holding its breath, waiting for something terrible to occur.

(Looks like his sister's pessimism was rubbing off on him. He couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not.)

Speaking of Rhea, Percy hadn't seen her in person since Christmas. She had went back to camp to train right away and hasn't been keeping in touch, but Annabeth had told him that she was doing well. Admittedly, he was looking forward to seeing her again--after all, they were twins, and it was nice to speak to her face-to-face.

In the Big House's driveway, Connor and Travis Stoll form the Hermes cabin were hot-wiring the camp's SUV. Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, waved at him from her Pegasus as she flew past. Percy looked for Grover, but he didn't see him.

He did, however, find Rhea.

She had gotten taller over the year and had decided to grow out her hair down to her midback. Her eyes glinted in the sunshine, even from a considerable distance. Apollo's sunglasses were perched on top of her head, her gold necklace laid on her neck and ring on her finger which held her weapons. Percy decided that his sister looked a lot happier since the last time he'd seen her.

"You've got glitter in your hair," Percy noticed in surprise, lightly touching her head when he reached her.

"Silena Beauregard," she said simply, like it explained everything. It kind of did. "I mentioned how the gray streak bothered me. She figured the glitter would take some of the attention off of it."

It definitely worked. Rhea was already a magnet for sunlight--no thanks to Apollo--but the glitter seemed to further enhance her somehow. Percy didn't really care about makeup or the newest style trends or whatever, but he thought the way her hair seemed to shimmer and sparkle under the skylight made her prettier somehow--like a Disney Princess.

Not that he'd tell her that to her face. He didn't think either of them could handle the cringe.

"You've been hanging out with Apollo?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered warily, glancing at him as if he might blow up at any second. Which, rude. He wasn't sure if she was even aware of just how much the god's name alone could affect her. He didn't think that he was ready to let his sister go to someone who has a less than impressive track record on girls. "He's been visiting me a lot lately."

"You have?" He grumbled, but quickly shifted his expression to more of a grimace when he saw the look on his sister's face. "I mean... everything going good?"

"Everything's great," she said, and by the gods, it looked as if she had a blush on her face. Which... to give Apollo credit, at least he made his sister happy. But that's the bare minimum, in Percy's opinion. "He makes me happy."

A good thing then. Percy knew firsthand the negative effects a god's love could have on...well, anyone, really. He'd been against anyone dating his baby sister, because he didn't want her to get hurt. However, if she's happy....

It was good, knowing they'd been making progress and knowing the god was making his sister happy. Even though Percy still thought that Apollo was kind of an arrogant show-off, just like his kids were, he still have to give him credit. Rhea has been smiling a lot more recently, and he wasn't dumb as to why. But if he took a toe out of line.... he wouldn't hesitate to give Apollo a piece of his mind, immortal or not, no one hurts his sister and gets away with it.