𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑 ; 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝟎.𝟒

𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕
2.5k words

That day, I decided I'd volunteer to help work in the stables with the pegasi and horses, because if I stayed with that new kid any longer, I was afraid I'd get even worse second hand embarrassment.

Not just that though, I went to see the animals when I needed space or comfort even. It's where I'd go when my father was busy, which was the case most of the time. My father may have been able to afford lots of animals and flowers that I liked, but one thing he couldn't buy was time.

Usually, Chiron sends two or three campers at a time, so when I volunteered, he sent me with some Aphrodite girl. Great.

Aphrodite kids usually don't help around with camp chores at all, because they're too busy doing...well, whatever Aphrodite kids do.

I've known a few Aphrodite kids to actually help, and I'm grateful for them, but most of them just don't.

This girl was no different. She stared at different stalls, the different pegasi and horses, the sleek, sometimes chipped wood all around us, and stood there like an idiot for at least a minute.

I started to take off the tack of a younger bay, he seemed to be up in space, probably thinking about a good bucket of oats. Honestly I couldn't blame him.

It's been hours since I've had anything, I would kill for some of my grandmother's homemade tamales right now.

"You just gonna...stand there?" I asked, slight irritation filling my tone as I looked to the girl. She snapped back to reality and looked me up and down.

"Can I just leave? It seems like you've got this...under control." She said, it sounded like it was meant as an insult but I just brushed it off.

I just looked at her for a moment, and questioned why she'd been so blunt and honest.

But, if all she'd done, was stand there and look stupid, why would I even care if she stayed. So I shrugged and nodded, immediately, she walked off.

I sighed when she left, and the tension in my body slowly disappeared. I found peace in the silence, well, other than the occasional whinny and the shuffle of hooves.

"Now...let's get you settled," I said quietly to the bay, as if he could understand me, and he got a pat on the neck. He nickered quietly back, as if answering me, making me chuckle a little to myself as I took the saddle off.

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After a while, I finished everything I needed to. I walked over to the bay I'd been working with earlier, and smiled to myself, I stroked his mane gently as he ate. He didn't even look up. Wow.

I walked out and quietly shut the wooden doors, it creaked slightly as I did so.

I began walking back to the Hermes cabin, when I saw a dim orange light coming from the woods. The glittering light shined brightly through the otherwise pitch black, empty, cold night.

I decided to check out what it was, knowing this was the opening of a horror movie, a young girl, alone, in the woods, I decided to keep my hand on my dagger, just incase.

I crept and swerved around the trees, and kept my steps silent so I wouldn't be seen. The subtle sound of crickets and the bristling of leaves surrounded me, when I finally got to the source.