BY fates design

Sibling bonding

Early the next morning Cassiopeia woke, the sky was still dark and no bird had began to sing. Achlys, too, remained asleep as she carefully climbed out of bed and began to get ready. She took her time, humming as she brushed and styled her hair into a bun. As always she wore her heir rings, her camp necklace, Poppy's locket and her silver snowflake necklace that held her bow and arrows.

Checking on Achlys, she left a little note on her bedside before leaving the room. Cassiopeia didn't head to the kitchen or dining room, she wasn't in the mood for an early breakfast, instead she went to one of the dance halls. She hadn't dressed in her usual clothes that morning, instead pulling on her leotard, tights, leg warmers and cardigan.

She headed straight over to the record player in the corner, turning it on so that the sound of music filled the air as she warmed up and stretched by the bar beneath the windows. She took her time waking up each of her muscles, enjoying the peace of the empty room and familiar stretch of her limbs.

Once content with how much she had warmed up, Cassiopeia swapped her ballet flats for point shoes, carefully padding her toes, before she went to changed the music. With the new symphony playing she began to dance 'Juliet's variation'.

An: only to 1:28 (when the man begins to dance with her).

She finished, holding her position as the music continued to play. If Astro or Corvus had been there she would have continued with them as her partner, if they still practiced their ballet that was.

"Beautiful." Aphrodite whispered, "I really outdid myself with her." She giggled happily while reaching out to hold Ares' hand.

"That was amazing, Cassiopeia." James complimented as he watched his daughter dance with an incredible grace for such a young girl.

"Wow." Cassiopeia whipped round to see who else was in the room. She had been too engrossed in her performance to notice anyone walking in. It was still early after all, and she didn't expect anyone else to be awake, the sun was still yet to grace the sky.

Leaning on the wall by the door, his mouth slightly agape, was none other than Perseus Jackson. His sun kissed blonde hair was unruly as it fell over his tanned face, his sea green eyes were locked onto Cassiopeia.

"That was amazing," he muttered, "you're amazing, how do you have so many incredible skills? You couldn't have learned this at camp, who taught you? How long have you been doing ballet?" Cassiopeia smiled at the complements and interest in her hobbies.

"Aww he cares." A group of Ravenclaw girls giggled. "He's like the boys from our books."

Percy's eyes shone with curiosity as he walked over to where she had taken a seat to drink from her blue bottle. "Thank you, Percy," she said as she undid her points. "As for your questions, I've been learning ballet for 10 years now, my grandma, Walburg Black, Siri's mother, she signed me up when I used to live with her before camp. Before you came to camp there was another camper, Alice, she was a daughter of Aphrodite who knew ballet. She would learn during the year and then teach me over the summer, then occasionally I would come back to England and get more lessons here."

"Where's Alice now?" Percy asked cautiously, he was scared she would say that Alice was also dead.

"Oh she turned 18 and left camp to go to University." Cassiopeia shrugged, "she would be 20 now I think."

A unanimous breath of relief sounded around the hall. All the death the young girl had faced was really starting to get to them.

Percy nodded, sighing in relief that he wasn't about to hear how another one of her close friends met a gruesome and untimely demise. He never knew how to properly react in those situations when she was talking about Poppy or Eddy and felt it best he never brought them up again afterwards.