The Curse of a Broken Heart

Chapter 3

McKenzie's POV

I wake up to Piper's annoying alarm clock. I hate it, Jason bought it for her a while ago, a cheap gift shop toy that is baby blue and wakes up all my cabin mates. I guess nobody says anything because Piper is the head of the Aphrodite cabin. I don't mind saying anything, and this morning, I am particularly nice about it.

"Piper McLean, the pits of Tartarus resound with the beeping of your alarm clock. Can you turn it down?" I say as I groggily rub my eyes. Last night I slept like a log, I'm sure I snored, and I find a small puddle of drool on my pillow. Gross.

"Sorry, it doesn't have a volume button. I'd turn it down if I could." Piper says as she hops out of bed. She is kind of like one of the actors getting out of bed in commercials, running around and waking up beautiful. I wake up like a monster, and I have established a rule in my cabin that anybody who wakes me up before Piper's alarm clock will die a slow, painful death, and I will personally make sure that they end up in Asphodel Fields.

"Sure you would," I say sarcastically as I climb out of my comfortable sheets, not wanting to face reality right now. I'm too tired.

"Hey sleepy head," Paisley, a blonde girl with a cute pixie cut who is only eight says. She swats my arm and runs to get changed from her pink butterfly pajamas. She has been here for only four months, but she is very mature. Running away from home and traveling around with nobody for a year does that to you. I mumble a reply as I go to change. My pajamas are a little small, but I love them. They are yellow with little smiling pieces of bacon on them.

I change into a light blue tank top, black yoga pants, and a cream colored light jacket. Piper has braided a brown feather into her hair, and she looks gorgeous without even trying. The problem with me is that I do not know what I look like. I mean, I know what I look like, I see myself in mirrors, but I don't know if I am beautiful. You honestly can't ever tell what is beautiful and what is not when it comes to yourself. Only other people can tell you that.

"What's happening today?" I ask Drew as I brush my hair. She yawns and points to her calendar that is hanging on a bulletin board that she set for our cabin to keep track of our events. It is magical; it shows a different schedule for every person who looks at it, and the people in your cabin who have the event too. The first thing I'm doing today is tutoring some kids in archery with nobody in my cabin. I sigh and yell to Piper, who is blow drying her long hair and playing with Paisley's short hair.

"I'm going." I say briskly and open the door, but Piper stops me.

"That was a very short answer. Tell me what you are doing." She says, and her charmspeak leaves me no choice but to tell her.

"I'm going to archery." I offer and try to leave. Piper is too quick.

"Why are you dismissing my question?" She asks, and I reluctantly answer.

"Because I'm going like a loner, all by myself." I sigh and open the door wider.

"There's no shame in walking alone." Piper encourages, and I smile and roll my eyes.

"Don't go all wise-girl on me. That's Annabeth's thing." I call back to Piper, who is standing in the doorway of our cabin and I'm racing down to archery, hoping not to be seen alone.

I hear her laughing faintly, and then I hear the door shutting. I run to archery, panting as I arrive. I use my hair band to tie my hair in a pony tail, and I smile at the campers that have already gathered around the bin of arrows and bows, shoving other hands out of the way to get the one that they want. When everybody is finally settled with their bows and arrows and standing in the correct places, I begin to speak.