Sacred

Seared

Carter's POV
The next couple of days are rough. Julia doesn't come out of her cabin and Gemma blames it on her so she keeps her distance from me. For the third time today I go and knock on Hermes' cabin. Eric, a Hermes, opens the door and he scowls.
"Wait Eric. Can I please see Julia?"  I ask.
"Who is it?" Julia's voice cries out.
"No one Ju-" Eric says and starts to close the door but I stop him and walk through the door.
Julia sits on her bunk and I walk towards her.
"What do you want?" Julia asks.
"Julia why didn't you tell me sooner? No one could ever replace you, you're my best friend. Gemma is just a good friend of mine if she would talk to me," I tell Julia.
"What do you mean by if she would talk to you?" Julia asks.
"Gemma blames herself and every time she sees me she walks the other way," I explain and Julia's mouth opens.
"Wow that's low," Julia adds.
"She thinks she's the problem Julia. She's trying to mend our friendship by stepping back," I explain.
"Oh," Julia says and rubs her neck.
"What did you mean by I like her more than you?" I ask.
"I just thought you liked her better and she replaced me. I was just confused," Julia says on the verge of tears.
"Julia no one could ever replace you. You're my best friend but I really like Gemma. So could you please talk to her and make things right," I beg Julia and she looks over at me.
"Just go talk to her if she's so important," Julia says coldly.
"Julia! Don't be like that you know how much you mean to me," I say and she looks up at me.
"You mean it?" Julia asks and I nod. I've always thought of Julia as a little sister and I mean that with all my heart.
"Go talk to Gemma, that's all a girl wants to hear," Julia says and I pull her into a hug.
"Thank you Julia. I know it's gonna be hard adjusting to Gemma being here but it's all going to work out," I tell her and pull apart.
"Bye," Julia says and I walk out of Hermes cabin and run to Hephaestus cabin. I knock on the door and Gemma opens it.
"Carter I-"
"Gemma listen. I'm not good at talking about my feelings but I know this. It's not your fault. It's not Julia's fault. Right now it's the world's. Julia says she's sorry it's just she's not used to another person. She's like a little sister to me and we're a great duo. But things have changed ever since you got here. Bad things and good things but you coming here has been great. I want to be friends with you because you're different and fun. I'm really glad you're my friend," I tell her and wrap her in a hug.  She buries her head in my shoulder and I set my head on top of hers.
"I'm glad you're my friend too," Gemma says and we slowly pull apart and I look into her wood brown eyes.
"Your eyes change colors. It's like they're dancing," Gemma points out and I smile. Gemma pulls me inside her cabin and I close the door.
"How's the sword?" I ask her and she holds up a gold sword with a fire symbol above the hilt.
"What do you think?" Gemma asks with a smile.
"It looks amazing," I compliment her and she smiles.
"Let's go test it shall we?" I ask and she beams.
"Yes Aphrodite. Is Julia ok with this?" She asks.
"Why wouldn't she be?" I ask.
"Uh no reason," Gemma says and we walk to the arena.

The rest of the day we spend training until dinner. I have Gemma pinned to the ground when the dinner bell rings.
"Saved by the bell," I say with a smirk and hep her up.
"Oh whatever I would've beat you," Gemma says and I playfully roll my eyes.
"Let's just go to dinner," I tell her and we walk to dinner. We sit down at a table and my goblet fills up with Sprite as Gemma's fills up with raspberry lemonade. Our plates fill up with BBQ, fruits, cheese, and fresh bread.
"Hey Carter, Gemma," Julia says and sits down next to me. All of dinner we eat in silence then walk to the amphitheater.
"So anything new?" Gemma asks Julia as we walk in silence.
"Nothing much," Julia says and we keep walking.

Once we get to the amphitheater we all separate into our godly parent's group. I sit down with the Aphrodites and wait for camp fire to start.
"Attention! Attention! Hera's peacock has been stolen!" Chiron announces at the front and everyone gasps.
"Does that mean a quest is being announced?" An Ares kid shouts.
"Yes," Chiron announces and I see a Hephaestus kid raise their hand.
"Yes?" Chiron asks and Gemma goes up to the front and whispers to him. I stand up and walk to the front.
"Gemma what's going on?" I ask her.
"I've been having dreams about Hera," Gemma says.
"Gemma is going on the quest, Carter," Chiron explains.
"Well I'm going too then," I say.
"What's going on Chiron?" Julia asks.
"And Julia makes the third person on the quest," Chiron announces," I've decided that Gemma, Carter, and Julia will go on the quest together!"
"What?" Julia says and everyone starts clapping.
"You'll be sent on your way tomorrow," Chiron says and sends us off to our cabins.
"Wait I'm going on a quest?" Julia asks.
"Uh yes," Gemma says and Julia squeals.
"My first ever quest,"Julia says.
"What's a quest?" Gemma whispers.
"This time we are going to rescue Hera's peacock," I tell her and she nods," We leave tomorrow morning."
"Great I'll see you then," Gemma says and walks to her cabin.
"Night Carter," Julia says and I walk to my cabin.
"How can someone just steal a peacock without being noticed?" I mumble and crash down on my bunk. I hope this quest goes well with no fighting, I think to myself and then drift off into a deep sleep.