Carystus

A bus lands in the lake

My breath frosted in the cold mid-morning air and the grass crunched under my feet. I closed my eyes and listened for any sounds of intrusion-by that I mean evil snake-ladies and stuff. I heard a soft scratching noise and smiled when I saw the robin making deep grooves in the earth with its talons. I threw some birdseed and watched it peck them out of the dirt. A bunch of animals scurried out of a bush behind me, clearly panicked.

Suddenly, the snow in front of me melted rapidly, and the entire sky seemed to burst into flames. A rush of scorching heat blasted over me even as I ducked and I heard a male voice yelling" BRAKE!" Seconds later I heard a loud splash and a bunch of naiads scurried away from the molten canoes bobbing around half-heartedly. I sprinted forwards to help and stopped, stunned when I saw the huge, white-hot bus sitting in the now boiling water of the lake.

The door to the bus opened smoothly, and Percy Jackson stepped out. I knew it was him as soon as I saw his sea green eyes widen at the sight of the glowing non-heat fireballs that me and dad had hung around the cabins last night. Another boy with black hair and a face that reminded me of someone I couldn't name jumped out behind him and yelled" Whoa! Is that a climbing wall? Why is there lava? Is it REAL?" – I couldn't help but smile at that little remark- Behind that little cute kid a bunch of hunterspiled out. I. Hate. Hunters. Period. Exclamation. Mark. Angry. Slash. Frowney . Face.

I practically lost it when that Zoe girl came out of the bus. I wanted to storm over and scream in Apollo's face about what he could've done to delay the hunters. She looked at me as if I was supposed to be in the pits of Tartarus, boiling and screaming in agony. I glared back and resisted the urge to punch her in the guts when she said,

"Oh, look, it's the shy Hermes kid again. Can we burn his cabin like last time?"

"No! Zoe, you're here as guests, and you do realized that my dear half-brother centaur Chiron could kick you out at any moment, now don't you?" Apollo then closed his eyes and muttered something about poems. I quickly seized Percy's arm, grabbed some suitcases with my free hand, and trudged up the slightly-charred hill before the lord of the sky cooked us to bits with English literature.

"C'mon, Nico, lets get our buts up that hill" Percy muttered, "Zoe, have you met-

"I have met the centaur" Zoe snarled, eyes flashing, exactly in time with me saying, luckily in a much quieter voice,

" She knows him" The way she said centaur was the same way one might say, um, Apollo's Poems. And that just made me hate her even more. Let's just say it's a part-centaur type of thing.

When we reached the big house, I obviously hung back and gave Percy the look most people give him when they'd rather be somewhere else. He nodded in that understanding way of his, glared at Zoe for the murderous look I'd earned for myself, and went into the big house, closing the door behind him. I already knew that Annabeth was gone, and she was just about the only person that actually listened to me speak, so I had nothing to do but walk away to see how much damage the sun bus had created. Oh, and I am NOT, absolutely NOT having any feelings for her, ok? She's just a friend.

Anyhow... I wondered what the camps reaction to loosing capture the flag would be like. Probably a little fighting here and there, and alot of the usual bad-mouthing, nothing to extreme...

I could never get wronger than that.