The Dark in The Daughter of Apollo¹ | l. valdez

I See An Old Family Friend

You already know what I'm going to put up here, so you might as well skip this and continue reading.

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As Hazel pulled me down towards the fighting arena, I heard chairs scratching the floor as the other Campers got up to follow.

Good grief, do they have nothing better to do other than watch Hazel give me a tour?...I guess so.

To give you a brief summary of what I saw at the fighting arena: amusing, horrifying and slightly disturbing. There were at least fifty fighting dummies scattered on the floor, all of which had no heads. In the center of the room, was a girl who was viciously ripping the head off of more dummies.  

That's Clarisse La Rue for ya...

I gently pushed one of the heads aside with my foot, "As much as I love watching you decapitate the training dummies, it's getting a little disturbing."

She paused, flames of anger dancing in her eyes, before the were doused in curiosity. She stopped her training (she looked like she was having way to much fun) and stared at me like she was trying to remember something, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

I shrugged, "I don't know Clari, what do you think?" The demigods who were showing me around began making frantic movements, trying to get me to shut up. Clari's eyes went wide and she tilted her head back, letting out a bark of laughter, "Oh Sol, you never did changed, did ya?"

I shook my head, smiling slightly, "Never Clari, never." Percy cleared his throat, "Just taking a random guess here, but do you two know each other?" We both rolled our eyes at the same time, "No Jackson, we're just to strangers that happen to know each other's names."

The others gave us a creeped out look, mainly because we did the same things at the same time. Clarisse smiled and walked over to me, giving me a side hug, "How's it been Sully? You've grown!" I smiled, "Well that's kind of what happens after-"

I paused before looking back at her with a frown, "How long has it been Clarisse?" She frowned in return, "You don't remember?" I shuffled uncomfortably, "After the move", we both flinched at the word, "A lot of things happened Clari. A lot of things changed."

Her frown turned into a look of concern, "What happened?" I shook my head, trying to tell her not here and not now, "Clari...how old am I?" She looked startled before looking up, downing that math, "You would be 13 years old. You'll be 14 on the summer solstice."

I nodded, trying to keep the information in my brain. 13...mom would have been 32... I noticed everyone's eyes on me and ran my fingers through my hair, "13? Going on 14? Dam, I feel old. My grays will be showing soon."

Clarisse looked startled, "Since when did you start cursing?" I shrugged, "Since I was about six. When-", my face darkened, "When she left." Clari's face turned into one of disbelief, "She didn't." I nodded, "She did."

Her face held many emotions, anger, betrayal, sadness, and finally pity, "Dam kid, I'm sorry." I shrugged, "It happened years ago. "I'm use to it."

Biggest lie of the year...

She gave me the look that said that's-a-bunch-of-crap-and-I-know-it. She eyed me up and down before looking at me suspiciously, "Sol...why are you so skinny?" I froze, "What?" She rolled her eyes, "Why are you so skinny Sol."

I looked down at myself, "I look fine to me." She pulled my shirt back as far as it would go, "Look again Sully." I looked back down and I finally realized what Clari meant.

I was only a little bit bigger than the last time Clari saw me (4 years old). All my ribs were showing through my shirt and it looked like I didn't ever eat anything. Clari gave me a look that would have made Professor Snape flinch, "Explain."

I shuffled uncomfortably, "I ran out when I was 8. I've been livin' on the streets ever since." Her eyes almost popped out of her head, "You ran away?! Why would you leave Iméra!!"

I clenched my fists and was resisting the urge to slap her, "¡No me hables de Iméra de esa manera! ¡Era mi mundo entero y significaba más para mí de lo que tú podrías saber! ¡Así que ni siquiera trates de jugar la carta de culpa porque ya me siento lo suficientemente culpable sin que me eches más a los hombros!"

(Translation: Don't talk to me about Iméra that way! It was my entire world and meant more to me than you could know! So don't even try to play the guilt card because I already feel guilty enough without you throwing me over your shoulders!)

There was a silence as everyone waited for Clarisse to punch me in the face. Clarisse frowned, "I really have to learn Spanish, don't I?" I nodded slowly, "Yes...I guess you do." We were so deep in conversation, that I kind of-maybe-forgot that the other demigods were there. I mean. They were being so quiet and me and Clarisse had to catch up after not seeing each other in over ten years.

We (meaning I) jumped when I heard a horn sound in the distance, "What the hell was that?!" Clarisse chuckled, "Dinner horn. Let's go." She grabbed my hand and started dragging me toward what she described as a pavilion earlier. Why didn't I include that conversation you may ask? It would have taken to much time and we have more important things to discuss in this book.

With everything happening, recovery from my wound, being introduced to a world that that was made up, and meeting was up with a friend that I hadn't seen in almost ten years, I thought nothing else would surprise me that night.

About an hour later, I was proven wrong.

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