The Children of Water

Into the Maw of Lonleness

•Hey wake up kiddo!" Percy said shaking Lily awake, "you missed lunch, but I got you a sandwich." Percy said.

Lily opened her eyes, she was surprised she had slept so long. But she was almost grateful. She didn't have to sit through another gossip extravaganza centered on herself. She sat up and Percy was already headed out the door.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Got a game with the the Hermes cabin against the apollo cabin in Volleyball. I'll catch up with you later!" He said and was then out of sight.

Lily ate her lunch not wanting the free hour to end. She didn't want to be stared at anymore. But soon the clock above the door struck the next hour and she knew she had to leave. She checked her schedule for her next class. Swordsmanship with her brother presumably.

As she made her way over to the Arena she tried hard to not call attention to herself. Yet the judging eyes still beat her down. She made it a little after the class had started and the crowd of kids were all listening to Percy explain a move with his sword Riptide and a practice dummy.

"-that is the basic stabbing move and that's what we will be practicing," Percy was saying. Then he spotted Lily and he smiled, "Great! You made it, come join the class." Percy said to her. The entire group turned around and looked at her. Some of them stared at her with curiosity, others with bore, and then there were those who snickered and laughed quietly with their friends. Lily's ears burned. Why did he have to point her out? He must have been entirely oblivious. She took a few hesitant steps closer to the group and one of the Aphrodite girls whispered after Percy turned back to the dummy.

"Such a loser," then some of the other girls giggled quietly. Shame was fresh in her mind. It felt like being slapped in the face. It took all her concentration not to react.

"Alright I want you all to try those two moves, everyone get into groups of three and share a dummy and take turns practicing. Now be careful these are still real swords so treat them with caution." Percy said and all of the kids immediately split into groups that were obviously already thought out. Lily ended up with two guys. One looked like a fourth grader who was close to tears and could hardly hold his sword, the other was staring at the sky. Was he asleep? He was not moving or blinking as he leaned against his sword. Percy was busy trying to console the little boy so he wasn't exactly observant. Lily was trying to practice her thrusts against the dummy when she felt a burning slice on her arm. Lily turned to see a girl holding her sword away from me and faking an apologetic face. Blood was running down her arm. It burned as Lily pressed her hand against the wound to stop it from bleeding.

"Oh," says the pretty blonde girl who had called Lily a loser earlier, "sorry, I didn't see you there," she said. Her friends openly giggled shedding more light on the situation then needed. It was very much on purpose.

"What's going on?" Percy said walking over. The girl made a face at Lily almost daring her to let Percy protect her instead of taking her on herself.

"Nothing," Lily says, "I accidentally bumped into her sword."

"You have got to be more careful Lily," Percy says, "let me see," he said. Before she let him see Lily saw the blonde girl smiling triumphantly. Lily felt so powerless. What happened to the girl that faced monsters alone for a year? She may have been lonely before because there was no one around. But here? At camp she felt more alone then ever and there were people all around. She had never understood more the phrase "feeling alone in a room full of people."

•~•~•~•

The rest of the day passed in a slow blur of strenuous exercise, whispered teasing, and loneliness. She was more and more keen on all the different groups of people passing her, chatting, laughing, or goofing around. They all saw each other, she could see them, but they could only see her to make fun of her, and even that was a select few.