For Multiple purposes, Piper McLean has been eliminated and does not exist. One reason is she is an annoying little butt face. And Thalia is not a hunter of Artemis.
Skylar's POV
We walk over the hill, Jace Nakamura and I, in our uniforms from our boarding school. Blue, white and bronze kilts hang until just above our knees, our dress shirts untucked and our ties swinging freely. I hear Jace laugh and I look over at her, she turns her IPhone's screen towards me, and I see the screen is blank. What the hell, I give her a look and I say
"You know, your emo zombie boyfriend thing is really weird." All she does is roll her eyes and laugh some more. After a while, we came to this big white and blue house. To the right there were rows of strawberry fields. To the left there were a bunch of kids that looked to be 16 or 17 playing volleyball against some weird goat human mutant things. When I turned my head to ask Jace about it her head was turned and she looked like a kid in a candy store. When I followed her gaze my eye rested on a boy about 16.
His hair is somewhat shaggy and black, and that's about what he wears, black, black, black and more black.
"Hey Nico." Jace says and she kisses him,
"Ok, I am going to let myself out of this awkward reunion and go get some help, like a tour. And you two, get a room." I say and stride into the house. I knock on the door, but I feel a tap on my shoulder and I feel my eyes widen. I stand before a six-foot tall centaur, with a white horse bottom half and the top half is an older man that has brown hair and an awesome brown beard.
"Ah, you must be Skylar Lark, Jace's friend I assume. Let me guess, Nico found her?" he asks, I nod, unsure how I should react. "Oh, I am Charion, camp activity director. Please come sit," he signals for me to follow him into the house. Before he went in, he sank into his wheelchair, that is enchanted so his horse half will fit. He rolls into the house and down a hallway into a room. I sit across the desk from him, braiding my blonde hip length hair, when a boy bursts through the door. He had shortish hair, with deep sea green eyes, but he is dripping wet.
"Charion, the Stolls started throwing water at us." He says in a stern voice, but when our eyes meet, I feel the ice in his gaze melt.
" Water?" Charion asks,
"They are throwing buckets of water at people, Jason hit Annabeth in the face so I am looking forward to a good show." he laughs, "I will go talk to them, but you need to show Skylar around. We believe she is a daughter of Apollo, so, show her the archery range, stables-" he gets cut off by the kid, Percy.
"Yeah, I know, you want me to show everything important." I stand up and look at Percy. He is about 6 inches taller than I am and a lot more muscle on him than me. As he led me to the front of the house he talked about all the things at camp half blood; like the stables and the arena and the archery range. Then, he showed me the cabins, and I see why he was wet. Four kids were sitting on the roof of the short, squat, grey stone cabin with seashells and one of them is sort of levitating off of the roof, giving people a chance to grab his feet.
"How does that even work?" I ask, but he gives me a look then remembers I am new.
"That is Jason Grace, son of Zeus, those," he hesitates, "Things," he decides on, "Are Travis and Connor Stoll, they like stealing things and you better keep your wallet in a safe place, otherwise, it is a goner. And the other kid is-" I cut him off abruptly,
"Nico Di Angelo, kid of Hades, the gothmo, zombie overlord, butt face that's dating my best friend." I answer for him. I see Jace on the ground, laughing up at Nico and walk towards him. When I get there, the boys on the roof look at me and go to grab a bucket of water, but am to fast. I grab the seashells and lip onto the short roof and grab Nico and hold a bucket of water over him. "You Spray me, Nico gets It." I say, with mock seriousness that no one heard. They immediately back down with their eyes wide at my threat. I smile, gods, they need to get a sense of humor.
"And who are you?" asks a voice above me. I look up to see the levitating kid, Jason looking down at me, his blonde hair cutting his vision into strips.
"No one." I reply,
"Skylar!" Nico exclaims, but then grins suddenly. He quickly grabs my legs and pulls me onto his back and stands up.
"You, for a gothmo, zombie overlord that I would normally consider having cool powers, suck." I smile at Percy, who is still on the ground. "Put me down." I say quietly, he automatically does so, not wanting to get his girlfriends best friend angry. I wipe off my kilt and turn to see kids staring open mouthed.
"He just put you down, without being smacked upside the head four times!" the Stolls say in unison.
"Because I am Jace's best friend, and if he wants a happy life, he doesn't want to make his girlfriends best friend angry." I reply with a small smile, loving the way they think I could make him put me down is awesome.
"That sounds like a good theory to me, daughter of Athena?" Jason asks, pausing, then shakes his head, "Apollo, I can see the resemblance."
"I don't know, but we are going to find out now. Lets see your talents." Percy says, grinning like a fool as he gets onto his own roof. "You guys want to come?"
"Definitely, but lets grab Thalia and Annabeth and Jace, okay?" Jason says, we nod but my ears catch Annabeth's name. She came to visit Jace and I while we were at boarding school this year, and Annabeth was the one to point me out as a demigod.
"Okay, but I need to change; I am getting funny looks from the people here. Have you never seen a tie?" I ask and they laugh.
"No, we haven't. So that is what the foreign item is called." humors Nico, I look at him and jump off the roof, rolling when I hit the ground. Luckily, I am wearing shorts beneath my kilt. Percy jumps after, soon to be followed by Jason.
"Where is your stuff? I'll go grab it while you get the tour and put it in the Apollo cabin." Jason asks,
"The Big House." I reply, "Thanks." I shoot him a quick smile before Percy drags me off. He shows me the horse stables, the arena, the lake, the dining pavilion, the archery range and a bunch of other cool places, but we just got to the Cabins when Annabeth comes running.
"You're here!" she exclaims hugging me, I nod. "I knew that you were a demigod, I thought Aphrodite, but, Apollo is one good looking god." she sighs and gives Percy a kiss.
"Ok, I am going to go and get changed while you two, do some PDA no one wants to see." I say as I slip off. Gods, is this place PDA central. I walk into a gold cabin that could only be Apollo's, the god of music, and the sun. I step in and I see Jason setting my bags on a bed. "Thanks." I say, he stands up straight and hits his head on the top bunk. I must have startled him.
"No problem, I am assuming by the look on your face that Annabeth found you and they started making out right?" I nod and start towards the bunk, "So your bunk is top. The person below is... I have no clue but just don't put your stuff on it, these people are very territorial." he say with a laugh.
"Okay, I have to change and finish my tour, so, catch you later?" I ask somewhat politely.
Jason grins, "No need to be all polite." he looks over my shoulder, "That's just weird." I look at him questioningly; he grabs my shoulders and turns me around. I look out the window and see a tree with bright blue and orange in the branches, I think it is. "Let's go." he says starting out of my cabin. I catch up with him.
"What?" I ask him,
"We are starting up the tour again," he says with a smile. I notice there is a scar on his upper lip, and I wonder how he got it. I shake my head as if to clear it and keep walking. We walk straight up to the tree where I saw the strange colors, I guess I wasn't crazy. Jason leans down cupping his hands, "Here, I'll give you a boost." he murmurs, I put my foot in his hands and shoot into the tree with ease. I move away from the fork in the tree branches so Jason can get up, and we start climbing.
We find the colors, blue and orange all right, and their faces are red. Percy and Annabeth are sitting in a tree kissing. "Get a room." I say as I climb up to them, "And why don't you finish suckin' face with your girlfriend after my tours finished.
"Oh, don't bother them to much." Jason says coming up and standing on the same branch I am, "Leave some fun for me." I give him a friendly smile before looking at Percy and Annabeth with my best disapproving stare.
"Gods, your eyes!" Percy exclaims, "They burn!" Annabeth laughs and I smack him upside the head. He wobbles then regains his balance with a triumphant smile. "Let's go finish the tour." He sighs,
"Percy, stay here and play boyfriend, I'll take her on the tour. Skylar, this is the kissing tree, unless you want to see people making out, stay away. Trust me, I made that mistake for thinking this was an average tree and climbed." He fake shudders, we start climbing down. Well rather I climb down, Jason sort of jumps from the top branch. When I am at the bottom, he helps me out of the tree and resume. I find myself at the archery range. "Go ahead, try a bow." Jason nudges me towards the bow rack. I walk over, grab a rosewood bow and a matching quiver of arrows. I go to the targets and take aim. I nock the arrow, anchoring with my pointer finger. I breathe out, and release. The arrow guilds itself into the center of the target, ten points. I smile and relax my arms, I turn towards Jason and he's nodding, "Apollo like, now, lets go see the horses and the weight room." I grin and start walking towards the building he called the weight room. He opens the door, and looks confused as he takes my arm and leads me into the room. Just as we are entering the room, he says, "This is the weight slash apparent make out room."
"Oh, hi Skylar, Jason. What are you doing here." Jace asks, untangling herself from the major make out session with Nico.
"Question is, what are you doing. What, was the kissing tree to cliché?" I ask,
"Yeah, are you sure you're not a child of Aphrodite?" Nico asks,
"Don't sass me boy, or I will make your life hell. Anyways, Jason was just finishing my tour after Percy ditched to play boyfriend with Annabeth in the kissing tree."
"Okay, lets blow this popsicle stand." Jason says, I am shocked, that is the dorkiest thing I have ever heard. To make sure he knows that, I smack him upside the head and I give him a disapproving look.
"That was the dorkiest thing ever. Lets go, bye people." I say as I grab Jason's ear and drag him away.
"Touchy touchy." Jason jokes as I release his ear. "Lets go get dinner. It's about time. You need to go back to your cabin and line up with the others, and I will see you at dinner." I nod and we part. I run into the cabin and everyone stares at me.
"Newbie?" a boy asks from a corner, I nod and go over to my top bunk. I unpack my stuff and change in the washroom. My shirt is a bagging collared shirt, a nice deep baby blue, with my white jean shorts, some rope sandals and my favorite white leather jacket, but the best part is it doesn't even look like leather. I put my hair half up half-down, and exit the bathroom.
"Damn, you look like a child of Aphrodite." A girl says,
"I had a mother when I was growing up so I am sure it isn't her." She nods and continues her conversation. I go to my bed, putting my clothes into my drawers, I take my kilt and tie, looking hard at the plaid. My brother, Jake, sent me to this school, and he has been working full time. He's a doctor in the hospital by our penthouse. Though I live at boarding school, I would often go for breakfast with him, or come home technically, and we order room service and lounge around for the day. We do that on the third of every month. The third is a special day for us, our parents died on the third of October, a day before my birthday, our first pet died on the third of January, so on, so we celebrate becoming independent.
The girl that said I looked like Aphrodite taps my shoulder, after five minutes lost in thought. "Time for dinner." Is all she says. I throw my jacket onto the bunk and line up at the back of the group. A boy, Eric, gives me a semi look of concern, but when I straighten up and smile he just shakes his head and smiles shyly. I think I feel myself blush, does he like me? I shake the thought; Jake would kill me if I started thinking like those girls that would do anything for a boyfriend. When I reach the pavilion, we are the first group. We sit and wait for the others. I smile when I see Jason walk in, but he has is arm through someone else's, I feel a pang of sadness. But then I notice, it's Thalia. Annabeth showed me a picture of her, it's Jason's sister. I feel relief flood through me like a tidal wave. She runs over and I hug her.
"So nice to meet you." She exclaims, "Damn, they are right, you look like Aphrodite." I laugh,
"My mom was a model, Fern Lark. I just caught her looks I guess." I say with a little curtsy.
"My brother, the bozo says you are a good shot with a bow. Is that true?" she asks me suspiciously,
"Yeah, need me to shoot someone?" I see her face and know what she's planning. "You want me to tell Jason to meet me by the dock, but have a water balloon above him then climb a tree and sever the rope with an arrow."
"Wow, lots better then what I was thinking. Well anyway, that would be funny but no. I want you, to go and help the Stolls trick Percy into staying under the water for two hours. That is one hour longer then any time before. He thinks all his air will be gone after an hour."
"What does that have to do with Archery?" I ask, she shrugs.
"Nothing. Anyways, I need to go the Zeus table. Tip, sacrifice a quarter of your meal to the fire up there, it's for the gods and goddesses." She smiles and sits down next to Jason, other then them, the table is empty. I sit, and then notice people starting to get food. They just grab a plate and walk to the fire. But when they arrive, the food they told the plate they wanted was on it. To cool. I get a gold goblet, and a matching plate. I tell them I want cinnamon tea and crapes. When I get to the hearth, I scrape one rolled pancake with nutella and strawberries into the flames. A burst of light came from the fire, nothing like that happened for the others. Everyone is gawking at me, I look up and see a golden sun above my head, Apollo has claimed me. I turn and sit back down, ignoring the stares from the other Apollo children. I finally have a permanent family, not one that I only see once a month. I eat in silence, the strawberry juices mixing with the chocolate spread to make it mouth wateringly delicious. After dinner, Annabeth, Jace, Thalia and I go to the lounge for a while, but quickly get board.
"Lets go swimming." I say sitting straight up.
"Agreed." They say in unison. We split up, each going and changing then meeting at the dock. I run back the my cabin, grabbing my Bathing suit from my drawer and running into the bathroom. I come out in a black two piece bathing suit, the top a twisted piece of fabric and straps that wrap around my neck with gold detailing and the bottoms basic. I grab my see-through wrap and sandals, and walk out the door. I see Thalia sitting with Jason and Percy. So those two showed up too.
I see an opening, no one has seen me yet, so i run as fast and as quietly as i can and tackle Percy and Jason into the lake. i squeal because it's cold, and i feel Jason pull my feet so i am submerged. Percy takes my arm and pulls me to the surface. Thalia is giggling uncontrollably, and Jace, Annabeth and Nico have showed up just in time to see the show. Jace dives in head first, splashing Nico so he is dripping. then it's my turn to giggle as the boys gang up on Thalia and pull her into the lake. Jason grabs my shoulders to pull me under, but i am too fast. i flip over his head and dunk him. "Lets play chicken wars!" I exclaim as i feel Jason coming up for air, "Agreed, we are on a team missy, so no back talking me." Nico says to Jace, i laugh as we pair up, but Thalia claims she doesn't want to play, so we leave her out of the fun. i am partners with Jason, Annabeth with Percy and Nico with Jace. i smile at Jason and i hear Jace mumble something, "Total flirts." she says to Annabeth who nods. i launch myself at Jace, but Nico swims by just in time so i land on his shoulder instead of Jace. "Perfect interception." Percy laughs, looking at me frowning on Nicos shoulder. i glare at him and climb off of Nico, who claims he's drowning over dramatically.
so yeah, the kissing started but when they walked out, Skylar dragging Jason by the ear, it was like another couple found us. i shake the thought, Skylar is so not the romantic type. i doubt she could ever have a boyfriend, she would more likely lead them on without knowing it, then break their heart by rejecting them. its kind of sad, her never even hoping another guy will want her after luke ripped out her heart, stabbed it 7 times, deep fried it and and ate it for breakfast. leaving her withering in lonely pain at her grave for all eternity. i have known jason for a long time and he is a nice boy but i'm not sure if he can handle her delicate emotions. she was happy enough for me when she found out about Nico but you could see the sadness in her eyes. i have known her for 6 or 7 years.
it was getting late so Percy dried us off.( not after dunking nico and thalia a few times though!) we started towards the cabins together, but Annabeth and Percy fell behind and Nico and i walked faster so we were ahead, separating us into groups. Skylar and Jason were laughing like the rest of us, but not in the hey-were-a-couple-so-watch-us-laugh way, in a hey-we're-friends-laughing-our-faces-off way. i smile slightly, thinking of Skylar having a possible boyfriend.
"What's wrong with your face?" Nico asks,
"What?" i say, totally confused,
"You're doing something, weird, smiling." i hit him in the arm, not light enough to be playful, but not hard enough to be violent. when i look back at the others they are doing some weird dance that looks like a mix between the macarena and ganam laughs as we get back to my cabin, i pause as he turns to me and gives me a kiss. not like a heated one but just one that leaves you wanting more and guessing that he sensed that, he starts to smirk as i glare at him. "Lighten up, you are way to, this." he says, gesturing to me,
"You just gestured to all of me." i say, he snaps his fingers,
"Exactly." he says as he starts to leaves.
"wait what?!" i yell after him. he turns around and winks "see you at breakfast" then molds into the shadows. see you may think that its weird to have a boyfriend that can do that but really it helps... a lot. say we were in my cabin and he was there past curfew if someone came to check up on me than he just goes away and comes back. ah, good old midnight make out sessions, never get old. i come in and everyone seems to be asleep but the breathing isn't even. "I know you're awake." i say with a groan, composing myself so i don't snap their heads off during one of their Nico-date interrogations. all of them sit up and grin devilishly at me. i sigh and head towards the bathroom to change. when i come out, i am bombarded with questions i don't answer. i slide between my covers, jealous of Nico and Percy, they get their cabins to themselves. i slam my head against my pillow and eventually, the chatter died down, and i fall into a dreamless slumber.
"Wake up, Jace, it was your idea to stay up for, i don't know how many extra hours with Nico and the others, but now you pay the consequences." a boy says, and i laugh as i roll out of bed, thinking about how he thinks Skylar, Annabeth, Percy, Thalia and Jason aren't worthy to be listed. i smile and change, rushing to lead the line down to the dining pavilion. when i arrive, i pass Nico and give him a quick smooch before sitting down at the Nemesis table. as the campers trickle in, i notice, while everyone is sitting, Jason and Skylar are talking, even if they aren't at the same table.
"Cute couple." my brother jack smith says in my ear, causing me to jump.
"Don't do that." i complain as i smack his arm. i notice it's our turn to grab our plates for food, so i give the signal for us to rise and we walk over to the plates and goblets in an orderly fashion. when we grab our food, we scrape some of it into the fire as sacrifice to our parents, aunts and uncles, even step brothers or sisters. i put a fifth of my pancakes in and smile as the fire begins to smell really good. we sit down as the Apollo table stands, and i notice Skylar gets the same thing every day, with the same goblet and same plate, i should inquire what's up with them, are they charmed or cursed or something?
"You haven't answered my question." my brother pesters,
"It wasn't a question, it was a statement. and no, they aren't a couple, they are just friends that are smitten like bunnies." i laugh, thinking of Jason with bunny ears and tail. i guess i laughed a little too loudly, because i get strange looks from the other tables. "stop looking at me! i am not a unicorn!" to exaggerate, i pick up my knife and hold it to my forehead like a horn and that got most of the cabins laughing out of their seats. smiling to myself i finished eating.