DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I only own the original characters and the academy the campers are visiting.
A/N: I'm also publishing this story on my fanfiction community garuladyne on Livejournal but I decided to post the series up here as well because of Chels-sama (who makes one heck of a beta reader, if I may add. 8Dv) Having that said; on with the show! I hope you enjoy the series as much as I enjoy writing it. XD~
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Five people gathered around a man in a wheelchair; listening as he read something out loud from a piece of paper.
"… and that concludes the briefing of this trip. Argus will take us to the airport where we'll check-in and board the plane immediately. Don't worry, we'll make it in time just the welcome ball, we always do," said Chiron. "Well then, shall we?"
Luke took a good look at who would be tagging along on the trip. He already knew Steven Clarke was coming, a female from the Demeter cabin whom he recognized as Amy Crawford and finally Loire Dincht from the Athena cabin.
As they walked past Thalia's tree, Luke stopped halfway for a moment and looked at it, scenes of what happened two years ago briefly replaying in his mind.
"Yo, Luke! You coming or what?" he heard Loire shout, waking Luke from his thoughts.
"… Thalia, take care of Annabeth, okay?" he murmured, slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder. He then hoisted his suitcase and made his way to where the others were waiting for him.
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The flight took approximately twelve hours. They were greeted by Lekir, who was assigned to meet up with them after they had taken the train from Prinicple Town Valley and arrived at the Port Town of Crystallis Island.
The school they were visiting was different than what they thought it would be. He expected a layout similar to Camp Half-Blood, but it succeeded their expectations by a mile.
Upon passing the entrance, which was in the form a metal arch, the van they were riding in took a turning to the right which said "Side A" on the directional sign and drove all the way to a large building that had the sign "Auditorium and Classrooms" on it.
"Welcome to Crystallis Academy for Half-Bloods," a woman with auburn-coloured hair greeted them. She wore full battle armor and was holding a bow in one arm. "I am Huang Yue Ying. Unfortunately, my husband; the headmaster is away on business but he'll be back today in time for the ball. I trust that Chiron has already briefed you about the rules in my husband's place back at camp Half-Blood?"
"It's already been done," nodded Chiron.
"Then I don't have to repeat myself about it. The only thing I'm informing you is that you should be down by the ballroom at 1945 hours. You have this hour to get ready. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to my archery lesson. Dismissed!"
"Ehh, don't worry. She's not as stern as it seems," Lekir laughed light-heartedly. "Though I wouldn't recommend going up against her in her sport. Unless you're someone like Kasturi or your teacher right here; am I right, Chiron?"
"That's enough of the flattery, Lekir," Chrion chuckled and, turning to the campers, said; "You know where your dormitories are. I'll see all of you later this evening."
While Chiron wheeled himself off to the cafeteria with Lekir, the campers took the path parallel to it that lead them to a couple of four-storey dormitories and a bigger dormitory which obviously appeared to be the main dormitory. Connected on one side, to Luke's far left, was a sundry shop while on the far left of the building was the infirmary. All of the buildings faced a circular courtyard that had a bubbling fountain in the middle with wooden benches surrounding it.
"Oh Zeus, my dyslexia!" Loire groaned as he tried to read the sign on the main dormitory that read "Crystallis Academy Public Dorms and Teacher's Residence."
"What's our room number, Luke?" asked Michael Yew.
Luke took out a key from his pocket and examined the tag. "It says room 711. Floor 7, Room 11. Oh and…" He took out two more keys and handed them to Michael and Loire. "These are the other room keys for your guys."
"Okay cool, let's get outta here! That uber bright yellow dorm over there by the light green one is more blinding than Apollo's!" cried Loire.
The ballroom was a large room with a glass dome ceiling with a verandah that looked out unto the lake. Despite the crowd, Luke found himself away from the crowd that evening. He stood leaning against one of the pillars, watching on as couples came and went from the dance floor and having to repeat himself to Loire whenever he ran up to him and asked whether he had scored anything yet.
"Don't be a social hermit, dude!" Loire would say before running off again.
"Would you like some refreshments, sir?" said a passing waiter, holding out the tray; bowing slightly.
"Thanks," Luke nodded, continuing to observe the crowd.
His attention shifted to the people, mostly couples, coming in and out of the verandah. His eyes moved themselves across to a pillar near the doors leading to the verandah, landing on a female who was also looking towards the lake. She had layered black hair that reached to the middle of her back. She wore a dark gray, sheer fabric halter dress that cascaded down to her feet.
As though she had felt his gaze on her, the girl suddenly turned to face him, catching him off guard; and gave him a friendly smile. Luke tilted his head slightly to the side, as though he was saying; "Are you referring to me?"
Just then, Michael Yew came up to her from behind and bowed politely; it looked like he was asking her to dance and it looked like he didn't take 'no' for an answer because before she could reply, he had already taken her hand and led her to the dance floor.
Luke was the only one left without a partner, but that didn't bother him too much. He was feeling a little too tired to be out there dancing, and he didn't even know how to dance in the first place. He decided to head back to the dorm early.
"You're not going to take part in the waltz?" a voice said from behind him as he was about to leave.
He turned around. It was the girl from before.
"Aren't you going to dance with the one who just asked you to a few moments ago?"
She laughed. "No. He told me to come and get you since you looked awfully lonely."
Luke peered over her shoulder to the two boys standing nearby, giving him two thumbs up. He made a reminder to strangle them when they return to the dorm later.
"I can't dance," He shook his head.
"Come on, you'll be fine. Just try to follow my steps. Besides, I can't dance alone now, can I?" she said, taking him by the hand and bringing him over to the centre of the ballroom.
Luke tried. He tried to copy her steps, and he also tried to look at other people's steps, but it didn't seem to work. He stepped on her foot, bumped into other couples, and at one point, he bumped into her to the point where they almost fell.
"Forget it. This is useless," he sighed.
"It's because you're too stiff," she replied. "Let's try this again. Just… relax."
She smiled at him forgivingly and Luke decided to give it one more shot. They started out slowly and little by little, he began to pick up the pace. As the music reached its climax, fireworks could he heard from above.
The both of them looked up towards the glass dome. Luke smiled to himself. Feeling her hands slip off his shoulders, he looked at her inquisitively and noticed she was looking past his shoulder towards the entrance, having a worried look on her face.
Before he could ask what the matter was, she apologized and quickly walked away, leaving Luke all alone again for the remainder of the dance, not even getting the chance to even ask who she was.