*JEOD*

Jeod packed his bag, making sure that none of his fifty brothers and sisters had stolen any of his things. Text books? Check. Prank gags? Check. Drachma for Iris messages? Check. Wand... Where was his wand?

"Conor Stole!" Jeod growled. His thick British accent sounding through out the cabin. "If you have my wand, I'm going to kick your ass!"

XxX

Jeod was a demigod, child of Hermes to be exact. Today was the last day of camp, also a week before his boarding at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry would begin. He'd be able to catch up with the family that he hadn't seen, much less thought about, all summer, for this short amount of time... But not without his damn wand!

XxX

"Connor," Jeod yelled, running passed the stables, then the training arena. He did a double take, back tracking, and letting out a sigh of exasperation. "You've got to be bloody kidding me,"

There stood Connor, waving Jeod's wand around like a fool, trying to get sparks to come out.

"Aren't you too old to be playing with sticks, J-J?" Connor called. He threw the wand into the air and caught it again.

Jeod's vision turned red with anger and a few snakes straggled into the arena because of his emotions.

"Connor, I'm going to say this for the last time. Give. It. Back," angry red sparks shot from the wand as Jeod spoke, startling Connor.

"Not afraid of a stick," Connor said in a sing-song voice. That was the last straw.

"Accio wand!" Jeod yelled. His wand gravitated back to him and he looked deviously at the snakes at his feet. "Get him," he ihissed and they all lunged at Connor, who swatted at them frantically with his arms.

"C'mon, J-J. I was just joking around," Connor whined as Jeod proceeded to ignore him. "Don't be angry,"

"You should just be happy that I hadn't attracted any poisonous snakes. You don't understand what could happen if you abuse someone else's wand, Connor," Jeod said through clentched teeth. Apollo's kids were the closest things to wizards at Camp-Half Blood, and even hey couldn't comprehend how important a wand is to a wizard.

"I'm sorry. Just please don't be mad," Connor pleaded. Of all of Jeod's brothers and sisters, Connor was the closest to him. Maybe it was because Connor's twin had died last year. Ever since then, the boys had confided in each other for everything. Jeod didn't complain. His own brother would never show his feelings like that. He was pretty sure that his brother hated him.

Snapping out of his daze, he ruffled Connor's dirty blond hair and walked with him to the cabin. He could never stay angry at him for long.

When they got back, voices started singing "Happy birthday." Jeod stood there with a goofy smile on his face as the other's finished singing and held a cupcake with sixteen candles all squished together in front of him.

"Guys, my birthday was last week," he laughed, blowing out the candles anyway.

"We know," Connor rolled his eyes. "I told them we should have given this to you on your actual birthday, but they said it would be more sappy if we gave it to you now," a few voices raised in protest and Connor silenced them. "Oh, shut up. I'll still give him the present!" He made a display of presenting Jeod with a small wooden box.

Jeod frowned, his forehead creasing with worry. "Where did you steal this from?" he asked. "If you stole it, I can't keep this,"

The others looked genuinely hurt. "Why do we have to steal everything? We could have bought it," called a girl in the back. He was sure it was the youngest of them... Milly.

"Yeh, and Hades will miraculously rule the sky someday," someone else snickered. The lights in the cabin flashed on and off at his statement. "Sorry... Sorry," he muttered and the flickering stopped.

"Open the damn thing," Connor said. "While we're all still young,"

"Okay, okay," Inside the package was a bead the size of a nickle with the number sixteen written on in in Roman numerals; XVI. On the back, it was a moving wizard picture of all of his brothers and sisters. Jeod smiled broadly. "This must've cost a fortune!" he said, adding it to the other beads on his camp necklace.

"Nah," Connor said casually. "We stole the camera," everyone in the room snickered, all of them having taken part in the heist.

"Thank you," Jeod said, giving hugs all around. "I'm going to miss you."

XxX

When all was said and done, Jeod hoisted his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the cabin, Connor trailing him.

"Will you bird me, or whatever?" Connor asked. He was trying to seem casual, but Jeod could tell that everytime he left, things were getting harder for him.

"Yeah, Con. It's called an owl," Jeod smiled and hugged him one last time. "Keep me posted on camp gossip," he chuckled.

A sleak black car dorve up to the camp boarder. Argus got out and opened the door for Jeod to get in. He was the only long-distance camper that had to go halfway across the world to get home, thus he needed a car.

"I will, Jeod... Bye," Connor walked away from him before Jeod could see the tears in his eyes. "I'll see you next summer, yes?"

It was a hard promise to make. Demigods were lucky if they even see tomorrow, let alone another summer. Jeod happened to be safer than most, because of his magical ability, but what about Connor? He could disappear before Jeod's eyes, and he couldn't stand to lose another one of his family, his best friend.

"I'll see you soon, Connor," he threw his bag into the car and disappeared in after it.