Here it is!

Again please note that when reading this story, ASSUME THAT THE POV CHANGES EVERY CHAPTER! If it doesnt change, I'll be sure to let you know!

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Chapter 3

I drew back my arrow, my tongue sticking out of my mouth slightly as I sighted down the straight shaft of the arrow. I heard Chiron helping a camper to my right, and took a deep breath as I eyed my target. My curly brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, but a few stubborn strands hung on either sides of my face, brushing against my cheeks.

It was a big dummy that was stuffed with pillows to resemble a monster, and I am sorry to say that it failed miserably. Its large lips were a delicate shade of red – expensive lipstick, no doubt – and the body was drawn with glittery marker and doused in perfume. Today was the day that the Aphrodite cabin was in charge of providing targets for archery – the Iris and Aphrodite cabins were grouped together in archery class this morning – and it was a complete disaster.

I glanced around at the other fifteen year olds around me, and with a small smile, I closed my eyes and shaped the air around me into an illusion similar to the Mist. It was an art that all Iris kids could perfect once given enough instruction, and it allowed us to create illusions that could fool even demigods. But the size of the thing you're trying to mask affects the length of time the illusion lasts, unlike the real Mist used to shield humans from the world of the gods, so it was a technique that should be used on little things, like masking bed-head or making the enemy see something different while fighting you in order to distract them.

When I opened my eyes, a roaring monster was standing where the dummy had been seconds before, and its beady yellow eyes were locked on me. I pulled my arrow back an inch farther, and let my arrow fly, releasing the breath in a rush as my arrow soared towards the monster.

My arrow hit the monster in the heart, which immediately dispelled the illusion, and I saw that my arrow had punctured a small heart drawn on with pink marker, and it sported a tiny arrow puncturing it. Wow…really?

I laughed as I stared at it, and Chiron butted me with his large horse shoulder and I turned to see him smiling at me.

"I've missed your talent, Amara…I really have."

"Aw, thanks Master Chiron! But I still have a lot of work to do, I mean, I was aiming for the spot an inch away from where I meant to hit, and–"

"Nonsense. You're aim is near perfect! You must have been practicing at home, because camp has only been in session for three days! Anyway, I would be most grateful if you would mind showing around a small group of children, you know, to get them more comfortable. Most of them are still…well, adjusting to the whole situation here, and I might not be the best person to welcome them right now." He gestured to his lower horse body, and I nodded, fighting back a giggle.

"There are five young children who are still unclaimed even after three days. Felix just informed me that they were crying last night because they believed that their parents would never come and claim them."

I bit my lip in sympathy, and Chiron went on. "Felix told me that he'd bring them around in a few minutes or so. Is that alright with you?"

I nodded brightly, saluting with two fingers. "Sure thing, Master Chiron!"

Chiron smiled fondly at me and patted my head with his large hand. "Thank you my dear. Ah, here they are now. You see them, over there?"

"Over by the water barrels?" I saw five small figures standing beside my cabin mate, Felix. His eyes were currently a calm shade of blue, and they flickered towards me as I waved frantically at them. I deposited my bow and quiver into the small container next to the shooting range, and waved to Chiron as I lightly jogged over to the water barrels, a large smile on my face at the sight of five adorable ten year olds. They were all trying to act tough, but I could see that they were all still terrified, and they eyed the archers with wary scowls. Felix smiled at me, and I reached forward to hug him with a smile.

"Hey Amara, thanks for coming."

"It's nothing, Felix. Hey guys!" I turned to the kids, and one of the girls asked boldly.

"Is he your boyfriend or something?"

I laughed, and the kids yelled as they stared into my eyes.

The girl was pale. "Your eyes…they changed color! They were gold before, now they're purple!"

Felix laughed at their fear, and quickly spoke as I composed myself. "Now this is awkward…"

I laughed as he hugged me with one arm. "Yeah, Felix is my half-brother."

The girl sighed in disappointment. "Oh. So you guys can't be together?"

I nodded, smiling at them. "Yup. Okay, before we get into anything else, we need to get to know each other. C'mon, let's sit down."

I saw Felix jog away out of the corner of my eye. I sat down on the thick grass a ways away from the archery field, and gestured for the kids to sit down with me. I assumed that my eyes were my usual happy gold once more – my eye color shifted with my moods, and the darkness and brightness of the color depends on the intensity of those emotions – because the kids didn't start when they looked up to meet my eyes.

"Let's go around in a circle, and say our names, and one thing that we like, and one thing we're scared of. I'll start." I smiled, and the girls – there were three of them –smiled back. The boys remained aloof, however, their arms crossed over their thin chests. "I'm Amara, Daughter of Iris and I love archery. The thing I'm most afraid of is the dark."

"You're afraid of the dark?" A boy was shocked into blurting, and I shrugged as the others snickered.

"Yep. Who's next?"

The girl to my right piped up, her rich brown eyes bright as she spoke.

"My name's Kaia and I love gardens. I hate fire…it scares me…"

I looked the girl up and down, and flicked my eyes upward to the heavens. Uh, really? Was this some kind of challenge, to attempt a guess at which cabin this girl was made for? Like…did the gods think we were stupid or something? It's painfully obvious…

But I knew that if I told this girl of who her mom probably was, then the other kids would be jealous because Kaia knew who her immortal parent was, and they still didn't.

And so just smiled and nodded, and the boy beside her glanced up with vivid green eyes. His hair was in disarray, and it was as black and unpredictable as the raging sea in winter.

"I'm Philip, and I like Skittles. I hate chocolate."

I nodded, once more looking up at the sky. It really only took one look at some of these children and you could tell who their parents were. What was taking them so long?

The other introductions were similar, and by the end of the circle I knew that two of the kids, a boy and girl, were children of Poseidon. One girl was a child of Demeter, and the last girl was of Janus. The last boy was of Hermes, I could tell from the first time I saw him. Only one god had that mischievous of a smile, only one god had that seemingly casual stance to their shoulders.

I sighed, and cupped my hands and called up to the heavens. "Um, sorry to bother you all, but do you think that you can hurry it up down here? I can tell whose kids these are, but it'd be nice for them if you could make it official!"

There was a rumble in the distance, and I could've sworn I heard a chuckle somewhere in those white clouds that floated above us.

Over Philip and a serious girl named Pelagia's heads glimmered a bright green trident, and their small faces lit up with astonishment as they stared up at their father's sign. Over Kaia's head was a single glowing strand of wheat and over the darker girl named Eden was a glowing gray arch. Over the head of the last boy had a caduceus with two slender snakes wrapping around the lower half of the staff, and his eyes were bright as polished gold as he stared open-mouthed at his father's sign. I grinned at them as the symbols slowly disappeared, and got to her feet.

"Alright, now that that's over with, let's get on with the tour. There's a lot to show you guys!"

This time, all five kids jumped to their feet, and instead of somber stares each child had beaming grins on their faces. I remember the feeling I had when I saw the shining rainbow over my head back when I was ten myself…it was a wonderful lightness in your chest, like you could start flying if you let yourself try. Like you finally were complete, because you knew who your other parent was…and you knew that they completed you, they are what made you special.

It was the best feeling in the world, and I couldn't imagine a time or place where children of the gods weren't privileged to feel that way about their immortal parent. It made me wish that Percy Jackson was still alive, so I could tell him how happy he made so many half-bloods…half-bloods that were being accepted and trained.

But when I mentioned this to Rachel, she laughed, a little sad when talking about her deceased friends, but still cheerful.

"Nah, that'd just blow up his ego! And if a pretty girl like you came within a foot of Percy, Annabeth would have your head!"


I watched as the kids hefted their bags onto their shoulders as they strode towards their new cabins, and I waved to them as they smiled back at me. They were soon gone, and I turned on my heel to head towards the Mess Hall for a quick lunch – since I wasn't doing a regular activity, at which lunch was normally served.

The grass was warm under my sandaled feet, and I breathed deeply as I stared up at the sky. I hoped that my mother would be feeling up to painting a rainbow soon, the sky looked so bland without it.

I smiled, and made a little rainbow within my cupped hands, watching it glitter and sparkle. I was so absorbed that I didn't see the boy sneaking up behind me. I screamed when I felt his hands cover my eyes, and whipped around to see a pair of cheerful blue eyes, sparkling in amusement as I blushed at how close he was, looking down and straightening my shirt.

It's embarrassing how flustered I get around boys…they're just so…sudden sometimes.

"Hey Jake, what's up?" I said, smiling up at the eighteen year old boy, seeing the winged shoes he carried in his hands as he slowed himself to match my stride. He really is cute; I couldn't help but note as we walked. Tall, athletic, handsome…the typical appearance of a child of Hermes.

"Oh, nothing much, just helping some of the younger Hermes kids get the hang of these winged sandals. It's really easy, if–"

I laughed. "You have incredible balance, speed, and are a child of Hermes. If you have those three qualities, you're super!"

Jake laughed, bumping me with his shoulder. I liked the warm weight of him; it was soothing in a way. But he obviously could never see me in that kind of light…and it was sad, but I valued his friendship too much to try and go that extra step. I had never actually gone out with a guy before, I all I had to go on was some sappy chick-flicks and the advice of the other girls in my cabin. The other girls in my cabin…well, they weren't much help, and those movies? Gods, they were just plain embarrassing!

We passed a few campers on our way to the pavilion, and I saw a boy my age holding his sword by his side, his honey-blonde hair wavy and his piercing gray eyes smiling as he joked with his friends. As we passed, our eyes met for an instant, and then we were past each other. I smiled at Jake he leaned in closer to me so that we could both squeeze in between the wooden confinements of the bridge.

Jake suddenly leaned in to smell my hair, and I blushed bright crimson as I felt the heat of his chest against my shoulder. A smug smile crossed his lips as he twirled a loose curl that had fallen loose of my ponytail around his finger. "Let me guess…you were creating rainbows just a second ago."

I bit my lip, and my gaze dropped to my feet. "Uh, how did you know?"

"Your hair usually smells like that vanilla shampoo you use…but whenever you create rainbows, it smells like roses. Weird, huh?"

I tried to make light of the situation, despite the fact that I was blushing in secret pleasure that Jake actually took note of what I smelled like. Could this be a sign?

I smiled up at him in glee, and a breath escaped him as he stared up at the sky.

"How can you always be so…happy?"

"Huh?"

"Like, no matter how angry people are, no matter how annoying things are sometimes…whenever I look at you, you're always smiling, always happy. It's kind of cool, actually."

I smiled slowly, twirling a curl of hair around my finger as I bit my lip. He actually looked at me sometimes, like, when I wasn't looking! Score!

"I don't know, I just think about the fact that my mother is the goddess of rainbows, and rainbows always make other people happy. Since I'm her daughter, it's my job to make sure that other people are happy too."

Jake seemed embarrassed as he looked into my eyes, and he quickly glanced away again. I was at the Mess Hall steps, and he hesitated as he fiddled with his belt. An awkward silence filled the air as we both looked at each other.

"I've got to go back to teaching those kids…"

"Yeah, definitely. I've got to eat and then help my cabin get ready for Capture the Flag tomorrow…"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that…" Jake frowned, and his blue eyes flickered up to meet mine for an instant. "I hope we aren't against each other…that would suck…"

I smiled, and poked him playfully in the stomach. "Yeah right. You'd enjoy pummeling my team into a pulp, and don't try to deny it because I know you a bit better than that."

"Darn, you got me." Jake smiled, and I hugged him goodbye.

"See you around, Jake." I whispered, feeling so coddled when his long arms came around to hug me tightly. I let myself remain in that position for a while longer, and then we both gently pulled away.

I was about to turn, but Jake lightly touched my arm, making me stop. His lips lightly pressed against my cheek, and I felt my heart thrumming like a humming bird in my chest as he quickly pulled away, his eyes on the ground and his face burning.

"Uh, I…I…didn't…"

And without another word, Jake turned on his heel and ran back to his cabin, running a hand through his hair as he opened the door and dashed inside.

I was having an out-of-body experience right now…there was no way, no way…that Jake had just kissed me on the cheek. Sure it wasn't on the lips, but it was still more than a friendly hug! He had kissed me!

I giggled to myself as I danced around in a circle, and I kicked the air in front of me with excitement as I chanted to myself.

"Jake kissed me, Jake kissed me, Jake ki–"

"Oh for crying out loud, girl, get over it already!" I turned to see Mr. D standing there, and I slapped my hands over my mouth in mortification, feeling my face burn and I was sure that my eyes were dark, dark purple.

Mr. D seemed pleased at my embarrassment, and waddled past me, sniffing in amusement.

"Jeez, just a kiss on the bloody cheek and girls get like this? Back in my day…"

But I was already inside the pavilion, running towards the kitchen and praying to every god in existence that Mr. D didn't do what he usually did when coming upon something secret. If I wasn't careful, the fact that Jake had kissed me would be known by every camper, nymph, and naiad within an hour.

Oh dear.

But I remembered the warmth of his face close to mine, and couldn't help but smile.


Cute ending, no? I tried to make it as realistic as possible (not all guys are charming and calm around girls, especially girls they like...)

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