Dpov
Chiron had to spend the rest of the day to the infirmary and since no one really seemed to know what was wrong with him, so he was forced to stay overnight.
I tried not to think about this as I slid out of my bunk quietly, careful not to wake Jackson and Kevin. Then, after putting on my shoes, I stepped into the hall. It was dark, not that it really bothered me. I knew cabin 11 like the back of my hand. I could have made it to the front door and stepped out into the night well aware I was being followed but not bothering to deal with it at the moment. Instead I started to run wondering if she'd be able to keep up.
It didn't take long to get to the camp boundary where I found Thea leaning against a tree, her arms cross over her chest. Even though it was night, I had no problem seeing her. The moon was full and in the moonlight I could see her grinning at me.
"I was starting to think you weren't coming." She said sounding amused.
"Jackson took forever to fell asleep." I responded apologetically.
"You're aware that you have a shadow, right?" she asked curiously straightening up.
"I am."
"You going to do anything about it?"
"Not at the moment." I said shrugging. Apart from lock picking, one of the first things I'd gone over with Ryan was stealth. I wanted to see if she'd learned anything after breaking into the Aphrodite cabin earlier. "We'll see how she does."
"Alright." She said shrugging as well and together we made our way into the woods that would take us to the road that ran next to camp.
"So how's it going with Ryan anyways?" Thea asked putting her hands in her pockets and looking up at the stars poking between the canopy of leaves above us.
"Hard to tell." I said frowning. "She's kind of hard to figure out."
"That's for sure." She said a little wistfully.
"You know I'm a little surprised you're not making more of an effort with her." I said looking at her and her expression seemed conflicted. Thea always went out of her way to make new siblings feel welcome, but she seemed to be giving Ryan some space since she got here. "I figured you'd be super involved or something."
"It wouldn't do any good." Thea said. "You're the only one she puts up with and me pushing her would just make things worse. I've decided to let you handle it. Besides," she added with a grin. "She's your protégé not mine." She pretended to wipe and imaginary tear from her eye. "You're all grown up now and training your own miscreant. I'm so proud."
"Shut up Thea." I muttered rolling my eyes and she laughed, but it faded when I asked. "So how is Chiron doing?"
I knew like me Thea was fond of Chiron and his current condition was troubling her.
"Not well." She said honestly. "Don't go spreading it around, we don't want people freaking out, but he's a lot worse off than the head counselors and the Apollo kids want to admit. No one seems to know what's wrong with him and he keeps insisting he's fine but…" she hesitated. "Well, you saw what happened today."
"Do you think it's something serious?" I asked feeling my stomach shrink.
"I don't know Dennis I really don't." she said quietly. "But I've been talking to Adam and he thinks if he doesn't get any better we might need be looking at a new Activities Director for a while."
"It's really that bad?" I asked in horror and she seemed to debate with herself before answering.
"I'm not really sure." She said eventually. "I've never seen anything like this before, and Adam can sometimes be a little pessimistic, which, to be fair, isn't that surprising considering all the stuff he's been through, but Chiron's tough. I'd be really surprised if he didn't get better soon. He deals with a camp full of idiots like you and me." She grinned slightly. "Maybe he's just faking to get a couple day's vacation."
"Yeah, maybe." I said grinning back feeling slightly reassured. That was one of the many great things about Thea as a head counselor, she always knew how to make people feel better, no matter what they were going through.
"But speaking of uncomfortable topics. What's going on with you and Hannah?" she asked giving me a suspicious look and I found it difficult to look at her as we hit the path that would take us to the road outside camp.
"What do you mean?" I asked trying to delay a conversation I really didn't feel like having.
"Oh come on Dennis." She said rolling her eyes. "Even Adam noticed something was up. And that's saying something."
"We broke up." I said glancing at her for her reaction and while she was frowning, it took her a moment before she spoke.
"What happened?" she asked eventually.
"I don't really want to talk about it." I said turning away from her.
"Well you got to talk about it to someone and who else are you going to talk to about it? The twins?" she asked and I shuddered. The twins weren't exactly known for their sensitivity. They'd be even worse then my sisters back home.
"That would be a nightmare."
"Yeah. I'm the best you got, so." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Spill."
"I dunno Thea." I said honestly. "I really don't know what happened. She just started acting weird, I mean she's always been quiet but she'd always talk to me you know? All the sudden she just stopped, she was always stressed whenever we'd hang out and just everything I said was wrong or would turn into a fight."
"I'm guessing this happened within the last five or six months?" she asked.
"Yeah." I said in surprise. "How'd you know?"
"I'm smart." She said perceptively, her eyes narrowing into a shrewd expression. "I'm guessing this was around the time you hit your growth spurt too?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" I asked confused.
"Maybe nothing." She said but I could tell she was thinking. She didn't elaborate however. Instead she asked. "I take it you guys are still friends?"
"Yeah, but I think that's more just because we don't know how to function without each other in our lives. You know how it is when you know someone from camp. They just understand things that mortal friends can't."
"I have one mortal friend." She said amused. "And he's dating Tess so not really."
"Has she told him who we are?" I asked in surprise.
"No." she admitted. "But he knows there's something weird about us. Blake's always been a bit weird, I'm pretty sure if Tess told him the truth he'd believe it."
"Well what about your cousin?" I asked. Thea didn't have a phone but we'd traded emails over the school year and she'd told me she'd managed to rebuild a relationship with at least one member of her mortal family.
"We're not focusing on me here." She said stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest as we hit the road. "You're the one who's not sure if he's in love with his best friend or not."
"What?" I asked indignantly. "I never said-"
"Spare me the excuses." She said waving her hand impatiently. "Do you still like her or not?"
"I don't know." I said putting my hands in my pockets. It had started to drizzle but it wasn't bad and I knew we were almost at the diner anyways. "I mean, she's still my best friend but it's weird you know? I mean, how would you feel if you broke up with Adam but you still had to see him all the time?"
"Well that's a bit different." She said. "We're getting married at the end of August."
"But you know what I mean. Wouldn't it be awkward in some ways? It just feels like I don't know how to act around her. One second I think everything is fine and we're friends…"
"Then you try to hold hands with her in the Gardens." She said knowingly.
"So you did see that." I muttered and she shrugged.
"Maybe you just need sometime time to adjust."
"Yeah, maybe."
"Then there's the whole Stephanie thing." She said casually but I, for some reason, felt as if she was accusing me of something.
"What about her?" I asked readying myself for a fight and she seemed to notice because she gave me an expression that reminded me of Adam slightly.
"Nothing." She said with an appeasing tone. "I just noticed you're spending a lot of time around her that's all."
"So? Is that a bad thing?"
"No."
"Then why'd you bring it up?"
"Because it was relevant. I don't know why you're getting so defensive. I'm your sister. We can talk about this kind of stuff."
I hesitated but saw that she wasn't attacking me, and seemed just genuinely interested in what was going on my life.
"You're right." I said eventually. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine." She said easily but I still felt on edge.
"But what do you mean by thing?" I asked.
"Well it's obvious she's got some sort of interest in you." she said frowning. "And I think it might bother Hannah."
"Why do you think that?" I asked and for the first time she looked a little annoyed.
"Oh come on Dennis, don't play dumb." She said rolling her eyes. "You're smarter than that."
"Well I can't help it if Stephanie wants to hang out with me." I said frowning. "If Hannah doesn't like it that's her problem."
"It's your problem too if you still like her." Thea pointed out but didn't press the point.
Instead she took off her necklace and her sword appeared in her hand.
"Do you think it's been enough time?" she asked and I took my axe off the keychain on my belt.
"I think so."
She grinned and together we chucked our weapons up at a branch in one of the nearest trees.
Ryan came crashing down from the leaves and landed ungracefully on the forrest floor, but managed to avoid breaking anything.
"You need to increase your following distance." Thea said amused walking over to Ryan and offering her a hand to help her up. "I'll give you props though. You're very quiet. If you were following anyone else, they wouldn't have noticed you."
"They probably wouldn't have attacked me either." Ryan said irritated refusing to take Thea's hand and standing on her own.
"You were detected." Thea said shrugging and giving her a mischievous smile. "You failed. You've got to accept the consequences."
"Did she do this to you?" Ryan asked me her eyes narrowing at Thea then looking at me.
"No. But she did tie me to a street light once." I responded.
"So you should count yourself lucky." Thea said. "Out of the two of us. Dennis's methods are a little less extreme."
"How fortunate." Ryan said rolling her eyes and Thea let out another laugh.
"Why were you following us anyways?" I asked.
Ryan shrugged and I thought she looked a little uncomfortable. I noticed she wouldn't meet my eye, but Thea, as usual, seemed to be able to figure out what was going on in someone else's mind.
"She's trying to figure out how to sneak out of camp." Thea said perceptively and I looked at Ryan who was glaring at her. "Running away are we Ryan?"
"You're one to talk." She snapped. "Dennis said you ran away all the time. He said you almost left the camp to join the Hunters of Artemis."
"Why are you trying to get out?" I asked her frowning. I thought I'd convinced her to stay, at least for a little while.
"Why wouldn't I?" she asked furiously. "I don't fit in here. I don't like anyone here, everyone talks about me and the only people who want to be around me are you and Malibu Barbie."
"Who?" Thea asked but I knew Ryan meant Stephanie.
"Well you're not trying very hard." I said indignantly while Thea reached into her pocket something fell onto the forest floor, but I was too incensed with Ryan to pay attention to it. "Maybe if you stopped being so rude to everyone you'd have more friends."
"I shouldn't have to change who I am for people to accept me." She said stubbornly.
"Well you can't expect people to accept you when all you do is insult them!" I said indignantly starting to lose my temper.
"I'm going to get my sword." Thea said waving and attracting our attention towards her.
"Alright." I said distracted barely registering what she'd said while I continued to glare at Ryan.
"You don't have to change who you are to be accepted at camp Ryan." I said as she continued to glare and Thea disappeared between the tree trunks. "This is the one place in the world where we can be ourselves and be accepted. Where we don't have to hide the fact we're demigods and who our parents are. It's the one place we can be around our friends and siblings without attracting monsters, where we can be safe. But you're so stubborn you can't see that!"
"But I don't fit in!" she said angrily.
"You never really tried!
"Excuse me." Said a voice and we both looked up to see Thea sitting in a branch far above us looking down at us with interest. I saw she was holding both her sword and my Labrys. "But it might interest you that there's a cell phone at your feet."
I glanced and saw that the thing that had 'fallen' out of Thea's pocket was indeed a disposable flip phone, the kind you could load minutes on to, and it was on.
I swore.
"Now." said Thea grinning. "You both are in for a lesson tonight. As I'm sure you know." She continued looking at me. "Monsters are tracking that cell signal at this very moment, and will show up at any time, and neither of you have a weapon."
"Are you nuts?" I asked her wide eyed and she laughed.
"Maybe."
"Why are you doing this?" Ryan said glaring up at her.
"Honestly? Because I got bored of listening to you fight. So. I suggest you two either work out your problems now, and figure out how you're going to escape. Or you're going to be monster chow."
"Thea!" I shouted, but she'd already dropped from the tree and started running.
"Give me back my axe!" I yelled furiously after her but she was already gone, her laughter bouncing off the trees.
I swore and crushed the phone under my foot, knowing it was already too late.
"She's not being serious, is she?" Ryan asked sounding nervous as around us we heard heavy foot steps that rustled the leaves around us and caused branches snap.
"She is." I muttered quietly.
"So she just left us?"
"Yep."
"That can't be allowed." Ryan said her eyes. "I thought the camp counselors we're supposed to look out for us."
"Look around you Ryan." I spat looking around the dark forrest to see shadowy figures closing in around us from all sides. "We're not in camp. And Thea believes in hands on teaching."
"So she really left us?" she asked pulling closer to me.
"Yeah."
"And she's not coming back?"
"No."
"Then what do we do?"
"Well she's obviously trying to teach us something." I said as a manticore stepped out from behind a clump of trees. "So we either learn it, or we die."
"Which means?"
"Well we don't have weapons to fight with, so there's only one thing we can do."
"What?"
"Run."
The next half an hour was one of the most nerve wracking in my life. Thea's little phone call lesson, whatever she was trying to accomplish with it, had attracted what felt like every monster in New York to the woods. Ryan and I were nearly cornered more times than I could keep track of and there were many situations where if I hadn't thought fast, we both would have died. When we finally stepped into the diner, battered and our clothes shredded, it was pretty much agreed between the two of us that it was a miracle we were alive.
"Hey Dennis." A cheerful voice said and Ronald, the owner of the diner's, eyes went wide. "What happened to you?"
"It's a long story." I said wearily as the door swung shut behind me and took in the diner. It was just as I remembered it, a little run down and dingy, but the food smelled amazing.
"Thea's in the back in your usual spot. Who've you got with you?" he asked his eyes falling on Ryan who was glaring sourly at a rip in the sleeve of her shirt.
"This is our sister Ryan."
"Another one of you?" he asked in surprise. "How many siblings do you have?"
"There's a lot of us," I confirmed and he chuckled.
"Well I'll make sure to send you some extra menus."
We made our way to the back of the diner where we saw Thea sitting in her favorite booth her face hidden behind a menu, and she didn't surface until Ryan and I slid into the seat opposite her.
"You should never have kids." I said flatly and she let out a laugh.
"Oh relax you made it didn't you?" she said easily resting the menu on the table in front of her and her eyes glittering amused. "Besides. You don't really think I left you two defenseless did you?"
She nodded towards the door of the diner and saw it open to reveal Adam stepping through it. Thea shot him a distinct look of pride.
"You're not the only one getting lessons in stealth." She said winking at Ryan and turning towards her fiancé. "Good work. They had no idea you were there."
"Told you they wouldn't." he said with a smirk and sliding into the booth next to her.
Ryan rolled her eyes and made a gagging noise when Thea kissed Adam on the cheek, but I stared at him in complete shock. How had I not noticed him?
"Why would you have him follow us in the first place?" I asked confused as I, rather uncomfortably, tried to get over this major lapse in my battle senses. This night was supposed to be just for Thea and I.
"You really think I'm going to let any of my campers run away?" she asked raising an eyebrow at Ryan who glowered at the table, and I knew Thea must have been keeping a closer eye on Ryan than any of us had originally thought.
"Remember that next time you think you're going to make a break for it." she continued and Ryan looked as if she wanted to argue, but thought better of it. Well if anything, it had taught her to keep her temper in check around older campers. I had a feeling Ryan might have thought she was the smartest person in the cabin up until now.
"That doesn't explain why you set monsters on us." I said grumpily. "And how come you let her do that?" I asked turning at Adam. I had a hard time believing Mr. 'Do Good All The Time' would approve of this plan. He'd always been the sensible one of the pair. I had a hard time believing he'd let anyone set monsters on any campers, no matter the circumstances.
"I trust her." Adam said shrugging and she smiled at him. "Besides I was there in case things got out of hand."
"That's a lot of trust to have in her with our lives." Ryan said sarcastically.
"She always has her reasons."
"By what were they?" I asked still annoyed. "What was the point in us getting attacked?"
"Why do you think I did it?" she asked looking at me with interest.
"Because you're crazy." I said irritated and both she and Adam laughed.
"Yes, but you knew that before tonight. That's nothing knew. What did you learn?"
I frowned, thinking, but was unable to come up with anything, however, I was surprised when Ryan answered first.
"I would have died without Dennis's help." Ryan said flatly and I looked at her in shock.
"Exactly." Thea said her eyes flitting to Ryan. "You're not ready to leave camp yet. You're unarmed, untrained, and have no idea what to do in a fight and you." she said turning to me. "You need to be nicer to your sister. Don't waste your time arguing with her. If you want her to like camp, divert your energy into finding ways to make it happen. Not yelling at her. Have a little perspective will you? We all could die at any time. Think of the things you said to her tonight. If she'd died tonight are those the last things you'd want her to hear?"
I thought about our argument and as frustrated as I was with both of my sisters at the moment, I realized that Thea was right.
"No." I admitted.
"Exactly so." Thea continued looking at us her eyes narrowed. "You two are going to get along. Ryan, you're going back to camp tonight and Dennis, get out of your own stubborn head for three seconds and realize that maybe the things you like about camp might not be what Ryan likes. She's new you should be making things easier for her, not harder. Have you even asked her what she likes to do? Or have you just been dragging her along with your and your friends?"
I hesitated but I saw Ryan was looking at Thea with a strange expression. As if she couldn't quite believe someone could care so much about her.
"Alright." I said quietly. "You've got a point."
"Of course I do." Thea said smugly. "I don't know why people don't realize this, but I'm always right."
"That's not true." Adam said looking at her amused.
"Name one time."
"When we went to the county fair."
She winced.
"Ok well the guy lived."
"Only because celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals."
"I thought he was a vampire!"
Adam rolled his eyes and as the couple continued to bicker in the way that all couples do and I used it as a cover to look at Ryan who was staring at them uncertainly.
"Are they always like this?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Like what?"
"This nonchalant about violence."
"Oh. Yeah."
"That's weird."
"They're a weird couple." I agreed and I was relieved to see her smile slightly.
"I guess there are worse things to be." She said quietly.
Eating at the diner went relatively smoothly considering Thea had had us attacked. Ryan loosened up a little bit around her and by the time we were walking back to camp, everyone seemed relatively happy.
"So what do you like to do?" I asked Ryan curiously falling behind Thea and Adam as we crossed the camp boundary and made our way to the cabins.
She'd been in such a bad mood since coming to camp, I hadn't really entertained the thought of her liking things, more just hated somethings less.
"I like training in the arena." She said shrugging. "And reading."
"Well have you talked to any of the Athena kids?" I asked and she frowned.
"Why would I talk to them?"
"Because they're intelligent, and they're good fighters." I said grinning down at her. "Sounds like someone I know."
"You really think they would like me?" She asked suspiciously.
"Why wouldn't they?"
"Are you seriously asking that question?" she asked skeptically as we stepped up to the cabin porch where Adam and Thea were saying good night.
"I like you." I said shrugging. "And Steph likes you."
"I don't know why." She said frowning. "I've been trying to get rid of her."
"Why?"
"She's just not the kind of person I would want to hang out with."
"How can you say that?" I asked raising an eyebrow. "You don't even know her."
She muttered something about 'not needing to' and I frowned.
"You're not judging her by her looks are you? 'Cuz she hates it when people do that."
"No." she said stubbornly.
"Are you sure?" I pressed and she looked uncertain as I continued. "You know you should come to the party. I think she really does want you to be there."
"Why?"
"Honestly I've no idea. Maybe she just wants to make more girlfriends. She told me it's hard for her because most girls hate her on sight. I know that's one of the reasons she like hanging around me when Hannah and her friends are with me."
"You're not going to make me go are you?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest and looking up at me suspiciously.
"No." I said. "Thea's right. I shouldn't be forcing you to do thing you don't want to do."
"Good."
"But I still think you should come." I said unable to help myself and she groaned.
"Dennis."
"You don't have to hang out with me and my friends." I said quickly. "but if anything it might help you meet some new people. You're going to be here for a while. You might as well try and branch out. Who knows, you might make some friends."
She hesitated for a long time before saying.
"Alright." Stubbornly. "But you can't make me stay if I change my mind."
"Alright." I said rolling my eyes.
We heard a laugh and saw that Adam and Thea were sitting on the roof of the cabin together, both looking up at the sky and I wondered how long they'd been up there and if they were ever going to go to bed.
"You know you're right about her." Ryan said eventually. "She's really weird. But she's pretty cool."
"Yeah." I said grinning.
"You're cool too." She said with out looking at me.
"Thanks Ry." I said feeling oddly touched but she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Don't go getting a big head over it." she said finally stepping on to the porch and heading into the cabin. "That doesn't mean we're friends or anything."
"We don't have to be friends." I reminded her. "We're siblings."
"Whatever Dennis." She said waving me off and I smiled.
