Chapter Ten: I Pour My Heart Out to a Goth Prince

Breakfast turned out to be less stressful than I thought. Mostly because of the fact that Mr. D decided not to show his face, no complaints here. Clarisse showed up as I made my offering to the gods (Hermes mostly, as I was grateful to be staying in his cabin.). I threw my two fattiest slices of bacon into the fire and the smell wasn't horrible. She glared at me as she joined the Ares table that looked just as pleasant as she did. I wonder if bad attitudes were a trait among the Ares kids or if it was just a coincidence.

I sat down next to Miley and ate the remaining bacon on my plate. Looking around I felt my body relaxing without permission. This was the first time in years that I could feel normal, not a freak with purple eyes that battled monsters daily. It was a noble concept, to belong that is. Off to the far left of my table I spotted Gwen at the Apollo table, she saw me and her jaw dropped. Quickly and like a total spazz she signed to me 'we need to talk after', I nodded and signed back 'at the lake tonight'. Miley watched the entire transaction with confusion.

"What were you doing?"

"Sign language." I said simply. Gwen and I learned it so we could talk at a distance, since I didn't have a phone to text with.

"Isn't it hard?"

I thought about it. With my determination I was able to read with far fewer problems than Gwen, but sign language was a lot harder to master.

"Not with enough practice. You just have to focus."

"You lost me." she giggled and started to fling bits of her cereal to a small boy with light brown hair and hazel eyes.

"That's Hayden by the way, he helped me get your clothes. He's really good at picking locks, better than anyone."

Hayden's face and the tip of his ears turned a bright pink.

"Well thank you Hayden, I'm Sarah."
He nodded slightly and went back to the mini food war he and Miley were engaging in.

After breakfast the Hermes cabin was lead to the archery field. I was nervous at first since I had no practice with a bow, but after two tries one of my arrows actually hit a target. I wouldn't be getting any bulls-eyes in the near future, but hey, I take what I can get. Miley I found was almost as bad as me. A lot of the Hermes kids weren't very good at archery. It's not they need it when they can do a lot of cooler stuff like pick locks and be super sneaky...alright maybe it wouldn't kill them to try harder.

When practice was done we kind of dispersed and Miley and I took a stroll by the strawberry fields. The smell was amazing, I love strawberries, almost as much as I love grapes. As I took a better look at the fields I noticed a boy, lounging around in the field. The strawberries seemed to grow bigger around him.

"Who is that?" I asked as I pointed to him.

Miley spotted him too. "Oh, that's Pollux. He helps grow the strawberries so they turn out nicer and we can sell them for more money."

I looked closer at the boy, something was familiar about him, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Who does he belong to?"

"Mr. D, his only kid now, Pollux lost his brother Castor a few summers ago." Miley said off hand. "It's weird he only had two though, most cabins around here are mostly filled apart from the big three."

"Oh."

It was all I could say. It was all I could think for a moment.

'So he had two sons. Twin sons that were his only children. But now he only has one. And he has a big cabin all to himself.'

And then my little evil voice just had to break the emotional dam.

'And I'm stuck in an overcrowded cabin where I don't even belong!"

"Uh Sarah, are OK?"

Miley pulled on my arm, freeing me of my thoughts. I didn't even notice that we had stopped walking, that I felt like I was going to throw up...or punch someone. Whichever came first.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just feel a little dizzy. I think I'm going to go back to the cabin and catch a quick power nap." I turned and began to walk away. "Go find Hayden and plan another heist, you know, have fun."

And I didn't look back at those fields, not once.

I don't know when the tears started forming, but I wouldn't let them drop. Ripping my sunglasses off I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands. I wanted it all to stop. The anger, the sadness, and the weakness is general. I needed it to stop. I was walking by the forest when I heard him.

"You seem to be having an awful day." the low voice stated.

I turned and leaning against a tree, partially hidden in shadows, stood a guy. He was a little shorter than Percy and way more pale. His hair was dark, almost completely black, his eyes the same. He wore dark jeans and a black shirt covered by a leather jacket which was, of course, black. I sensed a theme going on, but was too upset to comment on it.

"What would you know of bad days?" I ask him. I hated when people tried to sympathize with me when they didn't have a clue.

He shrugged casually. "Just that I've had my share of them. More in fact."

"Well mine is just a family thing, drama and complications everywhere."

That got his attention. He smiled a sad little smile.

"Those are the worst kind of bad days." he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What are you the camp therapist or something?" I snapped at him and regretted it at once.

His smile vanished.

"No I'm not, I was just trying to help." he said heatedly. He turned away.

Taking a deep breath I started again.

"I'm sorry. I just don't understand why you would even care about a complete stranger's problems."

He turned back to face me after a minute. He wasn't so upset now.

"Because I've been in that place before. When your problems are overwhelming and you find yourself in a dark, angry place with no way out. It helps to have someone there just to listen"

I walked over and sat down on the ground at the base of the tree. He slid down to join me.

"You don't seem to be the touchy-feel type."

He shrugged.

I thought for a second. "Where do I even start?"

For the next hour I told this guy, this stranger who hadn't given me his name, my life story. Growing up with my mom, wondering about my dad. Finding out who he was and what I was. Spending the rest of my life teaching myself not to care that he didn't know, while underneath I wanted his recognition, his approval. I told him about training myself and covering my strange eyes with sunglasses, at one point I took them off so he could see them better. I even mentioned things like how I met Gwen, what I wanted to major in at college, and how one single event had turned my world upside down. I didn't tell him directly who my dad was, but my eyes were a dead giveaway. I ended this with the recent discovery of Pollux.

"And now I'm here, still trying to figure out my next move."

He let out a low whistle. "That's a lot to worry about."

"Tell me about it. I just feel stuck between a rock and a hard place." I was playing with my sunglasses which I didn't put back on. I felt...nice, comfortable around this guy, like I didn't have to hide anything about myself.

"I understand wanting approval from a parent. It seems almost impossible to get at times." he said as he looked forward, but I don't think he saw anything.

"Yeah." It was all I could say to a statement like that. A brutal, harsh, and all too truthful fact.

"But I do feel a little better. I still say your not the type to take such an interest in complete strangers."

He shrugged. "Maybe I have a soft spot for girls with blue and purple hair."

I felt myself blush without my permission and did my best not to let him see it.

"I never properly introduced myself. I'm Sarah Kenneth, current resident of the Hermes cabin" I held my hand out.

"Nico di Angelo" he took my hand and shook it. He was cold, ice cold. "Son of Hades."
Wow, somewhere in the back of my mind I saw that one coming.

I smiled. "So you're like some kind of dark prince?" I held my fingers up in a square box and looked at him. "Nope, can't imagine you in a cape or a crown."

For the first time I heard him laugh, it was dark, but had a ring to it. He stood up and melted into the shadows. But before he totally dissolved I heard him say.

"If you ever want to talk stop by my cabin. It was...interesting to meet you Sarah." And then he was gone.

My hear felt like it was going a mile a minute, I was sweating, and I felt dizzy.

"Curse you Aphrodite." I muttered.