A/N: Happy New Year! Hope you guys enjoy this one! ~ Emma
The campfire was a sight to behold. Emma realised her mistake in thinking it would just be a perfectly normal one. She wasn't sure who was controlling it, but the fire danced to the rhythm of the music. As the Apollo cabin sang a perfectly harmonised Irish folk song about a young couple falling apart the fire showed two fiery figures on their journeys. She was completely mesmerised by it.
Emma found herself sat between Sherman and Lou. She wasn't sure whether to be terrified of the older boy or not, despite the fact he now sat innocently holding his girlfriend's hand. She felt almost defenceless without any water and he was just a great mass of muscle. Almost as if he could read her mind, he leant over to her.
"I would be mad that you made us lose the game, but that was actually a pretty fun fight." He said and a wave of relief washed over her. It was also nice to have confirmation that finding fighting fun wasn't that strange, even if it was from an Ares kid. She normally hated fighting an had expected to hate capture the flag, but when she wasn't fearing for her life, fighting was just a game of strength and strategy. "Want to spar tomorrow? I can teach you some actual swordsmanship."
"That would be great." She said eagerly. Emma hadn't quite realised how hungry the fight had made her for some more formal training. "Thank you."
"You won't be thanking me tomorrow when I bruise you up." He said with a menacing smile.
"You already did." She laughed, unable to keep the smile off her face.
She turned her gaze back to the front where Kit was standing with his siblings, helping to Lead the surreal sing-a-long that consisted of both modern pop songs and ones in ancient Greek. Emma sang along to what she could and Lou helped by making creating an illusion of karaoke lyrics in front of her.
As the session drew to a close and everyone started to leave, Kit caught her arm.
"Hope you enjoyed that." He said with a wink.
"I will admit, I never thought I would enjoy listening to songs in ancient Greek, but here we are." She joked with a shrug.
"You have a beautiful voice." Kit said, taking her off guard. "Do you sing in any choirs?"
She felt her cheeks flush and hopes it wouldn't be noticed over the glow of the fire.
"Not unless my shower counts." She said, hiding behind her humour. It worked and Kit laughed.
"You should." He pressed.
"And spend more of my time around people than absolutely necessary? Absolutely not." She said with a mock expression of disgust on her face.
"Well you must put that musical ability to use somehow. Do you play any instruments?" He asked as they started to wander in the direction of the cabins.
"Apart from the compulsory piano lessons my mum made me take as a child, no. But I'd like to." She said, realising how true the last part was. Sometimes, between school and fighting for her life, she didn't feel like she had time to pick up something new. Maybe she should make the time. She watched as one of the Apollo kids strummed effortlessly on a guitar as he walked and thought that maybe she would give it a go. That's the way talking to Kit made her feel. Like everything was easy.
Emma hadn't noticed Lou slipping away, but she now came bounding back up to Emma.
"I think it's time for your Camp Half-Blood initiation." Lou exclaimed with a broad smile that made Emma's heart drop. She had heard about initiations and they never seemed to end well for the newbie. "You, Emma Turner, are going to aid me in a prank. I suppose Kit can join us."
She breathed a sigh of relief, but it didn't expel the tension completely. She had never pranked anyone. Ever. It seemed camp half blood would be full of new activities for her.
"Last weekend, Connor and Travis stole some of the Hecate cabins Pig Balls and started throwing them at the Demeter kids. They all ran around snorting for hours and rolling in mud, it was traumatising." Lou grumbled. "Chiron blamed the whole thing on me and I had to spend hours changing them all back. Now we're going to get them in trouble."
Lous eyes gleamed with mischief as she explained the plan.
The Hermes cabin was the only one that actually looked like it belonged at a summer camp. Though it was worn down, it still had classic log wood vibes. Emma, Lou and Kit hid behind the Hephaestus cabin forge, giving them a good view of the door. The cabin entrances were practically all that could be seen due to the severe lack of outdoor lighting. Lou was on look out as Emma sat on the ground trying to focus. Her job was simple. Create a rainstorm over the Hermes cabin and when one of the twins inevitably came out to see what was going on Lou would take over. The only problem was Emma didn't know if she could create a rainstorm on demand. She wasn't sure whether her nerves would help of hinder the process. As she tried to conjure it she could almost feel the camps weather border trying to stop her. It was always meant to be sunny. After trying for a few moments she get out an exasperated sigh.
"I don't know how I made it earlier." Emma confessed. "It just kind of happened."
"It's alright." Kit said, reassuringly. "We all struggle to understand our powers sometimes."
"Kit, give her your water bottle." Lou whispered from where she stood.
"What?" Kit replied, dazed.
"It might help her get started."
"But I need to stay hydrated." He said. "It's good for my voice."
"Just do it!" Lou hissed. Kit did as he was told and passed it to Emma.
She unscrewed the cap and the water floated out with ease. She had about a litre to work with but hopefully more would come if she could get the storm started. She willed the water to split into little water droplets until a large sheet of rain started to form before her. She manoeuvred it to hang just above the Hermes cabin, before letting the water slowly shower down on the roof. Once it fell she would call it back up again and repeat the process. She imagined it falling harder and harder and it did. As her concentration increased, so did the rain and slowly storm clouds formed. As they started to crackle, a smile spread across her face. As the first bolt of lighting struck the ground nearby, a boy with messy brown hair came bursting out the door. He walked down the steps and looked up at the sky.
"Butch! Now is not the time to make it rain so you can call your mom!" He shouted at the clouds.
"That's Connor." Kit said as he notched his arrow. It sailed into the door, pushing it shut.
Connor shrieked as two wings sprouted from each of his heels and started to flap. From Lou's giggling, Emma guessed that was her work. She couldn't quite tell if the fact Connor started floating was an illusion or not though.
"Travis!" Connor shouted. "Help!"
At the sound of his brother's call, a boy who looked identical to Connor came running out of the cabin and gawked as his brother flew around in circles.
"Where did you get those?" Travis demanded, a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"I can't control them!" Connor shouted back.
"What?" Travis called, but then he grew his own set of heel wings and rose off the ground too. Lou sent them flying round in circles and Emma couldn't help but laugh even though they were meant to be quiet. It was all so bizarre Emma wondered if she was dreaming. The boys squealed each time Lou made them change direction or even bashed them together for good measure.
"Harpies!" Kit hissed, pointing at the sky where two winged women were making they way over. "Run!"
Lou dropped Connor and Travis in a heap on the floor as the three of them parted and ran to their respective cabins. Emma ducked around the back of the Hephaestus cabin with Kit while Lou ran the other way toward the smaller Cabins. As they ran, Emma could hear Connor and Travis shouting as the harpies shrieked over them.
"Campers out of bed! Dinner for hungry harpies!"
Kit gave Emma a playful grin and winked at her as if to say goodnight before he ran around to the front of the Apollo cabin and ducked inside.
Emma just had to make it past the Ares cabin before barrelling through the door into cabin three and shutting the door firmly behind her. She leant with her back against the door as she tried to catch her breath.
Cabin three seemed a little large for just Emma, but the sound of the sea calmed her as it drifted in from the windows. There was a little seating area with a great view of the beach that Emma decided would make an excellent reading spot. Once her breathing settled down she wandered through the cabin to find twelve bunks filling the space. As one of the bunks already had some stuff on it, which she assumed was Percy's from last time he had stayed. She moved her bag from where it lay, by the door, to the next one along. She was just thinking about how much she wanted a drink when she noticed goblets, like the ones from dinner, sitting on each bedside table. She instantly walked up to it and asked for some water. After gulping it down she and tried to think of something more adventurous than what she had ordered at dinner.
"Fancy herbal tea." She tried and, to her astonishment, the cup did fill. She took a small sip and was satisfied with the goblets recommendation.
As she sat on the bunk she had decided to claim, she pulled out her phone. She knew she wasn't meant to be using it but some part of her just wanted to check. She didn't realise she had been hoping to see Rory's name pop up until it did.
I know you said you wouldn't have access to your phone, but I'm gonna message you anyway. Hope you're having a good evening :) - Rory
She had this warm fuzzy feeling in her chest that made her roll her own eyes at herself. What was she even doing.
Looks like neither of us are good at doing what we're told. When I get back, I'll tell you all about how I can supposedly conjure storms and win fights with some children of Ares. - Emma
She shoved the phone under her pillow and went to shower. As the hot water caressed her skin she could feel all the aches and bruises disappear from her body. Her mind wandered through the days events. Sitting next to Rory in physics felt like it was a world away, let alone their study sessions in her apartment earlier in the week. Almost every day after school he had ended up doing homework at her kitchen table. Before this year she would only swim once a week, but having Rory as company made it more fun. As long as there wasn't official swim training, she would head to the pool with him after school and then they would walk back together and get ahead on work so she would be free of it before coming to camp.
Rory had surprised Emma with how intelligent he was. She had thought all jocks were the same in that sense, but Rory was different. He really seemed to enjoy learning, even if he hated the homework. He was also pretty hardworking, but she guessed that made sense. He was an athlete after all and they had to work hard. When he had suggested they do homework together, Emma had assumed he needed help with something, but he asked her no more questions than she asked him. For the first time Emma had to admit she had completely misjudged a person. Rory was not the boy she had assumed him to be. He was thoughtful and patient, funny but smart, strong but delicate. She couldn't quite see why he wanted to spend so much time around her.
When she got into bed she found another message from him.
No way! Emma turner getting into fights, who knew. It must be so surreal being there. - Rory
It's more that, until now, the Greek world has always invaded my reality. But now it feels like I've been taken out of reality and into the Greek world. Either I'm even more crazy, or this whole world got a lot more real. - Emma
I can understand that. You are enjoying it though, right? - Rory
Yeah, it's great. I need to go to bed though, Annabeths giving me the grand tour tomorrow morning. Goodnight. - Emma
She let out a sigh of exhaustion as she turned her phone off. She didn't think she'd ever fallen asleep so quickly without reading a few chapters in her entire life.
Rory hadn't had a night of drinking booze and playing video games since LA. Liam and Tyler had invited him to join them after another heat from the swimming championships. Honestly, it was a nice break from having to pretend around Austin. He hadn't given Liam and Tyler enough credit at first, but they were really chill guys.
As the round came to a close, Rory couldn't help checking his phone. He knew they weren't allowed to use phones at the camp, but that didn't stop him hoping for a response from Emma. His heart fluttered a little when he saw she had responded. As he sent a message back, Liam clocked what Rory was doing.
"Talking to your girl?" Liam joked.
"She's not my girl. Emma's out of town for the weekend, I just wanted to check up on her." Rory replied, tossing his phone back on the seat next to him.
"I thought her and Riley were a thing?" Tyler added, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion.
"They were for a short time. They ended it. Besides, Emma and I are just friends." Rory said shrugging.
"You don't have to pretend you don't like her." Liam said casually. "We're not gonna tell Riley on you."
Rory was taken aback. He hadn't really known anyone except Emma to be so aware of how other people were feeling. It made talking to Liam about it seem almost easy. What was there to hide if Liam could tell when he was lying?
"Even if I do, it's not the right time for her." Rory sighed. "She's been through a lot recently."
"Though that is a gallant reason, it also sounds like you're using it as an excuse." Liam pointed out. "If you like her, just tell her. Then she can decide whether it's the right time for her or not."
Rory didn't want to say aloud that Liam was right. Emma was the most independent seventeen year old he knew, of course she can decide for herself. She had lived on her own for years, but also never complained about it. She got on with whatever life threw at her. When he had first heard her talking about the things she'd been though at Percy's, he had felt awful. He'd spent the week sulking about not knowing whether or not she had super powers, when really the most impressive thing about her was her ability to keep moving forward no matter what happened to her or who hurt her.
The real problem with telling Emma he liked her was that she meant a lot to him. The last thing he wanted was to risk losing her. But then again, that even sounded corny in his own head.