The rest of the summer passed quickly. With the Golden Fleece, guard shifts were cut in half.
Still Drew couldn't feel safe. Her sister's pale unmoving body at the shopping mall kept haunting her. The only thing that kept it from surfacing was fighting out her frustrations. Drew threw her heart into their evening practice.
She learned how to charm her enemies. To make them fall for her up until she slashed them in two. And if they couldn't be charmed, Drew learned enough to stand her ground, to kill them anyway. More importantly, she learned how to do it while acting like a dunce. The warrior aspect of their mother lent them strength and an advantage. However, they were still nowhere naturally near the innate raw talent of a child of Athena or Ares. An Aphrodite kid's power was in misdirection. It was in deceiving appearances. In being able to read one's opponent and respond appropriately.
Drew consistently got paired with Arlynne their best warrior and leader of the Order of the Doves. Arlynne was also the most demanding trainer. She insisted on anyone training with her to learn how to fight effectively with unusual weaponry, such as a fork. Terry constantly thanked Drew for her 'sacrifice' of getting beaten up left and right by Arlynne.
Whenever Arlynne was pushed to explain why she'd picked Drew to bully, Arlynne claimed that Drew was the one who needed the most improvement. Drew was pretty sure the real reason was Arlynne had seen Drew's face as she saw her sister's prone form and known... no one else would push Drew as hard as she needed. After all, Drew was willing to settle for no less than being able to protect her sister in the real world. Even if that weren't the case, it wasn't like Drew didn't want to learn twice as much as Arlynne pushed her.
Despite the constant training and exercises, Drew was shocked when Arlynne handed her a charm at the end of the summer.
"A dove?"
"It symbolizes the leadership."
"But why me? Aren't you the leader?"
"I was. Now I'm passing the mantle on to you. I'm not returning to camp. Instead, I'm going to dance with the American Ballet Theatre. They made the smart choice and took me as intern."
"But shouldn't it go to Silena?"
Arlynne laughed. "You're twice the warrior as Silena. You're the one who'll push them the hardest, who'll fight the hardest. The choice is mine and she's a bit too much of a romantic for me. Besides, it's always wisest to not give head counselor all the power. Head counselor is already thankless enough and if you add unlimited power to the mix..."
"You got that right," Silena laughed, coming up to Drew and sticking out her hand. "Congratulations. I look forward to working with you. But please ignore your past leader, she's too in awe of my beauty to remember I've killed as many different types of monsters as she has."
Silena's charm bracelet had 6 charms. A dog representing a hell hound, a snake for a Dracaena, a mirror for a naiad, a horse for a centaur (apparently it had gotten rabies), a scythe for a Karpos, and a snow globe that somehow represented a cyclops.
No one had seen Arlyne's though they knew it had 6, plus the dove.
"You'll do great," Arlynne promised Drew. "If anything happens, call me." She handed Drew a business card. "Here's my cell number, but please only use it for emergencies. I'd rather not have to fight more monsters than I need to."
Drew tucked it into her coin purse (a gift from her mother for her birthday. It was gorgeous. Charmed to always match her outfit and to return when she called it. Not to mention it was charmed to only open for her.) She still needed to pack.
The school year started pretty smoothly. Silena had gotten her and Aimi into a local boarding school. Something Merriweather Prep, progressive middle school, blah. Drew quickly found a crowd of like-minded girls who also appreciated the fine art of a perfectly applied shade of makeup and the joys of matching outfits.
Aimi had a bit more trouble making friends but she soon found some really artsy kids to hang out with. Only one of them turned out to be a monster that Drew had barely managed to finish off before it could try to eat her sister again.
As school went on and the daily monster levels picked up, it was hard not to try and count down till camp. Particularly when a monster confirmed what one of Drew's doves had warned her, that Kronos' had gotten his eyes on her sister.
Still, every charm added to her bracelet made Drew more grateful that she'd worked so hard to train. By the end of the year, Drew felt like an expert at spotting and fending off the daily monsters. Even if she was shocked that they both managed to pass with flying colors.
When it was time to return to camp, Drew was relieved. Finally, they would be safe again. Finally, they would be able to let down their guard and just have fun.
They'd made it another year. It was finally time to relax.
A/N: I noticed a lack of reader participation. Like a lack of comments. Naturally, I am one of the last people to demand comments or participation, so instead of asking for comments, I've made my own. All comments are fictional. So... um... enjoy?
TheRealPiperMcleanzzzz: um... your Drew is so different from like canon Drew. Like I know Drew and she's nothing like this. This one is way too friendly.
ME: Thank you for telling me my Drew is at least mildly likable. As for her personality being different than canon that would be bc [edited out because of spoilers] and this is the humanization of Drew. Needless to say, there was a war which means Drew was dealing with [a whole load of spoilers but really you should be able to guess some of it] come Heroes of Olympus.
Random Commenter: when are we gonna get Piper and the rest of the seven? Are they gonna show up? What about Drew and Will? Are they gonna be a thing?
ME: This is a Drew-centered fic. I'm writing it to have fun. We'll see how far I go. The plan is to go slightly past Heroes of Olympus. Like vaguely ToA stuff might happen. It depends on how I'm vibing. We'll see. But like, this is a Drew fic. Everyone else is optional. Except like maybe Piper? You'll see.
So that's the imaginary comments and my just as imaginary responses. Feel free to let me know your thoughts. Or don't. I'll just make them up so y'all can cringe reading them. Hope you all enjoyed.
Next chapter we start Battle of the Labyrinth. No, the Aphrodite Cabin will not be spared. Yes, this is gonna get a whole lot rougher and darker than before (maybe). In the meantime, behold Drew Tanaka, leader of the Doves.
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