Disclaimer:
I do not own the PJO characters
As I wept I felt arms wrap around me, I thought it was Damian. But when I looked up I saw that it was Nico, he was crouched on the floor next to me, hugging me.
I turned my head slightly so that I was now getting Nico's shoulder wet with tears.
This went on for a few more minutes until Will, Apollo, and Hazel walked into the cabin. They all froze for a moment as they examined the scene in front of them.
"On my gods what happened?" Hazel said as she rushed over to us.
"Is she hurt, does she need to go to the infirmary?" Will asked as he too rushed over.
Damian walked in front of their paths and whispered something to them. "Oh," they both said.
"Oh you poor darling," Hazel comforted as she knelt down beside us and put her arms around me as well. Will followed her actions. Damian and Apollo both stood awkwardly around the cabin, not knowing what to do.
But soon enough the crying stopped and the three of them had me wrapped in a blanket in a chair next to the fireplace, sipping hot chocolate, the shirt still clutched in my hands.
Damian ever so often came over to me and gave me a small hug or kiss on the cheek but still said nothing.
On the other chair sat Will who had Nico sitting on his lap also sipping hot chocolate.
"The lunch bell is going to ring soon," Hazel said, "come on Trish we should probably get you cleaned up." I just nodded as she led me into the bathroom.
I just sat on the vanity and let Hazel do whatever as I stared at the shirt that was balled up in my hands. As she dabbed my face with a wipe, wiping away the streaks the tears had left on my face, she gently talked to me. She talked to me about her plans for her wedding, how she can't wait for a break. She even recited her vows that she'd been working on since they first got engaged.
"There," Hazel said as she pulled my hair up in a ponytail. "All better."
"Thank you," I whispered as I hopped down from the vanity. I stuffed the shirt in the pocket of my cloak as we walked out of the bathroom.
Just then the lunch bell rang and all six of us walked outside across the lawn.
"I always forget that you're not that young, it still feels like you're fifteen," Hazel said as we walked.
"I might have been on this earth for twenty one years, but I'm still fifteen," I said.
"That makes it sound like we're illegally dating," Damian laughed.
"We're not dating," I muttered.
"No. No we're not," Damian said with a touch of sadness in his voice.
Lunch was almost the same as any other. Damian and I sat alone at the Poseidon table because no one had built a table for me yet, everyone glared at me, and the food tasted like someone was actually trying.
"Sooo," Damian said as he tried his best to make small talk, "I've been meaning to ask, why does your cabin have a curse on it?"
"Simple. Mom doesn't like people. In the first book of The Heroes of Olympus, Piper collapses in the Hera cabin, Rachel thinks it's her fault when really half of it was just my mom being mad someone went in there," I explained.
"How do you know that?"
"Hera told me."
"Oh."
After that we both just sat in silence until we saw my brothers get up. "They're getting up," I whispered to Damian. "In a few minutes we'll get up too." He just nodded.
A few minutes passed, and I got up and walked out of the pavilion, Damian followed closely behind. We walked silently towards the Hephaestus cabin, when we got close, Damian rushed forward to open the door for me. I walked in with a roll of the eyes.
The inside looked just as I thought it would. Messy and filled with piles of scrap metal and unfinished projects. The floors, ceilings, walls, even the bunks, were all made out of metal. There was a fireman's pole leading up through the ceiling to a second floor and a spiral staircase leading to a basement.
"This place is bigger than it looks from the outside, kinda like that one Phineas and Ferb episode." I said.
"The what?" Damian asked.
"It's a tv show."
"Oh. Well, uh, this is my bunk," Damian said as he sat down on one of the bunks in the corner.
"It's very… interesting, in here," I said as I sat next to him.
"Hey, it's better than your marble abode."
"Using big words now are we," I joked.
"Your back," Damian smiled.
"Yeah, I guess."
"Well I'm glad, I missed your snarky remarks," Damian said as he kissed my forehead.
"I'm not snarky, just quick."
"Sure," Damian said, I swore I heard his eyes roll, he rolled them so hard.
Suddenly I heard a knocking sound, I looked around and saw that the Stoll's were now at the window, trying to get in.
I laughed as I watched them struggle, eventually I lifted two fingers in the air, causing the window to fly open.
"You could've opened that before we tried to get it open," Travis said as he literally fell through the window.
"I'm sorry but it was fun to watch you struggle," I said.
Connor stuck his tongue out at me as he too fell through. "Very graceful," I said as I walked over to them.
"Thank you," the both said as Connor still laid on the floor and Travis stood up, brushing the dirt off his shirt.
"So," I said as I helped Connor off the floor, "you got the thingy."
"Yup," Travis exclaimed as he held up a metal sphere, "and it's jam packed full of hot pink paint."
"I shouldn't have agreed to help," I heard Damian mutter.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, I don't want my stuff ruined."
"Then put all your stuff in a safe place."
"But what about my bed?"
"I'll get you new sheets, don't worry."
"Hey!" Connor interjected, "you still owe me a new pillow."
"Fine, I'll get Damian new sheets and a new pillow case for you." I said.
"Nah, I kinda like my smiley face."
I just glared at my brother, "then why complain about it?" He shrugged his shoulders. I rolled my eyes.
"So where are we going to put this thing?" Damian asked.
"We'll just put it in one of these random piles, no one will notice the difference," I said.
"No, that won't work, they'll notice, you don't want to disturb they're piles," Damian warned.
"How? It's just junk," Connor said.
Damian let out a small growl. "Not all of it is junk."
Connor went to say something else but I stopped him. "Don't you start!" He crossed his arms like a child and pouted.
All of a sudden the Hephaestus door creaked open and Katie's voice echoed through the cabin. "Trish, Damian? You in there?" She called
Travis quickly tossed me the paint bomb and I hid it in my cloak just as Katie walked in. "Oh, uh, hi," she said. She looked at me then at the Stoll's, then back to me. "Chiron saw that you two left lunch and wanted me to check on you. What are you doing?"
"Oh, uh," I stammered. Katie just placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrow.
"Well you see-," Connor started.
"Trish came here to stop us!" Travis blurted out.
"What?" Katie asked.
It took me a few seconds to catch on but I soon realized that Travis was covering for me, like any good brother would do." "Yeah," Connor agreed, "we were going to pull a prank on the Hephaestus cabin."
"And Trish knew something was up so she came to stop us," Travis said.
"And you know how Damian doesn't leave her side," Connor continued.
"Is this true?" Katie asked, turning to me.
"Uh, yeah."
"Yeah, Trish, tell her what we were going to do," Travis insisted.
"Oh," I pulled the paint bomb out of my cloak. "They were going to put this in here and when it went off pink paint would splatter everywhere."
"How did you know they were going to do it?" Katie said as she raised her eyebrow again.
"I overheard them talking about something in the Hephaestus cabin at lunch and when I saw them leave, I got up and followed." I lied.
"Yeah babe, stop getting so suspicious," Travis said.
It took me a moment to process what Travis just said. "Wait what?" I asked. "Babe?"
Travis turned a bright shade of red, as Katie glared at him.
"You said you were going to tell her," she said.
"Well How was I supposed to know she was going to leave for Camp Jupiter," Travis defended.
"We started dating two years ago!" Katie yelled.
"Okay, okay, before someone starts throwing hands let's all calm down," I said, mainly to Katie. "Katie you know Travis isn't good with that kinda thing. To be honest I could see it coming a million miles away. I'm just surprised you hadn't started dating years ago."
"That's what I've been saying!" Connor chimed in.
"Now, if you don't mind me, I would like to go finish my lunch." And with that I walked out of the Hephaestus cabin like nothing even happened.
Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed. And sorry for taking so long to get this chapter out. Stay safe!
-Lou Ellen and Sydney
