An exasperated huff left Lily's lips as she jogged down the trail that led to the canoeing lake. She had left Annabeth alone for one hour, and the new kid blows the pipes in the bathroom. The girl's bathroom. Now Lily was going to have to hike to the other side of camp until they managed to fix that, and that was a lot of effort she just wasn't willing to put out.
For the first ten minutes Lily spent searching for Annabeth and Percy, she had no idea where to start. Obviously, they had passed the bathroom, but where did they go next? It didn't take long in the end; all Lily had to do was follow the trail of the whispering and murmuring campers, and then follow their gaze.
Annabeth barely spared her a glance as she made her way towards them while Percy stared at her for—what she felt was—a second too long. A dead bush was what stopped Lily from finally meeting them, a frown crossing her face as she knelt down and touched the broken branches. It felt like a tickle—a feather brushing against the tips of her fingers—and a warm feeling, like the one you get after drinking hot cocoa or a cup of tea on a cold day, spreading down her arm.
"There you go," Lily murmured, a smile replacing the frown as the bush repaired itself and blossomed to its full potential, little white flowers popping up like the freckles that scattered her nose and cheekbones.
Standing up, and brushing off the dirt that had stuck to her knees, Lily continued her trek to Percy and Annabeth, entering in the midst of their conversation. Lily knew that Percy had already screwed up by the way Annabeth's fist had turned white as it clenched the wooden rail and by the way her tone bitter sting.
"He's human," Percy stated and Lily was quick to connect the dots. Oh, yeah. Percy definitely screwed up. She didn't blame him, though. He didn't know that Annabeth had a strained relationship with her father and, based on the way he was calling for his mom, he wasn't in the same boat as her.
"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive?" Annabeth raised her eyebrow at him and Lily couldn't help but laugh, "How sexist is that?"
"Who's your mom, then?" Percy asked, challenging her by raising his eyebrow back.
"Cabin six."
"Annie," Lily interrupted, stopping Percy in his tracks and causing Annabeth to look at her, "Give him a break. I doubt he knows all the Greek Gods, let alone whose cabin is whose."
Ignoring Percy's indignant cry of 'hey!", Annabeth shrugged in agreement before straightening her shoulders and looking back at Percy. Pride burned in Annabeth's eyes and Lily smiled, who wouldn't be proud to have Athena as their mother?
"Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle." Annabeth said, and Lily watched as Percy mulled over her words. It was obvious that Annabeth was the daughter of Athena, and you didn't need to know her cabin to know that. Her eyes always held a calculating look to them, like she was figuring out your each and every weakness. Plus, she always had a book in her hand or nearby.
"And my dad?" Percy pressed, hope filling his voice.
"Undetermined." Annabeth said.
"Unless your mother was told, nobody knows who your father is, Percy." Lily added when she saw the crestfallen look on Percy's face, "And even then, she might not have known which God he was. They don't often reveal their identities to mortals."
"No, my mother knew. My dad would've told her. He loved her," Percy denied, shaking his head and Annabeth and Lily shared a look.
If he was the one, it would make sense both ways. His father could've told his mother who he was so that she would've known how to protect him. On the other hand, he may not have told her because he didn't want to bring danger towards her. Sometimes being ignorant was the best way to survive.
"Maybe you're right." Annabeth shrugged, "Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sigh claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."
"You mean sometimes it doesn't?" Percy asked, his brows furrowing in confusion. It was almost as if he couldn't fathom the idea of the gods not recognizing their children.
"The gods are busy." Annabeth sighed, tapping her fingers against the rail, "They have a lot of kids and they don't always… well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."
"That's why cabin eleven is so full. It's where all the undetermined campers go." Lily added, hoping that it'd clear up why Percy had to sleep on the floor and why the cabin was basically overflowing with kids.
"What about you? Who's your parent?" Percy questioned, looking Lily in the eyes, and she smiled at him.
"Demeter, or cabin four. It's hard to miss cause it's covered in plants and stuff. But, my mother is, mainly, the goddess of agriculture and fertility." Lily said and Percy looked at her as if everything had seen had suddenly made sense. Lily raised her eyebrows at him, she had told him her parent's name, not solved his life problems, "What?"
"I knew I wasn't crazy when I saw the trail of flowers magically appear behind you."
Immediately, Lily felt her cheeks burn red and she bashfully tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her hair barely brushing her shoulders.
Lily laughed nervously, "Yeah, I'm trying to work on that."
Percy nodded, the calm look in his disappearing as his mind whirled around with the information he had just learned. His forehead wrinkling as he put the pieces together.
"So I'm stuck here," He said, looking at them in alarm, "That's it? For the rest of my life?"
"It depends," Annabeth said, leaning her head on her hand, "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite of Demeter—"
"I'm an exception, unfortunately," Lily interjected and Annabeth rolled her eyes before continuing, ignoring Percy's look of utter confusion.
"You're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by within a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the name, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."
"So monsters can't get in here?" Percy summarized and Lily nodded.
"Yeah. Unless they're placed in the woods or someone from the inside summons them, they can't come in. It's part of the reason why campers feel so safe when they cross through the barrier, it's basically a wall of power that protects us, a security blanket." Lily explained and Percy slowly nodded at her.
"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?" Percy asked, his expression stuck between one of horror, confusion, and fear.
"Practice fight. Practical jokes." Annabeth stated.
"Practical jokes?"
"The point is," Annabeth said, brushing off Percy's question, "The borders are sealed to keep mortal and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry jam farm."
"I voted for marmalade, but Chiron said that more people preferred strawberry," Lily muttered and Percy looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"So… you're a year rounded."
"Yep," Lily said as she and Annabeth pulled out their beaded necklaces. Even though they both came to the camp at the same time, Annabeth's necklace held one more bead than Lily's. While Annabeth and Percy talked, Lily twisted the beads, the cool clay causing a feeling of comfort to run through her veins.
The first bead was painted black and held a painting of Thalia's green tree. Sometimes, when Lily caught her reflection or saw the dash of green, her stomach would drop and her heart would ache as her mind flashed to the events that occurred four years ago. You would think that four years would be enough to get over a death, but some days, it felt like only a week had passed.
The second bead held a centaur in a prom dress while the third was a Greek trireme on fire. The fourth one was her favorite and final one. The golden color painted on the bead often flickered in the light of the sun and the purple bellflower painted on it represented… well, let's just say that Lily's team had won capture the flag that year.
"I've got to get on a quest," Lily snapped out of her thoughts at Annabeth's words and she stared at her friend suspiciously, "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem…"
The grumble of a stomach managed to draw Annabeth from her thoughts and both girls looked at the blushing boy who anxiously ran his hand through his hair. Lily couldn't help but laugh as Annabeth told Percy that she'd—or they, depending on what time it was—would catch him later.
Once Percy was far enough, Lily turned to Annabeth, tucking her necklace so that it was back underneath her orange shirt, and watching as Annabeth's brows furrowed in thought.
"You know, you're going to get wrinkles if you keep doing that," Lily teased, and Annabeth rolled her eyes but relaxed her face.
"People are going to think you're the daughter of Aphrodite if you keep concerning yourself with appearances," Annabeth shot back and Lily snickered at the thought of her being part of cabin ten.
"Please, Drew would maim me before I could step foot in that cabin."
Annabeth laughed, "Maybe if you didn't tangle her up in a vine, she wouldn't hate you so much."
"She shouldn't have annoyed me," Lily shrugged, the two of them falling into a comfortable silence as they stared out into the water. The camp was quieter than normal and Lily guessed that it was because it was only the start of summer. Still, the relaxed aura of the camp comforted her… it made her feel like everything was okay.
"So," Lily drawled, causing Annabeth to look at her, "Do you think he's the one."
Annabeth replied almost instantly, "He has to be. You heard what he did, and I saw it with my own eyes. None of the water touched him, not a single drop."
"Than that means the prophecy…"
"Yeah," Annabeth concluded, her voice dry, "Yeah, it does."
Looking at the sky, and finally smelling the barbeque, Lily pushed herself off the rail and made her way back towards her cabin. She didn't need to say goodbye to Annabeth, it wasn't smart to interrupt her when she was thinking, and she needed to get back to her cabin before dinner was called or Katie was going to have a fit.
~8~
"But I want to sit next to Lily," Emilie, the youngest kid in Demeter's cabin, moped as she lazily sloshed her drink in her cup. Emmeline's light blonde hair—that ironically looked like the hair that was found in corn—shimmered in the firelight.
"You are sitting next to me," Lily pointed out to the ten-year-old, before muttering 'lemon seltzer' to her cup and watching as the sparkling liquid magically filled it.
"I'm sitting across from you," Emilie sassed and Lily scoffed as the rest of the table chuckled. Lily and her siblings didn't look that much alike compared to the children of Ares, Athena, or Apollo. The only trait that was shared between Demeter's children were her brown eyes, that was the only thing.
Lily opened her mouth to respond but was silenced by Chiron pounding his hoofs against the pavilion's marble floors. Sometimes, Lily wondered what would happen if the marble cracked. Grabbing the golden goblet, he raised it.
"To the gods!"
Lily, along with the rest of the campers followed, "To the gods!"
Wood nymph followed after the toast, their hair flowing behind them as if carried by a constant, gentle wind, and placed down golden platters of food. Lily immediately reached for the whole wheat rolls and placed a slab of butter over the three she grabbed. Once satisfied with her offering, Lily stood up and made her way towards the bonfire, pretending not to notice that Emilie jumped to follow her. Bowing her head, she tilted her plate and watched as the rolls fell into the fire.
"Demeter," Lily muttered. Mother.
Mother, please.
The meal passed by rather quickly. Emilie was begging to hear more about the new kid and how he flushed Clarisse with toilet water but was not disappointed when Lily told her that she wasn't there at that time. Instead, Emilie looked up at her with her doe-like, brown eyes as she feverishly chewed her salad and clung onto every word Lily said.
Once the meal was over, Chiron struck his hooves down once more, capturing the attention of the campers and effectively shutting them up. Lily watched as Mr. D heaved a sigh as if his life was so taxing—which it probably was, Lily just didn't care—and stood up.
"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."
Lily laughed silently as Clarisse and the rest of her cabin pounded and hollered from their table. Her dad almost named her Laurel and it probably would have made her ridiculous name less ridiculous than it already was. But then again, they used laurels as prizes…
Lily decided that she rather liked her name at the current moment.
"Personally, I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson." Mr. D paused and Chiron murmured something.
"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D. corrected, "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."
With a cheer, Lily lifted herself from her seat and began to make her way to the amphitheater, Emilie coming to her one side with Annabeth and Luke to her other. Lily's brow crinkled when she saw Percy hesitate to where he should go, but she waved him over to join them and relief flooded his face.
The light from the campfire flickered in the darkness, illuminating each camper's face. Lily could see the joy sparkling in everyone's eyes, mixed with loneliness, fear, anxiety. But that was normal because you could never truly relax as a demigod. Cautiously, Lily snuck a look at Percy. She didn't want people to think she was oogling—because she was way better than that—or freak Percy out.
His sea-green eyes looked darker, almost a burning emerald color, and his black hair almost disappeared into the night if it weren't for the torches that lit the path and the stars that twinkled in the sky. Overall, he looked happy. He was laughing and singing along with the camper and conversing with Luke every so often. He looked as if… he was at home. Lily blinked out of her daze when his sea-green eyes connected with her coffee-colored ones, before giving him a bright smile and feeling giddy inside when he smiled back—but it was only because he smiled back! There was no other reason other than she was glad that he was happy here.