Chapter 4: Rare
"Hey!" a voice called to the two walking back to the Hades cabin. Max and Tara turned around to see a blonde haired kid.
"Who's that?" Max asked.
"His name's—"
"Will," the blonde haired kid said, catching up to them. He had the body of a surfer wearing a pair of blue shorts and red t-shirt, making Max think of Captain America on a beach. Will had an athletic build to which his shirt showed off. Max looked to Tara who was staring at Will's chest as he breathed cause of his running.
"Tara!" Max shouted in her ear and she jumped and hit his side and he flinched moving away from her but she moved his arm back around her and looked to the blonde's face.
"I'm Will Solace. Son of Apollo. I was the one who treated you and left you the nectar. You feeling alright?" Will asked Max.
"Yeah," Max answered eyeing Tara who was avoiding Max's eyes. "Feeling better. Still kinda sore."
"You still have the bandage on?" Will asked.
"Yeah," Max said lifting his shirt and Tara shifted her eyes to his stomach.
"Should be okay in a bit then. No soreness or anything. Tara, since you're an Apollo child guess that makes you my sister. I'll come around to get you from the...Hades cabin?" Will winked at Max and continued. "—in an hour or so to see what your specialty is," Will smiled and jogged off after she nodded and gave a small "okay."
"What was that?" Max asked lightly laughing.
"What was what?" Tara asked as they continued to the Hades cabin.
"That. You were totally checking him out," Tara's face went red as she started to softly but firmly hitting him with the palms of her hands.
"He's my brother, Max!" she huffed as they arrived at the cabin. He threw her over his shoulder and ran to the door opening it then spun her around as he stepped into the cabin. He threw her on a bed.
"So it's incest. That's hot," Max said as he closed the door with his foot.
"Shut up, you perv," Tara said.
"Hello there," a voice familiar to Max had said in an amused tone.
"Hi. Tara this is Nico. Will's boyfriend," Max introduced his brother to Tar
"Nice!" Tara jumped onto the same bed with Nico. "Embarrassing stories?" Nico shot Max a glance.
"That's Tara. Daughter of Apollo," Max answered Nico's questioning look.
"Oh. Well in that case…" for the next hour, they all shared embarrassing stories about themselves and others as well as learning how things roll at the camp.
"But since like if you and Will got married would that make me and Tara like sister and brother in law?" Max asked. Tara began laughing as Nico chuckled.
"We don't tend to dwell on it but yes, legally yeah. But you guys would still be able to date. Pretty sure Apollo would accept it. Maybe Hades, too," Nico replied.
"And so that means we have to get married before those two," Max declared as he threw Tara over his shoulder and ran around the cabin throwing her onto a different bed while she screamed.
"Yeah, Dad would approve," Nico stated more to himself as the two had fun.
Then there was a knock on the door that went unheard but the two rolling around on a bed in the most un-dirtiest way ever. Nico laughed and went to open the door. Will stood and pecked his boyfriend's lips before looking behind Nico and starting to laugh.
"Well they're having fun," Will stated, laughing a bit harder.
"They are. You gonna test Tara?" Nico asked. Will nodded.
"Tara!" Nico beckoned and Tara sprang from the bed and straightened her clothes. Max groaned as she walked to Will. Max growled and jumped from the bed and ran after her as she screeched when she turned to look back at him and ran out the door and down the stairs. Will laughed as he turned and followed her as Nico closed the door before Max could follow.
"Well you two were having fun," Will commented as they lead the two to the arena.
"He's a dork," was all she replied.
"Hades kids are attractive huh?" Will joked. Tara grinned and blushed.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Tara replied laughing softly now. They arrived at the arena a couple minutes later in silence.
"Well, since we're here, let's see your battle skills," Will informed throwing Tara her backpack from the trip there to her. She grabbed a quiver and her crossbow. A couple kids came up to her wearing armor and helmets.
"Well that's not fair," Tara muttered.
"This isn't a street fight, Tara. Nothing is fair in a street fight," Will said. The other campers attacked.
"Was that supposed to be a Fast and Furious reference?!" Tara growled as she ran at one camper as he came at her and at last minute jumped and kicked off him pushing him backward and heading straight into another. Swinging around the one she headed toward she threw him over her shoulder as she landed. Another one started shooting at her with a bow and arrow and she jumped out of the way. "Little faster than that, blondie," she said to the archer.
"Really now?" it was a guy and he started shooting rapidly at her. She cursed under her breath before dodging and jumping away from the arrows. She dodged until he had one more arrow in his quill and she got ready. She waited for the last shot and he aimed for her and as it flew she jumped up and forward catching it and loading her crossbow with the arrow and shooting it at the blonde boy. It hit his armor and she jumped towards another camper coming at her. She continued to fend them off for the next couple minutes before taking the last one down by holding one of their swords to their throats.
"Good impressive," Will said and she let the last one go. She threw her crossbow to the backpack she had left in the middle of the arena.
"I don't think I'm gonna need that often if there's gonna be a lot of people in armor," Tara said. He nodded.
"Well let's see your healing powers. Not all Apollo kids can do it. But it's common in a lot," Will said gesturing to a groaning camper, the one who had been shooting at her rapidly, and rolling over the floor.
"Please not again," the guy pleaded and Tara laughed before she helped him remove his armor and helmet. She looked at Will for instructions.
"Look there's a gash in his forehead. Put your hands over his wound," he said and she did as told. "Now...picture warmth flowing into his body...Helping him...Soothing him...Healing him…" Will said in a soothing voice. Tara had closed her eyes and done as told. She felt a warmth cover her hands. She slowly opened her eyes as she saw a glowing green light. She stayed calm and removed her hands a couple of seconds later. The gash was gone but the blood was smeared.
"Nice," Will said and high fived her as he had someone get the injured to the infirmary for a check on broken bones and wounds. "Let's see maybe we can see your musician skills?"
"Uh no. I don't sing," Tara laughed.
"Well, that's an obvious no in the musician area of the arts. What about poems? You write them?"
"No but I love to read them," he nodded and scratched his head.
"Right. Okay. You play any instruments?" Will asked. She nodded and started naming the few instruments she could play including guitar, flute, and drums and a couple more. "Well," Will said. "I think we covered all the—" the ground shook. Tara looked to the ground before looking back up to Will with wide eyes. He had the same expression. They both ran out of the arena, Tara grabbing an actual bow and a loaded quiver. She ran to the crowd of kids staring out of the camp. Both Will and Tara pushed their way to the front. There was a giant hound banging against the barrier.
"But that's impossible," Annabeth said to Tara's right.
"What do you mean?"
"That's the Laelaps. It's a hound. A dog that can catch anything it hunts. It was given from Zeus to Europa and eventually landed in the hands of Cephalus. He decided to use the Laelaps to catch the Tuemessian Fox. The fox that can't be caught. When Zeus realized that they could never catch each other and it would just be an endless chase, he turned both to stone and made them part of the constellation, Canis—the Laelaps being the major and the Teumassian Fox being the minor."
"Now the question is how it got here," Tara said. Max and Nico appeared beside her the next moment. Percy popped to the front with the others.
"What's it after?" Percy asked. Annabeth, knowing Percy didn't know what the hound really was, gave him a brief explanation.
"Something in this camp. Most likely, someone," Annabeth had explained.
"Well, we need to know who and we need to know why," Percy said. Tara looked to the older campers. They looked so ready for battle. She thought of the stories the Hermes cabin had told her about Percy Jackson. But they weren't stories. He had been tossed around by the queen of the gods and been played with. He must have felt so frustrated. Except he probably didn't. He was probably coolheaded and went into battle with every expectation to die trying but when succeeding ecstatic to have given his best and his best was enough. Wasn't he scared of not coming back? Not coming back to his family. She would've been … Except she doesn't have a family anymore. He had people who depended on him. She had a group of kids that cared about her. But she would do as much as it would take to come back to them. She wondered about the Townschild. How she always made it her priority and gave it everything she had to not be caught in crime just to make it back to them. But she would give even more to make sure each and every one of those children were to be safe. Or she would die trying.
"Well, one way to find out," Tara said. She started running and a bunch of other campers followed all screaming like an army. They crossed the barrier somewhat farther away from the Laelaps.
"First, find out who it's after. Ready?! Break!" and everyone scattered in all different directions, being sure to not be too close to one another. But when the Laelaps growled and turned to a small child, Tara almost screamed. The Laelaps leaped at Alexa, who had followed the crowd.
Max shadow traveled the small distance he was with Alexa and traveled back. He had been practicing with Nico, when Tara left the cabin, to travel small distances.
"Max, get her back into the barrier NOW!" Tara yelled. Everyone charged and shot at the Laelaps but it seemed to have no effect as giant hound continued to chase Max with Alexa. Max tried to shadow travel but it seemed even with those powers of short distances he was drained. He started to slow but sped up when he noticed how his speed decreased every once and awhile.
"MAX!" the Laelaps leaped and Max tripped but covering Alexa with his whole body as the Laelaps jumped at him as he hit the ground with a grunt.
But impact never came. Everyone was staring at the Laelaps which had now been laying on his side, whimpering. Everyone looked to Tara. She had been in a tree and she had been with a couple other demigods but she was trembling her hand out and a dimming light disappearing in her palm.
Max sat up realizing the Laelaps was down. He helped Alexa sit up and asked her if she was okay. When she nodded he ran to Tara and held her down the tree. He placed her shaking body down onto the ground. He held her as he whispered things to her stating the obvious that she was shaking.
"What happened to the Laelaps?" Max finally asked.
"It...I um…" Tara's voice shook as she spoke. She tried to clear her voice. "I uh…" it was still shaking. She suddenly fainted in Max's arms.
"Okay, what happened?" Max asked anyone or everyone as they were either gathered in the Hades cabin or outside wanting to get in. He had brought Tara to his cabin wordlessly and laid her on one of the bunks. The Laelaps was then summoned into the camp before it was
"She had seen the Laelaps lead at you," ax gave him a face that said Duh I heard the scream. "So she did something on instinct. Blast it," he waited a couple minutes for anticipation. "With light."
"With light? What do you mean with light?" Max asked.
"She wields the power of Photokinesis. She can bend light around her and others if she practices enough. She can use light to blast it at others, heal wounds almost instantly. Use it for x-rays or stuff like that. She has the power to manipulate light. And Max...It's not rare. It's not even common. It's not known in any demigod...Except for Tara," Will explained. "The only ones who have ever wielded the power of photokinesis are the Titans and the gods."
"So...I'm guessing one of those who wields that power, is Apollo," Max said.
"Max. No demigod can wield photokinesis. Tara is the only one," Percy tried. Max almost glared.
"I don't care. She's special. I think we all suspected that she was supposed to be the 'only one' in one way or another," Max said.
"We need to get Chiron," Nico said ignoring his brother's previous comment.
HEY! Lovely you have been this far with me. I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. We've been learning a lot of stuff in schools so I was overlooking and changing things to things I learn. There will educational thing you find in these chapters. Laelaps perhaps. I love the Laelaps. For this story that is. I always had a soft spot for satyrs. They're my favorite. Welp. Till next time! Oh! review, please!