July 13, 2020

Camp Half-Blood:
Canoe Lake

I led my life as if I had never left, training with Riptide—oh how I missed it—learning Ancient Greek, chores and the basic routines of every camper. I was careful with how I acted around Annabeth, fully aware of her harsh and uncomfortable glare that was constantly being sent my way. Neither of us seemed to be in the wrong for how we acted, but I felt like the blame was mine. I knew I was wrong for thinking it, but I couldn't shake the feeling.

I sat in my canoe, the paddle resting across the two walls of the small boat, and stared up at the sky. The sun was scorching hot, close to blinding me, but the warmth held me in a trance. I closed my eyes and shut my mind down, relaxing onto the back of my chair. The water rippled and I was shifted over tiny waves; not enough to catch my attention.

The lapping sound of water warned me of an approaching canoe and I was quick to push it to the back of my mind. One moment, I was resting peacefully in my canoe, minding my own business, and the next, I was submerged completely underwater, my canoe flipped, and the water tossing around me. I surfaced to find an emotionless Annabeth holding her paddle across her canoe and staring down at me.

I swam to my flipped vessel and threw my arms over the bottom of it, staring up at her incredulously. We did just that for only minimal seconds until I broke the silence. "What was that for?"

"What?" she asked, her face still impassive.

"That," I explained. I ran my fingers over the water's surface on the other side of the canoe, anxiously forming a miniature whirlpool.

She shrugged. "Just checking."

"Checking what?" I cried hopelessly. I may have been away for a while, but I was sure this wasn't how I remembered her behaving. She was more distant and critical, analyzing my entirety all over again.

"You," she replied coolly, sniffing and picking up her paddle again. "You're still dry."

I gave her an elaborate shaking of my head, my hands outstretched in utter confusion. "Of course I'm dry!" She raised her eyebrows dismissively and gave me a quick nod, starting to paddle away from me. Before she could, I reached out to grab the back of her canoe and pulled her to a quick stop. "Annabeth, wait."

"What?" she asked, turning back to look at me, her eyes indifferent as before.

"Where are you going?"

"To get on with my next activity," she told me, her face half way to amused. I got comfortable next to the vessel, resting my arms on the side, and ran her schedule through my mind. I thought it odd that I had remembered it.

"You didn't have canoeing in this time slot. Only Poseidon cabin," I countered, trying to keep a smirk off my face, afraid of coming on too strong as just who she had remembered.

"I didn't have anything in this time slot," she reminded me, evenly.

"And you came canoeing in your free time," I raised my brows, feeling like I had finally caught her. She, however refreshingly, had the quick and smart, satisfying response.

"Well, it's common for someone to investigate when their dead boyfriend suddenly comes back to life."

It wasn't a difficult task to guilt me into anything. So, it was expected that I felt a twinge of guilt, having left without a warning or goodbye, even with the fault belonging to someone else. I had suddenly left, never heard from again until now, and was careful to avoid her.

"It doesn't really matter now," she turned away from me, as a way to tell me that she was leaving and that I should let go of her canoe. "You're back. Everyone's happy again."

"Except for you," I tried, musing as best I could without coming off as rude. My eyebrows shot up under my bangs upon the silent response. She paddled once and I let her go, not quite adjusted enough to get in any sort of fight with her.

When she was just out of my reach, the butt of her boat about seven feet away, she turned for a moment. "Yeah. Except for me."

I spent the rest of my time in the canoe, floating at the surface next to my tipped vessel, staring up at the sun again. Perhaps it was the fact that I hadn't been able to see the sunshine for a few years; perhaps it was how the sun was so far away; whatever the reason, it made me feel closer, more grounded. Because, the sun was so distant and everyone relied on it, while I was so close and people were done relying on me. I was the retired sun of Camp Half-Blood. I didn't have to do anything anymore.

I pulled my canoe back to the shore and beached it, still upside down. I came out of the lake completely dry, and it felt like the first time I had discovered the neat trick; fresh and exciting.

Just another camper, I thought. Just another camper. Maybe if I told myself that enough, I would believe it.

A short chapter; sorry it took so long to update and then I gave you crap, but a majority of the chapters might be cut down to short, romantic-like chapters. It's a possibility, not a definite decision.