Thank you, Amber Ember7! Without you, I don't think I would have continued. Please review, you have no idea how amazing I feel when I know that somebody actually cares c:

Oh, and leave criticism! I am super open-minded and willing to improve, let me know if I should change/improve something.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.

Ella was always near me. And I loved it. She would on my shoulder and help me read. It was hard to read when her feathers tickled and she smelled like lemons, but she made me happy. After learning the alphabet and sounds, she would help me read a lot of different things. We began Black Beauty, which was Ella's favorite.

"Yes, yes yes. Ella likes this one. Animals have feelings too. Animals and cyclopses and harpies. We can think like people. Sewell understands."

We sat at the corner of the sword arena. No one was there now, so it was mostly quiet. Reading alone was hard, but Ella made it easy. I was just finishing a paragraph.

"...th-they do not su-suf-"

"Suffer." She would smile when she fixed my words. But it wasn't a mean smile. She was just happy that that I was slowly learning.

"Suffer less be-because they ha-have no words." I finished the paragraph.

"Yes! Tyson can read. Tyson is nice and handsome and strong and now he can read. My Tyson is the best in the universe. 'The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.' Kurt Vonnegut. I like Tyson."

What? Ella liked me? And she thought I was handsome and strong and the best? Now my face turned redder than ever and it was hard to speak clearly.

"I-I like y-you, too."

She smiled. Her teeth were perfect and white even though she used them to clean her feathers sometimes. I think we were both feeling very happy, in our shared moment. Then someone giggled loudly. It was one of my brother's friends, the one with lots of braids in her hair.

"Yes! Yes, I totally ship it, oh my gods! You guys are just SO ADORABLE, it's like, completely unbelievable. You're even cuter than Frazel, for gods' sake! And NO ONE is cuter than Frazel, believe me. Wow. I actually sound like an Aphrodite kid, for once. I hope Mom is proud." She smiled.

Me and Ella looked at each other. I think we were both kind of confused.

"Anyways, you're going to the Fourth of July fireworks together, right? Never mind, of course you are! I mean, come on, there's no way you're NOT going together. As head cabin member of the Aphrodite cabin, you guys are officially going to be the Top Couple. You both get to sit on your thrones, which are the best viewing seats, AND you get to have a special message or picture programmed into the fireworks. I'm sure everyone would agree that you're the cutest couple at camp, so no one should resent my decision. The fireworks are going to be AMAZING, just you wait! Talk to ya later, I have archery with Chiron!"

She sprinted away before either of them could ask questions.

"Umm...we will get thrones? And put a picture in the fireworks?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Wow, we will sit on thrones. Ella needs a pretty dress and you need a suit. Yes, Ella will like this. This makes Ella happy. Ella wants to say thank you to Piper."

She flew to follow her, me right behind.

But what Tyson and Ella didn't know was that their conversation with Piper had been eavesdropped on.

Connor was helpless as Drew stomped her foot, looking ready for murder about the news. To be honest, Connor couldn't care less. So what? It was a stupid throne. And he could always bribe the Hephaestus kids to put in an extra message for them, if that was what Drew wanted. Connor was sneaky that way. But Drew had other ideas.

"No! They CAN'T be Top Couple! That was going to be us, sweetheart! WE would be the center of attention, like we deserve to be! But noooo-two monsters are taking our place. We have to DO something, hon!"

Connor agreed. And together, they hatched a plan.