Ryan was let out the day after Sasha woke up. As soon as they'd allowed him, he'd jumped out of bed and dashed for the exit, shooting one last glance at Sasha. "Peace, Loser!" He gloated, rushing out of the room, one of the healer's chasing after him. Although he'd acted like he'd ditched her, he still visited her every day for about an hour, bringing her lunch and telling her about camp. He said that Chiron, the ancient centaur from all the myths, ran the camp alongside Mr. D (aka Dionysus). He said that they'd told him that since they were twins, they both had the same godly parent. They just had to figure out who that was. They'd already narrowed it down to a male, since their mother was mortal. He boasted about being amazing at everything he did, but whenever Ryan wasn't around, the healer's from Apollo's cabin informed her he actually stunk at everything he tried.
"No offence, but your brother can't even throw a basketball right, let alone wield a sword. Oh, and you do not want to be near him when he's practicing archery. Trust me." Jonathan, a curly, light brown haired, blue-brown eyed son of Apollo around her age informed her as he changed her bandages around the wound.
"If I ever even get out of here." She muttered. He smiled.
"Hey, I'm not supposed to tell you this, so act like you don't know, but you don't have that much longer in here." He said, and Sasha smiled.
"Thanks. For telling me." She said, and he shrugged.
"To be honest, I think you're both children of Apollo. I mean, granted, you're brother really does suck at archery, which is extremely uncommon for a son of Apollo, but you seem to fit all the qualifications. Except, you know, your eyes. Children of Apollo never have your color eyes."
"Uhm…thanks?" She said, not sure what else to say.
He stood up, done casting her up. A conch sounded in the distance, and Sasha recognized its meaning—dinner time. "Well, that's my cue." He said, and Sasha nodded.
"See you." He called behind him as he walked out of the infirmary. Sasha sighed, glaring at her waist and slumping back in her cot. Not for the first time, she despised getting gashed by the monster and longed to be let out of the bed. While allowing her mind to gnaw on all these bitter thoughts, someone walked in. He was carrying a plate of food.
"Hey," He greeted her, setting the tray down on the side table next to her bed.
"Hi," She muttered, reaching for the water bottle and struggling to twist open the lid. With much difficulty, the plastic top finally popped off, dousing her in water.
"Dammit!" She muttered, grabbing for the napkin and beginning to dab at her clothes to get the water out. Turning to face the boy, she saw him smirking, biting his lower lip in an attempt to keep from laughing. When Sasha rolled her eyes, he didn't bother—he burst out laughing.
"It's not funny" She hissed, and although she was trying to be serious, she doubted it worked, considering she began to giggle herself.
"I'm Percy." He said, smiling. He had green eyes that regarded Sasha lazily and black hair. With a jolt, Sasha recognized him.
"I've seen you before." She said, and he cocked his head to the side.
"I've never seen you before." He said, puzzled. Sasha decided that wherever she'd seen him before, it wasn't that important. She smiled.
"Sasha" She said. He nodded. "Nice to meet you. So you guys were attacked by empousai, Nico said?" He asked, and Sasha shrugged.
"That's what he told me they were called."
"He said they managed to put him under their trance while killing your brother and you grabbed his sword and took her head-on." He said, a note of respect in his tone.
"Thanks, but I think you should know that as soon as the blade barely cut the thing, it had me on the ground. It would've killed me in an instant if not for Nico." She argued, and Percy smiled, pulling up a chair.
"Yeah, but he's had training. Plus, he's a pretty powerful demigod. He shouldn't be distracted by monster's tricks so easily. You, one the other hand, you've never been trained. And you actually saved your brother, when that was his job."
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "How was that his job?"
He stared at her. "You didn't know? He was scouted out to you guys to watch over you and bring you safely to camp, and he didn't do a good job, considering he nearly had all three of you killed on the spot."
Sasha looked at him uncomprehendingly. "So…he was acting like our friend just to finish a job?"
Percy began to say something, and then cut himself off, as if deciding it was a bad idea as an afterthought. "Well…I mean, if you get right down to it, that's how it started out. But maybe along the line he actually did become your friend. Like, take the guy who recruited me, for example. It started off as just an assignment, but now we're like best friends, so it depends." He said, and Sasha nodded, masking her irritation.
"Oh."
"So, how much longer 'till they let you out of here?"
"I'm not sure, but apparently not much. I think they're anxious to get a hint at who my dad is, since they're not having much luck with my brother." Sasha laughed lightly.
"Oh yeah. Listen, don't go anywhere near him when he's got a bow and arrow in hand, alright? Just some friendly advice." He warned, and Sasha smiled.
"So who sired you?" Sasha asked.
"Poseidon." He said simply, and Sasha nodded.
"You must have some pretty cool gifts then, huh?"
"It's not as fun as it sounds." He said.
"Well, even so, it's pretty cool."
He made no comment at that, instead stood up, repositioning the chair to where it had previously been sitting.
"I should get going, we're playing capture the flag today, and my girlfriend'll kill me if I'm not there to hear, and support, her strategy."
"Daughter of Athena?"
He flashed her a grin. "Yupp."

Two more days and Sasha was let out of the infirmary. Percy had been there, and Jonathan, even Ryan too, but Nico hadn't shown up. In fact, Sasha hadn't seen him since Ryan was let out, and the thought annoyed her. She'd met Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend, a daughter of Athena with blonde, curling hair and shining grey eyes. Annabeth was pretty nice, but she was a complete perfectionist. Everything had to be perfect with her, Sasha realized, even though she hadn't spent more than around ten minutes with the girl. After Jonathan and Ryan showed her around, the three of them made their way to the horse stables. Upon arrival, Sasha realized that they were not, in fact, horses. They looked like horses, except on each of their sides, each creature sprouted wings. Sasha stifled a gasp. They were the most beautiful animals she had ever seen. Ryan rolled his eyes. "Pegasus? Really? What's next, Barbie's gonna pop out of the woods with some unicorns and faeries?" He said, and Jonathan shot him a look of distaste.
"I don't remember anyone asking you along," he spat, and Sasha had to fight to keep the corners up her lips from turning up into a smile. Ryan glared at the son of Apollo before raising an eyebrow at his lip-twitching sister and stalking off toward the sword-fighting arena. Sasha shrugged and made her way to a dark grey Pegasi with blue eyes. It neighed as she approached, and Jonathan laughed. "Everyone who's tried to ride that one has gotten themselves stuck in the infirmary for weeks, and considering that it hasn't even been a full hour since you've been released yet, I suggest you stay away from her." He advised, and Sasha cringed, but made no intention of moving away from the horse. Instead, she stuck her hand out slowly, petting the Pegasus's muzzle. "Its name?" She asked him, and the boy sighed.
"You're just a stubborn little pain, aren't you?" He asked, and when she didn't respond, he sighed.
"His name is Hurricane, and I suggest you don't—what the Tartarus are you doing!?" He hissed, rushing forward to pull Sasha down from Hurricane's back, where she'd hopped on and grabbed hold of his mane.
"Oh please," She said, rolling her eyes. "I've gone to summer camps with horseback riding classes for years. What's the difference?"
Jonathan made an overly-dramatic show of tapping a finger against his chin as if deep in thought. "Hmm, I dunno. MAYBE it's the fact that Hurricane is an untamed, free-spirited winged horse that doesn't, actually, use the ground as boundaries!" He exclaimed sarcastically, and Sasha smiled.
"All the more exciting." She said, grinning as she began to steer Hurricane out of his stable.
"You're going to get yourself killed." Jonathan muttered, sliding onto another Pegasus's back and following behind her. Sasha didn't care it pay any care to whatever he said after that, she took to the wind. Hurricane bucked and whinnied in protest, but Sasha held steady, tightening her grip on the Pegasus's mane. Biting down on her tongue, she was jerked and bobbed around on the winged horse's back until, with an indignant neigh, the horse reared, 20 feet in the air, and sent Sasha sliding down his back, free-falling toward the ground. The wind rushing in her ears and the sudden pressure making her ears pop, Sasha shut her eyes and screamed.