Sorry, I know the chapters have been pretty short. But I didn't have a lot to go off of at this point in the story, and they will be longer when I know what the heck is going on.

We did get some stuff in The Sun and the Star though, so that's cool.

Disclaimer that I forgot to add- I don't own PJO

I picked sullenly at a spot of blood on my shirt.

It was dotted with it, and had been for all the time I'd owned it- although I had added a bit from my work, too. Just to add to the fun, it was so big on me that the short sleeves nearly reached my elbows.

Yes, hand-me-downs. Gotta love 'em.

Not that I was complaining- I was glad to have one. Although I did wish I could get the blood off. Or that I could at least know whose it was.

It was kind of weird, wearing a stranger's blood.

Michael interrupted my train of thought. "Does that one have everything? I might need to cut some more bandages- we're running low.

I focused my attention back on the med kit I was sifting through. We had been checking med kits, making sure they had everything and refilling the supplies when they were low. I was a little proud of myself for memorizing all the components in under thirty minutes.

"Well, we've got gauze…scissors…formaldehyde…wait, what's that for?"

Before he could answer, the infirmary door slammed open. A panicked-looking boy limped inside, clutching his leg. Blood was leaking from between his fingers.

Michael took one look at him and pointed to a chair. "Sit down."

The boy sat, but he squirmed around in the chair, gripping his leg tighter with shaking hands, his eyes darting around the room.

"Listen." Michael stared at him. "You need to hold your leg steady." It was more of a harsh command than anything, which clearly didn't do wonders for the boy's panicked state.

The boy tried to hold his leg still, but his trembling hands made it nearly impossible. His breath came in quick, sharp gasps. His face was streaked with tears.

Sit still!" my brother ordered. "You have to keep it steady."

The boy was evidently a bit too panicked to keep still. He continued shifting around in his seat, his leg about as steady as a vibrating guitar string.

Suddenly, I recognized him- one of the new campers that had gotten off the school bus a day or two ago. I had seen him around camp, but I had never talked to him. I felt horrible for him. He was still new to this world, not understanding what was happening. And now he was bleeding out while a medic barked orders at him.

Without a word, I squeezed past Michael. I placed both hands on the boy's leg and held it still, staring into his eyes with the most calming expression I had. It's okay, I tried to tell him. You're safe now.

Slowly but surely, he began to calm down. His breathing steadied, and he relaxed back into the seat.

Michael stepped forward, placing a hand over the wound. I watched the skin begin to knit itself up, the blood begin to stop flowing.

When the cut was nothing but a scar surrounded by darkening blood, Michael turned to me. "I'm going to finish with the med kids. Are you okay cleaning and bandaging his leg?"

I nodded, and my brother squeezed my shoulder and headed off.

I looked closer at the boy, trying to commit his face to memory. I had to remember as many faces as I could. I didn't want everybody to be just another random stranger.

He had olive skin and shaggy black hair. His eyes were black, which startled me. I'd never seen anyone with black eyes, and I hadn't thought it was possible. Apparently it was possible for people with godly DNA.

"I'll be right back," I told him quietly. "I'm just going to grab a cloth to clean up the blood."

He nodded, and I hurried off. As fast as I could, I grabbed a washcloth, ran it under some warm water, and quickly returned.

He watched me carefully as I gently sponged the blood off his leg. I wanted to ask how he had gotten injured, but I had a feeling that I was walking on thin ice, ice that could break any second and send him packing.

Still cleaning blood, I finally decided to bring up the question.

"So, how did it happen?" I made sure to keep my voice low, trying not to freak him out anymore than he already was.

He winced. "I- didn't really see it. They put me with the others for sword practice-(I mentally muttered a curse)-and Chiron was trying to show me how to hold the sword right, but I didn't get it, and I went for the target dummy, I missed, and-"

Oh. He had accidentally sliced himself because he missed the target. That would be an embarrassing future story to tell.

"How did the other boy do that?" he asked, his voice now tinged with curiosity. "One minute the slice was open and bleeding, and the next…''

"Healing magic," I said simply. "Our dad's the god of healing." I tilted my head. "Do you know who your godly parent is?"

He shook his head. "I didn't get claimed. But I'm pretty sure it's not whatever yours is…the healing god."

I placed aside the cloth and began wrapping a bandage around his leg. "That's okay. Some campers never know."

He stared at the bandage. "If my leg's already healed, what's the bandage for?"

"Just a precaution," I explained. "In case it starts bleeding again. If it does, or if it's hurting, come back here."

He nodded and stood up, testing his weight on his healed leg. "Wow. It doesn't even hurt anymore. Umm…thank you."

Before I could say anything back, he headed out of the infirmary.

It wasn't until the door slammed shut behind him that I realized I never learned his name.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

I tilted my face up to the sky, closing my eyes and breathing in deeply. In the middle of winter, sunny days were few and far between. I hadn't realized how much I'd come to depend on them, although I guess it made sense, me being a child of Apollo and all. When the sun was hidden behind a blanket of clouds, it felt like a piece of me had been taken away and stuffed in a cramped, dark chest.

Today, though, the sun was shining. For the first time in a week, even if it was already beginning to set.

I was kneeling by the canoe lake, staring at the thin skim of ice that covered the water. Finally taking a moment to breathe. A moment that was only mine.

"Will!" a panicked voice shouted.

I whirled around.

Lee was scrambling towards me looking lost and scared and angry all at once. It wasn't an expression I had seen before. It wasn't one I wanted to see again.

He dropped to his knees beside me, breathing hard. I realized he had run all the way here.

"I- I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you this but you deserve to know." He took a deep breath and lifted his head, his eyes finally meeting mine.

"Will, it-it's Harper."

I felt the ground crumbling underneath me, the walls closing in to crush me. No. No. No.

I finally managed to force words out through my closed-up throat. "Is she hurt? Is she…"

The word hung between us, taunting us, daring us to speak it.

"No! No, nothing like that." My breathing began to even out, until Lee dropped his head again. His curly blond hair, so much like mine, obscured his face.

"Will, she…she's gone to join Luke."

XXXXXXXXXX

The remainder of our cabin- Lee, Michael, Phoenix, Maddox, Gracie, A.J., and me- were all gathered together, kneeling in a haphazard circle on the floor of cabin seven.

It wasn't the first time a child of Apollo had gone to Kronos, as Michael had told me- but Harper was the only one to leave since I had come to camp. And apparently the most unexpected and upsetting candidate from our cabin.

But that wasn't the thing that made me want to curl up and cry- it was the fact that it was Harper. Harper, who was always kind and patient with me, who rubbed my shoulder and told me it was going to be okay after I had nightmares, who had made me laugh even when I was new and scared and missing my mom, who had, after only a few weeks, already begun to feel like a piece of me.

Harper, who had abandoned me.

The sky outside was dark, the joy that I had felt sitting in the sunlight long gone. Sometimes it seemed as though hope was a candle, burning gentle and bright and warm, but so easily snuffed out.

My eyes were blurred with tears, my breath coming in quick, short gasps. A few of my cabin mates shot me concerned looks.

"I just don't understand why she would do this." A.J. nervously twisted his fingers together and touched his ear. A.J. always seemed to have one earbud in- this was the first time I had seen him without it. He didn't look too good.

"I don't get it either." Phoenix bit her lip, looking nearly as upset as I was. I remember that Phoenix and Harper were- had been best friends. "Do- do any of you think it was our fault?"

She might as well have said my fault. We could all hear it in her voice.

I had been wondering the same thing.

"No!" Lee said quickly. "Gods, Phoenix, you can't blame yourself for any of this." He reached over and squeezed her hand. "We might never know why Harper went to Luke. Maybe resented the gods more than she let on. Maybe she trusts the word of Luke over the word of Chiron. Maybe it isn't important, or maybe it is. I don't know. I do know that Harper cared about you- and all of us." He fixed his gaze on me, as did the rest of the cabin. They knew how close I had been to her. "Harper loved you, Will. I know you think she abandoned you, but she loved you. She did. And she would never do this to hurt you."

It was too much. To much. I couldn't do this, couldn't live the rest of my life not knowing whether my sister had abandoned me or not, couldn't be left alone between the burning flame and the curling wisp of smoke.

Although I wasn't aware of it, I was staggering to my feet. I couldn't spend another second in here, wrapped in air that had quickly become suffocating, wrapped in a blanket of twisted fingers and chewed lips and consoling words and pitying glances.

I slammed open the cabin door and sprinted out. The air was still clear, the stars sparkling above me.

It was wrong. All of it. I wanted to scream, How can you do this? How can you be so calm and beautiful and- and normal when she's gone?

I didn't know where I was running, until I realized I was in the same rocky spot by the shore where, less than than an hour ago, I had sat quietly, enjoying the sunshine.

I dropped to my knees. Suddenly, without warning, I reared up. I smashed my fists on the jagged rocks again and again and again. I continued pounding, dimly registering the fact that my fists and the rocks were smeared with blood, but not caring, not seeing.

Your fault. Your fault. Your fault.

Whose blood was it anyway? Whose hands was it on?

I finally crumpled into a ball, hands slick with blood, sobbing so hard my ribs hurt.

"Fuck you, Harper," I hissed through clenched teeth. "Fuck. You."

I didn't realize that I wasn't alone anymore until someone gently pulled me into their arms.

Lee.

I collapsed against him and buried my face in his chest, sobbing, tears and blood soaking into his shirt.

Lee didn't say anything, just held me tightly.

I felt another person wrap their arms around us. Phoenix.

Then another. Michael.

There were more footsteps on the rocks behind us. One by one, our entire cabin dropped to their knees and joined our huddle, tears and curses and promises made to be broken curling into wisps of smoke and disappearing into the freezing winter air.