Learning to Trust (A Leo Valdez Love Story)

Chapter 33

KYRA

Kyra had been at Camp-Halfblood for a little over a week now and was still getting used to, well, everything. Compared to how Kyra grew up, Camp Halfblood was a sanctuary. She was starting to feel truly happy for the first time in a long time. Was she still getting used to her new life? Yes. Was she still nervous about walking alone around camp without Leo, Jason, Piper, Will, or Annabeth with her? Also yes. But, she was working on it.

She was working on a lot of things.

Will was working with her on her archery skills and in turn, she'd been helping him out in the infirmary. Leo was right in that she was already better than a lot of the other Apollo Cabin kids, but sometimes during practice, she'd miss a target on purpose. They had been so nice to her, taking her in as practically one of their own, she didn't want to discourage them. Will said it was nice to have another person with healing abilities on the team in the infirmary. The camp was filled with accident-prone kids who carried around swords and knives and climbed a lava wall for fun, Kyra thought they needed all the help they could get. She was getting better at using her powers to heal others. Luckily, there haven't been any near-deaths like Jason's so she hadn't been getting drained too quickly. Most injuries could even be treated with traditional demigod medicine: that is gauze and bandages along with a little ambrosia.

Jason and Will had been working with Kyra on her moonlight powers. She was getting good at using them defensively, making shields that she could hold for longer periods of time without exhausting herself and getting them to stretch larger distances too. She wasn't as comfortable using her powers offensively: she wasn't confident in her abilities and she was scared of hurting someone. She knew the rest of the eight needed her to be able to fight offensively, but Kyra thought that she just didn't have it in her. Her moonlight blasts haven't been getting any stronger and she could barely knock over a target with them. The boys were very encouraging, but Kyra could tell they were starting to get frustrated with her lack of progress. It worried Kyra, she knew it really shouldn't, but she worried that if she wasn't good enough, she'd be forced to leave Camp Halfblood and would get captured once more. She was working on not thinking like this but it was really hard. It's all she's known.

Piper was working with Kyra on her social skills. She still had the tendency to avoid eye contact when talking, to pull in on herself when conversations got loud, and to get nervous in general around unfamiliar people. Piper had enlisted the help of the Aphrodite cabin, not the whole cabin, thankfully, just a few of her siblings she was closer with, in getting a new wardrobe for Kyra; they were more than happy to help. They had more clothes in their cabin than Kyra had ever seen in her life and she almost cried when they gave her some outfits. She knew they were most likely hand-me-downs or clothes campers didn't really want anymore but the fact that she now had a few outfits to call her own was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Annabeth was training her to fight in close combat, a skill she would most likely need for their quest. This was her least favorite part of her days. She really loved spending time with Annabeth, it was just the thought of having to get close to someone while fighting that unnerved her. Annabeth was a great teacher, but the thought of getting close enough to an enemy that they could grab her terrified her.

Kyra's favorite part of being at Camp Halfblood was helping Leo and his siblings work on the Argo II. She was sure she wasn't much help. She wasn't nearly as strong as Leo and his siblings and didn't really know what she was doing. But they were good company and seemed to appreciate her being around, even if it was just to hand one of them a screwdriver every now and then or to give her opinion on where different rooms for the ship should go (she wasn't very opinionated so she was sure she wasn't much help there too). They would play music sometimes and Kyra found that she liked listening to the songs they played.