FALLEN ANGEL ➸ pjo fic | apollo

viii

"Come on, Clarisse. This is a group activity," Silena called. "We need to bond. And there's no better way to do that than making sandcastles."

"I do not want to bond with all you losers," Clarisse grumbled. "Why don't we head to the arena, and I'll kick all your asses. I'll call that bonding."

"Clarisse, you don't want your desert privileges revoked by Chiron, right?" Katie raised an eyebrow. "Come on. We can destroy them all by building the best sandcastle."

That somewhat convinced the daughter of Ares, who grumbled under her breath before sitting down beside the daughter of Demeter and helping her out. Ameris watched their interactions with a grin as she sat down on the sand, scanning around the groups.

Silena was paired with Beckendorf, Drew was with Connor, Clarisse was with Katie, Lee was with Malcolm, Ethan was with Miranda, and Travis was paired with his half-brother, Chris.

Silena and Beckendorf had already created a metre tall sandcastle which surprisingly stood strong, while the rest of the sandcastles looked miniature compared to theirs, but that didn't stop them.

Travis and Chris gave up halfway through it, their sandcastle looking more of a deformed puddle of sand instead of a castle. The two shared a glance, a knowing glint in their eyes as a mischievous smirk appeared on their faces.

The two scooped up sand in their hands and threw it straight at Connor who was sitting a few metres away from the two. The younger Stoll yelped, his hair and the back of his shirt covered in wet sand as he turned around to glare at his brothers.

Connor stood up and chased after the two, tackling Chris as the two skidded right over Clarisse's and Katie's sandcastle, ruining it. The two chuckled nervously as the daughter of Ares fumed at them, grabbing the two by their collars.

"Hey, Clarisse! Heads up!" The daughter of Ares turned her attention towards Travis, only to be hit by a ball of sand.

"Oh, it is on, Stoll!" Clarisse yelled, grabbing a handful of sand in her hands before chasing after him.

The sandcastle competition soon turned into a sand war, with sand thrown across the group of demigods at one another, all their sandcastles ruined. It was quite entertaining to Ameris, who watched it all from a safe distance, chuckling to herself.

The hybrid then glanced at Silena, who was walking towards her with a grin on her face, her clothes covered in sand.

Ameris' eyes widened. "Silena, no."

The daughter of Aphrodite's grin only enlarged as she lunged towards Ameris, who rolled to the side just in time. "Come on!"

The rest of the demigods turned their attention towards Ameris, sharing a knowing glance amongst one another as smirks formed on their faces, creating a temporary truce.

"Don't you all dare," Ameris warned, narrowing her eyes as they all advanced towards her with sand in their hands.

"Too late."

Ameris tried to dodge all the sand flying her way, but it wasn't proving to be easy with all of them surrounding her. A ball of sand hit her shirt and she turned to see Travis grinning at her victoriously.

Ameris narrowed her eyes, scooping a handful of sand herself and threw it straight at him, hitting him roughly in the face. The rest winced slightly in sympathy while Connor laughed as Travis groaned, trying to spit it all out. Sand in the face was the worst.

Silena and Katie shared a glance, taking this chance to lunge at Ameris, taking her by surprise as the three skidded across the sand with the two on top of the hybrid with triumphant grins, smearing sand across her face.

"Hah! We got you!"

Ameris groaned as she rubbed the sand off her face. "You know, I was just trying to be civil. But now ..."

Ameris had a wild gleam in her eyes, and they all stopped grinning immediately. "Ameris, hey, we were just playing around, no need to get all scary-"

She only smirked dangerously in response, her eyes glowing with immense power. She threw her hands up, feeling a sharp tug in her stomach as she bent the ocean behind her to her will. Their attention shifted from Ameris to the massive wave behind, realising that she was controlling it, gulping in fear as they laughed nervously.

"Come on, Ameris, we can talk this out ..." Katie tried.

"Oh shi-" Travis was cut off when Ameris slammed them all with the seawater, sending them spiralling back into the sand.

Once the water had dispersed, they all were soaked from head to toe. Their clothes were covered with wet sand as they all coughed out the salty sea water out of their lungs, gasping for air.

"You know, this is quite fun." Ameris grinned as they all glared at her.

"No way ..." Malcolm stared at her in shock. "You're also a daughter of Poseidon."

Ameris blinked, realising that the secret of her godly parent was finally revealed. "Oh, well, yes?"

"Wait, you guys knew?!" Lee, Ethan, Drew, Malcolm, Miranda and Chris turned to the rest in surprise who only nodded sheepishly.

Malcolm sent them a glare, dusting the sand out of his hair. "And you didn't think before making us attack her in her literal domain?!"

"I didn't know she'd try to drown us in a tsunami wave!" Travis shot back.

Ameris grinned at their banter. "Well, at least now you all know not to mess with the sea."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Clarisse grumbled. "You got lucky this time, Adarlan."

The sound of galloping hooves caught everyone's attention as they turned to see Chiron make his way towards them, staring at the group and raising an eyebrow in a questionable manner at them.

"Do I even need to know what happened?"

They all shot a glare at Ameris who only crossed her arms with a smirk. The centaur understood from their expressions and found himself shaking his head slightly, a small smile on his face.