[1] 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 ― p.jackson ✓

005.

"that's the spirit!" he grinned. then, he closed the doors and revved the engine. cadie turned around, shielding her eyes as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat, the kind that felt gentle but dangerous if you stayed out too long. when she looked back, the lake was steaming and a red maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

relative were weird, cadie had decided, and apollo was quite possibly the weirdest.

nico looked grumpy as they set back to walk. in the back of her mind, cadie wondered what bianca had said to him to make him so angry and annoyed. the kid had barely experienced any of camp life yet and was already annoyed at his sister. cadie wondered if she could do anything to help. but... it didn't seem like much could.

"c'mon," she said to him, "let's get you to chiron."

"who's the chiron dude?" he grumbled, "i don't have his figurine."

"he's our activities director," explained percy, "he's... uh, well. you'll see."

"if those hunters don't like him then that's good enough for me," nico muttered, "let's go, then."

camp, as expected, was pretty empty. during the summer, it was buzzing with life. sun shining down 'till the late hours, lots of pranks, loudness, lot's of time outside. now, it was mostly empty. only the year rounders remained, and even then there weren't many of them either. she spotted charles bekendorf from the hephaestus cabin stoking the forge outside the camp armoury. she spotted the stoll brothers, travis and connor, from the hermes cabin, picking the lock on the camp store. she spotted cam and some of his siblings having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest.

then, she heard a whoosh and black hair flew into her face.

"blegh," cadie grimaced, already knowing who it was, "lily? what're you doing here? don't you stay with your... uh, guardians during winter?"

lilly walsh, one of her best-friends, stood in front of her with an enthusiastic but stretched grin. black hair readjusted itself, cropped a little bit shorter than before, a bit shaggier too. olive skin looking paler in the cold air, cheeks red and eyes an onyx brown. they stood in a flowing black tank-top coloured a muted lilac and baggy but frayed jeans. it was good to see her, really it was, especially after the night cadie had just had.

"i'll explain it later," lilly shrugged, grinning at cadie, their smile stretched. she turned to nico, glancing at him, then percy, then thalia and then back at cadie. "where's miss athena?"

"she's... well," cadie triled off, "you're not the only one who has a lot of explaining to do." she sent a comforting smile to lilly, "we've got to get to chiron- i'll catch you later? tomorrow?"

"bet," lilly said, frowning only just a bit before zooming off.

"woah," nico simply gasped, "how did they do that?"

"pure sheer-will and spite," joked cadie.

the big house was decorated in a similar fashion to the rest of camp. twinkling strings of red and yellow fireballs danced around the porch, warming it but strangely not setting anything on fire. inside, flames crackled in the hearth. the place smelt of hot chocolate and cinnamon, the scents entwining in a tango throughout the air. mr d, the camp director, and chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlour- the two looking very intensely at their cards. the place was silent, bar the crackle of the fire or the occasional mumble that escaped one of them.