Vines and Thorns

𝟘𝟘𝟚-𝔸𝕟𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℍ𝕠𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕊𝕦𝕔𝕜

Clarisse La Rue is a strange person.

Before the fight with the Catoblepas, I had never held any kind of conversation with her. I considered that to be a good thing, considering she spent most of her time terrorizing other campers.

She was known for her anger and brutality, but I never saw either of those qualities as she kept me company in the infirmary while my foot healed. I found out that her being at camp all year long was in order to protect her mother—who was plagued with monster attacks whenever Clarisse went home.

She even had a little brother Thomas, who was only 6 years old. She showed me a worn-out picture she had of him, and I think it was the first time I had ever seen Clarisse actually smile. (She made me swear on the River Styx never to mention it to anyone of course).

I found out that she was actually a pleasant person, and as the days wore on, I found myself getting closer and closer to her. She told me I was a good listener (although that might have been because I hated talking about myself and always found ways to loop the conversation back to her) and I volunteered for Border Patrol whenever the Ares cabin was in charge of it.

Pollux was technically the head councilor, but we let each other take turns on making decisions for the cabin. Since all of us were year rounders and our father held a permanent residence at the camp, we were pretty much left to our own devices and left alone. We participated in what we wanted and skipped out on what we hated. For me, that was anything involving school-work.

I always got too antsy and found myself unable to sit still long enough to pay attention to whatever Chiron happened to be teaching, no matter the topic. And nowadays he just keeps repeating the same lessons, so I just stopped going.

I chose to participate in the more active classes—classes like Archery and swordplay. The Apollo cabin held the title of being the best archers in camp, but with Luke gone, the position of best swordsmen (or women) was up for grabs.

Those who ignore my existence would like to believe that the Son of old fish sticks (who barely trained for a week before going on a quest) would be the best. But those who do know me and have had the misfortune of training with me (who has trained almost every day since I was 5) would know that I would kick barnacle boy's ass.

Even Clarisse was surprised to see how skilled I was with a blade, and she all but demanded that I work next to her on border patrol. The rest of the Ares cabin gave me a wide berth—and I didn't mind it.

None of them were ever outright mean to me—no one ever was. Most everyone ignored me or left me alone, and I wasn't bothered by it. Clarisse was a chatterbox, another surprise that I wasn't expecting from her, and she filled the silence easily.

"If I ever see that punk Luke again I'll bash his head against a wall." Clarisse scowls as we walk past Thalia's tree. I purse my lips into a thin line, my eyes unable to look at the tree without thinking about all the trouble that comes along with it. She looks over at me with sympathetic eyes, wincing. "Sorry, I know you two were close." She adds quickly, and I shrug my shoulders.

"It's ok. He is a punk." I note in a sour tone. I may not have been as head over heels in love with Luke like Annabeth was (or is) but for a while, he was the only one in camp besides the Satyrs and my brothers who wasn't afraid of me.

He was the only one who would spar with me, the only one who would talk to me or hang out with me. I looked up to him—and it broke a part of my heart to learn that he had betrayed us. I understand his anger towards the gods more than anyone else, and yet he never once talked to me about, or gave me any signs about what he had planned.