ғʀᴏsᴛʙɪᴛᴇ - 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐋𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐔𝐒

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ

ʟɪᴢ

One year later...

The cool autumn breeze brushed Liz's face, the faint scent of pine trees wafting through the air. Liz pulled back the string of the bow, the arrow's brown feather brushing softly against her fingers. Liz aimed steadily, releasing the arrow. It whizzed through the air, its sharp tip cutting through the breeze. The arrow hit the tall block of wood with a thunk. The arrowhead lodged in the wood, straight and still.

"Nice," Lillith, a girl from Cabin 4, said.

Lilith and Liz weren't exactly the greatest friends, Lilith being the daughter of Demeter and Liz, the daughter of Poseidon. Not really, but with her snow powers, Chiron had just lumped the two together. Snow was just frozen water. She passed as a Poseidon child anyway, and she wasn't going to say any different.

"Thanks," Liz replied, picking another arrow from the satchel that lay on the ground.

"Annabeth's here, by the way. She just crashed in the lake."

Liz sighed. Archery practice would have to wait, it seemed.

"You don't seem excited," Lillith speculated.

"I was trying to improve my archery skills." Liz threw her bow by the arrows, following Lillith out of the archery ring.

There was already a ring of campers surrounding the lake, almost like a wave of bright orange. Liz pushed her way to the front, to a soaking wet Annabeth. Her blonde hair was dripping with water, a wet, orange leaf stuck in her hair.

With her was Butch, an Iris child, though he had proven time and time again that he was not your stereotypical Iris camper.

There was a girl, a pretty girl, with choppy brown hair, little braids placed randomly on the side. She was sort of grungy, both in style and hygiene though that was to be expected when you'd just fallen into the lake.

Two boys stood next to her, the blonde one closer than the other. The blonde on secreted power, though he was unsure of whatever was happening to him. His hair was short, his stature tall. He looked like he belonged in the military. Maybe he and Liz would get along. No, the boy was definitely with the brunette girl. The way they exchanged glances said it all.

The last boy was a trouble-maker. Liz took one look at him and knew it. Maybe it was his toothy grin that screamed, I might just set you on fire. His hair was thick and curly, black like charcoal in a dying fire.

"See anything you like, beautiful?" The boy asked. Liz looked up at the boy's eyes. They were a light brown, like dry dirt. They showed intelligence, but that was overcome by the mischievous spark in his eyes.

"Not in particular, no," Liz replied coldly, staying on the outskirts of the ring of campers.

"Annabeth!" Will Solace pushed through the crowd of people, his bow and quiver hitting Liz in the shoulder. He must've been ready to head to the archery ring right before Annabeth crashed.

First look, you wouldn't be able to tell Will was a child of Apollo. But when you looked closer, it was almost obvious. He had bright, golden hair, bright eyes, skin as if Will had spent a lifetime tanning in the sun, sparkling white teeth. He looked like the sun if it was a person. Most children of Apollo did.

"I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it," Will complained with an irritated tone.

"Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. She seemed tired and less than willing to dispute the broken chariot with Will.

"These are the ones?" Will asked skeptically as he swept his eyes over the three teenagers behind Annabeth. "Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"