𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐩

Chapter V I I I

8
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Blood-Thirsty Pigeons

The next few days were just as hellish as you might've guessed. It was just as Tantalus wished it be.

He couldn't walk three steps without feeling some sort of throbbing pump through his blood. If he breathed hard enough, he could feel his blood clotting, then turning back to normal under his skin. He could almost feel the poison spread through Thalia's tree if he touched it, but he didn't have time to feel it properly at all, he'd feel like acid spread through his whole arm and he'd have to pull back.

Everything felt wrong. None of that was supposed to happen, it was like the balance was off put. The whole balance. The balance of nature, and the balance of life and death. It was as if the poison in Thalia's tree was something that brought devastation to the world of the living, to humans, demigods, spirits, monsters and nature alike.

(y/n) couldn't even take Benny out of the bedroom, except for when food was involved. He'd managed to brush the dog's fur, so he was content about that, but he'd only lay and sleep, not doing much besides that.

Everything was going bad. This summer was supposed to be a calm, relaxing experience with his friends. No monsters, no quests, no Luke. It all went downhill way too quickly.

By the looks of it, Annabeth saw how he wasn't doing so well, and decided to offer him a partnership in the chariot race, trying to clear his mind a little. Don't get me wrong-they both hated Tantalus and they were worried sick about camp-but they didn't know what to do about it. Until they could come up with some brilliant plan to save Thalia's tree, they figured they might as well go along with the races. After all, Annabeth's mom, Athena, had invented the chariot, and (y/n) was great with animals. Together they would own that track.

One morning Annabeth and (y/n) were sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs when some girls from Aphrodite's cabin walked by and asked (y/n) if he needed to borrow some eyeliner or lipgloss.

(y/n) flushed, looking up at them in confusion. "What?"

"You don't do makeup?" one of them asked. "I thought-"

"-No!" (y/n) denied, shaking his head vigorously, both to stop it from burning, and to hide the blush from them. "I-... I don't."

"Uh, sorry," another girl hummed, before they all walked away cussing at each other.

"What was that all about?" (y/n) frowned. "You-... You didn't tell them, right?"

"No! Of course I didn't! I'd never expose you like that!" Annabeth scoffed, shaking her head.

"That was weird," (y/n) mumbled.

The next couple of days, (y/n) tried to keep his mind off his problems.

Silena Beauregard, one of the nicer and less assuming girls from Aphrodite's cabin, gave him his first riding lesson on a pegasus. She explained that there was only one immortal winged horse named Pegasus, who still wandered free somewhere in the skies, but over the eons he'd sired a lot of children, none quite so fast or heroic, but all named after the first and greatest.

(y/n) wasn't much fan of heights, in general. He wasn't scared, necessarily, but he'd avoid them if possible. But, riding on a winged horse was different. He could understand their thoughts. He wasn't surprised when his pegasus went galloping over the treetops or chased a flock of seagulls into a cloud. It felt natural, like another extension of his body. It reminded him of the few times he'd turned into flying animals, or a very light and small creature.