THE WILD DOG IS COMING | percy jackson

ONE. Set It Off

CHAPTER ONE
SET IT OFF

     The day was abnormally normal. As silly as it sounded, it was true. Nothing happened.

The beginning of the yearlong stay wasn't bad at all, it was actually just as enjoyable as it was the year before. Holidays came and went, birthdays especially did, godly parents bestowed gifts and kind words, and then suddenly it was only little while longer until the summer campers came back. That was the favorite part for a lot of the campers that stayed year-round—when their friends and cabinmates came running back and friendships re-blossomed.

It was supposed to be wonderful, the best part of year-rounders' year. Only someone had taken it upon themselves (himself) to ruin their summer and potentially, a lot of lives.

Espion had been the one to first come across Thalia in despair, or at least the first one to say something. She'd been out walking the edge of camp way too early, happily humming to herself, practicing little dance combinations she came up with on the spot, just walking herself in a warped circle of camp for her morning workout. Not many of the other Ares kids liked to dance and she assumed she was the only one blessed with his innate ability to "throw it down" (his literal words, not hers.)

She did not know Thalia, she wasn't even at camp yet, but then again—everyone knew of Thalia. The story was still somewhat fresh when Espion showed up at camp but over the years it became something you told the new kids real quick, real quiet. Luke and Annabeth didn't like mentioning it and if you even said Thalia around Grover, he usually ended up having a huge meltdown. And although her father was really a kind guy (seriously, he's great), very little of that empathy passed onto his children, especially Espion.

Her first instinct when someone started crying was to perform an Irish goodbye and get the hell out of dodge. Crying just made her angry. A bit problematic but probably just an imbalance of hormones or something stupid like that.

But just because she didn't know Thalia, didn't mean she avoided her completely. There was a bit of a rift between them, even as her niece of sorts, because Thalia's father hated Ares. There was no proof that opinion passed onto his kid, but considering how a majority of Athena's cabin thought about her and her siblings, there was a fat chance her and Thalia would not get along either. But still, she tried to give her the benefit of the doubt because unfortunately, she is dead and knowing Ares, he hadn't the gall to disrespect someone who was a warrior in her own right.

Espion has a weird relationship with people in general. She tends to only converse with her cabin mates and very little others outside of it because they all just pissed her off. It ran much deeper than just being antisocial but that wasn't an issue she was anxious to make known to many other people. It would stay a private matter until she died—hopefully.

So, instead of sleeping in, or going out to talk to the other early birds or get her steps in playing basketball on her own, she liked to go on walks. It let her war up-hungry mind settle getting to patrol the border of camp as if they were in any danger (they were) and kept her away from people until she chose to assimilate back into society. It also gave her a good chance to say hello to Thalia and thank her for, well, everything.

All Halfbloods were scared of monsters, whether a little or a lot was up to them, but those things could kill them and that was scary. Espion was on the end of the spectrum that was absolutely terrified of them. She would fight them day in-day out if given the chance. She absolutely loved fighting and killing monsters, it was her favorite. But bad things had happened and monsters were now above drowning and moccasins on her list of fears.