𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔－ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝑺𝒊𝒙.

Luke left her for ten minutes before picking her up, placing her onto his back while she was confused about his motives. And when he ran outside with her on it while shouting in the wind, she did to.

They made it to the beach where a picnic blanket lay, some Demeter cabin members brought food and the Satyrs brought versions grapes and strawberries from the fields. Chiron kept the Naiads and Nymphs from interfering, campers made their own picnics, and it became a tradition on that day to get together with your friends and have a picnic.

The Hermes boy never questioned years later why she had a hate for red Mercedes. Or the distaste of palm trees and coconuts. He never asked why she always gave an angry glare towards the box under bed every now and then, or how sometimes, she would look out at the road and shake her head sadly.

He never asked and she thanked him for that. Because all the tears she had shed were enough for that one day, and she didn't want to cry anymore.

Ariadne Phoenix never felt betrayed or lost around him. All there was were good feelings and happy smiles. Never had she cried over him, or yelled, or told him she didn't love him as a her somewhat-brother.

At one point, Luke Castellan was her knight in shining armor. But like all Greek heroes, tragedy strikes. And any knight in shining armor becomes a regular man wrapped in tin foil.

***

     IF YOU HAD TOLD HER SHE WOULD BE LOST AT SEA THEN SHE WOULD'VE LAUGHED IN YOUR FACE. For good reason, too. She didn't expect for her to be lost at sea with a son of Poseidon, her best blonde friend and a Cyclops. The girl didn't expect to have just escaped from a yacht where the boy she thought as her brother tried to feed them to a monster. But it all happened.

She only realized how dramatic the sea was when she had spent an hour or two on the lifeboat. Explains where Percy got his sense of flair and dramatics, must run in the family.

Being in the ocean as the waves pushed them from side to side was Percy's dream— not hers. The girl still couldn't swim either, so if they flipped, she would surely see the Cerberus once more. Let's hope she would have a red rubber ball with her. Staring at nothing but green oceans was staring to make her sick. Her only escape was to sleep, but even that was hard to do. Her hand was gripping the side tightly as she woke up, hoping she could keep her eyes closed for a little longer.

Once again, due to sleep, she had missed talking to Chiron. He had called them and Percy and Annabeth had told him everything. Ariadne was groggily trying to rid her eyes of sleep and exhaustion, but grief and guilt was making it hard.

The girl felt responsible for Luke turning out this way. Maybe, if she had focused less on herself and more on him, he would be alright. Her dreams about him didn't help either, but that was the price she had to pay for being selfish.

Tears were pooling in her eyes and she just wanted to break down. It was written all over her face but she couldn't, not with Percy and Annabeth near. Annabeth would end up the same way and Percy had seen her like that more than she would've liked.

Being a hero was forcing her to face the reality she didn't want; people change. Luke changed— for the worse— and she had changed. Her heart wasn't feeling like it used to when it looked at camp, it felt sad, as if it's waiting for her home to crumble before her eyes and never rise from the dust. Hero. She was a pitiful excuse for a hero.

She sighed with relief at the sight of a beach stretching along the shore, hotels and eating on it. "That's Virginia Beach!" Annabeth explained. "Oh my gods, how did the Princess Andromeda travel so fast? That's like—"