𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐄 𐃘 PJO ✔︎

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄: ❝𝐈 𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐈𝐏𝐄𝐑❞

THE NEXT MORNING I was woken by Will crawling into my twin bunk. His knees dug into my side and I hissed in pain. He whimpered as he buried his little body into my side.

I was instantly worried.

"What's wrong," I said as I sat up in my bed, careful not to bump my head on the top bunk.

"Look." Will pointed at the top bunk where Elio was sleeping. My throat which was already dry from recently waking up grew dryer than the Sahara desert. I yanked the covers off of me and slowly rose on my tippy toes to see the top bunk when Elio yanked the cover off himself and shouted. I screamed, having been taken off guard.

I landed on my back with a thud.

"Lockheart," I growled from the floor but I wasn't angry after I heard Will burst into a fit of giggles.

I sat up and glared at Elio in the top bunk. He smiled at me sheepishly.

"Sorry." He said. "Will thought it would be funny."

From my bed, Will frowned, "No I did-"

Elio jumped off the top bunk and laughed, cutting off Will, "Haha kids, always denying things."

Will didn't say anything but I saw Elio slip him a five-dollar bill.

Elio offered me a hand that I took and he hauled me up to my feet. We were all still indecent, dressed in pajamas.

"Get out," I said.

"Kassandra. I already said I'm sorry." Elio said a look of worry on his face. "It won't happen again."

"What are you talking about?" I said opening my trunk and throwing an orange camp t-shirt, black sweatpants, and a thin black jacket. I make sure to toss my backpack with my dinner date clothes into the trunk. "Well? I have to change and I'm doing it in front of you."

Elio sighed, "Alright Will. You have to go."

"So do you!" Will said and grabbed Elio's hand as he hopped off the bed. "Come on Elio, it's camp rules, a boy and a girl can't be in the same cabin alone. We'll wait outside."

Elio looked mildly disappointed and I chuckled as I watched Will drag Elio out of cabin seven. I quickly changed and let the boys back inside. I waited outside as they changed and then they met me just outside the cabin.

"So what are we going to do today?" Elio asked.

Will pouted, "I have infirmary services. One of the determined still needs to get stitched up. Apparently, the ambrosia can only do so much."

"I have to figure out what the pan flute does," I said. "I'm going to try and play it at the edge of the north woods. Let Chiron know I'll be skipping breakfast."

"I'll go with you Kas," Elio said. "I'm curious to see what exactly the pan flute is supposed to do. Besides I'm not hungry right now."

"Okay. See ya." Will chirped before he walked off towards the infirmary. Elio and I walked towards the northern woods.

"So, you never did tell me what exactly happened in that dream of yours," Elio commented.

I responded. "You were there."

Elio nudged me with his shoulder and smirked, "Oh yeah?"

I laughed, "Yup. You died."

Then I burst into hysterical laughter when I saw his face turn into one of confusion. That whole dream had changed my perspective of Elio. I'd never before doubted his ability to take care of himself during a quest or mission. Why had that dream or better put nightmare affected me so much? I had many different dreams in which many of my other friends died. I often had dark dreams.

Eventually, we reached a clearing at the edge of the northern woods. We spoke briefly about what the pan flute could do. Would it change sunlight? Would the melody that came out of it work to seduce the person who heard it's music? Elio came up with that one.

After nearly an hour of this theorizing, we decided that I would simply blow on the pan flute and see what happened.

So I blew on it and nothing happened. I sighed and proceeded to drop the pan flute on the ground by my feet and lay back.

I pointed my finger at the sun, "What now?"

Elio laid down next to me. "I don't think he's going to answer."

I sighed. "I don't doubt that."

A silence befell us before I broke it, "I'm Colombian, apparently."

Elio turned onto his side on the thick grass. "I think I'm a quarter French and a quarter Russian Jewish on my mom's side. I'm not sure what the other half is. Maybe just godly, maybe Greek. I doubt it matters."

"I don't even know what I am anymore," I said. "Everything I thought about the Gods has changed."

"Woah. What are you talking about?" Elio said propping himself up on his elbows and sitting up.

"I learned from my father." I began. "That my mother was murdered by Artemis. Can you believe it? My aunt? I looked up at her. Literally. And she's the reason I had to grow up in this place, which I guess could be a good or bad thing whichever way you look at it."

"That's a lot to take in Kassie," Elio said. "Are you okay."

I stared up at him blankly, "Just peachy."

Then I heard rustling and I sat up quickly. Too quickly as my forehead collided with Elio's and our lips brushed together. Despite his cocky nature, Elio's cheeks were flushed with color once he pulled back and realized what happened.

"Sorry," I mumbled before I rose to my feet and came face to face with the soft eyes of a grey wolf. "Oh wow. I didn't think there were any wolves on Long Island."

That was when I realized there was a pack of wolves huddling around the edge of the woods. The pan flute that laid abandoned at my feet quickly piqued my interest. I blew into it and watched as the wolves were entranced by it. I took a couple steps towards the cabins and they followed suit.

"So that's what it does." Elio grinned "Congratulations Kas. You're the pied piper."

"Wolves are my father's sacred animal," I commented. "It might summon all his sacred animals. We could have a dolphin army to battle the S.S. Andromeda!"

Elio laughed heartily before I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug as I felt overjoyed by the discovery of the pan flute's power.

When I pulled back Elio kept a tight grip on my waist.

"Kas look at me." He whispered. I felt my heart jump out of my body. His green eyes bore into mine as he studied my eyes looking for something. He must have found something because he brought up his other hand to cup the side of my face and pulled me in for a kiss.