the Lost Son

Chapter 9

Will asked Percy and Annabeth to inform everyone that they were safe and on their way back to camp from California. It would be a few days, since Hazel, the only other person who could shadow travel, wasn’t at Camp Jupiter at the moment. A few days later, a taxi dropped the four off at the bottom of the hill, hesitant to let them go with complaints that there wasn’t anything out there until Will assured him that they were fine.
“Avery!” a voice called and all five heads turned and saw someone had come up he hill. It was a male with beige colored skin and waist length long hair. There were a few braids in his hair, including a small feather woven into one of them.
“Kosumi!” Avery said, visibly lighting up as he went and pulled the other in for a hug. As Will turned and gazed at the male, he couldn’t help but feel like there was something familiar about the other. That’s when it hit him-the males kaleidoscope colored eyes.
“Your mom’s Piper, isn’t it?” Will asked against his better judgement. “Mclean?” As Avery and Kosumi pulled apart, the long-haired male nodded gently, looking away.
“She was an amazing hero.” Will said. “She was an amazing person, too. I didn’t know her too well, but I know that much.”
“I’ve been told. I wish I could have gotten to know her personally.”  Kosumi said softly before turning back towards Avery. “We should go find Asa. She’d be happy you’re back.” Avery glanced back at their dad, silently asking if it was ok.
“Isn’t Asa your girlfriend, Adri?” Victoria asked Kosumi, using her nickname for him
“Yeah, of six months.” Kosumi replied, blushing a bit as he glanced back at Avery.
“I’ll be ok. Go ahead.” Will said to Avery, smiling softly. Avery grabbed Kosumi’s hand and pulled him into camp, quickly disappearing as they passed Thalia’s pine.
“Are they dating?” Will asked, turning to look towards Dakota ad Vivi with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t ask me!” Dakota said, putting her hands up.
“I have no clue. Last I knew, Adri was dating this girl named Asa Walker.” Vivi replied, shrugging as she adjusted the strap of her backpack.
“They seem close.”
“Adri talked about him a lot in the few days before the quest, so I think they are.”
“I’m going to go find Nico. “ Will said finally, reaching up to fidget with his camp necklace.
“Do you want me to come with?” Dakota asked, reminded of her worry for her papa.
“No. We need to talk about some things.” Will said, earning a nod from Dakota and Victoria.
“Alright. Well, I’ll see you at dinner.” Dakota gave Will a quick hug before following after Vivi into camp, hand in hand.

Dakota and Vivi ended up spending some time over at the archery range with Dakota helping her with her aim and form.
“You’ll get better with practice.” Dakota assured her. “I was terrible in the beginning. I almost picked up a sword, but that was even worse. I actually hurt myself using a sword once.”
“How badly?” Vivi asked, smiling a bit as she looked over at Dakota. The blonde smiled a bit and pulled up her sleeve to reveal the long scar up part of her forearm that was about half an inch wide.
“I stole Avery’s sword and was running with it. I tripped and hurt myself pretty badly. Dad had to patch me up, but I haven’t picked up a sword since. Archery’s more my style.”
“Most people would expect a gnarly scar like that to be from a fight.  You could just casually say it was from our quest.” Vivi said with a laugh.
“Nah. Av and Papa would immediately shut it down.” Dakota laughed a bit, letting the sleeve of her hoodie fall back down.
“You’re beautiful.” Victoria said with a small smile, causing Dakota to blush.
“No, you are.” Dakota countered, not able to come up with a good rebuttal.
“Nope. You are. No debate here.” Vivi grinned and leaned forward, capturing Dakota’s lips against her own.
“I’m going to miss you when summer ends.” Dakota said with a soft smile once she pulled back.
“We still have two months, so don’t go thinking about it now.” Vivi set the training bow back on the stand and grabbed Dakota’s hand. “What say you we go bother Adri and Av?”
“Of course!” Dakota grinned, following after her girlfriend  as she led the way. They found the two under a tree near the lake alongside a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes. They were laying in a cuddle pile under the tree with their heads on each other. Kosumi was looking through Avery’s notebook and Avery was clearly filling the two in on the quest from the few words they could make out in a distance.
“I’m glad you’re back safe.” The girl said, taking a second to lean over Kosumi, who was in the middle of the pile, to press a kiss to Avery’s cheek. “I don’t know what I’d do if you died or something.”
“I’d still find a way to get back. I love both of you too much to not try.”
“I love you too, Rae.” The girl said, looking over when she saw Dakota and Victoria approaching.
“Whats going on here?” Dakota asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What? I’m not allowed to have physical contact with my..fr..friends?” Avery said, hesitating on the word friends.
“You just said you loved them both and Asa said she loved you too.” Vivi countered. “Are you three dating?” Hesitating, Avery nodded with a nervous sigh.
“We’re all polyamorous.” He said softly. “So, three-way consensual relationship.”
“Well, as long as you’re happy.” Dakota said with a smile. “But don’t think im not going to tease you about this around Dad and Papa.”
“P-please don’t.” Avery said, sitting up quickly and giving a pleading look towards his sister. “I.. I don’t know what they’re going to think…”
“Avery, our whole family is some form of gay, I don’t think they’ll care if you’re bi.” Dakota rolled her eyes a bit.
“No… about me being polyam. Please don’t tell them…”
“We have some of the most supportive parents in the world and I doubt they’d react badly, but I won’t tell them until you’re ready. I swear in the Styx.” Avery relaxed visibly, a look of relief overtaking his face.
“Thanks for coming through for once.” He mumbled quietly.


“Papa!” Dakota said happily, rushing towards the son if Hades. The horn for dinner had sounded and so her and Avery had left their spot near the lake with their partners to head to dinner. As they were walking, they saw their parents walking towards dinner and bid their partners goodbye.
Nico turned at the sound if his usual title and smiled softly when he saw his daughter, only for her to collide with him in a hug, causing him to wince but he lightly hugged her back.
“careful… I’m kinda beat up right now…” Nico mumbled as she pulled away, but he smiled down at her, pushing her hair from her face..
“What happened?” She asked nervously, looking up at him.
“I’ll be fine.” He assured her, looking over at Avery. “I just challenged some Ares kids to a four against one. I was overconfident.”
“That doesn’t sound like you at all.” Avery protested. “That’s…that’s reckless!”
“I know…younger me did that type of thing all the time. It’s a wonder I’m even here. I got better when I met your dad.” Nico smiled over at Will softly.
“Let’s hurry to dinner. There might be a capture the flag game after and we don’t want to miss it.” Will said, gently nudging them all towards the pavilion with his words. As they sat down to eat, the twins filled their parents in on the details of their quest. They didn’t leave out any detail, other than  downplaying Dakota’s injuries when she almost died.
“How’s Hazel and Frank?” Nico asked. “And Layla and Michael?”
“Layla is Landon now, but they’re all doing fine.” Dakota smiled gently before continuing the story without hesitation.
“Wait, hold on.” Will and Nico interrupted at the same time.
“Layla is Landon? What does that even mean?” Nico asked, half confused, glancing at Will with a confused look then back at the twins .
“He’s transgender.” Dakota said. “He goes by Landon now and uses he/him pronouns.”
“Oh…ok. That makes sense.” Nico gestured for her and Avery to continue. Before they could continue, Chiron gathered everyone’s attention and announced the capture the flag match. Due to Dakota’s win last game, it was the Apollo cabin against the Hermes cabin. Apollo go paired up with Hephaestus, Ares, and Aphrodite. Hermes got paired up with Athena, demeter, and Dionysus, which left the smaller cabins with less people to pick their own teams.
“We’re on the same team!” Dakota looked up and saw Vivi was running over with a smile
“yay!” Dakota grinned. “Although, for the record, I would have totally kicked your ass if you were on the other team.”
“Sure, you would.” Vivi said with an eye roll before pressing a soft kiss to the blonde’s cheek, causing Dakota to blush bright red as she looked away.
“Are you two…” Will asked, gesturing between the two with a raised eyebrow, trailing off slightly.
“Dating?” Nico finished, earning a hesitant nod from the two girls, who were now both bright red.
“We should tell Chiron.” Will said, changing the subject.
“Tell him what?” Dakota asked.
“Capture the flag is mandatory, but after the things that’s happened to me, I’m not physically to participate.” Will said.
“I’m not either.” Nico said.  “But be careful. We’ll be watching from the sidelines.” Dakota nodded a bit and turned to go but she paused when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, Will was giving her a stern look.
“Lets not have a repeat of last game. Don’t overuse your abilities. They’re not as strong as Papa’s is-not even close- and we don’t need you dying on us.” Dakota glanced back at Nico before nodding with a smile and hugged them both.
“I won’t. I’ll be careful.” With that, she dashed off after Vivi and Avery in the direction of the forest.
“Alright, Dakota! You and Victoria stick together, take the right and don’t split up. Avery, you stick with Kosumi and Asa, take the left, same thing.” Luciana called.
“Justin, you and Charles will guard the flag. Rhys, you, and the archers will guard the sides. Remember not to injure anyone too badly with your arrows or long-range weapons, most of the archers are Apollo kids and you know we’re the ones who are going to clean up the mess. Archery wounds are not fun for anyone.”  Luciana turned towards someone else.
“Akira, you and Annemarie run as down the center as you can. Rowen, you and Miles man the river with the rest of the Ares cabin. Spread out along the length. Those moving, attempt to get the flag in any way that you can and remember who your teammates are.” Right as she finished speaking, the horn blew, and the game started. Sharing a look and a smile with Avery, the two took off in separate directions.