Holly Claire Black is finally regretting all the choices she's made leading up to that moment as she dove away from a blasted statue. Concrete rains down on her, covering her in a sheet of grey dust.
Holly covered her head with her arms as she laid under a stone bench, then a face appeared next to her. The surprise made Holly instinctively back away, hitting her head in the process.
"Ouch," she muttered as she rubbed her palm on the top of her head.
"Sorry," Annabeth winced and helped pull Holly from under the bench. When Holly got back up, she found that Annabeth wasn't alone.
"Holly, do you still have your mirror?" Annabeth asked, Holly nodded and fished the item from her pack. Then Annabeth turned to Percy. "Since you're the only one who can get close enough to Medusa and live, you'll need this."
She shoves the mirror into Percy's hand, then turns back to Holly. "You're Percy's backup incase he needs assistance, and for me who won't last two seconds in front of Medusa...I'll be retrieving Grover from the rubble, so distract her for as long as you can. Get it?"
"Got it."
"Let's go," Annabeth said before putting on her yankees cap and vanishing into thin air.
Holly turned to Percy. "In case this goes wrong, know that your statue will make a great centrepiece for the arena."
"What a nice sentiment," Percy muttered before separating ways from Holly.
***
One week ago...
"Did you see the boy?"
"What was he holding?"
"They said he killed a minotaur!"
Echoes followed after Holly as she walked back to the cabins after her jog, Camp's been bustling with rumours of this mysterious boy appearing in the middle of the night a few nights ago.
He's been off limits ever since, recovering at the Big House. But now, as it appears, the boy is awake.
All the way across the field, Holly could spot a familiar blonde haired girl standing outside the ramshackled cabin.
The Hermes cabin is the largest cabin of all, housing all newcomers, children of Hermes and all the unclaimed campers at camp; it looks like an old cabin, with chipped brown paint and floor boards coming off.
When Holly got there, the whole cabin was bustling with activities. She could hear the ruckus from outside, the thumping of footsteps and countless voices talking all at once.
"Must be quite the party," Holly remarked as she stepped onto the porch.
Annabeth didn't turn to look at her, she was too busy squinting at someone inside the cabin. "He's already made himself quite popular."
"Really?" Holly asked, stepping forward and right into the chaos of the cabin. "I'd like to meet this young fellow then, if he's so high and..."
Holly paused, her lips parted from a word lodged at her throat as her eyes met a very familiar pair of green eyes.
They weren't soft like Harry's eyes was her first thought, they were bright and maybe a little wild. Like an uncontrollable tsunami, or a big tidal wave. Exactly like that. They're almost the same shade as the Algae's growing on the ocean floor. But they're the exact same eyes that's been haunting her dreams for months. She can't explain where these descriptions came from, it's like it just appeared in her mind the second she laid eyes on the boy.
"...mighty." Holly whispered.
The boy regarded her curiously, like she's a long lost memory that's slipping from his mind and he can't hold on to it even if he's so desperately trying.
"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, stepping in front of Holly. "Meet Holly Black, daughter of Aphrodite."
Annabeth nudged Holly, snapping her out of her daydream.
Holly stuck her hand out in a well mannered form. "It's a pleasure to meet you...Percy Jackson."
The name felt odd on her tongue, but also quite right? It's the name she's been itching to know for a long time, and now she's said it and it felt odd but also felt like an itch that's been scratched.
Percy just stared at her for a good minute, awestruck of the Goddess of Beauty's daughter.
Since the end of the school year, Holly's changed her appearance a bit for camp; she's chopped her overgrown hair because of camp's sunny atmosphere, she's regained some of her toned muscles and has even grown a few inches taller than when camp had been to camp last christmas.
Percy remarked none of those. "Y-you have a nice accent," he stuttered.
"Thank you," Holly replied with a curt smile.
Then a boy appeared behind Percy, Hermes' senior camper, Luke.
"Hey, Luke." Holly greeted him, Luke flashed his brightest smile as he approached Percy.
Annabeth cleared her throat, her face hot as her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. "Luke Castellan," Annabeth introduced him to Percy. "He's in charge of cabin eleven, he'll be your counsellor for now."
"For now?" Percy asked.
"You're undetermined." Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers."
Patron. Not father. Patron. Holly noted the bitter undertone in Luke's voice every time he said his father's name, but it seemed like no one else did.
Percy looked around the cabin, at all the curious faces.
"How long will I be here?" he asked.
"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."
"How long will that take?"
The campers all laughed, Annabeth fidgeted uncomfortably behind Holly.
"Come on," Annabeth said, stepping in front of Holly to reach Percy. "I'll show you the volleyball court."
"I've already seen it."
"Come on." She grabbed Percy's wrist and dragged him outside.
Once the door closed, cabin eleven burst into laughter that shook the cabin's foundation.
"Come on you guys!" Holly shouted over the loud laughter, no one listened to her.
Then Luke said in a loud voice, "That's enough everyone."
Slowly, the laughter began to die down. Luke waited for them to completely stop before proceeding.
"We've all been new campers before, and we've all asked that same question before." Luke said strictly, crossing his arms. "That's no way to treat a new camper, no matter who he or she is. How would you feel if someone laughed at you like that for asking a simple question?"
"We're sorry, Luke." A young girl answered, the girl sitting on the floor in front of them.
She couldn't be older than nine, but she's already sporting numerous scars on her arm and her neck.
"That's right," Luke sighed. "I don't want you to treat anyone like that ever again, do you understand?"
Some echoed yes, others nodded, and the conversation ended. Holly and Luke stepped out onto the porch, the breath of fresh air loosened the tightness of being inside cabin eleven.
"So," Luke began. "What do you think of-"
Somewhere in the distance, a loud shriek echoed.
"Oh gods," Holly muttered, then she turned back to Luke. "Sorry Luke, I've got to go. I'm on bathroom duty tonight, and if-"
"Go," Luke told her, then he shivered. "Last time I was on bathroom duty..."
Holly chuckled, then broke into a run across the lawn. When she got to the source of the shriek - the bathrooms, she found Percy and Annabeth with a few of the Ares campers soaking in water.
"What in the Hades happened?" Holly exclaimed, seeing water pool out from the bathroom door.
"You're dead, new boy! You're totally dead!" Clarisse screamed profanities as her siblings held her back.
"You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth." Percy retorted, a ridiculous smile playing on his lips as he watched Clarisse's siblings dragged her back to Cabin five.
Holly cursed in Greek, her palm planted on her forehead.
Annabeth wrung her wet hair as she walked to Holly. "Sorry for the mess."
"Mess?" Holly flailed her arms. "You call this a mess? Oh, no, nothing a mop and a bucked can't fix."
"Sorry," Percy smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.
Holly sucked in a deep breath, "Ay, aidez moi mon Dieu." She muttered as she walked away.
"We're really sorry!" Annabeth shouted after Holly.
"You better be!"
***
Holly spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the bathrooms, it was completely flooded when she started. But with the help of a few Demeter kids, and Mr D's two sons, they managed to clean out the bathroom by dinner.
"Thanks for the help," Holly told Katie Gardner who had deployed her siblings to assist the daughter of Aphrodite.
"Well, we couldn't let all this water go to waste." Katie said cordially.
Then the horn blew from the mess hall, and all at once, campers piled out of their cabins and onto the lawn in a neatly organised line.
"Thanks again," Holly told Katie before her and her siblings jogged back to their cabin where Katie's second in command had already rounded up their campers for dinner.
Holly joined her siblings at the Aphrodite table in the pavilion, all of them bustling in well mannered activities.
The pavilion sat under the open sky, not many stars were visible but the pavilion was lit up with blazing torches.
She took a seat next to Liya Bernardi, a calm brown haired girl with a spotless copper complexion who's addicted to denim jumpers with her hair pulled up in a bun with pink ribbon tied around it. She's the least talkative of all the Aphrodite campers, that's why Holly liked sitting next to her so much.
"Did you have fun?" Liya asked sarcastically as she took a bite of the boiled potatoes.
"Oh, yeah, loads of fun." Holly replied, wiping her hands on her shirt. "What do we have?"
"Boiled potatoes, fruits, and barbeque."
Holly loaded her plate with cheese, grapes and freshly baked bread.
"They're raisin bread," Silena explained. "Freshly baked by the Demeter kids."
"Demeter kids do be saving the day," Holly muttered. She then grabbed her goblet, instinctively expecting to see orange juice.
The sweet taste of the fresh fruit made her wistful for Hogwarts, she missed the busy halls and the endless corridors, she missed the smell of the Black Lake early in the morning and the abnormal chill of the library. She missed the ghosts who would chat with her in the common room, and most of all, she missed her friends.
She hasn't received any letter since the beginning of summer, but it's because posts work a little differently across countries. She really wished she could just Iris Message them, but she knows they'll freak out if she does.
Before proceeding with their dinner, campers got up one by one from their table and lined up to the big brazier.
"It's a shame they don't serve honeycombs anymore," Liya sighed. "Mom would've liked honey."
Holly hummed absentmindedly as they waited in line, when it was Liya's turn, she poured half of her plate onto the brazier.
"Mom," she muttered as the brazier burnt bright.
Holly then followed, she dropped a huge cluster of grapes, a fluffy slice of bread and the creamiest chunk of cheese into the fire. "Mom...please give me an answer."
Holly didn't bother waiting around, basking in the scent of the food that's gone ablaze in the brazier. She didn't need to, the scent followed her as she returned to their table and began eating.
In the middle of dinner, Drew Tanaka (a tall black haired girl who's killing it with the pink cat eye liner) decided to join their side of the table.
"So..." She began, looking mischievously at Holly. "What do you think of the new kid?"
"What?" Holly asked dumbfoundedly.
"We heard he was a stuttering mess when he saw you," Drew's accomplice Cali (an athletic minnesotan with a smooth ivory complexion) winked.
"Could he be the one?" Drew taunted, then she looked at the table behind Holly. "He is nice to look at, and he looks like he has a pure heart that'll be so sweet to break."
They all turned to look at Percy, he sat squashed between Luke and Connor Stoll who's droning on about something while Percy awkwardly listened while scratching the back of his neck.
Feeling eyes on him for the first time that evening, Percy looked around for the source and came eye to eye with Holly.
Having been caught, apparent with Percy's small wave, Holly turned back to face her siblings as tendrils of pink snaked up her neck.
"Aw, look at our Holly." Cali cooed. "Blushing and fumbling with her utensils over a boy."
"Okay girls, that's enough." Silena said, but even she had a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.
Liya nudged her, a playful twinkle in her eyes. "Who would've thought?" She whispered.
"Oh shut up," Holly rolled her eyes, but even she had a small barely noticeable smirk.
She didn't know what it was about Percy, maybe it's because she's finally found him and all the feelings she's been having over the past few months finally became real. Whatever it was, it prompted her to approach him that evening at the campfire.
While the others were singing loudly, roasting smores, and playing chords. Percy watched it all from the side, bouncing his leg up and down to the beat of the music that Micheal Yew had been playing.
"Is someone sitting here?" Holly asked, Percy turned around to see who it was.
"No, please have a seat." Percy patting the empty space next to him, Holly promptly fell down on the bench. "Hey...I'm really sorry for earlier, I-I don't know what happened, the pipes just-"
"It's fine," Holly said modestly, even though she was just cursing him an hour ago. "I got some help so it wasn't too much work."
"So..." Percy tapped his knees with the palm of his hands like he's playing drums. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You already did."
"Another question then,"
"Sure."
"What's...what's your story?"
"My story?" Holly contemplated for a second, looking at Percy and closely regarding him.
"You don't have to tell if you don't want to," Percy shrugged. Then he scratched the back of his neck, a developing habit. "I just...wondered. 'Cause, you know Annabeth talks highly of you."
"Really?" Holly smirked. "What does she say about me?"
"She said that you've been best friends for a long time," Percy explained. "She also said you're one of the oldest campers here."
"Well...both are true." Holly looked around, at the campers surrounding them and it's as if they're in a completely different plain. Devoid of any notice to their conversation.
Holly grabbed a s'mores sandwich, offering one to Percy who accepted it. She took a big bite as she collected her thoughts.
"When I was seven, I ran away from home to come here." Holly began. "On my way to camp, I met this fierce girl who was just my age. Annabeth... if you could've seen her then, she was wild! Like an alley cat."
They both turned to look at Annabeth who was sitting with her siblings all the way across the amphitheatre, she was talking to one of her siblings whilst they ate smores. She lit up brighter than the blazing campfire in front of them, smiling brightly at whatever they were talking about.
"I didn't know what I was, I didn't know that I was a halfblood." Holly continued. "But Annabeth, she helped me either way. We fought together through countless nights across the country, running away from monsters and defending ourselves. We were just two seven year olds trying to make their way home, until two older half bloods found us. We've been friends ever since- closer than friends, we were like sisters. Annabeth...she's been through a lot, she's worked hard to become what she is now."
Percy was silent for the moment afterwards, pondering over Holly's words and embedding her story to his mind.
"And you?" Holly turned to him. "What's your story?"
Percy sighed, "Where to begin?"
"From the beginning?"
authors note: the lightning thief officially begins! This is like a half baked idea, but I can assure you the story will get better. This is just setting the stage for the big scenes, so I hope you'll stick around for that.
<3