Frank and Hazel slept peacefully throughout the encounter, but Percy was still visibly shook (doing his best to hide it, of course) when they arrived at the strawberry fields. Aella-Mae was snoring loudly, her hand in a mostly-empty bag of Cheetos. He poked her in the elbow. "Wake up, Maesie."
She spilled the remaining Cheetos on him. Opening her eyes, she didn't see much ahead of them. "It's just strawberries and a forest. Why the heck are we here?" the girl asked accusingly.
"No, look. It's Camp Half-Blood." Percy insisted.
Aella-Mae blinked, and the darkness cleared away in an instance. A blonde, impossibly tan kid and some goth was running up to them. She stumbled out of the car, yawned, and resisted the urge to lick her Cheeto-stained fingers because appearances. Sticking her head back inside the car, she wiped them on a piece of tissue, then popped out again. Hazel and Frank were studying their surroundings with a sort of awestruck gaze.
Blonde Boy ran up to them and hugged Percy. "You're back! Finally, it's still kind of sparsely populated in the winter. Not as many campers as there are during the summer, anyway." He had a slow, easy drawl. The kind more commonly found near the West Coast, Aella-Mae thought.
Catching sight of the others, Blonde Boy grinned at Hazel and Frank, stepping to the side to let the smaller, paler boy forwards. Hazel embraced the other boy (Gods, couldn't they just introduce themselves?) and ruffled his hair affectionately.
As if he'd heard her thoughts, Blonde Boy held out a hand for Aella-Mae to shake. "Will Solace. Cabin 7. That's Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades."
Goth boy — right, Nico — looked unnerved at the sight of her. She politely shook Will's hand and said, "Aella-Mae Wang."
She took her luggage from Frank and began following them uphill. Will was good at small talk. Nico . . . not so much. But he and Percy were pretty invested in the pack of playing cards Percy'd handed him, their expressions animated.
Aella-Mae followed them, trying to look somewhat interested. The weather was much nicer, she thought, despite it not making any sense scientifically. There were probably magical properties in play. She herself, of course, had never been much for the illogical. A pretty peculiar mindset, one would argue, for a girl who opened her eyes for the first time as a child left on the doorstep of the Jupiter barracks.
They were lead into an office, where a college professor-looking-man wheeled himself towards them, arms spread open. "Why, Percy, haven't you grown." Looking approvingly at Hazel at Frank, he offered them some snacks. They declined politely.
She caught sight of the leopard, who seemed to be looking right back at her.
"Do you want to feed him?" Chiron offered her the snacks, again.
"Oh, I don't think—" Aella-Mae began, before Chiron placed a sausage in her hand.
He made a throwing motion. "Don't be shy, he can't bite." The implication of can't versus won't didn't help soothe her nerves all that much, but she appreciated his effort.
Mimicking his movements, Aella-Mae aimed the sausage at the leopard's bared teeth, bracing herself for something, at the very least.
The leopard caught it neatly and purred, satisfied, before turning its gaze away from her like she wasn't all that important.
"He's like that with everyone," Percy assured her.
Chiron nodded in affirmation. "Alright, I don't think there's much you'll need, is there? I mean, unless you've lost your memory again," he added slyly.
"I don't think so," Percy laughed. "Hazel and Frank, they can stay in their respective cabins? Hazel with Nico, Frank with the rest of Ares."
They did just so, taking Aella-Mae on a nice, thorough tour of the camp as they did so. Pulling up at Percy's cabin just as the sun began to set, Chiron gestured around. "So, where will you be staying?"
Percy made a face, as if the answer was obvious. "Where else? She's a Zeus kid, practically."
"Practically?" The centaur's expression turned quizzical.
"Jupiter, Zeus. Almost the same thing, right? I'm sure her dad won't mind," Percy continued. Chiron stopped, a curious expression on his face. Percy seemed to notice, "I mean, she can stay in my cabin or something."
"I would rather not, seeing as you aren't exactly siblings," Chiron replied warily, "but I think Cabin 3 will have to do now. I would have informed you, but you see, well , we didn't think it would be much of an issue, since. . ." Aella-Mae looked in the direction Percy was gawking at, expecting another cabin.
Instead, all she saw was a pile of rubble and ash.
"Cabin 1, I fear, isn't going to be habitable for quite some time."
✸
"What?" Percy stared in disbelief at the once-glorious piece of architecture. "This has been around for hundreds of years. I thought it was practically indestructible?"
"Not quite," Chiron said. "Well-built, yes, but with enough damage, the cabins can collapse for good."
"But how?" Percy persisted. "When?"
"A few days ago. There was some commotion in the night, a few campers noted, but they didn't think much of it. When they woke up, there was evidence of carefully contained Greek fire used on the cabin. Not just normal Greek fire, although that wouldn't been plenty damage itself. Something else, as well. The Hecate kids are working on a few samples. It should be alright," Chiron told him, though his tone suggested anything but. "Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, alright?"
Percy gave him a half-hearted grin, "isn't that everything? Come on, Maesie, I want to show you Cabin 3."
Aella-Mae nodded, setting her luggage down on the floor. The windowsills were lined with breathtakingly exotic corals and other plants she couldn't put a name to, complimenting the ocean-like walls just as well as the bronze decorations on the ceiling. She spun in a circle, noting how empty it was. "No one lives here?" It was more of a statement than question.
"Just me and Tyson, the brother I told you about. He's working and I'm usually at Camp Jupiter, you know," Percy looked around wistfully. "Camp Half-Blood isn't the same as it was."
"It's still pretty cool," Aella-Mae tried, "the strawberries are really good."
"Yeah, they are." He smiled at her, unzipping his duffle bag. "You wanna shower first, or..?"
Aella-Mae wrinkled her nose. "Gross, I forgot we had to share a cabin."
Percy threw his hoodie at her with an endearing scoff, before heading for the showers and leaving her alone. She crawled onto the bunk above him, admiring the pretty decorations. Whoever added them clearly had good taste. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of the ocean that lingered.
It felt as if she were dissolving, as if the particles of her very being were sinking into the mattress. It was a calm sensation. Almost too calm, Aella-Mae decided, as her mouth seemed to open of its own accord. The darkness slithered out, spreading like fine silk over her skin, until it turned into a slime-like substance that seemed to suffocate her.
Aella-Mae screamed, the substance trickling into her throat, into her lungs, filling her up like wax inside a mold.
a/n: ohnoohno ohnonono . . . we're really getting into the weird part of thsi aren't we 😋 usually when u share a cabin with a really cute guy in fanfics sth hot happens but im afraid the only hot thing aella-mae's gonna b experiencing is burning in hell (IM JOKING!!)