It was after Capture The Flag; and well, Annabeth's plan worked. She pushed Percy in the water after she got him and Clarisse to fight and he got claimed; by Poseidon. Somehow she knew? I don't know she's Annabeth, I don't question her knowledge. Chiron gave Percy the quest to get the Master Bolt from Zeus, which is apparently missing? And now, Percy's standing in the middle of a circle of Clarisse, Annabeth, Luke, Chris, me, Silena, and a couple other half bloods to decide who to take on this quest.
"Annabeth." He said as he interrupted Chiron in his whole spiel about how we're the best warriors at camp. I know Annabeth was going crazy that one, she got a quest, and two, Percy chose her. That girl has been wanting a quest forever and we were kinda offended that the white boy did it in less than a week.
"Grover." He said as his next choice. I looked around and Grover wasn't here.
"Uhh Percy, Grover isn't here." I stated stepping out, I winked at Annabeth from across the circle.
"I know, but I want to bring him with me. That's final." He was determined, but I knew Grover would pee his pants knowing Percy picked him. Like literally pee his pants. He did that once when I told him that I didn't like raspberries, so I was pretty sure he'd do it over this. Percy walked off to go tell Grover and I ran over to Annabeth as she was trying to hide a smirk, but a winning smile shined through.
'So what are we doing for your birthday tomorrow?" Annabeth said, grabbing my hand.
"I'll be helping you pack for your quest." I said.
"Pandora, you always do this!"
"Birthdays aren't a big deal to me!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!" I laughed. "We'll finally be the same age."
"Only for a month or so."
"Yeah, yeah" I rolled my eyes. "Then you'll be thirteen and I'll stay twelve. Also good job at diverting the conversation from what you know I was going to bring up!" I sarcastically commented.
"Thank you, I think it was my best work." She added.
"So, do you agree with me that Grover's gonna pee his pants when he finds out Percy chose him?"
"Oh obviously. I mean he peed his pants when I told him I was allergic to ragweed." We shared a laugh.
The next day we sent out our brave little warriors to the quest. Also, I was right, he did pee his pants. Anyhow, me and Annabeth shared a hug and we sent them off as I walked back to Mr. D.
"Dora The Explorer, one day that'll be you." He told me. I know he knows my name. I mean I've been at this camp for my whole life basically. It's just a bit at this point, I think.
"Tell me the prophecy." I punched him jokingly in the stomach like I used to when he wouldn't let me fly a pegasus when I was six.
"Can't Padawan. Swore I wouldn't."
"On the River Styx?" I asked, as long as he didn't swear on the River Styx. Please.
"No, Padawan, but I still can't tell you. Like we don't tell Perry The Platypus about his prophecy. You'll have to suffer a bit longer."
"You suck. I hope you are forever the Camp Director." I said as I walked away.
"You are the bane of my existence, Panda Bear!"
"Love you too!"
A couple days had past and without Annabeth, and Miley working on the Cabin Seven Musical, my days were filled with Luke, and more Luke, and more Luke, oh and more Luke.
"Sis, you know what?" Luke said, sitting on the dirt, looking between his palms.
"What?" I responded, sitting down across from him.
"What if we showed the gods that they can't ignore us." He said, hate filled his eyes as his eyes switched from the ground to my face.
"Luke, what are you talking about?"
"We showed them, me, you, and Annabeth, that they can't ignore us, the unclaimed kids? We do their bidding and they give us nothing? I mean it's bizarre!" His voice was so calm but his face wanted to yell.
"But we love it here, wouldn't you miss this place?" The idea of showing the gods what's up didn't sound that bad. I wouldn't have to be scared for my life ever again; but I would miss Chiron too much and Mr. D, and well everything about this place.
"We could make a new home Dory."
"Yeah, but, Luke, this is all hypothetical, right? I mean, you would never do this." I looked at him trying to calm his mind down.
"Yeah, yeah, hypothetical, of course, but we could live a life, a full life, no danger. No prophecies." As he said the last bit, he took my hand and started tracing the lining of my palms. "You wouldn't have to be scared anymore Pandora."
"Well, we could go to a cabin, out in the woods, to remind us of Camp HalfBlood" I laughed. "And I could have a garden." I layed down on a towel behind me so I wouldn't mess up my t-shirt with dirt.
"Yes, yes! And we could find your dad! You wouldn't have any more questions." He knew what he did bringing up my dad. I know I have one, but I don't know who or where he is; if he's even alive.
"My dad, yeah, we could find my dad." I looked up at the stars wondering if my mom was looking down at me, feeling at least a little sympathy. I couldn't have gone out in the world to live with my dad, it was too dangerous.
Chiron cantered out of the Big House. "Luke, Pandora, they want to speak with you." As soon as I heard him I started running to the Big House, before I stepped into the office where the message was; Luke stepped in front of me.
"Pandora, let me do this alone. I have more experience. I can help them more."
"But Annie's in there-"
"And you'll get to see her when they get back." He kissed my forehead and turned me around and gently pushed me out the door. He kissed me. He had never done that before. Never. But it felt nice. Really nice.
I walked back to my cabin to see what Silena was up too. I opened the door to see five of my siblings covered in different colored paints.
"What are you doing?" I said looking around to see Malia standing on a ladder covered in purple paint. Her hair was in a ponytail that was filled with curls.
"Uhh, I didn't like the all over pink so I'm letting everyone choose the color they want their portion of the wall to be. What do you want?" Silena said catching her breathe while fixing her messy bun. Gosh, was she pretty. Effortlessly pretty in every single way. She walked over to me. "Beauty is personal to every single person. Everyone should feel beautiful, but beauty is within the eye of the beholder." Silena was the embodiment of Cabin 10. She was wise as she was beautiful but she was cunning and always knew how to make someone feel safe. Beauty standards never existed to her; and she made sure they never existed in Cabin 10.
"Mom, would be so proud of you." I told her. She blushed as she walked behind me and started braiding my hair.
"Our cabin gets misunderstood so often. I have to make sure that I set them straight Pandora. Aphrodite is a war goddess. Beauty is powerful. Love has waged wars. You will be misunderstood and stereotyped your whole life." She said as she looped a hair tie around the braid she had finished. I turned around and she put her hands on my shoulders. "One day, I won't be at camp anymore." She squatted down to my height. Which she always did when she spoke to me, she was about 5'9 and I was 5'2. "And you will be Head Counselor. We both know you will, so don't try to argue with me. You must keep Cabin 10 strong Dora." I never liked the idea of camp without Silena. I never liked the idea of Silena not being Head Counselor. She was everything and more.
Luke rushed in the door. "Pandora. Silena." He said out of breath. She blushed and pulled her hair out of the messy bun it was in quickly and ran her fingers through it.
"Luke?"
"The Lightning Theif, it's-it's Clarisse. Chiron told me to come tell you."
I punched him in the face.
"No, she's not" I stated. "You know better than that to even suggest such a thing."
Silena laughed under her breathe. "Luke, Dora is right. Clarisse wouldn't do that."
"She would do anything for Ares. Anything." He looked between me and Silena. "And you know it." He was right. She loved her dad, no matter how much he ignored her.
Days had past since Luke theorized that the thief was Clarisse and I was sitting in the mess hall waiting on Will to meet me and suddenly an Iris Message had blipped right in front of me and I saw Percy with a glimpse of black braids that must've been Annabeth.
"Pandora, meet us at Olympus, for the Winter Solstice." Percy said.
"What? Are you insane?" I said. "This isn't my quest."
"Pandora, you will want to be there." Annabeth popped her head in the message and looked at me with a look that she had only ever used when she needed to say something to me but couldn't say anything.
"I'll be there. I just need some way to travel there."
"Here. Be there as soon as possible, we're waiting for you in the lobby." She tossed a travel pearl through the message and I caught it. "Once I told Hades about what we needed you for, he gave one to me."
"Oh Percy, did you find your mom?" I asked.
"Umm yeah, but we couldn't take her. She's gold." He said, stammering through his words. I felt bad for him, really bad.
"I'll try to do what I can to get her back." I assured him, the message broke and they vanished. Will and Kayla were walking over to me, but there was no time.
"Sorry guys, I got to go do something!" I said to them and I tossed the pearl on the ground and thought of the Empire State Building Lobby