The cool metal under her fingers was a comfort as she shifted the weight of the flute and brought it to her lips letting it hover in place a moment before she fully began her song.

Fingers flit with precision, graceful as she moved into the music and Kassandra let the sound breathe life into her veins once more, let the power of song carry her from below the weight of the sun glaring down upon her shoulders and the back of her head.

Her school orchestra had elected to hold a concert during the summer, just after the end of school, in a park open to the public. And as she simply didn't want to risk losing her position as first chair flautist, she had elected to arrive at camp a few days later this year accepting whatever risk would befall her i the mortal world.

She followed the sheet music before her pointlessly, knowing the song and each song they would play by heart already. It was a gift, really, one that she would never openly thank her father for, not even in her own thoughts, but one that she was appreciative for nonetheless. 

Glancing over the gathered crowd, Kassandra spotted her parents at the front and took in their matching smiles with happiness, breathing the bits of her glowing soul into the sound as it carried sweet and clear, ringing within the harmonies of the symphony her peers created.

A pullback, she breathes a gasp, flashing a grin to her parents, before she dives forward once more, fingers flying over the instrument as the intricate solo the conductor added -- simply due to the extent of her skill -- played and rose and swirled with beauty through the park, casting the notes over the audience with a swirl. Her eyes flashed, cheeks feeling the burn.

The Royal New York Academy of Performing Arts was not in need of donations or the likes -- the tuition price was high, performance and other various events costing what ould be seen as the appropriate amount for a private school, brought in more than enough of revenue for the school. No, Kassandra thought, this was more of a publicity stunt to draw in the attention of potential candidates or possible donnors to the arts for future events in the form of raising money for one selected charity or another.

It was most likely music related as that was what each department focused on, but Kassandra didn't have much of a care for what cause she was playing for this time when she was too high on the act of a public performance.

Akin to the adrenaline of battle, Kassandra felt like an electric wire, like she housed the power of hundreds and hundreds of mini suns beneath smooth skin. It made her heart thrum and race, burn and pound with joy and excitement that she was itching to release with a burst of movement and flurry of words. She wanted to dance about, wanted to ramble words to her siblings that only they would truly understand for only they would see the truth of the strength of music on the body and soul.

Eyes dancing over the crowd once more, she silently thanks the ADHD that hardwired her body to act and move without a word as her thoughts stall at the familiar figure in a wheelchair at the back. He was smiling at her, a proud little twitch of his lips that was all too sad to mean anything other than bad news at the height of her joy and contentment.

And just like that, the world of gods and monsters crashed around her once more, the horror of it all brimming up around her like the silence and grace of a sunburn.

Her playing from then was performative at best, beautiful certainly, but performative without a doubt. It didn't bring her the same addicting high as it had before, didn't bring her the same hardened strength.

For Kassandra was a demigod and sometimes she simply had to do what she had to do even if it meant that she didn't like it because if Chiron was away from camp then he wasn't here for her performance. Something was wrong and she was to be off on a mission once more, perhaps a quest that her father had brought the centaur for her to perform knowing that she would never accept if it was from him directly -- though, why he would ever choose her when her disdain and anger and irredeemable hatred toward the man expressed itself with clarity in the disrespectful nature of her actions when her siblings were equally as capable was beyond her so that wasn't likely the case.

Kassandra agitatedly shook away the thoughts, gathering her focus for the rest of the performance. Chiron and his problems would just have to wait.

The show ended with a bow and the applause was loud as she held her flute tighter than she would otherwise, clutching the bit of metal like it was her lifeline, like it was a weapon to defend herself from the push of those around her and their expectations opposed to a classical instrument that she loved dearly.

Her peers began to gather themselves after a final bow, collecting their sheet music to place inside the cases that they had beneath their seats.

Just the same, she followed the routine, gliding through the motions with ease.

"You played beautifully today," says Pauline, one of the violinist. "You always do, but it sounded truly angelic at one point."

Kassandra blushed. "Thank you. We all sounded wonderful together today," she says. "I didn't hear a single note out of place or tune."

"You're too kind, but I'm sure Mr. Dantel will have something to complain about," Pauline complains.

"Hopefully he'll forget. We have the summer off, after all. We aren't to see him to until we come back to school in the fall."

Pauline rolls her eyes. "He'll probably send an email."

"I won't get it then," she says honestly as if she had any other choice. "I'll be busy with camp business all summer."

"That's right. You always go to the same camp every summer, right?"

Kassandra pauses, considering her words carefully before she says. "I've been going there since I was nine years old."

"You don't think that you'll miss things while you're gone?" the question is innocent enough but it makes her snort a laugh all the same.

"No, I have plenty of excitement at camp. I- it's very exciting there."

She locks her case, taking the handle and letting it hang at her side. It bumped against her thigh, tapping the hidden strap and holster of her celestial bronze dagger hidden beneath the hem of her dress. It was a small thing, one that she was only used when necessary to defend herself as it wasn't her favourite weapon.

"It's good that you like it, then," Pauline comments, shifting the weight on her feet so that she leans slightly forward, closer than before, as she tilts her head slightly to the side with a little shake so that some of her hair falls loose from where it's tucked over her shoulder. Kassandra gets the sense that she's missing something here. "I've never really gone to summer camp before."

"That's fine still. I'm sure that you have fun in the summer regardless," Kassandra comments, nodding politely to those that wave and wish her a nice break as they leave.

"Yeah, I guess," Pauline mutters, unenthused. "I'll only get to see you come next fall, then?"

Blinking, she nods unsure, not really trusting herself to speak because while she wants to believe that she will be back at school in the fall, if there were problems enough for Chiron to seek her out early then it might not really be true.

"I'll see you, then," says Pauline, swiftly moving in for a half-hug before she darts off to join a group of orchestra kids that were gathering off to the side. Kassandra knew that they were close, that they were all friends, and though she was close to quite a few people in the music program, Pauline and her group of friends wasn't exactly part of them.

The people that she was closest to, her friends, had been pushed aside and had their seats filled for the place of the concert with substitutes that were permitted to reaudition for a permanent place -- which was part of the reason she insisted on staying for the concert in the first place, even if she was certain that she could beat anyone that challenged her for her seat with little effort.

And though Kassandra wasn't very competitive, she could be which could prove to be a problem if she didn't watch herself.

She had done well by making sure she hadn't been kicked out of school since she got into RNYNPA and she wasn't about to ruin it for herself.

At fourteen, almost fifteen, Kassandra liked to believe that she had gotten good at keeping monster attacks small and secret (or at least from keeping them linked to herself).

Lady Artemis give me strength, she prays silently as she follows everyone else's lead to join her parents, excusing herself distractedly as nearly runs into some blond guy in a bucket hat.

The LeClaire's were a kind couple, sweet and much more understanding now than they had been before when no one, herself included, knew nothing about what was going long in her life.

Peter LeCLaire was a dark skin man with a head full of dreads that he was just absolutely proud of and perfect eyebrows that would make anyone of Aphrodite's children jealous. He owned a pretty successful construction company with his brother, her uncle, which caused him to travel from time to time, but he was always in the right places and there at the right time when she needed him.

Queenie LeClaire was a Caribbean woman that loved her braids, especially in the summer. She had deep brown eyes the colour of freshly turned soil and full lips that always had the shine of gloss regardless of the colour of her lipstick. She was a cardiovascular doctor at NY General Hospital and easily one of the most compassionate people that Kassandra has had the pleasure of knowing.

And she didn't only have praises for them because they had adopted her and had been the only parents she had ever known.

They approached her at the bottom of the stairs. Kassandra stepped off straight into her fathers arms, squeezing him back just as tightly as he spun her in a circle.

'We're proud of you," he tells her, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. She beamed at the warmth that trickled through her as she breathed in the familiar scent of wood shavings and smokey cigars. "Your hours of practise certainly paid off."

Glowing satisfaction rolled through her at the praise, taking it in as an acknowledgement of her hard work as opposed to inherited talent as her siblings might have wanted to lead you to believe. Sure they had a natural skill with almost any instrument, but that didn't mean that she didn't try hard to be one of the best. Kassandra loved playing the flute and that had nothing to do with her father.

"Why don't we go out for dinner tonight before we drop you off at camp?" Queenie offers, swooping in to press a kiss to her temple. "I'm sure they won't mind if you show up a little bit late. Lee knows that you're coming by so your bed should be ready."

"I wouldn't want to leave it to Lee to make sure my bunk is ready, but knowing him he's had it ready since spring," says Kassandra fondly. "He loves it when we all start to come back, especially the older campers."

"He's your brother. Of course, he loves when you come back," her parents point out.

Humming, she turns her attention further from them, seeking out her Chiron in the dissipating crowd. He was where she had last seen him, unmoving among the crowd.

Kassandra reluctantly pulls away from her parents and motions behind them with a jerk of her head.

Their smiles waver, falling at the centaur's serious expression. Seems they could also tell that something was wrong.

"Let me take that for you, honey," Peter says, pulling her flute case from her hands. "Go see what he wants."

Nodding, she approaches Chiron with her usual smile. She missed him throughout the year that she spent away. From the first moment that she had stumbled into camp with Lady Artemis' guiding hand one early winter morning, she had begun to grow attached to him despite the relationship being mostly built upon training. Centaurs were very good archers, after all, and with his help and eventually that of her siblings, she had become one of the best in her cabin -- making up for her basic swordplay skills and her slightly better than average dagger abilities (get her to throw or shoot something, however, and Kassandra would not miss). He had a comforting presence, one that radiated calm and caring, from his many years training the uncared-for children of gods.

"Ah, that was a lovely show, Kassandra," he greets as she grew within normal mortal hearing range.

"Thank you, and not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing away from camp, Chiron?" she says quickly, hand fluttering worriedly by her thigh.

A dagger, as average and mundane as her skills were in comparison to quite a few at camp, was the only weapon that she could feasibly carry on her person without it appearing odd. Unlike some of the lucky, favoured demigods, she didn't have a magical weapon that could conceal itself into a nifty little item that could be stashed away with the benefit of ultimately saving her life.

As it were, Kassandra really only carried around her bow when she was called in for extractions or other missions due to her relative closeness or her skill set. She had done so many missions, not quests because she would never deem the things she did as so important, were usually completed with a member of the Hermes cabin -- often Chris, Travis or Connor (and Luke at a point, a terrible point that seemed so long ago now that he had truly up and betrayed them all as though they were nothing, as though they were the ones that weren't important anymore).

"I'm afraid it's a long story and one that I will require your help with," he tells her.

"My help?" she repeats. "What's wrong? What have I missed?"

Chiron sighs. "Not here. We should move to somewhere we will have the freedom to speak."

"We can go to our house. My parents won't mind," she answers honestly, turning to squint up at the sun with a hand shielding her eyes. "We should hurry if we wanna get there before sunset."

Motioning them over, she explains as quickly as she could, hurrying through it a bit as nerves make themselves known.

Because Kassandra really has a bad feeling about this.

☼ ☼ ☼

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yoo so this is my first attempt at a pjo fic so let me know what yall think. leave me some feedback and all that jazz !! also, i hope you come to love kassandra as i grow and develop her character as much as i already love her!!

unedited

written: 2021-01-20

posted: 2020-02-15