Lila

I wake up to the sounds of lapping waves and a fresh saltwater smell. The best way to wake up, in my opinion. I sit up, and swing my legs around, off the bed. Yawning, I see that Percy’s still asleep. Most of the camp is, too, probably. I have this habit of waking up before the sun, and again, I have no idea where it came from. I quietly get up and walk over to the windows, which are facing the ocean. I close my eyes and make a little wish to Poseidon, the same wish I made last night.

When I open my eyes, a single ray of sunshine is beaming through the window above my head. I guess this would be the time to get dressed, but I don’t have any extra clothes on me. Now that I think about it, I can’t remember the last time I changed my clothes, which is both disturbing and confusing. I look down at my washed-out, rolled up jeans and white shirt. Shouldn’t my shirt be stained and nasty? I scuff my foot on the floor, and realize that I don’t have any shoes either. What happened to me? Why haven’t I been able to realize any of this before, when I was in Hawaii? I think the nectar did something to my brain that helped me think more clearly. Removed some of the hazy, fuzzy-ness that was probably because of my amnesia. I scuff my foot again, and look at the decorative wardrobe next to my bed. It’s a shame I don’t really have a use for it. I run my hand down the side, and finger the handle. Finally, I pull the doors open, and they swing with ease. Holy fuck. The wardrobe is filled with clothing of all different styles, all in my size. None of this was here yesterday… A gift, maybe? From some sympathetic god, or my father? Doubtful, but I have no other answer. I shuffle through the different clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Dresses, shirts and pants, shorts. Everything. I take off my worn-out and tired outfit, checking again to make sure Percy’s still asleep. Standing there in my bra and underwear, I look through the clothes again. This has got to be every girl’s dream, but I’m not going crazy. I finally pull out a blue ombre tank top and jean shorts. About an hour later, the rest of the camp wakes up. In the meantime, I looked through all the clothes, made my bed, and even took a short walk to the beach and back. I didn’t stay long on the beach, but I did say a little prayer to my… dad. I gently touched the lapping waves and watched them curl up around my fingers, reassuringly, almost.

When Percy finally gets up, he rolls over to see me sitting up in my bed, and smiles.

“Morning, sis.”

“Morning sleepy head.” I reply.

“What do you mean, ‘sleepy head’? This is early for me!” Percy groans and sits up. While he gets dressed, I step out of the cabin and watch the camp come alive. One by one, kids stumble out of their cabins and over to the fire pit, which is still lit. I notice and young woman sitting near the fire, tending to it, apparently oblivious to the heat. I smile and wave to her, and she smiles in response.

“So?” Percy steps up behind me. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah,” I nod, but when I look back at the fire, the woman is gone.

Breakfast is basically the same as dinner, except I didn’t see Nico anywhere. He couldn’t have left, could he? So soon?

“Well, seeing as you’re going to be staying here, might as well make you feel welcome.” I look up from my food to see Drew standing behind me, hands on her hips.

“What do you mean exactly?” I ask, knowing that I’m treading on thin ice.

“Well, I’m not going to try outright hazing you, I heard what that did to Clarisse. But I do wish you luck with your training. Wouldn’t want to hurt yourself.” Drew smirks, and returns to the Aphrodite table. I imitate her, then turn to Percy.

“What did she mean about Clarisse?” Percy and Annabeth share a look.

“Well, when I first came to camp, Clarisse, a daughter of Ares, really had it out for me because I really embarrassed her.”

“So she tried to do the same to Percy,” Annabeth chimed in.

“She tried to prank me while I was in the wash house, but I instead dowsed her and her friends in toilet water.”

“Ouch.” I say. Ok, so dowsing Drew in sewage won’t be happening, to much of my disappointment. But something will be done. She’s probably going to interfere and sabotage my training, but I won’t let her get the upper hand. She’ll see.

Over the next few days, Drew tries to keep her word. Drew’s first lousy attempt was on the rock wall. I was holding on to a rope to help me gain better footing, when Drew decided to ‘accidentally’ push the rope into the lava. The top of it burned, and the rope fell. Thankfully, I was holding on to one of the pegs, and I just swung myself around and over the wall. Her second try was during track. She tripped me right in front of a mud pile, but I flicked some onto her as she jogged past. To add to her growing frustration, a handsome son of Apollo helped me up, and wiped some of the mud off my face. I thanked him generously, and he introduced himself as Adam.

“Lila.” He had grabbed my upper arm to steady me, and used his other hand to help get the mud off. I had put my hand on his shoulder, and had no intention of letting go. We didn’t care that the rest of the kids were racing past.

“Yeah, I know.” He blushed. “I saw you yesterday. I wouldn’t have been surprised if you were a daughter of Aphrodite, you know. I mean… Yeah.” He gives me a lopsided smile, and I smile back. We’re the last to complete the race, and the dryad instructor shakes his head, but we don’t care. Drew shoots me a dirty look, which only adds to my satisfaction. She doesn’t even try while we canoe. Drew can’t do much during sword fighting, either, since she’s no good. Percy tries to train me, letting me use his magical sword, RipTide, but it’s no use. I’m no good, and not just compared to Percy, who’s the best in the group. I’m proud that my brother’s so gifted at sword fighting, but I'm absolutely helpless. Percy won’t give up, though, no matter how many times I tell him it’s ok, I’ll defend myself in other ways, he doesn’t have to waste his time. Whatever. If he wants to be a big brother about it, let him. Thankfully, there is one other thing I excel at that isn’t canoeing. Archery. To my excitement, and to Adam’s. Percy gave up on archery a long time ago, so he doesn’t join us, but Adam decides he’ll teach me everything he knows, which, being a son of Apollo, is a lot. I’m naturally gifted at archery for some reason, but that doesn’t stop me from letting Adam help some of the time. Drew successfully tips off my aim, or moves the target a couple of times, though. She even went as far as charmspeaking Adam into hitting me with his bow while walking past. That one was downright childish, but it still made its mark. What’s Drew’s problem with me? She’s the one who embarrassed herself my first night. I can’t take much more of her smug grin or ugly smirk. Ugh, she makes me want to punch the Aphrodite right out of her! Spiteful, horrid, stupid bit-

“Lila! There you are.” Percy’s voice interrupts my thoughts. I look up to see him walking over with some other kids. “I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends.” I look at each of them. They’re all smiling, excited to meet ‘the sister’.

“Hi.” I squeak. Man, I didn’t mean to sound so… little. I’m only like, two, three years younger than them.

“This is Jason, Piper, and Leo.” When their names are called, they reach out a hand to shake mine.

“Hey, hey! Look at her. Spitting image of our Percy here. Kinda. Not really… ” The kid named Leo says. Or was he trying to make a joke? I don’t know.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lila.” Piper says, smiling. Jason’s arm is around her, so I assume they’re in a relationship. They look good together.

“You too, Piper! So… Drew mentioned you in her little rant my first night. What was up with that?”

“Haha, Drew never liked me. She was the head of the Aphrodite bunk, until I came along. After I completed my quest, I challenged her for her spot, and she gave in. Also, I have the charm-speak ability like her, except mine is stronger.” I like this girl! She showed up Drew, and she looks like she’s got spunk. I have never used the word ‘spunk’ until this moment. That’s how awesome Piper is!

“Ok, one, you’re so pretty it’s obvious you’re a daughter of Aphrodite. Drew? Not so much. Two, what exactly is charm-speak?” She laughs at my comment about Drew, then responds.

“Oh, thank you, Lila! That’s so sweet. Also, let me demonstrate.” Piper looks at Leo.

“Oh no, I’m not going to be your guinea pig!”

“Yes, you will!” Piper commands. Leo stands still, his back straighter than it was. “Leo, You’re going to walk over to the Hephaestus cabin and put together a little something for me. Something you think I’ll find handy. Then you come bring it back to me, ok? Go, please.” Piper speaks in a commanding tone, but at the same time her voice sounds relaxing, smoothly annunciating her words. Leo bolts off in the direction of the Hephaestus cabin.

“So, Jason.” I say, to keep conversation while Leo is off doing who- knows- what.

“Yeah?”

“Who’s your parent?”

“Zeus.”

“Really? That’s awesome! So you can, like, control the wind?”

“Yeah.”

“He can even manipulate the wind so he can fly.” Percy adds. Jason smiles. I widen my eyes from shock and awe. Flying! How cool would that be? After a couple more minutes of meaningless conversation, we spot Leo running back to us.

“Hey Leo!” Piper calls out enthusiastically. Leo bends down on one knee and presents something to Piper. We all look on as Piper takes the object from Leo’s hand.

“It’s a… A… What is it exactly?” Jason asks.

“It’s a compass!” Piper exclaims.

“It’s more than just what it looks like, miss.” I fight to hold in a laugh. “It’s enchanted to show you the direction of whatever you desire, even people. It can also expand or contract when necessary. Try it out!” Leo says, still bowing down.

“Um, ok. Show me the position of Lila.” The compass arrow spins twice, then lands facing me. “Cool. Now show me the direction of the Aphrodite cabin. Jason. My house. My father.”

“Also, you cannot trick the compass. It will show you what you are thinking of and what you desire, not just what you tell it.” Leo shakes his head, then stands up. “Oh… Piper, what did you make me do?” She holds out the compass for him to see. “Cool! Wait, did I use my own clock parts to make this? Piper…” He frowns. The rest of us laugh, and I excuse myself. It was cool meeting some of Percy’s close friends, but there’s one other person I’d like to see… Find, more like it. I turn in a circle, looking in each direction, but I don’t try that hard. I was just about to visit the…

Oh! There he is. So he didn’t leave.

“Nico!” He looks up, face pale and clothing dark. But as soon as he looks up, his head is down again. I frown, but stay where I am. Fine, let him be that way. He’s a loner, but I guess he chooses to be that way. I’ll see him later, as long as he doesn’t leave. But where has he been? I didn’t see him at lunch, either. His business, I guess. I turn around and make my way across the campus. It’s about time I paid a visit to the Hypnos cabin.