My sword clanged against the practice one a younger camper held. I could've disarmed them, but they need to practice attacking not scurrying around looking for their weapon. I used Riptide to block the clumsy strikes and I occasionally offered advice. Finally, the class was over.

"Good job, everybody. We'll pick up here tomorrow." I capped Riptide and sruck around to make sure everything was in its place. A soft sigh left my lips. Now what?

I've been trying to keep myself busy all day, trying to avoid Dad and have excuses to give him if I do come across him. I cleaned out the stables, brushed all of the pegasi, even helped Chiron organize some of his papers. Sure, he asked why I was offering him to help but it was easier to tell him that I was bored than the truth.

I ran my other options through my mind, eventually settling on brushing Mrs O'Leary. That was a job that took focus and no distractions. The moment someone else comes around her, all of my hard work gets ruined. I'd have to calm her down again.

"Hey, girl. Go wait for me out in the woods." I patted her leg. I would've gone with her as she disappeared into the shadow, but I had to find the brushes and combs. When they weren't where I normally kept them, I groaned. I forgot I put them in my cabin. The Stolls stole them too many times, so I decided to keep them in a safer place. Of course that means I immediately forgot about where they were. Add that to the list.

Walking back to my cabin, I kept my hands in my pockets. Nico and Will ran past, without so much as a glance in my direction. I passed a few other campers, and with each one who ignored me, my shoulders fell a little more.

"What do you want, Barnacle Beard?"

My eyes widened and I ducked behind a tree. I peered around. Even though my dad was standing a foot from her, Athena didn't look up from her book.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" Still, she didn't pull her attention away from her book.

"What would you do if one of your kids was hurting themselves?"

Her book snapped shut, and Athena stared at him while my heart stopped."Is Percy- Is she hurting herself?"

Dad nodded, not looking at her.

"Have you said anything to her?"

He nodded again.

"Poseidon, I'm not a goddess that has domain over this sort of thing. You need to talk to Oizys or at the very least Dionysus."

Great. Just great. If he tells him...well, Mrs O'Leary can wait. Thirty minutes won't hurt her. I snuck away from their conversation and rushed to the Big House.

"Hey, Mr D!"

"What do you want, Penny?"

"Listen, my dad has some major misconceptions about some training injuries. Like big time misconceptions."

"Such as?"

"He thinks I've been hurting myself." Time for my years of lying practice to come in handy. For once in my life, I was almost kinda barely somehow grateful for Smelly Gabe. "I was practicing bailing maneuvers on Blackjack and it turns out it's hard to see briers in a hay field."

"What do you want me to do about it?" He raised an eyebrow before downing the rest of his pop.

"Just take whatever he says with a grain of salt okay? He won't believe anything I say."

"Then get my brother. He's a lie detector. All you have to say is that you didn't intentionally hurt yourself."

"I was jumping off of a flying pegasus into a hay field. Technically speaking I did intentionally hurt myself. And we both know you guys love your technicalities. I mean your dad turned into a bird to force his sister to marry him. I'm going to go brush my dog, have fun!"

I made sure to get out of there before Dad showed up. It was a quick trip to my cabin and back into the forest. Mrs O'Leary was relatively easy to find. I mean, she's a dog the size of a garbage truck and the dryads love her, especially the ones whose trees flower in the spring.

As soon as I showed up with the brush, they cleared out. Sometimes I wish they would help, but I couldn't blame them. One wrong move and they could get killed, accidentally of course. I'm not sure Mrs O'Leary knows exactly how big she is.

As soon as I finished brushing her, she flopped over and started rolling around in the dirt.

"Really? Come on, I just finished brushing you." She laid on her side and stared at me with her big glowing eyes. "Oh, come on. That's not fair. You know I can't be mad at that face." I sat next to her and leaned my head back against her warm side. This must be how Emily felt with Clifford.

Peace settled over me. It was nice for the five minutes it lasted. After that it was just the dull crushing weight in my chest, the emptiness I keep trying to escape.

A loud whine left Mrs O'Leary and she moved. I fell backwards. I got up and almost headed out of the woods, but jaws clamped down on my jacket hood. I was lifted into the air, my feet swinging wildly. Mrs O'Leary laid down, curled like a mother dog; she placed me by her side before tucking her tail around me.

I laughed. "What are you, a cat?"

She licked my head in response. I smiled and settled down for a nap. I ignored the horn for dinner.

Me trying to write a book in 1 POV for once and trying to work in your guys' ideas. This one was from

Oniboboni charmanderpika and Yo_Soy_Kian

If there was nothing there, I forgot to check.

Anyway

See yah