The first thing I see is Will standing over me and feel his hand on my forehead. "Don't try to sit up," he ordered. So naturally, I sit up. I immediately regret it. My vision blurs and yellow spots dance in my eyes. "Ugh, why does my mouth taste like old cotton balls?" I ask, grabbing the glass of water on the table next to me. It's half-empty so I know it's Will's but I don't care. I have a habit of eating his food from him. Sibling things, you know? I take a sip and my vision clears. I'm in the Apollo cabin on a sickbed in the middle of the room. There is nectar and ambrosia next to me and Will forces me to eat and drink.
You see, the thing about ambrosia and nectar is it always tastes like comforting memories but you can't eat too much or you'll self-combust. This time the nectar tastes like a caramel macchiato and the ambrosia tastes like a chocolate chip cookie. I finish both and notice almost all of my friends are there. Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Piper, Calypso, (when did she get here?) Reyna, Nico, and Jason are all here. Annabeth sees me sitting up and walks over her brow creased.
"Selene what happened? Are you okay? Why would you try something that dangerous? You know I told you not to try something like that unless you had to." "I know Chase. Ask Nico, I was fine," I say looking pointedly at Nico and he clears his throat and stands up. "She was fine, Annie," he says and Annabeth glares daggers at him. "Do NOT call me Annie. You know I hate it." she grumbles and Nico smirks, "I know," he says, "That's why I said it," and sits back down.
I stand up successfully. "Selene, sit back down," Nico orders. He sounds serious but I just stick my tongue out at him and walk out of the cabin. Everybody starts running after me and so I sprint to the strawberry fields. The satyrs are interrupted from playing their pipes by a teenage demigod (demi-titan whatever the same difference) running through the plants being chased by a group of more demigods.
The wind feels good on my face though I'm moving so fast I'm getting windburn. When I can't run anymore I collapse in the grass my friends jog over to me. " Selene Elizabeth Solace, what in the WORLD were you thinking?" Will shouts and I flinch when he says the "Selene Elizabeth Solace" part. I set my jaw and get up, angry that he just used my full name. Nobody ever uses my full name. And that's for a reason.
My mother, Naomi is the ONLY one with full access to those words. "Will, I'm going to pretend you didn't just use my full name." I start, and my voice is deathly calm. I speak again, "And as for 'What in the world am I thinking, I wanted to go outside. That is what I was thinking. But currently, I'm contemplating whether I should shoot you with a poison arrow, or use my swords." I say. Will backs off. "Jeez sis, sorry," he apologizes and my expression softens, "It's okay, but don't do it again. I only forgive people once a year," I tell him, "So don't mess up again." I say, then flop onto the grass. Reyna sits next to me and the others follow her lead, forming a circle around me. Piper brings out her cornucopia and makes sandwiches and sodas spew out of it. Nico jumps when he sees a birthday cake and I frown, " Who's birthday is it?" I ask, pretending not to know that it's Nico's birthday. Nico looks farther down the grass no doubt trying to shadow travel but it's too sunny outside. " Yeah, who? My birthday has already passed so…" Piper says " Yeah mine too," the rest of them mutter. All except Nico and me. " But my birthday isn't for another week," I say because everybody was looking at me. " It's because it's my birthday" Nico mumbles and I smile at him.
"Will you wanna sing the birthday song?" I ask my attention now on Will. " Oh my gods, it's cringy though," he complains, but I just roll my eyes.
Nico looks mortified at the thought of a birthday song or a birthday at all. "Happy Happy Birthday, this is a day for you! We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too. HEY!" Piper and I sing it together, but we make it different this time. It sounded like a power ballad. " Um, thanks I guess," Nico says and pulls his black bomber jacket around him. I bought him that jacket when we were on a quest for Ares. He had sent us to the north pole. He also torched our jackets because "The cold shouldn't bother a warrior. Heck, I remember when jackets weren't a thing!" 'Cause he's sentimental that way. I have the same jacket in my cabin because it was the only thing they had. There are so many memories tied to that jacket I couldn't bring myself to throw it out. I remember I once accidentally wore the same outfit as him: A black bomber jacket, black jeans, and black combat boots. The other campers would not shut up so I changed into shorts and a regular Camp Half-Blood T-shirt.
"Hey DeathBoy, you wanna cut the cake or should I?" I ask him but he just smiles at me, "You can do it. I just got comfortable, so I'm not moving," he says. I smile back. "Kay," I gently wave my hand over my forearm and my dagger appears, strapped to my arm. I unsheath it and cut a huge piece for nico and plop it on the plate closest to him. Percy laughs and says, " Wow that's generous," I cut little slivers for the rest of us and hand out plates, giving myself the smallest piece. I get a napkin and start cleaning my blade while my friends sit around me glaring/laughing at me. Nico finally un-bundles himself from his jacket and sits on the other side of me forcing Reyna to scoot over. " You want this?" he asks, handing me his plate of untouched chocolate cake. " Hmm. I'll take a small piece," I reply and he reaches over and plucks my dagger out of my hand. He cuts the cake in half and pretends to throw it at me. The knife, I mean. I take a fork from Piper and stab it into Nico's food. He pouts and throws the plate at me.
" Di Angelo I swear I am going to kill you." I tell him and wipe the cake off of my hands as he gets up and runs. I toss my hat to Piper, get up, and run after Nico. Since Nico has a habit of shadow traveling and going "BOO!" I make sure I keep him in sight. When I catch up to him I jump on his back making him fall over. He laughs when he sees it's me. Since we both fell, I get up and offer Nico my hand. He takes it and stands up. Before he could let go of my hand I judo-flip him over my shoulder, place my knee on his chest and press my forearm against his throat. " Don't EVER do that again, mkay?" I say and he has the nerve to laugh. " Consider me warned," he says and I get up and brush my clothes off. He gets up on his own probably because the last time he let me help him up, I judo flipped him. He winces and touches his lower back. " Ouch Sel that hurt," he says. " Haha. Well maybe, you shouldn't throw cake at me," I say, then stick my tongue out. "Race you back to the others," he says. Then I wave my hand over my skirt, turning it into a pair of jeans.
" Let's go then DeathBoy," I say and we line up and race back to our picnic spot with the others. I won ofcourse, but Nico was in close pursuit the whole time. Reyna frowns at Nico. " You took my friend," she says, as he sits down by me again. "Reyna c'mere bestie,'' I tell her. She gets up and sits directly in between me and Nico. " Gods of Olympus, Reyna, move," Nico says and Reyna gives him a hard look, "No," she says simply, and turns toward me, "How are you feeling today?" she asks. I shrug. "Eh, tired. And you?" I reply.
She puts her hair behind her ears and starts fiddling with the torch and blade ring on her finger. The symbol of her mother, Bellona. " I'm worried about Hylla. I haven't heard from her or any of the Amazons lately. Lately, being a whole month without any contact from them," she says. Hylla is her sister, and Queen of the Amazons. "I'm sure they're alright," I say, but it sounds fake even to me. "I mean, the Amazons have always been off the radar, vigilant. How do we know she's not just keeping a low profile? Hylla is queen. She's protected by Queen Hippoliyta's belt. Plus, you guys survived BlackBeard and his pirates, she knows how to take care of herself. Not to mention her whole kingdom has been undiscovered for years now. She's most likely just playing it safe. I wouldn't worry," I tell her.
She seems to relax a little. She exhales and looks at me. "You my friend, have a way with words," she says "Ha. Don't worry I'm not charmspeaking you. I genuinely believe she's okay," I say. She pokes at her sandwich with a fork. The teeth of the fork leave four little dots in her sandwich. "I sure hope she's okay," she admits. "Selene tell Reyna to move please," Nico says. "Why don't you just sit on the other side, Di Angelo?" I ask. He just shrugs. "I guess I could. Solace move over," Nico says as he's getting up. "Which Solace are you talking to?" I ask him. "Your brother," He says "Hm? Oh sure," Will says, then scoots away so Nico could sit. "Ah. Much better," he says. I roll my eyes and scoot closer to Reyna. "Oh wow," Nico pouts. I laugh and the others join in. It feels good to be laughing with my friends. Unfortunately, it doesn't last very long. Chiron trots over frantically. "We have a visitor from Olympus." he says. We all get up, a few of us cursing Olympus and whoever this visitor is. "Who?" I ask. Chiron seems to age another decade. "Artemis. Goddess of the Moon, Archery, and Maidenhood." he says "Oh, sister what did you do?" I mumble as we run to the Big House. It sounds weird but yes, Artemis is technically my sister. We get there and Artemis is standing there, with the Hunters of Artemis forming a circle around a girl. She isn't moving and a sense of dread settles over me like a lead blanket as I push through the crowd of Hunters, most of them making way for me. My heart almost stops as I get a good look at the girl's face. The girl on the ground is Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, and my best friend.