12

Ψ 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 Ψ

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐝, more upset than anything, I didn't know how to feel but numb. I didn't have my mom to cheer me up and neither was I leaving. 17 years of my life I've suffered and has my dad helped?

Nope. Nada.

I finally had the energy after a while to sit up, almost all of Hermes' kids and some of the unclaimed were outside training while I stayed in. Would I get in trouble? Possibly. But I hope Chiron will at least go the slightest bit easy on me.

That's when I heard a knock at the door and saw Damien walking inside.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me to sit on the ground.

"Like I feel stupid?" He shook his head telling me "Just forget about your dad, he doesn't matter. You have to train to become one of the best, impress your mom you know?"

At that moment I realized why he was there; I grabbed the letter from underneath my pillow and handed it over "make sure she gets it?"

He agreed and said to me "are you sure you're feeling, okay?"

I'm grateful to know he cared and wanted to be reassured but I lied, "yeah, I'm great." He smiled in relief and nodded.

"I will ensure she gets this on my runs." I nodded and he got up and left so I decided to get up and start my day.

I walked out of the cabin with a low ponytail and my bangs in my face as I parted them down the middle. I looked around the camp seeing everyone walking, speaking, laughing. I was walking, holding my bag over my shoulder as I spotted the beach and walked over and sat down in the sand removing my sneakers looking out.

My mom always loved the beach, I preferred pools if I'm being completely honest cause sand gets everywhere, but at least I could remember my mom this way. When I looked out holding my legs to my chest, I heard movement behind me along with shadows. I saw both Luke and Chris at my sides and raised my eyebrows.

"Good afternoon to you two." I let out.

Chris asked me "Now, please tell us why you are here on the beach?"

I looked out and smiled telling him "Well if you must know, since I woke up late, I wanted to hear the calming sounds of the water."

He nodded but Luke stayed silent and hushed, as if he already knew something more.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked me and I nodded to his question "yeah, I'm great." I lied once again.

"Well, you're missing out on all the fun of camp." Chris claimed and I shrugged.

"I'm just not used to it, I guess. I never had much of a friend group at school, went to my classes, struggled, and struggled, ate lunch alone, went home back to my mom. Not a big deal." I explained as they both just looked at me as if I were crazy.

I smiled and said "besides, Chiron said that I should adjust to things first, so this is me. Trying."

Luke suddenly told Chris "Hey, you should go check on the archery range."

Chris looked at him confused but then said "ahh, you're right in case any of them decide to...oh lord." He ran off and I watched him run and looked back and saw Luke standing up reaching for my hand.

"Come on, let me teach you how to fight. You're gonna need to be prepared. And because I'm the best person to teach you, I say take the chance now."

I was surprised by his forwardness, I stared at his hand and then back at him chewing on my bottom lip "come on, don't knock it till you try. You are meant for this. You just have to believe in yourself that you can. Stop thinking you can't before you haven't even tried."

I shook my head smiling at him as he said "what?"

I laughed while taking his hand saying, "calm down, you're just reminding me a lot of my mom's speeches she tells me before any math test, or test in general."

He looked at me and smirked as I giggled softly "oh Smirky how you know to make me laugh. Fine."

He looked at me again as I asked him "what?"

Luke just shook his head at me and smiled "nothing, nothing at all."

He took me into the woods as he held two wooden swords in his hands as we made it to a clearing, "this should be good. Here," he handed me the sword and I took it looking up at him.

"Luke...I don't know if it'll happen." I admitted truthfully as he smirked.

"Stop doubting yourself, Demi-Gods can do whatever they put their mind into. Just try it and if you still aren't confident then we will try and try and keep trying."

He held my arm, and I felt a twinge in me when he did that, almost like goosebumps all throughout my body as I looked at him and he looked back. I wasn't sure if he felt the same thing.

He did.

I looked at Luke and groaned, lunging my sword at him as he backed away. I tried my best to aim at him, but he kept blocking or moving "you gotta think smart! Don't just throw some random moves. Have a technique but change it every time."

I huffed out "then you do it for me!"

Luke groaned and approached me grabbing my wrist and I felt the goosebumps again. We stared at each other for some time. This time it was longer as he looked at me and I looked back at him, he was maybe about 5 '9 and I was five inches shorter than him as he looked at me. I cleared my throat and he let go of me quickly.

"Look, I get you're frustrated, none of us asked for this. But look at you. You're here standing tall, and this was going to happen one way or another."

I looked at him and huffed softly and said "fine..."

He nodded and said, "let's run this again then."

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Well, it seems tensions are rising between Hermes Son and the girl who doesn't know herself.