The Life of an Olympian

13 | Cleo

Cleo's POV

1249 words

Demigod dreams suck. This one wasn't any better.

I was drenched in blood. My friends were tied up in some sort of trap also covered in blood. All I could see was red. A dark, sticky, thick red liquid. I was trying to wipe it away from my eyes as I made my way towards Alex and Sage, but before my vision cleared enough to see, the dream ended.

I woke up with a start. The clock read 5:03 am. It was way too early for even the Apollo cabin to be up. What to do? In the end, I decided to raid the camp store for supplies. I didn't want to wake my siblings up from packing and I didn't want to overexert myself before a quest from training, so stealing from the store it was. Surprisingly, I wasn't the only thief that morning.

"Conor?" I whispered hesitantly.

Conor turned around, thinking he'd been caught. Well, he was caught, but he thought he'd be caught by someone that would get him in trouble. However, Conor and I were similar in more ways than anyone would think. We both had a rebellious side, though, mine was a lot more reserved.

"Oh gods," Conor let out a relieved breath, "it's just you. You scared me, Cleo."

"Just me? Am I not the super awesome hygienists? Your..." I dramatically counted on my fingers, "fourth favorite pranking partner? Am I not a-"

"A pain in the ass?"

"Hey!"

We both laughed. There was an easy friendship between us but nothing more. We both knew it and we were both fine with it.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked.

"What are you doing here?" came his immature reply. 

"Getting stuff for the quest," I stated plainly. "You?" I said smirking, eyebrow raised.

He huffed in annoyance. "If you must know... I'm getting rubber bands. I was going to lock everyone in their cabins before they woke up."

I laughed at his antics. "That is something you would do. I like it. But maybe wait until tomorrow?"

"Fine. But only if you help me collect them from the store right now."

With nothing better to do, I said, "Deal."

By the time breakfast started, all the rubber bands had been stolen from the camp store and I had a plethora of supplies. We may or may not have also painted the store walls blue for the fun of it.

That morning, Sage and I sat at the Poseidon table with Alex. We were discussing our dreams and how to start the quest. I think Sage was getting a little overwhelmed because they started ranting.

"Why does our prophecy have to be so useless?! It doesn't tell us where to go or what to do!"

"I mean we know the mortal heroes are the Avengers, thanks to Per-" Alex was cut off.

"Don't even get me started on your brother! He comes in, sends us off on a quest, and gets mad at me!"

"Sage," I warned sternly, "you did insult a god. Percy's a level headed guy, but you basically told him he was useless and heartless."

"Well, am I wrong?! Sorry, Alex, I know he's your brother and everything, but gods! He drops a quest on us with limited information and then leaves. Leaves! Does he want us to prove that we're as good as he was? Is that it? The least he could have done was provide transportation for heaven's sake!"

"Good thing I've got transportation then," a voice said from behind.

Sage and I turned around to see Percy in jeans and a t-shirt as if he were a normal camper. I'm pretty sure I flushed with embarrassment, Alex seemed conflicted between who to support more, his brother or his friend, and Sage had paled considerably, blood rushing from their face. I'm sure Percy heard most of what Sage said, but he didn't indicate that he had.

"My car will take you to the Avengers Tower. Abrax is driving, so he'll get you into the building. Unfortunately, the rest is up to you."

"Thanks, Percy," Alex said with a smile. Percy returned the smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. I'm sure Alex noticed because his smile faltered a little.

No one knew how to dispel the tension, so we were left sitting there, or standing in Percy's case, in increasing awkwardness. Finally, Alex broke the silence.

"Percy, can I talk to you?"

"Of course," he responded quickly, also very uncomfortable with the energy we've created in the studio today.

They walked off towards the shore, neither looking pleased with the situation.

Once they were out of earshot, Sage promptly dropped their head to the table. The smack was so loud I wouldn't be surprised if a bump formed.

"Next time," Sage said, slightly muffled from their head on the table, "when I open my mouth, can you just tape it shut? Please? Or better yet, knock me unconscious and leave me for dead."

I sighed in sympathy for them. Their luck was none too good.

In an attempt to comfort them, I lamely said, "Cheer up, Sage. Percy didn't seem angry or even offended by your remarks. Maybe he only heard the last part?"

They raised their head and gave me a "don't shit yourself" look. They said, "You and I both know he heard every word I said about him. The only reason he hasn't punished me in some way is because Alex is our friend. But that can only go so far. Once I fuck this quest up, he'll have a better reason to kill me. Not that he needs another reason."

"You're not going to fuck anything up," I assured them. "And he wouldn't do that. He's not like the other gods."

"He's still a god, Cleo! A god with the power and reason to make my life hell."

"He hasn't been a god for long. Only four years. He can't have changed much," I argued.

"Oh, great," they said, thick with sarcasm. "It's not like before he was a god he wasn't the super intimidating Savior of Olympus or anything. It's not like he destroyed countless monsters and Titans and Giants. Do you know what everyone calls his glare? They call it the 'wolf stare' and it scares everyone to their bones. He learned it from Lupa herself!"

I thought they were being a little much, but I had heard about Percy's stare. And I had to admit he would make a formidable enemy. But I didn't think Percy would make an enemy over such a petty thing.

"Fine. Maybe he's... overawing... but he's also forgiving. He forgave Chris who once supported Kronos, Silena who was rumored to be a spy for Kronos, and Luke who freaking hosted Kronos! He forgave the gods and demigods who sided with Kronos, he forgave the Olympians for their negligence and neglect, he forgave Calypso for cursing Annabeth—don't ask how I know—and he forgave Hera—eventually—for fucking up his life. I'm pretty sure if he can do all that, he can forgive you for some disrespectful comments."

I could see Sage didn't completely believe me, but they nodded their head in agreement anyway. I let out an exasperated sigh before changing the subject. There wasn't much more we could do but wait for Alex to return, so we remained at the pavilion chatting with some other friends until it was time to go.