annais min had everything to prove and no time to do it. as one of the five children of the underworld destined to lead the seven on their journey of death and destruction, annais had the fate of the universe resting on her shoulders, holding her do...
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CHAPTER FIVE: SON OF LIGHTNING
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ANNAIS ARRIVED SLIGHTLY LATE to the campfire. After failing to find Ezra when she ran out of the Big House, she had retreated back to her cabin where she ended up passing out and sleeping right through dinner. It'd been a very long day and an even longer four months. Nowadays, she felt like she was running on fumes, stretched thin under the weight of expectations she just couldn't meet. Every moment of sleep was a pivotal one, but Mel wasn't going to let her miss the first night back. As suspected, when Annais was a no-show at dinner, Mel made her way over to the Hades cabin and knocked repeatedly on the door until her cousin finally answered.
"What?" she snapped the moment the door was open, her eyes bleary in the setting sun.
"We're late to the campfire," Mel told her, grinning casually under the heat of Annais' glare.
"I don't care." She went to shut the door again but was stopped by Mel's foot stepping in its way.
"And I don't care that you don't care," she shrugged and held out her arm for Annais to take. "Now come on, we're going and that's that."
Annais let out a sigh but didn't protest, reaching for her leather jacket to shrug on before following Mel outside. The sky was a pale pink-orange hue as they made their way down to the amphitheater. The closer they got, the louder the distant singing seemed to get, causing Annais to not-so-subtly roll her eyes and shoot Mel a dirty look for dragging her along. Mel just smiled again and looped their arms together, forcing Annais into her side in case she changed her mind and tried to turn back. She'd always hated the sing-along, even as a young girl. But fortunately for her this time, the singing came to an end as they made their way down the amphitheatre steps. There were easily fifty demigods grouped together under the various banners representing the Gods. They chatted eagerly with each other as the music played by the Apollo kids faded to silence, their laughter encouraging the bright orange flames in the centre of the pit.
In the crowd, Annais spotted several familiar faces. There was Piper sitting with the Hermes kids, looking awfully out of place amongst those yet to be claimed. Leo was surrounded by the burly campers of the Hephaestus cabin, just as uncomfortable as Piper but trying not to show it as he plastered on a classic Leo smile and talked his closest sibling's ear off. At the front sat a frowning Annabeth with Ezra on one side of her and Jason on the other. Normally, Annais would go and sit with them, but she wasn't in the mood for anything Ezra had to say after what happened earlier. Instead, she lead Mel over to the Hades flag (normally, her cousin would sit with Ezra but she too seemed distanced from the blonde) and sat down with reluctance.
Just as they did so, Chiron trotted up to stand by the flames, brandishing a spear into the air with a toasted marshmallow line impaled on its top. The noise finally went quiet as he cleared his throat, voice echoing around the pit, "Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, the camp activities director, and I'm happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first--"
