Cruel Summer. ¹

2. so you were never a saint

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

chapter two. ☄︎. *. ⋆

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"SO, WHO'S COMATOSE?" My eyes flickered to the unconscious figure in bed seven, my eyebrows furrowing together in curiosity. I had never seen him before. He looked like Grover had picked him up off the side of the street on his way into camp.

"His name is Percy," supplied Annabeth, her eyes fixated on him as well. "I think he's the one."

I rolled my eyes, but it (thankfully) went unnoticed by the blonde sitting next to me. Ever since the Oracle of Delphi (whom I consider to be one of my closest friends) had prophesied that Annabeth would not be able to go on a quests until someone 'special' arrived to camp, Annabeth has been cracking down on every single newcomer, trying to find this special someone so she can go on her first quest.

     And that prophecy came two years ago.

I mean, I see where she's coming from. She's a year-rounder and hasn't left the camp since she first got here. If I were her, I might feel a little claustrophobic too. But I am perfectly fine without going on a quest. She can find her special person and venture off into the distance, and I will stay here, absolutely content with my decision.

"What makes him different from all the other newbies?" I mused, frowning as Percy's sleeping form drooled onto the bedsheet. Apollo cabin provides for this infirmary, man. The least he could do is close his mouth while he sleeps.

"Well, he defeated the Minotaur last night," Annabeth said, nodding at my wide eyes. She looked displeased that Percy had managed to do such a thing. "Grover was there. Says his mom died in the fight."

I gave no reply. Sure, this kid looked scrawny and he leaks drool onto the sheets of the infirmary bed, but watching a relative die isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. It's scarring. I felt kinda bad for Percy.

But that stays between us.

"So, he defeated the Minotaur all by himself." I frowned, but this time in approval. "I don't think I would believe it if he didn't have the horn."

Annabeth hummed in agreement, then moved to dab his forehead with a wet washcloth. Will Solace took her place.

"You in charge of Comatose?" I asked, without looking to him. "I think Annabeth might be coming for your job."

"Eh, she can have it." Will shrugged. "He's too hard to take care of. Keeps waking up and falling back asleep again. I can't keep up."

I laughed, shaking my head. The thought that my half-brother, Will Solace, junior counselor of Cabin Seven, would ever give up on a patient before they were kneeling in front of Hades was laughable. And besides, Will knows I would never let him live it down. His skills in medicine are the only leverage he has against me. He's sort of a master at medicinal stuff—which one would argue is one of the more useful practices of Apollo's—whereas I am more of a jack of all trades when it comes to inheriting my father's skills. Archery, sure; ignorance, yeah, alright; I can even write a mean haiku; but medicine just isn't my forte.

"But you don't know anything about this kid?" Will asked me, to which I shook my head. He clicked his tongue. "I heard Chiron himself was at school with him. Must be super powerful."

"I would hope so," came Annabeth's voice from across the infirmary. "If he's going to be The One, I hope he can defend himself. It'd be a shame to go on a quest with some pathetic swordsman."

"Maybe I can train him," I said, pretending to fistfight the air. "Get him up to your standards, Annabeth."

She laughed. "Stick to the dagger before you embarrass yourself, Theo."

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

I CAME OUT OF MY CABIN just as Chiron walked by with coma boy in tow. Chiron looked to be giving Percy a tour of the camp, but Percy seemed more interested in trying to avoid the tail end of Chiron's body. I snickered.

     "Oi, Comatose, he's not gonna drop a load on you," I called. Their heads turned to me. Percy looked so red, I was sure he was about to pee his pants of embarrassment, but Chiron was laughing with me, so Percy decided he could fake a nervous chuckle. They came over to me, and I began introducing our cabin.

     "Welcome to Cabin Seven," I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the doorframe. "We're all children of Ap—"

     "—Apollo," Percy guessed, his eyes interlocked with mine. I almost shifted under his gaze; his eyes were a shocking sea-green. I broke the eye contact and looked over my shoulder, where our cabin was clearly decorated like an Apollo child had taken root here. Percy gave me a crooked smile. "It looks like the sun threw up in there."

     "Does it?" I challenged, looking back to Percy. He went to snip back, but Chiron cut him off.

     "Percy, this is Theodosia. She's.. an Apollo child, though I would hope you have already made that deduction."

     "Friends call me Theo," I said. Percy extended a hand for me to shake in introduction, but I blinked slowly and looked to Chiron. "He's still unclaimed?"

     The centaur nodded. "We're hoping tonight at dinner."

"What does unclaimed mean?" Percy asked, having dropped his hand to his side awkwardly. "You mean, like, my godly parent?"

"That's exactly what we mean, Percy," said Chiron. I held back a scoff. Chiron arched an eyebrow. "Something to add, Theo?"

"Oh, shit." I fixated my eyes on a place over Chiron's shoulder and winced. "Chiron, they're taking Travis to the infirmary. You'd better go check on that."

Chiron turned, his brow furrowed in worry. "Percy, I'll be back in a moment. Don't wander too far." And he cantered off to the infirmary, where the imaginary Travis Stoll was being tended for his imaginary injury.

I narrowed in on Percy again, meeting his sea-green eyes directly. "Mom or dad?" I asked. "Your godly parent—is it your mom or your dad?"

"Uh—dad," he replied, clearly taken aback by my intensity.

I cursed. "I was thinking it could be Aphrodite."

He managed a grin, and I already knew what quip was coming just by his cheekiness. "You think I'm that pretty? Aw, Teddy—"

"Okay, no," I said over his crooning. "Not what I meant, Comatose. I would say you could be an Apollo kid with that ego, but I would rather be drowned by the wood nymphs than have you in my cabin."

"Oh, so you're saying you'd drown for me?" he asked, still grinning. I hated how much fun he was having with this.

"I'm saying you've got the ego of Narcissus." I shook my head and turned over my shoulder to hide my smile. "See you at campfire."