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chapter fifty-seven ☄︎. *. ⋆
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AFTER THE HEARING, I had just enough time to rush back over to my cabin before cabin inspection began. Silena Beauregard from Aphrodite's cabin had inspector duty, from what I'd heard from Annabeth. And hey, Silena was nice, I really liked the girl, but she was a horrible neat freak. She liked things to be nice and pretty. And my cabin? We don't really do pretty.
My siblings made a mess of the place in my brief absence. There were empty quivers hanging from bunk rails, arrows scattered across the floor, makeup strewn across the bathroom counter. Our cabin didn't consist of any Aphrodite kids, but gods, the way an Apollo kid could care about their appearance would make you think they're the goddess of beauty incarnate.
On the bright side, Will had returned for the summer. He was looking tan as ever. I wondered if he was naturally that tan, or if he had to spend as much time as possible in the low UV rays of the wintertime.
"Theo!" He pulled me, beaming, into a hug. "How are you—?"
"All fine and good," I said dismissively, picking up as many clothes off the floor as possible. "Dude, we gotta get this shit picked up. I am so not doing dinner duty."
Will laughed, shaking his head. "Nah, don't worry. I told Silena I'd buy her that luxury lipstick set she's been wanting if she gave our cabin a good grade for inspection."
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "No way. The Will Solace, bribing someone for his own good? The Underworld must have frozen over."
He rolled his eyes playfully. "And the Theo Scott just left camp to go on a date with Percy Jackson. The world really is coming to an end."
Before I could even begin to shut down that stupid rumor, Lee's head popped out of his bunk. Michael's followed from the bunk on top. Both of their eyes were popping out of their heads, but before they could say anything, I was shaking my head.
"Don't even start," I said firmly. I glared at Will. "It was not a date. I happened to be in town, and so did he, so we decided to meet up."
"For lunch," Lee said, all sing-song.
"Not to mention we didn't even make it to lunch," I said over their shared laughter, rolling my eyes. "Okay, whatever. We've got bigger things to focus on. Like—"
"Oh, yeah," Will said, like he'd just remembered. "Clarisse came by earlier. Said she needed to talk to you in private. About the... the thing."
