Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

SIX | Kitty

KITTY DIDN'T REMEMBER putting on sparkly nail polish that morning. It stood out against the shiny white poker cards in her hands. Blue and gold sparkles, Silena had gifted it to her at the end of the first week after the girl had found her crying in the bathroom.

A strand of her long, light brown hair fell into her eyes. Kitty frowned. Brown? She looked up from the cards to the scene in front of her. Thalia's tree towered skyward on Half-Blood Hill. A cool, autumn breeze carried the scent of strawberries to her scuffed wooden rocking chair on the porch of the Big House.

She looked back at her poker hand. A king, a pair of queens, a jack, and a 10. Her heart rate skyrocketed. Unable to stop herself, she started smiling. Kitty swung her legs, unable to reach the ground from her position in the big rocking chair.

The best kind of game. Chance. Risk sacrificing a queen for an ace? She had a pair as it stood. A pair of queens wasn't great but it was better than the nothing she might end up with. But if her luck held, if she got that ace… Straight, ace high.

"Have you seen Luke?"

The wind carried Annabeth's voice from the volleyball courts. Kitty looked past Mr. D, trying to see who she was talking to. Might've been Silena… except Silena had gone home for school this year. Clarisse? Maybe.

"Kitty Ellis!"

Kitty jumped, nearly dropping her poker hand. Mr. D glared at her from across the card table, elbows propped up and three Diet Coke cans to his left. Framed by the chipping, blue, wood siding of the Big House, his contorted, furious face seemed even redder than usual as he stared down at her. His leopard print Hawaiian shirt ruffled a bit in the breeze.

When had he gotten so tall?

"Sup?" Kitty said.

Mr. D's glare deepend, bloodshot eyes narrowing. "Oh, I don't know. I was enjoying myself at a party and then I was rudely dragged into your depressing brain." He gestured to Camp Half-Blood. "Even when I'm off fighting a war, I still find myself back in this terrible place."

War. Why was Mr. D fighting…

Her stomach dropped. Kitty glanced around. Everyone but Mr. D had disappeared. No nymphs tending strawberries, no Clarisse chasing after the Stoll brothers for drawing a mustache on her nose. No satyrs eating Diet Coke cans. She couldn't see Annabeth. But she'd gone off looking for—

Oh no. Kitty glanced back at Mr. D. "This is a dream."

"Aren't you a genius? Sure you aren't one of Athena's spawn?" Mr. D finished his drink and crunched up the can. He threw it over his shoulder, hitting the side of the Big House. "Only you would choose to torment me in your dreams. Kitty Ellis. Gods, I hate Tyche kids."

Kitty smirked. "Even here, you have to use my real name?"

If it was possible for Mr. D to look even angrier, she'd succeeded. Kitty laughed. A year into her stay at Camp Half-Blood, she'd gambled her name with Mr. D. If she could win three poker hands in a row, he could never use one of his dumb "wrong" names for the rest of her life. If she lost, she would have to answer to anything he chose.