Sunshine Kids (Apollo Cabin Oneshots)

betrayal of a sibling

Kayla Knowles made friends easily, like most of her siblings. During her time in the Hermes cabin, no matter how brief it had been, Kayla had become close with several of its members. She was rarely alone at camp. There were always two or three others with her, talking animatedly while they shot basketballs or played volleyball together. Will would sometimes see them pass from the window in the infirmary and a huge grin would break out across his face. He was always glad to see her with other people; because there had been a time when she'd refused to spend time with anyone.

How she found out before he did, Will never knew. When he was first told the news, solemnly handed the list by Connor Stoll, he'd immediately dropped everything he was doing to tell her. Only the head counselors were given the list and it was their job to tell their siblings, but Kayla had somehow seen it early. If he was honest, she'd probably stolen his and had it restolen by Connor.

"Kayla, we need to talk-"

She was sitting at the foot of his bed, spinning a keychain around her finger without much enthusiasm.

"I know."

He spluttered. "How-"

"I read the list."

She didn't seem upset, but Will wasn't fooled. Kayla wasn't smiling, which was the first clue that something was completely wrong. She was playing with a keychain, something she only did to distract herself from crying (he did the same, he was the one who taught it to her). And at the top of the list were two words:

Ethan Nakamura.

The first friend Kayla had made at camp. Will had always felt some kind of debt to Ethan for taking care of Kayla so well during that first year. He'd taught her to fight and they'd teamed up for almost every competition. Once, Will had asked her if they were dating. She laughed so hard he felt embarrassed for asking. They were siblings as much as Will and her were.

And he'd been spotted with Kronos's army, working against camp. He was on the list of demigods that had turned. Will had never dealt with anything like this and he had no idea how to comfort her or talk to her. They didn't cover "your sister's pseudo-brother turned to the dark side" in normal head counselor orientation.

"He's working with Luke."

Will raised an eyebrow. "How does that make you feel?" He asked before he thought about the words, wincing as soon as they were out.

"Did you just-" Kayla said slowly. "Repeat what you just said, please."

"No, that's fine, I'm just-" he crouched down to her level. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. Will's hand on her shoulder felt like the only thing grounding her at the moment. His blue eyes were blurry but she tried looking at them, blinking the tears back desperately. She'd managed to avoid crying for so long, she wasn't going to fail now.

"You can cry," he offered. "I'm free to be your pillow for the rest of the day."

Will wasn't sure how to handle this, but he knew he wasn't the only one acting as emotional support that night. He suspected several of the Hermes campers were in the same situation as he, and that the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins were equally as quiet. Still, Will felt like he should be able to do more for Kayla.

Annabeth, he realized. Annabeth would know. He'd get her to talk to Kayla. If anyone would be able to help his little sister, it would be the one who was betrayed by Luke.

Will just had to work up the courage to bring it up with Annabeth, who, though he'd known her since coming to camp, was incredibly intimidating in every way.