"Clarisse? What in Hades' name are you doing?" Ciarda rubbed her eyes, to get rid of the sleep, and groaned, hitting her pillow. The air was thick with body heat - sticky and sweaty instead of the usual comfort. The sign that summer was coming.
"Go to sleep," Clarisse was biting something, and the sound of ripping velcro woke Ciarda up further. She looked over the bedframe, watching Clarisse from under her. "Seriously, it's so early," She complained, groggily.
Electricity sparked in Clarisse's gleaming eyes when she looked up at her sister. Ciarda's eyebrows furrowed whilst she noticed her older sister was fully dressed. "I'm making that new kid pay for what he did, trying to embarrass me in front of all those people. He'll learn his place soon enough."
Ciarda sat up quickly, ignoring how she banged her head on the ceiling. Eurytion cursed them for being loud, his profanities muffled by his pillow.
The twins shared a bunk bed and Ciarda lost the game of coins, landing her on the top bunk. "What? Clarisse, go to sleep," Ciarda pulled on her orange shirt from the shelf she installed near the top of her bed.
"The boy will learn his lesson," Clarisse snarled, strapping her hands with her leathers. "Please tell me you're joking," Ciarda hopped down the bunk and yanked on socks and shoes. "Leave me to it, Cici," Clarisse snapped at her sister.
"You're not getting rid of me," Ciarda huffed, crossing her arms. It was rare she showed such an adamant, cruel side with her sister - however, she was about to attack the boy who could potentially save her life one day. But can you believe everything an oracle says?
Clarisse looked at her for a long moment and knew there was no changing her twin sister's mind. She pulled the door open, Eros following from the shadows. He was also encased in his leathers.
"You're in on this too?" Ciarda seemed gobsmacked. The free-willed, energetic golden retriever brother was going to help in hurting a boy who did nothing wrong. "What? You were just as cruel when you first met him," Eros grinned, baring his long canines. "I scared him by throwing a knife I knew wouldn't touch him, you guys are mad!"
"Do you really think I'm going to let frightening some new kid go to waste? I'm here to watch," Eros chuckled, sipping on a hip flask he somehow snuck past Chiron.
...
They picked up a bleach-haired girl from Athena's cabin who, Ciarda assumed, needed to be in Clarisse's good books. The girl's lipstick was botched, along with her hair dye, but Ciarda refrained from commenting. She was waiting outside Hermes' cabin when the three children of Ares' appeared.
"He's been gone ten minutes, should be back any second now," The girl reported, making Clarisse nod with a mean smile.
"Guys, are you sure this is a good idea?" Ciarda played with her bracelets nervously, looking at the imprints they left on her skin from sleeping on them. "When did Ciarda ever step down from making people do our bidding?" Clarisse turned with a humoured smile. "Unless you fancy him?"
Ciarda's cheeks burned, hidden by the red firelight. Embarrassed she may be, but she certainly didn't like Perseus Jackson - she just needed him alive until she could convince Chiron he wasn't her problem.
"I stepped down when I was told this boy was part of my prophecy. I might not like him, but if it's a choice of making him scared of me or him having my back on a quest, I know which one I'm picking."
Clarisse seemed to think for a moment, but before she could change her mind, Percy's voice piped up from behind them. "Hey guys, can't sleep huh?"
...
Soon enough, Percy was grabbed and shoved in the communal toilets by Athena's child - introducing herself as Georgina - and Eros. "Guys come on, there is really no need for this," Ciarda shouted at Clarisse who was too drunk on her usual revenge and bloodthirsty, inherited from their father, to change her mind.
"Every new kid turns up here and they think they're special," Clarisse walked towards Percy who had been thrown on the floor with a clatter.
Eros stood by the door with his arms crossed, not letting the kid walk out unscathed. The red glimmer in his eyes caused a loss of hope for his help in Ciarda's argument. "Clarisse, this is ridiculous," Ciarda sighed, her temper rising by the minute.
"Do you think you're special?" Clarisse cocked her head, ignoring her younger sister. Percy stared at her, before answering with a quiet 'no'. She gestured to Georgina and Eros who moved forward and easily held Percy by his shoulders.
"Eros?" Percy asked in query. "It's not to do with you, mate. It's been boring around here, nothing personal." The boy held him by his shirt, muscles bulging in the candlelight.
"Tell me you made it all up about the Minotaur and we'll let you go," Clarisse decided. Ciarda's face dropped in understanding.
"Oh Clarry, this was never about putting me in danger. This is about kleos," She crossed her arms. Clarisse knew her sister could fend for herself, the glory was what she wanted; The attention to be on her.
"I didn't make anything up," Percy assured her, struggling in the steel grip of Eros and Georgina. Clarisse looked to both of the kids holding onto his shirt and then knocked her head towards the cubicle to their left. "Some kids have got to learn the hard way."
She chuckled maliciously as Eros kicked Percy's knees in, putting his head right above the dirty toilet bowl. "Clarisse stop, what is wrong with you? He hasn't done anything," Ciarda grabbed her sister who shrugged her off violently. She enjoyed watching Percy struggling against the sheer muscle of her older brother.
"Clarisse, he's my prophecy, you can't sabotage me like this," Ciarda pulled on her sister's sleeve. Percy looked back in confusion. Prophecy?
"That's just a bonus," Clarisse winked, making Ciarda step back in shock. "You're jealous?" She felt the red-hot anger bubble up inside her.
A quick bout of unbelieved laughter left her lungs. Her sister was jealous that Ciarda was given a quest before her. She thought it was unfair. She was jealous.
White burning anger, a familiar feeling in the Ares family, rose inside Ciarda. Her eyes were red-rimmed and wide with her fury. It was the Ciarda that people feared and moved away from, that stood in front of Clarisse.
Before Ciarda could help it, Clarisse was screaming in fear, stumbling back as her vocal cords sang in melody with dread. The crying stopped when the toilet exploded, water hitting Clarisse, Eros, Georgina and Ciarda into the wall with brute strength.
Ciarda yelped as water shoved her into a sink, the ceramic breaking as her leg smacked into it. Blood pooled out from her shins. Her head hit the soaked floor, leaving her unconscious.
Everyone stood in shock, running out in fear as quickly as they could. "What the fuck," Eros stared at Percy before exiting himself, shaking his wet hair like a dog.
Clarisse finally got up, shaking away the water that drenched her. Her eyes were irritated from crying - courtesy of her sister. She gaped furiously at Percy, who was bone dry. Her eyes turned to Ciarda, stepping forward to help her. The fear she felt due to Ciarda's doing made her pause. She stared at the girl lying there before racing out of the room - leaving Ciarda on the floor.
...
Luke awoke suddenly when the sound of dripping water entered Hermes' cabin. Golden morning light etched through the door, but it was still way too early to be awake.
"Percy?" He squinted, recognising his new-found friend's figure. His eyes widened as they took in the scene presented at the door of Hermes' cabin.
Percy was holding shivering Ciarda in his arms, passed out and doused in water, at the entrance to the house, sun shining behind his back. "She can't go back to the Ares cabin tonight," Percy told him sternly, not giving any details as to why.
Somehow, nobody woke up as Luke wrapped Ciarda in beige towels, and laid her on his bed. He then set out a sleeping bag and a limp pillow, falling asleep next to Percy on the floor.
He held Ciarda's hand in her sleep, letting his warmth suck into her freezing, wet fingers, praying that it brought her comfort.
YOU ARE READING
𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒 | percy jackson
Adventure"do i look like i give a shit if he's poseidons son?" water from the fountain splashed into her face, dripping from the dark ends of her hair "the fact she's ares daughter means shit all to me" and soon enough percy jackson was scanning the room as...
