¹On This Spring Day, percy jackson & the olympians

004.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter four

━━━━━ IF SHE WAS HONEST, Violet had never quite forgiven Mrs. O'Leary for what happened last winter. Really, if the hellhound had tried to run Violet headfirst into a tree trunk then maybe Persephone wouldn't have dropped the bomb of Violet's legacy to Percy.

( Or maybe Violet was just looking for someone—or something—to blame. And it wasn't like hellhounds could exactly argue for their innocence. )

Mrs. O'Leary was the only friendly hellhound Violet had ever met. The hellhound was the size of a big garbage truck, and she smelled like sulfur and dog shampoo ( lavender and chamomile specifically ). She used to be Daedalus's pet hellhound, but Violet became the monster's caretaker after his death the previous summer. She wasn't the only person to take care of Mrs. O'Leary—Annabeth and AJ helped at times, but it was mainly Beckendorf who helped. And sometimes Percy, on the rare occasion he was at Camp rather than New York City.

Mrs. O'Leary saw Violet and Percy before they saw her, which was a pretty good trick considering her size. The moment the two walked into the arena, a wall of darkness slammed into Perc, knocking him to the ground. Violet grinned, glad it wasn't her this time.

"Ow!" Percy yelped. "Hey, girl. Good to see you, too. Ow!"

It took a few minutes for Mrs. O'Leary to calm down and get off him. By then, he was pretty much drenched in dog drool. Violet gave him a look when he reached for her hand. "I am not touching you," she said as Mrs. O'Leary bounded away. The hellhound barked at a bronze shield, her tail wagging. She wanted to play fetch; Violet grabbed the shield and tossed it across the arena. Percy tried wiping the drool off himself, but it wasn't looking good for him.

"I know Daedalus asked you to watch Mrs. O'Leary and all, but I thought she liked me more," Percy grumped, stopping beside Violet.

She glanced at him. "I'm her person." She shrugged. "What can I say? It's my stunning personality."

"Oh, really?" He raised his eyebrows at her. "Stunning personality?"

Violet didn't expect that to fluster her. She cleared her throat, tossing the slobbery shield. "That's what I said, isn't it, Jackson?"

He grinned at her. "Well, should I be jealous?"

She blinked at him. "Of me?"

"No!" He lolled his head to look at her. "I meant of Mrs. O'Leary. You're my best friend, and this hellhound is threatening my status as your best friend."

"I think AJ would fight you for that status," Violet dodged what Percy was implying.

"I could win against him in a fistfight."

"Anyways." Violet brushed past Percy, picking up the shield Mrs. O'Leary dropped. "I am sorry for snapping at you earlier. It wasn't right, and I didn't help any. It's okay you're scared."

"Violet," Percy crossed his arms, "I thought we were passed this."

"Yeah, but I dunno ..." She shrugged. Mrs. O'Leary became tired to fetch and laid down. "I feel bad, I guess. I called you a coward when anyone would be afraid in your shoes."

"Well, thanks." He tapped his fingers against one arm. "But I'm not that afraid."

She looked at him. "You're almost as lousy of a liar as me, Percy. It's fine that you're afraid."