The Sun and the Spear

One

I'm late like always, Annabeth said breakfast at 9:30 so naturally I get there at 10:00.
"Morning sunshine." She said, in her typically sarcastic tone.
"I know I'm sorry," I replied sliding down next to her, "I was up late."
"Dude, how many times have a told you, at-least eight hours a night."
"Oh common, eight, four, same difference."
"Uh not really." She laughed.
I rolled my eyes, despite being younger Annabeth was years wiser than me. Not to mention like wayyy more cautious. Annabeth thinks ten to steps a head of most people, I mostly just think something and then jump right in. So ya there's me, chaotic and reckless, and her, tactical and strategic.
Still at the end of the day I knew she looked up to me, and since coming to camp half blood together as kids we'd been like sisters.
The same could no longer be said about Luke...but screw him, I didn't want to talk or think about his betrayal.
The year since he'd disappeared had been a quiet one, Annabeth had gone home briefly to visit her father, while I, having no family stayed at camp.
There were still a few months till summer, so camp was pleasantly quiet. Not that I minded when the summer kids came, it was great. But for those of us who stayed the full term, it was nice to have a little break.
I spent most of my days painting the Apollo cabin, and listening to record after record, jumping till I broke the springs on my bed.
Music was probably my favourite thing, that and art...oh and poetry, and naturally I was great at archery.
In my cabin I had the walls plastered with posters of my favourite bands, a large shelf full of records and the walls which acted as my canvas. My siblings all went home during the winter months, so I had the time to myself. Naturally I managed to get myself in a sufficient amount of mischief while my siblings were away.
Despite all that, most people said I was the pride of Apollos pack. The best of his children...blah,blah,blah. I was the oldest at fifteen, and there weren't many of us, but I was probably closest with my half brother Will. Will was a great healer, maybe the best at camp, but he was still young and learning.
I had a lot of friends, but Luke and Annabeth had always been my best. No...they were family.
"Harlow-"
Annabeths voice snapped me back to life.
"Hmm?"
"I was asking if you wanted to train later?"
"Oh, ya sure."
Ever since Luke had left Annabeth wanted to do nothing but train. I couldn't blame her, seeing as Luke had essentially warned us a war was coming, but I knew she had other reasons to.
Mainly keeping a certain son of Poseidon off her mind. Percy had gone back to live with his mom during the school year, but he and Annabeth had grown especially close. I didn't say anything, even though part of me wanted to tease her about it. Though I did ask one of my cabin 10 friends about it and they told me there was some serious chemistry between those too. Naturally I took the word of one of Aphrodite's children.
"Hey maybe after we train we can chill for a bit, you can tell me about books or whatever?"
Annabeth almost laughed, "books or whatever, is that all you think I like."
"Fine, you can tell me about books and architecture."
That time she laughed, a rare occasion these days. I knew she was having an even harder time with Luke's betrayal than me.
Mostly I tried to not think about it, which clearly I was failing at.
After breakfast I went back to my cabin for a while. It was a mess, I'd left a bunch of cds and  records out last night, plus I hadn't washed any of my paint brushes so they'd gone all crusty.
"Shit." I mumbled, when I stepped on a blotch of half dried paint on the floor. More to clean up.
I gathered up my brushes and shoved them in my pocket. Nearly all my clothing had paint on it so I didn't really care if anything got messier.
It was sunny as I walked down to the river to wash my brushes, but there was a distinctly crisp chill in the air.
I hummed as I wet the brushes in the stream, and watched the steadily moving current wash away the colour. Camp was beautiful, especially when a person was alone to observe it.
Just before I was about to leave I heard rustling in the trees on the other end of the stream. I squinted, I had excellent hearing, even from far away. And when I focused really hard I could manipulate light photos for short bursts of teleportation. I wasn't the best at it to be honest, and I rarely did it since I'd ended up in the wrong place a few to many times. But no one was around to see me fail so I decided to practice.
In a short burst of light I found myself in a clearing behind the trees.
I barely had time to react before a fist came out of nowhere and knocked me to the ground.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" Someone from above me hissed, and when I focused my eyes I saw an irritatingly familiar face. Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares and like...everyone's nemesis. Clarisse was my age but already 16, with stunning ringlets of dark hair and smooth brown skin. If she weren't so aggressive one might almost wonder if she were one of Aphrodite's kids. She was also one of my least favourite people at camp.
"Me, what about you!" I yelled, "you punched me in the face."
"Well you came out of nowhere." Clarisse bellowed, advancing on me immediately after I got myself up.
I exhaled sharply, "Maybe your first instinct shouldn't be to punch someone."  I shot back, but the look on her face told me that's exactly what she thought her instinct should be.
"What are you doing out here?" She asked, glaring at me through deep brown eyes.
"I could ask you the same." I retorted.
"Nothing." She said defensively. Maybe a little too defensively.
"Righttt, so you were just, alone in the forest for no reason. Sure, I buy that."
Clarisse looked like she might strangle me, but oddly enough I wasn't afraid.
"Mind your own business." She said pointedly, before turning to walk the other way.
"Hey wait." I trailed after her, "Camps that way, where are you going?"
"What's it to you?"
"Just curious."
Clarisse stopped to look me dead in the eye, "Don't get it my way Sun girl, I'm in no mood."
I scoffed, when was she ever in the mood?
"Fine, but don't blame me when you get mauled to death by some monster in these woods."
Clarisse stormed away without responding.
Weird, I thought. Wait, why was I even so concerned by whatever Clarisse was doing? I hated her. And yet, everything she did seemed to be of added interest to me...and annoyance.
I tried not to think about it as I walked back to my cabin, she was probably just being a brooding Ares kid on her own.
I had better things I could be doing.
Of course Clarisse being herself didn't come as much of a shock. Most of us at camp resembled our parents in some way or another. I didn't have to try hard to wonder what parts Clarisse took from her dad.
As for my dad, I'd never met him. Atleast not in person. He sent me a gift once, this cool gold dagger that would shift into a bow and arrow by command of my thought. But what was a gift without being able to thank the giver.
Most of my siblings, like Will had met Apollo at one point or another. Everyone said he must be proudest of me...so why had I never met the man.
Despite my issues with my father I knew he wasn't as bad as some of the other gods. Atleats he'd claimed me right away, the same couldn't be said of half the kids in cabin 11.
Then there was my mother, who'd given me up at seven and never looked back. Not sure what he'd been thinking choosing that one. But maybe I was better off without parents. In all honesty the nicest thing I'd ever seen a god do for their child was when Zeus turned Thalia into a tree. And even that wasn't great.
I remember fondly how I'd looked up to Thalia, like a big sister. Now I was older than she'd been at her death. It was weird to think that I'd been at camp for five years, sometimes it felt like the rest of the world had ceased to exist. Thought I had been on a few quests, I really didn't leave that often, not when I had basically everything I needed here.

By mid afternoon I went to meet Annabeth in the field, she was already there, practicing her sword skills on a dummy.
"Finally," she said once she saw me, "you ready for some one on one?"
I grinned and a grabbed a sword. We practiced for about an hour but my moves were sloppy. I kept getting distracted by thoughts of what Clarisse had been doing in the woods. Annabeth noticed, "Ok what's up?" She asked finally, "you're totally off your game."
"It's probably nothing." I shrugged fiddling with the tip of my sword.
"If it's nothing then why do I keep besting you?"
She had a point, Annabeth was better with a sword than I was but I couldn't still hold my own.
I relented, "Ok fine I'll tell you but it's literally nothing, like your probably think I'm stupid."
"Just tell me."
"I saw Clarisse in the woods," I spat out, "and when I snuck up on her she nearly knocked me out."
Annabeth just stared, "Ands this is strange how?"
It sounded even sillier after I'd said it out loud. Clarisse always had her guard up, and I figured I'd probably be pretty freaked out too if someone just appeared out of thin air.
"It's just the way she was acting." I said, "it's like she was hiding something."
"Well she probably was, but I don't see why that's any of our concern." Said Annabeth.
"I know, you're right...I guess I'm just being overly suspicious."
Annabeth softened, "No, I get it. Ever since the end of the summer I've been looking for ever excuse to doubt people."
"You can say his name you know..." I said after a second, "there's no point in avoiding it."
Annabeth was just silent, I knew what she was thinking.
Maybe if we ignored the subject for long enough it would simply just disappear.
"Do you think he'll ever come back?" She asked.
"I don't know." I said truthfully, "part of me hopes not." And yet a part of me also did. It took me a moment to find my voice again.
"I miss Grover," I said, hoping for a much needed change in topic.
"Me too." Agreed Annabeth, "I know it's important but I wish his search for Pan could have been delayed a bit."
I nodded, "I know what you mean, it's different without him around."
Obviously Grover had left before, like when he went to get Percy last year, but this felt different. Everyone knew how dangerous searching for Pan could be, in fact Grover's own uncle had been turned to stone merely days into his quest. Suffice to say, the changes of finding him were bleak. But I was happy for Grover, sorta...no I was. But more than that I wanted my friend back safe.
"It's getting dark out." Said Annabeth, "We should head back." I agreed but lingered a moment longer, part of my hoped to see Grover returning on the horizon.
Naturally I was met with disappointment.

That night I couldn't sleep. My thoughts were a jumbled up mess of Luke and Clarisse and my father. And like most demigods, my brain wasn't wired to sit still or shut off. So I got up and tossed on a sweater before deciding to take a midnight stroll around camp. Despite being a child of Apollo I loved night, after all the stars were far away suns, and the moon reflected its glow. In the middle of camp the last embers of the fire pit were dying down. I remembered days when I would sit outside late, and burn offerings in hope of earning an audience with my father. I never did that anymore.
Stupid Luke, his reasoning almost made sense. What had the gods ever done for us anyways.
But he betrayed Percy, and he was listing to Kronos who, I can't say seemed to be the wisest mentor.
I didn't hate my father, or the other gods. But I owed them nothing. My friends on the other hand, and everyone at camp. I owed them more than I could ever repay. And that's why I would fight for us.