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That same day I was forcefully dragged to Archery. When I say forcefully dragged I mean I was pulled by the collar of my shirt. "Clarisse!" I tried to pull her wrist away but she didn't budge. "Laylah, it's just one class! At least hit one and we can go." She rolled her eyes and once we reached the field I didn't even notice since I was too busy trying to pull her hand away. "Clarisse, let her go." I heard an annoyed tone and once I looked up and saw every kid either staring or moving out the way I stopped and let my hands drop to my side.
She let me go and I turned back over to her and she looked down at me with a grin. I looked back at the crowd and saw a new face. A kid with golden curls stood in the middle completely confused. He flashed me a small smile which I returned and then I felt a hand in mine. I looked down and saw her fingers intertwined with mine. "Come on." Her aggressive tone echoed through my head as we walked to one of the booths.
I could hear one of the kids whispering to Percy "Stay out of their way." I sighed as the conversation continued, "Why" I heard the boy ask and another kid say "That is the daughter of Nyx and the daughter of Ares. We stay out of Clarisse's way because it's like a punch to the face and well the other girl Laylah we stay out of her way because she is the definition of darkness and plus she has Ares cabin as her bodyguard."
I stayed silent as the conversation went on. Clarisse looked down at me since I hadn't really moved. "Hey. What's wrong?" I debated if I should tell her and let all hell break loose or let it go. I smiled up at her and shook my head, "Nothing.." She nodded and by the look on her face I can tell she didn't believe a word. I grab a bow and stand straight before I could even pull back the band. I felt her hand correcting my stance. "Like that." I laughed slightly, turning around. "Okay perfectionist." She shrugged with a small smile and I turned back over to the bow in front of me. I pulled it back and let it go. It landed straight in the middle and I turned around and was met with a smile and a thumbs up.
Not just from Clarisse but the whole Ares cabin in general. I quickly smiled, setting the bow down and basically ran over to them. "Okay can we go now?" They all laughed and nodded and once we turned back around to the crowd their faces turned serious it was actually terrifying at the switch up. "Over here, love." The nickname caught me off guard and I looked over at her with eyes widened. "W-What?" I mumbled and she looked down at me and noticed my expression and laughed slightly. She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me to a different direction. "Do you see that little gem glowing?" She pointed at a bright gem hanging from a branch. I nodded confused looking up at her.
"Go get it. It's yours." I smiled and her arm fell from my shoulder. I ran to the tree and I sighed realizing how far up it was placed. "Come on, magic girl. You can do it." I turned around and saw her leaning against a tree with an amused look. Her arms crossed as I rolled my eyes. "Are you serious right now?" She nodded and looked up at the gem. Something about Clarisse was she always admired my abilities for some odd reason. For her she said she felt like a wave of some sort of calm fall over her and she also wanted me to practice. I looked back up at the gem and the iris of my eye turned some soft purple.
I could feel an electricity spark through my right hand and I lifted it observing the orb start to form. I would never admit this but using even the slightest bit of power made me feel like I finally had control over something. The orb started into a dark mist and it reached the gem. The gem shook in place until it fell from the branch and landed in my hands. I turned back around and she got up from the tree reaching for the gem. It was then I realized it wasn't just a gem but a necklace. "Let me help.." She mumbled in a low whisper.
I smiled and handed her the gem as I lifted my hair. I felt the cold metal wrap itself around my neck and her warm fingers trace the metal to the back of my neck. She clipped the necklace and backed up from me. I let my hair fall and I turned around staring at the gem.
At that moment I realized it was my birth stone. It was a sardonyx, ranslucent, light- to dark-brown varieties of the silica mineral chalcedony, historically two of the most widely used semiprecious stones. Sard and its close relative carnelian have been used in engraved jewelry for centuries. "That one time I caught you reviewing this gem I knew I had to get it." I looked up with a small smile. That happened when I was in Hermes' cabin and we didn't even get along at that time.
(Authors Note: Alright here's a chapter after literally ignoring updating for a little bit 😞😞 Erm so basically I made a little inspiration thing for my new book I'm working on and it's on tiktok. Don't mind the username I can't exactly change it until the 20th of March. 😭 So it's basically @shiftingwithdestinyyy and I just found out my video was MUTED. 😒 Anyways bye y'all 🗣‼️🔥)
