ATYCHIPHOBIA¹ | p.jackson

SEVEN.

NICASIA WAS AFRAID. this quest scared her, made her nervous. as she packed her bag, she tried to calm herself down. she failed. she just kept thinking about what could happen. she kept thinking about what had happened.

the last quest she went on with other people, she lost six of her siblings. so it was safe to say she was more than nervous. she tried to push the images of her siblings out of her head. she could still hear their screams, they were all that filled her dreams, they caused her sleepless nights.

she promised herself that she would never let that happen again. she wouldn't let them die.

she brought herself out of her thoughts, blinking away tears that hadn't escaped her eyes. she looked down at her bag, making sure she had packed everything. so far she had packed a few outfits, deodorant, perfume, a toothbrush and toothpaste, tampons, extra hair ties, water, nectar, and some food that wouldn't spoil easy. she also packed a coin pouch with both drachmas and denarii and the special 'demigod phone' her dad made. she put her green cap in her pocket and zipped up her bag. she also grabbed a spare weapon and put in her pant-leg pocket.

she changed into a new outfit for the quest. she now wore navy black cargo pants, a green long sleeve with an unbuttoned baseball jersey over top, and the same pair of dark turquoise boots. once she was changed, she slung her bag over her shoulder and looked at her watch. she read the roman numerals. they had agreed to be at the edge of camp five minutes from now.

nicasia decided there was nothing wrong with being early and walked out of her cabin and towards the edge of camp.

nicasia was halfway to the meet up spot when she was stopped. "nicki!" she turned around and saw both donni and clarisse. "did you get everything?" clarisse asked. you wouldn't be able to tell unless you really knew her, but if you looked really closely, you could see that clarisse was nervous for her best friend. donni was too. "yes, i did." nicasia answered.

"even extra hair ties?" donni asked. nicasia let out a small laugh. "even extra hair ties." she reassured. clarisse cleared her throat. "here." she spoke up, handing nicasia a box of... pencils? "what, do you want me to journal all of this? sorry clare, but i don't think i'll have time." nicasia teased, a smile on her face.

"just take one out and you'll see." clarisse said with an eye roll. nicasia did just that and as soon as she pulled one out, it turned into a dagger. "thought you might need some spare knives." clarisse said. "but don't loose those, they're my favorite. if you lose those i'll kill you." nicasia laughed. "thanks clare."

donni then brought them all into a group hug, sounds of protest were heard from both nicasia and clarisse. once they broke apart donni patted nicasia on the head before sending her off. he looked at clarisse. "they grow up so fast." he said wiping away nonexistent tears. clarisse let out a small laugh.

nicasia walked a little bit farther until she was met with claus. he was worried, she could tell, she couldn't blame him either. he had small tears in his eyes. he wrapped his arms around her. he squeezed her with strength, almost crushing her. he was really scared of losing her. "please, just come back alive, okay?" he said. nicasia nodded, before responding so he could hear her. "i will. i promise." they pulled away from each other. "good luck nicki." he said. nicasia nodded in response and kept walking.

nicasia turned around after a few steps to see that clarisse and donni had already started bickering. she let out a small laugh as she turned back around and walked up the hill. everyone except annabeth was there.

after a few minutes annabeth showed up, an architecture book tucked under her arm. they hiked farther up the hill and saw that chiron was already there, argus beside him.