The Wants of a Young Demigod Heart (Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez x OC)

Game Changer

Merrily POV

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I return to camp after saying goodbye to Leo and Nico. Gods, I can't quit thinking about either of them. They're both so different.

Anyway, it's time for my art class. I really enjoy art class because it gives me the opportunity to draw and paint. I can do people really well, but I prefer drawing battle scenes and architecture. I sit down and open my bag to get my colored pencils. I pull them out to reveal a roll of thick, drawing paper tied with a gray ribbon. I unroll it.

I gasp. The picture is beautiful. It's of me, in front of a beautiful wood with a giant half-moon illuminating the scene. I look all over for a name, but I find none. What I do find is a thin strand of black hair. Maybe I'll ask a Hermes child who it belongs to. I heard from Annabeth that they are great at tracking people. Suddenly, a voice snaps me out of my reverie.

"Hey, can I sit here?" I look up to see a girl about my age standing in front of me. She has an adorable, slightly upturned nose with lovely dark eyebrows that perfectly accent her dark almond-shaped eyes. Her deep brown hair is pulled up into a tight bun.

"Uh, sure," I reply. "What's your name?"

"Abigail Feathers, daughter of Aphrodite," she replies. "What's your name?"

"Merrily Evans, daughter of-"

"Athena!" Abigail cuts me off. "I remember you! You were that girl who had blood all over! Yeah, Drew got inspired big time and she's coming out with blood-related clothing!"

I can't really think of a reply, so I smile and nod and go to pull out my colored pencils. Only, they're not there. I look again and realize my picture is gone too.

"Who took my stuff?" I ask aloud.

"Probably Chey and/or Ryan," Abigail frowns.

"Who are they?" I ask. Abigail points me to two desks. The desk behind me has a boy with windswept medium brown hair, dark, short eyebrows and poop colored eyes. To my left, a girl with bushy black hair held back with a rainbow-colored headband, chocolate skin, deep, mischievous looking eyes, and thick eyebrows."Did you guys steal my stuff?" I demand.

"Does it look like I have anything of yours?" the girl, who I guess is Chey, replies evenly.

"Okay, but Ryan has my pencils," I point out.

"You can't prove it," the boy, Ryan says, jutting his chin out.

I frown. "My name is on the box." Ryan scowls and hands me my pencils back.

"Jeez, you're a terrible thief," Chey says to Ryan, grinning. Ryan sticks his tongue out at her.

"Now, my picture please," I say, holding my hand out to Chey. She groans and hands me my stuff back. "Wait, are you two children of Hermes?"

"Yep," Ryan grins. "Ryan James, son of Hermes."

"Cheyenne Brown, daughter of Hermes," Chey smiles. "But you can call me Chey."

"Hey, could one of you tell me who this belongs to?" I ask, holding out the strand of hair.

Chey plucks it out of my hand. "Hmmm, probably, but how much will you pay me?"

"Pay you?" I ask incredulously. "Why?"

"If you want Ryan and I to do this, you'll have to pay a small fee of ten drachmas," she grins mischievously.

"No way!" I shout. "I'm not paying you!"

"You already did," Ryan smiles. Chey tosses him five drachmas and then hands me my wallet back. "Now we should have the results in about a week. See you then!" I simply shake my head and turn to my sketchbook. I grab a pencil and begin sketching, letting my hand draw whatever it wanted.