The Titans Curse: Apollo's Daughter

Westover

The fall had seemed all too long, campers came and went but more seemed to leave than usual which concerned everyone. Annabeth had left for the fall school semester at some all-girls boarding school, taking Thalia with her. She had offered me to come along but Will had invited me home with him which I had gladly excepted. Will's mother, Naomi, was so nice and treated me like I was her own child, which if you looked at me and Will together you'd probably think we were identical twins. 

I was pulled out of my thoughts when heard the layer of stiff snow crunch under two sets of feet. I grabbed a handful of thick snow with my gloved hand, whipping around towards the sound but sighing in relief.

"What, gonna pelt us with snowballs?" Thalia asked with a slight chuckle.

"Maybe I was." I said with a smile, dropping the snow and quickly engulfing my two closest friends in a bone-crushing hug. "I missed you both! I loved staying with Will but I swear if I heard 'don't forget to put your coat and scarf on' I would lose my shit." Both Thalia and Annabeth laugh and soon began telling me about their school year.

"Oh my gods, Skye, at school, I get to take 3-D design as an elective, and there's this cool computer program that we get to use..." She went on to explain how she'd designed this huge monument that she wanted to build in Manhattan someday. I hardly understood a word she was saying but I listened anyway. 

Annabeth, Thalia and I sat just outside the camp barrier, waiting patiently as we talked about everything that happened over that fall. Percy and his mother, Sally, were going to pick the three of us up on their way to Maine. Grover had sent a distress call to camp and Chiron called the four of us to go up to Maine and handle it. I pulled my thick brown leather jacket tighter against my body, the black gloves that covered my hands were doing nothing against the cold winter air. Winter was not my thing. The sun hid behind thick clouds, the air was fridged, not an Apollo kids idea of a fun time.

It had been months since I last saw Percy, he had gone back to live with his mom after the summer. We'd still write and send the occasional Iris message to each other, but those were nothing compared to being face to face with each other. 

As soon as the car pulled up the three of us piled into the Volkswagen. Despite not having seen my boyfriend in so long, we hardly spoke the whole eight hours we were in the car. What was wracking through our brains I couldn't even begin to say in words.

Thalia sat in the front seat leaving me squished between Percy, Annabeth and our bags in the back seat. By the time we got to Westover Hall, it was getting dark, the snow hadn't let up, and I had heard probably every embarrassing baby story about my boyfriend from his mother. Thalia and Annabeth rubbed the fog on their windows away with their sleeves "Oh, yeah. This'll be fun." Thalia mumbled.

Westover Hall looked like some evil castle that hadn't seen the sun in over a hundred years. The black stone gave me an uneasy feeling and the cliff that dropped down to the churning ocean wasn't much help. "Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" Sally asked, looking up at the horror movie picturing of a building.

"No thanks, mom," Percy said. "We don't know how long it will take. We'll be okay."

"Are you sure? How will you get back to camp?" Sally asked, voicing her real concern.

Percy had a light tint of pink over his cheeks. "It's okay Ms. Jackson," I said, smiling reassuringly. "Annabeth always has a plan, and we promise to keep him out of trouble."

Percy's POV

My mom seemed to relax a little when Skyler spoke. She thinks Skyler is the most levelheaded demigod for being our age, even after our first summer. She's sure both Annabeth and Skyler often keep me from getting killed. She's right, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.