violent delights, percy jackson

chapter six

VIOLENT DELIGHTS
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( chapter five! )

IT WAS TWO DAYS since Azalea's arrival at camp and a lot had changed in a short amount of time. After sparring with the Hermes cabin her first day she had went to dinner to receive the announcement from Chiron that capture the flag for the summer would be canceled due to the impending war. Obviously, the blonde girl wasn't a moron and actually knew what war the stallion man was talking about. But nonetheless, she completed the boring routine of 'dumb blonde' and got the whole story from her cabin mates, mostly Lou Ellen, for the third time.

At the mention of Capture the Flag being canceled, Azalea had thought the majority of the camp was going to start a riot from the shrieks and shouts of opposition. Those mainly coming from the Ares, Athena and Apollo cabin tables respectively. Hermes cabin was upset sure, but they also seemed to have much more interesting idea of entertainment to keep themselves occupied on the scheduled Friday nights. Namely countless pranks on other unsuspecting campers and full out cabins alike. Dinner was an interesting affair to say the least after that. The nightly campfire was comforting with the warm flickering flames that casted orange and red shadows across all the campers faces. Despite getting sandwiched between the Stoll brothers it was quickly thought of her favourite activity as a camper, even as the two boys told ridiculous and wild tales of past demigods. She slept well in the Hermes cabin that night, for the first time in a long while without the usual plague of nightmares following her.

Day two was just as eventful as her first, with a rise and shine wake up call at seven- thirty. Now, normally Azalea could handle a early morning but she hadn't exactly expected to be up so early at a proclaimed summer camp full of teenagers. Most teenagers she knew liked their beauty sleep and wouldn't be seen as a functional being of life until late in the afternoon. Not Camp Half-Blood campers though. According to Lou Ellen, the Apollo children were usually up by six because of their father sending a morning wake up all within the cabin - apparently they needed to revel in the sunbeams from his chariot as he rode it across the sky every morning. Azalea was glad she wasn't in their cabin at that moment.

That afternoon after archery and literacy, which was mainly studying Greek myths and school academics since most had another two weeks before being let out, Azalea found herself wandering up towards the Big House. It was there she found out the second big change within the Camp was the absence of Mr.D. He was nowhere in sight and instead a short and greying haired man was seated next to Chiron in the Wine God's pinochle chair, glancing around as the two conversed swimmingly on the wrap around porch.

"Chiron?" Azalea had called out, as she approached the well worn steps of the house.

"Ah, Azalea." He thoughtfully greeted with a smile slowly stretching across his cheeks. The centaurs brown eyes' oddly twinkling in the cloudy morning light. "I would like you meet Quintus, he will be stepping in as one of our Camp Directors."

Azalea recoiled internally at the induction. The man in question gave her a short smile and wave much too rehearsed for her not to feel uneasy. He looked like a standard middle-aged man, with slowly greying hair and a five o'clock shadow around his jaw. Without a doubt in his younger years he would have been been attractive but the way his blue eyes gleamed, Azalea couldn't find any sort of human-like glint in them. She was on edge instantly.

"Where's Mr D?" She asked, the point of her journey to the Big House to begin with. She had wanted to speak with him privately about her first day of camp and have a rematch in a promised game. Azalea knew there was a good likelihood that the god hadn't meant his words earlier but she hoped that he had. Perhaps, it was the lack of father figure in her life, of maybe she just liked his humour and wanted to get away from all the campers filled with happiness and cheer. She was getting tired of pretending around everyone, and needed a mindless and sarcasm filled distraction.