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I 02. I
𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔
❝ woods ❞
ARIADNE SMILED AT THE HELLHOUND WHO NOTICED SOMETHING AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE ARENA.
Mrs. O'Leary saw him before Ariadne even noticed she was gone, which was a pretty good trick considering she's the size of a garbage truck. Someone walked into the arena, and a wall of darkness slammed into them.
"WOOF!"
The next thing Ariadne knew she saw Percy flat on the ground with a huge paw on his chest and an oversized Brillo-pad tongue licking his face.
"Ow!" Percy said. "Hey, girl. Good to see you too. Ow!"
Ariadne smiled behind her hand as she helped get the large hellhound off of him. It took a few minutes for Mrs. O'Leary to calm down and get off him. By then he was pretty much drenched in dog drool. She wanted to play fetch, so Ariadne picked up a bronze shield and tossed it across the arena.
By the way, Mrs. O'Leary is the world's only friendly hellhound. Percy and Ariadne inherited her when her previous owner died. She lived at camp, but Beckendorf... well, Beckendorf used to take care of her whenever they were gone. He had smelted Mrs. O'Leary's favorite bronze chewing bone. He'd forged her collar with the little smiley face and a crossbones name tag. Next to Percy and her, Beckendorf had been her best friend.
Thinking about that made Ariadne sad all over again, but she threw the shield a few more times because Mrs. O'Leary insisted.
Percy watched Ariadne and stood next to her. "We haven't talked since..." His voice trailed off, not knowing what would set her off.
"Yeah." Ariadne nodded. She pulled her pill bottle from her pocket and opened the cap, taking one and swallowing it. "I'm not mad, if that's what you're worried about. Just upset, really."
"Why?"
Ariadne looked at the boy. "You're asking the IED girl why she's angry?" she said, an amused eyebrow raised. "Just... everything, I guess."
He gave her a timid look. The boy watched the hellhound leap around the arena and she couldn't keep her eyes from glancing over at him.
His raven hair was wind swept, as if he was permanently caught in a beach breeze. The boy's face seemed tender. His eyes weren't as bright, but that didn't mean the sea-green wasn't enough to make her melt into a puddle anytime he looked at her. His dimples poked at the sides of his mouth, making her want to kiss them.
Percy hadn't noticed her looks and she was glad for that. His skin was tanned—tanner than what it had been four years prior, maybe that was due to camp, or because his father was Poseidon and usually beaches were sunny, but it looked good on him. There were a few dotted freckles along his face and his neck, heading down his shoulders, there were even a few on his arms.
