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Naturally, everything was fine until it wasn't fine.

(Name) wasn't entirely unfamiliar with nightmares. She'd had her fair share during hospital visits. The constant and unending whir of machines lulled her into a false sense of security. She dreamed often, wading through a chemical-induced haze. Scalpels and syringes. Plastic bags full of blood and fluids and morphine.

She'd always had dreams of dying. Withering away like a zombie as her parents cried. But after she met Chiron, a surplus of incomprehensible madness seemed to follow her everywhere, even into her unconsciousness.

There was a draft somewhere, an icy chill that whispered down her neck. She was somewhere she didn't recognise, a long dark corridor with boarded-up windows and disturbing scratch marks carved into the walls. The ground was sticky and clung to her feet like aloe vera.

You're back.

Perspiration clung to arms. Her muscles started to cramp up. It was that voice again, the angry, scraping voice that dragged along her eardrums.

Who were they? What did they want? Why were they bothering her?

She'd been told by many campers that their godly parents didn't pay them the slightest bit of attention. They didn't even show up when they got a claiming symbol. So why was this voice taking the time to creep into (Name) nightmares? She wanted to know why. Why her of all people? Why not Percy, why not Annabeth or Grover or Chiron or Mr D?

Such a fickle mind.

She didn't understand why god's felt the need to talk in riddles. The unending back and forth was getting very old, and only sought to intensify the swelling headache dancing around in her brain.

They were amused by her. That much she could tell. They spoke like they knew her, which was alarming in every sense. She was just some girl. A tiny spec in the universe. Couldn't they leave her alone for one night?

It was the other voice, the warm one that sent tingles down her spine.

Turn back? Turn back from what? When? How?

She got no response. Silence fell into every corner of the room. It was so piercing that she could hear her own heartbeat.

What on gods green Earth was going on!? Why were people using her mind as a meeting place to argue relentlessly? Why her, and now of all times? And why did she get the feeling she was supposed to know what they were talking about?

Pain shot straight to her head and she cried out. She desperately wanted to know what was going. She needed something, a shred of truth to cling to so she could grapple the truth of her sad existence.

But it was all for not.

She was forced from her dream by the violent crack of Percy throwing her door open. The sound vibrated across the room like a wave, and the model pirate ship on the nightstand wobbled and fell onto the floor.

Her thoughts were squashed to the back of her mind as Percy marched in.

"Breakfast is..." his eyes grew wide. "Woah, are you okay?"

(Name) groaned as she sat up. Her head was pounding.

"What?" She asked exasperatedly.

"You're...crying."

Huh?

She cupped her face, and sure enough, a couple tears had rolled down her cheek.

"Oh."

"Oh?" Percy mimicked.

"It was just a dream," she muttered, sliding out of bed. "Did you say breakfast?"

"Um..." Percy scratched his ear nervously. "Yeah...but I can wait for you if you want."

"S'fine," she waved him off. "Go without me."

"A-are you sure?"

She shot him a demanding look. "Percy."

"Okay okay," his hands shot up in defence. "I'm leaving."

~~~

It was safe to say archery was not (Name)'s strong suit.

"You need to focus," Chiron said.

"I'm trying."

The target was twenty metres away. Twenty metres. But she couldn't hit a single shot. A slow aching burn had turned her muscles to mush. She could barely move. Everything hurt in a breathless, sucker-punched kind of way. How could she possibly calm herself and focus when every fibre in her being felt like it was on fire?

"This is hopeless."

After her disturbing dream, (Name) had showered, dressed and went uphill for an early breakfast. Everything was fine. She was fine. Good even. She didn't care about the dream she had or what it meant. Nah, she didn't care at all.

(She cared immensely).

She'd been given an activity sheet from one of the Apollo kids who had tiny, adorable freckles on their ears.

Her schedule seemed surprisingly educational for a summer camp filled with half-gods. First, she had Ancient Greek lessons with a couple of particularly thick-skulled Ares kids. The class itself would've been fine if the Athena cabin hadn't been in charge. Annabeth didn't make an appearance thankfully, but her siblings were arguably just as insufferable. Every time she incorrectly feminised a noun she got a 1000 page catalogue on gardening supplies to the cranium. By the end of the class, her forehead was throbbing.

After that, she had canoeing, which she could safely say was the most tedious experience of her life. Those who were bulky and strong had no trouble lugging their canoes into the water, but the rest of the campers just had to pray that they hit a particularly loose sand dune and it slid down into the shore by itself.

No such sand dune presented itself for (Name), and the second she got into her canoe once it rammed itself into the water, it immediately capsized. She spent the rest of the lesson trucking up the hill in wet shoes, trying to save her feet from a thousand different sized blisters.

Lunch was a small break from the utter chaos her life had seemed to become. She hung out with the wood nymphs, who were less than happy about her meat-filled taco for lunch. She spent the rest of her break getting lectured about the fragile ecosystem of the forest, and how the production cycle of meat was a major cause for climate change.

"Think about all the land we need to sustain for cattle, and then think about the amount of water they need to survive. That's thrice humanities population, and half of that doesn't even have a healthy supply of water every day. If we eliminated cattle, the degeneration of the earth would slowly cycle backwards."

"Yeah but that would also just open the market up for something else to take its place. Huge companies that rely on fossil fuels and other finite resources to run their factories would never agree to something that would directly put them out of business," a satyr responded.

"I just wanted to eat my taco..."

And now (Name) was getting not-so-silently judged by at least a dozen demigods.

It was mortifying. Not only did she suck at archery in every sense of the sport, but the fact that people were watching her every, goddamn move, made her nerves start to crackle. Chiron either didn't notice or didn't care. He just kept pushing her, forcing her to hit a target with meaningless words of encouragement.

She really, really wanted to go home. She was tired and grumpy and sweaty. Her face was on fire, her stomach was in knots, and she'd just about had it with the snobby Aphrodite kid watching her.

She flung an arrow. It hit the targets outer rim, and was followed by a chorus of muffled laughs. Ignoring the burning on her ears, (Name) steadied her bow and shoved it into Chiron's unsuspecting arms. He raised an eyebrow.

"I suck."

"You just need practice."

(Name) wanted to pull her hair out. "What for?! Why the hell do I need to learn archery when I'll be leaving soon?! This is all pointless!"

"I can see that you're angry."

"I'm furious!" She yelled.

"Okay, this clearly isn't your best class," he admitted. "Archery is not limited in terms of strength or stamina. It is all about the shoulders and the chest. How you are breathing, what muscles you are activating. Watch, it really is quite this simple."

He notched an arrow and effortlessly landed it at the centre of the target. Obviously he didn't read the room properly, because a simple teaching moment was the last thing she needed. People were roaring with laughter now. (Name) gritted her teeth as her skin turned an even darker shade of red. Some of the boys even started whistling.

They laughed and laughed and laughed until a sudden rush of water blew them off their feet. They went sprawling across the floor like freshly caught fish. Their mouths wide open, gasping for breath as they flitted around on the wet grass covered in seaweed.

(Name) gaped at them and then turned towards the perpetrator. Percy was standing at the scene of the crime, smirking almost criminally at the spasming bodies. He shot (Name) a thumbs up and went back to sparring with Annabeth like nothing had happened.

She couldn't believe it. Not only was she mortified that Percy had been watching that entire scenario unfold, but the fact that'd he blown them all away just for making fun of her made her heart skip a beat.

What the hell...?

"I guess that ends practice," Chiron mused.

And as if there was any other alternative, (Name) was forced to clean up after everyone.

That involved picking up all the abandoned arrows. She tried her best not to get splinters, but it was basically unavoidable. Some of the arrows were really wedged into the target boards, and she had to use both hands and a steady netball stance to yank them out.

After that, she cleaned the points with warm, soapy water and then oiled them as Chiron instructed. She packed away the dummy targets and put the arrows back in their holding quivers.

Just as she was about to shut the shed door and lock up for the afternoon, she heard someone call her name.

Clarisse, the big, scary daughter of Ares came stomping over with three of her siblings. If she had a moment to gather her thoughts she would've let out a snarky remark, but unfortunately, Clarisse grabbed her by the collar and jerked her off her feet.

That was Ares strength if she'd ever imagined it...

They were noses apart, staring into each other's eyes. If she got any closer they would've been kissing. In all honesty, it would've been a little romantic if Clarisse didn't smell like body odour and cheap zinc.

"Pathetic."

(Name)'s windpipe made a concerned noise. These girls were a lot stronger than her. Whatever they were planning on doing, they'd get away with it no problem.

"We didn't get to show you camp initiation," Clarisse sauntered.

"Shame," her sister cooed.

The other two grabbed her by the arms and forced them behind her back. There was absolutely no possibility of her getting out of this unscathed. Clarisse pulled (Name)'s hair back until her eyes were rolling towards the sky. Her neck was now on full display, nervously bobbing as the seconds ticked away.

Clarisse sucker-punched her right in the stomach. Tears immediately sprung from the corners of her eyes. She'd had her fair share of mix-ups at school, but that was nothing in comparison to the full-blown convulsion her body went through. Pain lit up across her body like the Rockerfella Christmas tree. She wheezed and curled in on herself, but there was only so much she could do when her hands were pinned behind her back.

"A-are we done here?"

Clarisse's sister howled with laughter. "Not even close girly."

Awesome. How incredibly awesome was this entire Camp experience.

They pulled her off her feet and into the air without so much as a huff. With her arms locked behind her back, her feet started spasming around like an angry spider. They were taking her somewhere, and she most definitely wasn't looking forward to it.

She tried to wiggle out of their grip, but they didn't budge in the slightest. Besides, if she actually broke free, she doubted she'd be fast enough to escape whatever fate they had planned for her.

(Name) looked around frantically. The arena was desolate, not another demigod in sight. What had she been expecting anyway? For Percy to come and save her? No way would she be a damsel and distress for one of her kidnappers. If she was going to get beat up, she'd take it like a champ.

Clarisse slammed her head against the door to the girl's bathrooms. Stars panned across her eyes in PowerPoint styles as a dazed kind of pain slithered up her neck. The headache she had before was now a full-blown death sentence.

Disoriented and gargling on her own breath, (Name) was dragged into one of the toilet cubicles. If she had enough strength left, she would've rolled her eyes.

They were going to give her a swirly? How original.

Pulling up the toilet seat, Clarisse grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and forced her chin up. The uncomfortable squeeze Clarrise had on the tip of her nape made her want to starfish backwards in a desperate attempt to escape. It was something about how easily she was puppeteering (Name) around that her completely on edge.

Every cell in her body wanted to run away. She wriggled and flailed as her mind ran on autopilot, but the hold they had on her arms made her elbows turn in a very unnatural position. (Name) let out a shriek as she felt something pop in her shoulder.

Clarisse's threw (Name)'s head forward and her eyes widened as the bubbling toilet water rose to meet her face. She choked back another gasp and sealed her mouth closed, not wanting to get it in her mouth, or in her eyes. Trying to shut out the pain.

And then she heard the bathroom door fly open and smack against the back wall.

"CLARISSE!"

That was Percy's voice.

The pressure of her nape faltered, and she wrenched her head backwards gasping as the breathe punched out of her lungs. She blinked haphazardly as Percy's silhouette pervaded her vision.

There was no attempt at diplomatic conversation. Percy eyes burned with hatred, and then his hand started swinging. Clarisse took the punch like a champ, but didn't anticipate the next one. Percy clearly wasn't one to think about consequences, especially when it came to his friends. (Were they even friends?) He was untamed, impulsive and unpredictable like the sea.

(Name) carefully crawled out of the cubicle, the dizziness finally hitting her brain. She could barely see anymore, everything was spinning in a rush of dots and shapes. Percy kneeled at her side, spreading an arm across her shoulder to keep her from face-planting.

"(Name)," he called.

She didn't respond. She could hardly think.

"Hey, (Name)," he tried again. "Can you hear me?"

"Mmmm?"

Talking was a mistake because the second she warmed up her vocal cords blood surged up her throat and splattered onto the floor with a disgusting gulp.

"Di immortales," he cursed.

"It was just supposed to be a swirly," one of them muttered.

"Yeah, but she was so damn wiggly I just—"

"Shut up!" Percy spat out.

They did as they were told, smart enough to realise the damage they'd inflicted.

"(Name)," he whispered. "Hey, you still there, you with me?"

She gurgled angrily in response. Words were there, sitting on the edge of her tongue, but she didn't have the strength to voice them. Scooping the practically unconscious girl into his arms, he tried to ignore the feeling in his gut as her head lolled backwards.

"C'mon, I got you."

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