Bitter

Y/N loved Apollo, no really. But no amount of love could blind her enough to lie about how careless he actually was. Their journey to the camp was dangerous and he seemed to be delighted that he fulfilled his promise of just dropping off the kids to the location. As they got off the bus, she had a frown on her face. The goodbye that was sentimental the first time she met Apollo was now a different one. He ruffled her hair like she was still a little kid and whispered some words in her ear, which made her into a stuttering mess. Words along the lines of "we aren't together" and "don't assume" was all that could be made out of it. For her, this goodbye was better than the last one. It was an assurance that she would see him again.

Y/N has never seen Camp Half-Blood in winter before, and the snow surprised her. Due to the ultimate magic climate control in the camp, nothing gets inside the borders unless the director, Mr. D, wants it to. Naturally, she thought it would be warm and sunny, but instead the snow had been allowed to fall lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," Percy said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge. Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"—he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking—"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

Zoe rolled her eyes, but she figured that there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brothers ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at Percy, "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus. "Later, Y/N," he called. "And, uh, be good!" Her heart stopped beating for a second when her father winked at Percy. He was probably assuming that Harris and her were together now, going by the words he whispered to her. And due to this assumption, she wasn't sure if he would keep her feelings for Percy a secret.

He closed the doors and revved the engine. Y/N watched as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat.

"Hey, your dad- I mean Apollo is really cool," Harris said nudging her shoulder.

"Please don't start talking about that, he's so embarrassing," Y/N sighed, a little smile evident on her face.

"But...you missed him didn't you?" he asked looking into her eyes.

Y/N scratched her head and cleared her throat, "Well yeah...I saw him after a lot of days."

Harris chuckled and squeezed her cheeks, "You're so cute when you get embarrassed, you know that?"

Y/N blushed and looked away from him, ears turning red. She tried her best to hide the smile slowly creeping up her face, but she couldn't stop the butterflies that she felt in her stomach every time Harris was..near her. Even though, she tried her best to convince herself that these feelings were not true, her mind said something else. As she looked to the right, she noticed Percy looking at her. He quickly looked away and pretended to be occupied in a conversation with Nico.

She couldn't understand what it was with him. He was way different back when she first met him. It almost feels like something changed between them. He's picking on her a lot these days. Everything she did, he has to make a comment on it and make her feel down about it. Although she couldn't remove him completely from her head, she knew it was time to stop taking his shit. She was not about to be a pushover in a place where kids face the same issues she faced in school.

Harris grunted and took his bag, "Alright, I'll be off then."

"See you soon!" Y/N said, whipping her head immediately at his direction. Harris gave her a smile and went on his way.

[ TIME SKIP ]

Most half-bloods only trained during the summer. Just the year-rounders would be here—the ones who didn't have homes to go to, or would get attacked by monsters too much if they left. But there didn't even seem to be many of them, either.

The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Mr. D, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Chiron's brown beard was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a little longer. He wasn't posing as a teacher this year, so maybe he could afford to be casual. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

He smiled when he saw them. "Percy! Thalia! Ah, and this must be—"

"Nico di Angelo," Percy said. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

"Well..."

His smile melted. "What's wrong? Where is Annabeth, Y/N and Harris?"

Percy scoffed thinking about it. Y/N was probably busy with Harris. "Y/N is a bit late, and she apologizes for that," Percy heard the familiar voice as she stood beside Chiron, "Harris will join shortly." He flinched hearing the name and rolled his eyes. He was polite at first, but it felt like Y/N was trying to make him join their small group of friends forcefully.

"Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!"

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

"But... Oh, right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG-13," Grover said.

"Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Now," Chiron said to Thalia and me, "perhaps you all should sit down and tell us the whole story."

When they were done, Chiron turned to Mr. D. "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately."

"I'll go," Thalia, Percy and Y/N said at the same time.

Mr. D sniffed. "Certainly not!"

When the half-bloods started complaining, Mr. D held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad and godly was going to happen if they didn't shut up.

"From what you have told me," Mr. D said, "we have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell—"

"Annabeth," Percy snapped. She'd gone to camp since she was seven, and still Mr. D pretended not to know her name.

"Yes, yes," he said. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."

If looks could burn and Y/N had the ability to burn a god, Mr. D would've been burning by now. Even soldiers in the borders do their best to help one of theirs - and they are just mortals.

"Annabeth may be alive," Chiron said, who was having trouble sounding upbeat. He'd practically raised Annabeth all those years she was a year-round camper, before she'd given living with her dad and stepmom a second try. "She's very bright. If... if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

"That's right," Thalia said. "Luke would want her alive."

"In which case" said Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

"We can't just leave her to figure it by herself!" Y/N shouted while Percy got up from the table.

"Percy." Chiron's tone was full of warning. Mr. D was not somebody to mess with. But Percy was so angry that he didn't care.

"You're glad to lose another camper," he said. "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"

His nonchalant attitude was pissing Y/N off but then Percy answered him with something she wished he didn't.

"Yeah," Percy growled. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

For a second, there was no sound except the crackle of the fire. Y/N got up and slowly held Percy's hand, as if to pull him from any kind of harm. The light reflected in Mr. D's eyes, giving him a sinister look. He opened his mouth to say something when Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

"SO COOL!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're... you're a centaur!"

Chiron managed a nervous smile. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

"And, whoa!" He looked at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"

Mr. D turned his eyes away from Percy and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"

"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."

"My figurine."

"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

"Ah." Mr. D seemed truly perplexed, which probably distracted him enough to not put an end to Percy's life right then and there. "Well, that's... gratifying."

"Percy," Chiron said quickly, "take Thalia and Y/N down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

"Capture the flag?" Percy asked. "But we don't have enough—"

"It is a tradition," Chiron said. "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."

Chiron jerked his head toward Mr. D, who was still frowning as Nico talked about how many defense points all the gods had in his game. "Run along now," Chiron told us.

"Oh, right," Thalia said. "Come on."

"You've already got Ares on your bad side," Thalia reminded him as they trudged toward the cabins. "You need another immortal enemy?" Thalia went off toward the court, where the Ares campers and the Hunter were trying to kill each other with a sword and a basketball.

"Seriously, he gets on my veins too but atleast choose your words wisely," Y/N said walking beside him.

Percy scoffed, "You also talked back to Chiron."

"I didn't make a personal attack," she said, "Please...just think before you speak. I don't wanna lose you too."

The last words of her felt like she was not hopeful. Why was she so sure that Annabeth couldn't make it? Percy didn't know if it was the situation earlier that put off his mood but anything she said made him feel like a burn recently.

"You're quick to call her dead," he chuckled bitterly.

Y/N stopped by her steps and looked at his back, he slowed down. His words felt like daggers to the heart. What really changed, that made him so bitter? It wasn't her fault that Annabeth didn't make it with them. It's almost a blame game - Thalia blaming Percy, him blaming Y/N.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but the last thing I want is to find her dead," she muttered, "Even Clarisse would be sure of that about me. It almost feels like you don't know me at all."

"Exactly," he turned to look at her, "I actually don't know you. Not as much as Harris, who by the way couldn't care less to talk to Chiron about Annabeth."

"He didn't go out for missions for ages, he probably forgot about it-"

"Ofcourse, you're gonna defend him now," Percy sighed, "You know what, Chiron gave us work to do. We should focus on that."

Y/N stared at him and whispered, "Right." She started walking when she heard him talk again.

"You should go inform the Hermes cabin. That's where you want to go anyway."

She slowly turned around to look at him. Eyes red - not filled with tears but anger, she snapped, "You are right. That's exactly where I wanna go right now. Atleast there's someone who actually knows what I am like. Someone to rely on. Its becoming really hard to find such people these days. Harris would know exactly how I feel like. I like him better than most of you."