Time skip a few weeks.
Mia's POV
After the first week, I started training with Joey and then joined the class/group he was in and I'm getting better, although I'm better than him in archery. I also love to ride the pegasi. The one that now belongs to me, is a jet black mare with golden eyes I named Eclipse. Anyway, this week I'll be participating in my first capture the flag game! I was sitting at the Hades table eating a peach, thinking about who I should be allying with when a girl came over to me.
"Can I sit here?" She didn't seem scared, which was nice, and I nodded.
"My name is Helen Blackstone. I'm from the Hecate cabin." She seems nice, I thought to myself.
"I'm Mia Solace-Di Angelo, Hades cabin." We started talking about our lives, then we got into books, Harry Potter (a mortal series not many people I know have read), music, and our different types of magic. After a while, it looked like a light bulb went off in her head.
"Oh, can my other friends come over?"
"Sure!" I figured if they were friends with her, they couldn't be too bad.
"She gave a thumbs up and three other girls came over. One had wavy black hair and tan skin, the other looked almost Hispanic with darker skin and brown hair and a mischievous glint in her eyes, and the last with honey blond colored hair that was curled around her shoulders with a bounce in her step. I turned my attention to the first one.
"Oh, hey Mia! What's up?"
"Izzy?! What are you doing here?" Helen looked confused.
"Wait, you two know each other?!" I smiled.
"Isabella is my cousin- Her mom, Hazel, is my godmother. But what are you doing here?"
"Yeah, my parents dropped me off here for a bit- they want me to train with you guys for a while."
"Cool, you could stay with me!" The brunette cleared her throat.
"Um, hello! I'm Maya Valdez, Hephaestus cabin."
"And I'm Zoe, Hecate cabin."
"Cool! Nice to meet you." We started talking and we all got to know each other pretty well. After a while, I brought up the Hades thing.
"I actually got kicked out of school for accidentally raising some skeletons from the underworld." Maya's mouth was open.
"You can raise the dead?!" I nodded. I was worried she was going to get scared and leave.
"That. Is. AWESOME!" I let go of a breath I didn't know it was holding. "I wish I could do that. All I can do is build stuff and set things on fire." Her hands lit up in flames on the last words.
"I can shapeshift into animals and raise cursed gems," Izzy said.
"I'm smart and can talk to owls."
"I can do magic," Helen spoke up too. I took a deep breath before speaking.
"I can shadow travel, heal, kill ( which I only know because I killed a flower once), raise the dead, and I can tell if someone dies." Everyone was speechless. We talked for a while more, explaining what we could do. Then we split up- Maya and Isabella have to go unpack. Helen left as well, something about writing a magic book- but we all promised to meet up for pizza in my cabin tonight. I ran to the Hades cabin and cleaned up (how did I pass inspection?). That's when Audrey and Jason came over. Someone knocked on my door.
"Come in!"
"Hey, Lil sis!" Jason loved to call me that because I'm the only one he's older than. He wrapped me in a bear hug from behind, lifting me off the ground.
"Jason put me down!" I giggled. "Hey, Aud." When I was little I couldn't say her name, so the nickname stuck. I gave her a normal hug. "What are you guys doing here?"
"What, can't a brother and sister come to see their little sis?" Nope. They don't do this. I crossed my arms and Audrey sighed.
"Bianca sent us to ask if you wanted to be allied with us for capture the flag- Apollo cabin is one of the team captains."
"Who's on the team?"
"Apollo, obviously, Hephaestus, Ares, Poseidon, Hecate, and some minor gods and goddesses. Not many cabins, but a lot of kids." Jason had counted the cabins on his fingers as he listed them. "And then you."
"We" I corrected. They both looked at me confused.
"Um, Mia? Last time I checked there was only one of you." Audrey said, looking around to see if she was missing someone.
"Izzy's here and she'll be staying with me."
"Oooohhhh." Was Jason's reply. "Well...?"
I thought for a moment but I already knew the answer.
"Alright. I'll do it."
"Yes!" Jason fist-bumped the sky. "With you on our team, we can't lose! The strategy meeting is today at two o'clock at the big house. Don't be late!" I got two more hugs, and with that, they left. I looked at my phone (Leo Valdez had made something so that demigods and legacies can have phones without attracting monsters)- it was already 1:30. So I finished cleaning and headed over to find out what the strategy for our capture the flag is.
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I walked with Isabella and explained the basics of capture the flag on our way to the big house.
"So let me get this straight," she began. "You guys fight each other, putting your own health on the line... to get a flag?!"
"Ummm... yeah."
"You Greeks confuse me." I laughed
"I don't really get it either, but it's camp tradition. Now let's find out what part we're going to play." The sound of voices coming from inside confirmed that this was the place. I opened the door. There was a big table in the center that was currently covered in a map of camp. The heads of the cabins were all standing around the table. Carlos was standing next to Bianca, talking to a big kid in armor, presumably from the Ares cabin.
"You can lead the charge, although they might prepare for that, so you can go in the middle wave... Mia!" He had looked up from the map and his gaze landed on me. It had been a couple of days since I'd seen him- he had been busy. He ran around the table to hug me while Bianca took over the conversation. Also, I should clarify- I'm not one for physical contact unless they are part of my family. I've always been very close to my family- it's the most important thing to me. The ones that I love are my fatal flaws- I care for people too much.
"Ciao, Carlos! Are we too late?" He smiled Dad's smile.
"Nope. Just in time, even. Hey Bianca! What do we need Mia and Izzy to do?" Bianca thought for a moment.
"Well, we can have Isabella make some minorly cursed gems to distract the other team- maybe some itchy rashes and tickling spells- and Mia, Joey says that you're pretty good at archery," Joey nodded from across the table to confirm this, "so you can be the final line of defense by the flag." She continued talking, but I was not listening. I was going to play capture the flag and I was the final line of defense! I saw Joey glancing at me and he gave me a thumbs up. The meeting ended and after telling Carlos I would stop by the Apollo cabin later, I ran to thank Joey for what he had done for me.
"Hey wait up!" I called. He stopped and looked at me. "Thanks for telling them about what I can do." He smiled.
"No problem. Hey, after dinner meet me at my cabin- I have something to show you."
"I can't, I'm having friends over. How about before?"
"Sure." With that, we parted, and I was left to wonder what he had to surprise me with this time.
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I headed to the Poseidon cabin before dinner and saw Joey waiting for me on the steps holding three pretty large boxes. One was long and a little thick, the other a little shorter. It wasn't wrapped or anything but it was a nice box, not made of cardboard like the third one. The first two were made of black polished wood that seemed to have intricate designs carved into them painted gold. I got to the bottom of the stairs.
"What's all this?" I inquired. Joey just smirked.
"Why don't you open it and find out?" He gave me the largest of the two wooden boxes to open first. I lifted the lid and gasped. The box was lined with silver velvet and held a beautifully crafted bow. It was black wood, but reinforced, with more gold detailing. He handed me something out of the cardboard box- it was a black leather quiver with black arrows that had obsidian arrowheads, black wood, and black feathers. I put them down and opened the second box. Inside was a black steel dagger with gold details. Again he reached into the cardboard box and pulled out another leather object with the black and gold color scheme. It was a belt with a hilt for a dagger built-in. I was absolutely speechless- these were all custom made. Where did he get the money for all of this? He had again shown me another act of kindness I knew I could never repay.
"Do you like them? I figured you could use some weapons of your own- the camp ones never seemed to fit you just right."
"They're beautiful. But where did you get the money for this? They're custom made and must have cost a fortune- not to mention the quiver and the hilt and the boxes?"
"My uncle Tyson is a cyclops and works in the forges. He did it as a favor to me."
"The black and the gold... how did you know?"
"Well, you're related to Hades and Apollo- so black and gold. So, you'll use them, right?" I smiled.
"You kidding? I'll definitely use them!" He smiled and let out a sigh of relief.
"I have to go get pizza now- thank you so much!"
"You're welcome. Good night Mia."
"Good night Joey."
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I got a cheese pizza from the kitchen and went back to my cabin with my gift and the food. Isabella was already there, but that wasn't that shocking. I put the weapons on my bed and the pizza on the table, then I went to pick out a movie from the box I kept in my closet.
"What should we watch tonight?"
"Hmm... I know! Let's watch the Disney movie Hercules and see how accurate it is and then we can laugh at how dumb it probably is." I laughed.
"Hercules it is then!" I grabbed the movie.
"Wait," Isabella said. "How are we going to watch it?" I got my computer out from under my bed.
"With this!" I smirked. I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Maya, Zoe, and Helen walked in. Maya had brought Doritos, Zoe candy and Helen had brought some goblets she borrowed from the kitchen.
"Let's get this party started!" Maya shouted. We all laughed. The movie was a hit because it was so inaccurate. It was 8:00 when everyone left. Izzy started to head for the door too.
"Hey, where are you going?" She looked at the ground.
"I'm going to ask your dad if he can Iris message my parents." I smiled sympathetically.
"Ok. Good night."
"Good night." With that I headed to the Apollo cabin, knowing I was late.
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I knocked softly on the door and it immediately opened and Carlos stepped out onto the steps.
"Il Mio protettore, have you been waiting for me?" He smiled.
"What if I have been, bambolina?" His nickname for me means little doll in Italian since I am his little sister and when I was born he said 'look, daddy, a doll!'. My name for him means my protector because he has always been very protective of me. He is the only other one who wanted to learn our papà's mother tongue. We walked to my cabin. Carlos is my best friend- I tell him everything. Sometimes he knows what I need or want before I do. He immediately saw the boxes and opened them.
"Mia, where did you get this?"
"Joey has his uncle make them for me."
"Did you thank him?" I rolled my eyes.
"What do you think?" He shrugged. We sat on the floor and caught up with each other- even though it's only been a few days since I've seen him, we haven't had much time to talk. I was telling him about the skeletons I had raised in the middle of school a few weeks ago.
"So you're telling me that you got mad at a kid teasing you about having two dads and then 5 skeletons just appeared?" I nodded. He burst into laughter.
"That is hilarious!" I think back on it and find myself laughing at it.
"It is pretty funny, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Hey, get a load of this! One of the new kids in my cabin was learning archery and had to go into the infirmary with an arrow in his butt!" I snorted.
"How in Hades did he do that?"
"Apparently he walked in front of the target to dislodge his arrow and this other kid shot without warning!" Our laughter filled the room.
"It's getting late, I should probably go... if anyone wakes up they'll get worried." I panicked and grabbed his arm.
"Wait! Will you stay? I mean, you don't have to, it's just, last night I had a nightmare and I don't like sleeping alone..." He used to sleep with me all the time when I was younger before he was head of the cabin with Bianca- they kind of do it together. He smiled warmly.
"Sure. I'll be right back though- I just want to write a note for Bianca."
"Ok." As he left I went to the bathroom to change- I know I was alone, but he never abandons plans unless he has to and is usually pretty quick about it. Sure enough, I had only just finished putting my pajamas on when I heard the door open and shut. I stepped out of the bathroom and saw that he had changed too and had already gotten into his position (if you are looking at the bed, the right side) and had turned down the covers, patting the empty spot as an invitation for me. I ran over to him and got my teddy bear out from under the bed.
I swear me and Carlos are always there for each other- Dad gave me the bear (which I named Sunny) when I was a baby. Once I lost it in the underworld and Carlos looked for it until he found it. I know he won't say it, but I'm his favorite sibling and he's mine (but that confession would start a huge family fight). I jump in bed, pull up the cover, and snuggle into Carlos's chest. He is the only person who makes me feel 100% safe beside my parents. He wraps his arms around me and starts to stroke my hair, lulling me to sleep. I felt my eyelids close and in my safe little sanctuary, I fell asleep.