Chapter Text
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EVEN BEFORE seeing the unconscious body, Maia's energy was low.
That was probably due to the lack of sleep she got and nothing to do with the knocked-out kid laying in the forest (that was just usual demigod stuff) - but she had a good cause. Who wanted to sleep anyway?
It was still somewhat dark out - the sun just barely arising out of the horizon. With the way the ground covered the giant star it looked as if the earth was the sun's blanket. The more it woke up - the more an orange and purple hue coated the sky.
Maia was lying on top of the roof of the Hermes cabin. Her back laid rested again the smooth wood - one of her legs propped up to keep her stable while the other lied down. As if her eyes weren't already dark enough - but the bags underneath them only highlighted that snakelike feature of hers. Her shaky hands were fidgeting with the beads that adorned her neck - specifically playing with the black one on the end which had a white feather painted onto it.
Maia traced the faint outline of constellations in the sky. Her eyes carefully followed every connection - never blinking as if worried they would disappear if she did.
Even as she heard a faint noise that got closer and closer her gaze remained unwavering on the stars - showing no sign of acknowledgment.
Which she didn't have to. She knew who it was.
Luke lied down next to her - tilting his head in her direction to give her a small smile. He nudged her shoulder with his.
"Hey." He said softly.
She gave him a small hum and her eyes momentarily flickered over to her brother. Full brother - as in they share the same two parents. Same dark set of curls. Same set of snakelike eyes. Same craftsmanship of their words. The only thing that was different (besides gender and her slightly darker skin) was everything else. That including the way they carry themself or even how they use said words. Maia hardly used hers while Luke relished in his.
Luke rested his hands behind his head - looking over the edge with a small chuckle before looking over at her with an amused expression. "Surprised you're not worried about falling down."
Maia mocked a scoff. "I'm notthatmuch of an idiot, I won't fall."
"Unless you lost your footing...or I pushed you."
"Not helping."
He held up his hands in surrender. He cracked a smile as if in hopes it'd infect her, but she remained blank faced - still wistfully looking up at the stars. He let out a breath and did the same.
"I'm here to check up on you." He said as he raised a hand - tracing the sky so one of its shapes could be revealed to her. "You seemed on edge earlier."
If that's what you could call her poking at an unconscious body, then yeah, she was just abiton edge.
"I was," Maia agreed with a small nod. She tilted her head over at him to attempt a smile - it felt wrong on her face at a time like this. "But I'm fine now."
She looked back at the sky so she didn't have to see that concerned face of his. It wasn't just him - if it were anyone really - she'd want to blurt out every tiny detail of things she knew since she understood how to comprehend things with just making eye contact alone. Fidgeting with something usually took her mind off of things - so thank Hestia for the beads around her neck that endeared her endless fidgeting. True soldiers they were.
Luke hummed - tracing out another constellation. "Y'know, for some reason, I don't believe you."
"Probably 'cause one of the Stolls snagged a few of your braincells." She suggested in a casual tone with a shrug - earning a laugh from her brother.
"Or," he said as he tapped her nose - causing her to scrunch up her face in response. "Maybe because you're still on edge."
Maia felt her gaze drop from the sky subconsciously - now looking down at her hands fiddling with her array of camp beads. She let out a small breath as if to confirm that fact. The look on his face softened - dropping his playful demeanor.
"Que pasa? Is it about the new kid?" He asked - his gaze dropping to her beads when he noticed her grip tightening on it. He looked back at her - his eyebrows furrowed. "Or is it—"
"Stop," Maia said - visibly wincing as her shoulders tensed. "Please. I don't want to talk about it."
She quickly sat upright - which was a mistake as her head felt heavy and her vision darkened with stars of their own forming for a second until it finally cleared. She leaned against her leg, which she regretted doing as that caused her to take a look down.Nowshe was worried about falling. Worst case scenarios started to flood into her head.
She brushed the thoughts aside. "Just those dreams. Nothing to do with the new kid."
Luke sat up and reached over to her. "Maia—"
He stopped when she stood up and he instinctively held out his arm in front of her to ensure she didn't fall. "What are you doing?"
"My hair's frizzy." She said with a shrug - carefully starting to walk across the wood of the roof to get back to the window of the Hermes cabin.
"Well, then," Luke announced as he stood up - placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll help."
Maia glanced down at the hand on her shoulder before looking back up at him - a small light coming to her eyes. "Don't cut it, alright? I know I need it trimmed, so just do me a favor and not point that out."
"Wasn't planning on it." He said while giving her shoulder a squeeze. The grin on his face said otherwise.
As her day started - it got harder to ignore the worried looks her brother would throw at her. In turn, she made sure to seem as normal as possible. Thinking of it now - this probably only made her seem even more off. So, in response to that, Luke seemed to have taken it upon himself to try and help improve her mood. Which translated to him being more annoying than usual.
She appreciated the effort. It honestly had her distracted from her earlier thoughts. Which was exactly what she needed - a distraction from all the thoughts building up in her head. She told herself she was feeling better to make herself feel better. Odd how that worked.
It was around midday - everyone now being up and moving. She was sitting on her bed that was the top bunk in the Hermes Cabin. Her legs were dangling off the edge - relaxed for the most part. At least trying to. For about theseventhtime now she swatted her brother's hand away from her curls, giving him a halfhearted glare. In return he gave her an innocent smile. She would try to hold that angry look for as long as she could - which was about four seconds until she sighed with a small grin on her face.
"By all the stars, you're sostupid." Maia said as she shook her head.
Luke chuckled and pushed her shoulder - making her fall back with a huff.
"Least I'm smart enough to check a pulse." He teased.
"Least I'm smart enough to not fall for the same—" She cut herself off as she sat upright - pointing at something behind him.
"Ay, there goes Zenaida!"
Out of instinct, he started to turn - his eyes bright with excitement. Then he stopped and turned to face her with a glare. He shoved her again as she erupted into a laughing fit.
"I can't ever tell if your being serious." Luke huffed.
His sister shrugged after she got up - making a small motion with her hand to something (or nothing) behind him. "Maybe I am. Or maybe not.No sé. Will he take the risk?"
The answer to that was yes. Regardless of if she was really there or not, the answer was always yes. It was more of a statement at this point.
Luke crossed his arms and looked around as if considering. He started lightly tapping his finger against his elbow. Maia continued to watch him - clearly amused. He furrowed his brows and attempted to peek over his shoulder a few times before shaking his head.
"Screw it," he muttered - though she guessed that was an alternative for something else.
He turned around. "Everly?"
"Yeah, I'm here." Zenaida said with a small nod and teasing grin.
She was pretty - there was no denying that. From her earthy brown skin to her hazel eyes that reminded Maia of homemade cookies thatweren'tburnt. Her long black hair (which seemed auburn at times) was twisted into knotless braids bedizened with silver cuffs around them.
Something Maia noticed was that she always had her hair over her ears - purposely pulling her braids over them. She'd also have her hands stuffed in a pocket or clenched by her sides. It was an odd tic Maia's seen her do even since Zenaida first arrived. But she wasn't about to ask about it.
Also, she has an eyebrow piercing. Could you blame Maia for being alittlesuspicious of her?
"I'm here too." Chris piped in as he raised a hand.
That went ignored by Luke as he was quick to pull Zenaida into a hug - only then mumbling a quick greeting to his friend. Maia pursed her lips and rolled her eyes, then she smiled at Chris while giving him a small wave which improved his mocked annoyed mood.
Zenaida pecked Luke's cheek before they pulled apart - their hands latched together. "I got an update on the new kid." She said.
The younger girl slightly tensed. "He's all good, now up and about. Although, poor kiddo lost his mom. He'll be here in a minute and bringing it up probably won't do no good...so if ya could just help him around that would be enough."
Maia now had the urge to ruffle some feathers.
But she didn't feel like getting any feathers from her jar - so she settled for fidgeting with her hands. Her brother was already casting her a glance. Messing with her beads would only enhance his worry.
"In summary, don't poke him, Maia." Chris teased as he poked her leg.
"Listen," she said. "I did that to see if he was still breathing."
"It did wake him up." Zenaida agreed with a nod.
Luke gave her a look and bumped her hip with his. "Don't encourage her."
"In my defense," Maia started. "I now have dagger practice. I'll socialize later."
"You don't practice during this hour." Zenaida pointed out.
Curse her and her love for normal routines. Then again, other half-bloods craved to be able to have a regular schedule. If lunch wasn't the only thing consistent in their day-to-day life, then that itself seemed like a blessing from the Gods.
Maia simply shrugged - hopping down from her top bunk with Chris helping her stabilize her landing. She mumbled a quick thank you before facing the older half-bloods.
"I'm just experimenting. Just to, uh, shake things a little." She tried explaining as she inched away - the phrase feeling weird on her tongue.
Luke gave her that same look from this morning. "Maia—"
"See you later!" She said before she sprinted off out of the Hermes Cabin.
★彡'｡﹏ৎ۶٩و౨
Maia managed to avoid the new kid for about a day.
Aday.
Which, in hindsight, the meeting was inevitable. Not even just due to the fact that they shared the same cabin. Just due to...other reasons. But even still she had tried to prolong that for as long as she could drag it out for. She was dreading every second - every step feeling as if she was walking closer to a battlefield.
At the moment, she was doing dagger practice.
Maia stood in a secluded area in the forest, the white and red circles of the target being elevated by wooden stilts standing about ten feet away from her. She had made sure to warn the area just in case a wandering nymph or satyr decided to stroll past to see what she was doing - only to end up with a battle wound to show their friends.
She took in a breath, unsheathing a blade from the pockets of her black arm warmers. Her fingers carefully curled around the hilt of the dagger, her dark eyes transfixing on the cool metal before transferring to the target in front.
She stood sideways - her back straight, feet together, eyes fixated on the small white circle that was dented with small lines. Her eyebrows furrowed together - her left one feeling strained due to a small cut that intercepted its side. She took a step, stretching her arm back and twisting her body towards the target while her arm struck down - letting her dagger fly from her hand.
The dagger soared - the bronze metal just barely setting itself near the middle edge.
C'mon, you can do better than that.A familiar voice teased, making a small smile ghost Maia's lips.
At the same time, another voice whispered,not good enough.That just made it hurt to smile.
No no no! Tais-toi! Don't listen to that. Just breathe.The other voice said - Maia hummed in response to the angel on her shoulder. At least, that's what it felt like the voices were at times. Other times she'd wish for both voices to just shut up and go away. But most times, the angel was welcomed.
Maia unsheathed her other dagger.Restart your stance.Stood sideways, back straight, feet together, eyes fixated on the target.Take a step. No, not until you take a breath.With a small grin she took in small breath.Alright,nowtake a step.She stepped off to the side and threw her arm down - her grin broadening as there was the satisfying ping of her dagger colliding with the middle circle of the target.
She turned around with an excited smile on her face - feeling like a kid again (despite the fact that she still was). Though, her face fell when she realized that no one was there - when it hit her that she was alone out here.
With a small sigh - she walked over to pick up her two daggers, watching as the metallic color glinted when it caught the light of the sun. She sheathed one - Μάιος, which had scratched paintings of flowers on its handle - in her right arm warmer and her other - Αστρικό σμήνος, which had constellations integrated in its handle - in her left. As if it didn't hurt enough to look at Μάιος, but seeing the chipped paintings definitely did now.
Maia hummed and stood a little straighter. "I can feel you watching me." She said in a sing-song voice - though it sounded strained.
Originally (and as usual), she was planning on turning around to glare at her brother - but she barely got to whip her head around before she felt his hand on top of her head. One of these days she was going to chop off his hand with her dagger. She swore it.
"Guilty," Luke announced proudly - holding his head high and ruffling her curls. "And don't run away as I come with a bargain."
She paused. She ducked away from his hand - her eyes practically sparkling with the idea of any sort of bargain or risk. No matter what her mood was - it was something she couldn't resist making. "A bargain you say?"
Maia tilted her head up thoughtfully as she looked to the sky as if thinking. Luke - knowing that she wasn't - sighed and looked at something behind him. It was probably nothing and he was just trying to get back at her for yesterday.
"Okay...I'm listening." She said slowly - a familiar mischievous grin finding home on her face after so long. "What's the case?"
Luke held up a hand - a sign to pause. After a second, he turned his hand and held out his pinky finger to her. She raised a brow - but shrugged with a nod. She linked her pinky with his and laughed when he kissed her cheek. Unfortunately, this meant that she was now bound to accept any terms and conditions of this bargain. But that's what made it all the more interesting in her mind.
"What's for me, what's for you?" Maia asked as she rubbed her cheek. A common phrase exchanged between the two.
Something shifted in his expression. "Don't run off— or poke him for that matter—"
"Sorry, what now?" She said - her calm expression now a bit pained.
"We were just trying to help the new kid find his talents," he explained rather quickly. "So, I just figured you could show him a thing or two."
She took in a breath and clasped her hands together. "So, you want to see if he's any good at throwing knives?"
"Basically." He nodded.
"What's for me?" She asked as she pointed at herself.
"My dessert, a few feathers," he gave her a teasing grin. "And a social life."
Maia scrunched her face and gave him a look.
"And you can design my next bead."
She perked up at that - then hesitated. "What's for you?"
"One less thing to worry about. Well, more than one, really." He corrected himself with a shrug.
Once seeing her skeptical look, he chuckled and then added. "And you'll get me that one bracelet."
"Alright..." She said slowly while her eyes narrowed at him. Then again, it wasn't like she could back out of the deal. "Sure, whatever. When do you want this to happen?"
"Preferably? Right now."
Madre de Dios."Alright. Where's he at?" She said - forcing a smile and crossing her arms.
Luke gave her a grin and turned around to gesture at something (well,someone) to come over. Panic was ever so gradually increasing with every step the new kid took towards them. It was moments like this when she wished her dagger could do other things other than cut through stuff. Maybe it could've added in a teleportation feature so she could disappear into the abyss. Only for forever.
Helooked relatively the same when she saw him. But now the sun was casting a faint glow behind him - making him look angelic. He had the same waves of blond hair, same sandy skin dotted in freckles, same damned pretty blue eyes of his. The same reason she now would never watch the sunset over the ocean and didn't go searching for things in the grainy sand.
It wasn't on purpose - she hadn't even realized she was doing it, but her eyes were slightly narrowed at him. When his confused look became more guarded - that's when she caught herself. But she made no effort to change her look.
"Percy," Luke said as he clasped the new kid's shoulder. She almost winced at the sound of his name. "This is my sister, the one I've been telling you about."
"You look lost." Maia pointed out after she examined his -Percy'sconfused expression.
Luke slapped her elbow and gave her a look - making her huff in protest. He gave Percy a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about her, she just acts scary."
She was about to deny his claim but shut her mouth after he gave her another look. Bickering with her brother probably wouldn't give him a good look - so she kept quiet.
"Well, she's not entirely wrong." Percy begrudgingly admitted with a small shrug.
"That's what we're here for," Luke said. "We'll get you on track."
"Eventually. Maybe. Most demigods here still don't know what's going on and they've been here for years." Maia muttered bluntly.
She saw the look on the boys' faces and cleared her throat. "Anyway, you're here for a dagger lesson, yeah? Ever play baseball or softball?"
Percy blinked at her rapid speaking. "Uhm, no."
"Great, then picturing this as a knife shouldn't be an issue." Maia said as she unsheathed Αστρικό σμήνος - grabbing his wrist and slapping the hilt in his palm.
He looked down at the dagger - likely noticing the design of it. "Whywouldn'tI think of this as a knife? That's what this is."
"Technically it's adagger." The Castellan siblings said - Maia saying that to correct herself while Luke said it to be annoying.
She glared at her brother - who held his hands up in surrender and took a few steps back. "Yes, it's a knife. I even cut food with it occasionally."
Not giving Percy any time to react she tugged him over to guide him in front of the target. Glancing over at it for a moment she nudged him a little - causing him to stumble. He narrowed his eyes and she shrugged innocently. Luke sat down on a nearby log and gave the two an encouraging smile, which faltered when his sister took out Μάιος.
"For now, just watch what I do." Maia said as she tossed her dagger up and caught it by the handle - knowing it made Luke cringe in worry.
Percy gave her a nod, so she took in a breath and tried to pretend that a different pair of blue eyes were on her. It was difficult to do as his eyes were more like ocean waters that had nervous ripples disrupting the serene calmness— No, Maia, shut up and focus!
Taking in a breath her gaze flickered over from Percy, her brother, and the finally set on the target. She twisted her body to the side and held up her dagger. Stepping forward she slashed her arm down and watched as her dagger spun towards the target.Ping!
She couldn't keep the small grin off of her face as she tilted her head over at the two to see their reaction. Luke, of course, was giving her an exaggerated cheer while Percy was looking at her with wide eyes.
Maia coughed and dropped her smile. "Great, now you go."
"Sorry, what?" Percy sputtered and watched as she sat down next to her brother - who rested his elbow on her head.
She made a gesture over to the target. He looked down at the dagger and then back at her. "It's not the best idea to be giving me a sharp metal object. Are there any practice daggers or just ones where I can't stab anyone's eye out?"
"None that I'm aware of." Maia said with a shrug.
"Take your time. No need to rush it." Luke reassured.
Percy casted them another nervous glance before looking over at the target. He took in a few breaths - gripping onto the dagger so tightly that she was pretty sure she could see the outline of his veins.
The siblings watched as he tried copying her stance - albeit not as grounded as his feet were more awkwardly placed. He took a step forward and held up her dagger just a little too high which was when something caught Maia's eyes.
"Percy, wait, watch out for the bird—"
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"Is there a Greek God of disappointment? Maybe someone should ask him if he's missing a kid."
Maia glanced up from the quill in her hand when Percy spoke up. It was around lunch now and as he didn't really know anyone else; he took it upon himself to stay attached to at least one of the Castellan's hips. They were sitting down with Chirs - Zenaida having been dragged off by some of the younger kids to Luke's dismay.
"There's a Greek God for everything." Maia said as she scooped up a mouthful of peas.
Her brother was about to say something most likely reassuring, but Maia had lazily pointed her thumb over at Chris before he said. "Oizys."
"But she's a goddess." She pointed out.
Chris nodded. "Plus, her whole thing isn't really disappointment, it's more...failure."
Maia hummed in agreement. The two went back to eating the food on their plates - oblivious to the slight drop in Percy's mood as he gave the two a confused look. She probably would've continued on like that if not for Luke elbowing her side - making her cough as she tried avoiding choking on her food.
"We're gonna find the thing that you're good at." Luke said after giving her a pointed look. "I know it."
Whether or not that reassured Percy hadn't really lingered in her mind to begin with and definitely didn't after a bell had chimed. A lot of kids compared it to the bells at their school which apparently signaled for them to switch classes. Maia would admit that the idea had her curious to how that worked.
"Our turn." Luke said - the three standing up as Percy hesitated.
"Our turn for what?" He asked.
"Burnt offerings," Luke explain while Maia placed the feather on her plate. "The Gods like the smell, so it gets their attention before you say a prayer."
"They like the smell of burnt mac and cheese?" Percy deadpanned.
"They like the smell of begging." Chris corrected with a grin.
He nudged Maia when she cracked a laugh. She nudged him back in return while Luke simply shook his head and chuckled at their antics. Maia walked beside Chris as they chatted - her look softening when she looked down at the feather.
"You burn what you miss the most. Then they know you really mean what you're about to say, so they'll listen."
