TW: Mentions of self-harm

Sylvia looked around the gym. Weird thing she'd been told about military schools: the kids go absolutely nuts when there's a special event and they get to be out of uniform. Probably because everything's so strict the rest of the time, so they feel like they've got to overcompensate or something.

There were black and red balloons all over the gym floor, and some guys were kicking them in each other's faces, or trying to strangle each other with the crepe-paper streamers taped to the walls.

Immature ass—I mean idiots, Sylvia corrected herself, remembering there was now a phoenix listening in to most of her thoughts.

I agree, Fawkes said—squawked? Thought? Whatever, "said" is easier to understand. And look at those girls. The ones covered in makeup and wearing those too-bright pants and shoes. They burn my eyes, and I can only get occasional glimpses from your pocket.

Says the glowing phoenix, Sylvia reminded her.

Every once in a while, the girls would surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in their hair and a bunch of makeup gradditi all over their face. Some of the older guys looked more like how Austin would probably react in this situation–uncomfortable, hanging out at the edges of the gym and trying to hide, like any minute they might have to fight for their lives.

"There they are." Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angelo."

Sylvia's first thought when she saw them was she'd protect them with her life. The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy–who looked so precious–was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something was wrong.

Annabeth said, "Do they...I mean, have you told them?"

Grover shook his head. "You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger."

"So let's grab them and get out of here," Percy said.

He started forward, but Sylvia grabbed his hand and yanked him back. The vice principal, Dr. Thorn, had slipped out of a doorway near the bleachers and was standing near the di Angelo siblings. He nodded coldly in their direction. His one blue eye seemed to glow.

Judging by his expression, Sylvia guessed he wasn't being fooled by whatever the Hades that music-trance thing was anymore. He suspected who her and her friends (well, friend, sort-of friend, acquaintance, and enemy) were. He was just waiting to see why they were there.

"Don't look at the kids," Sylvia ordered.

Thalia nodded. "We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we're not interested in them. Throw him off the scent."

"How?" Percy asked.

"We're four powerful half-bloods. Our presence should confuse him," Thalia explained. "Mingle. Act natural. Do some dancing. But keep an eye on those kids."

"Dancing?" Annabeth asked, looking slightly disgusted, and with a rush of emotion Sylvia realized she could ask Annabeth to dance with her.

Sylvia shrugged and nodded. She cocked her ear to the music and made a face. "Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?"

Grover looked hurt, and Sylvia almost felt bad for him. Until Percy glared at her. "I did."

"Oh my gods, Grover," Thalia exclaimed. "That is so lame. Can't you play, like, Green Day or something?"

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "Green Day? Meh. BTS, now..." she trailed off as "Butter" by BTS started playing.

"How–" Percy started, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Maybe Dad?" Sylvia questioned, also furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "He is the god of music, after all."

Do you know what it is, Fawkes?

Yes. I can't tell you, though.

Of course you can't, sighed Sylvia.

"Never mind," Thalia said. "Let's dance."

"But I can't dance!"

"You can if I'm leading," Thalia told him. "Come on, goat boy."

Grover yelped as Thalia grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor.

They all stood there awkwardly. A guy walked up to them and nervously asked Sylvia if she'd like to dance with him, but she cut him off with a single look and he scurried away.

"That wasn't very nice, Sylvia," Annabeth scolded her. Sylvia just shrugged. His fault for approaching her.

Sylvia tried to calm her nerves, which had just hit her like the tide hitting a rock on a stormy day. This was her chance. She could ask Annabeth to dance with her. She opened her mouth to do just that, when Thalia called out, "Hey!" to them. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping all over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and overall looking like he wanted to die.

"Dance, you guys!" she ordered. "You look stupid just standing there."

Sylvia decided not to mention how almost everybody else was doing the exact thing, and just rolled her eyes.

"Well?" Annabeth said.

"Um, who should I ask?" Percy asked.

Annabeth punched him in the gut. "Me, Seaweed Brain."

Sylvia's heart sunk like an anchor on the Princess Andromeda. She knew Annabeth. If she liked Sylvia, and wanted to dance with her, she would've told her to dance with her instead of Percy. Of course she'd want to dance with him, her new best friend. Why would she remember her old best friend?

"Oh. Oh, right," Percy said, and Sylvia wanted nothing more than to shoot him in his dumb fish face right then and there. She watched them go over to the dance floor, then looked away, not wanting to have to watch them.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, why can't it be me, I hate him so much, hasn't he ruined my life enough—

Sylvia. I understand how you're feeling, but you should do as Thalia said earlier and find someone to dance with, Fawkes said.

But Annabeth...

I know.

A girl walked over to Sylvia. "You don't like her dancing with him, do you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows slightly to emphasize the question.

"I–how–" Sylvia started, knowing there was no use in lying.

"You were staring at them. You must really like him," she said.

"Him? Ew, no. I like her," Sylvia said without thinking—a common occurence for her—immediately regretting it when she saw the girl's face wrinkle. Camp Half-Blood was such an LGBTQ+ safe area, she sometimes forgot homophobia existed.

"Ewww. So you're, like, gay? Stay away from me, loser," she said, walking away and joining a group of friends. She said something to them, then pointed at Sylvia. They all laughed, then walked towards her.

Frick.

Sylvia couldn't exactly fight them and bring attention to herself, so she just stood there, glaring at them and hoping they'd back off. They didn't. They surrounded her like vultures.

What do I do? I can't attack them. Maybe I can run–nope. Too surrounded. I swear to Percy's father I'll curse him when I escape from these people. All his fault I'm here and not with Annabeth. Nobody would approach us if both of us were glaring at them.

Maybe I could help? Fawkes suggested. But that would cause more attention. I will if you'd like me too, though.

"So you're gay?" one of them asked. "You realize those people go to hell and burn there forever? Enjoy your short, sinful life on Earth. Pretty soon, you'll be dead, and in eternal punishment." They all cackled at that.

Sylvia pursed her lips. Every once in a while, she wondered if Hades did put all members of the LGBTQ+ community in the Fields of Punishment. But, then again, most of the gods themselves weren't 100% straight. Hades hated those very same gods, though, which probably wouldn't help with his decision.

"Homosexuality is unnatural, and I bet homosexuals like you are just straight people in denial, asking for attention," another laughed. Their circle drew closer.

That hurt a lot, especially because that was something Sylvia questioned a lot. She'd spent multiple hours alone in different places at camp, crying and trying to figure out who she was. She had no idea how to deal with emotions like that, because she was usually in control of her feelings. Because of that, she knew little to no good ways to expell those bad emotions. She'd even resorted to self-harm a few times–that is, before Clarisse found her and showed her healthier ways to deal with it, like punching people.

Let me burn them. Please. Fawkes's voice was extremely dangerous now.

"Don't get too close, girls!" the original girl Sylvia talked to exclaimed. "She might be contagious!" Sylvia stiffened. That was crossing the line.

"How about you all shut up and leave me alone, and maybe the entire school won't have to hear your shrieks of pain," she growled.

"Oh, she can talk! I'm soo scared!" someone new said. Sylvia gritted her teeth. She was attracting attention. "What'll you do, kiss us?"

I'll murder them. Sylvia wasn't sure if it was Fawkes or herself who thought this. Maybe both.

Another opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, a young voice called out, "Oh, is that a rat? Yeah, right by that circle of girls!"

The people surrounding Sylvia squealed and ran away as quickly as they'd come. Sylvia looked for her saviour, only to notice it was the one and only Nico di Angelo.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, concern showing in his chocolate brown eyes.

"I'm fine, thanks to you." She smiled at him. "You're a hero!"

He grinned at that. "Like the ones in my card game, Mythomagic! Achilles and Hercules and Theseus and..." Dr. Thorn stepped in between them.

"Excusez-moi, am I interrupting something?" he asked.

Sylvia cleared her throat. "Non, monsieur."

"Good. I would like to see that piece of homework, Ms. Sylvia," he told her, placing a hand on the small of her back and leading her away from Nico.

"I gave it to my friend, sir," she lied quickly, not missing the I hate him look Nico was giving her as they walked farther away from the boy and out of sight, a few different friend groups in between them.

"Hurry up, then," he snarled.

Sylvia ran through the crowd, looking for Percy and Annabeth or Thalia and Grover. She almost ran into the homophobic girls again, and decided, as an act of revenge, to curse them. She heard them singing in terrible pitches (she didn't curse people that often, so being able to make the singing bad was a new discovery), and smirked to herself. They'd just have to wonder what that was about. She eventually found Grover and Thalia, who were still dancing. "We need to hurry. Thorn is expecting me to give him a piece of homework any second now, which I don't have."

Annabeth cleared her throatfrom behind Sylvia. She almost jumped, not having noticed her before. "The di Angelo siblings are gone! So's the monster."

Sugar honey iced tea.

* * *

"We have to jump off the cliff," Sylvia heard Percy whisper as she neared the edge of the rocky ground. Grover had received an empathy link message from Percy, and they immediately rushed towards the site. "Into the sea."

"Oh super idea," a girl's voice, presumably Bianca, said. "You're completely nuts, too."

An invisible force–Annabeth–slammed into both of them and Nico, knocking them to the ground. Sylvia drew her bow and nocked six arrows, aiming them all at different parts of Dr. Thorn, and was about to fire them when a volley of missiles got launched at her group, so she had to aim at them instead. Her arrows hit each of the missiles, slicing straight into them. But she didn't shoot enough arrows, and had to take cover behind Thalia's shield to avoid the rest.

If you've never seen Thalia run into battle, you have never been truly frightened. Actually, scratch that, Syvlia's mom was much scarier than the shield. Its name was Aegis, and had the head of Medusa molded into the bronze, and even though it won't turn you to stone, it's so horrible, most people will panic and run at the sight of it.

Thalia, Grover, and Sylvia advanced, Sylvia nocking more arrows. Dr. Thorn winced and growled when he saw it.

Thalia moved in with her spear. "For Zeus!"

Thalia stabbed at the monster's head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. Sylvia wanted to shoot more arrows at him, but Thalia was in the way. Dr. Thorn swatted Thalia aside, causing her to fall back and her shield to emit sparks at the contact.

Sylvia's attention was stolen for a moment by the sound of a helicopter getting close to them, but she didn't dare look. Instead, she took advantage of the fact Thalia was out of the way to shoot arrows at Dr. Thorn. But he just ducked, and the arrows whizzed by his head. She went to grab more arrows, then noticed she only had three left.

I can help, Fawkes offered.

Please do, Sylvia begged, grabbing out a few celestial bronze shurikens she kept in her pockets in case she ran out of arrows. She was really good at using them, but not as good as she was at the bow, and they weren't as effective.

Fawkes leaped out of her pocket, turning to her regular size again, and flew above the monster that had just changed from its human form to its monster form—the manticore.

Of course it has to be a manticore. Can't be a normal monster that doesn't have a human face, lion body, and a sort of scorpion-like tail, Sylvia thought irritatedly as she threw a few shurikens at him and he leaped above them easily.

"A manticore!" Annabeth said, now visible. Her magical New York Yankees cap had come off when she'd plowed into the di Angelos and Percy.

"Who are you people?" Bianca demanded, and Sylvia felt bad for her. She had no idea what was happening. And what is that?"

"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

Sylvia assumed this was something from his card game, Mythomagic.

Fawkes suddenly swooped down on the manticore, but changed course at the last second as he charged at her and tried to swipe her out of the sky. She kept on repeating the same tactic, slightly distracting Dr. Thorn, especially as she caught fire, but he still had his spikes. He shot them at Percy, who tapped a wristwatch and made metal plating in it spiral into a thick bronze shield. The thorns hit it with such force they dented it.

Sylvia watched as Grover flew beside Percy with a yelp and a thud.

"Yield!" the monster yelled, and Sylvia grabbed two throwing knives.

"Never!" she and Thalia yelled in sync, although Thalia was across the field. She charged the manticore, and Sylvia aimed her knives at him, about to throw them. But then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind them. The helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. The helicopter had to be manned by mortals, but what was it doing here? How could mortals be working with a monster? Sylvia doubted they'd found many clear-sighted mortals willing to help them.

The searchlights blinded Thalia, and they would've blinded Sylvia if she hadn't been immune to bright lights. The manticore swatted Thalia away with its tail. Her shield flew off into the snow. Her spear flew in the other direction.

"No!" Percy ran out to help her, parrying away a spike with his sword just before it would've hit Thalia's chest, and Sylvia took the chance to throw her knives as Fawkes distracted him again.

At the last second, the manticore swatted the knives away like mosquitoes. Sylvia's heart dropped, her hope of survival dropping with it.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "Don't you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

Sylvia thought of the goddess Hestia, whom she had talked to at camp the first day she arrived there. She had talked about how she yielded her throne at Olympus so Dionysus could have it and wouldn't start a war. She'd said yielding was bravery sometimes. Sylvia wondered if this was one of those times, then shook her head. They'd survive. They weren't getting captured. She just didn't know how they'd do it. She didn't have enough arrows to shoot at him without him just swatting them all out of the air at once. Fawkes would eventually tire out, or mess up and get swatted.

Then Sylvia heard a familiar, clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.

The Hunters.

The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said, and Sylvia realized she could probably hit him with an arrow now. "It cannot be–"

His sentence was cut short when two arrows; one from Sylvia, and one from a hunter that looked like a moving beam of moonlight, hit him. They both hit the same shoulder, one glowing bronze and the other glowing silver.

He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

"Curse you!" he cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the hunters were, and quite a few at Sylvia. She shot her last two arrows at the two thorns aimed at her heart, and tried to dodge the rest. Unfortunately, two caught her: one in her shoulder, which seemed ironic, and one in her right leg.

She couldn't tell what was happening by the manticore, since the force of the spikes had thrown her to the ground, and moving her shoulder and leg to get up didn't seem like a good idea, but she eventually managed to wriggle in the right way to watch, letting out a few not-so-heroic whimpers as she did so.

By the sight of the thorns lying, cut completely in half, on the ground, she could tell the Hunters had done the same thing she had done with their arrows, only they hadn't run out of them, like she had.

She saw Artemis's lieutenant, Zoe (I know the e has dots but that's too much work) step forward. She was tall and graceful with coppery coloured skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like a Persian princess. "Permission to kill, my lady?"

That voice is so familiar...from what, though? It isn't just from me hearing her before. I know that much.

Fawkes flew over to Sylvia, and, with a single, Sorry, she yanked the spikes out of Sylvia's shoulder and leg. Sylvia let out a few cries of pain and maybe a couple curse words.

Don't phoenix tears have healing abilities or something? she asked.

Some of them do, she said. Not me, though. Don't children of Apollo also have healing abilities?

I'm not really in the position to touch each of my wounds and sing a hymn to my dad, though, am I?

Touché.

Lady Artemis, the beautiful moon goddess who looked like she was twelve and had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and silvery yellow eyes, like the moon, was saying something about the manticore being a wild beast when Sylvia started to pay attention again.

"Zoe, permission granted," the goddess said.

The manticore growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Thalia and Percy, seeing as they were both weak and dazed.

"No!" Annabeth yelled, and she charged the monster.

Annabeth being in danger was enough for Sylvia to stand up, hissing in pain as she did. She grabbed two more throwing knives, trying to aim for somewhere the monster was at that Annabeth wasn't also at.

"Get back, half-blood!" Zoe said. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But Annabeth leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane.

"Annabeth!" Sylvia cried, trying to get to get, but the poison in her leg and shoulder seemed to suddenly hit her, and she collapsed on the ground.

The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth hung on for dear life.

Sylvia reached her hand out to touch her leg wound, desperately trying to think of a hymn she could sing. All she could think of, though, was the stupid song from Tangled.

"Fire!" Zoe ordered, and all thoughts that weren't of Annabeth immediately left Sylvia's mind.

"No!" Percy screamed, and Sylvia tried to say the same, but could only manage a measly, "Nuh..."

But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the monster in the neck. Another hit his chest. A few others probably hit him, but Sylvia's eyes had become blurry from tears because of how much her wounds hurt.

She could barely see as the manticore leaped off the cliff and tunbled into the darkness, Annabeth still on his back.

Anna...beth. Sylvia could barely think about anything but the pain. She felt so dizzy, and her leg and shoulder were on fire.

Something else seemed to happen, but Sylvia could only focus on both her physical and mental pain. Then, everything went black.

She was vaguely aware of voices, most of them arguing, and footsteps walking over to her. She heard Percy say, "I'm never doing this again, by the way," as he lifted her up into his arms—surprisingly gently, for whatever reason—and carried her to where everyone was talking.

"Who...who are you people?" Bianca di Angelo asked, ignoring her brother's gasp as he must've seen Sylvia's condition.

"It might be a better question, my dear girl..." Artemis said, and Sylvia blacked out. She woke up, still in Percy's arms (ew).

Nico was asking about Zeus's damage points.

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca said, and Sylvia felt a rush of anger at her. He was just curious! "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There aren't any gods!"

"Um, as much as I love this conversation," Percy said, "can we move it some other place? Someone needs to heal Sylvia—not that I care. She's just tiring my arms." (Shooore, buddy. Keep telling yourself that.)

"I'll be–okay," Sylvia said, squeezing her eyes shut tightly in pain. "Keep talking, or whatever. I'm fine. Trust me, the daughter of Apollo."

No, you won't be okay! Fawkes protested. Stop pretending you're fine!

To be honest, Sylvia just didn't want to cause a fuss.

Everyone except Percy seemed to accept she was okay. And maybe Artemis. As the conversation continued–with Percy's constant interjections that she was getting heavier and was not okay and needed immediate medical attention–she could feel the goddess's gaze boring into her.

At some point, Thalia started arguing with Percy. Sylvia so wanted to join her, but she didn't have the energy to. So she just listened.

"Oh you're with me?" Thalia sounded furious. "What were you thinking back there in the gym, Percy?"

That isn't fair, Fawkes said. She would've done the same thing.

"You'd take on Dr. Thorn all by yourself? You knew he was a monster!"

"I–"

"If we'd stuck together, we could've taken him without the Hunters getting involved. Annabeth might still be here. Did you think of that?"

Annabeth. Sylvia's heart twinged.

We'll save her, Fawkes promised. We'll save her or die trying.

Sylvia's eye caught something. "Annabeth's hat," she murmured, quiet enough that only Percy heard her. He leaned down–Sylvia still in his arms–and picked her New York Yankees baseball cap off the ground.

Thalia didn't say anything else. She wiped a tear from her cheek, turned, and marched off, leaving Sylvia and Percy alone.

Sylvia's arm moved slightly in Percy's grasp as he gazed around, not sure what to do, and she hissed in pain, almost going completely unconscious.

"You need–" he started.

"I'm fine," she replied calmly, although the green spreading around her wounds said otherwise.

"Don't try that bullshit on me. It won't work," Percy informed her.

Finally, someone sensible, Fawkes remarked. Sylvia was in too much pain to answer.

"Now, where did they go? You need to get to some sort of healer." Percy said, then hurriedly added, "Because you're hurting my arms."

The Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around one side of a bonfire. One of the girls blew a silver dog whistle, and a dozen white wolves appeared out of the woods. They began circling the camp like guard dogs. The Hunters walked among them and fed them treats.

Falcons watched them from the trees, their eyes flashing in the firelight, and Fawkes told Sylvia, after a conversation of squawks, that they were on guard duty.

Percy found a place to lie Sylvia down, and gingerly did so, immediately finding a healer to apply various medicines to her.

Sylvia blacked out for the umpteenth time, and when she woke up, Nico was standing over her with a worried expression. When he saw her open eyes, he said, "Morning! Or night? I dunno what time it is. But, whatever time it is, hello! Percy told me all of your names. Sylvia is such a pretty name! Can I call you Syl, though?"

"Um, sure," she said.

He grinned. "Awesome. By the way, your shoulder and leg were green earlier. They're just really pale now, though."

I adore him, Fawkes said.

Same, Sylvia told her.

Sylvia sat up, stopping herself from crying out in pain. It didn't hurt too much anymore, but it still stung.

"Can I see your game?" she asked Nico. "Mythomagic, I think it was called?"

"Sure!" He sat down on the bed beside Sylvia and rummaged through his bag.

"Big collection," Percy said, and Sylvia realized, for the first time, that he was still there. Grover was, too.

Nico grinned. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."

"How long have you been playing this for?" Sylvia questioned.

"For about a year," Nico informed them proudly. "Before that..." He knit his eyebrows.

"What is it?" Syvlia asked.

"I forget. That's weird."

He looked unsettled, but it didn't last long. "Hey, can I see that sword you were using? And that bow? Those were so cool!"

After they showed him—Sylvia noticing her quiver was full of arrows again and thanking the gods that the Hunters used bows—he asked them a few rapid-fire questions.

"Does your sword ever run out of ink?"

"Um, I don't actually write with it."

"Can you, though?" Sylvia was genuinely curious.

"Why do you care?" he asked.

"So I can say I stabbed you with nothing but the lead from a pen."

"Are you really the son of Poseidon?"

"Well, yeah."

"Who are you the daughter of?"

"Apollo."

"Cool! Can both of you surf really well, then?"

Percy looked at Grover, who was trying hard not to laugh.

"Jeez, Nico," Percy said. "I've never really tried."

"I've never got the chance." Sylvia shrugged.

He went on asking questions. Did Percy fight a lot with Thalia, since she was a daughter of Zeus? (Percy didn't answer that one, so Sylvia did for him.) Could Sylvia get sunburned? (She showed him the sun-related powers she had.) If Annabeth's mother was Athena, the goddess of wisdom, why didn't Annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff? (Percy looked like he was trying not to strangle Nico, and Sylvia softly explained to him that it was an act of bravery, not stupidity, that made Annabeth fall.) Was Annabeth Percy's girlfriend? (He shook his head, telling him he'd never thought about her that way, and Sylvia stiffened.) Was Percy her boyfriend? (She told him if Percy was the last man on Earth, she'd stab him.)

He opened his mouth to ask another question, but then Zoe Nightshade came up to them.

"Sylvia La Rue. Artemis has a proposition for you."

Well, that happened. Also, for the part where there were homophobic people, I wasn't sure what to say. I don't understand why anyone would be homophobic unless it was a religious viewpoint, so I just had to wing it.

Also—jeez, over 4k words. Most of it is edited, there are just a few parts where I was like, "Nah."

QOTD: Are you part of the LGBTQ+ community? If you are, what part of it are you in (e.g. your sexuality, gender, are you trans, demi, etc.)

Anyways, cya later

-Eevee