Chapter Text
How do you make friends? By invading each other's bedrooms in the middle of the night. And that´s exactly how I met James.
I stood in my pyjamas with my sword raised in front of a boy kneeling on the floor. My sword was dangerously close to his neck, and he looked like a wet dog that had just been told he had to stay out that night. He tried not to let his fear show, but he didn't quite succeed in that.
I narrowed my eyes in annoyance: “Why the fuck would you get in someone's window at half past eleven?”
“Why wonder woman, I wonder?”
At his question, my sword moved further in his direction.
He slowly raised his arms imploringly, as if I were a horse gone wild, and this movement reminded me very much of Hermes apologizing to me in that pose a few weeks ago after I kicked him in the balls.........hmmm yeah, right, that moment was really awkward.
“Are you a son of Hermes?”
Sometimes I was very smart after all…
“Did my good looks give that away?” He waggled his eyebrows playfully and grinned broadly.
“No, just your big mouth!”
His grin disappeared in a matter of seconds. He licked his lips nervously.
"He told me you were a pretty face, but nothing behind it. He was probably lying, since you're very good with that thing." He pointed to my weapon with one hand.
I glanced at my sword, which I was still clutching tightly.
“Who?”
“What?”
“Who said that?”
“Ares.”
“...Ares?”
I was confused, then it clicked, and I got angry, very angry.
"Ares sent you after me?! Answer me!"
"Gladly, as long as you leave me in one piece, Merida. My name is James, by the way. James Ducanon."
"Did I ask? Next you'll be saying your other father's name is Bond."
“Would be cool tough,” he admitted.
“Would be stupid,” I replied.
He again. “What did you do to make Ares set me on you, princess?”
"He started it, I just wiped it off him. It's not my problem that he's wearing pink underwear with hearts and his pants slipped down by accident, right at the council meeting last month," I grinned mischievously.
James looked at me, dumbfounded, then burst out laughing. "Oh my gods, you did what? HAHA You'd really please Percy, especially after what you did!"
I slowly lowered my sword. "Percy, as in Percy Jackson? You're from camp?“
”Didn't the orange shirt give it away?"
“I'm not an owl you idiot!”
“You still haven't told me what your name is?” he countered.
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that Ares said: Hey kid, there's some brat that's been bugging me, please turn her into mush!?"
"That's right, he told me like that. Pretty stupid, isn't it?“ He just shrugged his shoulders: ”I found out where you live and you know the rest anyway!"
As I looked at the son of Hermes, I had a really cool idea. The guy didn't know who I was and therefore didn't know that I was basically trapped here. Over the last few weeks, I had tried to persuade Zeus to love his granddaughter and then help me find my parents, but to no avail. The god had feelings like a rock. He had grounded me and locked me in my room, and even Hera couldn't do anything about it.
That idiot in front of me was my ticket out, to the outside world, to camp, anywhere, just somewhere where no one was holding me and I could look for my fathers.
I held out my hand to him. My mind was made up.
I'M BREAKING OUT!
...
"My name is P...Phoebe! Take me to camp with you!"
“Okey.”
Now I was confused.
“Great,” I said, frowning, why did he give in so easily?
“Yes,” he replied.
He turned around and climbed out of my window and slid down the gutter.
I looked around the room again and climbed out after him. Looking back, that seemed and was very, very stupid. When I reached the bottom, he looked me over from head to toe and started to laugh.
"Please don't tell me you're planning to walk all the way to camp in your pyjamas! Haha!"
I blushed and gave him a good shove so that he fell elegantly backwards into the nearest rose bush. I stubbornly walked off, towards the golden elevator and freedom. Behind me I heard James picking himself up and quickly running after me. Luckily, no one stopped us until we reached the elevator. There was no one on the streets or in the parks. I had barely begun to rejoice when I recognized the shadowy figure standing next to the elevator.
“Hera!”
The Queen of Heaven turned her gaze to me and then to James. Behind me, I heard the Hermes boy draw in a cold breath.
“Hera as in Queen Hera?”
“Shut up boy!” with a wave of her hand she stiffened him.
“What are you doing here?” I looked at her cautiously.
She handed me a backback. “You're going to need this.”
“You're not angry?”
"Well yes I am, but I understand why you want to leave. But I'm telling you, be careful, don't tell anyone who you are and who your parents are, we still don't know who's on your side and who isn't."
“Understood Your Majesty and thank you!”
She just nodded, but I could tell she was slightly pissed off, but most of all she looked very worried. Worried about me!
I took the backpack and Hera disappeared. Behind me, James breathed a sigh of relief, turned back from being stony and all and waved his hands around wildly.
“Where did she go?”
“Who?”
“Hera!”
I just shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes. While the idiot turned around in amazement and confucsion, I pressed the button on the elevator that pointed downwards.
...
The best thing you can do in life? Following a son of Hermes into a crazy cab driven by three sisters with one eye while trying not to shout and after that watch Hephaestus TV for the whole ride to Camp Half Blood.
When we finally arrived at the bottom of Half Blood Hill, the camp was in full turmoil. At the top of the hill, youths in greek armor were running around. James and I jumped up, I drew my sword and together we chased up, only to find that the fight was already over. Campers lay wounded on the ground in orange camp shirts, trees were destroyed and a centaur galloped from one to the other with bow and arrows. James briefly fell over a fallen man and I had to catch him with one hand. Then, after tearing himself away from me, he walked up to a medic kneeling on the ground not far from us and tapped him on the shoulder without saying a word of thanks.
Meanwhile, I spun around and then looked back at James and the medic, and my heart stopped.
Standing in front of me was a man of maybe thirty or a little over. And he looked like Dad. Phil. Light blond-gold hair and sky-blue eyes. Dad had more freckles. Dad was prettier, but he still reminded me a lot of my father, so much so that it hurt all over again.
Just as I was about to say something, someone shouted: “Dad!” and a young boy of maybe ten with blonde hair ran up to him. He whispered something to him, grabbed some bandages and raced off again.
“Sorry, he's very stormy sometimes, he gets it from his father,” the man smiled.
“A...aha,” I tried to smile, but couldn't.
“Will, this is Phoebe, Phoebe William Solace son of Apollo!”
I stared at him. Son of Apollo? That was one of my brothers? And I didn't like the idea, I didn't want to share my father with anyone, especially not someone who looked like him.
“Hello, nice to meet you Mr. Solace.”
William smiled, “Please just Will, otherwise I'll feel old.”
Suddenly someone put a hand firmly on my shoulder, startled I turned around and looked into the purple eyes of the camp director Mr. D, or for those in the know, Dionysus.
“What are you doing here girl?”
“Dionysus!” I was caught out.
“Hera told you to sleep in her hut...Phoebe.”
I looked at him, he looked at me. He wasn't telling on me.
“I quite like my brother and I want him to come home!” he whispered in my ear and I gave him a grateful look.
At dinner, everyone sat together at their tables and looked at me and Mr. D with wide eyes and ears. Chiron, who was standing next to Dionysus, had been looking at me for some time now and it was unpleasant.
"Heroes! This is...is?"
“Phoebe,” I helped him.
"Philip. She's a favorite of my dear stepmother Hera and that's why she'll be sleeping in her cabin, cabin 2 has a new counselor."
That was apparently something negative. Everyone stared at me, annoyed and one cabin even more than all the others. Cabin 5 had found its new victim.