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xxii. the gentle waves of death
arion soon skid to a stop with all four of the demigods still on his back in front of a frozen roman camp that was like a giant-sized ghastly replica of camp jupiter. the trenches bristled with ice spikes, the snow-brick ramparts glared blinding white. hanging from the guard towers, banners of frozen blue cloth shimmered in the arctic sun. the gates stood open. no sentries walked the walls. there seemed to be little to no life present, like it was an abandoned ghost town instead of the bustling camp that camp jupiter was.
arion trotted skittishly.
"guys," percy said, "how about we go on foot from here?"
"thought you'd never ask," frank said with a sigh.
the corners of arcana's lips curled into a mischievous smile from behind them, they hadn't even noticed her presence yet, fortunately. she found that this was the perfect opportunity to scare the living daylights out of percy (why percy, you may ask? perhaps it was because she had a gut feeling something more was going on with gale and percy due to the venus blood in her veins and her protective nature was kicking in for gale... or she just wanted to mess with percy. pick your poison) because.. why not? they could use a few smiles and laughs before they fight probably one of the hardest battles they'd ever fight in their lives.
arcana smirked, walking over to an oblivious percy, whispering into his ear the word, "boo."
percy practically jumped out of his skin, almost tripping over himself as he shot back in fear, looking at arcana with an almost crazed look in his eyes. "holy shit!" he shrieked, holding his hand over his heart like he was afraid of heartache. "you- and the- but- you were at- how the fuck did you get here?!"
"a magician never reveals her secrets," she replied smugly, a cheeky grin spreading across her face.
"well, said magician is deathly afraid of beetles, so take that with a grain of salt," gale revealed, and the revelation cause arcana's smile to disappear in an instant.
"so much for secrets!" arcana shrieked, to the surprise of percy. she cringed at the thought, "they're so... ew, with that weird fuckin' body and those damn wings and that creepy ass face. i'm gonna be sick just thinking about them, they're so icky."
"frank, do you know where to find beetles?"
"i think i do."
"i'll kill you," arcana threatened, pointing at percy, who had a lopsided smile on his face. she turned to frank, "and you too frankie-poo."
"you're still dogshit at nicknames."
"you don't want to start that again dolphin face."
