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iv - quest number five.

IV.      DAKOTA   !
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quest number five.

Cabin Four was a whirlwind of campers getting ready for a simple campfire. Miranda was worried there were not enough flowers in her hair. Douglas was far too concerned about watering the plants to go out for the campfire. Billie was having trouble choosing between his regular white shirt or his white sweater. Dakota hadn't bothered changing her clothes. She had too much on her mind to care. She hadn't even left her cabin at dinner, so she had no idea where Leo was. Was he looking for her? Or did he already forget about her entirely now that he had brand new siblings? Not to mention she was starving from skipping dinner, and her lunch in order to pick up the new half-bloods.

Every summer she was apart of the weekly campfire. It was the same routine. Dakota lined up her campers, called their names for roll call, make sure they were all seated, and then sat back down to enjoy the songs, eat snacks, and listen to whatever announcements Chiron had. She was fine missing a campfire again.

Dakota was still stuck on her experience at Cabin Fifteen with Jason. The omens she saw couldn't be could. Knowing Latin, the idea of a stricter set of Greek Gods, even Jason wanting to defend the Romans, it all couldn't be good. Annabeth wanted her to give her an update; only Dakota's excuse to avoid her was she had a horrible headache and only wanted to lie down. Annabeth didn't bother her after that. She was sure she had a few words to say at Dakota's blatant lie but she didn't pressure it. Annabeth had caused a few problems for Dakota already. Causing a scene in her own cabin was a low blow.

Miranda went up to Dakota, who was reading a book to try and avoid any conversation. But of course her half-sister knew her better than she thought. Miranda saw right through Dakota's act. So . . . Dakota had told everything to Miranda, who felt like the only person who understood her. She too lost family the way Dakota had. Granted, they both lost their sister that time. She took the book from her sister's hands and placed it on the stack of books next to her bed.

"Dakota, seriously? You're not missing the campfire when I know you love it so," Miranda said. "Is this about your cousin coming back? Or the Roman-guy?"

"I just don't want to go, that's all," Dakota dismissed.

"Dakota! Seriously? I'm not having you miss this. Not when there could be a clue to finding Percy."

A few heads turned their way at his name. Great. The last thing Dakota needed was for her two-week crush on Percy to rise up again. Last year, when it was revealed, everyone started whispering about her. "I heard Dakota was going to find a curse to cast on Annabeth." "She had the Aphrodite cabin working on a love potion." Dakota had never heard such ridiculous rumors, but everyone believed them. Everyone but Annabeth, Percy, and Grover. Dakota was only eleven when Percy arrived. She saw the son of Poseidon, a hero of the gods and who was her friend, of course a little girl would like him. Right after their quest, she saw nothing romantic about him. But people still talked.

"You had to say his name?" Dakota muttered. "I—I just don't want to go, Miranda."

"Dakota de Maria Flores Valdez," Miranda pulled out the full name. In mere seconds, Dakota understood she would get a poison ivy rash if she denied Miranda's orders any longer ( why was her younger sister ordering her around? Well, Miranda had her ways. She didn't take any bull half the time, which made her a better counselor than Dakota. But atlas, only one girl was "experienced" enough to be counselor. )

Dakota got up from her bunk to make her way to the bathroom after a lot of push from Miranda. She changed into a pair of gray sweatpants she was sure weren't hers — clothes got lost all over the place in the Demeter cabin — and tied up her hair with a hairband. Dakota didn't always take out her contacts so early, but she deemed it a fit situation to hide as much of her tired face as she could. She put on her golden-rimmed glasses which helped hide a bit of her face alongside her face-framers.