All's Fair In Love And War

The Cherry Tree

The rest of the week was very uneventful. Lou Ellen and Gwen had a jellybean tossing challenge, seeing who could get the bean higher and catch it in their mouths. I'd shown both of them up by scooping three beans from their plate and tossing them all up so they hit the ceiling with a light tap and catching all three of them one after the other.

"Show off." Lou had complained.

Annabeth had decided she was confident enough to annoy me again.

"So do you like girls?"

I looked up from the delicate statue I was working on. Rachel had insisted I learn something artistic and I'd gotten rather hooked with sculpting. It was time consuming, but on the upside, I could smash anything that didn't turn out.

"What gave you that idea?" I asked the blonde standing in front of me with her hands on her hips, long nails flashing a little in the light.

"Well you never talk to any of the guys that much, except for Nico, but he's gay so you don't stand a chance. Waiting for Hazel to turn to you?"

"No." I responded, turning back to my scuplture.

"What are you making?" Annabeth asked.

I grudgingly showed her the work in progress. "When I'm done it's going to be a cherry tree with a gravestone sticking out of the trunk."

"Morbid much?"

"It's something from a song." I retorted, twisting the sculpture around and returning to work carving a tiny name into the soft clay that was forming the gravestone.

Annabeth wandered past me, and her hip jolted my arm, making me slice the gravestone right off the sculpture.

I set down my carving tool and took a deep breath, forcing myself not to face her. Carefully picking up the tombstone, I smoothed the words down and carefully scored the clay, then stuck it back together and smoothed the edges over so it was one piece again.

"How's it coming?" Rachel plopped down across from me at the worktable.

"Pretty well until someone bumped me and made me cut off part of it."

"I don't see any parts missing."

"That's because I put it back where it was supposed to be." I picked up the tool I had been using and began to softly sketch into the clay again, not paying attention to what I was doing. Rachel nodded and walked back to her watercolor canvas.

I finished carving and looked at the stone. I hadn't been thinking about it, and I felt my cheeks heat up a little for some reason when I realized what I had carved into the statue.

The trunk had my initials carved into it, along with a PJ in a heart like they did in those cheesy love movies.

The tombstone said 'Percy Jackson' across it in tiny, etched letters.

Before anyone saw it, I squashed the entire statue back into a mound of clay ready for working on.

Shaking my head to try and clear it, I stood and tossed the ball of clay back into the large clay barrel.

"Didn't like it?" Rachel asked without looking away from her painting.

"Nope. What are you painting?"

She turned the easel slightly so I could see what she was working on. It was a beautiful depiction of a sunset with two silhouettes sitting in front of it.

"Where did you get that idea?"

"I dunno. It just came to me while I was sleeping last night. That happens sometimes, I'll get dreams and won't be able to focus on anything properly until I've painted what I see in the dream."

I frowned. "That's rather... strange."

"I'm used to it." She replied with a shrug. "I just paint the picture as fast as possible so I can work on other stuff."

"Well it looks good."

Rachel set down her paintbrush. "Think so? I agree. I'll just let it dry then sign it."

"Attention demigods! Tomorrow evening there will be a party of sorts! We expect all of you to be ready for a night of dancing, frivolity, and fun. You are required to attend, and yes you must wear a dress if you're a girl." Venus' voice echoed through the house suddenly.

I scowled. "Great. That'll be fun."

"It won't be horrible." Rachel shrugged. "I think I may be going home soon so I'd like to have some fun before I do."

"Why do you think you're going home?"

"We're sort of in the final stretch, you know?"

"Not really but okay." At the look she gave me I shrugged. "We don't have this kind of stuff at Circe's Island."

"Right. I'll educate you then." She smirked and grabbed my arm, dragging me off towards the nearest sitting room.

[A/N Anyone ever heard The Cherry Tree? It's a beautiful song and the story behind it is really sad]