Hope & Betrayal // [Percy Jackson OC] // Book 1

{Chapter Eleven}

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"Show me an open door/ Then you go and slam it on me
I can't take it anymore/ I'm saying baby please have mercy on me"
- Mercy (Shawn Mendes)

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BEFORE YOU GO

THREE AND A HALF YEARS into their friendship, Hermes visited camp for the first time. It was the day of capture the flag. Apollo cabin was leading the charge and they had Hermes cabin and Arya by their sides. They had spent all morning planning out a strategy down in the dining hall. They were so focused that no one noticed the bright flash that appeared towards the Great House. Arya didn't alert the others to the Gods, Luke wouldn't have wanted to see his father. Instead, she watched him make his way into the great house, the only reason Arya knew it was Hermes was because of the mailman-esq look, and the staff with the caduceus symbol on it. He stopped at the doorway, and turned his head, his eyes boring directly into Arya's. They soften at the sight of her, that seemed to fill with sympathy. Arya scolded herself, Gods didn't have a sympathetic bone in there body. She felt her blood boil. The god turned away and walked into the house.

Arya nudged Sydney, an unclaimed girl from the Hermes cabin, and told her she was leaving. Arya snuck away before the others could noice.

A few hours later that Luke found her, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. Without a word, he pulled her into a hug and spun her around in a circle her before holding her out an arms length. Despite her irritation she couldn't help but feel it start to shrink away at seeing her best friend so happy.

"A quest?" She asked.

All the teenager seemed able to do was nod his head. From there the boy launched into talking about his meeting with his Chiron and how it ended with Hermes request for Luke to go on a quest, which despite it not being an original quest, did not hinder the boys happiness.
It wasn't an uncommon thing to get an unoriginal quest nowadays anyways, especially because the world was in good hands and the Gods were at peace.

Arya thought the whole thing was slightly hypocritical, she had heard hundreds of times how Luke resented his father. But now, he was desperate for his chance to prove himself, just like every other demigod. She wasn't going to point that out though, she was enjoying his good mood.

"I leave tomorrow. I get to prepare and see the oracle today" He finished.

"So then what are you doing here? Go get ready!" She laughed, lighting shoving his shoulder. Trying to push back both her jealousy and fear for Luke into the back of her head in order to not ruin the moment for him.

"I get to bring two people Ary, did you really not think you'd be one of them?" He laughed, blissfully unaware of how impossible his request was. Arya's mood, however, plummeted.