They Get to Camp

The ride to camp had been a particularly harrowing experience. On one hand there was Grover, who seemed to take every available moment to swoon over Artemis, talking about how great she was and describing the boundless waves of pure nature that radiated from the goddess like the worlds most pleasant form of BO. Nico had spent the entire trip trying to rationalise everything going on around him despite the clearly magical and nonsensical nature of pretty much anything that even vaguely involved the gods, asking non stop questions about whether Apollo's chariot really was the sun, and about other Sun Gods and how that all fit together, most of which Percy did his very best to ignore.

It was Thalia and Apollo themselves that had made the entire thing far more distressing than a early morning jaunt across the country should ever have managed to be, inside of the Chariot of the Sun or not. The Sun God had apparently taken a liking to his new half sister, and so halfway through the trip, after the 6th time Thalia had groused to him about how Artemis' lieutenant Zoe was all stuck up and good for nothing, but before she got started on the ninth time of trying to talk Bianca into choosing Camp over the Hunters, Apollo had spoken up with an absolutely incredible idea.

He'd had made Thalia drive the Sun, clearly believing that a Daughter of the Sky God would be perfect for flying one of the most dangerous methods of transportation known to Demigod kind across the country. Now, under normal circumstances that might have made Percy a little bit jealous, but his thoughts were otherwise occupied by the thought of Artemis out there. She was his now, and that meant he felt possessive of her, protective of her. It was all perfectly ludicrous of course, Artemis was a Goddess, and an Olympian at that. She could erase his soul from existence just from standing in front of him in her true for, there was nothing he could defeat that she couldn't defeat faster. But he still felt that clinging desire to keep her safe in his gut.

Right up until Thalia almost incinerated a long trail across part of the country. The entire bus had been tossed this way and that, some of the hunters even being thrown forwards into the camper section from the back where they had segregated themselves away from all of the yukky boys. He'd seen the tower of a church go from being snow topped to catching alight just in the span of the time it took them to pass by, and a forest ended up looking like a field of birthday candles. The whole trip finally ended when Thalia finally realised that the Chariot of the Sun did in fact have a brake, and used it just in time to slam into the Camp Lake, the whole buss ending up submerged before lazily bobbing back to the surface.

"Tell Chiron we will be in Cabin Eight." Zoe said stiffly as she stood and swiftly made her way off of the bus, the rest of the Hunters following behind her. Grover immediately dashed out after them, offering to show them the way, despite their protestations that they already knew. A part of him desperately wanted to follow after them and claim every single one of them. But that wouldn't be proper. Not right now. Apollo took the time to see us off and say something ominous about prophecies before he too vanished, leaving just Percy, Thalia and the two Di Angelo siblings.

Percy looked at Bianca for a moment, before they all moved on towards the Big House to introduce them to Chiron and Mr D. Bianca still looked so split and confused. Last night they had discussed the prospect of her joining the Hunters instead of Camp, but after the whole thing about his ownership of Artemis had started, the topic had been dismissed and not revived. Now she looked even more divided than ever on what would be the best decision for her future.

Once they reached the Big House, there was a moment of solemnity with Chiron for Annabeth. She was still missing, and no miraculous magical claiming power was going to change that any time soon. It was comforting that Chiron and Thalia were there to mourn with him, especially with Mr D being a morbid asshole proclaiming her dead at the news. Despite him being able to offer only the same platitudes and well wishes as everyone else, it was somehow far more calming to hear the words from Chiron that Annabeth would be found safe and sound in time.

The two DiAngelos watched the standard orientation video, and Grover was returning with a black eye and a huge smile on his face, all ready to lead them off to show them around Camp proper. Nico followed behind eagerly. Bianca not so much. But it wasn't a moment later that he and Thalia were instructed to let the Camp know about a Capture the Flag game to be held against the Hunters, and the two of them were swiftly heading out and after them along the same track.

He noticed the way that Bianca seemed to take peeking glances at him over her shoulder, and the way she was gradually slowing down to fall back and walk beside the two of them instead of Grover and her brother. She wanted to talk. That was clear. But what about?