Behind the Shadows

This day would go down in Sapphires book for being the most excruciatingly awkward day of her life. It had been filled with campers targeting her with their opinion and old friends who now turned their faces away whenever she neared them. There was not much she could do to sway their hatred towards her because she had no evidence to prove that she was not on team Luke. All she had was words and all talking did was frustrate her and provoke her already angry fellow campers. Annabeth had already lost herself in normal day to day camp life and had left Sapphire walking about in a daze. With the campers after her like a hungry pact of wolves Sapphire began to miss Clarrise's torment. She seemed like a harmless puppy compared to this lot.
Showered and dressed, Sapphire prepared herself for dinner. Her cabin was surprisingly tidy, however the items on her bedside table were covered in a layer of dust. The small photo frame which held a photo of her and Luke was blurry and in desperate need of a clean. It was nice of Percy to respect her area of the cabin but he could of at least dusted a little. Cobwebs swayed on the frame of her bunk bed in the slight breeze from the open door. Seeing the evidence of her absence made Sapphire feel like a ghost that had been forgotten. Cleaning up the cobwebs would not bring back the time she had lost at camp. Playing the hero had failed for Sapphire and had ended in consequences that she would have to claw her way out of. It might be best to leave the hero stuff to Percy. He was better at playing the good twin.
Looking in the mirror Sapphire noticed that she no longer looked like the young baby face girl that she had left looking like. She now had slender face that held tired eyes and many shadows that did not belong there. Her hair was dull and hung lifeless. While being away from camp and away from the people who always kept her standing tall, Sapphire had lost herself and forgot to look after herself. Not being able to save Luke from himself had caused her to loose a bit of herself in the process. Seeing her bony lifeless reflection was like a knock to the head and Sapphire knew that the only way to fix it was to stand back up again. Her friends felt betrayed and hurt by her and she had to fix that. If the only was to save herself was to give up on Luke then so be it. Maybe seeing her standing tall and fighting against him would knock some sense into him.
"Admit it. I'm the better looking twin" Percy chirps from being her. In the mirror Sapphire can see him grinning, wiggling his eyebrows while standing there with his hands on his hips. It was alarming how much they looked alike. They had the same eyes, hair colour and facial features. If they had been brought up together then perhaps they would also mirror in personalities. Sapphire sighs and turns away from the mirror to face Percy.
"Never" She replies and shuffles past him to garb her shoes and then sit down on the bed. "Why is it so clean in here?" Percy turns around and shrugs at her.
"Cabin exception was yesterday" Percy explains but pauses to grin at her "While cleaning a few months ago I found your little collection of Pepsi cans" Sapphire finishes slipping on her shoes and scrambles on the floor to check under her bed. All that was there was forgotten socks and dust. She sighs and climbs to her feet.
"Well I suppose it was for the best that you snatched them rather than someone else finding them" Sapphire wipes the dust off her legs and places her hands on her hips. "I got caught once and I was stuck scrubbing pots for a whole month" Percy laughs and goes to grab his hoodie.
"Never knew you were such a rebel, Saph" Percy shakes his head in amusement. "Does Annabeth know?" Sapphire pauses by the door and glares at Percy.
"If she did do you really think I would be stupid enough to do it again?" This cracks Percy up and he pushes Sapphire out the cabin door. "You tell her and you are dead" Sapphire threats as she gets dragged along the path towards what would be a dinner with wolves and she was the defenceless sheep.
As soon and Sapphire and Percy step foot near the chattering campers who are enjoying their meal everything goes quiet and all eyes are on her. In this moment running in the opposite direction seemed like a good idea but she remained where she was. She needed to distract herself and to stop looking towards the angry glares of her former friends.
"I have a favour to ask" She mutters to Percy while trying to keep her eyes to the floor while walking towards her cabin table. "I need to go away tomorrow to go find Jake and Clarrise and I need a few people to come with me to help with the quest. If you have a free spot on your hero schedule, could you help me?" Percy stops in the middle of all tables and frowns for a short moment before grinning widely.
"As your wise, strong and better looking older twin I would have to accept this request to protect you on your quest to save your annoying boyfriend and Clarrise" Percy replies loudly so that everyone can hear. Sapphire groans in annoyance and embarrassment.
"He is not my boyfriend" Sapphire shakes her head and turns to storm towards her table but pauses halfway. "I can protect myself. If I couldn't then I would of been a mindless zombie like the rest of camp last year" Sapphire says this a little to loudly and the sound of a pin could be heard from the silence that followed. Ignoring this Sapphire continues "I just don't want to venture out there alone again while thinking I can do it all and be a hero" Everyone was staring at her with curious eyes "You were the first and the last person I went to for help all those months ago because I had too much faith in myself to save everyone. I just assumed that I could deceive Luke and then he would leave the camp alone. It took longer than expected and it failed more than it succeed because I lost more than I won. I lost my friends, my home and a part of my self. That is why I don't want to go out there alone this time because I'm scared that I will trip up again and loose even more" Sapphire takes a shaky breath and looks around the room. Everyone looks shocked and surprised. It was unnerving to have everyone see her this way. "Jake went out there to save me and bring me back now I must do the same" Percy is silent along with the others. After a long moment he simply nods.
"Then lets go save your pathetic excuse of a boyfriend" Percy responds with a toothy smile. A few campers stand up and they are all smiling at Sapphire.
"He's not my.."
"I will also join you" A girl from the Hermes cabin calls out.
"As will I" Will from the Apollo table says with a wary smile.
"I'm only doing this to make sure you don't kill Clarrise" Annabeth grumbles.
They all nod at Sapphire who is looking at them all in shock and sit back down afterwards the campers return to their normal chatter. Percy then guides Sapphire to their table while chuckling to himself. Perhaps Sapphire should make more emotional speeches in the future.

Notes