Behind the Shadows

Staying in the room next to Cayden was not Sapphire's idea of fun. He claimed he had to hang around for a couple of weeks. Sapphire could see right through him and she knew that he was only lingering to keep an eye on her. So far Sapphire had kept to herself and had avoided killing every monster on the ship. They too watched her with suspicion in their eyes. Especially one in particular. Sapphire was sure the monster is a Kempe, but she has some sort of mist around her that makes her look human. The Kempe likes to call Sapphire a girl. She would take girl over monster anyday. So, so far everything has been calm. All she has to deal with is Caydens glares and his threats when he think no one can hear him. The kempe is a pain also. The way she clings to Luke, like he is her territory. Surely he must know the woman is a demigod eating monster? There has been some tricky situations where Sapphire has received iris messages from campers who are not under control by Luke. As soon as Sapphire saw who was calling her she had to wave it away. She felt horrible for doing so. Cayden and Luke had been in the same room when one of these moments happened and luckily it was just Annabeth. Annabeth started asking what was going on and that she had heard nothing from camp. Sapphire had swallowed her pride waved annabeth and the iris message away. Cayden had smirked like he knew something no one else did, and Luke just shrugged like he hadn't just seen one of the faces he betrayed.

The empty hallways and the lonely deck made Sapphire miss Jake. She felt homesick and needed one of Jakes really bad jokes to cheer her up. Maybe things could of gone a different path if he had not been controlled. Or maybe this was just karmas way of punishing her for being weak. She never used to see herself as weak. When she was in the Apollo cabin, she saw herself as brave and loved. However knowing that she is a child of one of the big three, that changed her view of herself. There is so much pressure to be this big hero with all these powers. Why can't she just be a child of Apollo and be laid back while joking about with her siblings. Siblings. She only had one now and she was tiny compared to her hero brother. How does Percy find it so easy to be friendly and easygoing? Now a days Sapphire felt like blasting a wave of water at some random people and calling it an accident. She just felt angry all the time and she had no clue why. Maybe this is how a child of Ares felt. Clarisse had a habit of accidentally throwing her spear at Sapphire. It was a horrible thought to know that she now had something in common with Clarisse. Next they will be sharing secrets and friendship bracelets.
"Why so glum, Tweety?" Caydens irritating, annoying and smug like voice comes from in front of Sapphire. She sprawls out on her sun lounge and covers her face with her arms. Caydens Shadow covers her and it makes her growl. He had started calling her tweety a few days ago and it was working. Every time he called her it she went looking for her sword, while barking insults his way.
"Go away" Sapphire mutters. Luke had done a good job of keeping Cayden away from Sapphire. Unfortunately Luke was off somewhere unknown and would not be back until tomorrow. The ship was docked by a small island that Sapphire had no name for. It was completely covered with trees, but a large houses could be seen in amongst the trees. It was clearly an island for rich people only judging by those houses. "You blocking the sun". Sapphire keeps her arms firmly over her eyes to avoid looking at Cayden. She can see him move about in front of her, but only barely. He moves to the right of her sun lounge and peers over her. Its uncomfortable and if he stays standing there any longer, Sapphire will not be held responsible for her actions.
"Make me" His reply is childish and it makes Sapphire cringe into her arms. He is wearing black jeans, a black shirt and a black leather jacket. Its a wonder why he isn't sweating buckets in the heat. Sapphire had been smart and had pinched one of Lukes shirts and was wearing like a summer dress. Her clothes were limited since she only had two outfits of her own. Maybe if she is lucky Cayden will faint in the heat and won't annoy her for a while.
Sapphire removes her arms from her face and frowns up at Cayden. "Make me? Is that it?" Sapphire chuckles to herself and stretches her arms above her head, sprawling out like a cat. Cayden stands over her glaring at her like she is a bug that need to be splated. She could say the same for him. She had many bugs to splat. "Why are you here? Don't you have some puppies to kick?" Sapphire wiggles her eyebrows at him and gestures with her hand for him to move away. He does not budge. What is his deal? A trickle of sweat slips down his face and it makes Sapphire laugh. His is being boiled in this heat. He frowns at Sapphire laughing and doe not say a word. "What is your problem? Your being roasted out here and all you want to do is glare down at me. I'm sure there is some dark places you can go and plan my murder or --" Sapphire shrieks as she is lifted into air. She is flung over Caydens shoulder. Is this it? Is this the part where he throws her over board? "Put me down you weasle!" She shouts at him and curses him to tartarus and back. Her hitting and kicking proves no use and she begins yanking his hair.
"I have an idea tweety" He chirps in a deadly calm tone. "How about you cool down". Cool down? What on earth is he on about. Should'nt he be the one wanting to cool down? Then the realisation of what he is talking about hits her just in time for her to close her eyes. She is thrown into the swimming pool with an ungentle force. Her back is close to slamming against the bottom of the pool. She takes control of her arms just in time and pulls away from the floor. She stays below the water and watches Cayden standing beside the pool. The cold water makes her hair fan out above her head. Her clothes remain dry and it makes her grin. If Cayden thought this was a joke, then the joke was on him. Sapphire was breathing, dry and happy under water. Cayden places his hands on his hips and remains waiting for Sapphire to reappear above water. Maybe he needed to be cooled off while he waits? Sapphire summons the water and flicks her wrist in Caydens direction. A small wave blasts at him and nearly makes him stumble over. Unlike her, Cayden is completely soaked. His growl is audible from below the water and Sapphire swims about laughing. She see's his shakes the water out of his hair before he stomps off. Sapphire pushes up and pops her head above the water to get a better veiw of Cayden stomping away.

Notes