Love

Her breakfast was normal, boring, even. It was what came after breakfast that was exciting. Chiron called Cassidy into the cabin, to go to the attic. No one but Syd had guessed that Cassidy would go on a quest.
She had just arrived at Camp Half-Blood a week ago, Syd overheard a Hermes kid say. Apparently, her mother had to tell her who her dad was when they ran into a nasty empousa. Her mother fought off the fire-headed monster long enough for Cassidy to escape.
Luckily, Cassidy’s mom made it out, too. So now Cassidy was at Camp Half-Blood, ready to train to be a hero. Everyone watched the cabin door, eager to hear what Cassidy had to say. Suddenly, the cabin door burst open.
Out of it bust a wide-eyed Cassidy, cobwebs in her hair, shakiness in her hands. Yes, that was normal for people receiving a quest. The crowd of demigods instantly broke into a ruckus of cheering and questions.
“What did the spirit of Delphi say?” “Who are you bringing on your quest?” “She has cobwebs in her hair! EEEWWW!” Cassidy ignored all the kids, and began to push through the crowd. As she was passing Syd, she grabbed her hand.
“Come on, I need your help.” Cassidy tugged Syd away from the crowd and stopped after only a few steps. “Where can we talk, alone?” Syd gasped. She sort of didn’t want anyone else to know, but this seemed important. Plus, Cassidy was as close to a ‘friend’ Syd had ever had.
“Follow me, I know where to go.” Syd led Cassidy through the Camp to the Eros cabin. Had she ever led anyone this way? No, no she hasn’t. Syd walked to the rope on the side of the cabin. “It’s just up here.”
Syd climbed up and waited at the top to help Cassidy up. Cassidy steadied herself, and look around. “Wow,” she said breathlessly, “this is beautiful…” Cassidy looked down and inspected the drawing.
“How did you find this place? Aren’t you the only Eros kid in, like, 30 years?” Syd nodded. “Yeah, but I was bored this morning, and wanted to see the sunrise. And, I found this.” Cassidy whistled. “That’s crazy…”
Cassidy shook her head, apparently trying to get her thoughts together. “Okay, you were in the prophecy.” Syd recoiled at the bluntness. “Uh, what do you mean? What did it say?” Cassidy frowned, thinking hard.
“It said,
The daughter of desire and the blood of war, shall unite together in order to adorn
The child of light, beloved by all, with the ability to rule and call
None shall fall to the monsters of the deep, unless those on the quest fail to reap
The victory won through nothing but pain, lest the monsters make their gain.”
Syd realized her jaw was hanging open, so she closed her mouth and shook her head. Surely, there had to be a mistake. Right? Why would the daughter of Eros -a minor god- be given such a quest?
But Syd realized that she wasn’t given the quest. She was simply told a prophecy. Cassidy was given the quest, which meant Cassidy was the leader. “So, uh, will you come with me?” Syd blinked hard.
“Yeah, of course I will… but, usually, on a quest, we would have three people. Be it a satyr or a demigod. So, are you gonna choose a third?” Cassidy frowned, deep in thought. “I don’t know. I only have one other friend. I don’t even know him that well, though. He showed me around and says hello and stuff. That’s all.”
Syd frowned. “Who’s that?” Cassidy took a deep breath. “Nicholas Arthur, son of Hermes.” Syd looked down. Somehow, Cassidy already knew. Maybe he told her? Nah, probably she heard some other kids.
Nick Arthur had been friends with Syd. She had been at the camp for a year or two longer than him, because her mom had sent her their. She didn’t have enough money to keep her. When Nick was sent to Camp Half-Blood, by his mom, he was immediately claimed.
He had no friends. Of course, neither did Syd. They were good friends up until last year, when he asked her out. She said yes. She’d be lying to say she didn’t have a crush on him. And then everyone at camp bullied him even more than usual.
See, being her friend wasn’t all that bad. Everyone was usually relatively nice to her because she helped them out a lot. They scandalized her, but usually werent straight-up bullies. But then she got into a relationship. Nick was bullied worse then she was.
Nick had a few anger issues. Nothing too bad, he never yelled or hurt anyone or anything. It came from a feeling of abandonment, he told Syd once. His mom gave him up for adoption when she learned that his dad was a god.
She simply got scared and gave him up. So he was rude to others in an attempt to push them away before they could hurt him. But, being as desperate as she was, Syd broke through his walls.
When they got together, everyone bullied Nick. He broke it off with her, and she couldn’t blame him. She would have done the same, if she were bullied as bad as he was. So now, the idea of going on a quest with him… well, it made Syd feel queasy. She still had a slight crush on him.
“Nick can come” Syd said, raising her head. Cassidys eyes narrowed. “Um… Are you sure?” Syd sighed. “I don’t know,” she said, “but I think we need to patch things up, so… yeah. If you think he’s the best option, then he should come.”
Cassidy nodded. “Thank you…” Syd smiled at her then looked at the cobwebs in her blonde hair. Not only was she covered in them, her hand had a cut, too. “Er, what happened in the attic? Did the oracle, like, assault you?” Syd asked, trying not to laugh. Cassidy giggled, though.
“Well, this green mist seeped out of her mouth. I was pretty freaked out, and I fell backwards. If I had fallen anywhere else… Well, let’s just say I’m lucky my hand was the only thing that got cut.”
Syd giggled, too. She started to say something, when she heard a camper scream. She shot up, and ran to the rope, shimmying down before Cassidy even stood. Cassidy in tow, Syd headed towards the cry. It seemed to come from the opening between the Iris cabin and the woods, somewhere behind the cabin.
There was another scream, this time of defiance rather than fear, but coming from the same person. Syd ran as fast as she could, Cassidy barely keeping up. Syd skidded to a stop and saw a kid. He was on his knees. He was bleeding in multiple spots, his curly brown hair sticky with blood.
He had curious cuts and bites. He had a rainbow tattoo on his elbow. Syd ran forward, and caught him before he could fall over. His head lolled against her chest. “Tristan!” Syd yelled. “Cassidy! Go, get help, get all the Apollo kids, hurry!”
Cassidy ran away, frantic. Syd could hear her yelling for help. She forced herself to look at Tristan. He was 17, one of the oldest kids at camp. He was the head of the Iris cabin. He coughed, and struggled to breathe.
“I-I couldn’t help Janie… Sh-she got,” he coughed, painfully, then went on, “caught. She was taken. I’m sorry…” Syd began to cry. Was he going to die? “Tristan! S-stay with me, please!” She heard frantic yelling behind her.
“Help is coming, please, Tristan, stay with me!” His eyes glazed over. “No, no, no, no. CASSIDY!” Syd yelled as loud as possible. A flurry of demigods and satyrs came up all at once, crowding around. They force-fed him nectar and ambrosia.
Syd was convinced he would burn up at any minute, but his eyes fluttered open. He raised his hand, made a thumbs up, then passed out. “He’s good!” an Apollo kid called. The group got a stretcher and got Tristan onto it, then a group of four carried him away.
What was left over, three Apollo kids, and a few others that heard Cassidy, stayed to ask what had happened. Before answering, Syd looked around. The ground had a few splatters of blood here and there.
There was a slash mark in the dirt. Syd gulped. She felt nauseous. She looked down at her hands and saw Tristan’s blood. She thought she might throw up. She realized just how warm and sticky the red liquid was.
Sure, Syd had been at the camp for four years. Sure, she’d seen people hurt. Sure, she’d healed a few people. She had even heard horror stories about some quests. Never, though, had she almost seen someone die. Never had she watched someone's life ebb away under her very fingertips and be completely helpless in keeping it from happening.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over. Cassidy was looking at her with concern, and patting her shoulder. “Hey, Syd? You okay? What’d Tristan say?” Syd gulped. Tristan would live. And, Janie was in trouble.
She felt her courage building. She let her hands fall to her sides. She clenched her fists, and breathed in. “Okay, we have to find Janie, a new camper. I brought her here today. Tristan must have been showing her around, and he said that she got caught by something.”
Cassidy stared at her. “He… Tristan said that?” Syd nodded. “Cassidy, I think it’s a part of your quest! Daughter of Iris was mentioned somewhere… Of course it was Janie!” Cassidy furrowed her eyebrows and nodded.
The other kids listened on. One of the Apollo kids said, “What does she look like? Where might we find her?” “What can I do,” another said. Soon, almost every camper at Camp Half-Blood was searching for Janie.
Syd had a feeling they wouldn’t find her. What would almost kill one demigod just to hide another right at Camp Half-Blood? While the whole Camp searched, Cassidy and Syd found Chiron, at the Big House.
Cassidy stepped right up to him. “Chiron,” she said, “it’s time for us to go on the quest. I can feel it.” Chiron nodded. “Of course. Who’ll be going with you?” Cassidy glanced at Syd, who smiled kindly and nodded.
“I’m bringing Syd and Nicholas Arthur.” A smiled tugged at the corner of his mouth. He seemed proud, like Cassidy and Syd had made the right decision. “Okay. I’ll let you take it from here. Remember your training. Good luck.”

Notes

This one was long! It may be a bit before I update again, so keep a look out! Thanks for reading!