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viii. a demigod civil war
by the time arcana had woken upand made her way onto the deck, the boys had already left for the museum. she was able to see them fly off, though she found it kind of funny, watching a boy on a gryphon, another one just standing idly in the air, and another one holding onto an eagle's feet flying into the distance. apparently they'd promised to be back by sunset, but arcana didn't necessarily feel that would come to fruition.
she sighed, tugging at the hair tie around her wrist and tying her curls into a ponytail and putting some pretty hair clips on the front. she had on a purple tank top (feeding into her obsession with the color, what's new), a pair of jeans that weren't too tight and a simple pair of sneakers as a way to combat the heat. her usual rings were on her fingers along with her usual earrings. it reminded her of the days when she would beg her mother just to get her ears pierced, just to ask if she could get her nose pierced afterwards.
gods, she missed home.
she sat with piper and hazel, appealing to piper's growing curiosity about her piercings when annabeth came onto the deck. percy was leaning on the starboard rail, gazing over the bay.
"so what, did it hurt?" piper asked curiously, messing with her braid. "when they.. y'know, pierce it?"
"not really...?" arcana said, though a part of her was scared that piper would lunge at her and rip her piercings out of her ears, or something. "it was like a pinch. why are you even asking? aren't your ears pierced too?"
"yeah, well, i thought it would be more, er, extreme," piper said, piquing the other girls' interest. "like, don't they brand you at camp jupiter or something? i thought they would use a knife and just..." she grabbed her own knife and made a repeating stabbing motion in the air.
"you know, that's not so far off for romans."
"truly," hazel agreed.
it seemed like annabeth had finished talking to percy because she turned to them. "okay, ladies. let's find the ghost of battery."
honestly? a part of arcana wished she was a child of poseidon like percy or at least had some poseidon blood in her like frank. jumping into the harbor and just forgetting about her worries seemed like heaven on earth, because gods, she needed it. it'd help with all the whispers and the turmoil she felt and just the tv static that seemed to play in her head on constant replay as if she didn't have other important shit to worry about.
hanging out with annabeth, hazel and piper was nice though. at first, they had a pretty good time walking along the battery. according to the signs, the seaside park was called white point gardens. the ocean breeze swept away the muggy heat of the summer afternoon, and it was pleasantly cool under the shade of the palmetto trees. lining the road were old civil war cannons and bronze statues of historical figures, which made arcana shudder. the canons reminded her of the battle at mount tam, she could hear the BOOM's of the canons echoing in her ears again.
