005 :: campfire quests and
general disappointment
❛ can you shut up for five
minutes? ❜

the way tantalus saw it (even though he wasn't even watching the race) the stymphalian birds had simply been minding their own business in the woods and would not have attacked if percy, tyson and annabeth hadn't disturbed them with their bad charot driving. to be fair, harlow did laugh a little at that, until he also dragged her into the punishment just because he didn't like her.

kitchen patrol went by pretty quickly, once harlow started to look at it like a competition she was done with her piles of dishes within the first hour. she washed up a shiny white plate next to tyson, who was making tiny boats and submarines in the lava. "why don't you speak to percy?" he asked.

harlow froze, she hadn't realised tyson had noticed her avoidance around the son of poseidon. "he wants to talk to you, says you need to stop beating up the meanies," he sniffed, watching his small boat sink under the surface. "says you were in his dream."

harlow's face burned, "oh, well we aren't really good friends anyways," she stacked another plate on the rack. "did he tell you to say something?"

"no, he told the pretty blonde girl though," his innocent eye drooped. "I think he doesn't like me."

harlow's heart completely melted,she may of beaten up people in his honour but she hadn't actually spoken to him about it. "of course he likes you!" harlow exclaimed. "you're kind, smart and really brave!"

he seemed to perk up at that and put his dish on the pile. "har-low," he said, pronouncing her name like two words. "are you my friend?" she smiled up at his kind face, and she knew she couldn't lie to him.

"of course i'm your friend buddy,"

"best friends?"

"the bestest." she promised, feeling someones eyes on her. she turned her head, and saw annabeth and percy giving her a dirty look. "enjoying the view?" she sneered, tired of their attitude. annabeth scoffed before continuing to scrub away in the lava sink, ranting to percy about gods knows what.

the campfire that night was pretty depressing. the apollo cabin led a sing-along and tried to raise everyone's spirits. but their efforts were in vain as everyone half heartedly sang along. melanie and harlow sat in the front row of the stone steps, the hermes banner above them. the enchanted bonfire was a mere metre high, barely warm and was the colour of lint.

dionysus had left early, leaving tantalus to oversee the campfire. when the last song was over, tantalus said, "well, that was lovely!" he came forward and attempted to casually pull a marshmallow off a stick, but it committed suicide and flew into the flames.

the activities director, turned back to them with a cruel smile. "now then! some announcements for tomorrow's schedule."

"sir." a voice spoke up. a voice harlow recognised, percy jackson.

tantalus's eye twitched. "our kitchen boy has something to say?"

some of ares cabin snickered, but percy didn't waver as he and annabeth stood up. "we have an idea to save the camp." dead silence followed, but harlow could see the fire flared a bright yellow. "Indeed," tantalus said blandly. "well if its got anything to do with chariots-"

"the golden fleece," percy stated. "we know where it is."

so thats what grover was talking about.

harlow stood up, earning a confused look from melanie. the flames burned orange as everyone looked at her. "its in the sea of monsters." she blurted out, proceeding to explain her dreams of polyphemus and grover, how he was trapped. she left out a few key parts where percy was included, which seemed to annoy him.

percy backed her up reluctantly with his side of the story, with annabeth finishing with the cold hard facts. "the fleece can save the camp," annabeth concluded. "I'm certain of it."

"nonsense," said tantalus. "we don't need saving!" everyone stared at him with such venom he started to look uncomfortable. his discomfort painted a satisfied, smug smirk on harlow's face. "besides," he added quickly, "the sea of monsters? That's hardly an exact location. you wouldn't even know where to look."

"yes, i actually would," percy said. his eyes glowed with determination in the fire light. harlow frowned at him, did he really know? "thirty, thirty one, seventy five, twelve," he recounted.

"ooo-kay," tantalus said. "thank you for giving us meaningless numbers."

harlow's frown deepened, she was done with this decomposing man's stupidity. "can you shut up for five minutes?" she snapped, the slapped her hand to her mouth. did she really just say that? tantalus's eyes narrowed, his face contorted into a snarl. "be quiet you insolent girl before i-"

"they're sailing coordinates," percy injected. "latitude and longitude. I uh, learned about it in social studies." maybe he isn't that dumb after all.

annabeth nodded, "thirty degrees, thirty one minutes north, seventy five degrees, twelve minutes west. hes right! the grey sisters gave us those coordinates. that'd be somewhere in the atlantic, off the coast of florida. the sea of monsters..we need a quest!"

"just wait a minute!" tantalus protested.

but the campers took up the chant, harlow enthusiastically joining along. It was a cult like chant, the flames growing higher and brighter with every word. It was captivating, the fire reflecting their hope and determination. "we need a quest! we need a quest! we need a quest!"

"It isn't necessary!" tantalus insisted.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"

"fine!" tantalus shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. "you brats want to assign a quest?"

"yes!" the campers roared, harlow's throat hurt from all the shouting but the adrenaline in her chest seemed to absorb the emotions around her, giving her a surge of confidence. "very well," he agreed. "i shall authorise a champion to undertake this perilous journey to retrieve the golden fleece and bring it back to camp...or die trying."

harlow's heart thumped out of her chest, this was her chance. she had to get this quest, this opportunity. she was going to save everyone and nothing was going to stop her.

"i will allow our champion to consult the oracle!" tantalus announced. 'and choose two companions for the journey, i think the choice of champions is obvious." he looked at the three demigods stood up with a flaring anger. "the champion should be one who has earned the camps respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defence of the camp. you shall lead this quest... clarisse!"

the fire turned into a kaleidoscope of colour, the ares cabin hooted and hollered in their sisters name. but it all sounded tinny and far away to harlow. she wasn't getting a quest, or an opportunity, or any recognition either. her legs felt soft and wobbly and probably would've collapsed into the bench if it wasn't for melanie keeping her steady.

clarisse looked stunned, but stood up anyways. she swallowed hard and her chest swelled with pride. "i accept this quest!" harlow was close to tears at this point, all her efforts were for nothing. she was unworthy of a quest, she wasn't important and never would be. a sob was building in her chest, her face was probably red from the strain of holding her tears back.

"wait!" percy shouted. "grover is my friend, and the dream came to us!" he gestured to harlow, who was still red from anger and defeat.

"sit down!" one of clarisse's siblings yelled. "you had your chance last summer!"

"yeah, he just wants the spotlight again!" another said.

under normal circumstances harlow would have agreed with them. but now she realised, percy's destiny was entwined with hers whether she liked it or not. clarisse glared at the two of them. "I accept this quest!" she repeated. "i, clarisse, daughter of ares, will save the camp!"

ares cabin cheered even louder, annabeth protested along with her cabin. everyone started to take sides - shouting and arguing with the occasional rogue flying marshmallow. harlow could barely compute what was happening until tantalus shouted, "silence, you brats!" his tone shocked the campers into silence.

"sit down!" he ordered. "and i will tell you a ghost story."

harlow had given up on fighting the old man, so she obediently slumped down into her seat. her eyes glazed over as she stared into the flames. she could feel the evil aura rolling off of tantalus, more than any other monster she had fought.

"once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the gods!" tantalus's gestures made harlow believe he was talking about himself. "this king," he said, "was even allowed to feast on mount olympus. but when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar to earth to figure out the recipe - just one little doggy bag, mind you - the gods punished him. they banned him from their halls forever! his own people mocked him! his children scolded him! and, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. children - just - like - you!" he pointed a crooked finger at several camper, lingering on harlow the most.

"do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?" tantalus asked. "do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment?" he invited the olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. no one noticed that his children were missing. and when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you believe what was in the stew?" harlow's stomach swirled and twisted, but no one dared answer. The fire flickered the colour of the darkest depths of the ocean, reflecting the most unfortunate contours of his face.

"oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," tantalus croaked. "they did indeed. but he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? his children never again spoke back or questioned his authority. and do you know what? rumour has it that the king's spiritnow dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children. and so... are there anymore complaints, before we send clarisse off on her quest?"

silence.

tantalus nodded at clarisse. "the oracle, my dear. go on." she shifted uncomfortably, like she didn't want the glory at the price of being tantalus's pet. harlow would have felt bad for her if it wasn't for their past arguments. "sir-"

"go!" he snarled. she bowed awkwardly and hurried off towards the big house. "what about you percy jackson, harlow laurier?" tantalus asked, fear jolting through her bones. "no comments from our favourite dishwashers?" she stayed silent, because if she spoke she was going to either cry or say something she regretted.

"good," tantalus said. "and let me remind everyone - no one leaves this camp without my permission. anyone who tries... well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. the harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! good night, my dear campers. sleep well." and with a flourished wave of his hand, the flames were extinguished and camp half blood was sent to bed.

the pathway was lit by the bronze braziers as melanie and harlow strolled down to their cabin. they were at the back of the procession, clumps of people far far ahead from them.

"why didn't you tell me about your dreams?" melanie murmured. It had been silence, only filled by the hum of crickets and buzzing of the fireflies.

harlow faltered, "i didn't want to give you another thing to stress over." she said softly, tucking her hair behind her ear. she didn't mean for it to sound like an excuse, but it came out as a painful justification.

melanie scoffed, her dark hair looked like oil slick in the evening light. "what do i have to be stressed about? im not even in highschool yet!" harlow flinched at her tone.

"you know what i mean." harlow said, though the ring in her voice was forced. She was close to yelling at the young girl and they both knew it.

"no, no i don't," she sniffed, holding her head high.

"melanie, you can't keep pretending everythings ok." harlow was surprised at her own cutting tone, but it felt good to air her feelings. "and why can't i? everything is ok, she's gone an-and thats...fine." tears slid down her cheeks, her mask slipped off completely.

"no no its not mel. you need to realise that-"

"that what harlow?" melanie snapped. "that she left us? left me? that my best friend forever, my older sister is a fucking traitor?" she breathed out heavily, the tears streaming down her face. "my sister, the person i looked up to the most...left me behind... DO YOU KNOW HOW THAT FEELS?" melanie sobbed for a moment, before composing herself. "and look at me now, one friend that hoards attention, strange powers and to put the big fucking gay cherry on top i'm having an identity crisis too." she said bitterly.

harlow recoiled and realised they had stopped walking. "but we're friends right?or are you going to shut me out like everyone else?"

"That's not what i mean-"

"if i'm such a shitty friend then go! leave me and see who else will listen to your miserable problems and come back to you every time you say the magic fucking word!"

melanie glared at her, "can you just stop? I don't need this right now"

harlow didn't realise she had been crying too until this moment. " i'm sorry i said that, im being an asshole right now aren't i?" she sniffed, wiping her eyes.

"saying sorry doesn't mean anything if you keep doing it, " melanie said coldly. " and if you hate listening to my problems so much, stop coming back." she walked away, the soft crunch of pebbles under her footsteps as she left harlow crying in the darkness.

kathryn's corner (burn it to
the ground)
hey besties 😁☝🏻 it's been a while lol but
here have some filler angst instead 😩😩 i'm sorry
for being totally inactive on this, but shameless self promo ig
bc go read my other book "song of the sea" anyways ily all
see you next year 🗿 or not hehehahahwhs 🤺