DOOMSDAY

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ALMOST AN ENTIRE day has passed since Valeria fled from the Hermes Cabin after her... interaction with Luke. In fact, the girl has been purposefully avoiding any part of camp where he might decide to make an appearance.

Whether she's avoiding him because of the sheer embarrassment of her actions or something else? She has no idea.

Nonetheless, Valeria has kept herself occupied with enough activities to prevent Luke from finding a time to speak with her anyways. Earlier in the morning, she spent time in the strawberry fields and gardens with Amara picking fruits and vegetables that will likely be prepared for dinner later. In the afternoon, she followed Camryn along the beach (and wherever else the Apollo girl wandered) until she eventually grew bored of the aimless walking.

Valeria then decided to find her favorite sister, Silena, and teach her the various techniques of braiding her hair. The young girl currently sits in front of her older sister on the steps to Cabin Ten, gazing down at a daisy that she holds between her thumb and index finger. Valeria weaves one section of Silena's silky hair through another, repeating the movements with the third piece as she completes the braid.

When Silena begins to hum a tune while plucking the white petals from the daisy, Valeria's lips curl into a smile of admiration. She's glad that despite all of the stress around camp, Silena has managed to remain collected and somewhat oblivious to the possibility of war. Valeria doesn't want Silena to have to fight against her friends just because of their mother's choice to support Poseidon.

"Hey," she says, using a rubber band to tie the braid together once she finishes weaving the sections through each other. Silena pauses her humming and turns her body to face the brunette. "How are you doing? You know, with everything."

"Fine, I guess." Silena shrugs, briefly pursing her lips. However, the fourteen-year old's words are soon followed by a heavy sigh, and she averts her eyes to the ground with a saddened expression. "I don't know. I'm trying to be optimistic, Val. I don't like thinking about it too much. It scares me."

Valeria nods in agreement, as she can fully understand why Silena would rather not speak about the brewing war. Although her main reason for seeking her sister and friends' company had revolved around trying to hide from Luke, Valeria also found herself needing a distraction from her own worries and turmoil.

The realization of her mother and Luke's father being on opposite sides of the war has been settling for nearly three days. Valeria has tried her best to ignore the thought because of the undeniable fear and hollowing feeling that fills her chest— but if Percy doesn't get the Master Bolt to Olympus and return it to Zeus by the summer solstice, then she must accept that she will be forced to fight Luke and the rest of those who have sided with Zeus.

Aphrodite has shown no acknowledgment of Valeria's prayer for Percy, Annabeth, and Grover to return alive once they successfully complete their quest. Maybe the goddess simply chose to ignore her daughter's hopeful wishes, because even though both she and Silena have long known about their mother's favoritism towards them, Valeria thinks that Aphrodite may just be trying to focus on the issues for the gods rather than the ones for demigods.

The gods have always held their children to less importance than anything else. Nothing will ever be able to change that.

"Yeah, I get that." Valeria affectionately brushes her fingertips across her sister's hairline and through the rest of her hair. Then she brings Silena into an embrace, releasing a deep breath. "Nothing bad is going to happen. Percy will get the bolt to Zeus in plenty of time— there won't be a war. I promise you."

When they pull away a moment later, Silena's eyes meet Valeria's once again, a look of hope and desperate need for reassurance within them. "Promise?"

"Promise."

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The Aphrodite sisters decide to make their way to the dining pavilion when they find their stomachs feeling rather empty (the smell of mac n' cheese also having found its way into their nostrils). Valeria gathers a variety of foods onto both her and Silena's trays, then they wander over to where Camryn and several other demigods from different cabins are seated.

While Chiron and Mr. D usually prefer that campers dine with their respective cabins and siblings, it appears they've somewhat lifted this rule. Valeria guesses that it's because of the war, as they must be trying to allow those who are still civil with one another to enjoy the company in contrast to the demigods who are glaring daggers at one another.

Silena sits across from Valeria and Cam, whose backs face the center of the pavilion, as they begin to indulge themselves in their dinner. The chalices beside their plates fill with their desired drinks: Valeria's with strawberry lemonade and Silena's with apple cider. They dig into their meals within minutes.

"Did you go to archery practice today?" Valeria queries as she picks off a piece of bread from the soft loaf in her hand, receiving a side-eye from the Apollo girl.

"No."

Valeria grins smugly. "Knew it."

However, as she redirects her conversation with Camryn to another topic, Valeria remains unaware that a certain set of eyes are practically burning into the nape of her neck. Silena glances past the brunette's shoulder and notices, swallowing her bite of food after several minutes pass.

Silena speaks cautiously, "Hey, Val?"

Valeria's attention snaps over to her sister instantly, despite being mid-sentence with Camryn. "Hm?"

"Luke is staring at you."

Narrowing her brows in confusion, Valeria drops her spoonful of mac n' cheese back into the bowl and slowly twists her neck to peer behind her. Then she meets the gaze belonging to Luke Castellan, which refuses to divert itself from the Aphrodite girl even as she tries to analyze the expression displayed across his features.

Confusion. Frustration. Anger?

Valeria finds herself unable to fully comprehend the emotions hidden behind his eyes. It conjures an unsettling knot in her stomach.

The knot tightens when a girl, who Valeria recognizes as one of Amara's sisters from the Demeter Cabin, approaches Luke with a bright smile displayed across her baby pink lips. He only tears his eyes away from Valeria to look at her.

To. Look. At. Her.

Luke and the Demeter girl's mannerisms appear to be very flirtatious as they exchange many words. Valeria's head begins to spin; she suddenly feels sick. Maybe it's because of what happened— or, what almost happened between her and Luke, that's making her feel so nauseous at the sight of him with another girl.

She doesn't know.

All she knows is that she feels embarrassed and wants to crawl into a deep hole.

"Is everything okay with you guys?" Cam asks from beside Valeria, interrupting the gathering thoughts within the brunette's head. "I didn't see you together today..." Her face wrinkles out of realization and confusion. "Like, at all."

Valeria's fists clenching together tightly as her knuckles turn pale. "We're fine."

Silena and Camryn share a look of uncertainty at the brunette's unconvincing response. They collectively decide not to push the issue further, though, despite their curiosity surrounding the matter. Neither particularly wants to deal with Valeria's annoyance towards them.

Everything that stirs inside Valeria's mind causes the unsettled feelings to last throughout the rest of dinner. She loses her appetite after eating only a few bites of her food, refusing to turn around and see Luke again. Even as she and Silena start walking back to Cabin Ten to prepare themselves for bed, Valeria still feels sick.

After parting ways with her sister, Valeria gathers her toiletries and stops by the showers to clean herself, changing into one of her many Victoria's Secret pajama sets. The light pink material feels silky against her freshly washed skin, bringing her slight relaxation as she plops down on the edge of her mattress. Valeria reaches for the brush on her bedside table and gently combs it through the ends of her hair.

Despite her siblings being rather talkative at this time of night, Valeria's ears unknowingly filter out the various sounds and voices that reverberate around the cabin. Instead, she is plagued with the endless yet puzzling thoughts that have not left her mind since dinner. Since she saw Luke and that girl.

She is so deeply confused by her own emotions that it causes her physical pain.

Valeria has never felt this way before when it comes to Luke and other girls. Though, she must admit, it could have something to do with the fact that she's never really witnessed Luke's flirtations being directed towards anybody except for herself. Luke has always shut down the girls that make attempts to flirt with him — especially when he knows Valeria is nearby. He hardly even entertains them.

Meanwhile, when guys approach Valeria with their own intentions and infatuations with her beauty, the Aphrodite girl will reciprocate for a brief moment before politely rejecting their advances and sending them away. Luke usually watches but never says anything out loud. Sometimes Valeria would notice a scowl or slight frown on his features, which made her laugh and tease him about being jealo—

Valeria freezes. Her body goes rigid. The comb in her grasp becoming entangled in her dark hair.

The word for everything she has been feeling for the last hour or so has finally come to mind. Finally composed itself into a simple word that she can understand.

Jealous.

Valeria Caldwell is jealous.