Chapter 11

“You did not hear that from me, I’m- I’m supposed to be out of this.”

“What do you mean? How could it be me?”

“I don’t know!” She shook her head frantically, “I just- you’re right, I can’t keep my trap shut, and I shouldn’t have said this, and let it run its course, but, hey,” She half heartedly forced a chuckle, “You’re not arrested yet.”

Clarisse yet again slowly backed off, very unamused.

“I could slap you right now. Stab you, even.”

“Don’t kill the messenger?” Kayla squeaked.

“It wasn’t me, give it to me, clear. Now. Who said this, to who, who is ‘they’?”

“Percy,” Kayla replied, calming down slowly, still having her back flat against the wall, “Percy hinted at it, Luke finished it, and, ‘Clarisse is the lightening thief.'” She reiterated, “That’s all I heard before it cut off.”

Clarisse’s eye twitched with something; probably anger, but a hint of madness this time. She couldn’t blame her, when it wasn’t her after all, “I’m going to kill him.”

“Wait, wait wait!” Kayla squeaked, running infront of the stable door.
“Let it run its course. Please. I’m not supposed to be in the middle of this, people aren’t fond of me as it is, I don’t want my own cabin mates to hate me. Y’know, Luke. And- and- this, just… if you get arrested, swear on the river again. That’s all you gotta do.” Kayla rambled quickly, eyes wide.

“Malcolm knows this too. And he said that’s what I should do, and he’s smart, so we should listen to him, huh?” She smiled.

Clarisse didn’t looked appeased. Her face was contorted into a snarl like a wolf. Lip upturned. Probably a few sentences away from frothing at the mouth. “If this gives me the slightest, most minor inconvenience at camp, I will charge an army from Tartarus right up your-“

“It won’t!” Kayla squeaked again, with a bright smile on her face, almost as if it honoured her protection.

“It better not, prissy,” She scolded, eyes in slits. She stalked forward, putting a hand on Kayla’s arm like a vice at first, before shoving her sideways out of the way, “I need more hay.”

Kayla’s eyes followed her all the while, like she was keeping an eye on a bear that might turn and maul her. Slowly, she regained herself and turned back to the stable to shovel manure. It was quiet for a while after that. Only for a while.

“How did they even get to a conclusion that I was the lightening thief? Something about it is off. Not right.”

“Uh, maybe wild guess? I mean, you’re…” Kayla trailed off. She did not feel like offending Clarisse again today. She’d rather keep her teeth in. So, she uttered; “you.”

Clarisse scoffed, shaking her head as she threw some hay in a pegasus feeding rack. “Again, i’m not that stupid though.”

“They did say they ran into Ares.”
Kayla replied. Clarisse’s head snapped up.

“My own dad said I was-“

“No, no, calm it. Just, something with Grover talking to him, and then Luke somehow pieced it together with it being you of all people. I dunno. I can’t remember the words off by heart.” Kayla shrugged.

Clarisse’s expression bordered confusion. In her mind, their final opinion of it being her seemed biased and based off her temper. But how did that add up to her stealing something so important?
“Still makes no sense. As soon as I’m arrested, they’re able to be certain it’s not me,” Clarisse stated, the cogs in her head almost visible to Kayla as they turned, “Then Jackson’s gonna come back and I’ll spit roast him for wolves.”

Kayla rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she dug up the steamy manure. But honestly, half of her believed she wasn’t lying. Clearly, Clarisse was not happy with the accusation. Not with Percy’s, or Luke who believed it. And hell, she could probably kill them both if she wanted. “Just keep an eye out for weird looks. See if anyone else thinks that.” Kayla shrugged.

“Well duh, course I will. Don’t need you telling me that.” She replied, dusting her hands off on her sweatpants before huffing and wiping her forehead. Kayla rolled her eyes at her attitude, before they moved onto the next pegasus stable together.

Their next hour or so was spent in calm silence. They surprisingly worked well together, with Clarisse on hay duty and Kayla on manure, they were rather organised in each stable, one after the other. When they herded the pegasi back into their stables, Kayla stroked the nose of the one which she bonded with yesterday. Clarisse rolled her eyes.

“New best friend?”

“Shut up, La Rue.”

Clarisse scoffed once again, shaking her head in dismissal and closing their pen doors, as did Kayla. When finished, she looked back to Kayla.

“Right, again, tomorrow, last time. Thankgod. Be here on time for once, Graves,” She ordered, swishing her head to walk off. She paused, turning back around. “And, for the record, who said I needed to be arrested?”

Kayla turned to Clarisse, giving the pegasus one last stroke before it trotted off into its pen, “Percy.”

“And Luke was the one he was talking to.”

“Yes, who else?”

“Just making sure.” Clarisse replied. Kayla thought, maybe the girl was piecing things together in her head. About how stupid it was if Luke had been told that and hadn’t reported her to be arrested yet. Or, maybe Chiron had blew it off. Surely Luke would still come for her, though, right? Kayla found herself questioning it instead of thinking in Clarisse’s point of view, and before she knew it, the girl had swivelled her head back around and was now walking up the hill back to the main area of camp.

Clarisse.

“Yeah, yeah, suck it, Axel.”

Clarisse gave a dull tone in reply to one of her brother’s comments as she walked into her cabin, taking multiple random things from her pockets and dropping them around the Ares cabin floor carelessly.

Her cabin probably couldn’t get any messier. Not with multiple brothers who were always either working out a sweat, rough housing, or cooking up a protein-full meal that often went hand-in-hand with a discusting smell. Clothes scattered all over. The horrid mixed aroma of blood, sweat and aftershave that Clarisse was immune to at this point. And ofcourse, her room- at the far back in the right. The head counselor room.

Her brother, Axel, had a knack for taunting her, much like a few of her other brothers. It was a pain to come back to, but typical none the less.

Clarisse’s room was much more orderly than the main room of her brothers. Sure, clothes were still askew everywhere, and daggers could probably be found in the most random of places, but, she had her own organisational thing going on. Her double bed sat in the middle of her room up to her back wall- the covers pratically in a ball. Infront, her desk, and to the side of it was her wardrobe. Infront of her desk was her window that showed the front of the Ares cabins garden; the mines in the grass. Her room was mainly red and black, with scuffed brown wooden flooring. She had a punching bag in the corner, random sketches pinned on the side of her wardrobe, taking up the entirety of that side in scribbles that were somewhat good.

Clarisse sighed, taking her hair out of the pony tail it’d been in. It didn’t make any sense. She’d probably repeated that sentence in her head about 100 times by now. Seriously- if it got brought up, all she’d have to do was swear on the River Styx.

She supposed she’d find out tomorrow if she hadn’t already been reported. Maybe she’d get dragged out of bed, or detention. What was better? Being dragged to detention for it, or being dragged out of bed? Clarisse snickered to herself before shaking her head in disbelief. Idiots. No one has a brain in this camp. Not one damn person.

The rest of that evening, Clarisse spent with no disruptions. She play-fought with her brothers in their bunk room, annoyed them and vice versa. The morning after- Clarisse also had it steady. No dragging out of bed. No weird looks. She had her breakfast, did her workout, then eventually went down to do her detention. Low and behold, Kayla was there. Leaning against one of the stable doors with her arms crossed like she’d been waiting this entire time.

“What are you doing there? If you come before me then do the work, idiot.”

Kayla pushed herself off the stable door, uncrossing her arms and taking a few steps forward. “Wait, wait- well? No problems?”

“No, I’ve been fine.” Clarisse replied in a mumble, getting to grabbing a shovel and the wheelbarrow.

“You think he realised in the last second that it wasn’t you? You know, before he reported you?” Kayla questioned, grabbing her own shovel.

“Must have. I mean, it’s pretty serious if someone stole the lightening bolt, so he either had to have reported me straight away or not at all.”

“Mhm, mhm, exactly, I think he must have realised. I can’t believe he was so confident!” Kayla exclaimed, smiling as she shovelled up her first mound of pagasus muck of the day.

Clarisse almost chuckled at her words. She seemed so cheerful with herself in Luke’s mishap. Instead, she scoffed, agreeing with a small nod. “Idiot should’ve known it wasn’t me. Just complete bias cause of my dad.”

“Ah, man, I swear, all Hermes kids are so overly confident.”

“Well you might be a Hermes kid then.” Clarisse mumbled in reply.

Kayla smiled. “Not anymore! Thankgod…”

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AN: If this is difficult to understand; Luke never ended up reporting Clarisse because Clarisse was simply Luke’s scapegoat- for Percy to have his focus on someone else instead of figuring out who might ACTUALLY have the bolt. So, Luke let Percy believe it was Clarisse while Percy was on his quest. I found out some people don’t actually understand Luke’s reasoning for that, so there.