first side-chapter! join Jeongyeon at Camp Half-Blood for her latest prank! will it turn out well or...? 

/ 

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” 

Jeongyeon dived-rolled just as an explosion went off behind her. She grunted as she landed roughly. Luckily, it was just the grassy Cabins’ commons area that she landed on and not some type of hard head-bashing surface. Several other campers were lucky enough to hear her warning. 

Small embers blazed on a patch of grass next to her. The Daughter of Hermes jumped away in alarm. 

Jeongyeon stood up and dusted herself off. She looked back only to see the area behind her was marred with black scorch marks and glitter. Some campers were unfortunately caught in the blast—glitter covered them from head to toe. 

Lots and lots of glitter.  

“Oh man…” Jeongyeon mumbled under her breath as she surveyed the damage. “This is not how I imagined this prank would go…” 

Another loud boom went off in the distance and Jeongyeon visibly winced at the screams that followed. 

“Oh no…” Jeongyeon dragged her hand down her face slowly. 

“JEONG. YEON.” 

“ OH noooo… ” At the furious yell of her name, the Daughter of Hermes placed her face in both hands defeatedly. This prank had gone horribly wrong. 

She peeked out of her hands to see Sana angrily marching her way. She squeaked and tried to run off but failed. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Sana grabbed her before she could do anything.

Jeongyeon let out another squeak when Sana grabbed the collar of her shirt. “H-hey Sana… haha, did you see my latest prank…?” 

Sana’s face grew darker at the mention of the glitter bombs. 

Yikes… maybe I shouldn’t have said that.  

“When I said lighten up the atmosphere… I didn’t mean LITERALLY LIGHT UP THE CAMP WITH GLITTER BOMBS!” 

Jeongyeon winced at her volume. She waved her hands frantically and said, “Hey—it wasn’t entirely my fault!” 

At Sana’s eyebrow raise, she further elaborated. “It was the curse!” 

“ Technically , I didn’t set it all off—just a few glitter bombs around Camp. The initial few went off but the curse is making it repeat!” 

Sana’s anger softened and she loosened her grip. She couldn’t very well blame her friend for this curse. 

Jeongyeon slumped in relief once she was out of Sana’s grip. 

Another explosion went off, catching both of the demigods off guard. 

Jeongyeon winced again as the sound of screams and explosions echoed. Sana sighed and rubbed her temple before asking, “How many?” 

“Heheh… 5?” Jeongyeon nervously smiled as she slowly held up five fingers. 

“FIVE?!—I swear, you’re insufferable!” 

Sana jogged towards the latest site of explosion and pulled Jeongyeon alongside her. 

“How did you even combine fire and glitter and confetti without the balloon and everything in it burning up?” 

“That’s a trade secret.” Jeongyeon winked at her, earning a thump to the head. “Ow…” 

The two demigods jogged North, towards the screaming and the explosions. It led them to the Lake. 

“Oh Hades, I am going to die .” 

Jeongyeon stopped at the sight of the chaos and her face went pale. Scorch marks littered the banks of the lake while tiny glitter specks contaminated the lake water. 

Sana snorted with little remorse, “Yeah, the water naiads are gonna murder you.” 

The Daughter of Hermes exasperatedly gripped her hair with both hands. “Where’s Momo with her waterbending when you need her!” 

Sana simply stared at her friend in amusement. Who knew the Hermes kid could be so dramatic? She was almost on par with Nayeon on the theatrical level. 

Speaking of the Daughter of Ares—

“Scratch that—I think Nayeon might beat them to it.” 

“Huh?” 

Sana pointed to their left and Jeongyeon turned to see Nayeon walking their way—from the neck up, she was covered in glitter. The Daughter of Hermes burst out laughing at the sight. 

“Stop laughing! I know you were the one behind this!” 

Nayeon whacked Jeongyeon’s arms but she still kept on laughing. Even Sana couldn’t hold in her laughter. 

“If the water naiads get me, this visual was worth it alone.” Jeongyeon wiped away her fake tears of laughter under Nayeon’s harmless assault. 

Another explosion went off and all three demigods jumped—it was closer than they would have liked it to be. 

“C’mon! The explosions seem to be happening in timed intervals.” 

Sana dashed towards the sound of a resonating boom, Nayeon and Jeongyeon in tow behind her. 

“You are so dead after this is all over.” Nayeon growled at Jeongyeon running beside her. 

Jeongyeon couldn’t help but snicker. “Yeah? What are you gonna do—slap me with your glitter mop?” 

The Daughter of War let out a menacing growl. “No but I’ll—” 

Another explosion cut off her words but Jeongyeon heard every word perfectly clear. Her face paled and Nayeon smirked in satisfaction. 

Sana stopped in her tracks suddenly. Since the two demigods were too busy squabbling with each other and not paying attention to what was in front of them, they smacked right into her back and toppled to the ground. 

Groans lifted up from the ground but Sana was too busy looking ahead in horror. 

“Jeongyeon… where exactly did you plant the glitter bombs?” 

Jeongyeon rubbed her back with a grimace before picking herself up. “Well, the ones at the Cabins and the Lake already went off. So that leaves the Stables, the Arena, and—” 

She looked up and her words trailed off at the sight before her. 

“—the Lava Wall…” 

The three demigods watched the chaos helplessly. The Lava Climbing Wall was spewing lava like normal—except the fiery glitter bombs Jeongyeon had set up easily caught fire. The lava only acted as the catalyst and set off a chain of explosions. With the curse in effect, it only worsened; the chain of explosions repeated after every boom, turning the Wall into a smattering of glitter and fire and chaos. 

Glitter and lava flew everywhere, prompting surprised screams from the nearby campers. The cacophony of screaming and explosive booming kicked the trio into gear. 

Sana yelled directions to campers, telling to get out of the blast range. Nayeon and Jeongyeon jumped into the fray and grabbed campers who were down on the ground. 

It took a while but they managed to clear the area of any campers. 

“Any injuries?” Sana prompted as she scanned the Lava Wall for any stragglers. 

“Only a few minor bumps and burns. But I’d write it off as something similar to the usual lava climb.” 

Jeongyeon watched as her latest prank continued to go off successfully. A somber expression washed over her face. 

Sana and Nayeon exchanged a look before Nayeon stepped towards her. She knocked her shoulder into Jeongyeon’s shoulder and said, “It’s not your fault, you know. Just… bad timing with the curse.” 

Jeongyeon was silent for a moment before slowly nodding. “Yeah, I know... but I still feel bad…” 

Sana let Jeongyeon stew in her somber mood a little longer—mainly because she was trying to find a way to pull her friend out of her current state in a non-jarring manner. It was quiet for a few long seconds before Sana spoke up. 

“C’mon, let’s check the rest of the Camp.” 

The three demigods got moving; As Head Counselors of their cabins and some of the older residents of Camp Half-Blood, most of the campers turned to them for guidance. A sense of responsibility and duty was instilled within them, prompting them to check up on the damage propelled by the Curse. 

“How many did you say you set up again?” 

Jeongyeon sheepishly smiled and replied with “Just six spots—I swear!” 

“SIX?! I thought you said only five! Where’s the last one then?” 

As if on cue, a bombardment of explosions rocked the air. This one was louder than the rest. 

“The Amphitheatre!” 

The three demigods broke out into a sprint towards the Amphitheatre. The other explosion sites seemed to die down but that left the theatre as the main site of concern. 

Nayeon suddenly gasped and grabbed Jeongyeon’s collar while they were still running. 

“H-hey! What’s the idea—” 

“Tzuyu said she was gonna be with Dahyun and Mina at the Amphitheatre earlier.” Nayeon’s eyes turned menacing, even if the stare was directed at someone she considered a close friend. “If they get so much as a bruise or a scratch on them, it’s on you .” 

Jeongyeon gulped, but she couldn’t help but agree. She’d feel like absolute pegasus poop if any of their friends got hurt because of her prank—especially her girlfriend . She shook off Nayeon’s grip and with furrowed brows, she mumbled out a guilt-ridden “Yeah, I know…” 

“Focus!” 

Sana called out as the big structure of the Amphitheatre came into view. She led them towards the open theatre’s staircase. Down they went—descending 2 or 3 stone steps at a time. In no time, they made it to the theatre’s center stage. 

The booming explosions had subsided, thank the Gods. Jeongyoen looked around the stage but there was nothing but mountainous piles and piles of confetti and glitter everywhere. She could deal with less glitter right about now. 

“Where are they? You guys see them?” 

The demigods whipped their heads back and forth, trying to spot their friends. 

“No, I don’t see any—...wait…” 

They paused at Sana’s own pause. 

“...did that glitter pile just… wiggle??” 

“Huh?” Jeongyeon and Nayeon stared at the mentioned confetti pile. No movement came from it… then they saw it!

The pile did indeed... wiggle.  

“What do you think it is?” Sana asked out loud. 

Nayeon shrugged before saying, “Only one way to find out.” 

“What do you mean by tha—aAAHHHH!” 

Nayeon had shoved Jeongyeon towards the wiggling confetti pile. The Daughter of Hermes was taken by surprise and helpless against the Daughter of War’s strength. She flew into the pile head first and glitter exploded everywhere . 

Jeongyeon surfaced, spitting out confetti and rubbing her head afterwards. “ What the Hades , Nayeon. I could have just walked up to the pile instead of flying towards it and almost breaking my neck.” 

Her disgruntled comment was met with silence. Confused, she looked up at her friends. 

“Hey, didn’t you hear me? I said—” 

Nayeon and Sana stood perfectly still with wide eyes. Their shocked expressions only served to further confuse the Daughter of Hermes. 

Then Nayeon held up a shaking finger and pointed it at her. “Z-z-z-zo—” 

“AAAHHHHHHHHHH!” 

Jeongyeon had turned her head to face what Nayeon was pointing at. She shouldn’t have. 

The sight of obscure humanoid figures scared the  out of her. There were three of them and they were sluggishly stumbling towards her. The three demigods screamed in terror as the three figures advanced slowly towards them. 

Jeongyeon couldn’t move from her position on the floor. She stumbled trying to get up but her legs had turned into jelly. She crawled backwards on her hands while shouting at the enclosing figures. 

“N-no! Stay away!” Her voice wavered, but could you blame her? Wouldn’t you your pants at the sight of blank humanoid figures coming your way? Oh man, they don’t even have faces or anything. This is how I’m gonna go out — by glittering humanoid beings.  

“Aa-aAAaHHhH!” 

Jeongyeon squeezed her eyes shut as the three figures closed in on her. She felt their arms wrap around her and screamed. 

At their friend’s terrified screaming, Nayeon and Sana were about to summon their weapons and jump in on the action. But something caught their eye and stopped them right in their tracks. 

“Jeongyeon…” 

A melodic voice sung her name. 

“AaaAhHH—stay away!” 

“Jeongie…”  

“AAaAaaHhh—wait… how do you know my name?!” 

“Baby…”  

“AaaAhhH!—huh??” Jeongyeon paused her horror-movie-like screaming and opened her eyes slowly in confusion. “Did you just call me baby ?” 

Jeongyeon stopped and took a good look at the three glittering figures that were currently dog-piling her. She hesitantly reached a hand out and rubbed one of the figure’s heads—assuming that was where it’s face was. 

To her surprise, the glitter came off easily. Her hand moved faster and the glitter came off to reveal… 

“Tzuyu?!” 

The Daughter of Apollo grinned at her girlfriend. “Uhh… hey baby?” 

“I—what???” 

Jeongyeon was still astonished by this outcome. She reached out to wipe the faces of the other two figures. The glitter came off once again to reveal… Dahyun and Mina! 

“What—what’s going on???” Jeongyeon sputtered at the three still dog-piling her. 

“Well,” Mina started off, “We wanted to have some fun with the glitter and—” 

“Scare you guys as glitter zombies!” Dahyun finished enthusiastically as she threw handfuls of glitter in the air. 

Tzuyu laughed mirthfully. “You guys should have seen your faces! Oh, I wish we could have recorded that.” 

Dahyun and Mina disentangled themselves from the dogpile and began dusting the glitter off of them. Tzuyu remained in Jeongyeon’s lap, still laughing at her girlfriend’s terrified face. 

“Stop laughing…” Jeongyeon buried her face in Tzuyu’s shoulder, whining cutely as her girlfriend laughed her lungs out at her. 

Nayeon sighed in relief. “Not gonna lie, I was totally prepared to fight some glitter zombies if Sana hadn’t pointed out that it was you guys.” 

“Oh yeah! How did you figure it out?” 

Sana smiled and pointed down. “The glitter on your legs were starting to flake off.” 

Tzuyu helped Jeongyeon up after her laughing fit subsided. “Ha. That was totally worth it.” Jeongyeon harmlessly slugged her arm with another whine. 

Jeongyeon simply sighed. Yeah, she probably deserved all that. She did just light up all of Camp Half-Blood with glitter confetti bombs. 

“Ok, let’s get cleaning. There’s literally glitter all over camp.” 

“Sure, let’s—” 

BOOM!  

Another explosion rocketed in the distance, this time coming from the Big House. 

“JEONG. YEON.” 

“Heheheh…” Jeongyeon shrugged with a sheepish expression. “...ok, it might have been 7 glitter bomb sites.” 

“YOU’RE INSUFFERABLE!” 

BOOM!