Chaeyoung was no stranger to getting scolded. She never considered herself a rebellious child by any means but she’d had her moments. Though the memories of her father were beginning to fade away with time she remembered how he used to sit her down and lecture her. His voice had been firm and his face grim but behind all that she’d seen the worry in his eyes.

A similar expression was etched on Joohyun’s face. And honestly, she thought the daughter of Hades was about ten times scarier.

“I can’t believe you would instigate something so childish!” Joohyun’s raised voice sounded more anxious than anything, which Chaeyoung couldn’t help but notice. What exactly had the head counselors been talking about while they were at dinner?

As soon as the counselors had returned all fingers had pointed in Yeri’s direction. And since Chaeyoung and Jennie had been in such close proximity to the daughter of Hermes they’d gotten dragged up to the Big House as well. Lisa and Jisoo hadn’t been far behind them either, as someone had snitched and let loose the fact that it had been the two of them who’d masterminded the whole “slingshot” affair.

Which was now why Chaeyoung sat squashed in-between Lisa and Jennie on one of the couches in the parlor, absentmindedly one of the many cats that called the Big House home while Joohyun scolded them.

“We’re preparing for the possibility of war and you decide to start a food fight?” Chaeyoung looked up, expecting to come face-to-face with an angry Joohyun only to find the older girl staring not at her but at Yeri, who had until now been sitting smugly next to the four of them pretending like everything was peachy. “Yeri-ah I’m talking to you!”

Yeri blinked, clearly not expecting the sudden turn of events. Chaeyoung heard a stifled snort coming from her left and the corners of threatened to turn up into a smile.

“Wait, what?”

“Oh please, you expect me to believe that Rosie was the mastermind behind tonight’s food fight?” Joohyun pointed in Chaeyoung’s direction and she mustered up the most innocent expression she could in the moment, which was hard to do while she was still covered in bits and pieces of food, the makeshift crown still perched precariously on her head.  

“Yes?” Was Yeri’s hesitant response, and Joohyun leaned over to smack the blonde upside the head.

“Who do you take me for, Seulgi?”

Yeri rubbed the back of her head. “Unnie come on. All we’ve been doing is preparing for war. Day in and day out it’s combat classes and strategy meetings. Everyone’s being run ragged, they deserved something fun for a change.”

Joohyun pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers, clearly frustrated by Yeri’s antics. “I’m not going to lie and say that you’re wrong. But what if we had been attacked? You of all people know that Nyx is slowly biding her time until the next shard is found. If we’d been caught unaware there could have been a massacre.”

“But there wasn’t was there?” Yeri didn’t seem to know when to give it a rest.

“It doesn’t matter Yerim!” Chaeyoung found herself unconsciously moving closer to Lisa upon hearing Joohyun’s raised voice. This was beginning to sound more and more like a family dispute and not something Chaeyoung and the others should be witnessing.

Yeri seemed stunned by the use of her full name coming out of Joohyun’s mouth. “When did you get like this, unnie? In case you’ve forgotten, we’re KIDS! We may be heroes but we’re kids first, damn it. None of us asked to be involved in any of this!”

Chaeyoung thought she saw a glint of tears beginning to form in Yeri’s eyes. Joohyun stood up abruptly, running a hand through her hair in exasperation.

“I know.” Joohyun’s voice had gone soft. The older girl’s knuckles clutched the chair in front of her so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “I know you didn’t ask to be involved. Do you think I asked to be named the leader of this effort?”

“Unnie, I—"

“Yerim you know as well as I do that the gods care little for their children. They have their moments but the one thing that can never be forgotten is this: We are nothing to them but pawns. We are the first line of defense against Nyx but make no mistake. The gods will not think twice before sending us out to the be the first sacrifices to Nyx’s forces should she rise again. Our only crime is having been born as children of the gods. And I’ll be damned before I let any one of those campers down there die in a war they should never have been a part of.”

Joohyun’s voice shook on the last sentence and Chaeyoung was struck with how sincere she sounded. As a daughter of Aphrodite one of her gifts allowed her to read most people like an open book, to see their true feelings and understand every little inflection in their tones and mannerisms. Joohyun was scared. They’d been victorious against Nyx and yet the encounter had the most powerful demigod in camp quaking in her boots months afterward.

The daughter of Hades was completely certain in her statement. She hadn’t asked to lead and yet here she was—all because the rest of them were counting on her to help keep them safe.

Yeri had seen it too. The younger girl quickly wiped her tears away and approached Joohyun from behind, wrapping her arms around the other girl’s waist and leaning her head on Joohyun’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

Joohyun seemed to collapse a bit in Yeri’s embrace and Chaeyoung could feel the relief coming off the older girl in waves. I guess they both had something they needed to say…

“I’m not condemning your action, Yeri. You’re right, we do need something so everyone can take their minds off of training for a little while. I was hoping to announce this tonight after dinner but I suppose the announcement will have to wait until morning now.”

Yeri backed up, her head tilting curiously to the side. Even Chaeyoung’s ears were pricked up now. Joohyun smiled wryly.

“I suppose you’re not going to tell us what it is,” Lisa piped up from next to Chaeyoung.

Joohyun smiled mysteriously, turning to face Yeri. “No. No I’m not. Now get going, little one. I need to talk to Chaeyoung and her friends.”

The daughter of Hermes nodded. Chaeyoung didn’t miss the barely disguised spring in her step as she made to leave, no doubt thankful that Joohyun hadn’t decided to punish her for tonight’s chaos. For a brief moment she thought about bringing something up but decided that the younger girl had had enough for one day. She wouldn’t snitch.

Yeri had almost made it out the front door when Joohyun called out to her, “Oh, and make sure you don’t wear yourself out this week, I’ve added another rotation of chores to your schedule.”

“But—”

“No buts, Yeri. You made your choice, you can deal with the consequences.”

Chaeyoung heard what sounded like a string of muffled curse words and the front door of the Big House slammed shut behind Yeri.

Joohyun smirked, still looking in the direction of the front door as Yeri could be seen through the window, stomping her way back to the Hermes cabin. The daughter of Hades turned back to face them.

“As for you four…”

Chaeyoung gulped.

XXX

The next morning Chaeyoung all but shuffled into the amphitheater, regretting her decision to participate in the previous night’s chaos.

Joohyun hadn’t added any extra chores to their schedules but she had strong-armed them into moving a set of already-built Ikea furniture over to the Hades cabin. The older girl had remained tight-lipped about its origins too, though a mysterious smile had crossed her face.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the four of them then had to rearrange the entire Hades cabin since, in Joohyun’s words, I have a sister now, this cabin is going to need some serious redecorating. They’d spent the next few hours completely redecorating the previously lonely cabin. Seulgi had even stopped by with some cookies, and the Dawnbreaker also seemed to be unusually ecstatic about the table and chairs that had been set up. Chaeyoung set a mental reminder to ask them about it one day.

Still half-asleep, Chaeyoung joined the quickly-growing line of campers as they piled their plates high with food. She blindly reached for some pancakes and bacon, before grabbing an empty coffee mug and shuffling back to her usual table. On the way back she scraped part of her food into the ceremonial brazier and sent a quick prayer to her mother, making sure to stifle the yawn that threatened to come out as she spoke.

“Please let today be nice and adventure-free.”

She didn’t hear a response, not that she was waiting for one. The gods rarely contacted their children, and even Aphrodite, who was known as one of the slightly-less deadbeat parents, had only ever answered her twice before.

“Coffee or tea?” she mused to herself as she sat down, picking up her mug and rolling it back and forth in her hands.

“How about neither?” Jisoo replied, sliding in next to Chaeyoung and setting a large Thermos on the table. Lisa and Jennie soon joined them, both looking curious about the contents of the thermos. Jisoo snapped her fingers and four shot glasses appeared in front of each girl.

“Day-drinking?” Lisa joked.

Jisoo shook her head and unscrewed the cap, “Don’t I wish. I managed to snag a bottle of the Dionysus cabin’s “hangover” remedy.”

“How’d you get that?” Chaeyoung asked as Jisoo filled their glasses with the strange, dark brown liquid. Jennie and Lisa both looked at the drink with trepidation. “They’re notoriously picky about who they give it to.”

“Jeongyeon owed me after I helped to set up a fireworks display for her girlfriend’s birthday,” Jisoo tipped her head back and drank the remedy in one shot, scowling a bit and slamming the glass back down. She shivered, “Ugh, the taste never gets better but I have to admit it works wonders.”

Chaeyoung couldn’t argue with that. If there was one thing Dionysus kids knew how to do it was to make effective anti-hangover cures. This one also had the uncanny ability to instantly wake someone up no matter how tired they were. It tasted awful, but the benefits more than made up for the brief moment of disgust.

Sighing loudly, Chayeoung gulped down her glass. The effect was instant, and she felt like someone had injected caffeine directly into her veins, chasing away her exhaustion and perking her right up. “Drink up girls, I don’t know what Joohyun has planned for today but you do not want to be tired.”

Lisa shared a look with Jennie and tilted her head as if to say “screw it”, pinching her nose with one hand and downing her shot. “Oh my god that’s disgusting.”

Jennie followed suit, “It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Three pairs of eyes looked at her like she was insane. Chaeyoung began shoveling down her breakfast to chase away unpleasant aftertaste that still lingered on her tongue.

“What do you think Joohyun has planned?” she asked Jisoo, half-full of bacon.  

“Knowing Joohyun? Something physically demanding, something hellishly horrible, something—” Jisoo took one look at Lisa and Jennie’s concerned faces and stopped talking.

As if Joohyun had heard them talking about her, the daughter of Hades got out of her seat and approached the front of the amphitheater.