Solis

Chapter V

If you ask Ron what it's like to be thrown to the ground with some Ares campers, it feels like falling from the climbing wall while you're already in the middle of it. Luke wasn't present in the Arena to teach him self-defense, so one of the Ares kids offered to teach Ron instead, but he's not enjoying it. It's pretty clear what that Ares kid's main intention is!

Most of the other campers kept getting knocked off by them, and unfortunately, Ron was one of those unlucky ones. As a result, he returned to their cabin with bruises and cuts, but that's alright; it's good practice, so it's only fair.

He fetches a first-aid kit and decides to take care of himself, but the way he puts a bandage on his arm is not perfect. Lee, who is arranging new books on their mini shelf, notices him.

“This is how you put on a bandage," he said, teaching Ron.

"Ow, ow—Lee!" the redhead exclaimed as Lee tightened the bandage. He heard an amused laugh from his half-brother and was advised not to push himself too hard, he doesn't want to see Ron get hurt or injured during outdoor activities.

Ron made a sincere effort to follow the advice, but he couldn't avoid getting hurt once he caught the attention of the other kids. He continued joining them in their fights and games activities because that's what kids do, right? He even started learning to play mythomagic cards and volleyball with them.

He's even proud to tell the other kids that he can't write and read properly, and he received a responses such as Same! and a Me too!

Ron even takes pride in showing off his cartwheel skills to others, and they become curious and start imitating him. Suddenly, a new voice speaks from behind them, and the kids turn to see twin boys with messy curly hair and mischievous smiles.

“That's cool!" the twins said in unison. "But can you do this? Show them, Connor."

Without hesitation, Connor steps forward and performs a cartwheel without using his hands. The kids, including Ron, gasp in amazement.

“No way! A no-handed cartwheel!" one of them exclaimed.

“That's not much different from a regular cartwheel!" Ron huffed out.

“Yes, it is, buuut, without hands! It's like magic, right?" Connor grinned, raising his two hands playfully. The kids jump in excitement and ask the twins to teach them the impressive move. However, Ron reacts differently; he kicks Connor on his knees harshly and runs away.

The twins' names are Travis and Connor, known as the Stolls, though they aren't actual twins, which onlyconfuses Ron. Nevertheless, what matters is that the Stolls seem to target Ron for some reason, possibly due to his red hair, and they enjoy giving him funny names.

The Stolls managed to convince Ron to join them by falsely promising him candies from outside the camp in return for a favor. They convinced him to steal (without telling him to steal) some new camp shirts from the camp's store. However, when Ron realized he was deceived and there were no candies, he got angry—and didn't hesitate to use his wooden sword to chase after them.

So far, the month has been filled with fun and nothing bad happened, except for the Stolls who didn't stop teasing Ron about his red hair and making fun of his red face whenever he gets angry or embarrassed. So as a result, whenever he sees the twins, he tries to hide to avoid being teased.

The next day, Ron and three of his half-siblings join Chiron in Archery with some campers whom Ron isn't familiar with. Although he doesn't know all the campers in the camp, he still recognizes some of their faces.

There are four of them, two boys and two girls. One of the girls is skilled at archery, while the boy with dark skin and a funny hairstyle beside her is struggling to put the arrow in the bow. "I didn't sign up for this," he cries in frustration.

The girl with short hair beside him laughs, "C'mon now! This is awesome."

As Ron walks in front of them, he waves and greets them, "Hello!"

"Oh, Hi!" the girl responds with a friendly greeting and playfully nudge the boy's arm besides him. The boy did also greets him back, so Ron settled besides him. 

“You have funny hair!" Ron giggles, referring to the boy's braided hairstyle. The boy blushes and looks back at Kayla, who also giggles and pretends not to hear the comment.

“T-thanks?" Austin responds, a bit embarrassed.

“What's your name? And yours too?" Ron asks, curious as he looks at both of them. It's odd that Ron is particularly curious about these two new campers instead of the other two.

“My name's Kayla! This is my new friend, Austin!" the girl introduces themselves.

“Austin," the boy repeats his name.

“Who are your godly parents?" Ron tilts his head with curiosity. The two glance at each other and shrug, “Well…we don't know yet! We've been here since morning, and the tall guy with blonde hair took us to their cabin," Kayla admits.

Austin sighs heavily, giving up on his attempts with the bow, "If only I knew...they said we'll find out at dinner, and there's this symbol that will appear on your head."

“A symbol!" Ron exclaims, smiling widely, seeming to understand.

As Austin was about to say something, they suddenly heard Chiron's voice starting the archery session. They all gathered around the old centaur, who explained the importance of using a bow and arrow, and he even shared some new tricks as a bonus!

“Cool," Kayla grinned.

“Cool!" Ron repeated enthusiastically.

As they scrambled to their places, Ron put on his archery gloves and noticed that Austin was still struggling. Without hesitation, Ron stepped in to help him. However, Ron found himself distracted and couldn't take his eyes off Austin as he attempted to shoot his arrow. The intensity of Ron's stares made Austin nervous, and he began sweating under the redhead's gaze.

“Ron, focus on your own target," one of his half-siblings called out to him.

“Sorry!" Ron quickly apologized, redirecting his attention to his own archery target. 

After the archery session, Ron eagerly ran towards Austin and Kayla, thrilled to talk with them again. "What places have you guys visited here?" he asked with excitement. Ron was eager to hear about their adventures and experiences at the camp so far.

Kayla didn't hesitate to share the places they had visited that morning within the camp. However, the conversation soon shifted to the places Kayla's dad had taken her outside the camp. They excitedly discussed their experiences beyond the camp's boundaries.

Realizing they didn't have a specific destination in mind, Ron suggested they should go meet up with the others. 

🔆

Ron was unsure if this was the happiest day of his life.

While they were in the Dining Pavilion having dinner, the moment everyone had been waiting for finally arrived. The four new campers were suddenly claimed by their godly parents. One of them was claimed by Aphrodite and another was claimed by Hephaestus. However, what excited Ron the most was the fact that both Kayla and Austin were claimed by Apollo—his dad and now their dad too!

After the claiming, Ron couldn't contain his excitement and ran towards Kayla and Austin, hugging them tightly. "I knew it!" he shouted enthusiastically and led them to their table. Ron's half-siblings greeted their new siblings with nods, showing curiosity and smiles, eager to get to know them better. Although Austin was a bit shy at first, he gradually opened up as he received questions from his new siblings.

"I like bacon, here," Ron said, adding more bacon to their plates. Kayla kept changing her drinks while Austin engaged in conversations with their other half-siblings, who were curious about his taste in music and other interests.

“Cool!" Kayla exclaimed, sipping her chosen drink.

“Cool!" Ron repeated, stuffing a whole bacon slice into his mouth. 

Lee after that informed the two new campers about the upcoming sing-along with the other campers before they headed back to their cabins. Austin's enthusiasm was evident as he grabbed Ron and Kayla's arms, sharing the news with excitement. He couldn't contain himself, mentioning that there would be instruments available and he could bring his own the next day.

“It's gonna be cool, I'm telling you guys! Everyone loves the sing-alongs here," Ron giggled. "The more happy we are, the brighter and stronger the fire will burn!"

"Really? I can't wait to see," Austin said eagerly.

The three of them followed their half-siblings and the other campers to the campfire area, finding seats together side by side as everyone sat with their respective half-siblings. 

🔆

If you asked Ron how it feels to have two half-siblings who constantly pinch his cheeks now that they've gotten close with him, well, it's quite tiring! After a week of getting to know each other, Kayla and Austin are always eagerly waiting for Ron to get ready, urging him to hurry up so they can head to the climbing wall that Kayla was kept talking about just two days ago. During the tour guided by Luke (whom Ron had introduced as that tall guy), Kayla's sharp eyesight spotted the climbing wall, and now Kayla are excited to experience it together with them.

“Come on, Kayla… you can't just wake me up everday to try that lava wall!" Ron pouted, hopping towards the two who were excited about the place.

“Oh, come on, you dum-dum! It's gonna be fun and this is the day for that."

“Not until a lava eats you," Ron's face scrunches in nervousness.

“Don't worry, a Kayla will always know the way!" She laughed, coming up with her own made-up rhythm that Austin and Ron didn't find amusing.

Kayla bravely tried the climbing wall with other campers, while Austin decided it wasn't for him and said nope without hesitation. Nervous about the whole experience, Ron tightly hugged Austin's arm for support.

To Ron's relief—thanks to the satyrs!—Kayla successfully made it to the top without getting hurt. 

“Kayla, you totally scared us," Austin said, a hint of concern in his voice. The older girl simply snorted and playfully put her arms around their shoulders. "Come on! There's more fun to do here," she grinned, pushing the two towards their next outdoor activity. 

It had been another tiring week for Ron, especially with Lee's absence, as he had to return to school. Now, Michael was assisting the cabin and infirmary, and unfortunately, the three of them accidentally made the short boy mad, leading them to hide under Ron's bunk bed.

“Where are they!?" Michael bellowed, stomping his feet towards the cabin. “They stole my boxers, my boxers, I repeat my bo—”

“We heard you, Mike," one of their half-siblings said.

Kayla and Ron looked at Austin with widened eyes, “You stole his boxers!?"

“No!" Austin glared at them. “I didn't steal anything."

“Wait, our goal is to steal his archer, right?" Kayla hissed.

“I didn't say anything about stealing! I said, to try his cool archer!" Ron looked at them with a confused expression.

“But why boxers!?"

“Where's the archer, Kayla!?"

“I don't know, I didn't steal anything!"

“Not steal! To try!"

The three of them didn't realize that the bunk bed had been removed above them until their half-siblings looked down at them. One of them snorted, “Is this why Lee told us that Ron is a bad influence."

“Right." They all laughed, except for Michael who was still upset.

“Oh, you three, do you even know what I can do?" Michael fumed, ready to grab them. But the three acted quickly, moving in different directions to avoid him.

“Quick, the small monster is coming to eat us!" Ron shouted as Kayla and Austin grabbed pillows for each other. Everyone in the cabin stopped laughing and glanced at them in confusion as Kayla and Austin ran straight towards Michael. “What are you guys doing—" and a pillow was thrown at him.

“Is this a pillow fight!?" Julliana squealed in excitement when a pillow was slammed on her face.