Solis

Chapter XII

Ron remembered reading about the Big Three when he was four years old. He came across their names in a book while Annabeth was teaching him Greek. There were many books about mythology translated into Greek, but he was too young to read them all. Annabeth's persistence made him lose interest in reading them.

He knew that the Big Three were Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—the most powerful gods. Whe Ron learned that there were cabins for Poseidon and Zeus at the camp. He once attempted to enter one of them with some kids, but Lee caught him and took him away, scolding him.

But as Ron grew up at the camp, he never encountered any other children of the Big Three gods—except for Thalia, although he hadn't talk with her before since he was just still a baby, and Thalia died. 

After kneeling as Chiron said his words, Ron quietly made his way back to the cabin and stashed the helmet under his and Austin's bunkbed. He didn't want to face Lee and deal with his brother's reaction. He lay down on the bunk, still trying to process everything that had happened. He was just relieved to be alive; that was the most important thing to him right now.

The following day, Percy was moved to cabin three all by himself and whenever Ron went to train, he overheard others discussing the capture the flag incident, but their conversations would hush up as soon as Percy approached the area.

Even Ron's half-siblings seemed apprehensive about being close to Percy and the crowd would steered whenever Percy appeared.

But Ron was an exception; he knew everyone. They were just being cautious and scared due to the hellhound incident. Even if they trained every day, the sudden appearance of a monster and the suspicion that someone had summoned it would naturally make them wary.

But Ron just a child, he still learns. 

And so he always joined Annabeth and Percy every morning in their Greek lesson while working on his math homework. His habit of staring at people who fascinate him is starting up again.

"Uhm, what?" Percy asked, tilted his head a little feeling uncomfortable. Ron was sitting beside him, his math forgotten as he stared at the boy.

"Do you, like, have powers?" Ron asked, curious.

Annabeth noticed them, "Ron, do your math," she said, scowling at him.

"I'm just asking," Ron replied, and got back to his work. “So…do you?“ He whispered, not dropping the question but Annabeth suddenly closed the book she was reading and gave Ron a disapproving look before walking away, muttering under her breath.

"What's her problem..." Percy muttered as he looked at the fading figure of the girl.

"Maybe she was on her period?" Ron said, causing Percy to choke.

“She was on her what?” Percy asked incredulously.

"One of my big sis said if a girl's acting like that, they might be grumpy or having their period."

"You can't just, you know, drop something like that—”

🔆

The next morning, Ron woke up feeling off, and there was heavy tension in the air. He was supposed to have fun playing volleyball with his half-siblings against the satyrs. but their movements were tense. Ron noticed some of them looking nervously at the dark clouds forming in the sky over the Long Island Sound. This wasn't just any rain, it looked ominous—more like a huge storm coming towards the camp.

Ron was aware that it never rained within the camp's boundaries, so everyone, including Ron, was on edge as they played. Just as Ron was about to serve the ball, he felt something on his head, and suddenly, rain started pouring down.

Everyone stared at the sky in surprised, and then Ron and the other quickly started scrambling around to find shelter from the rain.

Ron and the other chose to go back to their cabin. His clothes were soaked, and he felt really cold. Lee was in the cabin when they returned and immediately offered them a towel—reluctantly, Ron took the towel without looking at him.

"Still mad at him?" Norman asked from his bunkbed, Ron sticked out his tongue to him as he dried himself. "You know what? You two should just talk to each other," he added lazily.

Louisa, who was working on her summer homework near them chimed in, "Well, you can't really expect someone to apologize. No one knows whose fault it is—"

"Lee's fault!" Ron hissed, "He told me it's better if I don't see Dad."

Louisa and Norman looked at him, blinking in surprise, "What?"

"Now I know why he doesn't want me to go with them when they visit the gods outside." Ron huffed out and sat on his bed feeling sad. 

"I don't know what to do..." he whispered. Louise gave him a sympathetic glance.

"There has to be a reason. Lee wouldn't say that about you without a reason," she said and sat next to the redhead. "You know what? I heard that Lee was really busy studying. Jovan told me he's preparing for an exam for his medical school and might even get a scholarship."

"What, seriously!?" Norman glanced around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation and Ron was clueless about what they were discussing.

"Yeah, Lee doesn't want to tell us, obviously," Louisa added, looking at Ron.

"Ron, Lee's just really busy and stressed. He's going to be a college student next year, and having to take care of us every time he comes to the camp is stressing him out.“ Louise explained.

"That doesn't mean he had to keep me out of everything," 

Norman tried to hold back but eventually joined the conversation. "Look, you're just a kid—"

"I know!" Ron's face turned red as his anger flared. 

"And it's dangerous," Louisa added, concern in her voice. "You're only seven."

"Yeah, exactly. I mean, I'd do the same. I wouldn't want a little kid fighting monsters and all unless they were properly trained," Norman sighed.

Something inside Ron seemed to trigger when he heard that properly trained, causing the lights in the cabin to flicker, grabbing everyone's attention. Ron glared at them intensely, and Lee quickly stood up.

"Ron?" Lee called out as the lights suddenly came back on, leaving everyone puzzled.

Ron stood there, breathing rapidly, before collapsing onto the cabin floor, clutching his chest. Louisa let out a yelp and rushed over to the redhead.

"What's happening!?" Everyone crowded around Ron, who was struggling to breathe.

"Everyone back up!" Lee commanded as he knelt in front of Ron, who was in tears.

"I'm sorry, Lee, I'm sorry," Ron apologized.

🔆

The next day, the redhead sat by himself in his favorite spot near the strawberry field as he held onto the bracelet that Luke had given him, glancing over at some satyrs un the strawberry field playing pipes and a few campers from the Demeter cabin checking the strawberries.

No one searches for him there that time, so he ended up spending several hours in that spot. The dryads didn't disturb him like they usually do; they seemed to sense that the redhead needed some time alone.

"I know you're there, Annie," Ron finally spoke up. The blonde girl became visible behind him, removing her Yankee cap which was a gift from her mom, Athena—a fact that made Ron a little jealous.

"Hey," Annabeth said, sitting next to him. "I heard about what happened."

Always getting straight to the point.

"Did Lee tell you again?" Ron scoffed not looking at her. The older girl just shrugged. "If something happened to you, Lee always tells me." She admitted, nudging his arm to get his attention. The boy looked at her, puzzled.

"What?" he asked.

"Come on, where's my hug before I leave?" Annabeth requested.

Ron squinted at her and let out a sigh. He knew she was going on a quest with Percy, as she had been eagerly waiting to leave the camp. He didn't know all the details, just what he had heard from Annabeth's cabin mates. 

He also understood that the older girl, just like Luke did in the past, was planning not to share any details with him about her quest. They were both leaving Ron without giving him much information.

"Ron," Annabeth called to him gently.

"It's okay, Annie. You can go now. I'm glad you found me," Ron replied, gazing down at his sneakers.

Annabeth let out a sigh and pulled him into a hug. "Come here," she said, and Ron hugged her back.

"Lee told me everything."

"Like what?" Ron shifted his head to look at Annabeth, but she remained still, holding onto the hug.

"He told me that Chiron won't make you leave the camp. I don't really understand but you should talk to Lee or Chiron," Annabeth explained.

"I'm mad at Lee," 

"And Lee cares about you, Ron." She released him from the hug and pinched the redhead's nose. "We care about you, Ron. Always." the redhead only pouted in response.

"Fiiiine. Just make sure you come back in one piece, without any scars on your face!"

Annabeth chuckled and tousled his hair. "I'll definitely be back. I want to see my brave and healthy boy growing up. If Thalia were... well, alive, she would do everything for you."

"Should I be happy about that? She'd be just another Lee." The redhead snorted.

"Ron, when someone protects you, it means they love and care about you."

"Even if it means not letting me participate in capturing the red flag and saying it's better if I don't see my dad?"

"Yeah, except for the 'it's better if you don't see your dad' part, there must be a reason behind that," Annabeth replied, raising an eyebrow.

Ron didn't say anything at first, but when Annabeth nudged him again, he groaned loudly. "Okay, I'll talk to Lee," he finally agreed.

Annabeth smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear," she said, getting up.

"Good luck, Annie," Ron said.

🔆

After promising Annabeth that he would talk to Lee, Ron took a deep breath and trudged towards the cabins. Standing in front of their cabin's door, Ron felt sweaty and nervous.

First, he planned to apologize to Lee for calling him the worst. He felt guilty about it and genuinely wanted to make amends. Ron gulped and opened the door. The cabin was empty; his half-siblings were outside, except for Lee, who was busy writing in a notebook filled with bookmarks and colorful tabs. Ron briefly considered postponing the conversation, but Lee noticed him right away.

"Ron?"

Startled, Ron jumped slightly and offered a nervous smile. "H-hello," he greeted quietly, clutching the hem of his orange camp shirt.

"Is something wrong? Are you feeling sick again?" Lee set his notebook down next to him and stood up, walking over to Ron.

"No!" Ron exclaimed, causing Lee to pause.

“Ron—”

"I-I want to say sorry," he started, his voice shaky. "For being a bad little brother to you and for saying you were the worst. Everyone said you probably had a reason to say I shouldn't see our d-dad, and now I get it. If it was to keep me safe, I'm okay with that." Ron's face turned red, and he gripped his shirt tightly as he spoke.

"You're the bestest brother, even more than everyone and I'm really sorry, it's my fault. I-I'll stay at camp if it keeps me safe—" Ron's sentence was cut off by Lee hugging him.

"Oh, Ron," Lee said, his voice shaky, as he knelt down to Ron's level. "Look at me, Ron."

The redhead shook his head, tears welling up. Lee gently held Ron's face with his hands and made him look at him. "It's not your fault, okay? Really, it's not. Honestly, it's my fault for keeping things from you, for everything. I even got upset at Chiron when he said he didn't want you to leave camp, because he was worried on something might happen to you—I didn't really understand, especially when he mentioned that we should make you stay away from Dad."

Ron looked at him, tears still streaming down his cheeks. "But why...?"

"I don't know, Ron. I'm sorry. I've always wanted to take you outside."

The redhead started nodding, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. "It's okay, big brother," Ron sniffled. "I just really want to see Dad... I don't know what he looks like... is he handsome, like from the book?"

"Yeah, handsome. Just like you. He's got your eyes. He'd probably love that."

Ron seemed to feel better hearing that. "Thanks, Lee. And, I'm sorry again."

"No, I should be the one apologizing." 

"It's okay, I forgive you. By the way, good luck with your studies in medical school. I heard about it from Louisa," Ron said.

Lee shook his head but then smiled. "Seriously, it was supposed to be a secret. I wanted to surprise all of you if I got into that school."

"Sure, if you pass," Ron giggled.

"How dare you," Lee teased. "Want to come outside and say goodbye to Percy with everyone?"

Ron beamed at him, and the head counselor felt relieved, sensing that same cheerful energy radiating from the kid once again.

🔆

After Annabeth left, Ron made sure Luke wasn't feeling lonely and sad. He went to visit the older teen in the Hermes cabin, but the Stoll twins tried to stop him at the front door.

"Password?"

"Your ugly face," Ron replied, causing the Stolls to fake a gasp. Connor pretended to cry and then let Ron inside. Luke was inside, holding his daggers, and he noticed Ron's presence.

"Why are you here?"

"I thought you were sad because Annabeth isn't here."

"Seriously, you came here for that?" Luke's remark made the redhead giggle. "Can I hang out with your siblings, they're playing mythomagic cards again without me!"

Luke grinned slightly. "Sure, they do, because you already got all the figurines.“ 

Ron made a little pout but then suddenly dashed over to where a group of Hermes' kids were playing Mythomagic cards with some undetermined kids.

The next day, while having breakfast, Ron kept his ears open for any news about Percy's quest. However, what he heard instead from his half-siblings was that Kayla and Austin had finally come back. Without hesitation, the redhead sprinted towards the hill where Thalia's pine tree stood.

The three of them hugged, and Ron looked back behind them to see a few more three campers who had come back early before summer solstice with Kayla and Austin.

"What are you looking at?" Kayla asked, turning to look behind them too.

Ron shook his head. "Uh, nothing." He didn't really know, but he had a feeling like he was expecting for someone.

"Oh, I recognize that expression," Austin teased, waggling his eyebrows. "You're waiting for Will."

Ron's face turned red. "No!"

"Aww, it's fine. I want to see him too. We only met him for a day. He mentioned he's coming back this summer." Kayla grinned at him, and Ron crossed his arms.

"First of all, he's cool," Ron defended.

"You only think that because he answered all your questions," Austin chuckled.

"Shut up, Tinny," Ron retorted as they strolled back to camp. Ron also filled them in on everything that had just happened. They appeared surprised when Ron mentioned the hellhound and Percy, and somewhat intrigued when he told him the argument he had with Lee.

"That's odd. Chiron not letting you leave the camp?" Austin looked confused as they walked.

"Yeah, it's strange. Lee said Chiron was worried about something," Ron explained.

"What could it be?" Kayla asked.

"I don't know," Ron admitted. "But I trust Mr. Chiron.“

“Sure you don't wanna ask him?“ 

"Um, I'm not really sure..." Ron hadn't really thought about it, but he did want to know the actual reason. However, he was hesitant because if Chiron didn't want to tell him, Ron wouldn't push the matter.

The redhead attempted to shift the conversation to something interesting, like Percy being the son of Poseidon, but Kayla and Austin told him that he had already mentioned it four times.

And so, they sat in the amphitheater. Ron was becoming increasingly anxious because it had been three days without any news about Annabeth, Percy, and... the satyr. Ron struggled to remember his name—was it Goby? Hobir? Roby? He settled on the name Roby. Annabeth had mentioned him before a lot of times, but Ron had a tendency to forget things. Well, Ron often forgot things.

Suddenly, one of Annabeth's half-siblings, Malcolm, came running towards them, clutching a stack of newspapers. "GUYS! GUYS!" he shouted, drawing the attention of a few campers in the amphitheater.

"Percy!" he yelled, and everyone rushed over to Malcolm to grab a newspaper. Ron was among them, grabbing one and sitting between Kayla and Austin.

Curiosity spread through the campers as they read the newspaper. Ron had just opened his copy when the Stoll twins showed up behind them.

"Whoa, that's Percy!" Travis exclaimed. "Wait, is that a—"

Ron shot them a glare and closed the newspaper. "Do you mind if we read this in peace?"

"Sorry, sorry, but seriously, that's Percy—"

"Yes, we know," Ron interrupted, reopening the newspaper. Just then, Nyssa appeared behind him, bending slightly to read the paper as well on Ron's hand, as they were about to start reading, Tanaka suddenly appeared, pushing the Stolls and Nyssa aside to wedge herself between them.

They all looked at her, surprised, as Tanaka raised an eyebrow. "What? Can't I read it too?"

"Why is everyone here?" Ron muttered, adjusting the newspaper for everyone to read it. However, he realized he couldn't make out the letters properly. Nyssa took charge, reading the article aloud as Ron held the newspaper.

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on the picture of Percy. Connor glanced between their intense expressions and the image. "Well, at least they managed to escape..."

No, the news didn't provide enough relief. Like everyone else, they felt tense and uneasy after reading the newspaper. Annabeth's cabin mates, in particular, were on edge, attempting to gather any additional information about the situation.

The next day, Ron fidgeted in the cabin for hours, constantly flipping through radio channels to another, hoping to catch any mention of Percy's name or any new information that cna provide him about their whereabouts. Suddenly, the cabin door burst open, and he heard loud, angry voices from his half-siblings engaged in a heated argument.

Austin came rushing in behind them and spotted Ron, panting as he hurried over. "There's a war!" he blurted out.

"A what—?"

Kayla joined them, clearly panicked. "A war between Poseidon and Zeus. They're picking sides, and we're on Poseidon's side, but—"

"What are you guys talking about?!" Ron looked back and forth between them, still fumbling with the radio channels. Suddenly, the voices inside the cabin grew louder as they discussed aligning with Poseidon in the war, while the other campers from Ares and Aphrodite seemed to be taking the same side.

The cabin door remained open, and the sound of loud shouts echoed in from outside.

"Oh no," Austin exclaimed.

Campers from various cabins were gathered outside, engaged in heated arguments with members of other cabins. If you watched closely, it was Athena's side against Aphrodite's, Ares' and now with Ron's half-siblings too. 

"We should've come back after the summer solstice!" Kayla yelled, panicking.

Ron shot them both a furious look. "We need to trust Percy!"

But amidst the chaos of the fight between Athena and Poseidon campers, Ron managed to pull Kayla and Austin into the cabin. He fumbled with the buttons on the radio, his words rushing out. "Listen, we just need to find out where they are, and everything will be okay."

Austin hesitated but finally managed to speak, "But—"

"I need to know they're safe!" Ron interrupted.

Just then, the channel switched to a news report about an incident in the Arch National Park in St. Louis. The reporter mentioned an explosion and a boy falling, et cetera. The three of them exchanged wide-eyed glances.

"Oh, Zeus," Kayla said.

Yup, it's probably them.