Chapter Text
Miles Jackson you have five seconds to get here, or your friends are going without you!
Ah, my mother. Annabeth Chase, the scariest woman I've ever known, if she's angry.
I love her so much.
"Sorry Commander Chase!"
I like to call her that to make her angry.
I fix my blue Yankees cap on the blond curls, slip on my shoes, and walk down the stairs.
I step out the door, and the July Manhattan sunshine hits my face.
God, I love summer so much.
Our lilac van is already there, along with all my friends and their parents.
As always, I am the last one.
Uncle Leo takes a second to pat me on the back so hard I feel my ribs crack.
It's been a month since I met my full family. Ah, how nice they are. I almost forgot.
"There's my favorite nephew! Were you hiding a dead body or are you still trying to beat your personal record of two hours and thirty-six minutes late?" He is as cheerful as ever, though behind him I see Calypso shaking her head, though she is smiling. I wave at her.
Even if they aren't really related to me, I consider them a sort of uncles and aunts, even if I don't consider their children my cousins. It would be just- weird. They are just my bestfriends, even if sometimes those idiots drive me crazy.
"Miles, man, Chloe and Charlie are on their fourth nervous breakdown this morning, that's a record," Xander approaches me, a smile on his face and daisies in his dark hair, probably put there by Olivia.
"Grace!" I shout as I hug him.
"I'm so happy to see you all!" Olivia jumps next to me and hugs me, while Charlie looks at me with one of his rare smiles on the face.
"It was a nightmare coming here in the car with her and Chloe, Miles. They were screaming the whole time," Charlie mutters, glaring at Olivia and the red-haired girl who just joined us.
Sometimes Charlie seems so subdued by Chloe and Via that I feel sorry for him.
Once at the beach he fell asleep and they filled his head with braids and seaweed.
Of course I have the video.
"It was just Valdez freaking out" Chloe high-fives me, her green eyes as sleepy as ever. She wears a red top and a camera around her neck, her ginger hair pulled back into a high ponytail and sunglasses on her head.
"Chloe be nice," Will says smiling, with Nico next to him, looking like he's been dragged out of bed and would kill anyone at any moment.
"Nico, she looks too much like you, what the heck. And here I was hoping to raise a mini-me." Will pouts and nudges Nico, who glares at him.
"For that, there's me and Via," I say enthusiastically, as I point to the curly-haired girl. She nods enthusiastic.
"You guys get me." He makes a pained expression and puts a hand to his forehead.
"Knock it off, Solace," Nico pouts, and arranges a strand of red hair behind his daughter's ear.
"You're allowed to drown whoever you want," murmurs the raven-haired man to Chloe.
She giggles.
"Di Angelo, you know your daughter takes you seriously" Mom fixes her blond curls and looks first at Nico, then at me, then at Chloe.
Oh.
This one I have to tell you.
It relates to the time when at camp, Xander and I called Chloe pretending we burned something, and then got her to her tent and sprayed her with foam from a full fire extinguisher. And I mean all the foam, we literally emptied it out.
The next day she tried to drown us: I survived, instead Xander threw up something like fifteen times, to throw out all the salt water he had drunk.
That night dad laughed for two hours. Mom, on the other hand, wanted to come get me and was honestly more worried for Xander and Chloe. Nico complimented Chloe and uncle Will didn't talk to him and his daughter for two days.
You say drama queens? No, you probably mean William Solace and Annabeth Chase.
"Guys, we would really appreciate it if you would avoid crashing into a pole or directly into the ocean" my dad looks at Xander with a wry smile "eyes on the road, Grace, I would like to have my son back in one piece, not just an arm or a leg after you went overboard"
"Miles fish sticks, what a business" Olivia giggles, and as soon as Xander gets the joke he starts laughing leaning on her.
Then they go on like this for a good two minutes repeating the joke over and over and bending over in laughter.
It's honestly outrageous. I would be so much better than a fish.
"Like you didn't wreck Paul's Prius," Mom whispers with a smirk as my father pouts and then nudges her.
"Mind your own business, Wise girl." He gives her a look.
I turn to look at my friends.
I can still hardly believe that we will be staff members and entertainers this year.
The Turtle Squad dancing the Baby Dance on the beach.
Convincing Chloe and Charlie was a nightmare and it is the thing Via and I are most proud of.
If you are asking, Chloe is the kind of person who if disturbed early in the morning could seriously kill someone.
She has already happened to slap me for asking her to pass me cereal for breakfast.
It was funny, really, because then Olivia had milk coming out of her nose from laughing.
Anyway, if you're wondering why "Turtle Squad," well, it was dad and Leo who christened us that when we were eight years old and they took us to rescue turtles on a beach.
Plot twist?
We lost the ones they told us to watch out for.
When they came back that day to pick us up, I had a black eye from fighting with Xander because I blamed him for everything, Charlie was crying like crazy, Chloe was the angriest kid on Long Island, Xander had a sprained ankle, and Olivia was humming and laughing because she didn't really understand that we had probably just had those baby turtles eaten by seagulls.
From that day on, our parents opted for activities that did not require special attention to living creatures.
That's how they sent us that summer to the camp where they spent their teenage years, for three weeks, and although I cried for the first two, since that day, we've gone every year until now.
And believe me when I say that Camp "Half-Blood" is really cool.
This year, however, will be different: we will be staff members and I am looking forward to it.
"Miles, can you make sure Charlie is okay once he's there?" Hazel's small hand rests on my shoulder, her golden eyes in mine.
"Certainly," I smile at her, then hug her tight. "Don't worry".
"Don't fool around, Miles" my mother gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Have fun, honey," she brushes the blond curls out of my eyes, then looks a hole in the shoulder of my orange camp T-shirt, and glares at me with her gray eyes.
I give her another kiss on the cheek.
Dad hugs me, "I'll see you in three weeks. Have fun, I'll make sure to look at your mother." He raises his eyebrows and makes a sarcastic smile.
"Watch your mouth, Jackson" she punches him on the shoulder.
"I put some blue candy in your backpack pocket" Dad whispers in my ear with a beaming smile.
I laugh, then climb into the car, into the window seat I earned permanently when I was seven, after a colossal fight with Chloe and Charlie.
Olivia jumps in next to me, and the red haired girl gets in front next to Xander, who is behind the wheel.
"Eyes on the road, Xander," Uncle Jason smiles at his son, and then the van pulls away.
They wave at us, while Olivia shouts happily and blows kisses to everyone.
Chloe puts on her headphones and closes her eyes, leaning her head on the pillow she got.
I see mom, dad, and uncles getting smaller and smaller as we turn onto the highway and head toward Long Island, where Camp "Half-Blood" is waiting for us.
Here we come!
