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The first friend I made all by myself was Milo.

Joel was fast asleep beside me in the guest bunk, open-mouthed and softly snoring. I hadn't slept at all, just lay there staring at the bottom of the next bunk. My eyes refused to stay shut, just constantly grazed the room for minuscule, irrelevant details. Chips in the windowpanes. Patchwork on the blankets. Openings in the wood of the walls. After staying up late talking with Percy, I felt horrible for thinking my life was hectic. He told me about his many encounters with death until he finally did die, in a sense, when he fell into Tartarus.

"I would still be stuck down there," he whispered, his eyes flicking over the bonfire. I followed his gaze to Annabeth, who was laughing at a joke someone had just made. "I'd have been done for if she weren't there to save my butt. And yet... if I could go back and fix things, she wouldn't have fallen with me. She wouldn't have had to experience everything she did. She's... changed. Just a little. Every once in a while, I'll notice it. And it kills me that she changed because of me."

Sitting on the log in the warmth of the fire with Percy as he stared with the most despondent expression I've ever seen at someone he was supposed to be complete with, a mini revelation came upon me. One, I realized I wanted someone to care about me that much. It was emotionally exhausting to think about so many people all the time, and to love them so much in the case of Joel. This is a super unloving way of thinking, ironically. Two, I thought about how safe it would be to not care about anyone: you'd never get hurt failing to protect someone or to keep them safe. Also an extremely selfish thought. I felt guilty when I looked at Joel being entertained by wood nymphs, and resolved never ever to let something like that slip into my mind again.

I slipped out of the bed and crept out of the room with my jacket. Thanks to some ambrosia the night before, my leg had been healed. They say it's supposed to taste like your favourite food. I tasted nothing. But Nico had asked, looking at me curiously as I twisted it over in my mouth slowly, so I chose a favourite anyways. "Twizzlers," I answered, pretending the sweetness was filling my mouth. I had never been a great actor. "Swedish fish. Mm."

The moonlight barely illuminated the way to the running trail. I stretched my sore leg out a few times before taking off into the woods, breathing in the refreshingly painful night air. It felt amazing to sprint again. A crazy, delirious smile spread across my face. The lake is incredible at night, a wavy reflection of the spotted sky. Each round around the camp, I stopped on the beach to be amazed twice, three times, until my lungs and legs were on fire and it was nearly five.

I used the public showers outside the cabin to keep from waking anyone up. All my muscles relaxed in the welcoming heat and the solitude of my stall, but the adrenaline remained like a drug in my veins.

Alas, my relaxation was led to an abrupt end when the water became very suddenly cold. Man, they don't have a huge hot water supply, I thought as I twisted the shower off. I hope no one gets mad at me for using it all. How was I supposed to know? I wrapped a towel around me and stepped past the shower curtain, rubbing myself dry. You'd think they'd have a better water-heating system with so many people-

"Wow, your reaction isn't even satisfying."

By the sinks was a relatively tall, blonde-haired male holding a remote of some sort. He wore a goofy smile and his pale brown eyes were filled with mischief. Like no matter what promises he made, you should always check your seat before you sat down, or your pockets before you left. Usually I make a very large, bold-print, highlighted mental note to stay as far away from such people as is physically and entirely possible. But this guy, right off the bat, felt different. Like everything about him was drawing me in. Like there was no better person in the world for me to be spending time with but him.

"I guess I'm sorry I made your shower cold, since you didn't even freak out," he said as he chuckled somewhat guiltily, shoving the remote into his jacket pocket. "Not a great first impression. I'm Milo. Milo Greene. Hermes' Kid."

Then it made a little sense: Apollo and Hermes are BFF's. They go way back, and sometimes the kids of the two gods are, like... matched, personality-wise. Almost like they're made specifically to compliment each other. And then I'm hoping really hard that this is the explanation of this feeling, because otherwise it's just super awkward.

By the time we exit the showers, I have involuntarily discovered quite a lot about Milo Greene: one, he loves to talk. Two, he can steal anything and everything without getting caught. This he proves by relieving me of my jacket zipper and therefore freaking me out just a little. Three, Milo has a loving mother and stepfather that he visits regularly and on holidays, but he has lived at the camp since he was eight. Four, he sucks at sword-fighting, but can do close range dagger attacks and, quote, "insane Bruce-Lee ninja moves." Five, his mother is Swedish, and I finally place his accent.

The sun is waking up and we're in a pavilion by the lake, and I'm telling him all about Joel (somehow the conversation had strayed from his rabid pet albino rabbits at his mother's house). His aura is so contagious, so I'm talking more than I mean to and smiling like a madman and feeling the most comfortable yet at this camp. And just as I feel a presence behind me and identify it as Nico, I register the shocked look on Milo's face. I guess he snuck up on us. I turned and smiled warmly at him, which I realize I've never done before. He has a frown on his cold, blank face. But in the good mood I'm in, I don't care.

"Hey," I said cheerfully like I was a Walmart assistant paid to do so.

He looked a little surprised, and most of his frown was replaced with a smirk instead. "Hey," he answered, looking me up and down. "You didn't tell me where you'd be going. I was a little freaked out. Thought maybe you got speared up or lost or something."

I rolled my eyes playfully, the happiness just pouring out of me. "I'm not that stupid," I chuckled. "It was a spontaneous run. I didn't know where I was going either."

"Since when are you guys chained at the wrist?" Milo chipped in, smiling good-naturedly.

Nico didn't laugh.

"...Well, I have to go get Joel." The tension was driving me insane. I don't do well in 2+ groups to begin with. So I stood from my seat and hurriedly walked in the direction of the gleaming Apollo cabin, muttering something about seeing them at breakfast.

As I made my way backup the hill, I felt Nico following me. The sounds of sword-fighting could be heard from the practice ring. I spotted centaurs galloping in a herd around the lake. All of it is so surreal. I'm in some sort of fairy tail. It's all going to end tomorrow. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was," I said, without turning around. "I just couldn't sleep this morning and went for a run."

He sighed. "I was overreacting. Just worried."

The conversation ended there, but I felt the well-known ease slip back into the atmosphere. The whole day seemed brighter and my spirits raised, bouncing my step a little bit.

"You know that song 'Beautiful Day' by U2?" The lightheartedness in my own voice surprised me.

"Yeah?" I could hear the smile on Nico's face.

I grinned ecstatically, skipping one or two steps. "That's today."

Hours later, a little past lunch, Joel and I are saying goodbyes. He runs to his new nymph friends who fawn over him and cry dainty little tears and hug him so tightly that I'm tempted to take him from their death-grips before they kill the poor guy. Chiron, a centaur at the camp, came earlier only to welcome me, and I never got a chance to meet the camp director, Dionysus. Although, Annabeth informs me under her breath, I wouldn't have wanted to meet him anyways.

"He's always cranky because he can't drink wine," she whispered to me with a smirk. I grimaced at the thought of how horrible that must feel. Almost as bad as not being able to smoke.

I had beat Will at shooting, which was apparently a big deal. He looked so shocked I almost wanted to laugh. "How did you do that?" he asked with incredulity lacing his voice. We stood on one side of the large field facing the targets at the far end of the green expanse. My arrows had reached their marks first, dug deeper into the targets. I was a little surprised as well: I never practiced with someone else before. I thought I'd be way outranked because I didn't have all the cool equipment or as much time to do it. But it was almost too easy. "I seriously can't believe..." He shook his head in disbelief as he examined my arrows stuck in their targets at the other end of the field. "How did you do it?"

I smirked at him, turning to face away from the bright sun. "Not telling. But I thought, as son of Apollo and therefore a natural master at archery, you would know. Or at least have a guess."

Apparently he didn't.

I said something vague about coming to visit again, and Annabeth said she would teach me to use a sword better like I had asked, and Milo told me to be prepared for a better, more intense prank next time, and Will gave me the whole talk about how the cabin was always open for more members and how I'd always have a spot whether or not I stayed. Which, you know, is nice and all. But not realistic.

Percy walked with me and Nico halfway back to the entrance at the center of the woods, carrying my crutches for me as I carried Joel on my shoulders. "It's really awesome talking to someone so sane every once in a while," he said as we waded our way through the ocean of dead leaves. "You don't know how calming it was for me."

Look out Joel, I thought. I'm an up-and-coming therapist myself.

A few minutes later it was just me and Nico making the trek back to the road. He was silent, which meant he was either unsure of what to say or he had nothing to say, or he wanted to say something but didn't know how to put it. Either way he decided to speak. "Tell me what you really thought," he muttered, looking up at me for a second before staring back into the leaves.

"...There were parts I enjoyed," I said cautiously. "Like the shooting range. And the showers, although you guys should fix the plumbing." I smirked to myself. "And the trail. And the lake, my God. And night here is crazy amazing. Like cities and electricity and roads and internet and cars and powerplants don't exist, and it's..." I couldn't find the right word. So I left it there.

"And..." he coaxed me on. I felt his shoulder brush my arm with an unexpected intensity. "...parts you didn't enjoy?"

I sighed. "More pros than cons. I'll come see you guys again sometime. Joel would force me even if I didn't want to."

Joel chimed in about how he would pull me all the way here if he had to, and Nico smiled at that, like he believed it. But I don't think I'd have to be pulled. I ignored the understanding that, if Nico were here, I'd come voluntarily.