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Another summer, another three months full of new kids getting hurt and asking any one of the Apollo kids dumb questions. Ezekiel sat on one of the tables they had set up for rapid response, fielding some of those annoying questions. Are you guys always here?...Yes...What do you do?...Save lives and count the leaves as they fall... How long have you been here?...Four score and seven years ago... Wow! Did you know your hands glow?...Shit! When did that start?... Hey, now your eyes are glowing! Why do you look like that? Still, no matter the age or experience, they never seemed to get the whole, fuck off look.
Like clockwork, satyrs brought in new and old camp kids with mountains of injuries. Sometimes he wondered if the satyrs even did anything these days. Still, sometimes it was the satyrs themselves injured. He had already helped a few kids out and was keeping his eyes trained on the trees beyond Thalia’s Tree. Music pumped from the stereo under his table and he bounced his foot along to the beat of Jaxson Gamble. The music helped to keep him focused but the steady bass also gave him a pace to follow so he could get kids in and out. Any of the minor scraps were told to suck it up or go to the big house to be dealt with after supper. The more serious ones, like limbs missing or unconsciousness were generally dealt with right away. Hence the little triage set-up.
”Heads up,” Ezekiel noted. There was movement just beyond the tree line followed by a great war and then three people, one being dragged, who came into view and were pulled over the line. Two Apollo kids stood at the ready if reinforcements were needed. They were usually swapped out by any older kids who had been around the block a few times and could easily defend. The young girl was taken to a different table and work was started on her immediately. She was unconscious thankfully. Ezekiel could see from his stationary position that her hip was dislocated and there was a lot of blood as well.
Ezekiel didn’t get to watch his siblings work long when another group came through, this time with someone quite awake and screaming. Great. Ezekiel jumped off his table and quickly washed up his hands as the boy was laid onto his table. He was fairly young, a new one. Ezekiel pitied the new ones. They were coming here to be kept safe, not hurt or nearly killed to come here. Training started early for these kids, whether they liked it or not. The boy’s shirt was torn and three distinct marks lay clawed across his chest. Ezekiel sighed and pulled the remains of the shirt off before he started to assess the rest of the boy for injuries. He looked at the others who came and saw minor injuries and another serious one who he instructed to sit down while he looked after this serious one.
”Essie, you’re gonna have to pin him,” he told the daughter of Hermes. He wondered if she had heard the latest yet. Apparently a muse had gone missing, well taken and her mother, along with her twin who was also present to this screaming fest, was a muse.
The kid started to thrash and Ezekiel had to tie his legs down before he started to clean the wound. With the shock and blood loss, the kid fell out of consciousness which he was more than happy with. He placed both hands over the boys chest, shut his eyes and let the power of Apollo’s healing flow out of him.
It took time but Ezekiel got the wounds to close. He replaced the kids shirt before he sat down and drank heavily from his water bottle. He felt a little dizzy but it wasn’t so much from the healing. He looked up at the twins and frowned at them.
”Stop that,” he said.
“What?” They asked innocently before the eldest one grinned.
”Your museness,” he grumbled. They laughed together before Essie stood up and walked up around Ezekiel.
“We are simply trying to help,” she said and kissed his head. Instantly the dizziness cleared and he frowned. Sure he liked them. He always seemed to be able to write better when they were around but beyond that, they were a handful.
”Have you heard of Calliope? She’s missing apparently.” The twins fell silent, doing that freaky silent conversation thing.
“We’ve heard nothing. What happened?”
”No idea. Just heard today. Think we are discussing it later. She’s not your mom is she?”
“No, Thalia is,” they said before clasping hands and disappearing. Ezekiel jumped and shook himself. He hated when they did that. Of course, who wouldn’t? He didn’t have time to muse about them for another few kids came stumbling in that required his attention. There was no sleep for the wicked.

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Leda had gotten in an early morning run. During the summer, it was hard for her to find a place where she could actually get exercise. While most of her siblings preferred working with the pegasi and practicing the manipulation of rainbows, Leda preferred wearing through a pair of converse practically every day. The camp was crowded at these times though, meaning that she got to test her reaction speeds. Thankfully, not a lot of people were out early in the morning, allowing the rainbow speedster to do what she did best: run.

Unfortunately, on one of her final laps, a group of Hermes Campers (no doubt inspired by Zeke, the asshole) had decided it'd be fun to try and trip the daughter of Iris. She had built up enough speed that if she did fall on their legs, she would likely shatter their bones, meaning that she had had to jump over them. With the speed and the jump, she had practically flown, only to launch herself into the woods and slam directly into a tree. Fast forward to a few minutes later and she had walked over to the triage station the Apollo kids had set up. She hoped she didn't have a concussion, but she was covered in scrapes and bruises and her right arm definitely landed funny.

"You really need to stop trying to trip me - it's trending and someone could - and did - get hurt," Leda said, walking up to Zeke.

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Kristin was at the dining pavilion as she was grabbing a quick snack there to eat, as she started to get herself ready to tend to some business with the new campers. She was usually the one to greet them anyway, and knowing that some of them would be injured from their long travel from wherever they had came from to the camp. As she stopped for a moment feeling a quick gust of wind and a rainbow trail coming from behind it. She had a feeling that it was Leda speeding through camp like she always did knowing her usual daily runs and all of that, she then started to make her way towards Thalia's Tree.

Kristin saw the Golden Fleece that was there dangling in the wind directly where it stood under the tree and it's constant protector Peleus was under the tree sleeping peacefully as there was an occasional puff of smoke coming from its nose. Kristin made her way towards the group and leaned herself up against the side of the little tent that was set up looking at Leda and Zeke, and a few of the Apollo kids that were there. "You should be careful when you are running through the middle of camp like that." Kristin said as she eyed Leda's arm did not look right. "Are you okay? Here let me try and help you." Kirstin offered, she started to dig through her pocket and pulled out a small Ambrosia cube, she usually had a few of them on her at all times in case of some injuries, and then looked over at Zeke. "Got any nectar in here as well?" Kristin asked him.

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Ezekiel was busy bandaging up a kid when he saw the flash of colours, followed by a crack and then Leda walking up to him. He rolled his eyes, noting her broken or dislocated arm and shook his head.
”And they seem to be doing a better job then I could. You’re going to have to wait Leda. We are all a little preoccupied at the moment,” he said. He finished up with one kid only to have another sit down. Ezekiel hated the first day of summer camp.
Usually with the first few, he felt great. He was doing something good, something that others couldn’t. Something that the big three couldn’t even do. Not the way he could. But by this point of the day, Ezekiel became drained and overtired. The injuries seemed to get worse as the day went on, not better.
He heard another voice speak up and sighed. At least she was offering to help the rainbow speedster.
”In the tent, right side. If there is any left,” he said. They always kept a big supply for the first years. It helped to settle their nerves.

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Leda raised an eyebrow, looking at the daughter of Athena. "Last I checked, the outskirts designated for running isn't the middle of camp - and I am careful," Leda said plainly. She then huffed as Zeke dismissed her legitimate concern. People trying to trip her while she ran was more of a problem for them - if she hadn't jumped over their leg when they tried to trip her, they could have had their bones shattered. She shrugged off the concern over whether or not she was alright. She was fine, honestly. "Thanks for the ambrosia," she said though, eating a small piece. It tasted like fudge to her.

She tended to heal relatively quickly, her arm glowing with rainbow light near the mild sprain. Thanks to the ambrosia however, she was healed right up. "I think I'm good now. But seriously Zeke - next time you try to trip me, I am not throwing myself into a tree to keep you from getting hurt," Leda warned, before she walked to the Cabin semicircle. She needed to do some upkeep on the shrines that day, ensure that they all had proper offerings and whatnot.

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Kristin looked over her shoulder seeing that Zeke was still busy tending to the kids there, as her attention turned back towards Leda and gave her a soft smile. "Well just be careful around camp regardless." She said seeing the rainbow light around her arm as the ambrosia went to work rather quickly. "Might want to keep some on you at times as well to." She pointed out as she looked at the kids there were a few that were still injured or sick from something. "Thanks Zeke." Kristin said as she went over and then eventually she found out where the nectar was located and started to give a little bit to the kids.

As soon as Leda stepped outside of the tent she would see a rather bright light coming from the sky, and then there was a high amount of heat, as a expensive car appeared right in front of her, and then Apollo came out. He looked over towards Leda and smiled, as he snapped his fingers rather quickly everyone in the tents were healed very quickly. "Ah, it's very good to see everyone again." Apollo said, as he started to search around a little bit. "Zekey my boy!" Apollo said as he walked past Leda and into the tent looking at his son and smiled. "So, I need your help finding one of my Muses." Kristin entered the tent, it wasn't every day a god came through the camp and snickered a little bit. "Zekey?" Kristin asked snorting a little bit.

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”Well, it’s a good thing I have a bunch of brothers and sisters who can heal me now isn’t it?” Ezekiel said. He looked over at Leda and smirked at her before he returned to his patient. Kristen moved in behind him and started to help by serving all the other kids some nectar. He couldn’t help but smile a bit at this. Not many people would just dive in and start helping like this. It didn’t matter Ezekiel’s mood, if he saw someone injured, seriously injured, he was generally right there helping.
Ezekiel was nearly done when all of a sudden, his patient was healed, faster than he could have done it. He groaned and stepped back. The light continued to fill the clearing and the tent. There was excitement outside within all the Apollo kids as their father suddenly appeared. Honestly, the man looked like a boy and could probably easily blend in with them all if it wasn’t for the grandeur that followed him everywhere, telling everyone who he really was.
The son of Apollo couldn’t help but smile and roll his eyes slightly as his father called out to him. Ezekiel didn’t exactly have a name made for nicknames but it was better than shithead.
”Hi dad. Ya we just heard about it. What do you need?” he asked, a bit confused he was coming to him. Ezekiel wasn’t exactly the number one pick when it came to these types of things. Kristen piped up with his new, childish nickname and he shot her a warning look.

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Leda stopped in her tracks, turning around as she looked at the bright light coming closer rapidly. She shielded her eyes with her hand, squinting from the intensity of it and the heat made her feel like she had gotten an instant sunburn. Of course, while she had been annoyed at first, she was quickly cheered up by the fact that it was Apollo, the Sun God - and boy he was hot. She still wanted to punch Kristin slightly for lecturing her - she was careful and she did keep some emergency medicine on her, but she had figured it was a better move to go to the healers and not waste her personal supply.

Gods, between the two of them, Zeke and Kristin had filled the roles of asshole and bitch quite nicely.

She crossed her arms slightly, debating what to do but the Sun God was pretty easy on the eyes and Leda decided that she wanted to know what was going on. She headed inside of the tent, amused at what he had called Zeke. There were worse names to be called than Zekey, so it was mainly Zeke's reaction to it that caused it to be silly in Leda's opinion. "He's probably here to give you a quest," Leda pointed out to Zeke.

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Kristin stared at Zeke when he gave her a look and simply shook her head a bit, it was a pretty entertaining name and she was sure as hell going to be calling him that if he ever did annoy her. Kristin followed Apollo into the tent as some of the other Apollo kids were whispering to one another. Apollo would occasionally look at his kids and smiled at them ruffling the younger ones hairs a bit as he went over and found himself a comfortable chair looking at Leda and smiled towards her and nodded. "Rainbow girl there is correct." Apollo said as he looked towards his son.

Kristin simply looked between Zeke and his father as she listened in a bit, she hadn't been on a quest in awhile either and she was pretty excited and wondered who would be going other than Zeke of course. "Last I heard, Calliope was somewhere over in Houston Texas, I cant think of anyone better than you Zekey to go and find her." Apollo said, as he looked around the room there were still a number of his kids there and a few fresh new faces. He then pointed towards Leda, as well as Kristin as well and smiled a little bit. "Just keep my son out of trouble."

Kristin stared between the two of them, then at Apollo she wasn't really sure it was a good idea for the three of them to even go on a quest together. She knew it was a pretty bad idea for refusing a god as well, as Kristin rubbed the back of her neck and sighed a little bit and nodded. "Alright then." Kristin said giving Apollo a slight smile.

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Ezekiel stared at his father when he confirmed Leda’s obnoxious comment. A quest? Him, go on a quest? He felt hot under the collar and cleared his throat as he started to busy himself around the tent. He wasn’t exactly quest material. The weight his father was placing on him was sudden and crippling. He turned around in time to see Apollo point to Kristin and Leda, instructing them to keep him out of trouble. As if things could not get any worse. He looked at his quest partners then back at his father. He was the literal sun itself. Bright, warm and inviting.

"If you're sure about this, alright. Do we have any other information other than location? Who might have her?" Even though he hadn't been on many quests, he at least knew some of the proper questions to ask. He looked back at the girls again. How much trouble was this actually going to be? His father was counting on him and he would do everything he could to make him proud, to prove that more than just the children of the big three could bring victory to the gods.

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Leda felt slightly self conscious at Apollo calling her that. She took a moment, subtly making sure that she wasn't giving off a rainbow glow - she wasn't. She let out a slight sigh of relief. While it was fun at times, it also was rather isolating at others. Not very many demigods could sparkle and glow like a rainbow outside of her own siblings. She then raised a bit of an eyebrow. Didn't they need a prophecy to go on a quest? Well, she figured that Apollo being the God of Prophecies and all could likely bend the rules if he wanted to.

At least Zeke was asking a good question. Once Apollo was gone, she'd have to tell the kid that if he tripped her again, she'd kill him before any monster had a chance to. "And also - can you give us a lift to Texas in the chariot? I don't really want to run all the way there carrying these two," Leda said. She would have been super tempted to drop them if that scenario ended up happening.

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"I can only think of one person, most likely it was Marsyas he's still a little bit salty after I beat him in a competition many, many years ago. Of course I won, Calliope and the other Muses were the judges of that." Apollo said as he leaned himself up against a shelf of other medical supplies, he looked over towards Leda and shook his head slightly and sighed slightly. "Sadly that's a no can do, that be more helping and stuff, you know ancient laws Gods cant help their mortal kids on quests and the like. I'm sure you will have a lot of bonding time." Apollo said as he gently patted Zeke on the head. "I'll see you three around." Apollo said, as he started to make his way out of the tent.

Kristin quickly followed Apollo out of the tent, and watched him make his way over towards the chariot, he then stopped looking over at the three of them. "If you guys can do that in about five days or so, that would be great Hermes and I sort of have a competition and would really like it if Calliope was there." He said before leaving, Kristin watched as the Sun god flew off back into the sky, as she looked back over towards Zeke, and Chiron came up just as Apollo left. "What happened?" He asked, as Kristin looked back towards the tent. "Apollo came back, and gave me, Zeke and Leda a quest."

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Well that was, something he guessed. Of course the ride would have be incredibly helpful but of course Ezekiel knew that was not going to happen. He nodded at his father, a limited agreeance to his plan and his information. This was going to be hell on earth in Ezekiel’s position but he had been wanting to prove himself for a long time. What better way to prove himself than with a daughter of Athena watching his every move.
Chiron walked over to the group just after Apollo had disappeared back into the sky and seemingly the sun. Showoff. Ezekiel smirked at this. Father like son after all. Ezekiel turned and went back into the tent. May as well grab some medical supplies while they were all here.
”So five days to get to Texas, find Calliope… Not die and then come back. They sure don’t give you long for these things do they?” He wasn’t expecting an answer back, just speaking for the sake of.
”How about we meet back up at Hestia’s Hearth in an hour and formulate a game plan,” he suggested. Of course Chrion was here and now.
”Any suggestions on how to get a muse back from someone named Marsyas?” he asked. Any information on that guy would be helpful as well he supposed.

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Leda raised an eyebrow - had Apollo just admitted that he fixed the contest by ensuring the judges, the Muses, would vote for him? She wouldn't have been too terribly shocked if that was the case, but the subtle remark was what surprised her. She figured a god with the ego the size of Apollo's would have denied needing to fix any sort of contest - especially relating to the thing they had dominion over. She then couldn't help but huff slightly - that rule was dumb in her opinion. She understood the no helping, but really, a lift was against the rules?

"A quest revolving around cheating at a contest," Leda added to Kristin's explanation, her eyes darting over towards Zeke. She was more than certain he probably had experience in cheating as well. Meeting back up in an hour seemed a bit like a waste of time. They were demigods - they were pretty much always ready to go. Or at least, in Leda's opinion, it only took a few minutes for her to run around and pack everything she would need. Zeke and Kristin would have to learn to catch up.

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"Sounds like a plan then, meet you guys at Hestia's hearth." Kristin said, as she watched Leda run off to gather her things, and then looked towards Chiron. "Apollo gave us a quest." She said, as Chiron gave a slight nod, and she started to make her way back over towards her cabin. She noticed some of her brothers and sisters were already inside some of them going on about some kind of strategy while some of them were working on Chariot designs as well. Kristin started to pack up her things, she made sure that she had some spare clothes for herself, as well as small vials of nectar and another packet of ambrosia cubes as well as her Nemian Lion cloak. Something she had gotten during one of her first quests, it was along with her spear her favorite thing she had gotten.

Kristin then turned around, telling her half siblings that she had been issued a quest by Apollo himself, some of them were just as surprised as she was. And they all wished her luck, once she was all packed up Kristin made her way towards Hestia's Hearth and sat down on one of the nearby benches as she waited for Zeke and Leda to arrive.

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With still a limited amount of information, Ezekiel walked back to his cabin. He ran his hands through sweaty hair as he walked. Today had started out much differently and he hadn't been expecting a quest so early on into the summer but, when a God came a knocking... He sighed, thinking on what his father had said and what they were about to embark on. Some more advice would have been nice or a better description of what they were going to be walking into. He liked his life but what was it with gods and oracals being all mysterious and one word cryptic answers? Songs were so much simpler. There was a story, a progression of chords that made up the verses and transcended into chords. Heck, even poetry was easier to read then this junk.
Ezekiel stomped into his cabin, feeling a bit on edge now as he walked about packing up a big. He really needed to assemble something that would be easy to go for situations like this. Their cabin leader was always bugging them about that... Maybe Ezekiel would listen after this go round. He shoved in his iPod and headphones, along with a couple shirts, a change of pants and other essentials before he shouldered his bag and went to round up his bow and a quiver of arrows. What else would one need for a mission to get a muse?

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Once Kristin was ready and geared up, she started to make her way back out of her cabin and sat down on one of the little chairs in front of the fire pit. It reminded her of her first day at Camp Half-Blood, she didn't know anyone and she was stuck in the Hermes Cabin for most of the day until her mother Athena had claimed her. She was really happy and glad that she was with her brothers and sisters in the cabin and would always read or do some architect designs with her sibling as well. Kristin looked down at her bracelet for a moment as she took it off and pressed a small button on it as it extended into a spear.

Kristin had gone on two other quests before this one both of them ended pretty well and helped lead the group of course, as Kristin started to clean the spear up a little bit before turning it back into her bracelet and slapped it back onto her wrist and started to pace around getting a little impatient as she waited for the others to show up. They were on a fairly tight schedule now after all as well and they didn't have much time either by the sounds of it.

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Leda had been zooming around her cabin in a blur, throwing everything that she thought she'd need into a bag. In the midst of the packing, she had started to feel a bit lightheaded so she ate practically an entire box of Twinkies in order to get her calories replenished. As much as she loved being able to move quickly, it also meant if she used her powers too often without eating, she had a good chance of passing out. Speedsters just burned more than the average person. Her sword, Ultraviolet, was currently disguised as a necklace that she wore around her neck. Today, it was glowing a soft yellow - she was in a good mood. She also had a witch's pendant on, a gift from her girlfriend - Rebecca Eventide, daughter of Hecate.

She had decided to leave behind her iPod and earbuds, but instead she had packed her polaroid camera. "You guys ready to go?" Leda asked them as she zipped over to the camp fire pit. She took out her camera and took a bit of a selfie with it, waiting for what felt like an eternity for it to print and she started waving the photo back in forth in order to encourage it to develop faster. "Am I running us places? Or are we stealing a car? Either works."

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Ezekiel placed his bow across his back and placed his Murakumo around his neck. It sat on a chain in miniature sword form until he would take it off and pull on the blade to extend it. It really was a thing of beauty; although, Ezekiel did prefer his bow. He walked out of the cabin and met the girls at the fire. Both looked as anxious as Ezekiel felt and ready to go.
"Well we'd need to steal one with keys. Unless any of you know how to hot wire a car. You'd have to run us to one first anyways," Ezekiel said. He looked up at the sky, measuring the sun and the time. Hopefully they could at least reach their destination by sundown and get a fresh start in the morning. He really wished they had more information to go off of. He didn't like missing information.

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Kristin turned her head as she saw Leda coming up and then a few seconds later so did Ezekiel as well, she watched as Leda took a selfie with a polaroid camera. Which made her shake her head slightly, she knew that a lot of the Aphrodite kids took a shit ton of selfies and cringy duck faces as well. "You aren't going to take duck face pictures the whole time while we are on the quest right?" Kristin asked teasing a little bit, and shook her head slightly at stealing a car.

"Argus can take us as far as Manhattan if I remember correctly, so we could ask him to give us a ride, or lend us one of the camp cars as well." Kristin pointed out as she picked up her backpack of supplies and made sure that her bracelet/spear was firmly secured onto her wrist as well. "But i'm fine if one of you guys wants to steal a car."