The price of shades

The price of shades

A Percy Jackson one shot

Caspian’s POV
“Oh come on Narnia! It can’t be that bad!”the daughter of Iris said. “I’m telling you Indy, it is.”I argued. “I’m a son of Nyx which means my skin and eyesight are on their best at night. Sun however is my arch nemesis. Even with a whole bottle of sunscreen on my skin I am a walking baking cookie and even with my shades on, I’m still as blind as a mole.”.
“Nemesis has nothing to do with this.”Indy argued as we kept walking over the Camp grounds. “Please Cas? Play basketball with me?”. Even without her adorable puppy eyes, there was no way I could say no to my secret crush. “Fine.”I sighed. “But I’m telling you, I suck at it during the day.”. “We’ll see about that!”Indy exclaimed happily before she grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the basketball court.

“Oh my Iris! You weren’t kidding when you said you sucked at this.”the same demigod remarked less than a half hour later. “Jeez, what makes you think that?”I asked sarcastically from my seat on the ground. “The fact that I got that Tartarus damned ball against my head seven times or the fact that I threw that same Tartarus damned ball time after time towards people who happened to pass by instead of throwing it at the basket?”.
Indy crouched down in front of me with a look of sympathy in her eyes. Yes, I could see those emerald gems even though the sun was out. I’m not that blind that I can’t see what’s in front of me. Well… Most of the times.
“There’s no way for me to play sports during the day that acquire to be played outside.”I sighed. “So there will be no way I’ll be able to try out for Team Hydra.”. “But you were so excited when you first heard about it!”Indy reminded me.
“I was.”I admitted. “But how can I play a game that’s basically a mix of football and basketball when the sun blinds me so much I can’t even see who’s on my team and who isn’t?”.
Indy bit her lip for a few seconds before a grin spread over her face. “Don’t worry, I got that covered.”she assured me and patted my shoulder before she got up and started to walk off. “Wait! Where are you going?!”I called after her. “To pay Camp’s favourite shadow runner a visit!”she called back.

Indy’s POV
“Okay… It has to be here somewhere…”I mused as I tried to match the map which Luke had been so nice to draw out for me on a random napkin to the trees and paths of the forest. “Maybe here to the left?”I asked myself but the moment I took a step to the left, a rope snatched itself around my ankle and pulled me upside down into a tree.
With a shriek I experienced the ride until I swayed from side to side while the blood started to rush to my head. “Stupid Hermes kid!”I scolded thinking back about Luke as I tried to get hold of the rope that trapped. “Couldn’t warn me for booby-traps, could he?!”.
“Nope, he couldn’t since he doesn’t know they’re here.”a voice spoke. Confused I looked around only to lay eyes on a figure that slowly materialized from the shadows. The black hair and silver eyes immediately gave away this was the person I was looking for all along: Amaya Fray, daughter of Selene or as most people know her, the shadow runner.
“Looks like a rainbow fish got caught in my trap.”she mused with a smirk. “What are you doing on my grounds?”. “Looking for you, duh!”I replied. “Now, could you please cut me loose? Talking goes easier when I can’t feel my heartbeat thump in my ears!”.
“As you wish.”the girl said with a shrug of her shoulders and pulled out a knife before approaching me. “No! Wait a-…”I started but the moment I heard the snap of a rope somewhere, I knew it was too late. With another shriek I tumbled back down to meet the forest floor.
“Auch…”I whined. “Now, talk rainbow blood.”Amaya said casually as she picked the dirt from beneath her nails with the same knife she had used to ‘free’ me. “You’re a daughter of Selene, right?”I questioned as I got back to my feet. “Yep.”she answered popping out the p. “And you hate sunlight?”I asked next.
“Being a child of the moon, the sun is my natural opposite.”Amaya explained. “So yes, I dislike sunshine very much. But you should know that. After all, your green eyes have fallen on a certain Nyx boy…”.
My cheeks heated up as she hinted at my very active crush on Caspian. What? The dude may like Batman but he was still cool! Especially with his lavender, glow-in-the-dark eyes and neon blue hair. And don’t get me started on all of his tattoos…
“Your mother gifted you with special sunglasses, right? The ones that change into your katana and make sure the sun doesn’t blind you?”I spoke. “Yes.”she admitted before she frowned. “Where is this going rainbow girl? I don’t have all day.”.
“I need a set of those sunglasses.”I told her. “Just the ones that isolate the sunlight till zero percent, nothing more. You can get your hands on those, can’t you?”. “I can.”she agreed. “But that’s going to cost you. I don’t work for free.”.
“I anticipated on that.”I admitted and pulled out what looked like a credit card from my pocket. “This is my unlimited and untraceable Iris message card.”I told Amaya. “I’ll give it to you for a whole two months if you can get your hands on those sunglasses.”.
“Unlimited and untraceable for two whole months…”the daughter of Selene mused. “Think of all the prank calls to Olympus I can make with those… Wait here.”. A bit confused I watched how she became one yet again with the shadows and disappeared into thin air. I waited for about fifteen minutes until she reappeared while twirling a pair of sunglasses in her right hand.
“Tell your boyfriend I’ll be rooting for the two of you at the Team Hydra try-outs.”she told me before she swiftly switched the sunglasses with my IM-card that I was holding. “It was fun doing business with you!”she assured me and skipped off to Iris knows where.
I smiled down at the pair of sunglasses in my hands. “Team Hydra, here we come.”I whispered to myself and navigated my way out of the forest.

I knocked on the closed cabin door that housed the Nyx kids. A girl, a year or so younger than me opened up. Her long black hair covered most of her face and I failed to see her eye colour because she had squinted her eyes almost shut against the sunlight.
“Hi.”I said. “Is Cas in?”. The girl stepped aside and I quickly slipped inside the cabin. “Cas! Your girlfriend is here!”she yelled and somewhere in the back where the bunks were I heard a thud. As in a body colliding with the floor. A minute or so later my most favourite bluenet appeared.
“Indy!”he said with a smile as his cheeks had a tint of red on them. He scratched the back of his head before smoothening out his messy bed hair. “What are you doing here?”. With a smile I offered him the dark blue box that held the special sunglasses. “For Narnia.”I told him. His younger half-sister rolled her eyes and mumbled: “Seriously, that you guys aren’t married yet.”. her comment made that Caspian blushed furiously. “Don’t you have Apollo kids to smother with darkness?”he hissed at her, clearly hinting that her presence wasn’t needed anymore. The girl held up her hands in a defensive gesture and walked to somewhere at the back of the cabin.
“So… I’m already known as your ‘girlfriend’ around here, huh?”I questioned, making sure to make the air quotes with my fingers around the word girlfriend. “U-u-uh, y-y-yeah.”he muttered as his blush returned to his pale skin. So cute…
“Cool.”I concluded with a smile which clearly surprised him. “Are you going to open your gift now?”I asked trying to snap the boy out of his daze. “It took me some effort to get it you know.”. “Oh, right.”he realised and popped the lid of the box.
“Wow… Are these what I think they are?”he asked in wonder as he took the black pair of sunglasses out of the box. The glasses where a pure black, ideal to neutralise sunlight.
“The Medusa limited edition sunglasses, Apollo approved and more difficult to get your hands on than stealing a soul out of the Underworld.”I told him. “That would be what you’re holding in your hands.”. “How did you…”he started. “Amaya.”I cut him off. “Can’t IM free for two months.”. “You traded your IM free pass for these?”he asked motioning to the shades in his hands.
“Yep.”I replied. “Let’s see if it was worth it, shall we?”. Before Caspian could respond properly, I had already grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. I swear, the moment I opened up the door of the Nyx cabin and the sunlight came in, all of his siblings hissed as if they were cats who were meeting the spray bottle in person.
When we reached the basketball court, I trusted the ball in his hands. Though the shades covered his beautiful lavender eyes, the smile that played on his lips was also a nice sight to take in. “Okay…”he mused. “Corner of the field, then the bench, then clear net.”. “Oh, someone is getting cocky.”I remarked.
Caspian grinned before taking his shot, and just like he said, the ball first hit the corner of the field, bounced onto the bench at the side before diving into the net. I couldn’t help to applaud. “Now, THAT was surely worth trading in my IM pass for two months.”I commented. Cas scratched the back of his head again. “Thanks.”he said timidly.
“Indy…”he spoke next. “Yeah?”I questioned. “Why did you do so much effort to help me?”he wanted to know. I smiled as I walked closer to him. “Because I like you Nyx boy.”I told him before kissing his cheek.
“Gotta go now Narnia.”I told him smugly. “Butch put me on leading the tie-dying shirt activity for the little rainbows.”. The dumbfound boy mumbled something along the lines of ‘uh-huh’, the blush on his face still evident. I decided to walk away since it was clear he wouldn’t say anything more. But just as I reached the edge of the basketball field, his voice made me stop in my tracks. “Hey! Try not to drown in that colourful paint!”.
A bit confused I turned on my heels. “Why?”I asked with a giggle. “Because I like you too.”he replied with a chuckle. “Good to know.”I concluded with a wink before I took off to the tie-dying shirt activity. Yep, totally worth losing my IM pass for two months for.