i'll wave goodbye watching you shine bright [private]

Bag?
Check.

Winter coat?
Check.

The daughter of Khione cast one last look at her bunk, now looking like it had never been slept on, and let her eyes wander to the rest of the room. It was spotless, free of anything that could be traced to Taylor Brooks. Icicles were even polished and shining. Taylor sighed. She had nearly forgotten how nice it was to sleep in a place as cold as Antartica, and damn was she going to miss it.

Closing the door behind her, she quietly slipped across the hallway and out of the cabin. Her knapsack hung from one shoulder, the coat from another. As she walked, her lone footsteps were muffled by the thin blanket of snow. There was no one else to see her off. In a camp full of teenagers, getting up at the crack of dawn almost guaranteed privacy. Taylor was actually glad for it. She didn't want to waste too much time, not when there was already a cab waiting at the base of Half Blood Hill. One last favor from the old centaur Chiron, and Taylor was out for good.

Just as she was about to leave the U-shaped collection of cabins, Taylor stopped in her tracks. She perked up, blinking, and without missing a beat she turned on her heel -- heading for the cabin of the Olympian Queen.

And to think I almost forgot... Taylor thought, mentally cursing herself, knocking on Hera's door. Twice. Thrice. A tall boy in pajamas answered on the fifth knock, just before she could give up all hope.

"Morning," Taylor said before he could open his mouth. "Is Rana Jackson up?"

"Uhh." The boy threw a look over his shoulder and shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Figured. Could you point me to her bunk please?"

Soon she was led to a door and the boy left for another round of sleep. Taylor glanced at her watch and muttered a curse under her breath, this time opening the door without knocking.

She had to blink a couple of times at the colorful light. Peacock windows. How weird. It took her a few seconds to spot Rana's sleeping form. Sighing, Taylor stepped towards her bed, reaching for a pocket in her bag. She had only gotten the folded paper halfway out when a low growl broke the silence. Taylor looked down.

"So you're that cat," she whispered, freezing into place. The growl didn't sound right coming from the white cat. What was its name again? She racked her thoughts, only remembering the time she was standing by Zeus' Fist, amusingly watching Rana call it a coward as it scampered away. Taylor stared at it warily. She only just remembered its name. "Smudge."

The cat continued to look up at her with its pointy feline eyes, the growls still not ceasing. It was a funny scene -- a staring contest between girl and cat. Taylor didn't dare move. She had heard horror stories about this cat raking people's faces off. He's definitely Rana's cat, alright.

Surprisingly, the growls died down, and with one last look at Taylor, it curled its way back to sleep.

"Good morning to you too," she mumbled, releasing a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She didn't pause to wonder why she hadn't gotten a faceful of claws. Swiftly pulling the rest of the paper out, Taylor peered at the arrangement of blankets, a tangled mess of Rana's brown hair peeking out on top, and placed the paper on the table beside her bunk. She wasn't sure if she would even realize that it was there. Hopefully she would look at the table before leaving the room, because inked with a thick blue marker were words hardly anyone could miss: 'TO THE SMOKING IDIOT IN CABIN 2.'

And with that, Taylor took one last glance at the sleeping girl and cat, her lips twisted in a small smile. See you around.

She found her way out of the Hera cabin and continued her way towards Half Blood Hill. She eased her coat on as she saw the parked cab, muffling a laugh at the mortal driver scratching his head in confusion.

"Is this Delphi Strawberry Service?" he asked when she drew close enough.

"Mhmm."

"There's nothing here. I've been waiting half an hour, but still nothing."

Taylor slid inside the cab, her lips still in a tight line to hold the laughter in. "Maybe you're just not looking hard enough. There are a lot of things in here." She looked out the window wistfully. "A whole world of it."


Rana,

This is in English to make your life harder. Ha.
By the time you're reading this, I'll be long gone. Probably back home in New York. It was a nice holiday, but now it's back to reality.
It would've been better to say goodbye in person. If you're reading this, then you were asleep when I walked in. Pretty sure you're not a morning person so yeah.

Anyway, point is: goodbye. I don't know when I'll see you again, if I see you again, and it's killing me to say this but thanks. Thanks for the Labyrinth thing. You're not so bad a person, really. Deep down - very deep down - I know you're not. Even with those sarcastic comments and the thing that makes you push everyone away.
We had each others' backs in the Labyrinth. I may be miles away now, but I still have your back. That's basically me saying that I care for you, you idiot. It's probably something I wouldn't have said face-to-face. Ha, maybe writing this letter does have a point.
But if I find out that I have lung cancer I will hunt you down and freeze your ass off.

I'll stop here before you cringe away. Ugh, even I'm already cringing away. This is the sappiest thing I've ever written. Hurray for you.

You'll see my address below, just in case you want to write something sappy for me too. Drop by if you want.

Take care of yourself. Lots of monsters around. Try not to make sticks explode again, it's bad for the health.

- Taylor

PS: I'm not your mom, but what the hell. Stop smoking, you idiot.