nothing is as it seems--- private

Sutton woke up somewhere unknown. She tried to recall what had happened before she had gone unconscious, but it seemed impossible considering she had a splitting headache. As she clutched the side of her head, she sat up and looked at her surroundings. She was in a cell of course. She immediately knew where she was. Kronos' camp. It disgusted her that name. It didn't help that her mother was probably helping him, but she didn't care. She'd always remain loyal to Camp Half Blood.

Sutton had heard rumors of this place. Only a few prisoners had escaped to tell others about this horrid place. They hadn't escaped by themselves, she knew that. It was someone who was in the camp just getting information. She hoped they could come and save her, but she knew that wouldn't happen.

The rumors she had heard about this place was true. Dirty. Disgusting. She had other words ringing throughout her head. That's when the memories started coming back in a flood. She was just going off campus for once in her life, but of course she had gotten attacked. There were too many hellhounds and dracaena for her to kill. A hellhound had eventually jumped on top of her making her head hit the pavement. Then here she was. She had vowed then that she would never go in the outside world ever again.

Sutton waited for someone to come or something along those lines, but no one did. She tried to think of a plan to escape, but she knew none of them would really work. They would just laugh if she did,. It was almost like she gave up hope then and there. And to be honest, she really did. She wondered how they would torture her. They could just kill her quickly or slowly by starving her to death. She really hoped it was quickly because if they put a gun to her head or something she could always attack them. She would never die without a fight. That was just what she was taught to do no matter what. She would always have a better chance if she fought.

Eventually, someone did come. She could hear their footsteps and she quickly stood up. She could hear her voice, a female and a bit older then her. That was all she knew. And a minion of Kronos. But that was obvious so that didn't really help her situation.

At the mention of food, Sutton perked up a bit. She was starving and she could barely remember the last time she had eaten. Then she knew they wouldn't starve her. She didn't how disgusting the food was. She was still going to force herself to eat it. She didn't know when her next meal would be. "Weirdo." She muttered under her breath, her voice hoarse from not speaking for a while, when she heard her tapping on the bars. She waited a few moments before taking the food to show she wasn't starving. It looked decent, not the best food ever, but better then no food. She set the tray down before sitting down next to it and staring at it.

Sutton heard her sitting down. If only she could see her, she would know where to hit her to make her unconscious long enough to escape. But sadly, she couldn't see through the bars. She wanted to see the rest of her surroundings to see if there was an escape, but yet again she couldn't see through the bars. She sighed mostly to herself.

Sutton found it weird that the girl was talking to her. She was a prisoner. Not a friend. She also found it weird that she was acting like it was just a usual day and they were best friends or something. On impulse, she rolled her eyes even though the girl couldn't see through the bars. "Whatever. They better watch out though that when I get out of here that I don't stab them to death or something." She said before kicking the door with the top of her boot.

Sutton glanced down at the tray of gruel. It looked pretty disgusting, but she picked up the spoon and put some in her mouth. She thought she was going to hurl because it was gross. She had never tried it before and was almost glad she hadn't. She forced herself to swallow it, and put another spoonful in her mouth. It was cold which made it less appetizing.

When she heard her name, she raised both of her eyebrows. She had never heard that name before. It was odd name to her, but instead she responded, "Why should I tell you my name?" After a long pause, she added "I'm Sutton." She didn't know why she told Zara her name, but she had nothing better to do then talk to her. She seemed like a nice girl, but she was on Kronos' side so she told herself she had to hate her.

Sutton put a other spoonful in her mouth, resisting the urge to gag. "Yeah I can tell." She said, putting the spoon down. She had eaten most of it, but decided to save some for later in case they didn't give her dinner. She also wasn't that hungry anymore. The gruel had taken more space in her stomach then she thought it would.

Again Sutton responded, "Whatever. But if I had to rate this place I would give one star just to be nice." She said shrugging. "Why do you even care? Aren't you supposed to be you know torturing me?" She asked. She'd rather be tortured because she was sort of used to it when she was younger and it was kind of weird talking to someone who was eventually going to torture you.

After a brief pause, an idea had popped into her mind. "I uh kinda gotta use the bathroom. Where do I go?" She asked. Sutton was almost sure this would be her escape. She was already smiling behind the cell door.

Sutton shrugged. "Obviously you guys are going to win against one demi-titan. I'll run for the trees and then bring others to come. I mean I do know where the camp is now." She said. She didn't care if she just told her her plan. What was she going to do? Sutton wasn't even sure is she was going to go through with her plan. She just wanted something to hold on to to motivate herself, and it was working. A million escape plans were running through her mind.

Sutton was starting to like this girl. She was nice sort of, if she wasn't on Kronos' side. She couldn't help herself. That was just how she was trained. To hate Kronos. Everyone had told he reasons to hate them. The eight year old little Sutton believed them at the time. After a while, she did have reasons of her own to hate them. Now it was a burning hatred that ran through her veins like fire catching on gasoline. She had reasons to hate them that affected her right now. The zombie apocalypse. The New Years' Eve attack. Especially the zombie apocalypse. Do you know how hard it was to kill someone you used to know? To look into the dead, lifeless eyes of someone you used to love and have to kill tem because of you? It hadn't really mattered at the moment because it was either her or them. But there was one person that affected her. A boy with bright brown eyes and brown hair that reminded herself of someone. Her brother. She had to kill him. She had to kill him, but it reminded herself of killing her own brother. She had cried for days about it. After the apocalypse she had called her brother to make sure he was alright. He was of course. But she had thought to herself. If it was her brother, what would she have done? She already knew the answer. She would die. She wouldn't be able to do it. All because of one person. Kronos.

Sutton thought of the girl on the other side of the door. She could've been at any of those battles. She could've killed her then. But she didn't because she didn't stumble upon her like the rest of people she had stumbled on. She would've gave Zara her mischievous little grin that said You better say goodbye, you're going to die now before flicking her wrist and sending her throwing knife into her chest. Then she would've just picked up her knife and moved on. However, she wouldn't have someone to talk to now, and she was a bit glad she didn't kill her.

Sutton blinked out of her reverie. She known one Zara the more she thought about it. A daughter of Athena. She had known her name before she died at the New Years' Eve attack. "You're okay. Just stay with me. What's your name?" She remembered herself saying. The girl had responded, "I'm Z-Zara, daughter of A-Athena." She had died then in Sutton's arms she hadn't remembered her until now. She remember her features. Red hair with grey eyes like every child of Athena. She was short, but looked her age.

Again, Sutton rolled her eyes at the girl even though she couldn't see her. Her eyebrows went up when she said what her name meant. She didn't even know what her own name meant. "Do you have a name dictionary with you there or something?" She responded, trying to make a joke. She didn't even find it that funny, but she couldn't help herself. She wanted it to feel as real like they were friends waiting to go into a movie or something. She didn't want to be reminded that she was locked up in a horrid camp and was going to get tortured soon. Sutton heard what she said about the gruel. If she said it didn't taste better later, then she believed her. She quickly finished the rest of it without a word or gasp in between. If she didn't want to eat something, that's what she did to get rid of it and without really tasting it. She couldn't taste it anymore though because she didn't have to chew it so as soon as she put it in her mouth, she swallowed it. Her stomach was full now, but not with something she liked. She was actually starting to feel nauseous.

Sutton smiled when she laughed. "Why do you live here then? Camp is way better.  We actually have beds." She said, trying to convince her. "But hey! Don't let me hold weight in your decisions. I'm just the gods and goddess' supporter." She said repeating the girls words.

Sutton looked around her cell. She didn't really get to look around before Zara had come. It wasn't really much. Well, it was just a cell. It was just four black, dirty walls surrounding.  Almost like a box, the more she thought about it. There was enough room for her to lay down on the ground sort of. Sutton turned around and raised her eyebrows at the door because of what she said. "I'm not helpless, thank you very much. I've been practicing with weapons for eight years. I know two different types of karate. I'm not as helpless as you think." She said, before leaning her back against the door again.

Sutton heard her getting up and stood up herself. She rolled her eyes at her, but the points she brought up were good. She was lying that she had to use the bathroom, but at the same time she wasn't. She felt like she'd throw up any minute know. She could barely hear what she was saying. Some thing about getting an arrow in her head? All well. It didn't matter. She just didn't want to hurl in her cell. She'd be stuck with it until someone cleaned it up, but no one probably would. She heard the key slip into the lock, and she was grinning wildly already. Her hand was on the handle, ready for her to unlock it.

It felt weird that she was talking to a supporter of Kronos. It felt out of place. She was used to talking to demigods about revenge on Kronos. However, Zara seemed interesting. And she had nothing else to do other then to scrape the scraps of gruel off the bowl, which was very boring. She sighed to herself if only she hadn't gone off campus. People had told her that that would happen. But other people said that had never happened to them. That's what led her to think that if for once she'd go off campus. For once, she'd enjoy herself and have fun. She wasn't actually going to do much that what she found a bit amusing. She was just going t go shopping because the camp store didn't provide much.

Sutton shrugged. "I'll get out of here eventually." She said to her. She was almost saying it to herself like she needed something to hold on to. Her grasp on hope was starting to escape and fade away. She wanted something to reassure her. Sutton quickly shook her head and tried to think of other things. "So uh who's your god parent?" She asked, not knowing what to say.

If Zara was a demi-titan, Sutton would laugh. She had never met another demi-titan before. It was just uncommon at camp. Half of the time, she didn't enjoy being a demi-titan. People expected since she was one, she'd be on Kronos' side. They were always giving her dirty looks or asking 'You're not a traitor, are you?' She found it quite annoying at times, but she didn't care what they thought. They didn't know her, but if they tried to she'd shove them off a cliff. She didn't appreciate them trying to learn her personal life or pretend to be friend when they absolutely hated her. She almost found it funny when they did that. However one time when she was younger, she did harm one of them. Sutton knew his plan. He was about the same age as her at the time and she still remembered his name. Joseph. He was blonde with blue eyes. He had an older brother and three younger siblings.  She had always hated all of them from when they arrived to camp to now. They were still there, all of them keeping their distance from her.

The memory of what happened was still fresh in her mind. He tried to talk to her, but she didn't want to waste time. She had better things to do. Sutton had put her dagger to his throat. 'Just leave me alone I already know what you're going to.' She had said before adding a few more colorful words. 'Well you could be a traitor. We never know. What are you going to do about it anyway?' Joseph had said before fixing his sports glasses. She had pressed the dagger to his throat harder blood starting to trickle down his throat. Luckily for him, Chiron had come and helped get to the infirmary. She had gotten in trouble sadly, but she didn't really care at the time.

Sutton shrugged again. "Why not? I could suggest a few good books to you like Divergent or The Hunger Games." She said smiling. She loved reading. She'd spend most of her time at camp at the library reading. To her it felt like an escape from the world. She enjoyed any type of books from non-fiction to fantasy to sci-fi. It occupied her mind with learning or giving her ideas what the future could be like. She had read most of the books in the camp library by now.

"I don't see any responsibilities here. When I got here I didn't see any pets to take care of." She said, thinking of her own pet wolf. Mickey. He had reminded her of the cartoon. She wasn't sure how, but he did. She was teaching him, but he couldn't focus. She found it adorable no matter how much she threatened to leave him the woods, he'd keep rolling in the dirt and then eventually get up and cock his head to the side with one ear up and the other bent. She couldn't stay mad at her only true friend.

Sutton made a face at Zara even though she couldn't see her through the door. She picked up her spoon from the bowl and started to draw in the dirt with it. She certainly wasn't going to use her finger. She looked up when she said thirteen years. That was a lot and this was a camp where they went hardcore so that was probably like twenty four at camp. But still, she had stayed here for thirteen years? If Sutton was her she would've left by now. "I know uh a few different types of karate." She said trying not to brag.

Sutton stood up as she put the key in the lock. She didn't have to go to the bathroom and escaping was a bad idea like what Zara had said. But she did feel like hurling. It was disgusting and she had never eaten before. When she opened the door she saw a girl on the other side. Zara obviously. It was about a day or two since she arrived her and she hadn't seen a person since then. And here was a person. Right in front of her. She held back her nerves from trying to strangle her. Zara was older then her, but she looked like an older version of Sutton. The same brown eyes, the same brown hair. Like they were sisters. But they weren't, Sutton had a younger brother. She quickly pushed the thought aside. She didn't want to think about him right now. "So uh where's bathroom?" She asked looking around for it.

Sutton was going to get out of here eventually. Somehow, she promised herself. Maybe there was a window in the bathroom.  At night she could sneak out through the window. But the only problem was the cell. She obviously couldn't fit through the bars, but maybe she could pick the lock or something? She'd have to figure it out later but would have to use one of her powers to see in the dark. She couldn't use it that long or she'd start to bleed. That wouldn't be good. She had hear however in other people's tales, that they had been tortured. She hoped that wouldn't happen. If it did though, she wasn't that worried. She was used to it. At that thought, she looked at her arms. There were scars running up and down both of them along with her back. She quickly averted her gaze from her arms to the ceiling.

But the thought did come to her. Maybe this girl would help her? She tried to think of what her chances were that she was. She prayed to the gods to make sure she as. She knew though, she probably wasn't. She seemed pretty loyal to Kronos. Zara must have been brainwashed or something because she seemed to like him. Sutton couldn't understand how someone could stand someone like him. The campers were practically sleeping on dirt. What happened if it snowed? Sutton didn't even want to think about it for a minute. It just seemed too cruel. Sleeping on snow in the middle of winter with just a blanket. She shivered at the thought of it.

When she said anything is possible, Sutton smiled. Maybe she would get out of here after all. But she wasn't a hundred percent sure Zara would get her out of here. If she did, she didn't know what she'd do. She'd have to wait though because if she doesn't save her she didn't have to worry about how to thank her. "Yeah, I guess." She said, shrugging nonchalantly. She was trying to act casual, but it wasn't working. She wanted to get out of here. She wanted to see Mickey, he pet wolf. She wanted to go visit her little brother Max. She just wanted to leave. Was that so hard? She could feel a tear slip down her cheek and quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. She wasn't supposed to show weakness as her instructor back at camp would say. It was too bad she died. Sutton had loved her a lot almost like an older sister. She still remembered when she would make her practice all night.

Sutton smiled at her god parent. Another demi-titan, just like her. "I've heard of her before. I'm the daughter of Selene, titan of the moon. Boring I know." She said muttering the last part. "No I still can't guess why you ended up here. I'm a demi-titan and I don't live here.  I couldn't care less about my mom." She said shrugging again. She hated her mom for tons of reasons. Some of them that were stupid reasons like she was useless and she never visited her. There were definitely mores, she just didn't want to think about them now. "It's expected of me too but I couldn't give a crap. If you wanted to catch his attention you could've done something like uh I don't know. Climb Mount Everest or eat the world's largest cake. I could uh help you with that last one though." She said, smiling at her own joke.

Sutton knew what she was talking about. She had gotten messages in her dreams to join Kronos' camp, but she knew that would never happen.  It was like saying a fish could live without water. Sutton had stuck with Camp Half Blood for over eight years and she'd stay there. She hated people that switched sides. You chose that side because you believed in them. You believed that they were the good guys. You believed that side would win. You had faith in them. You had to have a little faith that they would win. Sutton believed in camp. She believed that they would win. She had faith in them, faith that not even the gods and goddesses could explain. Camp was her home and she loved it.

"Well, ask for permission. Duh." She said stating the obvious. When she said she read the two books she offered, she racked her brains for other books she had read recently. "How about the Mortal Instruments or the Maze Runner series? The first one will take you a while. Those books are gigantic." She said. Sutton nodded at her suggestions. She'd have to go to the Camp library to get those books. If she ever did get back to camp. She pushed that thought aside.

It was pretty nice to have someone else like the same books as you. They both had a lot of things in common. That's what Sutton found odd. Like they could be best friends if Zara hadn't joined Kronos or Sutton would've joined Kronos. Which was definitely not happening. It would be nice to have a friend for once. Sutton didn't have that many friends at camp. Just a few enemies here and there and that was it. She wasn't very talkative unless you came up to her.

Her eyebrows went up when she said her responsibilities. Sutton's responsibilities were different. They were more like chores. Feed Mickey, take him out for walks, clean her bed so there's no mess etc. "Feeding the prisoners as they beg for mercy. Sounds like lots of fun. Do you get paid?" She asked sarcastically. Sutton almost laughed when she said the cat ran away. "Hmm,  I wonder why." he muttered under her breath. She could never take Mickey here. He'd get too scared and stick next to her more then usual. "It's okay. I have a pet wolf named Mickey." She said his image coming back to her.

"Sounds... exciting." She lied. She had chosen do martial arts and learn how to use almost every weapon. Most campers just learned how to use one weapon. Not her she learned every single one. She didn't have that many friend so might as well spend her time doing something useful.

The girl on the other side of the door was not what she expected. She pictured a blonde girl with bright blue eyes. It was the total opposite. Brown hair and brown eyes. It was like she gone into the future and she was looking at her older self. They were so alike it was uncanny. Sutton glanced down the hallway to where the bathroom was. When Zara put out her hand she glanced at it before sweeping her legs around Zara's and catching her in a choke hole. Sutton didn't know what she was going to say and decided that Zara better talk first.