And this is how the story begins (private)

I was at an indoor pool place with my parents, relaxing on just a normal day. Colt said that he might be coming by soon, and that was cool. I was swimming around, when I heard a noise next to me; someone jumped into the water next to me. I swam back to the stairs, getting out, putting my towel around me. My stepmother told me to smile, and before I knew it, she had taken a picture of me.

"Mom!"

"Sorry, sweetie!"

I rolled my eyes and dried off, putting my shirt back on and putting on my flip flops. I got a dollar from my stepmom, and went over to the concessions stand, grabbing my phone.

"Hi, can I have a soft pretzel with cheese?" I gave her the dollar, texting Colt. He said he'd be there in five minutes. I sighed, getting my pretzel and cheese. "Thanks," I said, and walked away, while the concessions girl muttered something under her breath. I sat down and started eating my pretzel.

Valerie shuffled anxiously on the back seat of the bus. The tunnel though quite well lit, was not well lit enough for her liking. She hated being underground, she hated dark spaces, she hated the two combined even with what someone called lighting. Nothing beat fresh air, the sky over head and the sun on your back. Fortunately, the vehicle was still moving despite the steadily thickening traffic. She just hoped that the bus would escape the confines of the tunnel before it got trapped in all this traffic. She doubted that she would be able to resist suffering a panic attack whilst on the bus then.
The Daughter of Apollo possessed a great dislike of dark places, tunnels, caves etc. She forced herself to breath at a calm steady rate, if she could keep herself calm she should be find. Everything looked so different to her, no matter how many times she went away from Camp. Valerie always found some new wonder, be it a car, a tv, a computer, a plane etc. She tried to focus on the new things rather than her growing discomfort.