On Top of the Hill

Ryan sighed, stretching his back as he looked out over the camp. Its been awhile since he had been up here, looking down at everything.

Layla sat at the top of the hill, her golden paintbrush in one hand and a palette of colors in the other. She sighed and spread some blue paint on the canvas. "Hmmm."

Ryan spotted another demigod on the hill with him. Odd. Not many people came here. He walked to where she was and waved his hand, "Hey there."

Layla looked up at the boy and smiled. "Hello." She dabbed a little bit of yellow on the mural.

Ryan stood well out of her way as she looked like she's was painting something. "May I ask what you're doing up here?" It was pretty obvious, but he asked anyway.

"Painting. What about you?" She continued to blot on different colors.

"Oh, just staring out at camp." Ryan said plainly. Christmas is coming and he wanted to see what it would look like before it starts to snow.

She nodded."that's a good reason I'm Layla by the way." She held out her paint covered hand and looked down at it. "Whoops..." She giggled.

Ryan smirked as he took her hand and shook it. "Name's Ryan."

"I like your name." Layla smirked and picke up her paintbrush again. "Hmm I'm missing something."

Ryan laughed as he glanced at his hand, now stained with paint. He looked at her and smirked, "What're you missing?"

"More yellow." She added to the sunset and smiled. She rubbed her hand across her forehead leaving some paint residue. "There!"

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle at how carefree this girl was. Well, not like most demigods we uptight, but most of them acted like they were on drugs. Annabeth was an exception. She's crazy all the time... Crazy smart, anyway.

Layla smiled. "What do you think?" She turned the painting so it was facing him. It was a picture of a beautiful sunset with the camp below. "Isn't it great!?"

Ryan examined the painting with interest. "Eh... It looks pretty good." He thought that it could be in an exhibit for art, but he didn't really know much art so... A kindergartner's drawing could be a masterpiece for him.

Layla smiled and stood up, she wiped off her hands on her yellow sundress. "Well I think it looks gorgeous..." She put a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

Ryan smirked, "Well, an artist does have to admire her own masterpiece." He said absentmindedly. He loved to meet new people. Many of the demigods he knew were always off somewhere, while he was stuck at camp.

"Yeah..." She packed up her paint brushes and washed off the paint. "So how long have you been at camp?"

Ryan didn't even need to time to think about it. "Exactly four years." He answered proudly. "How about you?"

Layla winced. "Wow uhm... 3 years...I think." She giggled. "I don't have very good memory."

Ryan chuckled, "That's quite alright. I won't hold your memory against you."

"So what do you do for fun around here?" Layla looked at him with her sparkling green eyes.

Ryan blew out the air in his lungs, making the air around him misty. "Well, just about anything. Reading, playing sports, archery." He answered. "How about you?"

"Uhm read, fight, play music... Just the usual." Layla's looked up at him and her eyes widened as she saw the mist. "How did you do that?!"