The Last Gasping Strings of Spring (p)

While he was scheduled to leave for DC later that day, Nick Mills was not going to sit around and pout about going home. His spring break back at Camp Half-Blood had been... interesting, especially considering the mysterious disappearance of that Ares sand-pounder Chad.

But whatever, that was long a week ago.

Right now, down with the few hooligans stoking a midday fire, all he could afford to think about was jamming out a jazzy solo on his sister’s Gibson bass.

Despite being certainly not the only person in the courtyard, Nick was able to tune the world and keep jamming on that bass. No amount of fire-poking hooligans, cool breezes, or intruding thoughts could keep him away nailing the perfect solo.

Except that breeze was actually kind of nice. Like, the way it carried the salty sea air in from the bay and... and the way it was not so hard that it messed things up but not too soft so you could not cool down. And... and.. and...

“Nyighe!”

As Nick’s mind drifted away from the music, his grip on the guitar lightened to the point of dropping the thing. At his feel lay the destroyed remains of half-sister Shanon Marlowe’s vintage Gibson.

While Marlowe was out - apparently she had left for Oregon the other day - word of her busted bass was bound to spread like the pox. Getting distance between him and the instrument was key, and he had to do it fast.

He picked up the body and neck, did his best to stick them back together, and made a beeline for the Apollo cabin.

[He passes Lily along the way.]

“Nicky!”

Crap! How was Lily already onto him? She was pretty on top of things, but sneaking up on him right after breaking Shanon’s bass? That was just too perfect.

“Hey, Lily,” Nick said, turning around and holding the neck in place. He hoped it was good enough to cover the damage.

"Are you going to be at the party tonight?"

“There’s a party tonight?” The neck bent a bit, getting torqued back into place moments later. “I’d love to go but... I’ve got a train booked back to DC at dusk.”

"What would happen if you let go of one of your hands there?"

No. No. No. No. No. There had to be a way out of this without giving his game away.

“Well, what do you think will happen? It’s a bass after all; holding it one-handed is just a recipe for disaster and I’m sure Shanon would not appreciate us treating her axe like that. It’s basically her baby so you know she’d love to see it handled in the best way possible. Like, do you see the sunburst paint? Do you see the mahogany neck? Do you see the ivory knobs? This is a bass worth protecting with your life.”

“That being said-“ Nick began turning to leave- “I was just about to put this wonderful instrument back in it’s place, so if you just let me shimmy on by that would be great.”

[I have nothing else to really add here, but this has been very fun.]