I had originally written this story a long time ago, but I thought it needed to be edited and redone in certain areas. I love this story so much, that I thought it would be good for it. I have a very unique and original storyline, and I hope I can give you joy when reading it. :)
Thank you to Tigress Princess, SeaweedBrainLuva3, ZenithfourDemigods, Mcat9905, pugswanthugs, and StormorBlaze for commenting on the original!
The Secret Third Camp
This was the last camp I was going to and in reality my last shot at life. If I didn't make it here, I would most likely die within the next two years. My father, who was a god, knew this was the right camp so I suppose this worry was unnecessary. Why he didn't lead me here in the first place, I still have yet to ask him. All I could tell myself was that there was a reason for it.
We went higher into the Appalachian Mountains, trees quickly flashing by. To our left was a steep ridge dropping into a small valley, and then it rose again to form another part of the mountain range. The forest around us was beautiful, tall trees rising up, thickly grown together. Now it made me wonder if this camp needed to be hidden by the Mist; there was so much to the Appalachians that I doubted anybody could find it.
After being handed over to a satyr when I went to Camp Half Blood and then to the more fierce and less friendly wolves when I was taken to Camp Jupiter, my mom now gave me over to some guy that looked like he was straight from Twilight… and I don't say that in the best light. I was expecting some kind of magical creature and instead I get Edward. I guess I shouldn't be surprised when I've seen some things a lot of you guys should never know exist, but this was worse.
I remember when I was younger that I would have dreams that I couldn't explain. Yet somehow, I just knew that they were showing me Greek or Roman history and legends. So by the time I was taking World History class I already knew all the answers. I could see it so vividly when I slept that when I was in the midst of a battle, I would wake up with my heart pounding fiercely and heavily breathing. The dreams let me understand both sides and give respect to them, and I did. But I still didn't know why I just couldn't feel like I belonged to either one of them. Then, when I was eleven, I had one dream that would start to give me the idea of whom I belonged to: It was morning and I was standing in the middle of a large field. The sun came out from behind the hills spreading and glazing the grass blades and trees in gold. There was a crisp coolness in the air, but the sunlight slowly gave me warmth. Suddenly, moving shadows fell across the grounds. I looked up to the hill that was nearest to me and I saw what looked like hundreds of men in red uniforms holding rifles, on horses or standing and some pushing cannons. A voice came to me, The British. They stopped, their eyes looking past me. I followed their gazes and past some old stone house ruins, I saw men just appearing, coming through the trees. It looked like there weren't as many, but more and more started to come out of the shadows of the forest. Their uniforms were blue, some riding on horses, but the soldiers that were on foot greatly outnumbered the riders. The same voice came to me, The Americans… the Rebels. Now I could hear music coming from the British of flutes and drums. Then without warning when trumpets sounded, and orders were taken from either side, someone fired a shot and the battle began.
Each side shot, stabbed, and fired cannons at the enemy. There were yells of anger and of pain, but above all the commotion around me, one thing stood out; a rider on a white horse. He fought proudly for his men and led strongly with great leadership and orders. I knew at that moment, it was George Washington. But before I could see the outcome of the battle, I woke up. This time I felt no angst or fear, but a pleasant coolness and restfulness. Yet I didn't fully understand at the time what it meant to my future.
It was only a three later when I was taken to Camp Half Blood. My mom gave me over to a satyr who smelled suspiciously of enchiladas and had the name of Rover or something close to that. My mom explained to me what I had already known, I was a demigod. She told me that I would be safe where I was going and they would explain everything to me. At that moment, as I was being driven away from my house, my mom waving in the background, I felt unwanted by her. I knew she loved me, but I could see in her face she was relieved that I was going. I could tell that she was relieved that I was going to be safe, and that she would be too. I couldn't blame her, ever since I had that dream when I was eleven, strange things started to happen. Someone tried to burn our house down while we were sleeping but my mom put it out with a fire extinguisher. Another time I almost got kidnapped and pulled into a car, but my mom came just in time and fired a bullet at the guy right in between his eyes. His image flickered for a second and I could see he was a big ugly Cyclops. Besides that I was still in shock from seeing him disengage into gold powder, I was amazed at how good of a shot my mom was. The bullet lay in the pile of remains and it glowed orange as if it was still hot. There was that same voice in my head again, "Celestial Bronze."
As the moths went by, the incidents increased and became worse. Towards the end, my mom was completely shaken and was so suspicious of everything. She had become difficult to live with when her paranoia set it.
Camp Half Blood was beautiful; I had to admit, when I first arrived. On the top of the hill that overlooked the camp, there was large pine tree with what I realized to be, The Golden Fleece, hanging on a branch. And there was a young looking dragon coiled around it. Again I'm going to make this short. A Centaur -yes, a centaur- who I knew at that moment was Chiron, came up to greet me. I bowed, addressing him, and I found that he was shocked that I already knew who he was. He took me into the big house and let me explain everything I had gone through. It kind of made me feel good that I could share these things with another person, instead of my mom. She already knew the dreams I had told her of and the events we had been through.
The weeks that I was there, I quickly learned and mastered the different weaponry and fighting lessons. I even quickly adapted to their ways of living. As soon as I was given the bows and arrows though, my instincts kicked in and everybody knew who my parent was then. But it just didn't feel right, even when I was put into my family's cabin, I knew I didn't belong here. The next day after spending my first night sleeping next to my half-siblings, I went up to Chiron and explained my feelings. For some reason he had known I wasn't Greek, but had let me stay because he was curious about me, or at least until I told him that I knew I didn't belong here. Chiron told me I must be Roman, but he had never seen a Roman able to adapt fully or fight in the style of a Greek before, therefore he saw me as interesting to keep an eye on. He told me not to speak of this to the other campers and explained why. Then he told me that I should be returned to my mom in the afternoon, and he would send word to Lupa to send transportation, that would take me to Camp Jupiter. Hold on, let me catch a breath here… that was a lot of talking… ok I think I'm ready to continue.
I was picked up by two overly sized wolves that looked like they were tempted to take a bite out of me to see if I would be better spent as a camper or their lunch. Thankfully the latter did not occur. They came early in the morning, so I had little time to grab anything of mine when we left the house in Georgia.
Lupa greeted me coolly, politely and quickly. Obviously, when the test for my strength, and in all reality my life, was taken, and I flew through it with flying colors, I knew I didn't belong there. I could just feel it when I took my first step into my legion's sleeping quarters and saw some of my Roman half-siblings. The fact that, even though I had quickly adapted to the Roman way of living, my whole body knew I wasn't meant for this kind of fighting and training. It just knew I was meant for something entirely different.
This time, I was afraid to go to my camp leader, so it took me a few months before I could approach her with courage. I came to her just after the Titan War, which I had fought in, and met with her. Lupa had this aura about her that made you feel vulnerable and trust me when I say she worked it to her will. To my surprise, she patiently waited until I was finished speaking to tell me that she knew I wasn't Roman. She told me there was something in my behavior and the way I acted that gave it away. Lupa didn't completely explain everything to me, but told me simply that it was a mystery as to what I belonged to. I wasn't Greek and I wasn't Roman, that much I understood, but then where was I supposed to go if I didn't belong to either? Lupa told me that she'd get a hold of my father quickly to meet with me. I asked her when and where I would see him, but all she told me was that I was to see him soon and as to where, it was up to him.
And now I'm almost finished with telling you this story, pretty soon I'll catch up to the present. Man, storytelling is just not my thing.
My mom and I would have never known about this camp if it hadn't been for my dad. We were in a coffee shop named Shaky Alibi one day when he came in. I guess it should have been a big deal for me since I had always wanted to know who he was since I was little and meet him, but for some reason I just wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. Instead I felt frustrated and aggravated. I know I shouldn't be since it wasn't his fault, but I still felt these emotions coming up as it took over the happiness and surprise I should have felt. Now I had a mixture of anger yet content at now seeing the face of my dad. My mom said he had come to visit us after I was born, but obviously I had never remembered it. So these last fifteen years I had waited intently that I would see him. I already knew which god he was so it wasn't some big surprise when he walked in while I was drinking tea and she was drinking coffee. He appeared casually dressed in dark jeans, Vans shoes, and a red Billabong t-shirt. But it was like he was dressing like that to mask his appearance as a great deity. He was tall with tan skin and a ripped body. You could see his muscles underneath his shirt, and I thought I just saw him flex his arm muscle as my mom saw him. The look on her face confirmed my suspicion. He had golden hair that fell perfectly in curls, with eyes that were as bright as the blue sky. My dad had this strange bright and powerful aura around him; it was like he was glowing like the sun. He was Apollo.
"Wow Kira, you've grown since the last time I saw you." I almost laughed cynically. Of course I'd grown since I was a baby! Then his eyes turned a sad stormy blue just as I had thought that. "You think that I hadn't been keeping an eye on you this whole time?" His voice sounded hurt or maybe just sorrowful. So he could read minds.
"Well I can't remember the last time I saw you." I said with a voice that sounded repentant rather than sarcastic, which was how I had planned it in my head. His eyes brightened a little.
"Do you remember the guy that you named Creepy Uncle Jim that came to all your birthday parties?" Now his voice was humorous.
"That was you?" I said in shock. I looked over to my mom. I was going to ask her if she knew, but her face looked just as surprised. Apollo laughed lightly now,
"You were always so nervous around me. I guess it was because I was always watching you and your every action and you saw that… Remember that poem I wrote you for your thirteenth birthday?" I nodded thinking back to it.
"Yeah, I remember." Now seeing him smile, I couldn't help but do the same. "For some reason, even though I saw you as Creepy Uncle Jim, I couldn't not love that poem… it was like it spoke directly at me and how I felt and told me that someday I would be able to feel that I fit in… it was special and nothing like I'd ever heard before. It almost gave me hope for the future."
"Well they don't call me the god of prophesies for nothing." He said amusedly. At that moment, the waitress came up.
"Can I get anything for you honey?" She said while flipping her black hair back like she was a model.
"Well it looks like my daughter and I have the same taste in beverages, so I'll get a jasmine tea like her." At the word daughter, the woman looked at me like I was some piece of garbage. Like I had just ruined her plans to run off with him and live happily ever after. She left without a word, walking to the back kitchen like her day had just been ruined. "You know, back in the day, I use to drink jasmine tea with some of the Chinese emperors, but they just don't make like they use to." He sat back relaxed as his tea came to him swiftly. For a while he talked to me and my mom and half the time complementing her. In our conversations I realized just how much I had in common with him. I wasn't sure if he was just saying this just to make me feel special, but he seemed pretty sincere about it. He said that he thought that I was one of the very few that acted and looked the most like him out of all his other children. At that moment I looked at my reflection in the window of the café. My hair was long and fell in curls, and I had the exact same hair and eye color as him. I had been told that I had looked like… dare I say it… Taylor Swift. Then again, could she be my…? No I wouldn't think of that. Even if she was, I don't think I'd like her as a sister, she's just too girly!
Then just as if he had remembered why he had come, his eyes lit up and he started to pull out a paper from his back pocket that looked like it have been dipped in gold glitter. He unfolded it and I could see it was a map.
"What's that a map of?" I asked as I gazed on it with interest.
"You already know." He said looking at me with intensity. Now his face showed that he intended on me to fully understand. "You have attended both camps and without anyone telling you, you've realized you don't belong to either. I had expected that those dreams I had given you when you were younger and the dream I gave you when you were eleven would have made you understand. It was to show you that there are more than two sides to me. You already know that Olympus moves with the west and it went from Greek, Rome, and now to America. You should know what I'm talking about, that even Chiron and Lupa fail to have knowledge of. Though usually we show our American sides to the Greek and even Roman half-bloods, it is only so they won't grow suspicious of what we are hiding from them. We couldn't stand to take that chance of there being slaughter between our children again, so we thought it best to keep it a full secret to even the two major camp leaders just in case word got out.
"You belong to Camp Frontier. It is where any half-blood that has the full American side to them goes to live and train." He pointed it out on the map but then looked at me with a solemn face and said in the most serious of tones, "But you must remember what I am about to tell you. Do not underestimate what goes on in this camp. You must not believe that you know everything that is about to happen once you enter it. There is more to Camp Frontier then meets the eye." Then with a grin that said, "Your future is going to be pretty messed up, but don't worry, I'll be there to keep an eye on things,"and with his final goodbyes, he was gone. Now I don't mean that he just got up and walked out of the coffee shop, I mean he was gone. When sunshine hit through the window and landed on our table, he had disappeared. I remember looking around to see if anybody had noticed, but apparently it was like it had never happened. The waitress didn't even charge us for his drink.
We looked back down at the map; the area where his finger had touched showed the camp. At that moment I had wondered how I'd get there. It was obvious, looking at the map, that it was on a main highway that went through the mountains, and then cut off it onto a rode that I expected to be unknown by regular mortals or at least hidden by the Mist. Then as my mom folded it up and was about to pay the bill, she noticed something written on the blank side of the map. There was a neatly hand written note in black pen that said there would be someone picking me up within the next day, and at the end it was signed Dad.
I would love some constructive criticism and your views on what you thought was good or could be changed. Thank you for reading!