Description: Danny doesn't know who he is or where he's going. To survive, he'll have to depend on his new friends to discover his past and create his future.
TITLE: At Last
RATING: K+ (may become T by end)
Genres: Humor and Adventure
Main Characters: OC 1 (Danny), OC 2 (Skylar), Leo, Nico, Percy, & Hazel
A/N:
Happy birthday OC (Danny)! This is my (and my co-writers) first chapter. We will try to keep any and all spoilers for BoO to a minimum.
Writers: It'sJustSkylar, me, and occasionally lupuscarmen13, who did also edited and beta'd.
All rights go to Rick Riordan.
Chapter 1
Stupid Venti
Danny
My story begins with a herd of horses and a cold wind.
I was just walking along the streets of downtown New York when a really cold breeze came brushing past my neck. I thought it was just the wind, so I kept walking.
Suddenly out of nowhere there was this floating horse right in front of me. Then it quickly kicked me in the chest and I didn't do anything to the thing. I can run for a long time, but I don't know why, so I started to run. Out of nowhere, I somehow knew where I was going. I sensed that there was a safe place by Long Island, so I started running in that direction. As I ran, out of nowhere I was kicked in the face by some invisible being. I was almost knocked out by it. Now I know it's a threat and running away from something fast and invisible can be dangerous. I knew in my gut I was almost to the safe place.
Then there was a bunch of those floating horses surrounded me, furiously following me with their glowing eyes, ready to fight. Me being my stupid self didn't have any weapons with me, even though someone once told me that you should always be prepared for anything. So I was just standing there getting ready for the fight when I thought I saw two people. Why would people be in the the middle of freakin nowhere? But hey, I was lucky that those people were there because I was bruised and bleeding from those stupid horse things. As I was staring at the people I was kicked in the lower back by one of those freakin horses. I slowly got up and decided that my best chance was to run to those people. Just as I reached those people, I passed out.
Skylar
I leaned against the pine tree dedicated to the once-again alive Thalia, watching Leo mess around with machine parts in his lap. I was still kinda apprehensive about the whole guarding the border thing; Piper and Jason were just trying to get rid of us for a bit. I sighed, feeling a bit bored. Guarding the borders now was really just boring and unnecessary. I was about to crack a joke about this whole thing when I saw this guy frantically running towards us and swatting the air like he was being attacked by a crazy mob of invisible killer bee's. I glanced at Leo who now just noticed and was starting to get up.
"Uh, Skylar? I think we got another crazy."
I was about to laugh when I felt something weird. It was a feeling that was all too familiar. Aboard the Argo II, I had felt this plenty of times. Now I got the sense that he wasn't running from crazy invisible killer bees- no, he was running from one of my father's Venti! I shot off from the tree. quickly unsheathing my sword and grabbed Leo by the arm. I shot down the hill to try to help the guy. He looked like he had been through a lot. Just as we reached him he fell over. I pointed my sword to the air.
"Venti, show yourselves!" The wind picked up and then died down again. The the wind started to mold a horse. When it was done a posse of dark horses were facing us looking quite agitated. I wondered what this guy did to make them angry they don't usually attack people without orders. I looked the leader right in the eye. Silence filled the air.
"So, uh, that's a nice pony gang you got there," Leo said. I glanced back at him mentally face palming. I turned back to silently challenging the leader of the horse posse. Finally the leader looked at the ground signaling that I had won the stare down. I smirked and said rather confidently,
"Good thing you came to your senses. Now go, I don't want you here! And no more attacking people!" The horses whinnied as if to say, 'yeah yeah lady whatever.' It was about to take off when I stopped it. "Wait! Say you're sorry now!" The horse looked at me like, 'are you serious?' "Do it!"
I heard Leo snicker from behind me. The horse looked down at the limp body and then glanced back at me. Finally, the horse bowed its head at the boy then disappeared. I glanced back at Leo who was looking rather amused.
"That's how you handle a gang of vicious ponies."
Leo burst out laughing. I cracked a grin and pushed him. "And this is why you're one of my best friends Skylar Knite."
I rolled my eyes nonchalantly.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm awesome." I suddenly remembered the guy laying there, injured and in need of our help. Wow, Skylar, way to forget. I waited for Leo to calm down.
"So uh...what do we do with him?" I nudged my head at the still nameless guy. Leo shrugged.
"I guess we bring him in camp."
We both picked him up by the arms and tried to drag him up the hill. Boy was he heavy. If Leo wasn't there to help, I probably would've been squashed like a pancake. As we dragged him to the Big House, people stopped what they were doing and stared at us in wonder. We finally arrived and we flopped him over onto the couch. I sat on the floor in exhaustion, Leo did the same. We sat there for a minute huffing and puffing. Finally, Leo got up and said,
"I'll get Chiron. You stay here and watch the new guy. Make sure he's okay." He walked out. I sighed and sat there, waiting for Chiron's arrival.
Danny
As I woke up, I assumed everything from the day before was dream. I mean, it was just a little crazy. Just a bit. I tried to sit up, but then, suddenly, I was surrounded by kids my age. They looked like they were experienced doctors, which was weird. They told me to lay down and to not get up. Then there was a old man that came next to my bed and asked me my name and how I ended up here. I told him my name is Danny and then my story. Then this Latino boy and redhead came in.
"I thought you would never wake, Danny," the Latino boy joked. The redhead nudged the boy.
"What he means is, hi. I'm Skylar and this is Leo, we're the ones that saved your butt or AKA me because I did all the work."
"Ah, thanks, but where am I? And how long have I been asleep, because the world doesn't wait for you," I said.
"I don't know." It looked like she was looking around for a clock. Then she turned back to me and shrugged "Maybe 25 or 30 minutes."
"Hey, where's my bag, and my t-shirt?" I asked, trying to get up and starting to freak out.
"Don't worry, they're on the table in the front room. We totally didn't look through them or anything like that." She smirked at Leo. They seemed to be sharing a inside joke.
"Well, that's reassuring." I said with a smirk. Skylar returned the smirk and said,
"Yeah totally we are very reliable people. Aren't we Leo?"
"What? Yes, we are we saved your life didn't we." Leo stated
Skylar started coughing, choking a 'me' in the middle of it. Leo gave her a dirty look.
"Without me this guy would have squished you like a pancake." As he said that, he turned his curly-haired head and said no offense to me "You would be still out there dragging Danny here." As he finished, he crossed his arms in triumph. Skylar just rolled her eyes and came back at him.
"Just because you helped deliver the item doesn't mean you did any of the work."
"Hey!" I yelled "I'm not an item! I'm a person and my name, again, is Danny."
"I meant it as a metaphor."
"Of course you did," I said, rolling my eyes. Skylar shifted and said,
"Yeah, yeah don't mention it." She looked at Chiron. "Sorry to keep you waiting, did you want to go full-on 'Welcome to camp half-blood'?"
"Half-blood!?"I questioned, trying to get out of the cot.
"Whoa!" said a blond haired kid came rushing in. "You are in no condition to leave yet, Danny-boy. Do you realize how badly you were hurt?"
"Oh, come on Will, you're no fun," Leo said.
"Ok? So, I can't leave..." I trailed off, "but what a half-blood?"
"Hey, Skylar it's your turn to explain the half-blood thing," Leo called in a teasing tone.
Skylar smirked as if she was waiting a long time for this. She straightened up and continued for Leo.
"Being a half-blood is where one of your parents is a god and one is a mortal. Technically, the term is demigod- it basically means 'half human, half god'. For example, my father is Aeolus, god of the wind and master of Venti. One is my friends, Nico, his father is Hades, god of the underworld."
"What? Aren't those Greek gods? I thought that there were myths!"
"I am not a myth, right Lenno?" a fat man who had been introduced to me as Mr. D, or Dionysus, said. When I stared at him, he let out a disgusted snort. "Great, another 'precious' demigod who doesn't believe in the gods. Yay for me."
"He almost sounded like he cared that time," Leo whispered to me.
"Mr. D. You don't have to be here for much longer. I don't want to hear you complain." Chiron said.
"Hey Mr. D, I wouldn't get her angry because she has a gang of evil espresso drinks to back her up!" Leo said with a huge smirk. Skylar smiled at him as if to say thanks buddy I owe you one.
Skylar shot a glare at Mr. D. "Let's answer your weird questions. Yes, we're talking Greek gods here, like certain ones who turn you into dolphins for no good reason." She paused and looked at Mr. D again then continued."As for the myth part, that's what the gods want the mortals to believe. Naturally, you were raised by a mortal and obviously never told you about it. It was probably because they either had no idea about your parent being godly, or were trying to keep you safe. Normally, by the age of 12, monsters start to attack or you realize who you are. You also probably have ADHD or dyslexia."
"I have ADHD," I said slowly, trying to comprehend this. "It's normally pretty bad. This is the first time in years that I don't feel like I'm drinking double espressos."
"Yep, typical. Your brain is hardwired for battle and ancient Greek. You will just naturally do things without thinking because you will need that in battle." She paused and looked around the room."How'd I do? Huh? Was I good at explaining it? I mean, I have been here for like 4 years so I better know this stuff or I'm screwed." She laughed at herself.
"Yes, you did awesome." said a new blonde. This time it was a girl. Next to her was a tiny black girl with cinnamon-colored hair. "At least he's not as confused as Seaweed Brain was."
Just as she said that a tall, dark haired teen walked in, the scent of the ocean following him.
"How many kids are in this camp? And...who are you?" I questioned, looking to Skylar and Leo for help.
"Oh, sorry. I'm and Annabeth, that's Hazel, and the Seaweed Brain over here is Percy."
Just as I thought the introductions would cease, several more people crowded into the room. A tall, thick-chested teen walked over to Hazel, taking her hand. He introduced himself as Frank. Next, a well-built, blond teen and Native-American looking girl entered, arm in arm. They introduced themselves as...I think, Jason and Piper?, though I wasn't exactly sure.
I yawned, exhaustion weighting down my eyelids. I really needed to sleep. Thankfully, Skylar saw it in my eyes. The man with the wheelchair came again and told everyone to leave, saying that it was almost supper. Yum. I thought hungrily of food. But according to- Will was it?- I had to stay here until tomorrow. I was going to sleep but the guy in the wheelchair started talking to me. He said that his name was Chiron. He was one of the head people here and he saw that I was really tired and need rest because my 'injuries' were 'bad' but I didn't argue and went to sleep.
Skylar
As we all walked out to go to dinner, I saw a dark figure leaning against the house. I looked closer and realized that it was Nico. I told everyone I would catch up with them later and went over to talk to Nico, suspecting that he wanted to be filled in on the situation. When I reached him, he looked up at me and gave me a lopsided smile. It still wasn't a happy smile- it was still a little dark, but it was improving.
"I see you're not wearing your tropical shirt," I teased."Did you burn it already?"
He gave me a look of disgust. "Never bring up that shirt again."
I laughed at him. Silence fell for a few minutes between us after that. Finally I decided to say something.
"So, what brings you here, Nico?"
He shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I guess I wanted to see what the whole commotion was about." He paused, thinking for a second, then continued on. "I heard some people talking about you and Leo carrying in some new demigod, so I decided I should wait until I heard from you about the situation and not some rumors." He crossed his arms. "Also, your version of stories are always a little more amusing than the originals." I scoffed and said,
"Wow I didn't know my stories were as appreciated as they were. I'm so honored that you find my version of stories amusing."
He smirked and rolled his eyes. I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed at my childish behavior. I got up from next to Nico and looked in the direction of the dining pavilion. I could see everyone eating and having a good time. I smiled to myself, wanting life to be like this forever. I figured that I should get back to everyone soon or they would start worrying. I turned to Nico.
"Come join us for dinner. I'm sure everyone else wants to hear the story too, and me and Leo telling it together has got to be even more amusing than any of my other stories."
He sighed. I gave him my infamous puppy eye look. He looked away and groaned, finally caving in.
"Fine."
I smiled mentally screaming 'YESSSS'. I finally got him to do something! Score 'one' for me, score 'ten' for Nico...well, at least one is better than zero.
He got up from leaning against the house and we started to walk towards the dining pavilion.
When we walked in everyone was already sitting and enjoying their meals. I looked around trying to spot our table. I finally found the table, probably because Leo was waving his arms furiously at me. I smiled and lead Nico over.
"Hey guys!" I smiled and sat down next to Leo and Nico followed sitting next to me at the already crowded table.
"Hey Sky," Leo said. I grinned at him. "Oh, and what's up Nico, hows it hanging? Why are you here anyway?"
I winced- Leo's phrasing there was terrible.
Nico looked down at the table.
"Skylar promised me a entertaining story of what happened over the last couple of hours, told by you and her."
"I can tell you how the story really happened, right Sky?"
I shot Leo a playful glare. "I dare you."
Leo shot a challenge accepted look at me and started to tell the 'right' story. I stopped him when he got completely off track.
"LEO! OH MY GODS, NO. NO. NO. YOU DIDNT EVEN DO ANYTHING! YOU JUST SAT THERE AND TOLD THEM THEY HAD A NICE PONY GANG! WHO EVEN DOES THAT?"
"I DO! I'M BAD BOY SUPREME AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!"
I held in a laugh. "You don't even know how ridiculous that sounded, dude. Seriously, 'bad boy supreme'? More like 'lord of the elves'."
" DON'T YOU DARE DISS LEGOLAS! JUST DON`T EVEN GO THERE"
I burst out laughing and stuck my tongue out at him.
"Too late, already went there."
Leo made a pouty face
"FINISH THE STORY!" Nico screamed. Everybody looked at him in shock.
Out of the silence, I broke out into loud laughter. I probably looked insane but I couldn't care less. I started to calm down, but then I looked at Nico's face, so mingled with anger and confusion, and started laughing even harder. I finally calmed down then put my hand on Nico's shoulder and said.
"Wow, someones a little moody today."
"Shut up," Nico muttered. "Supper's almost finished. Tell the story."
I smiled and jokingly rolled my eyes."Nico didn't get his bedtime story." I poked his arm "Fine. I will finish with the right version." I gave Leo a look and then told the rest of the story. After it was done, people began leaving to go to the campfire.
As they got up to leave, Nico sat quietly, his eyebrows furrowed- it almost looked like he heard about this person before- and then just brushed it off and left with the the others. I stayed back with Nico while the others were ahead of us. The lantern I was holding illuminated the dark area around us. We casually chatted for a bit, then silence fell upon us. We walked in a peaceful silence for a bit listening to the other people's constant chatter. Nico looked around.
"It's getting dark out."
I looked around and agreed. I held my lantern up and laughed.
"Don't worry Nico, I will be the light to guide you out of the dark." I kept on walking not noticing that he had stopped. I finally noticed and turned around and gave him a look of confusion.
"You okay?"
His dark eyes were wide in shock, and he seemed to be staring right through me. I brushed it off. Maybe it was something that I said. I always say the wrong things at the wrong time, so I tried to smooth it over.
"You know, cause everyone needs someone to help them out of the dark. And in this case, I'm also literally holding the light. Haha." I waited for a response, a bit nervously.
He just gave a weak smirk and walked on.
Great job, I told myself, I totally scared one of my friends off. I shook that thought off and then continued walking to the campfire.
After the campfire, I slowly made my back to the cabins. I watched as Hazel met up with Nico, who seemed a little paler than usual. We caught each others' eyes. He gave me a smirk as I went in to my cabin, preparing for the next day.
Danny
When I woke up, I didn't feel like I had gotten kicked in the chest and the face by a horse thing. Weird. I sat up and tried to look for some kind of t-shirt. Mine was ripped to shreds. The only t-shirts in my room were the ones that read Camp Half Blood.
Half blood? What's that? I thought to myself. Oh well. I put it on anyway. At that moment, a blond came in- I think his name was Will...?
"What's up man? How you feeling?" he asked me.
"I'm feeling fine. Can I leave now?" I asked.
"You have to wait till Skylar or Leo comes and shows you around camp. Do you know how long you were asleep? It's almost supper time- you slept almost 20 hours."
I gaped a little at how long I was out, then shook it off.
"What, do you mean show me around?"
"Well, you're a half blood like Skylar said, and you kinda have to stay here or you will be attacked by more monsters," Will said nonchalantly.
"Like those stupid horse things?"
"Yes. Do you have any family members we should know about."Will said with softness in his voice. I gave him a sad look and said,
"I was told that my parents died. I lived in this weird place for years but I was never told of any relatives." Will gave me a look of I'm sorry man. He wrote on this check board and walked off to talk to the old guy-I don't remember his name. Skylar then burst into the room with Leo. I shot up and smiled at them and said,
"Let's get out of here, I need some fresh air." They nodded in agreement, I grabbed my backpack as we walked out.
Skylar
"Where should we start? Can we go to the forges please? " Leo whined, his eyes wide with the dreaded puppy dog look. I glared. I really didn't want to go to the forges; we always went.
"Well, I kinda wanted to go to the pegasi stables, 'cause you know we always go to the forges. I mean, we're there so much I could practically call that place my house."
Leo intensified his puppy dog eyes. I sighed and smashed my hand against Leo's face.
"Cut the puppy dog face out, dude. It ain't gonna work on me."
"Come on Sky, I really want to go to the forges," he said with a pouty face. I groaned, knowing that I wouldn't win this argument. I turned to Danny.
"It's your tour Danny. What do you want to do?"
"Well, I guess we can go to the stables? " he said uncertainly.
"In your face!" I screamed at Leo. Danny jumped, eyes wide.
"Hey, do you guys 'fight' a lot?" Danny questioned, I turned to Leo, smirking at him.
"I wouldn't call it fighting, more like a friendly disagreement."
"Yeah, you would call it that, Sky," Danny said with a smirk. My mouth twitched.
"What did you just call me?!"
"Sky, why?"
Leo turned to Danny and looked at him like run dude. My mouth curled into a frown. I threw my hand up and summoned a blast of wind in Danny's face.
"Don't call me Sky! Got that Danny?!"
"I told you, you should've ran," Leo said, laughing.
"Yeah, I should've. How in the world did you do that?" Danny said, turning his head slightly. I looked at him, confused
"What?" I looked at my hand for a second. Then it finally hit me. "Oh gods, I didn't explain the whole 'powers' thing to you, huh? Well, my father is Aeolus, the wind god, so I have control over the winds. Also, I can summon Venti whenever I want. There's also some perks like knowing what direction we're facing and what the temperature is- stuff like that."
"Powers? Like, do I have them? What kind of powers would they be?" he said, looking at his hands. I smiled.
"It depends on who your godly parent is. They should claim you soon."
"Godly parent? Like who?"
"That's what we're gonna find out. Like I said before, they should claim you soon!" I turned to Leo and laughed.
"You're welcome to help explain, you know."
"Hey, you wanted this to be your welcome tour remember we had a 'friendly disagreement' about this!" I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"I didn't mean you had to stay quiet all the time."
"Hey, we are to the stables yet?"
I turned my head towards Danny, stopping in front of the barn that had a large sign saying in several languages, 'Pegasus Stable'. "Yeah...? Don't you see the stable filled with pegasi right here? I'm pretty sure this would be the only thing that would fit the name."
"Are they like those flying horse things from the Disney movie Hercules?" I snickered.
"Yeah, I guess kinda like that."
"Okay. Is it like riding a horse?"
"Kinda, I guess. I mean, you fly miles up into the air, and you gotta watch out for birds. But I guess it's kinda the same." We reached the stables after I finished that statement. All the horses were lined up in their stables. Their feathered wings glittered in the light. I looked around and spotted Black Jack- Percy's horse, Chillin' in a stable. Suddenly an idea popped in my head. I looked at Leo, and gave him the you thinking what I'm thinking look. He smirked signaling that we were on the same page. I smirked and put my hand on Danny's shoulder.
"I don't like that look you two are sharing."
I stopped smirking. "What? Oh that's our….secret head..signal thing for the thing..yeah. Right, Leo?"
"What? Oh, yes, it's kind of a power from our parents….yeah! Our parents."
I raised my eyebrow at him, deciding to go along with it.
"Yeah, we just do that sometimes don't worry about that. We kinda started doing that on the Argo II when I visited, so uh, yeah."
"What is that? The...Argo II?"
I turned to Leo. "The Argo was your project, so I'm gonna let you explain that."
" The Argo II is a flying Greek trireme built by the Hephaestus' cabin for the journey of the seven of the second Great Prophecy to Greece. It is currently manned by me and it can go on land and sea. Oh! And my dragon Festus was the head of the Argo II; any questions?"
I looked at Danny, who looked pretty overwhelmed. I smiled. "Don't worry, you will get used to it. I came here when I was 11. It was kinda hard to process, but eventually I accepted it."
"So the story will reveal itself?"
I looked at him and thought for a second. "Yeah, I guess so."
"So, are we going to ride a pegasus or what?" Leo said, swinging open the door to the stable. We walked in.
I looked to Leo and smirked at him. "Yeah, you can if you want." I turned to Danny. "You see that black one over there?" I pointed to the stall with Blackjack in it. Danny nodded. "That's Percy's pegasus..." I grinned. "You can ride him." From the corner of my eyes, I could see Leo's eyes widen at my audacity.
"Is he tame?"
He whinnied. Percy came around the corner, translating.
"He wants a sugar cube."
"Whoa! Who's he and why can he understand horses?"
I waved at Percy. "This is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. Also, he's a magical horse whisperer." I smirked at Percy, waiting for his response.
Percy grinned, tilting an imaginary hat. "Percy, at your service." He whispered something to the horse, who whinnied in what sounded suspiciously like laughter.
The winged horse then made a whining-like noise.
Percy rolled his eyes and dug in his blue pockets, fishing out a silvery-white cube and tossed it in the air. "Catch."
The pegasus chomped it, his white teeth glittering in the sunlight.
"So, are we going to ride?" Danny piped up. I looked to Percy.
"Percy, since he's your pegasus, you should decide."
Percy frowned, looking uncomfortable. "Um…" He glanced at Blackjack, who whinnied. Percy raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" The horse snorted. "Okay." Percy turned back to us and nodded. "Be careful."
Danny got on no problem, but when they took off, Blackjack did loops and dives and basically went crazy.
"I hope he doesn't hate us after this," Leo laughed, glancing at me.
I was laughing too hard I couldn't say anything back. My sides started to hurt after a little while.
"Get me off of this horse thing NOW!"
I snorted, then turned to the guys.
"You want me to fly up there and get him?" I watched as Blackjack did 3 loops in a row. Ouch. That's not gonna feel good.
"I think I'm going to throw up! Get me off NOW!" Danny screamed. I quickly turned to Percy.
"Toss me a sugar cube!"
He reached into his pocket and threw me a cube. I shoved it into my shorts pocket.
"Wish me luck," I said, jumping off the ground. I summoned a gust of wind to push me up to Danny's height. I sped through the air, trying to catch up to Blackjack. I finally got in front of horse. I pulled out the sugar cube from my pocket, holding it in Blackjack's face. The pegasus eyed the cube. I looked at Danny. He didn't look so hot.
"You okay?"
" I will be better if I was on the ground."
I grinned at him then looked down at Leo and Percy. They were so far down they looked like ants. I looked back up trying to shove the fear of being so high out of my thoughts. I looked Danny in eye seriously.
"Do you trust me?"
"What? Of course I do. You saved my life, why wouldn't I."
I flashed him a smile.
"Good, because I'm about to ask you do something crazy."
" What's more crazy than anything I was told in the past couple days?"
I snorted. "Okay then. I want you to jump."
"What?" Danny yelped. I raised an eyebrow, and he seemed to realize I was serious. He took in a deep breath. "I trust you, but if you drop me I'll haunt you forever and ever."
I rolled my eyes.
"Good luck with that, especially with Nico around. That's not gonna be the case though. Just jump, okay?"
"Okay. 1, 2, 3," Danny whispered. He-Danny- closed his eyes and leapt. As soon as Danny jumped, I threw the sugar cube at Blackjack and summoned a vortex of wind- much like the one I was riding at the moment- under him. I slowly lowered the both of us down until our feet touched the ground.
"Can I open my eyes now?" Danny squeaked.
Leo laughed and said, "Yeah man, you can."
Danny open his eyes and punched me lightly in the arm.
"Don't do that ever again." I laughed, throwing my hands up in the air.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!"
"Next time you can ride that hyped up winged horse- and I know hyper."
"Blackjack?" Just as I said that the horse landed next to me. "I've already ridden on him." I smiled as I petted him.
A horn sounded. Everyone looked up and started sprinting towards the pavilion
"What are we doing? Why are we running?" Danny said, following after me.
"DINNER!" I screeched as I ran past him. He caught up quickly and ran past Percy and Leo. I smirked. Challenge...wait for it...accepted. I let myself fade into the wind. I lurched forward. Everything blurred as I flew past them. I changed back into myself, and looked behind me and grinned.
"How did you do that?!"
I sped up. "Did I mention that I can also turn into the wind MWAHAHAHAHAA!" I turned around and sped off.
" No, but I can run a mile in 4 minutes- you try and keep up- without any of your tricks!"
I looked behind myself to throw back a insult, but he wasn't there. Confused, I turned back to running knowing that the pavilion was only a few feet away. I lurched to a halt when I saw Danny standing there with a smug look on his face.
"Hey, took you long enough."
I swore in Greek. Leo and Percy came like three minutes later and they put their hands on their knees.
"I'm impressed, Danny Boy. Nobody can ever outrun me or my siblings."
"Hey! You don't like to be called Sky, and I don't like to be called Danny Boy. Capiche, Sky?" he said. I was about to throw back an insult at him, but Leo quickly interjected.
"Whoa, chill guys. It's supper time. I'll introduce you to the Stolls. They will help you settle in- but...watch out, they are really good at stealing things you want to keep to yourself." Leo said. I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, you go do that. Come on Percy, let's go to our tables." As I walked past Danny I bit my tongue, and decided that I wouldn't tell him off just yet. People always tell me I need to hold my tongue, it gets me in trouble all the time. But he really shouldn't have called me Sky.
Leo
We got to Danny's table and I left with a good luck. I walked over to my table, which was across from Skylar's. We were back-to-back with each other. I leaned back to bonk my head against her back.
"Hey, you okay now, frowny face?"
Skylar turned around from her dinner and looked at me. She still looked at little annoyed, but other than that, she looked okay.
"Kinda. I guess."
"You got really close to overreacting there. He was just-"
Skylar sighed and looked down. "I know...You know me, I have a really bad temper."
"And that's why I saved your bγάιδαρος back there; we don't want him back in the infirmary do we?"
Skylar laughed. "That would've been hilarious. I would've blown him across camp before even knew what happened."
Deven and Chase- Skylar's twin half brothers- were throwing food at each other in the background. Leo smirked and pointed at them. Skylar whipped her head around, her red hair almost smacking Leo in the process.
"DEVEN, DON'T THROW FOOD AT YOUR BROTHER!" Skylar attempted to take the spoon that Deven was using to launch food at Chase, but he was too fast. Skylar turned toward Chloe- her other half sibling, who was currently laughing at the scene.
"Chloe? Can you take care of this?" Chloe smirked and started trying to rip the spoon out of her half brother's hand. Skylar turned back toward Leo and plastered a smile on her face.
"Sorry about that!"
"Dinner and a show."
Skylar snorted."Literally every night though."
Chiron stood up, catching the entire pavilions' notice."Attention everyone. We have a new demigod at camp. Danny, can you stand up please?"
Danny slowly stood up and smiled nervously.
"In other news, the hunters are here! We will be playing capture the flag tomorrow." There was cheering in the background. "The Aeolus cabin has been selected to lead the camp." Then Chiron stepped down and trotted to his spot to eat.
"Danny's face was priceless right Skylar. Um Skylar? Earth to Skylar. SKYLAR." Skylar jumped.
"What? Who died?" She looked at Leo. "Oh. Sorry I was just mentally screaming 'cause I get to lead capture the flag. `YES!"
" Ok, you know you're in charge! So Captain Skylar, what's your first order?" Skylar was about to say something, then she smacked her hands against her face.
"Leo! I just noticed I will be in charge of the whole camp. I-I don't think I can do this!"
" Hey we survived Gaea and her wrath, we are invisible!" Skylar smirked.
"I wouldn't say invincible." She quickly dodged a food chunk that came flying from behind her. "More like lucky."
" I'm trying to give you a pep-talk! You're just not getting that I'm pep talking!"
Skylar smiled at him. "I know, I know. Thank you for your weak attempts at pep talking."
Leo pouted for a moment, then said, "Anytime, Captain Skylar."
Skylar laughed. "I'm gonna finish eating" Skylar turned back around, groaning loudly. "Chloe! DON'T STRANGLE YOUR BROTHER!"
"How's eating, Sky?" Skylar looked behind her as she tried prying Chloe off Deven.
"Just wonderful!"
"Need help? Butch owes me a favor." Skylar blew loose pieces of hair out of her face, still desperately trying to pry the feuding siblings apart.
"Nah, I've got this." Skylar finally got the two apart, separating them, then started to finally eat.
"I'm done eating I'm going to talk to Danny. Okay?" I got up and walked over to the very crowded and loud Hermes table where Danny looked very uncomfortable...until he saw me and made room.
" Hey, Danny, how's your supper?"
"It's super loud and people keep stealing other people's food. Why are they doing that?"
Leo laughed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Dude, its just what they do. Think of them being the evil trolls that steal your socks when you're not looking."
"Trolls? I thought you said that the head people are the Stolls?" I snickered at Danny's remark.
"Same difference."
"Hey! It's camp fire time!" Percy piped up, running off, me right after him. Danny caught up soon after.
"Whoa, dude we are not racing again! You might get claimed at campfire! Hey Skylar, it's nice to see that you caught up with us!"
Skylar smiled as she caught up with them. "Hah, look who's talking." Her red hair was sloppily put up in a ponytail, like it usually was. The long pieces of hair in the front bounced freely as she walked along.
"Where's my girlfriend? I have to talk to her."
Skylar looked over at me and shrugged her shoulders.
"I dunno. I haven't seen her in awhile."
" Wait, you two aren't dating? Who's Leo dating?" Skylar made fake gagging noises.
"Dude, you just did not go there."
"Go where?" questioned Danny. Skylar raised her brow.
"Never mind."
"Leo, there you are."
We looked in the direction of the voice. Skylar sped up.
"I'll meet you guys at the camp fire!" Then she fast-walked away.
"How have you been? Who's the new guy, Leo?" Calypso called. I perked up when I heard Calypso's voice. I turned around to find her standing behind me. I grinned.
"Calypso!" I hugged her. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Hugging me too tight- can't breath- little air- suffocation."
I quickly let go and sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck.
"Sorry about that." I turned to Danny. "This is my girlfriend Calypso." I gestured to her with my right hand. "And Calypso, this is Danny. Our newest camper." Danny stuck out his hand.
" Hi," Danny said sheepishly
"Where were you during supper? I didn't see you at the Atlas table?" I asked her.
" I was talking to Chiron about capture the flag tomorrow, and then to Thalia to catch up with her," Calypso explained.
"Oh, so that's good. I was causing trouble with Skylar and Danny," I said.
Skylar piped up from a couple feet away. "I heard my name! You better not be gossiping about me again."
I laughed, then yelled back."You wish Skylar!"
Skylar turned around and stuck her tongue out at me as she made her way into the bleachers.
It was a peaceful night; the fire crackled under the starlight, while campers sung cheesy campfire songs. It looked like everyone was having a great time. A soon as the fire started, it ended time flies when you're having fun. Right?
After campfire, Skylar and I walked together, Calypso leaving to go talk with Thalia, Hazel, and Piper.
"Hey Sky, do you think Danny is fitting in? I remember my first day. I hated it because I wasn't fitting in and felt like an outsider. This place didn't feel like a home."
Skylar turned her head towards me, and sighed. "I honestly have no idea." She fiddled with her necklace.
" I hope the Stolls don't mess with him as much as we did."
Skylar chuckled. "When it comes to pranks I think we would win first prize." She grinned. "The Stoll's got nothing on us."
"Yeah! Remember the one with Percy? That was a classic! He didn't see it coming!"
"Yeah, how could I not remember?"
" And the one that we almost pulled on the Stolls, but they looked at us and said nice try?"
"Next time we will get them. I can feel it in my soul." Skylar looked up at her hair. "Let me rephrase that, 'cause apparently gingers don't have souls. I can feel it in my weak mind." She laughed at herself.
"Every freckle is a soul that you took from someone." Skylar smacked her hands against her face in fake worry.
"OH NO! All those people's poor souls just chillin' on my face."
" I would sense the souls on your face if there were any." Nico said slyly with a smirk, coming out of nowhere. We yelped, scattering away from him.
Skylar grinned, sighing. "Nico!" She shook her head, going back to the joke."That's a relief. I was totally worried there for a second- what if I had had souls on my face?."
"Really. I couldn't tell." Nico said sarcastically. Skylar cupped her ear.
"What was that? Nico being sarcastic?! Never!"
"Hey! You always say I need to lighten up a little, so sarcasm." Nico said nervously. "After all, I learned sarcasm from the best Persassy," Nico said dryly and everybody could tell he was very uncomfortable. Skylar slumped forward.
"I know."
"Well see you tomorrow good luck with being in charge." Nico waved goodbye as he headed to his cabin and caught up with Hazel. Skylar sighed.
"I'm honestly an idiot."
"Why?" I asked.
She furrowed her brows. "Whenever I try to talk to him I always say something wrong." She let out an exasperated sigh. "I just don't know anymore. We used to be really good friends when we were kids and now...I just don't know."
"Why, do you like him or something?"
She tensed.
"It doesn't matter if I do. One, he's gay, two he clearly still likes Will and Percy."
"So? I can see you two as a couple," said a new voice
"Danny, you're here, haha, I'm so sorry." Skylar jerked her head the other way. "Just forget what I said." She retreated into her cabin. I could hear her siblings brawling inside when she opened the door.
"Did I say something bad?" Danny asked Leo.
"No, you didn't. She just closes off when it gets to touchy subjects like that."
"Oh, okay. Well, where do I go to sleep tonight?"
I looked around for the Hermes cabin. Finally, I spotted it, and pointed to it.
"See that cabin over there?" I paused waiting for Danny to see it. "That's where you're gonna sleep."
"Oh, the one that looks like an old house."
"Yeah, it's the Hermes cabin. You will be staying with them until you get claimed."
"Okay," he said. Danny turned around again and asked me, "What do you mean by claimed?"
"It's when your parents send a sign saying, 'Oh hey! Yeah, this kid is mine. Yep, I most probably- er, definitely- made that one'."
"...okay? Thanks. Night." With that, Danny turned and ran toward the Hermes cabin. I spun on my heel and made my way to my cabin to turn in for the night.
Skylar
I really was not in the mood to wake up to this. Chase and Deven were chasing each other around the cabin, throwing cards at each other, screaming. Do you know how loud a child of a wind god can be? Ridiculously loud. Other than Chase and Deven chasing each other like wild animals, everything was normal. The clouds on the walls still moved like they were being blown by the wind. The four fans in the room buzzed, causing the room to be light and breezy- just the way I liked it. My thoughts were interrupted by a pillow being thrown in my face. Deven and Chase stopped in their tracks, staring at me like 'oh my gods she's gonna send us to Tartarus.'
I quickly took a deep breath in. I gritted my teeth trying with all my willpower not to blow them all the way across camp. Their curly red hair was a mess. Great, I thought. Now I have to force them to get ready. I glanced at Chloe who was calmly brushing her bleach blonde hair, who was ignoring the scene that was happening behind her. Thanks for the help Chloe. There was a knock at the door. I got up and opened it.
"Hey! Captain Skylar! Senior camper meeting in the 'secret' place!" Leo crowed.
I looked behind me as the ground shook. The boys had started up again. I sighed.
"Right now?"
"Yes otherwise I wouldn't be coming in here right now at 7 o'clock in the morning. I need my beauty sleep as much as Aphrodite's kids!"
"Fine, just give me a second Leo. " I turned around and grabbed some clothes to go change in the bathroom. I came out and yelled,
"Chloe, make sure the little demon spawns don't get into too much trouble." I turned to Leo.
"Lead the way."
We started walking.
"You know, Danny feels really bad for last night."
I rolled my eyes. "Why does he feel bad? He didn't even do anything."
"Yeah, I know. I told him that, but you ran away, kinda mad."
I stopped walking. "Yeah I know. I hate talking about this kind of stuff. It makes me sad and it reminds me of...you know, my past, and I really don't want to remember."
" I know."
I started to walk again. "Look, let's just drop it. I know for a fact that we both hate talking like this."
"Sorry that I brought it up." Leo punched my shoulder lightly, I smiled.
"Don't be sorry. I appreciate that you care." We reached the 'secret place' Leo had been talking about.
"Hey, look who finally showed up," Percy said. I put my hands on my hips.
"Look who's scolding us for it."
" So what are your orders, Skylar?" Annabeth said. I looked the the left, feeling as if the older girl would have been a better choice of leader.
"I was thinking that maybe, all the children of the wind gods could do border patrol along with the Hermes cabin. Then the Apollo cabin will be in the trees guarding the way to the flag. Ares cabin can go and try to take the flag- also the Athena cabin. That's all I got so far." I sheepishly smiled. I really wasn't used to this. I waited for Annabeth to give me some suggestions.
"What cabins are going to go for the flag? We also need a distractions so most of the hunters will go that way. We also probably need someone to fight or distract Thalia. Being both the leader and a powerful demigod, we need her away from the rest," Annabeth suggested. I thought for a second.
"I think that the Athena cabin should be a distraction while the Ares cabin tries to take the flag. We'll send some extra people to go retrieve it too, just for some backup. The Demeter cabin can guard the flag with the Hephaestus and Hades cabins. The Nike and Hebe cabins can go with the distraction group, with Iris cabin flanking. The Poseidon cabin can help with border control. The Aphrodite cabin can also guard the way to the flag. Everyone else can just support wherever and get in the way of the campers."
"Alright, everyone, go to your cabin and tell everybody what you are doing and get prepared. We start after breakfast," Annabeth announced. Everybody walked out except Leo and I.
" Are you ready for this?" I rubbed my hands together in excitement.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Words of a true warrior."
"Come on, let's go get breakfast."
I groaned. "Let's go find those demon spawns."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"I know you are, but are they?"
"We'll have to see."
I ran off to go get my siblings.
"I'll meet you at the pavilion," Leo shouted. I waved him off.
At breakfast, everybody seemed excited and ready for capture the flag. We had an hour until it started.
"Hey, Skylar, what am I supposed to during this capture the flag thing?" Danny wondered aloud as we walked together.
"Ah, well…" I paused thinking of the way to have a lesser chance of him getting hurt. "How about you go with the Ares cabin to go retrieve the flag? They know how to fight really well so you wont have to worry about that since you haven't had any training yet."
"Okay, sounds good. Who are the Ares cabin?"
I nodded my head at to the table full of muscular people who were arm wrestling and yelling at each other. "That's the Ares cabin."
"I feel safer already. Thank you for your help." Danny ran off. I hope he didn't mean that sarcastically. Everybody was dressed and ready to go we still had two minutes left to wait for Mr. D signal. People chatted and I was super nervous.
"Hey, we will be fine, you know." Leo was attempting to pep talk me again. I sighed with a shaky breath.
"I hope so."
"I know so. We have a super awesome leader," just as Leo finished, Mr. D gave the signal and we were off.