Ellie Simpson and the Fall for Death
It was cold in the dark alley I had chosen to spend the night. But it was better than going home. If you could call it that. My bed and food were the only things that kept me coming back. And even they weren't good. My bed, wasn't even just mine. It was a bunk, one of twelve in that room, and there were 5 rooms. 2 for boys, 2 for girls, and 1 for siblings to share. Whoever weighed less got the top bunk. The mattresses stunk, from all the people who had slept on them since they were bought, which was roughly 1979, BC. If you were lucky you got one with no springs missing.
I only spent the time I had to there. After school, I would go to the music shop, where Hayden, the owner, let me play the instruments. He knew the life I was living too well. He got out of the house 14 years ago, about 11 years before I was born. He knew where I was from just by looking at me. He let me learn the piano in the shop, he taught me the basics, and let me use the music sheets that were there, and when I was playing he noticed lots of people buying more and signing their kids up for lessons. Whenever things got bad at home, he let me stay in the shop, as he lived above it. But he was out of town, and would be back tomorrow.
Before I knew it, I was being woken up by a stream of gold shining down into my eyes. Damn the sun and it's brightness. Yeah, sure it was pretty and all, but can I sleep a little longer without being drowned in its rays? I bought a McMuffin with the small amount of money I had in my pocket, and took my breakfast for a walk through Hyde park. Judging by the position of the sun, it was about 9:34. Don't ask how I know that, because even I don't know the answer to that. Hayden's store opened at 9, but I wanted to wait a while before visiting him, so I took the long way to his shop.
I was about halfway there, when I turned into an alley. I didn't really want to at the time, and I had to force myself to go down there, but it was the only way of getting to the shop without turning back about 2 miles and changing paths, and I wasn't going to do that. I started walking down the alley, but I was aware of every single thing around me, as if I was subconsciously suspected something was going to attack. And I had reason to. There was this thing hidden behind a dumpster about three quarters of the way along the alley. It jumped out at me and I did what came naturally. I screamed and ran, all the way to Hayden's. I burst through the doors of his shop and sunk down, crying. Hayden scurried over to me.
"Hey, why the tears?"
"There was this thing. In the alley."
"What thing? What did it look like?"
"I-It looked like a goat, except with the head of a lion. And it's tail. It looked like a snake."
Hayden jumped up, and called someone. He was talking really quickly, I only caught a few words. Camp, safety, Chiron, and Chimera. When Hayden hung up he ushered everyone out of the store, and set the sign on the door to 'Closed', well what I had always assumed was closed. People always made fun of me for not being able to read, I tried reading, but the letters always jumbled up.
Hayden led me out the back of the shop, to the back door, and went upstairs to get something which he put in a backpack, and ten walked out the back door and unlocked his car.
"Well come on!" he said. "Don't just stand there, we've got to get you to camp, before anythng else tries to kill you." I was sceptical until he said the last part.
"Wait, what? Killed? Huh?" I asked as I got in the car and we sped away.
By the time we arrived, Hayden has given me a run-down. On the past 3 centuries basically. If I had it straight, the Greek gods were still alive, and I was a kid of one of them. We weren't sure of what one, but Hayden thought Apollo, because of my enthusiasm for music, which would be cool, because he would then be my half-brother. Oh and everything that happened in Greek mythology, happened. So all I knew about Greek myths was from Disney movies I'd seen, so not much, and the jazzed up editions at that.
We got out of the car at walked up a hill. I couldn't see what was so good about this hill, there was a pine tree at the top, with a big hole in the middle, as if it had been poisoned. As soon as we got over the hill, a whole mini civilisation came into view, a massive blue mansion, twelve cabins, in an inverted U shape, Volleyball court, horse stables, woods, and even a lake, and a beach. It was massive!
"Come on," Hayden grabbed my hand and pulled me down to the blue house. My memories a bit sketchy from there, but I remember walking inside the house, and seeing a guy who looked drunk and wore a leopard print jogging suit, which I thought was pretty scary, until a (Guy? Horse?) thingy-whatsit walked into the room.
"Ahh! I screamed as I picked up a sword from a chair, which was a bit weird that it was just lying around. I swung it up above my head, before realised that it was too heavy, and I dropped it, the hand-grabby thing hitting my head on the way down. It was fair to say that I was out cold for a while.
When I woke up, I had the taste of cherry and chocolate in my mouth. Best wake-up ever, I decided, till I moved. I recommend not dropping a sword on your head, it really hurts.
I opened my eyes to Hayden sitting next to me and the thingy-whatsit standing behind Hayden.
"Um... I really have to know. What are you?" I asked him. Admittedly, I could have used more tact.
"My name is Chiron, and I am a centaur." The thingy-whatsit answered.
"Well, a centaur is a better name than a thingy-whatsit."
"And in return, a thingy-whatsit is more humbling than 'Pony'..." Chiron grumbled. "Well, you need a tour of the camp, and when Hayden's shown you the camp, come back here and we'll talk. Hayden as well, you seem to know as much as her.
An hour had passed, and I realised that the camp really was huge, as Hayden introduced me to everything, and gave me a run-down on the rules. Like don't piss off the Stoll's, whatever they were. We headed back to the big house, and were greeted by someone yelling "Go to the crows, Chiron!"
"Umm... Go to the crows?" Hayden started laughing at my question.
"So you understood that?"
"Yeah, I mean, it was in plain English."
"No, it was in plain ancient Greek."
"What? No! No, no, no. I don't know Greek, let alone ancient Greek! I'm going crazy. I should be on medication!" Walking in circles did nothing to help clear my mind, it only made me dizzy.
Hayden grabbed my arm, and started to pull me up the steps, into the big house. I struggled, so he just threw me over his shoulder. Humph. Not cool.
"A very dignified entrance, if I do say so myself." The creepy drunk guy from earlier was here. As well as Chiron.
"Please sit down my dear." The centaur in question said. "We have some questions we'd like you to answer, if you feel comfortable with it."
"Um, yeah, sure. Shoot." I honestly had no clue what to say, but I thought that seemed safest.
"Ah well, what is your name dear? I know that your name is Ellen, but I do not know your last name. I also know Hayden calls you Ellie, but I am not sure whether that is a pet name or not."
"Yeah, my name's Ellen, but I hate it so it's Ellie. Ellie Simpson if you need a last name."
"Ellie, how old are you?"
"I just turned ten, and you?" Chiron was really pissing me off.
"Three thousand, Seven hundred and twenty-two. And do you have any inkling of who your godly parent might be?" Ok, so this was the Chiron from the Greek myths, I mean reality, well you know what I mean.
"Say what?"
"Was your mortal parent your mother or father, Ellie?"
"I don't know."
"But child, you must know?"
"Um, nope. I've always lived... there. I've never met either."
"And where might 'there' be?"
"Where Hayden came from. The orphanage."
A/N: Don't worry, this is only the prologue, the next chapter will be up within the week. If you liked it, please review. Extra incentive, I will give previews of the next chapter to anybody that reviews, and virtual Pop-tarts. Please list your flavour in your review, and I will send it to you as soon as possible. =] Anyway, thanks for reading, xxy Elena