Meara Quinn stared glumly at the top of a hill topped with a tall pine tree. She contemplated how her life had gone all to hell.
It had always been just her and her mother in a small coastal village along the Scottish coast. Roshean Quinn had worked on her grandfather's small fishing boat to provide for her and her daughter. She never told Meara who her father was and Meara had figured she never would know. Until a solicitor had told she was to spend the summer at her father's family estate in upstate New York.
Meara had protested, surely she could stay with a friend over the summer holidays before she returned to school at the start of September. But she the solicitor had been firm, her mother's will had said that Meara had not only had inherited a small fortune she didn't know her mother had had, but to spend her summer break with the family she had never met.
So, here she was, in the middle of an old farm road, waiting for someone to come and guide her to wherever it was she was supposed to stay. For some reason, the taxis that had picked her up from the airport couldn't take her all the way.
Meara huffed and flopped onto her school trunk she had packed her belongings and started to unlace her heeled boots, they were killing her feet. Her mother had always insisted on looking her best when meeting new people and old habits died hard, but Meara figured no one would notice her bare feet under her floor length skirt. After putting the boots in her trunk, Meara sat atop it once more and pulled out a book from her handbag and read while she waited for whoever it was to take her to this mysterious estate.
Annabeth grumbled a little as she climbed Half-Blood HIll. Chiron had sent her to guide a camper into camp. She had things to do, still trying to clean up after the battle with the titans.
"It is the responsibility to make all campers feel welcome, my dear. Especially since the Satyrs are spread thin at the moment," was the answer she got when she asked why one of the satyres show the camper the way.
As she neared the road on the other side of the hill, she found a girl with light ash blonde hair down to her waist that was braided away from her face. She was wearing a chocolate brown off the shoulders peasant top with a broomstick skirt and possibly petticoats. The girl, who appeared to be thirteen or fourteen, was sitting on an old trunk legs crossed her chin cradled in one hand, reading a leather bound book in runes Annabeth did not recognize.
As Annabeth came closer, she watched as the girl took her chin out of her hand and turned a page of her book before settling her chin back. When she didn't seem to notice Annabeth standing in front of her, she cleared her throat.
The girl looked up to reveal rather strange pair of eyes. Annabeth gaped. The girl's right eye was a dark green. Her left was a crystal clear blue, much the same shade of the waters of The Caribbean she had seen in pictures.
The girl smiled a little thinly. "Hello, you must be here to take me the rest of the way?" The girl spoke in a light Irish accent. When Annabeth only stared, she asked, "Is something the matter? Have I got something caught in my teeth?" Panicked, she pulled a small compact mirror out of her purse and started examining herself in it.
That snapped Annabeth out of her shocked state. "No, you're just not what I was expecting is all," she said, hurriedly.
The girl raised an expertly sculpted eyebrow. "Let me guess, you weren't expecting a blonde Scottish irl sitting on an old school trunk reading a book in old Norse."
"Well,actually I have never seen anyone with eyes like yours," Annabeth said. The girl smiled with a resigned air before Annabeth went on. "I'm sorry. I think we're getting off on the wrong foot. My name is Annabeth Chase."
"Meara Quinn," she said, standing up and tucking her book in her leather handbag with metal stud detailing and a thin chain that had one end hooked on a ring in the center pocket flap, the other end disappearing into the main pouch. The bag didn't look big enough to hold the eight by six inche book. "And don't worry about your reaction to my eyes. I get it all the time."
Meara slung the long strap over her head and across her chest from her left shoulder. Light glinted off an silver and emerald ring on the middle finger of her left hand. Meara had another silver ring on the same finger on her right hand, but Annabeth didn't get a good look at it.
"Well, we're just going to the other side of the hill," Annabeth said. "I can help you with your trunk,"
"Oh, no," Meara said, waving her off with a hand. "It is not as heavy as it looks." She took hold of a handle in the middle of the front and picked it up as if it weighed no more than a bag of books. "Lead on, Miss Chase."
"Please, call me Annabeth," she told Meara.
"Then you must call me Meara," she said before the pair walked up the hill.
Whatever Meara had expected to find, it wasn't what she saw. Annabeth had to calm her down from near hysterics when she saw the dragon curled around the base of the pine tree, guarding the Golden Fleece. Yes, the same fleece from the greek myths. Meara didn't tell Annabeth why she thought the creature was highly dangerous and somewhat vicious, but Annabeth only assumed that Meara had met one before and it hadn't gone well. Meara didn't bother to correct her thinking.
The estate of her father's family looked like a collection of about twenty cabins in the shape of a Greek omega. "It's a summer camp. For kids like us," Annabeth had told her but wouldn't say much more than that. "It's better if Chiron explains," was all she said as she lead Meara down the hill and pass the volleyball court to a large farm house, painted a cheery shade of blue.
Sitting on the porch, was a wheelchair containing a middle aged man with dark brown hair and beard. He dressed like a school teacher in a white buttoned down shirt and a tweed jacket and bowtie.
Smiling warmly at Meara, he said, "Welcome, child, to Camp half Blood." Not noticing Meara bristle at the words half blood, he turned to Annabeth. "Thank you my dear, I will take over from here. Why don't you join your cabin mates at the canoe lake? They are going up against Cabin five in a triren battle." Annabeth waved as she headed towards a small lake.
He turned to Meara. "Please, have a seat," he pointed to a wicker patio set. Meara slouched in one of the chairs, flung an arm over the back of the chair and crossed her legs. If it hadn't been entirely rude, she would have flung her legs over one arm of the chair.
Chiron wheeled himself up to the table across from Meara. "Now my dear, I'm sure you are wondering what this place is."
"The solicitor described it as a place for children of single parents with unique talents. He also said it was owned by my father's family."
"That is one way to describe it,yes," Chiron said, nodding. "However, we look not for unique talents, but rather parentage. "
Meara raised a honied eyebrow. "You mean you look for people for certain families or descended from people?"
Chiron shifted in his wheelchair. "Well, yes." He paused before saying, " Those that reside here are children of the Greek Gods."
Meara stared at him in disbelief for almost a full minute, then she snort. "You're telling me that
The Greek Gods are not only real, but still have affairs with humans and produce children." Her tone was full of skepticism.
"Not only are there children of the Gods, but you, yourself, are one," was Chiron's calm response.
Meara just stared. If her mother wasn't already dead, she would have killed her herself. Róisín had left her fourteen year old daughter in the hands of a bunch of loons during the summer until she came of age. Meara's temper flared. Of all the people for her mother to stick her with. She could have gone to a great aunt in Scotland but no, she was stuck with people who thought her half divine. Well, she had had enough.
"Well," she said standing up. "I'm not sure who told you all that you were descended from gods but I will just leave you with that illusion."
She stood up and grabbed her trunk. Meara didn't care how much trouble she would get in back home, she wasn't going to stay here a moment longer. "I would offer you to stop by if you ever make your way to Scotland, but I really try to avoid demigods," she called over her shoulder as she dragged the trunk down the porch steps.
She had only made it a few steps away when Chiron called, "Have you ever had strange things happen to you? Things no one could explain?" She stopped but Chiron continued "Chased by people who looked odd or like monsters?"
Meara just stood there. There were several things that many would consider strange,but… Her and her mother hardly ever ventured out of Ireland. They had once gone to France with Grandda and she had nearly been killed by a man with a single eye. Mama had gotten them out of that but it had been a near thing. Another time near London, a flock of chickens with the heads of women had heckled her whenever she stepped outside.
She turned and just stared at Chiron. He had rolled to the edge of the porch. "Those that have the blood of the Olympians are often besieged by monsters. Especially after the age of twelve." He paused as if thinking. "I know that this is a strange place and you would rather be among those you already know. All I ask is that you give it a try here for a summer, after that if you want to stay with someone in Ireland, I will arrange it."
Meara stood there, thinking. The Headmistress of her school would not be happy about her returning to Ireland before the end of the summer, and she was a veritable aunt. Her mother also had a friend high in the ministry who would just have her sent back.
She turned to Chiron. "You will talk to the school to let me stay there?"
Chiron smiled sadly, "yes, my dear." Meara only nodded.
"Well, then. If you would permit me, I will show around the camp," he said, giving Meara a near heart attack as he stood from his wheelchair.
Meara stared as the centaur stood, stretching out his white stallion legs and body. Thinking her gaping was him taking his time he said, "Please forgive me, child. I have been in the wheelchair for quite some time."
Meara stopped gaping. "There's nothing to forgive," she said trying to not sound too surprised. He gestured for them to walk towards the cabins. "Um, my things," she said, her voice trailing off.
"They will be fine where they are. No one will bother them," he said. "Come, child."
Mear followed him the long way. down the hill to where several kids were working on rows of new cabins around a common green.
Chiron pointed out the volleyball court, the arts and crafts center, Meara wrinkled her nose when Chiro wasn't looking, she wasn't gonna be caught dead doing any crafts. The amphitheatre with a fire pit, apparently the camp held sing alongs there every night.
After Chiron had pointed out the canoe lake, Meara had just finished pulling her long hair into a bun to get a breeze across her neck and was wondering if she could swimming it or along the sound when something ran into her, causing stars to flash behind her eyes as her body fell into a tangle with another. After getting untangled from the other person, she came up spitting.