"Father, you cannot be serious. Please, do not send me to that... camp." Nico stood beside me, his thin arms crossed across his body triumphantly. He knew that I couldn't get out of this now. The candles flickered as my anger grew more intense, casting an eerie light throughout the obsidian room. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him smirk as Father tapped his fingers on the arm of his throne. "Father, please." I begged.
"Sjena.. please, you will go to camp. Being with mortals is.. healthy for a girl of your age." Hades said, his brow furrowed. "I don't like them." I complained childishly, crossing my arms. Nico chimed in with
"You are half mortal, Jena." I felt my eyes darken. "Yes, but I am half death. I embrace that. Mortals are foolish; driven by greed and selfish need." Father sighed. "Sjena Kovač, you will go to camp. I order it." His voice thundered. He rose from his throne, towering over us both as anger flickered in his endless eyes. I figured that there was no arguing left, but I could still bargain for privileges. "Only if Khal comes with me. And I don't have to sleep in a dusty, light cabin. I want to use Artemis' tent, that's more homely than those dreadful things. The forest is where I belong: closer to shadow."
"So be it. Now.. Go to your room!" He bellowed, flicking a hand at me. The world span and I landed heavily on my bed where Khal was led. He whimpered as I landed on him. "Sorry boy. Seems we have to go to that awful camp." I said, scratching the rough fur behind his ears. I dropped my head dejectedly onto my silk pillow and sighed. Camp.
There was a slow knock at my door. "Sjena, dear?" My stepmother Persephone called. "Come in." Her long, straight hair was plaited around her head like a dark crown and she wore her silver circlet. Her emerald dress flowed effortlessly in the candle light and images of spring danced around the hem. She held a metal mug in her bleached hands that steamed in the cold of my room. "Do you still not feel the heat?" She asked, sitting at my bedside, a worried look upon her face. "I have never felt heat, my lady. I am darkness and shadow. Sjena means darkness." I sat up, and Khal leapt off of my bed to sit at the goddesses feet.
She held the mug out to me. "Here, I thought this might cheer you up." I took it, and sipped at the liquid. Peppermint hot chocolate, my favorite. "Thanks." I sighed. "Don't be angry with your father. It's that infernal Nico's fault! If he hadn't mentioned that ridiculous camp, you wouldn't be getting sent away, and we'd still together." She gritted her teeth in angst.
"Why don't you hate me?" I asked. This question had always bothered me. Persephone couldn't stand any of the other demigod children of her husband, but she cared for me. "What's so different about me?" She took my free hand in hers. "Because I raised you after.. after your mother." She said, almost resentfully. "How could I hate a child that is basically my own?" She smiled.
"But you're not my mother. Hades had an affair. I was born.. I'm not your child. You shouldn't be so kind to me." I pulled my hand back. "Sjena, dear.." her expression was sad. Her green eyes drifted around my bedroom. Khal whimpered and put his head on her knees; wolves being emotionally sensitive. "I cannot have children without the permission of Lord Zeus. And you know that the God of the Sky would not allow my Lord Hades to have godlings, as much as we have protested.
But then, you were born. Yes you should not have been. But you were. And you were the compromise." She half smiled. I was shocked. I pulled my knees up into my chest. "Please, go to camp. I'm sure you'll have a good time." She stroked my hair. "I'll be up in a while... your father wants to talk..." And she disappeared, only leaving the smell of freshly cut grass.
I head butted my knees. That was... quite a lot to take in at once. Even for me. Why had no one told me? My father had always said that I was here because I had nowhere else to go, not because he and his wife wanted a family. The candles dotted around my room flickered with the cold air that meant Hades was on his way.
I stood up straight as he entered the room and he waved a hand as he entered, meaning I was allowed to sit.
"Now, Sjena. about this camp. You have to go. I do not want you to, nor does Persephone. But Nico has told us of this stupid promise Percy Jackson has forced upon the gods; how all our children must be claimed and sent to camp. He has twisted my arm here. You leave in the morning."
I balled my fists up. "Father. I do not need to go. These people are imbeciles!" I screamed, angry he wanted to send me to a mortal camp. "You WILL leave in the morning!" He roared at me, disappearing in a flash of smoke. "How melodramatic, Father!" I screamed at the smoke. I fell onto my bed, shaking. I fell asleep with one word on my mind. Camp.