Chapter One
Aspen
Flashback
Finally another school year finished. This one was long, and I had a feeling that I would not be welcome back. You sort of get that feeling if strange things kept happening to you. Dangerous things. Also, the fact that you've been kicked out of every school you've ever been in.
This had been such an exhausting year. I was ready to go home. I went to a boarding school in Washington DC, but I really lived in Fredericksburg, around two hours south of DC, depending on traffic. I actually didn't really live in Fredericksburg either. I lived in this splotch of county that could be a city, but wasn't.
I loved where I lived. Drive three hours in one direction, you're at the beach. Drive three hours in another direction and you're in the mountains. It snowed sometimes, but we never had really frigid winters. The only thing I didn't like was the humidity. You could feel fine inside, but one step outside in the summer and you felt like you were already sweating.
The drive home was long, as always. Traffic was horrible, as always. My dad was pretty busy today so they couldn't pick me up.
When I finally got to my front door, I waved away the driver and walked inside. My siblings weren't out of school yet. I walked up the stairs of my split level home and saw my dad sitting on the couch. Someone else I didn't know was there too.
"I thought you guys were busy." My dadlooked at me with sad eyes. "We," He paused. "Have something to tell you." I look at them and sit down. "Okay" My dad and the strange man looked at each other and said. "You're adopted" My world spun. My loving family I had always known hadn't even been mine?
"Say something Aspen" My dad urged. "You guys have lied to me for fourteen years?" "No, not fourteen, your biological mom died when you were four." "Oh" I sat in silence for a bit. I felt like a memory was trying to urge it's way out of hiding, but it couldn't escape. I should remember her, if I was four when she died. "Who named me?" They looked confused, like "Really, you find out your whole life is a lie and you ask who named you?" "Your previous mother." "Oh"
"What was she like? What about my dad? Did I have any siblings?" "Your mother was a musician and poet. You were an only child, and your father wasn't in the picture, which this man will explain to you."
I look over. There was a man in a wheelchair, who I had completely forgotten about during this whole ordeal. "So what about my dad?" I ask him. "I am Chiron, and like your mother said, he wasn't in the picture. He is probably like with all of his children. I-" "All of his children!" I interrupt. "How many does he have?" "I don't know, we don't even know who he is." "I thought you did?" "No, we do know what he is though."
"What he is?" I ask. "Aspen," Chiron started, "Have you ever heard of a demigod? From Greek culture?" "Yeah I think so, but don't change the subject." He chuckles. "I'm not, a demigod is someone who is half human, half god, and Aspen, you are one." I stare at him in shock and disbelief. "I'mma What?" I exclaim. "A demigod, a half blood, etc."
And That is how not two hours later I ended with a strange goth kid and my suitcase. "So, Nico right? How are we going to get there?" He rolled his eyes. "Shadow travel" He said in a tone that made sound as if it was obvious. "Okay, but what is sha-" "Grab your suitcase and my arm." I grab the handle on my yellow suitcase and grab his arm. Right after I grab his arm the world turns black and I feel really cold.
When I feel and see sunlight again I was at the top of a hill. "Follow Me" He said. I walked, trailing behind him. We walk into a gathering of cabins. "This is the Hermes cabin, you'll stay here until you get claimed." I look around. Nico sees that I am clearly confused and he says: "Will Solace will show you around." I don't want to go inside the Hermes cabin, so I sat outside on the step.
A blonde male walks up to me. "Aspen?" He asks. "You must be Will." I say standing up to shake his hand. "I'm here to show you around, I'm in the Apollo cabin."
He leads me around the camp and shows me around. When we arrive back at the Hermes cabin, I stop him before he leaves. "Will, what godly parent do you think I have?" He looked at me. "I don't know, you wanna find out?" "What? How?" "Like This" He takes my hand and runs.
We run around the camp, talking to campers about their parents, and it means to be their child. None of them sounded right. For some of them, like The Big Three, we tried to see if I had any special powers. Nope, at least not in those categories.
"You know that this is probably a waste, and one of the gods we already tried is my parent, right?" "Yeah, probably. Which ones did you like the best?" He asked. "I love learning about history and random facts, I have been told I have very good common sense, so I think Athena would be nice." He nods.
All of the sudden he jumps up. "Wait, we forgot one!" "Really? Which one?" My dad, Apollo." He says. "Okay, what do we have to do?" "To the infirmary!" He shouted, and dragged me along.
At the infirmary he brings in a demigod with a cut on his forearm. "What do we do?" He asks. "It's a small cut, so we won't need ambrosia, or nectar." He nods. "Bring me an egg" I shout. Will looks at me bewildered. The demigod patient does the same. "Just trust me." I say.
After we get an egg I tap it on a nearby table and peel off the shell so the membrane is showing. I peel off a big enough piece of the membrane and place on the cut, holding pressure. "See, this membrane works better than a bandaid, it covers the wound and helps the skin grow back, instead of only covering it." I look at Will, proud of myself. "Wow! I didn't even know that!" He exclaims. He rushes me off again.
"Next Apollo challenge! Archery!" He shouts when we get there. "First, Aspen do you have ANY experience in archery?" I shake my head no. "Okay well, here you go!" He hand me a bow and three arrows, and walks behind me. I shoot one after the other, they were all on the target well enough, but definitely not bullseyes. "That's pretty good for no experience." He says.
After we run towards a tree we sit down. "Now for the poetry test, make up a poem, or say something poetic." "Umm," "Wait hold on, describe what the sun is like so someone who has lived underground their whole life." "Okay, let's see," I think for a second.
"Sunlight is a light that kisses your face and warms you. It is more calming and wonderful than any other light. It can be a calming yellow at times, others a burning red, and finally a enlightening white. It is loving, harsh, and forgiving all at once It reaches in you and touches your heart and soul and warms them until all you feel is a warm tingling sensation."
Will stares at me, in what I hope is amazement. "That was amazing!" He looks up, "Just what I thought, welcome to the Apollo clan little sis." I look around and see people clapping. I look up and see a golden lyre appear over my head. "I'm a daughter of Apollo." I whispered to myself. "My father is a god."