Chapter 1
Look, as of two days ago I didn't even know that this camp existed, two days ago I thought my Dad was a dead beat musician who got my Mom pregnant at one of his gigs. I hope there is a limit of how many times someone could be wrong. I had to be hitting mine soon right? Well now I was finally here….Camp Half-Blood and after about two days of travel time from my home in Malibu I was finally here. It was a beautiful piece of land. The kind that probably would be developed on if this camp wasn't here.
"So this is it," My guide smiled at me she had dark brown hair that was braided neatly around her head.
"Thanks," I looked at the cabin in front of me. It was plain. It looked like an average cabin at a summer camp. Bland.
"So these are my brothers?" I questioned she shook her head.
"No, no, this is where you will be staying until your parent claims you. Damn didn't they cover any of this in orientation...they are getting lazy" She laughed and opened the door. Inside was stuffed full of kids.
"Yo! Newbie!" Two boys who looked identical minus their eye color ran up to me.
"Sup!" I smiled and high fived them, nothing wrong with some friendly greetings.
"You can put your stuff over there, we're happy to have you." The boy with sky blue eyes smiled.
"Maybe you'll be a herpes child…" He smirked.
"Do you mean Hermes?" The identical boy, except the emerald green eyes sighed.
"No! I meant what I said! Herpes is a wonderful god, respect your father!" He chuckled. I rolled my eyes.
"So you guys are twins I'm guessing…" I itched my back of my neck underneath my collar nervously.
"Yep, this hooligan here and I unfortunately share a birthday." The boy with emerald eyes chuckled.
"So how long have you two been coming here?"
"We came with Ms. Perfect's best friend over at cabin 6, about 4 years ago; However, The girl in Cabin one has been here since she was 5." The boy with blue eyes smirked.
" Ms. Perfect?" I shrugged, whoever was over there probably was a know it all.
"Yeah, and her best friend…" The emerald eyed boy smiled looking wistfully into the distance.
"Quince? Quince? You daydreaming again." The blue eyed boy waved his hand.
"Shut up James, like you don't do that sometimes." Quince scowled.
"But...but.." He spat in protest.
"Yeah, talk to the judge…" He chuckled.
"Team Blue and Red! Please report to cabin 6!" I heard a loud yell.
"Team Blue?" I questioned, as the entire cabin filled out and walked towards the cabin marked with a six.
"Is everyone here?" Two girls stood on a platform, addressing the entire team. The first one was I recognized as my orientation girl, the other one not at all. She looked like
a greek goddess, kinda ironic right... She had black hair that faded into silver tips and eyes that pierced your soul, needless to say I was entranced by her.
"Head counselors for the Athena Cabin and Zeus Cabin please pick your teams." Another girl stood beside the girl on the pedestal yelled out to the crowd.
"Isn't it a little unfair that Cabin 1 gets to be team captains for red?" Called someone from a group of kids that looked like a cult of body builders. The girl shot the doubter a look that could kill heavyweight fighters.
"Shut it James, rules are rules." The girl huffed. So apparently I didn't know where the voices sounded from.
"Olympia…" The orientation girl sighed.
"So shall we pick the teams?" The girl from Cabin 1 smiled.
"Sure, as winners of our last game we'll pick first." Olympia smiled.
"Fine… Who are you going to choose." She shrugged.
"Apollo Cabin." The orientation girl spoke out.
"Interesting choice Lydia…" The cabin 1 girl smirked.
"I'll take the Ares kids," The goddess spoke
"Go ahead, take the dumb brute force kids…" Olympia snickered
"Say that to my Face Nerd!" An ares boy yelled
"I have enough skill as a general to use them correctly," She said "Not that you couldn't"
"We'll take Hephaestus Cabin…" Lydia continued
"We'll take the Demeter Cabin," She smiled evilly, I had a fear I was about to get a serious case of poison Ivy if I was on blue team.
"Nico, you're my man!" Olympia smirked.
"Like it even matters" Nico sighed.
"Keep a positive attitude Nico!" A guy from the Apollo cabin smirked.
"Hetecta, Nemesis you're with me."
"Hypnos! You'll come with us…" Lydia smiled.
"Hypnos!" Olympia yelled trying to awaken the sleeping cabin.
"Wha-" The cabin stirred from their slumber.
"Come on guys…." Olympia face palmed
"I'll take the Nike cabin," Like the shoe I shook my head.
"We'll take the Aphrodites and the Tyche cabins,"
"We'll take Iris," The conversation dragged on slowly as each side lined up their pawns. I was on blue team with the rest of Hermes, Athena and other kids I hadn't met. Still though I watched the girl from cabin 1 she would look at her shoe then up at her troops. She moved pieces across rocks and must have said something funny because the whole team laughed. It appeared that she was a great general, I wondered why she hadn't won the last battle.
"What are you looking at," James came up behind me followed by Quince and Olympia.
"Nothing, what were you saying about the phalanx?" I sputtered
"Don't you see," A boy walked up from behind me and smiled proudly.
"Hey name's Alexander people around here call me Xan. I am a son of Aphrodite," He stuck out his hand.
"Leander," I shook his hand nervously.
"Well, where was I" He cleared his throat. He had blonde hair, brown eyes and was very tall. "Oh yeah he was looking at General Red over there," he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the girl."In fact I think he know more about her ass then he does our strategy"
"Oh… That's Nike, she's kinda scary," Quince chringed
"Nike? Like the shoe?" I questioned.
"No the goddess of victory, usually it's a battle between the combined wits of cabin 6, and her military strategy, intelligence and op powers." Lydia commented.
"And we're going to beat her again." Olympia smiled.
"Alright… Aphrodite, can any of you do Charmspeak?" Lydia began going through the groups
"We've been over this Lydia, unfortunately they don't… So um yeah I guess stand around and look pretty?" Olympia looked annoyed, while she was okay in her appearance it was more of a nice pretty, the Aphrodite kids looked like movie stars and models but no one compared to Nike.
"Hephaestus and Athena, we'll meet and discuss your role." Olympia smiled
"Wait a second," An Athena's voice shattered the quiet. "The teams are uneven we have two more people." I realised it was Lydia who had spoken up. Olympia looked at her angrily.
"Fine then Leander you're on red team now," Olympia shoved me closer to Nike though I had a great deal of height on her being she was about 5'6 she still let me know who was in charge
"Hey!" I yelped…
"Oh I'm sorry did I push too hard, I'll judge you with my dagger next time." Olympia growled
"I'm still surprised you aren't an Aries kid…" Nike laughed.
"You forget that Athena is also the goddess of War,"
"Yeah, yeah but not blind aggression," Nike replied wisely
"I'm calculated, I have an IQ of 160, I just think much quicker than the rest of you. From your perspective, I'm impulsive; however, I think much faster."
"I am impulsive but it doesn't mean that all Ares are impulsive I am just saying the you are very aggressive for an Athena." Nike laughed.
"I'm sorry Lightning bolt… Shall I sew something?" She smirked.
"Don't worry about it Bird Brain." She smirked and grabbed my wrist. "Come on Newb you're with me,"
"Good luck with him…" Olympia smirked…
"Olympia!" Lydia chastised her
"Whatever, I think you will do just fine," She said flatly and walked away toward her team.
"Alright men this is," She looked at me expectantly. An awkward looking black haired kid stood behind her.
"Leander…" I said she arched her eyebrow at me. The team only offered curt nods. I stared at the diagram it was much more complicated than the blue teams. I noticed why she was looking at her shoes too. On the whites of them she had drawn different battle formations.
"So as you can see Leander we have a very complicated plan and instead of explaining it all to you which would take forever, you're just gonna stick with me." She gestured "Alright sounds like a plan," I nodded
"Alright then, what weapon?" I looked at the impressive ensemble. My natural instinct pulled me to the bow but if I wasn't sniping in the trees it wouldn't be the most effective.
"I'll take the b…" I stopped myself "short sword," I looked at her carefully as she dissected my statement.
"Von give him the bow, we need a good archer." I panicked; I had never shot a bow before.
"I am not necessarily good," I said nervously.
"You are drawn to the bow you will be good," She nodded firmly.
"Okay," Shrugged and winced imagining my first attempt at shooting… Then a horn sounded.
"Alright battle stations," Nike commanded and we ran off into the forest. I climbed up to a tree. I followed Nike through the forest jumping from tree to tree. Until they found a position behind a rock. I didn't understand the idea at first. Then I got it; we were throwing the enemy off making them think that they were close to where our flag was but in reality it couldn't be farther away. Through the trees I could see almost everything going on. That was when I saw Olympia sneaking up behind Nike who was fighting fiercely I fired my first arrow and it hit Olympia's hand she yelped and dropped her blade. Now Nike was single handedly taking on both twins and Xan. She soon had all of them disarmed. I smiled this was good right? Another battle horn sounded. One of the flags had been taken. Soon the whoops approached from far from where our flag was set. The mob of red armor waved a blue flag over her head. They all scooped up Nike and started to carry her off chanting something in greek. I could sort of make out what they were saying but when it is a language you have never heard being chanted at different paces by different people. Nike screamed like a real Greek general. Soon they dropped her at her cabin. Now her cabin towered over the rest. It looked like a mansion or just the front part, the white marble glistening in the cold moonlight.
I skipped happily back towards the Hermes cabins to get ready for dinner. I felt on cloud nine, while the rest of the cabin was too mad to even pull pranks. They all shot looks at me as I walked in the door.
"Hey Quince, Hi James…" I smiled.
"The Athena cabin is going to kill us…" James sighed.
"What happened?" I forgot that I hadn't seen the events from the blue team's perspective even though I was pumped up from winning
"We were defense, but stupid Hecate and Aries stormed us." Quince whined.
"But I thought I saw you two fighting Nike?" I said maybe it was a different
"Hecate disguised themselves and Aries as Nike, we thought we could take Nike, but not Aries and Hecate " A random Hermes girl added in.
"C'mon, It's time for dinner…" James and Quince dragged me along to the dining tables. The Athena kids were stress studying instead of eating, while Aries was gloating in their victory. Nike was sitting by herself at a table, I didn't understand how the winning team's captain had no one else to sit with, her eyes a shallow blue like a reflecting pool, her dark hair hung down at her shoulders in neat perfect curls and wearing a silver bangle on her pale arm.
"Hey Nike! Can I sit with you?" I began walking over to the girl.
"You're not allowed to." Nike sighed.
"What do you mean I'm not allowed to, you're my friend." I smiled.
"Friend is a strong word." She scowled.
"But we're buddies…" I sat down next to her, a lightning bolt struck down next to the table.
"I guess Daddy is a little protective…" Nike giggled.
"What's wrong?" I asked confused
"Your hair…" Olympia giggled from her table. I touched it softly. My hair was standing up in the back. My cheeks started to redden. Nike looked sadly at her plate. Soon a large guy I recognized from the red team walked up
"Hey , Sis…" He started and then noticed me. "Who is this?" He asked Nike.
"He was on our team Von...Leander remember the newb…" She answered flatly
"Oh yeah...what is he doing here," Von looked at me and then at his sister.
"He just came over and asked if he could sit here…." She smirked in amusement.
"Oh so he thinks Dad will just let him sit there?" He smiled at Nike, she smirked
"Well, I think his hair tells you Dad's reaction…" Nike smiled.
"C'mon Nik, eat your dinner…" Von tried to force feed her.
"I don't want to…" Nike shook her head.
"Here comes the airplane…" He levitated a piece of the dinner roll.
"My mom has nothing on that…" I chuckled.
"Advantages of Daddy being the sky god." Von smirked
"I am not eating it Von…" She protested
"I will shove it down your throat if you don't eat it." Von lifted the food again.
"No" She zapped the food down.
"First off Ouch, second… Eat your food!" He lifted it up again.
"Guys! Stop fighting." A small girl spoke sweetly from a table filled with children I can only describe with one word, a word that strikes fear in the tens of thousands of punk rockers… Hippies.
"Whatever." Nike sighed
"Time for tributes…" Olympia smiled as she walked past the group. I noticed that Nike had gotten way more food than she was probably going to eat.
"You going to eat that?" I eyed the large piece of chocolate cake resting on her plate gently.
"No, but it's dad's favorite human food." She smiled.
"What?" I looked at her shocked.
"You offer food to the gods in hope that they are pleased and grant you your request or are simply pleased with you." Nike was the first to dump her food into the fire.
"Mom's very hard to please…" Olympia sighed dumping her plate full in. Then it was my turn and I realised that I had no clue what to say.
"Um okay gods, I would really like to know what is going on and who my dad is and holy shit just about everything." I sighed, hoping that maybe that they would pity my tribute, instead of hate it. As I turned around, Von walked past the fire and dumped his scraps into the trash.
The week passed by with sun filled camp activities I ridden Pegisi, shot more arrows, studied with Olympia and Nike, and pranked a ton of people with Quince and James. Now I was sitting in the low sun filled courtyard with the rest of my new friends.
"Your dad will probably claim you soon," Lydia shrugged.
"I hope so." I sighed, I mean Quince and James were cool, but I think so far I'm missing 6 pairs of underwear… Which I'm guessing is courtesy of the Hermes Cabin. Other than that though everything seemed okay. Once dinner was over Von and Nike disappeared back to their cabin, and the rest of the kids disappeared back in their cabin. I sat on the grass weaving my fingers through the grass. I heard a sudden sound of screams
"Fuck!" I exclaimed, I had left my weapon in the Hermes cabin, I noticed that the Apollo kids cabin was open, and I saw a glistening bow hanging on the door. It beckoned me to it. I noticed Nike running from her cabin, now what was going on. I jogged over to her.
"What is it?" I asked nervously. She smiled broadly.
"Looks like a new kid is trying to make it to Camp." Olympia and Lydia ran out of their cabin. I looked at Nike who had a sense of adventure in her eye.
"You coming newbie?" She smiled, I looked at the bow and didn't look back.
"Look down the hill, do you see that monster?" Olympia pointed
"Of course I do…" I said a little too confidently
"Great, shoot the right eye of him." She smiled, "unless you want me to do it" she eyed the bow.
"Um…" I stuttered
"You mean you grabbed a bow, as your means of defending this new half-blood and don't even know how to shoot it… This is great, so great… Our only long range weapon is being wielded by some dipshit who can't even shoot… I'm guessing you're no son of Apol-" Olympia suddenly stopped her rant, staring towards me. I felt warm, almost like the sun had decided to say "Hello Friend I'll take care of you"
"Olympia… I think he should keep the bow…" Lydia smiled at her astounded friend
"Yeah, keep the bow…" Olympia muttered still stunned.
"Now that that's over, shoot him!" Nike yelled. I took a deep breath and loaded the arrow. My hands drew back the bowstring, as I took a deep breath and let the arrow fly. Nike looked at the monster as it fell to the ground. She then ran out of the camp and calmed down the screaming of the young boy. I had seen her lead troops into battles unyielding general, now she took on a new persona, that of a mother
"Sh…. It's ok…. It's gonna be ok" She rubbed the young boy's back.
"what's your name," she asked gently
"Henry, Henry Loksin" He mumbled
"It is okay, come on let's get you to the infirmary." She looked at him softly.
"Mr. Michel, he-He's not human" he stuttered.
"I know, I know," she helped the boy up and led him toward the big house.
"You need to go to talk to Chiron." Lydia grabbed me by the wrist.
"Why …"
"You've been claimed." Olympia added in.
"So what?" I asked
"Your godly parent has claimed you as their own, so you'll be moving out of Hermes cabin.
"Where?" I asked in shock.
"Cabin 7, Apollo." Lydia smiled. The bow, the sun, Malibu,the band my mother saw that night when she got pregnant with me. It all made sense.
"You glowed after I yelled at you, that's the sign that Apollo uses." Olympia explained.
"Wha-" I was about to ask another question
"Consider yourself lucky you weren't claimed by Aphrodite, that doesn't go away for a couple weeks." Olympia said with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Hey!" Xan said
"I was thinking about you, Xan" Olympia giggled
"Shut up Bird brain," Xan retorted.
"Why do people always call me that? it's illogical " Olympia questioned
"Your mother's symbol is an owl,"
"Exactly, birds are actually quite intelligent… So I'll take your nickname as a compliment." Olympia retorted
"Yes because that's why they fly into windows," Nike laughed
"I still don't get that you're an Athena kid, you're so much like ares." Xan smirked
"I'm an Athena kid!" Olympia shrieked, maybe I was being paranoid but she seemed to be hiding something. Nike shook her head.
"Well it's getting late Leander you're coming with me to the big house. I am going to visit Henry, see how he is settling in," Nike said and pulled on a sweatshirt that read 'For Sparta' on it.
"okay," I responded and followed her. "So what's your deal...I mean what's your story."
"I was left here when I was five. I stayed in the big house until I was thirteen then I lived in the Hermes Cabin, till I was claimed." I looked at her carefully. She had something in her eye there something painful.
"I see," The conversation dropped off and we finally arrived at the big house.
"I am going to visit Henry. Chiron is in the first office on the right." She said flatly and left the area.
I walked into the big house it was eerily quiet. I slowly peered into the office that she described. It was very large and had a centaur standing in it.
"Hello are you Chiron?" I asked timidly
"Yes, I assume you are Leander."He looked me over.
"Yeah, so I was told to report to you." I fidgeted rubbing the back of my neck.
"Who told you that Olympia or Nike?" He chuckled
"Both…" I sighed.
"Well, whether this is good news or bad, you're moving…" He smiled wisely
"Okay it isn't bad seeing I just got here."
"So this should be simple, you'll be heading to the Apollo cabin, Will should be here any second to show you the ropes to his cabin." I kicked my toe into my heel.
"Chill," I leaned back into my heels.
"Hey you must be Leander," that boy I saw call out to the brooding boy at capture the flag.
"Yeah, are you Will?" So many new names. "Yep, come on you're going to love cabin 7," As we walked out I could see Nike's silhouette with the small boy. I wondered when she would get back and if I would see her again.
"Let's go meet your siblings." He smiled opening the cabin door.
"Newbie!" The group of Tan athletes swallowed me in a hug.
"Hi…" I wheezed
"Guys let him breath." Will sighed
"Nice to meet you bro!" A girl with sun kissed skin and dirty blonde hair fist bumped me, she looked like the epitome of a surfer.
"I haven't even introduced myself." I blushed.
"Guys this Leander," Will introduced
"Well, nice to meet you Leander, my name is Harmony…" She smiled.
"Chill." I nodded
"Leander where are you from?" She asked
"Um Malibu,"
"San Diego…" She smiled.
"You know you can't date her" Will whispered in my ear.
"I know that!" I said in disgust " besides I like someone else" I huffed under my breath.
"Oh, is it Olympia?"He smiled.
"No!" I practically jumped out of my skin. The last thing I needed was a mistake and Olympia nagging me.
"Dude, Nico is mine" He smirked, moving on to the next available candidate.
"Guess again," I said lightly setting stuff on my bunk
"Lydia?" He began to run out of options
"No one in the Athena Cabin,"
"Is it Quince?" He smiled "you know he's got his eye on Olympia…".
"No one in the Hermes cabin," this was getting sad.
"Hm… Von?" He thought
"I'm not Gay!" I exclaimed he opened his mouth to guess again but their nice was a knock at the door. He went get it.
"Oh hey Nike," I Smiled.
"Ha I figured it out! You like Samantha!" He exclaimed, Samantha, who was that?
"Um Leander, I would like to meet with you." Nike said hesitantly.
"Sure," I perked up.
"Okay come on," she started to walk off and I jogged after her. The kid wasn't with her. She started to walk into the forest and I moved after her.
Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight as her hips swayed in front as me. She kind of looked like a ghost.
Soon we came to a large rock that overlooked the entire camp. The moon hung in the sky and the stars sparkled. What a beautiful sky I thought. She leaned back into her palms.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" I questioned insightfully.
"I was offered a quest… Leander you are the most gifted archer I have met well other than Artemis and your Dad…"
"You've met my Dad?" I exclaimed, I hadn't ever met my dad before and yet Nike had
"Twice, being Zeus's kid has perks," she sighed.
"So just the two of us?" I spoke maybe a little too obvious…
"No quests are always in three's," she said.
"Dammit…" I whispered under my breath.
"What was that you said?" She looked at me with her deep eyes, I had never noticed they had a little a bit of yellow in them.
"Nothing who else is coming…" I changed the subject.
"I'm not sure you will like it, as I don't know how you'll like it." She mumbled
"What?" That made no sense.
"I am going to bring Lydia…" she looked at me expectantly.
"Kay, hey thank you for having faith in me." I smiled at her.
"I like you Leander I feel like I knew you in past life or something. Maybe it is just your name," she shrugged.
"What about my name?" I asked curiously
"You have never heard the story of Hero and Leander?" She arched her eyebrow.
"No." I stated.
"There once was a priestess to Aphrodite known as Hero. She had fallen in love with a man across the strait named Leander. Every night she would light a flame in the tower so Leander could swim across and find her. Then one night during a storm her light blew out and Leander drowned. When Hero found her lover dead she jumped out of the tower and joined him in the underworld." She spoke mystically staring off into the distance.
"That is so depressing." I whined.
"But it is beautiful imagine being so in love with someone that life without them drives you insane." She looked at me carefully. "So are you in?"
"Yeah sure!" I said happily she let out a large sigh.
"Okay meet me by the big house tomorrow at noon okay," She said preparing to get up.
"Okay, can we stay a bit longer?" I grabbed her wrist.
"Sure…" she sat back down and stared into the distance.
"Where are you from Nike?" I asked.
"Alaska," she said flatly
"Oh what was that like?" I asked curiously. I had never been to Alaska.
"To be honest I don't remember very much. The only thing I remember was the Northern Lights." She paused and looked up to the sky listlessly.
"Why is Olympia so mean…" I sighed
"She is fine just an acquired taste," Nike smiled a little. When she did smile it was beautiful.
"Yeah well is everyone nice to you?" I asked
"No…" She frowned. " a lot of people don't like me," she shook her head.
"I like you," I shrugged
"You seem pretty chill," she laughed
"Thanks," I laughed and for a nano second her eyes softened and locked with mine. The gaze broke.
"So this quest...what are we going to do, I mean where are we going?"
"Monsters like the one you shot, in the past few days their population have almost tripled. That little boy, Henry, who came in is the fifth this week. They are coming more often and younger too. Henry is seven, most half bloods come here from 11-14 ish age, This is the youngest one yet besides me. I don't what is going on but Chiron assigned me the task as I was leaving Henry. I was strategizing and strategically Lydia fights with a (insert weapon), I use a short sword and shield, we need a long distance weapon so I wanted to bring you for your skills."
"Cool, okay, I got it,"
"Luckily, I don't think Olympia will be able to bother you on the quest" she smiled
"Ha, yeah, so what are you supposed to bring on a quests?" I asked curiously.
"Whatever you can carry on your back, you should go get a backpack, don't forget your quiver, unless of course your dad gives you one on before we go," She shrugged
"I don't know, my dad has been really distant my entire life… I doubt he would suddenly give me stuff." I sighed.
"You know it's kind of a tough situation our parents end up being in… If they contact us, and tell us who we are it only makes our stench stronger." Nike tried to comfort me.
"But your Dad sent a lighting bolt down when I tried to sit at your table." I whined.
"My dad is my only parent… You however have your mom… You wouldn't have wanted anything to happen to her because of your dad… I think that shows how much your dad loves you." She smiled.
"Something did happen to my Mom...just not from my Dad…" I huffed.
"You weren't abandoned when you were 5.." Nike spoke softly, a single tear in her eye.
"I didn't mean to upset you…" I panicked
"No it's fine, you should head to bed it's getting late out." She tried to compose herself.
"I like it better out here then in a cabin full of strangers." I shrugged.
"They are fine, Will is a nice guy the rest of them are too far from the surfable waves." She laughed at her own joke.
"So you know Harmony too…" I smirked.
"Nice girl, bit of an airhead though…" she explained
"I would assume with that name and that hair," I smirked. Harmony had long hippy style blonde hair.
"Well, her dad is the God of music…" She smirked
"Ahem… my dad!" I laughed
"Yeah, your Dad, to be honest I was really betting on you being kinda dumb maybe a fuckboy but you aren't. It is a very pleasant surprise." The breeze picked up I shivered silently thinking I should have brought a jacket.
"Who says I'm not." I brushed my bangs jokingly out of my eyes… it reminded me of this annoying boy, his name was Joaquin and he did exactly that hand swoop motion all the time.
"That is very irritating," She said flatly
"Yeah it was," Then it went silent again. I checked my watch…
"It is getting late, I'll see you in the morning." She stood up and walked toward the cabins. I paused and continued to look out over the camp this was my new home.