Chapter One
Hello, my name is Panthea, don't ask me why my mother named me that, I go by Pan. My mother was disapproving of my chosen name and was afraid that it would offend my grandfather, who so happens to be the Greek god of wine. Yeah, I'm a daughter of Dionysus, so what? Other then a love of fun, I haven't inherited much of my grandfather's gifts, Mom says that I most probably take after my father, if only she knew whom he was. Its a long story, the upshot of it was on the midwinter gathering about thirteen years or so ago, my mother had been a representative of Dionysus and had gotten very drunk with several other young men. They had proceeded to have an orgy. Which had nine months later resulted in yours truly. I've always sort of suspected that my Father was a son of Apollo, or Ares, as I was quite fond of the written word and loved fencing whenever I got the opportunity.
Currently however I was a bit preoccupied in my own survival, lately the monsters had started sniffing around yours truly and quite frankly I found it annoying as hell. It had gotten to the point where I had started to resort to carrying my fencing bag everywhere with me. Sure, the foil and rapier within were for practice and were pretty dull but they were also better then nothing. I had sensed the monsters only a few moments before they attacked me. "Hello ugly." I said and grinned. "Genetics certainly haven't been kind to you, looks like you got the bad end of the stick where it came to looks." The naga hissed at me and I sighed. "Look, I'm Greek not Indian, at least get your mythology strait! Go chase after some Indian demigod." Apparently the creature could only hiss, I sighed brought around my sword in a swift strike and managed to impale it into the snake woman's heart. I whooped in triumph and sheathed my blade, before continuing to my mother's house without incident.
"Panthea, we're leaving for camp, right now." My mother pronounced and I leveled her with a truly fearsome glare.
"Why?" I demanded.
"Because of the monsters."
"I can handle the monsters Mom." I protested. "After all, who'd want to tangle with my mad skills?"
My mother sighed, a long-suffering sigh. "Look Panthea, you are much too confident, you're only thirteen."
"Exactly Mom, I'm thirteen, so stop treating me like I'm still in diapers."
"Like it or not, we're leaving, if you ever want wine again, you'll obey me in this." She said and I scowled, that was downright unfair, as a granddaughter of Dionysus, I took my strength from wine, it increased my strength two fold when I had it and I was much weaker when I didn't. I hated being weak, loathed it with a passion.
"Fine!" I said and went into the room slamming the door behind me. I packed a bag, filling it with my clothes, I'd never had that much of a fashion sense. My clothes consisted of several long sleeved shirts and various graphic tees, mostly with dragons and swords on the front of the shirt. I slipped a dozen hair bands on to each wrist, grabbed my toothbrush and hairbrush, stuffing them into my bag, before hefting the bag and nodding. I then took my I Pod Classic out and sighed, camp didn't do well with appliances, but if I didn't have my stories I don't know what I'd do with myself and as a demigod actually reading a book is nearly impossible.
I grabbed both bags and headed out the door, getting into the car, which already held my mother. I turned my face away from her, my displeasure plain and she sighed as I stuck in my earphones and zoned out to the sound of an excellently narrated version of the Iliad. However I didn't get far into it, before my Mother passed me a bottle of wine. "Drink this." She said and I sighed pulling out the stopper, before taking a swallow. The taste of rich sweet grapes coated my tongue along with the slight burning sensation of the alcohol. I sighed in contentment, as long as I had wine, I was happy, if I was deigned my wine, I got cranky and was more likely to bruise others in fencing practice, or with my tongue and scathing sense of humor. After that first sip, I took another and another, until I finished off the bottle, it was only then that I realized that it was drugged.
"Sorry Sweetheart, but the creatures are less likely to attack us if you're asleep." She said and patted my hand, I tried to glare at her but my eyes were so heavy and my limbs felt like they weighed about a thousand pounds, a moment later I fell fast asleep.