I don't think. I just bend my knees and jump.
The air howls in my ears as the ground surges toward me, growing and expanding, or I surge toward the ground, my heart pounding so fast it hurts, every muscle in my body tensing as the falling sensation drags at my stomach. The hole surrounds me and I drop into darkness.
I hit something hard. It gives way beneath me and cradles my body. The impact knocks the wind out of me and I wheeze, struggling to breathe again. My arms and legs sting.
A net. There is a net at the bottom of the hole. I look up at the building and laugh, half relieved and half hysterical. My body shakes and I cover my face with my hands. I just jumped off a roof.
I have to stand on solid ground again. I see a few hands stretching out to me at the edge of the net, so I grab the first one I can reach and pull myself across. I roll off, and I would have fallen face-first onto a wood floor if he had not caught me.
"He" is the young man attached to the hand I grabbed. He is young, barely a year older than me - slim, but muscled. His hair is black, ruffled and unruly but reflecting the gloomy light. His eyes are a deep green… Like the sea I've once read about.
His hands grip my arms, but he releases me a moment after I stand upright again.
"Thank you," I say.
We stand on a platform ten feet above the ground. Around us is an open cavern.
"Can't believe it," a voice says from behind him. It belongs to a dark-haired girl with three silver rings through her right eyebrow. She smirks at me. "Athena spawn, the first to jump? Unheard of."
"There's a reason why she left them, Clarisse," he says. His voice is deep, rumbling like a storm. "What's your name?"
"Um…" I don't know why I hesitate. But "Annabeth" just doesn't sound right anymore.
"Think about it," he says, a faint smile curling his lips. "You don't get to pick again."
A new place, a new name. I can be remade here.
"Beth," I say firmly.
"Beth," Clarisse repeats, grinning. "Make the announcement, Three."
The boy - Three - looks over his shoulder and shouts, "First jumper - Beth!"
A crowd materializes from the darkness as my eyes adjust. They cheer and pump their fists, and then another person drops into the net. Her screams follow her down. Thalia. Everyone laughs, but they follow their laughter with more cheering.
Three sets his hand on my back and says, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."
When all the initiates stand on solid ground again, Clarisse and Three lead us down a narrow tunnel. The walls are made of stone, and the ceiling slopes, so I feel like I am descending deep into the heart of the earth. The tunnel is lit at long intervals, so in the dark space between each dim lamp, I fear that I am lost until a shoulder bumps mine. In the circles of light I am safe again.
The boy in front of me stops abruptly, and I smack into him, hitting my nose on his shoulder. I stumble back and rub my nose as I recover my senses. The whole crowd has stopped, and our three leaders stand in front of us, arms folded.
"This is where we divide," Clarisse says. "The Camp Halfblood-born initiates are with me. I assume you don't need a tour of the place."
She smiles and beckons toward the Camp Halfblood-born initiates. They break away from the group and dissolve into the shadows. I watch the last heel pass out of the light and look at those of us who are left. Most of the initiates were from Camp Halfblood, so only nine people remain. Of those, I am the only Athena transfer, and there are no Demeter transfers. The rest are from Erudite and, surprisingly, Zeus. It must require bravery to be honest all the time. I wouldn't know.
Three addresses us next. "Most of the time I work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I am your instructor," he says. "My name is Three."
Thalia asks, "Three? Like the number?"
"Yes," Three says. "Is there a problem?"
"No."
"Good. We're about to go into the Pit, which you will someday learn to love. It—"
Thalia snickers. "The Pit? Clever name."
Three walks up to Thalia and leans his face close to hers. His eyes narrow, and for a second he just stares at her.
"What's your name?" he asks quietly.
"Thalia," she squeaks.
"Well, Thalia, if I wanted to put up with Zeus spawn smart-mouths, I would have joined their faction," he hisses. "The first lesson you will learn from me is to keep your mouth shut. Got that?"
She nods.
Three starts toward the shadow at the end of the tunnel. The crowd of initiates moves on in silence.
"What a jerk," she mumbles.
"I guess he doesn't like to be laughed at," I reply.
It would probably be wise to be careful around Three, I realize. He seemed placid to me on the platform, but something about that stillness makes me wary now.
Three pushes a set of double doors open, and we walk into the place he called "the Pit."
"Oh," whispers Thalia. "I get it."
"Pit" is the best word for it. It is an underground cavern so huge I can't see the other end of it from where I stand, at the bottom. Uneven rock walls rise several stories above my head. Built into the stone walls are places for food, clothing, supplies, leisure activities. Narrow paths and steps carved from rock connect them. There are no barriers to keep people from falling over the side.
A slant of orange light stretches across one of the rock walls. Forming the roof of the Pit are panes of glass and, above them, a building that lets in sunlight. It must have looked like just another city building when we passed it on the train.
Blue lanterns dangle at random intervals above the stone paths, similar to the ones that lit the Choosing room. They grow brighter as the sunlight dies.
People are everywhere, all dressed in orange shirts, all shouting and talking, expressive, gesturing. I don't see any elderly people in the crowd. Are there any old members? Do they not last that long, or are they just sent away when they can't jump off moving trains anymore?
A group of children run down a narrow path with no railing, so fast my heart pounds, and I want to scream at them to slow down before they get hurt. A memory of the orderly Athena streets appears in my mind: a line of people on the right passing a line of people on the left, small smiles and inclined heads and silence. My stomach squeezes. But there is something wonderful about the Camp Halfblood chaos.
"If you follow me," says Three, "I'll show you the chasm."
He waves us forward. Three's appearance seems tame from the front, by Camp Halfblood standards, but when he turns around, I see a tattoo peeking out from the collar of his T-shirt. He leads us to the right side of the Pit, which is conspicuously dark. I squint and see that the floor I stand on now ends at an iron barrier. As we approach the railing, I hear a roar—water, fast-moving water, crashing against rocks.
I look over the side. The floor drops off at a sharp angle, and several stories below us is a river. Gushing water strikes the wall beneath me and sprays upward. To my left, the water is calmer, but to my right, it is white, battling with rock.
"The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy!" Three shouts. "A daredevil jump off this ledge will end your life. It has happened before and it will happen again. You've been warned."
"This is incredible," says Thalia, as we all move away from the railing.
"Incredible is the word," I say, nodding.
Three leads the group of initiates across the Pit toward a gaping hole in the wall. The room beyond is well-lit enough that I can see where we're going: a dining hall full of people and clattering silverware. When we walk in, the Camp Halfblood inside stand. They applaud. They stamp their feet. They shout. The noise surrounds me and fills me. Thalia smiles, and a second later, so do I.
We look for empty seats. Thalia and I discover a mostly empty table at the side of the room, and I find myself sitting between her and Three. In the center of the table is a platter of food I don't recognize: circular pieces of meat wedged between round bread slices. I pinch one between my fingers, unsure what to make of it.
Three nudges me with his elbow.
"It's beef," he says. "Put this on it." He passes me a small bowl full of red sauce.
"You've never had a hamburger before?" asks Thalia, her eyes wide.
"No," I say. "Is that what it's called?"
"Athena spawns eat plain food," Three says, nodding at Thalia.
"Why?" she asks.
I shrug. "Extravagance is considered self-indulgent and unnecessary."
She smirks. "No wonder you left."
"Yeah," I say, rolling my eyes. "It was just because of the food."
The corner of Three's mouth twitches.
The doors to the cafeteria open, and a hush falls over the room. I look over my shoulder. A young man walks in, and it is quiet enough that I can hear his footsteps. His face is scarred in so many places I lose count, and his hair is long, blonde, and ragged. But that isn't what makes him look menacing. It is the coldness of his eyes as they sweep across the room.
"Who's that?" hisses Thalia.
"His name is Luke," says Three. "He's a Camp Halfblood leader."
"Seriously? But he's so young," Thalia complimented.
Three gives her a grave look. "Age doesn't matter here."
I can tell she's about to ask what I want to ask: Then what does matter? But Luke's eyes stop scanning the room, and he starts toward our table and drops into the seat next to Three. He offers no greeting, so neither do we.
"Well, aren't you going to introduce me?" he asks, nodding to Thalia and me.
Three says, "This is Beth and Thalia."
"Ooh, an Athena spawn," says Luke, smirking at me. His smile pulls at the scars in his lips, making the pale skin turn white, and I wince. "We'll see how long you last."
I mean to say something—to assure him that I will last, maybe—but words fail me. I don't understand why, but I don't want Luke to look at me any longer than he already has. I don't want him to look at me ever again.
He taps his fingers against the table. His knuckles are scabbed over, right where they would split if he punched something too hard.
"What have you been doing lately, Three?" he asks.
Three lifts a shoulder. "Nothing, really," he says.
Are they friends? My eyes flick between Luke and Three. Everything Luke did—sitting here, asking about Three—suggests that they are, but the way Three sits, tense as pulled wire, suggests they are something else. Rivals, maybe, but how could that be, if Luke is a leader and Three is not?
"Max tells me he keeps trying to meet with you, and you don't show up," Luke says. "He requested that I find out what's going on with you."
Three looks at Luke for a few seconds before saying, "Tell him that I am satisfied with the position I currently hold."
"So he wants to give you a job."
The scars in Luke's eyebrow are lined up like claw marks. Maybe Luke perceives Three as a potential threat to his position. My mother says that those who want power and get it live in terror of losing it. That's why we have to give power to those who do not want it.
"So it would seem," Three says.
"And you aren't interested."
"I haven't been interested for two years."
"Well," says Luke. "Let's hope he gets the point, then."
He claps Three on the shoulder, a little too hard, and gets up. When he walks away, I slouch immediately. I had not realized that I was so tense.
"Are you two…friends?" I say, unable to contain my curiosity.
"We were in the same initiate class," he says. "He transferred from Hermes."
All thoughts of being careful around Three leave me. "Were you a transfer too?"
"I thought I would only have trouble with the Zeus spawn asking too many questions," he says coldly. "Now I've got Athena spawns, too?"
"It must be because you're so approachable," I say flatly. "You know. Like a bed of nails."
He stares at me, and I don't look away. He isn't a dog, but the same rules apply. Looking away is submissive. Looking him in the eye is a challenge. It's my choice.
Heat rushes into my cheeks. What will happen when this tension breaks?
But he just says, "Careful, Beth."
My stomach drops like I just swallowed a stone. A Camp Halfblood member at another table calls out Three's name, and I turn to Thalia. She raises both eyebrows.
"What?" I ask.
"I'm developing a theory."
"And it is?"
She picks up her hamburger, grins, and says, "That you have a death wish."