Not Everything is Normal around here
If you are reading because you think that its fiction I applaud you. You can live a normal life. Unlike me, I mean, us.
If you are reading this because you think you might be like me, then shut this book right now, and return to whatever lie your parent told you about your life. If you choose to read this don't say I didn't warn you because I did. Well, here goes nothing…
My name is Violet Marie Aswell, I am 13 years old. I have blond hair and green eyes. And if you ever see me running from something you better run too. But right now, I don't do much but sit around in my dorm staring at the ceiling. Not wanting to do much but listen to my audio book called Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief. My friends are Michael Kalen, who likes to play computer games, Lauren Jameson, who would like nothing better than to sit there and do her make up for hours on end, and last but not least Jake Simerson, who finds nothing more interesting than magic. We are an odd group. But we do have something in common. We've all got a reason were at Burton's school for troubled kids. Lauren stole a car. Jake's been kicked out of 6 different schools, and the last one concluded with an explosion. Michael is a fantastic hacker. And me? I just seem to be in the wrong place at the time. One time an entire shelf of canned food items fell on me for no reason. And I was blamed. And we've all got ADHD and Dyslexia.
"Violet Aswell, Michael Kalen, Lauren Jameson, and Jake Simerson, please come to the headmaster's office," the monotonous voice said. I groaned, turned off my book, and walked in my short plaid skirt and white polo shirt to the office, where the Lauren was already waiting. "What did we do?" Jake asked as he walked through the door. Slowly time passed and we were invited into the office.
"Please sit," the Headmaster said, while gesturing to four seats that were open in front of his desk. We all sat down expectantly. "You see, an astounding amount of teachers items have gone missing and you all are responsible for it. And I am sentencing you to 2 weeks of after school detention," he said. My jaw dropped. We hadn't even done anything wrong!
"Where is your evidence that we did anything wrong? And no offence guys, but, if it was just one of us shouldn't you just punish the person who did it, not their group of friends?" I asked, remembering stuff from History class, about the Bill of Rights. We had the right a lawyer, and I personally was taking that position.
"Well, we have your school bags here," he said then placed the four bags on his table. I was nearly carving the arm off the chair as he took at least two items out of every backpack.
"And when did you take these without our knowing?" I asked trying not to scream.
"We took them from you when you were at lunch just now… Don't you remember, Violet?" he asked. Now, come to think of it, I did.
"Okay, okay. I remember now. Well, Hades! This sucks. But if it means anything I for sure didn't take anything," I said.
"Then please explain why we found Mrs. Kadelina's golden chain necklace in your backpack," he said holding the necklace up to my face.
"I didn't take anything, I can hardly get a glass of water at night without someone yelling at me for being out of my bed!" I said, and I sat back, crossing my arms.
"You will go to lunch detention as well, for the next 2 weeks for your out burst Violet." I rolled my eyes. "You may go to back to your classes, and after school you will go to the detention classroom," he said. We all walked out there, glaring pointedly at Jake. He took stuff from us for fun, but he always gave it back.
"I didn't do it!" He nearly shouted at us, in a joking manner of course.
"I think they planted us," Michael said, and that was the last of the conversation I heard, because I had period 3 English. I sat down in my classroom and got out notes for our lecture today.
"I cannot believe we're here," I said to Lauren as we walked into the barren room with only 2 others, and I bet you can guess who they were. I sat down as far away from the front as possible.
"Okay, hope you guys came with something to do," our math teacher said. "Silence from this point on." I got my ear buds out and started listening to my book. I loved the characters in here. They were so dynamic, and Percabeth was just about the most adorable thing ever! I think at some point in time I must have fallen asleep because next thing I knew it was nine o clock and I was being carried bridal style to my bed by Michael. My body must have tensed because the next thing I knew he was pushing a piece of hair behind my ear.
"You drool when you sleep," he said.
"You sound like Annabeth," I said snuggling closer to his warm body.
"Anna-who?" he asked.
"She's a character in my book," I said.
"She's also a girl right behind you," a voice said behind us. Michael dropped me and then we both turned to face a blond girl and a boy with brown hair.
"You can't be. It's impossible!" I said.
"Almost as impossible as all of being demigods?" someone said from behind the 2 people. It was Lauren. Now I knew I was hallucinating because I was tired and losing my mind.
"I'm going insane. I need sleep." I said then darted down the hall.
"No, wait! It's okay, Violet. They won't hurt you." Lauren said.
"But that might!" I heard an unrecognizable male voice say and then Percy, Annabeth, Michael, Jake rounded the corner, running.
"Whats happening?" I asked. You could hear the nervous tinge in my voice.
"Well, let's just say that there are 3 monsters headed our way." Percy said while tossing me a sword. "You might need that," he said. All I could do was stand there and make some sort of squeaking noise.
"It will be fine. Just watch your back and everything will be fine," he said. I nodded and got into a battle position. And then they rounded the corner. It was three teachers at the school, the principal, my math teacher and the librarian. One by one they all turned into monsters. The principal turned into a girl thing with the bottom half of a snake. My math teacher turned into a huge spider, and the librarian stayed the same but pulled out a dagger.
"What in Hades?" I exclaimed.
"Come with usss Demigods," The snake said. I held my sword in a not so menacing way but Percy was the real hero here.
"Never!" Percy said then he charged the dracaena. Annabeth was just sitting there staring at the spider like it was her worst night mare. It was pretty scary, and by what I'd heard in my book, the fact that she was still standing here was pretty amazing.
"Demigod, my student. Come charge your evil math teacher like you've wanted too," she said in a coaxing voice. I actually wanted to, I mean, it felt like a good time for battle. I met eyes with Lauren, and then we both seemed to make a universal decision, and charged her. I wasn't sure about the huge spider, but I was pretty sure Jake and Michael had started fighting it, Annabeth still standing there. I liked the power I felt as two kids defeated an adult. But then, as I heard the body hit the floor in a thump, a sudden wave of nausea came over me. I noticed that the other 3 people had stopped fighting and there was some strange dust in the air.
"Annabeth. Are you okay? The spider is gone," Percy said. I knew that this was insane. I backed up against the wall and slid so that way I was sitting down. I put the sword next to me and put my head between my knees, trying to ward off the dizziness.
"You okay?" A voice said above me, I looked up to fast, to see another person.
"Hey Michael, what's up?" Percy said to the person above me. Michael… Yew?
"Chiron sent me and a few others to come retrieve you guys," he explained.
"Few others?" I asked starting to stand up and my legs were a little wobbly.
"Yeah, You need help?" he asked, and I shook my head no. And tried to walk, who knew that I could be so dizzy? My Michael, Michael Kalen, came up behind me and helped me walk. And we followed the others to where a bus was waiting.
"Look at the new Demigods!" a person who latterly glowed exclaimed. I looked in the bus and saw about 10 other kids in there. They all had some feature in common, it was hard to tell what it was.
"Hello, Lord Apollo." Percy said as he got on one knee, I followed in example, as did everyone.
"No need to kneel! Just get in the bus! Next stop, Camp Half-Blood!" he said and we all shuffled into the bus. I sat on the side with my iPod blaring in my ears. I loved the song, I Hate Luv Storys (From the movie I Hate Luv Storys). I leaned against the bus window and tried to figure out what was happening. I mean, I never had been normal, but maybe I should have guessed when the book mentioned ADHD and Dyslexia. Suddenly, I was pressed back into my seat as the bus took off. I pressed the ear buds deeper into my ears as my stomach flew into my throat when the bus jerked upward. I let out a small scream. We were flying! Wait, Apollo… He drove the sun chariot. A girl slid in the seat beside me.
"Hi! I'm Lacy, but call me Lace. Daughter of Apollo." She said holding her hand out.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Violet, not sure of who my parent is yet," I said shaking her hand with one hand and removing an ear bud with another.
"Well, judging by the fact that Percy says you weren't freaked out at the spider, Athena is out. And by the fact your not totally hyperventilating at how high we are Hephaestus is out. Maybe you're an Apollo kid like me," she said, smiling.
"Wouldn't he have said something?" I asked. She had dark hair that was tied up in a bun. And she had really pretty dark eyes.
"He's god of theater, so he'd probably do it at capture the flag tonight, depending on how old you are, that is," she explained.
"I am 13 years old," I said. I sort of liked her, she reminded me of an old friend.
"Oh, then definitely tonight, if you are my sister that is. So, where did you come from?" she asked. Not my favorite question.
"I don't really remember, All I know is I was an orphan," I said. I felt my heart clench when I looked down, an instant spike of fear, but not as bad as Michael, who was sitting in the seat behind us freaking out.
"Oh, sorry. Well, at Camp we're like one big family," she said, and the I turned around to Michael.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Do I look okay?" he asked. Lace laughed.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Lace, Daughter of Apollo," she said.
"Good to meet you. Michael, Son of Hephaestus," he said. I blinked.
"When were you claimed?" I asked.
"When Percy and Annabeth came. As were Lauren and Jake," he explained.
"I told you! He was just waiting for a theatrical time!" she said.
"When are we landing?" he asked.
"Soon," I said, then we bounced out of our seats. Like 3 feet out. And I'm not talking out of fear, we hit the ground.
"We're here! Good to see you all, don't forget your dear old dad!" Apollo said as we all shuffled out of the bus. I got on the ground, and then got a really good look at everyone who was on the bus. They all varied, but quite clearly they all had skill with bows and arrows they all had shouldered Bows and Quivers of arrows, which makes sense, since Apollo was the god of archery. A centaur galloped over the horizon.
"Welcome back, and welcome new campers," he said. I felt my jaw drop. I bowed along with the rest of the campers and watched as the Apollo Cabin faded away.
"These are the new campers. Michael, Son of Hephaestus. Jake, Son of Hecate. Lauren, Daughter of Aphrodite. And Violet, unclaimed," Percy said, struggling when he said unclaimed for me, I slightly wondered why, but got over it quickly.
"Unclaimed? We'll see if we can figure out who your parent is. In the meantime, Percy and Annabeth, give them the tour. I have some…business to attend to," he said, grimacing. Percy and Annabeth nodded grimly, as if they knew what Chiron had said.
"Well, welcome to the life of a Demigod," Percy said walking down the other side of the hill. "It's usually pretty fun, just avoid the Ares cabin, unless of course, you're a sibling of them, Violet," he said to me. We walked past a group of cabins. They were really weird, but some were pretty amazing.
"And these are the cabins, Lauren, Cabin 10, the one with the weird smell, is yours. Michael, Cabin 9, the one that smells like fire, yours. And Jake, Cabin 20, the one with the odd carvings, is yours. Go talk to your siblings, I'm sure they will be happy to meet you," Annabeth said. I sighed, sadly. Why couldn't I have been claimed? Didn't my parent care about me?
"Don't worry, you'll be claimed by the end of the night. You can believe it, they have a certain promise to keep with me," Percy said. I nodded silently, brought down by all the cheery-ness around me.
"Yo, Perc," a voice said from behind me. I saw a really pale boy dressed in black, I smirked to myself, as his clothes matched my mood.
"Hey Nico," Percy said, and I felt my jaw drop, Nico? DiAngelo?
"Who's she?" he asked pointing to me. And that was when I remembered my manners.
"Oh, hi, sorry. Violet Aswell, unclaimed." I said, holding out my hand.
"Nice to meet you. Sucks that you're unclaimed," he said as he shook my hand. He was still sort of a dampener on the semi-bright side.
"Nico, want to show her around? Annabeth and I have business with Chiron to attend to," Percy said.
"Sure, what ever you say Percy," Nico said. As Percy walked away, he made kissing noises. I laughed.
"So, weapons, I have a feeling I'll need one," I said trying to make myself happier.
"Most likely. So, where do you come from?" he asked trying to talk to me, as we walked towards the weapon shed.
"Orphan. I don't actually know," I said, and as we reached the shed, just behind Cabin 6, which wasn't much of a walk. I opened the door and walked into the room of dust, then sneezed. I passed my hand over a few bows and arrows.
"Oh, that sucks. Well, pick what ever you like. I prefer my sword my dad gave me," he said, I looked over at the bows. I picked a simple oak bow and a quiver of arrows, then went for a shelve of daggers.
"I've always imagined myself with a bow and quiver of arrows, and a dagger, always." I said, smiling at the refection of the dark boy in the dagger.
"We'll see," he said. A loud sound echoed from the distance, a horn blowing perhaps? "Dinner, first one to the pavilion wins," he said and took off running. I strapped my dagger onto my belt and threw the bow and arrow over my shoulder and chased him to the pavilion, where he sat at a table smirking at me as the rest of the campers filed in. I sent a terrified glance at Chiron, who was standing beside me at the head of the marble structure, and he nodded at me slightly, as if he had spoken to my parent and had agreed I would be claimed now. As the campers quieted Chiron started to speak.
"Everyone, this is Violet. She's new and we need to figure out where she's supposed to be. Pray to your parents for them to figure out who her parent is." I felt a slight changing in atmospheric pressure and looked around as everyone cheered. "Well done. Welcome, Violet, Daughter of Apollo."