I know what you're thinking. 'This kid is insane' but everything, and I mean everything that I tell you is true. My name is Callum Lang, I'm fourteen, I grew up in New York, my mom raised me, my dad wasn't around but I didn't care, my mom still stood by the fact that my dad was a great guy until he had to leave and go up north, but I figured if he'd left and he'd never got in contact with me he couldn't have been so great.
My mom, Isla Lang, is a great woman she looks after me while balancing two part time jobs, one as a cleaner in a school and the other as a receptionist in a pharmacy, I have no idea how she does it. She has had a few different boyfriends, none of which have been extremely nice but she is single now and says she doesn't plan on dating anytime soon.
I have what my teachers call 'behavioral problems' sure I have dyslexia and ADHD but they just don't like me because I don't put up with their lies, because of these 'behavioral problems' I've been sent around a school or two but the school I'm in now, Auld Academy has actually been pretty great... I mean it's a bit better than usual schools but anyway it helps I have a friend, Ashling she isn't in any of my classes but she is funny and we have a lot of the same interests so we get along really well, she always wore a white silk dress i assumed she did it to be rebellious but i don't think a silk dress is exactly an awful thing to where. Anyway when we were sitting in the lunch hall at break and people were making the usual comments about if me and ashling were dating or not, and ashling got annoyed she called them stupid and said things like "your mom" but I just told her to ignore them, the thing was they didn't stop I was getting annoyed now and they realised and started laughing. The guy who was doing it Craig Wise was really annoying anyway, he was tiny but acted like he was the biggest guy in the room and for whatever reason people acted like he was. Anyway I felt like I was bursting, you know if you haven't talked to. anyone or been angry in a long time and then it feels like months of anger is just bursting out all at once, imagine that but ten times worse, I started cursing and throwing things about but the rage that I felt in the pit of my stomach was spreading all through my body and it was sore, like really sore. I was becoming scared now but I didn't know what was going on. The rage spread until it came to my eyes, it all went black... but I just told her to ignore them, the thing was they didn't stop I was getting annoyed now and they realised and started laughing. The guy who was doing it Craig Wise was really annoying anyway, he was tiny but acted like he was the biggest guy in the room and for whatever reason people acted like he was. Anyway I felt like I was bursting, you know if you haven't talked to. anyone or been angry in a long time and then it feels like months of anger is just bursting out all at once, imagine that but ten times worse, I started cursing and throwing things about but the rage that I felt in the pit of my stomach was spreading all through my body and it was sore, like really sore. I was becoming scared now but I didn't know what was going on. The rage spread until it came to my eyes, it all went black...
I woke up in my bed, me and my mom's apartment is in Queens, it is small but it's big enough for me and my mom to live in. It usually would've been a comfort to wake up in my house but Ashling was beside my bed, standing in front of my Stargate SG-1 poster, Ashling stared at me but didn't seem to notice I was awake as if she was staring into space. She was muttering to herself, "Stupid kid, doing that in the open... does he want to die?" I looked at her "Uhh hello? Why are you in my bedroom?" She snapped out of whatever transe she was in and cleared her throat "Because we need to talk... you and I." She looked at me as if what she wanted to talk about was obvious, then I realised that was because it was obvious. "Oh right because I had a nervous breakdown." Ashling laughed "If that's what you call a Ríastrad then sure." I had no Idea what she was talking about, so I decided I couldn't be bothered with it "Ok Ashling this is my bedroom, in my mom's apartment and you are talking nonsense so, you are going to leave." She protested and said things like it's life or death but. I was too tired to deal with it, the weird thing was that on the way out I heard from my bedroom Ashling talking to my mom I couldn't hear everything but I made out something about the gods being angry and something about Dun Sky...
Later on my mom came in to my room with a Chinese, it was amazing. She explained what had happened to me during school, the nurse said I had a 'stress crash' which made me lose control and forget anything which happened during or after it, there was still something weird about it though the feeling I had, my skin... It felt like it tore. There was one thing I did know though, I was talking to Ashling about Ríarstrad the next day.
When I walked into school that morning Ashling was already waiting for me at the entrance, I could tell by the way she was looking at me I had annoyed her last night but it didn't matter because by the time I got to her the tone signalling beginning of the day went. When I was in the middle of period two History with Ms. Argyll, a nice woman with too many opinions to share, I looked at the door and saw Ashling standing at the door, she was skipping then when I first noticed her there the phone rang, Ms. Argyll walked over and whispered to me that my mom had came to pick me up for a family issue. She told me I had to go down to the office, when I walked outside the class I spotted Ashling sitting down on a window ledge picking at her white All - stars. She glared at me the same way she had an hour ago. "We need to leave. I got in contact with your mom, she is at the office." She jumped down from the ledge and began walking swiftly to the middle stairs. "Wait why do we need to leave?" I played it down as if I didn't know but I didn't care so that Ash wouldn't make fun of me "Cal, are you serious? Those dudes from earlier... You seriously didn't notice?" I didn't say anything until "Ash... Which dudes?" We had started making our way down the central stairs history was on the fourth so we headed down as fast as we could. "Dadga, you're as blind as the rest of them." The thing about Ashling was that she was smart, like super smart and she assumed that everyone else was as smart as her so if I ever didn't understand something she thought was obvious she'd give no further explanation.
When we made it down to the office I saw my mom, she gave me an anxious look and said "Oh, Honey are you okay?" She grabbed me and gave me a bear hug. I said that everything was fine but I was unsure. We left and got in my mom's Ford Focus Ashling sat in the backseat and kept looking out of the back window, around ten minutes into our journey Ashling whispered something in my mom's ear but she said "No... I can protect him just as well as... as, her." She said it as if she was doubting herself but reassuring herself at the same time, it was scary I'd never seen my mom like that before. We had been driving for around twenty minutes when we stopped at a gas station, my mom got out and Ashling stayed behind me, I turned to her and looked at her with a cold glare "You're gonna have to tell me at some point..." I said, she smirked "Yes, but the longer you don't know the better," I had had enough of the mysterious comments Ashling had given me up to this point so I just asked the question I needed to ask. "Is it something to do with the breakdown I had? The Ree Strad?" She looked at me nodding "Yes your Ríastrad," she said Ríarstrad with a certain amount of gusto that I knew she was correcting me about it. I turned back around knowing that Ashling wasn't going to go on, while staring into the distance a car pulled in to the pump next to us. A young man, Mabye one or two years older than me got out of the drivers side and glanced at me, he turned around and nodded at whoever was behind the tinted window on the passanger side. He strolled to the pump and brought it out, starting to fill up. He sat there for a while and when standing there I got a good look at him, Dark black hair, Green eyes which matched his undone tie of the suit he was wearing. His thin facial features reminded me of a bird of prey, a vulture or an eagle but he also reminded me of a raven. His black hair and green eyes were a contrast to my golden blonde hair and Hazel eyes which got darker as they moved towards my pupil. After a while the guy took out a pair of aviators from his front pocket and put them on like something out of a cheesy seventies cop movie. He gave me a cocky smile when he walked over to the car, he knocked on the front of the car. "Hey there kiddo!" He had a Midwestern accent but I couldn't put my finger on it specifically, I politely smiled and nodded to him. Ashling has only just now noticed him though, she started talking quickly without stopping, while she was talking she didn't stop looking at the guy. This is what she said "Callum get into the drivers seat now, turn on the engine and act natural, your mom won't be long and she will be annoyed if we leave when she isn't caught up." She took a deep breath. Strangely I did everything she asked, I hadn't really ever drove before but I'd played my fair share of Sega Rally while at a caravan holiday a few years ago, I'd gotten so good that I had beaten every other kid at the site, I was very scared but I knew what I had to do, I looked without looking at the guy he put his hand on his belt and I saw a sheath, like a sword sheath, I don't know how I hadn't noticed it before, it was massive. I became panicked but unlike Ashling when I panic I can't magic up some brilliant plan, I tapped on the steering wheel and glanced over at the station, my mom was in the middle of an obviously long conversation with the cashier, while I tapped on the wheel I accidentally honked the horn, it was an accident but it got my mom's attention so I played it off as being my amazing intellect. I stared into my mom's eyes trying to non verbally communicate that we needed to leave, now. She waved to the cashier and started walking to the door, but before she could get back the man took out his sword and raised it above the car, Ashling and I scrambled out.
The man had left the petrol running, it had fallen out when he realised it was time to strike it had sent splashing petrol all over the concrete floor. The man's sword was on fire, that isn't a figure of speech, me and ashling ducked and dived to avoid the white hot blade from slicing us like a warm knife through butter, we successfully dodged all of them at the expense of my mom's car which had been almost completely destroyed except from two wheels and a pile of smouldering ash. Ashling took my hand and sprinted toward a small sapling, "They caught up with us!" She grabbed at the tree and closed her eyes, I was not able to do anything because there was a evil teenager with a giant flaming sword attacking us. While the man slashed at us I was still dodging, but the most miraculous thing happened, the sapling Ashling was weirdly holding began to grow. Just as I saw this a massive spout of fire burst from the man's sword and blasted an unconscious Ashling about a hundred metres away. I didn't know if Ash was okay or not, I was angry and I felt my rage growing like it had the day before, i didn't want to pass out and do... whatever I had done before so I focused on the rage and focused on my hand. Like before I felt the skin in my hand bursting but this time instead of passing out a light flew from my hand it pointed in the direction of where my hand was, working on impulse I pointed my hand at the kid. He screamed, he blocked out the light with his sword but it was white hot and burning his clothes. The guy ran into his car, i kept my hand fixed on the car but I felt the rage drain from me, aswell as the energy, I managed to stay awake but the last of the light flew from my arm straight into the pile of petrol... It all went dark.
I awoke in a bed, not my own bed it was In a tiled room which was chilly. I looked down at my hand, it had no marks on it which I was surprised by because it really felt like it had been ripped open, then again I hadn't actually seen any cuts. I stood up out of the bed on to the cool tile floor, just as I did this the grey wooden door swung open revealing Ashling and a fiery heard woman in her mid thirties walking in. The woman stopped and surveyed me, it felt like she was looking straight into mys soul. She spoke in a Scottish accent "You must be Callum..." She stopped suddenly and Ashling continued "Cal we need to talk, it's time you knew who you really are." At the time I wasn't really interested in who I was, I was interested in where my mom was. "Where is my mom." The woman shook her head "Your mother had to leave you here. Mortals can't come in." She said mortals like it was just a thing you said every day, "Mortals? What do you mean mortals? And who even are you, and oh yeah, WHERE AM I?!" I was flustered, I had clearly had another stress meltdown and now they were talking about mortals? This didn't make any sense. "Cal calm down, we don't have time for this." The woman nodded her head "I'm sorry if I'm being blunt my child but the matter is too urgent. I will answer all the questions you have." She gave me a sympathetic smile. "Im sorry, I just, I'm confused and..." I said feeling bad about shouting " Don't worry. My name is Scáthach, and you are in Camp Dunscaith. This is a training ground, a haven for demigods such as yourself." She smiled and walked over to me. "What do you mean demigods?" I said, "I... well I know it may be hard to beleive... but your father is a god. A celtic god to be more specific, and from what Ashling has told me, I know exactly which one." I believed her, I mean I was attacked by a man with a flaming sword, the day after I had whatever a Ríastrad was, after all that it wasn't that hard to beleive that gods existed, I composed myself, "Who? What's his name?" I had always pushed away the idea of my father but it had also always intrigued me. Scáthach looked away, "I can't know for sure until you have been assessed, but from what I hear..." She said becoming distant. "Do you know what I think you need rest, I mean you were in a massive explosion..." Ashling said making a face. Scáthach nodded and sighed, "You're right, I should go." She left the room, Ashling stayed though I had gotten back into the bed and ashling tip-toed over, she stroked her hand over my face and I fell asleep immediately.sat down and she spoke to her plate, "Cheese pizza, please!" It appeared, she handed it to me and I dug in, it was delicious and it was real, I mean it wasn't the weirdest thing I'd seen since I'd arrived but it definetly was weird. Me and Ashling went around exploring for a few hours and we met new people, they were all incredibly nice and seemed sympathetic.
Later on, everyone in Dunscaith had been called to the dining hall so me and ashling came back from the beach and sat at one of the smaller tables, Scáthach stood at the front of the room and started making a speech, there was an old guy sat next to her he wore a long navy blue robe and his eyes were completely white, it was freaking me out so I started listening to Scáthach again. "You have been called here today to welcome our newest resident Callum, and to bestow upon him his Sheild-Sibling. Obviously this isn't my job so I'll pass you over to Cathbad", the man got up and began talking, "The child shall be placed with the daughter of The Morrigan." He stepped away and the crowd seemed to shift, staring at one girl with pitch black hair, but she kept a poker face and sat staring into the middle distance. Everyone was whispering, and acting like I knew what the heck was going on but eventually Scáthach seemed to realise I was confused and took me out of the room. She seemed flustered but shook her head and took a deep breath, " Okay, okay so a sheild sibling is someone that will be the person who you will train with at camp the whole time you are here, but there is a catch-" I interupted her by saying, "Catch? What do you mean? Are we connected somehow?!" She looked confused, "What? No yo just have to share cabins..." that explained it. "And yeah who is the old guy?","Ahh, yes Cathbad, our druid. He is in Charge of Prophecy, enchantments and sheild sibling allocation. But look Callum you need rest, Im going to get you to your cabin and tomorrow we can get you training and figure... All of this, out." I was tired and needed a rest before 'All of this' was explained to me.
Sleeping was difficult in my cabin, the whole place had been decorated with sheilds and spears. Once the girl who I'd been partnered arrive in the cabin ww spoke for the first time and to be honest it was a bit awkward but Harper was nice. "Hi" I said looking to the opposite side of the room, she glared back but gave a sly smirk, "Hey there brother," Her accent was obviously from Canada, which made me think for the first time about where I actually was. "Can I ask you a question?" I said, she blushed and muttered, "Sure, ask away." I took what felt like the deepest breath I could muster, "Where are we, like I know we are in Camp Dunscaith but where is that?" She looked at me, "Well it's kinda completed, you see the Celtic gods sort of move about, well technically this was the only time they moved they were in Ireland and moved to where the free roam. That's their their thing, freedom..." I nodded, "Ahh, it makes sense they moved to the U.S then." She giggled, "U.S? You do realise we are in Canada!"We continued our conversation about different things and she laughed about how ignorant I was and for the second time in my life, I think I made a friend. The night cotinued and eventually we got to the topic of our parents, she explained that she had never known her father but new her mother was the goddess The Morrigan, "So who is she exactly or-?", she spoke, "The Morrigan is the goddess of war and fate, old Celts used to say that if they saw a crow over the battlefield it was the Morrigan in disguise trying to indicate the death of one side..." I had heard about her before, I nodded and said, "look, I'm getting tired but I'll speak to you tommorow."
I was awake, or I thought I was. There was a man standing on a podium shrouded in darkness, around him was massive crowd of people that were cheering and screaming. The man raised his hands and everyone went silent, "You Will Be Heroes!" He had emphasised every word like it was life or death, as he said this though the crowd went wild, screaming, wooping and jumping up and down. For some reason what the man said had made me feel scared, terrified even but I didn't know why. When I propeproperly awoke i was in the same room as before but now I was in be cloths, a comfortable cyan t shirt which had 'Camp Dunscaith' printed on it, as well as some jeans which were smooth not unlike sweat pants. I walked through the door after standing up and walked along the corridor, the walls in the corridor were scary, they felt like they didn't actually exist. I waked down some stairs and found myself in a large entrance hall which had a late wooden door, as I walked toward it it opened startling me, it really let like something out of a horror film. I finally walked through the door and found myself in a large valley, it was filled with cabins and buildings that were sunken in the ground. A few kids around the same age as me ran from each of the buildings and walked around the valley. "So you found it, huh?" It was Scáthach she seemed more calm and serene this time, "What is this place?" I asked scanning each building and noticing similar patterns on each, lines overlapping and zigzagging, they were beautiful. "This, is Dunscaith or as I rebrsnded it 'Camp Dunscaith' " I looked at her and said , "You told me this is a training ground for Demigods, so what do I do here?" I was still a bit overwhelmed but I decided that I woulmd just accept the fact that I was somewhere magic... or whatever it was. Scáthach stood, "Ashling! Come show Callum around!" Out of the grass at our feet a hand made of the same grass seemed to be piling itself out of the ground. I backed away, the grass formed a body and when it stood up it seemed to form itself more and it became Ashling, white dress and all. I stood there shocked , I must've looked really weird because Ashling looked at me in a funny way, but I mean she just crawled out of the ground made out of grass so...Ashling took my hand without saying a word and lead me towards the largest building around 50 metres away, we got there and walked through the arched doors, inside there were lots of long tables and a few round ones with only a few chairs at them. "Is this the canteen?" I asked guessing by the plates that sat at the chairs, "Well, I suppose you could call it that but we call it the dining hall..." She grinned while saying this, "So what am I doing here?" Ashling took a double take, "Eating!" She walked over to one of the smaller tables and sat down, when I just stayed standing she sighed and beckoned me over,