Sea of Voices
CHAPTER ONE
The taste of dirt filled every corner of his mouth. No matter how many times he tried to spit it out, the earth somehow found a way to stay put on his tongue.
"Hey, I'm real sorry…" Another apology passed out of thin lips for what was more than likely the twentieth time.
"Gadreel, stop saying you're sorry and help me up," Complying, the teen held out his hand and the blond that got his ass kicked was hauled to his feet.
"You told me don't go easy, James. I warned you, but you insisted," The guilt on the guy's face was enough to make any grandma forgive him immediately.
"Gad! I'm fine! Just swallow a buncha dirt," The blond spit out some more to prove his point.
Gadreel crossed his arms over his chest and gave him a pointed look, "Your nose is bleeding."
"No, it- shit," When James withdrew his hand, red was smeared on it.
"I don't carry tissues around so you're stuck with using your shirt," Gadreel turned away from the blond and picked up their swords.
"I'm a big boy, Gad," James's voice was nasally from holding his nose. "Don't laugh at me!"
The tanned boy raised his hands in mock defense after he put the weapons back and turned to face the son of Hermes.
"You sound hilarious,"
"I'm going to kill you,"
"I'd like to see you try,"
With a nasally battle cry, James charged forward and promptly tripped over his shoelaces. Gadreel began to laugh as the boy laying in the dirt cursed at his perpetually untied shoes. Their noise was cut off by a loud voice coming for seemingly everywhere.
"Bonjour, campers. I'd like the people I'm about to list come to the Big House as soon as possible. Gadreel Black, James Lime, Raury Adams, Calla Blu, Jasmine Grey, Dixie Spencer, Ash Culloi, and Fox Graves. Be here in the next thirty minutes. Merci,"
The two teens shared a mystified glance before James asked, "Uh, has he ever been specific before?"
Gadreel's reply was only a shrug of uncertainty. Both boys left the training area once James double knotted his laces and headed for the Big House; one apprehensive, the other excited.
Atop a cabin made of four arching oaks and various logs sat two girls. One was preening the spring blossoms, a happy look on her pale face. The other laid in the fuzzy grass not too far away.
"Hey, Raury?"
The girl laying in the grass, blue hair sprawled about her head, looked over to the one preening.
"Can we talk? It can be about anything. I just don't want to sit in silence," She had wiped the dirt from her hands onto her jeans and tugged at the end of her braided black hair.
"Sure, Cal. You start," The blue-haired girl leaned on her side, arm propping up her head.
The flower girl smiled and nodded her head, tossing her silky hair over her shoulder, "I have a bit of Midas touch."
Raury furrowed her blue eyebrows, "A who's touch?"
"Midas. The guy that touched things and they turned to gold,"
"Oh. And what do you mean by 'a bit'?"
"I can turn a paperclip into gold if I concentrate hard enough," Calla looked very proud.
"No, you can't," Raury played into her pride, though she wouldn't admit she wasn't kinda curious.
"I so can! Give me your bobby pin," The flower girl crawled over and sat back on her legs, extending a hand.
With a huff, the bobby pin was handed over and blue hair was tucked behind an ear. Raising her once furrowed brows in anticipation, Raury watched as Calla shut her bright eyes and the smirk was replaced by a thoughtful frown. Her hand was closed so the skeptic couldn't see the action, but when she opened her palm…
"What the-?!" She snatched away her originally-black-but-now-gold bobby pin, mouth agape.
"I told you I could!" Calla smiled smugly, arms crossed over her chest and chin held high.
"Okay, but… This is so friggin' awesome! Imagine all the money you could make, Cal," Raury sat up and examined the pin.
"Raury, I hope that's your Hades' side talking," The golden girl lost her smug look and replaced it for offended.
The demigod glanced up from her palm to judge her expression. She put her hands in her lap and laughed.
"I'm being semi-serious, but I won't use you to make dough. Just thought I'd mention it," She pinned back her loose hair and looked back to Calla, who still didn't look convinced. "Calla! I'm being serious about not using you!" Reaching out, the Hades girl lightly patted her friend's knee.
After a moment, Calla sighed and dropped her arms; her lips stretching in a small smile, "Okay… I believe you. Just had to make sure."
It was Raury's turn to look offended, "Wow, Calla. I thought you knew me better."
The golden girl's blue eyes widened and she immediately shook her head, silky hair flying, "Oh, my Gods! I-I didn't mean it like that!"
Raury rolled her eyes and snorted, "Sure, you did."
"Please don't be mad at me!"
"I don't know. I quite like you begging for forgiveness,"
"Don't be a jerk!"
Raury laid back down on the soft grass, snickering at Calla's distress. Her peachy bottom lip pouted and she looked regretful with those wide blue eyes. Her mouth opened to say something but was interrupted by an announcement from their camp leader. Both of their expressions changed to confusion as they processed what they heard.
With a yawn, Raury pulled herself to her feet and stretched luxuriously, "Welp, let's hope things'll be quick. I planned on napping soon."
Calla followed the blue-haired girl down the wooden spiral staircase, her hand running along the vine-covered railing. She hadn't said anything yet, trying to figure out if she had done something against the rules recently. When she got lost in her thoughts, she often went into autopilot mode, Raury had caught onto this fairly quickly. The Hades girl merely handed her some sandals found next to Calla's bed and then guided her out of the cabin once she had put them on.
"You and James didn't blow up anything, did you?"
"No! Last time's punishment was enough…" Raury's suspicious glance at her reply sent Calla into a tangent about what happened as they walked toward their destination.
"Dixie, don't touch that,"
"What? How did you even know I was gonna touch it? You aren't facing me!" A girl with pigtails, Dixie, had been reaching for a jar filled with what looked like marbles while a brunette was hunched over a thick book to the left of her.
"I have eyes in the back of my head," His tone was so dry and dull, it was difficult to tell if he was being sarcastic.
"No, you don't. Your hair would cover them," She strode over and began to run her fingers through the unkempt curls. "Yep. Not seeing them."
With a heavy sigh, he closed the spellbook with a thud and pushed her hands away. She puffed up her cheeks at his dismissive behavior, now resembling a five-year-old who wasn't getting attention.
"Fo-o-o-ox," She playfully extended his name while watching him return a book to the massive towering bookshelf in front of the window she leaned against. "I'm bored. Can't you show me some Hecate magic or something?"
He turned to give her an unimpressed look, his eyes a startling blue against his pale skin. She tilted her head and furrowed her brows to give a pleading puppy face.
Fox groaned, "Fine. What's your favorite animal?"
Dixie bounced up and down while giving a twirl, "Yes! Thank you! I love butterflies. They're so pretty and-"
The black-haired girl cut herself off, stormy eyes widening in wonder. All around her butterflies of all kinds fluttered around. A wide, toothy grin appeared on her face as she reached out to touch one. The monarch landed on her finger before it dissolved away into dust. Glancing around, she watched as all the other butterflies did the same.
Fox let out a breath and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. It was common for him to develop a headache anytime he used his powers. The consequence was justifiable but became annoying.
"Ah! That was so cool! Thank you, thank you!" Dixie rushed over and wrapped her arms around him, causing him to tense.
"Uh, you're welcome, Dixie. It was just an illusion," He put one arm around her shoulder and patted her back.
When she didn't pull away, he could feel his face heat up in embarrassment. Before he could say anything, the announcement from Zavid blared from outside. Dixie made a noise of complaint then reluctantly releasing Fox from her embrace.
"We were having such a nice moment… Let's go…" The daughter of Asclepius had her shoulders sagging and a pouty look.
The brunette didn't say anything, just moved forward to leave the cabin, hoping she wouldn't comment on his blush. Personal space wasn't something she thought about, or that's what he gathered from her touchiness. As they stepped off the porch, Fox could see Jasmine closing the door to the Athena cabin. It wasn't long before Dixie called her over so they could walk together to the Big House.
"You two have any ideas why we were called?" Fox asked, curious to see what the daughter of Athena had to say.
Jasmine pushed up her glasses and cleared her throat, "Um, there's a lot of possible answers. I have a feeling it's really important."
Dixie nodded in agreement, "Do you think it's like a quest?"
Jasmine and Fox shrugged at her question, both didn't want to say yes to cement the idea. It would make everyone nervous. No use in over thinking, right?
Closing the door behind him as quietly as possible, Ash tried to make it seem like he hadn't sprinted here, though it was becoming difficult with everyone's eyes on him.
"S-Sorry, I'm late…" The words managed to get out of his throat.
"Sit down somewhere. We're just starting," Zavid motioned to the two leather couches front of him. "Now, I usually don't pick campers beforehand, but for some reason, names were written on the letter."
Ash watched, out of the corner of his eye, Zavid hold up a white piece of paper while he sat down next to a blue-haired girl who begrudgingly made room after another girl elbowed her.
"Wait. You mean a God picked us to do the quest?" James was leaning forward in increasing interest, arms propped on his arms.
"Goddess, actually. Hera herself sent this," Zavid watched unamused when James fell out of his seat, cursing in surprise. "The Oracle wrote this, "Like roaches, they are nuisances. Like flies, they are rage inducing. But they all feed on the same, so kill the source. Or they might use one of you, to gather more." Hera added a comment saying that these campers are assigned to go per her request and to do this as fast as possible."
"Do we have to be worried about dying?" Raury asked, looking up from picking at her cuticles.
Dixie made a noise of alarm in the back of her throat and began pulling at the end of her pigtails, "Don't say that!"
The daughter of Hades rolled her eyes, "I'm just being realistic here."
Zavid spoke up before an argument started, "Of course you have to worry. You always have to be on your guard. These monsters have lived thousands of years so they're quite cunning."
A thoughtful silence fell over the group as they took in the camp leader's words. For some, the realization was settling in their minds while others were still reeling in shock of being chosen by a Goddess.
"When do we leave?" Gadreel's question brought Zavid's heterochromatic gaze to him.
"I've decided that leaving after dinner is best. I need some time to prepare a few items for you all to take," As he talked, the manticore approached his desk and shuffled a few papers around. "Ah, here it is. I wrote down the things you can get yourself. Here you go."
Gadreel reached for the sheet of paper Zavid extended towards him, but James snatched it up greedily. His amber eyes trailed along the messy script, his grin bright.
"We should split up the items among ourselves," The son of Ares commented, reading over the blond's shoulder.
James nodded in agreement, "Yeah. No way in Hell I'm doing all of this myself." A few people shared a scoff of annoyance. "Hey! At least I'm being honest."
"Alright. Off you all go. You have about three hours to get everything together. See you then." Zavid waved his hands to dismiss them, turning to sit in his desk chair.
With everyone standing on the porch outside of the Big House, Gadreel asked James to read off what was on the list, "Roger that. We have ambrosia, camp shirts, weapons of each metal, and a way of transportation."
Dixie's hand shot up and she called out, "I'll go get the ambrosia!"
"I can find some transportation," Fox said, scratching his cheek in thought. "I could summon something that'll fit everyone."
Gadreel nodded, "Okay. I'll deal with the weapons. Everyone can just get their shirts whenever."
"Is that it then? I'd like to go nap," Raury made her way down the white stone steps, yawning.
"Yeah. Zavid will probably call us later," The son of Ares shrugged his shoulders before following after her, though his destination was different.
For a moment, nobody made the action to move from where they stood. Fox shuffled his feet a bit before he left the porch, heading towards his cabin.
"Uh, hey, Fox?" The son of Hecate turned to see who called him. Jasmine stood on the last step, gaze averted slightly. "Could I help you? Only if you want, of course."
"Um, yeah, sure. I guess it wouldn't hurt," The brunette nodded along with shrugging his shoulders. The daughter of Athena jogged to catch up with him, smiling and thanking him.
"Does anyone wanna help me?" Dixie asked, looking around at the remaining campers.
Calla glanced at James, who was standing next to her, "James? Want to help out Dixie with me?"
With a toothy smile, the son of Hermes slung his arm around her shoulders, "Sure, babe."
Calla giggled at his actions and walked with him down the steps while Dixie trailed after them. She paused to look over her shoulder at Ash, who was standing there like a statue.
"You can join us, too, if you want," Flashing a quick smile, the pigtailed girl jumped down the last two steps and ran to get ahead of the couple.
Ash watched the three of them walk along the dirt path before disappearing behind some cabins. Inside his head, he bickered with himself about whether or not he should go after them, taking up Dixie's invitation. The son of Apollo ran his fingers through his brown locks, irritated with his indecisiveness. Puffing up his cheeks, Ash dug his hands deep into his sweatpant pockets and headed towards the Apollo cabin since he might as well start packing before dinner. Maybe this trip will help him open up from his shell.