Here is yet another never-to-be-completed story. I'm trying out second-person. Characters belong to Rick Riordan.
You hear shouts ahead of you. They stand on the hill, running down from the tall pine. "Ethan! Ethan! You're alive!"
You're scared but you try not to show it. What will they think of me?, you wonder. You search desperately for any of the ones who were there, who saw you fall. You begin to think, no, they won't believe you've changed. But then you see, standing in the shadow of the huge gold-and-ivory statue, two boys, shielding their eyes against the sun.
You walk faster, heading toward the statue of a woman that you know wasn't there before.
"Ethan? That's impossible, you should be dead," the king of ghosts says. "You are dead. But you aren't a spirit."
You can't help but smile. "I am dead," you say. "But I was invited to the Norse afterlife Valhalla. I have a body, and I can die, but I'm dead."
The other boy comes over. You recognize him. His brother died in the Labyrinth ( where did Lee die?) He was a healer, and never much of a fighter. "Do Percy and Annabeth know about this?" he asks.
"Well, I'd assume so, since Annie's cousin's in there. I would be in the same sector as him, except I was put with the other couple of Greek demigods. Speaking of Percy and Annabeth, are they here?"
"No. They're in Boston," Nico says.
"That's where Valhalla is," you explain.
"Ethan?" An old centaur stands at the top of the hill, with a familiar red-haired girl beside him."
"Chiron! It's good to see you," you say, smiling, and you mean it.
"What are you waiting for?" Connor asks for behind. You turn, expecting to see Travis standing with him, their identical mischievous smiles warning you to watch your wallet. But he's alone, and his smile seems forced, and your blood runs cold.
"Is Travis alright?" Your worry is plain. Hermes' children were like your siblings when you were at camp, Travis especially.
"He's in college." Your old friend looks sad. You're about to ask him something when two girls run up.
"Who're you?" one asks. Her eyes sparkle with mischief, and you know without a doubt these two belong to Hermes.
"Alice, don't be rude," Rachel chides, coming down after Chiron. She turns to you. "Alice and Julia are new campers. They joined right after the Giant War. Before. . . before the Oracle was overtaken."
She seems so sad. You want to comfort her, but you feel like you shouldn't.
Nico does it for you. "Don't worry. Apollo and Meg will succeed. For now, we'll do our best with demigod dreams."
"Actually, I wanted to talk about just that," Chiron says. "This morning, Valentina Diaz from the Aphrodite cabin came to tell me about a dream she had. It was rather simple, as far as demigod dreams go: an eyepatch, a hairbrush, a skull, and a sun, and then a caduceus. I assume the first four are Ethan, Rachel, Nico, and Will, but the caduceus. . ."
"I know," Nico says quietly. "Something's going to happen to May."
You frown. "The month?"
He shakes his head. "Luke Castellan's mother." Turning to Chiron, he adds. "We'll leave in the morning. I need to talk to Hestia."
I hope Ethan isn't OOC. I know he wouldn't know Rachel, but bear with me. He knows Nico because he (Ethan, not Nico) died. And ignore the number rule when it comes to quests.