Virginia
Lou Ellen had brought her everywhere, from the climbing wall to the Pegasus stables, and Virginia's legs hurt.
"This is our cabin," Lou Ellen finally stopped in front of a stone cabin with runes etched onto it. She opened the door and it seemed to Virginia that she had entered a whole new world.
First, the interior seemed far more spacious than the exterior had alluded to. There were four separate rooms and each had built-in cushioned benches that were used as beds.
Lou Ellen glanced at Virginia and grinned, "I know it doesn't look like much now, but just watch." She snapped her fingers and the furniture in the room morphed into gym equipment. She did this twice more and the room changed into a military command center, and then a dining room.
"There are over a dozen pre-programmed settings for our rooms," Lou Ellen said, "But you can change it to pretty much anything you want." She brought Virginia to a narrow staircase that led up to a loft where there were two more beds. "This is going to be your room," she said. "There's only one other person here-her name is Callisto-but she's generally pretty quiet."
"Cool," Virginia sat down and dropped her backpack on the empty bed, looking around at the walls. They had been painted a shade of lavender and there were built-in bookshelves along one of the walls. Virginia glanced down at the floor and decided it looked like there were more books down there than there were on the shelves.
There were huge windows that brought in sunlight and cushioned window seats beneath them. The drawer under one of the window seats had strange labels that Virginia couldn't read. A keyboard sat in the corner.
While Virginia had been taking everything in, Lou Ellen had left the room to bring Callisto in to meet her.
"Do you like my piano?"
Virginia got the feeling this was a deciding question for their future friendship.
"I do," she answered, "but I don't play."
"That's okay," Callisto shrugged. "Do you sing?"
"A little."
"Nice. I have friend who also sings-and she plays guitar. Her name is Phoebe, you probably saw her when you came in. She's got pretty unmistakable blonde curly hair."
"I remember her," Virginia grinned at the memory of Phoebe and Callisto's argument with Brigid.
"Anyway," Callisto continued, "the two of us usually lead the sing-along at the campfire. You want to join us?"
"Does that generally include singing in front of the whole camp?"
"Yeah," Callisto shrugged, "But we always sing together, so it's not that bad."
Virginia thought about it. Did she really want to sing in front of a camp of strangers? But, at the same time, maybe that was the best time to do it. It's not like she would be here long.
"Sure," Virginia said.
"Wonderful." Callisto groaned, "I guess that means I have to introduce you to people now. Come on," she pulled Virginia off the bed. "It's time for you to meet Brigid and Phoebe."
Callisto led Virginia to the arena where Brigid and Phoebe were training. Brigid was viciously attacking a punching bag while Phoebe shot arrows at a target.
"I don't see why I have to do this," Phoebe complained. "I have other skills, you know." She shot off another arrow and it hit the outer rim. "I'm not even all that good at archery."
"What are you going to do if we get into another war?" Brigid asked, hands on her hips, "Curse the gorgons into speaking in rhymes? Yes, that's very helpful."
"I can do more than just that!" Phoebe said defensively. "Besides, I'd rather stay in the sidelines."
Brigid threw her hands in the air, "That's what archery is! You shoot monsters-or people-from afar. I don't know what your problem is."
Phoebe angrily dropped her bow on the ground as she hit the outer rim again, "I give up! I must be the only child of Apollo who can't hit a bullseye."
Brigid rolled her eyes, picking up the fallen bow. "All you have to do is this.." her arrow hit the left side of the center circle. "See? It's not that hard."
"Yes it is!" Phoebe broke off as she caught sight of Virginia and Callisto standing in the entrance.
"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, all frustration forgotten, and ran up to hug a wary Callisto. "Callie! I'm so proud of you! You're making friends!"
"Yes, yes," Callie patted Phoebe's back uncomfortably and pulled away, rolling her eyes. "This is Virginia. She's in my cabin."
"Can she do magic?" Brigid asked, pushing past Phoebe.
Callie looked to Virginia to answer the question and Virginia responded by muttering something in Latin and outstretching her hand towards the archery target. An icicle shot from her palm, embedding itself dead-center.
"Sick," Brigid nodded at Virginia. "Nice job."
"Thanks."
"Now that we've established that Virginia can do magic, can we go ahead and get the introductions over with?" Callie asked impatiently.
"Sure," Brigid said, "I'm Brigid, daughter of Nemesis." Virginia looked at her. At first she was surprised-her appearance did not match her godly parent-but as Brigid met her gaze, she saw something dangerous glimmering beneath the surface.
"I'm Phoebe," Phoebe eagerly shook her hand, "daughter of Apollo."
"And apparently the only one who can't do archery," Brigid muttered under her breath. Callisto elbowed her to shut her up.
"I like music," Phoebe said, pointedly looking sideways at Brigid. "And for your information, I can do archery, I'm just not perfect at it."
"You're a daughter of Apollo!" Brigid protested.
"And you're a daughter of Nemesis who refuses to curse. Same thing." Callie said.
"Cursing and revenge are two totally different things."
"They both have a negative connotation," Phoebe pointed out.
Virginia watched the exchange with interest, although feeling a little out-of-place.
"Look," Callie clapped her hands together in annoyance. "Can we just stop? Virginia probably thinks we hate each other right now."
"Let's bring her to meet the dryads," Phoebe suggested excitedly, "Juniper loves new people."
"Umm...no. Let's not." Callie looked at Brigid for ideas.
"We could...go ask Chiron for a quest?"
"Brigid, no one in their right mind goes looking for a quest." Callie seemed to be getting very frustrated with her friends.
"Fine. Why don't we go out onto the lake? That's always fun." Brigid looked inquiringly at Callie, who sighed.
"Sure, why not?"
Phoebe jumped in, "We can invite your friend too!" She looked at Virginia, "What was her name, again?"
"Sabrina. We can ask her on the way there, I think she's still at Cabin Four."
"Great," Phoebe said, rubbing her hands together. "Let's get on with it then!"
The four of them found Sabrina outside of Cabin Four growing flowers with Miranda Gardiner.
"Oh, hey Virginia," Sabrina greeted her, looking up from her flowers for a second before glancing back down.
"Callie, Phoebe, Brigid, and I are going down to the lake. Do you want to come?" Virginia gestured to each girl as she introduced them.
"Thanks, but I'm okay. I'm trying to learn as much as I can while I'm here." Sabrina made an entire row of flowers pop up in the pot, much to Miranda's delight.
"Excellent job, Sabrina," she praised her. "But I think that's enough for today, why don't you go with them? Get to know some of the other campers." She and Callisto exchanged glances.
"Alright." Sabrina dusted off her hands and walked up to Virginia and her new group of friends. Phoebe hugged her instantaneously, much to Sabrina's surprise.
"Great," Brigid said. "But we need to hurry, dinner starts at six."
She took the lead and they traipsed towards the lake. Once they were all standing on the pier, Brigid told Virginia and Sabrina they had to lean out across the water in order to see the nymphs.
Virginia looked at her suspiciously, "Aren't we already close enough to the water?"
"Yeah, I'm not really in the mood to fall off a pier today," Sabrina added.
"But we have to properly show you the nymphs," Phoebe said innocently.
"Oh, alright," Virginia conceded against her better judgment. "But just for a few seconds."
"If she's doing it, I guess I'll do it too," Sabrina rolled her eyes and leaned over the pier alongside Virginia.
"I don't see any-"
"Now!" Virginia heard Brigid yell gleefully, and the next thing she knew, she was swimming in the lake.
Sputtering, Virginia and Sabrina surfaced, catching sight of the waving nymphs that were further out in the lake.
"What was that for?" Virginia yelled up at them.
"Camp initiation. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!" Phoebe called back to her.
"You're one of us now," Callie added.
Brigid was laughing too hard to say anything.
