I drove like a madman.
Thankfully, I had been driving on a go-karting team for about 2 years, so driving came naturally to me. I ran red lights, not allowing the speedometer to drop below 50 mph. The monsters kept following me, most of them flying, and the ones that had to walk riding the winged monsters. Oh god, I wonder what everyone else is seeing…
I finally arrived at Tyler's neighborhood, swinging the car into his driveway. He had a neighborhood that was just a section off the side of a street, but it was nice with sidewalks and giant, expensive houses. His mom's Mustang wasn't parked outside, making me think it was too late, but I pushed the BMW door open anyway, rushed up the stairs, and knocked impatiently on the door, Black Lightning strapped to my side. He took too long to open the door, if he was here. I glanced up the street, and saw the mob of monsters turning the curb. Jiggling the doorknob and finding it unlocked, I slammed the door behind me and locked it, turning around in time to see Tyler standing at the top of the carpet stairs.
"Lily! What the-" "Hell is going on?" I finished for him. "No time to explain. We gotta go NOW." He noticed Black Lightning strapped to my jeans. His eyebrow raised. "And where is your dad? No way you could have gotten here-" he was cut off by a knocking at the door and a scratchy voice saying: "We know you are in there, daughter of Poseidon!" We both jumped. "Nobody's home!" I yelled, running up the stairs and grabbing Tyler by the wrist and leading him to his room. "Ok, grab your sword, dagger, any weapon you have that's sharp and durable," I told him, panting. "I'll get some food and drinks. Oh, and find me a bag too," he opened his mouth, but I interrupted him, "I'll explain what I know later. We're gonna drive to my mom's, I need to get some stuff." "Okay, I'll see what I can do…" He rushed off to find weapons and a bag. I stayed in his room. Find a pen and paper, the voice said suddenly, and write this: Camp Half-Blood. Tell Richard, he will also understand.
I signed "Tyler and Lily"
I had no idea what Camp Half-Blood was, and the voice didn't explain to me. As a matter of fact, the presence of the voice had completely disappeared.
A few minutes later, Tyler had gathered some weapons, and I was hurriedly stuffing food into the bag he had found. "Ok, we're gonna have to charge out the door to get to your car," Tyler said. I drew Black Lightning from its sheath, and he gripped his dual swords, the bag on his shoulder. "Ready…set…go."
We charged outside, and I yelled a battle cry to surprise the monsters. We plowed through the mob, killing several monsters as we bolted to the worked, and we leaped inside the car, slamming the doors shut, and I heard a screeching. A monster's claws were shut inside my door, but I didn't care, and started up the old car. The snake-woman turned to dust as we pulled away. "Ok…explain," Tyler panted.
On the ride to my mom's about an hour away, I explained everything I knew. "So…that's why you were like that at school today," he said as we pulled up to my mom's giant house. Just as I stopped the car, it sputtered and broke down. "Well," I said, "Mom had better let me use the Celica. Cuz we aren't going anywhere with this old thing." We stepped out, and I entered the password to the garage of the house I grew up in. "Nice house," Tyler murmured, and we stepped through the garage door.
Mom was more than surprised to see us, and so was my cat Tuxedo. He was probably overjoyed more than shocked though, cause he wouldn't leave me alone. I explained everything to mom, and how badly we needed the Celica. "You two need to stay the night. Lily, sleep in your room. Tyler can sleep down here." I was too tired to argue about the sleeping arrangements. Tyler followed me upstairs to my room. I flicked the light on, but instead of it being a whitish-yellow like most ceiling fan lights, mine was neon blue. The light came from a tube that twisted around the entire fan, whose blades were translucent. To the right, my bed was 3 feet above the floor in a small cave-like area that my dad made. I remembered the day clearly…things would never be the same. I sighed.
"Your bedroom is seriously a lot cooler than mine," Tyler said, his jaw dropping open. "Yeah, whatever…I haven't slept up here in ages. Looks like that's about to change." I led him downstairs into the basement where I practiced shooting my bow. Our basement was huge, just like every other room in the house. I'm not going to bother explaining the basement, it's really difficult to describe, also like every room in our house. I picked up my bow and stash of only 5 arrows and the pack of 3 throwing knives, along with some hunting knives my mom's friend had in his workshop. The basement was one of my favorite places in the house I grew up in…
"Let's go upstairs. I'm getting tired," I nearly whispered. "Night, Tyler." I left him on the first floor, and dragged myself to my room. I climbed into the sleeping cave, and passed out the moment I hit the bed.
Lily opened her eyes. She was in a huge cave, which was dimly lit. Two figures were outlined in the dim torchlight. One was sitting in a huge, curved throne, the other was kneeling. Lily got as close as she dared, hoping the shadows didn't notice her presence. "You failed to bring me the boy OR the girl. They aren't even trained yet, and you STILL failed?!" the figure on the throne yelled. The voice was that of an ancient woman. "My lady, I am sorry, I shall do better next time." "You had better, you fool! I cannot waste any time! The longer we wait, the more the prophecy comes true!" The scene shifted.
It was storming harshly. Lily could barely see through the wind and rain. Lightning flashed once, and hundreds of figures stood out. There was a battle going on, and through the rain, Lily could smell blood. Lots of it. The plain was splattered with blood and littered with bodies. The sight was so gut-wrenching, she was glad the scene shifted once again.
This time, Lily was standing in a huge, elegant room. There were 13 thrones, each decorated differently and all were 12 feet off the ground. A man was standing in the middle of the room, and he turned around. He had a long, black beard and sea-green eyes, like Lily's. He had on khakis and a Hawaii-shirt, and his large palms were scarred. As soon as he turned around, he smiled. "I understand you are confused, but by ancient laws, I cannot help you. But I can tell you this: go to Camp Half-Blood, on Long Island. You should be able to find your own way there…" He winked, and the dream dissolved.
I opened my eyes slowly, the remnants of my dream fading. The only thing I remembered clearly was the man and him saying, "Long Island Sound" and "Camp Half-Blood". I sat up, crossing my legs and rubbing my now-aching head. I could smell breakfast cooking-cooking breakfast was rare, usually we made only dinner-downstairs, and staggered down the steps. I looked to the left, and saw Tyler and mom sitting at the glass dining room table, a plate in front of both of them, and another one in an unoccupied seat. Their conversation stopped when mom noticed me. "Talking about me, I presume," I said, sliding into the unoccupied chair. "Well, you're a lot to talk about!" mom boasted openly. I was her youngest child, both of my sisters were fully grown, married, and in different states. Mom talked about me too much. "Yeah, you're a lot to talk about," Tyler sneered. "Oh, shut up," I said, punching him in the shoulder like I always did when he annoyed me, which was a lot. "Mom, I need to ask you something…" "Yeah, what is it?"
"Have you ever heard of…Camp Half-Blood, on Long Island Sound?"
Complete silence.
Mom sighed and put down her fork. "I guess it's finally time…but I can't tell you much, because the more you know about your true heritage and your demigod self, the stronger your scent becomes to monsters and the more danger you are in." She paused. "What? What do you mean by 'demigod'?" I would have questioned her more, but she cut me off with the wave of her hand. "Camp Half-Blood is a camp for kids like you, demigods. Half mortal, half Greek god." Her words hung in the air. "Both of you are demigods, and the only safe place on Earth for you is the camp. There, you train to fight and survive in the real world. You have to get there ASAP, the monsters may find you soon. The Celica is ready, the gas is full, and there is all the money I could put in there. And some drachmas." I stared at her. This was confusing. "So, by half mortal, half Greek god, you mean…" Tyler's sentence drifted off.
"One of your parents is a god."
