Chapter One: Sprouting

/June, 2023/

Ash Underwood was bouncing on the ball so of his feet at four in the morning, waiting for his dad to wake up and finally finally FINALLY take him to camp. Even though he wasn't a demigod, Chiron had begun to allow young nature spirits to come to the camp, and as a dryad legacy, he would be staying with the Demeter cabin. And yes, his house was only a ten minute walk from camp but that wasn't the POINT, he would actually get to stay in a cabin and go to the gardens and make friends and- YES! His Dad was finally waking up!

"Hey little sprout" his Dad said, rubbing his eyes. He reached down to ruffle Ash's hair, and realised that Ash was fully dressed with two suitcases sitting next to him. "Ash? Why are there two bags bigger than you are sitting next to you?" Ash huffed. His Dad was silly in the morning. "Dad! You said that I could go to camp this year! Come on, I wanna go, I can't wait!" He began tugging his Dad towards the door, but Grover was already sitting back down.

"Ash, I'll take you, just not at four in the morning! Wait until the sun comes up at least..." Ash crossed his arms and pouted as his dad lay down again. He didn't want to wait! He ran outside and climbed up on the big rock next to Mummy's tree, waiting for the sun. He lay down on top of it, thinking excitedly about camp, when he felt a poke on his shoulder. Willow had climbed up the rock and was sitting next to him, her little goat legs curled up under her. Willow was a Satyr legacy, and was already climbing like, well, a mountain goat.

"Why Ashy so early?" Willow asked, rubbing her eyes. Ash puffed up his chest proudly. "I'm gonna go to camp! Mummy says that they're gonna teach me to be a big hero like Dad!" Willow giggled and gave him a hug. "Ashy already a hero! 'Member? Bugs were trying to get to Mummy's tree before, and you shooed them away! They were scary bugs..." Ash smiled, and hugged her back. "Silly, that's not a real hero. I gotta scare big bugs away, like the mimro... mamroy... The big ant thingies Dad told us about!"

Willow gaped at him, thinking about the monsters from their Dad's stories. "You're gonna fight those things? But they sounded big and scary! How?" Jumping down from the rock, Ash looked back up at her. "Auntie Clarisse and Uncle Percy are gonna teach me swords! And Mommy said that if I practice a lot, I can control plants, and they're gonna help me fight! Come on, the sun's coming up! I gotta go!"

Willow jumped down nimbly, and ran back inside with Ash. "Dad! Daddy! Come on, we gotta go! The sun's up, just like you said. Can we go now?" Ash babbled, bouncing up and down on his father's chest. "Ooof! Ok, ok, but I need you to get off, having some trouble breathing..." Grover groaned. Ash jumped off and began pulling on his arm. I'm off now, can we go? Can we go?" "Yes, alright. I will walk you ten minutes away. Are you happy now?" Grover said jokingly. Ash jumped up and down, nodding wildly and then, without waiting for his Dad, began attempting to haul his giant bag behind him, all the while quietly chanting "finally finally finally!" under his breath.

Author's Note: the big ants in the story were a reference to monsters that Sarah and Marshall fight in Chasing Fireflies. I will be uploading chapters in batches of two or three, but since I am on camp next week I'll upload all of what I have roughly a week from now.