Chapter 2: The Solaces
The six of us ran down the hill excited to find out was our home for the summer was going to be like. I have to say it was beautiful. There was a sparkling canoe lake, a big volleyball court, a massive sword arena, fields and fields full of bright red strawberries and coolest of all, a lava spilling climbing wall.
"OMG!" The twins shrieked and ran towards the volleyball court with Ivy trailing behind. Alyssa ran off down to the canoe lake leaving me and Holly to explore. I have to say she was a good friend but I felt really awkward around her, I don't know why but it's probably something I inherited from my infamously awkward father. We walked in silence toward a rectangle of cabins.
Every single cabin was uniquely designed. There were around twenty of them with kids filling all but 5. One had a symbol of a moon and an arrow on it (artemis right?) another was covered in seashells (Poseidon) another was big and white with a symbol of a peacock (son of a gaia, hera) and the other 2 were obviously Zeus and Hades. You could say it was pretty quiet today rather not like my parents had described. Most of the kids were heading towards the sword arena. There was chanting coming from there. It was Probably a competition or something.
"do you hear that?" Holly asked.
"yeah, it's coming from the sword arena! Let's go check it out!" Together we ran to the sword arena to find a massive crowd shouting people names. We squeezed through to the front of the crows only to find two girls fighting. One was an enormous girl with a screwed up face like a mutt she was towering over the other who kept rolling out of the way whenever the big girl swung her baseball bat.
"Hit her! Smash her! ZURIE! ZURIE!" I group of buff kids were shouting. It was horrifying watching a smaller girl get beaten up like that. When I couldn't take it any longer I jumped in front of Zurie and stopped the bat. She scowled at me and gritted her teeth.
"WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU RE DOING?!" She screeched.
"Whats the point in hitting someone smaller than you when you could just pick on someone your own size" I smirked.
"Luke! No!" Holly called from the crowd.
"Are you challenging me, newbie?" She scowled.
"Well…I guess I am!" We started to fight, every swing she took with her bat, I rolled out of the way or caught the swing. After a while I kicked the bat out of her hand and it skidded across the arena. She shrieked and called for somebody to get her spear. I tried to deflect her hit but the spear shocked me. I surge of pain went through my body, my limbs couldn't move. I was as motionless as the feeble girl beside me. Holly rushed over to my aid as Zurie approached.
"Luke, quick drink the water!" She gave me the bottle. I had no clue why I had to but I gulped down the hole bottle and poured some over my head. I cautiously got up and approached Zurie. I could hear the crowd screaming in my ear. I needed to calm down, I was hyperventilating. I closed my eyes and thought of the place in Florida my parents used to take me to. The surf beach with the big waves which I surfed on the arching blue waves with the white froth erupting as the wave broke, which the schools of fish swimming in the clear water, the tunnel of the wave that you could surf through dragging your hand along the side with the sea spraying in your face.
When I opened my eyes the other campers stood staring at me in shock then started cheering. Before I could ask them what happened, a soaking wet Zurie came storming up to me.
"Who the hell are you?" She yelled. "You broke my spear!" Holding up her damp spear, it wasn't glowing anymore with electricity, it was dead. I grinned.
"Luke Ethan Jackson, son of Persassy at your service, your royal ugliness ." I bowed. She frowned.
"Damn you Jackson! Who are you, Percy's long lost brother?"
"No, his son!" The crowd gasped and bowed. I looked up and saw two symbols floating above my head. An owl and a trident. Everyone was silent for a moment then Chiron (the centaur) spoke up.
"All hail Luke Jackson, son of the saviours of Olympus, Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase!" The crowd cheered and crowded around me. "Now kids back to your activities!" Chiron then left and the other campers started to trail out.
I walked over to the girl on the floor and helped her up. She was beautiful. She had long blonde flowing hair, dazzling blue eyes and tanned skin. I smiled at her.
"I'm Luke. Are you okay?" I asked sympathetically. She brushed herself off.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You shouldn't have done that you know, she'll be after you. I'm Hayley by the way, Haley Solace descendant of Apollo and Aphrodite"
"Your Dad is Will Solace right? I'm descendant of Poseidon and Athena" She raised her eyebrows.
"Well that's a first! Those gods hate each other! Yeah my Dad is Will. My mum is Nyssa, too!"
"So…I was thinking you could show me and my friend Holly around?" I asked gesturing to where Holly probably was.
"Sure…where is she?" Confused, I turned and saw no one there. I glanced back at Hayley and saw Holly arm in arm with another dude walking out of the sword arena. I don't know why it hurt so much seeing her like that…I wasn't even into her.
"Never mind, I guess it's just us!" Hayley said trying to sound upbeat. I gave her a small smile and walked out of the sword arena together.
She showed me around explaining about what the cabins were like and how my own father was like the camp leader and about the stories of all of the successful campers. Hayley told me about capture the flag and other games and of course the one and only volleyball tournament. I loved volleyball, it was my favourite sport. She explained the rules in camp and who to be careful around. There was a lot to take in.
Suddenly, a conch horn blew and campers started to file into the mess hall. Hayley told me about all of the awesome food you can get and it's amazing. I joined Alyssa and Silena at the Poseidon table and Hayley walked over to the Apollo table.
"Quite a girl you got there Luke!" Silena said raising her eyebrows. I went as red as a tomato.
"What! No, I barely know her! Anyways, where's Summer?" Alyssa and Silena nodded their heads toward the Athena table.
"Shes found a lot of friends with the smartasses." Silena said glumly. I frowned, concerned.
"What about you guys? Did you make any friends?" I asked glancing back and forth at Silena and Alyssa.
"I met a few guys down at the lake and I made friends with a tree." Alyssa said trying to sound happy. I frowned, a tree? Really? Silena smirked.
"Let me guess, it was a tree nymph or whatever they're called?" Silena said confidently.
"Yeah. Her name was Willow Underwood. I think she was actually a willow." Alyssa said absently as if she were thinking of something else.
"Is Holly mad at you or something? She keeps glaring at you from the Demeter table." Silena asked curiously. I glanced behind me and saw her keeping her head down eating her food quietly.
"I don't see why she should be. After I helped Hayley up just when I pulverized Zurie, she strolled off arm in arm with this boy." I said shrugging. Silena buried her face in her hands and Alyssa exhaled sharply.
"You are thick aren't you?" Alyssa said like she was talking to a 5 year old.
"Wait? What? I was just-"
"She's your friend, Luke! She helped you win that fight and you just ignored her and went to stare into solace's eyes!" My sister exclaimed. I blushed.
"What? I never did that! How would you even know?"
"The guys I met at the lake. They were Holly's cousins, Connor Stoll and Kayla Rose's kids. We were pranking everyone earlier and accidently framed Hayley for putting Cyclops ear wax in her helmet. We saw the whole thing"
"You did what?" I said angrily through my gritted teeth. I glanced at Silena as if to ask if it was true but Silena had already got up. Alyssa smirked and stood. The rest of the campers followed.
As an offering I scraped some of my burger into the fire and prayed,
To Poseidon for helping me soak the annoying scary girl and to Athena who I badly want to have an effect on me and my stupidity sooner or later.
The flames engulfed around the food and the offering disappeared. Another camper took my place in front of the brazier. Yawning, I walked towards the cabins. I'd rather go in the Poseidon cabin than the Athena because I guess I prefer my surroundings where I'm not surrounded by a bunch of nerds but by the smell of the ocean.
I headed back to my cabin after dinner, too much had gone on today for me to go to the campfire. I lay on my bed for a while before deciding to have a shower. The water felt so natural and relaxing unlike it usually does. Could I like develop power slowly over time? I never used to be able to summon water out of anywhere. This whole Poseidon-Athena descendant thing was really confusing. I decided to just let the streaming water clear my head.
When I got out, I willed myself to dry. I sat down for what seemed like ages and played with the water in the cup on my bedside table.
"Hey Lu- Oh Gods!" I turned to see Holly standing in the doorway with her hand covering her eyes. I looked at her quizzically.
"What?" I looked at myself, I was wearing shorts, I was fine!
"Put a god's damn shirt on!" She demanded. I smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"Like what you see, Soil head?" I countered.
"Never in your wildest dreams, fish boy." She groaned, annoyed at the absolute genius nickname I gave (ok not that genius but come on). "You made me forget what I was here for but oh well, I'll be leaving."
"I would say stay but I really can't be bothered." I replied and flopped onto my bed. When I heard the door click shut, I shut my eyes and drifted off.
A/N: I'm so sorry I haven't updated for ages! I've been on holiday and had a massive project to do. I'll try and update every week though. Please favorite, follow and review. :)