I lay in one of the bunks, trying to sort everything out. I tried to remember what little bit I could about the Greek mythology unit my teacher had taugh. I started with my, I guess, grandparents, Posiedon and Athena.
"Okay, so I guess Posiedon is our grandpa, and he's god of fish."
"God of the sea, but you were close." Zöe corrected. She always corrected me, she's only 7, but she's really smart.
"And Athena is the godess of... don't tell me... wisdom?"
"And battle strategy." I thought about how smart Zöe is, if Athena really is our grandma, Zöe definitely got her wisdom.
"Whatever. Back to the gods, didn't Athena, like, hate Posiedon, or something?"
"Yeah, Posiedon and Medusa had an afair in Athena's-"
"Hey guys, your dad's back!" Grover shouted, interrupting Zöe.
"Daddy!" Zöe yelled in excitement.
We ran oitsideto see him, but he wasn't there. I noticed everyone was looking up toward the sky, so I did too. I say a big black blob coming down from the sky. It appeared to have wings, and a person riding it.
"What is that?"
"That's a pegasus." Grover said.
"Wow, is my dad riding it?"
"Yeah, that's his pegasus, Blackjack."
"Cool!"
My dad flew in on his Blackjack. This all just felt like some crazy dream, gods, monsters, pegasi, my dad riding a pegasus, it was just weird.
"Hey guys." He said with one of his classic trouble maker smiles. He climbed off his pegasus, and walked over to us. He hugged me and Zöe so tight that I felt like I was going to pop.
"I'm so glad you guys are okay! I knew Annabeth could get you here safely. Speaking of which, where is Annabeth?"
"She's in the big house talking to Chiron, and she's having me watch the kids." Grover said. "I explained the basics to them, the typical 'The gods are real. They have kids. You're a half-blood. blah blah blah.' If you want to have some time with them, they'd probably like to talk to you."
"Thanks, Grover. Could you watch them for a little longer? I should probably go talk with Annabeth and Chiron."
"Sure."
"Thanks, you're the best Grover." Then he walked off, leaving in us alone with Grover, again.
"So, you guys want to see the rest of camp?"
"Yeah, can we see the fighting arena?"
"Sure, but we'll have to be careful, some people are training right now."
"Awesome! I want to learn to sword fight."
We headed over to the fighting arena, there were a lot of demigods practicing, some even dueling each other. One of the demigods stood out from the rest, she was tall, had long brown hair that was tied back with a bandanna, and fierce brown eyes, shes was beautiful.
"What are you looking at?" Zöe asked, before quickly realizing what I was looking at. "Oh. Charlie's got a crush."
"Shut up. And I don't have a crush, I was just... uh... looking at her fighting skills. Wow, she fights like a girl." I said nervously.
"You should go talk to her."
"Are you crazy? Look at her fight, she could kill me in seconds!"
"I thought she fought like a girl."
"Yeah, a really strong, tough girl."
"You do like her! That's so cute!"
"Shut up."
"Hey, come here!" I hope she was too focused on training to notice, but the girl looked up.
"My brother think you fight good! You should come talk to him!" The girl stared at us for a second, deciding if she should come over. She started walking over towards us, great.
"I'll be over there, definitely not spying on you. Come on Grover."
Just as they had left, the girl finally got to me.
She looked at me for a second then spoke. "Do you always wear swimsuits?"
I had forgotten that I was still in my swimsuit, I blushed. I was never one for first impressions, but this was an new low. "Oh, um... I was just about to take a swim. W-want to come?"
"Sure, but why are you really wearing a swimsuit?"
"Nevermind that."
We sat down at the docks with our feet dangling into the water. "So," I said awkwardly, "who's your godly parent?"
"Oh, um, I don't have one. My mom and dad are demigods."
"No way, my parents are too. So who are their godly parents?"
"My mom's dad is Ares, and my dad's dad is Hermes. How about yours?"
"My mom's is Athena, and my dad's dad is Posiedon."
"Cool, I always felt like kind of an out cast. Most the demigods here are children of gods, it's nice to meet another child of demigods."
"So, I don't think you ever told me your name. What is it?"
"Silena Rodriguez."
"Silena, that's pretty. I'm Charlie., Charlie Jackson"
"Jackson." She said it like it the name brought up a distant memory. "I know that name, you're Percy's kid. My mom will not like this."
"What's wrong?"
"My mom, doesn't really like your dad. When they first met, he kind of exploded some toilets on her."
"Silena, I've been looking all over for you! And who's this?" A lady said, I assumed it was her, which was not a good thing.
"Mom! Uh, what are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, what are you doing here, I thought you were training?"
"I was, but I, um, decided to take a break.
"Okay? Why do you sound guilty? And who is this?"
"Uh, this is Charlie."
"Are you a new camper? Who's your godly parent?"
"I dont-"
"He doesn't know, yet."
"Why are you two acting so guilty? What did you do?"
"Nothing, we were just talking." Silena said, which actually was true.
"Whatever, the dinner bell rang, I figured you didn't here it, so I came to get you."
"Oh perfect, I could use some food. Come one Charlie."
We lagged back a bit so her mok couldn't hear us. "What are we going to do? My parents will be at dinner, we'll get caught."
"Oh gods, I hadn't thought about that."
We walked to the dining pavilion, I saw my parents and instantly knew tjat our parents would instantly split us apart. I didn't want that, I really like Silena.
"Charlie, come over and eat." My dad said.
"Well Silena, it was fun hanging out with you, but I don't think we'll ever get to again."
"Prissy? What are you doing here?" Silena's mom said.
"Clarisse? What are you doing with my son?"
"This is your son? Silena, you said he hadn't been claimed yet."
"About that-"
"Silena Rodriguez, why did you lie?"
"Okay, what's going on?" My dad said.
"Shut up Prissy!"
"Mom, I knew you don't like his dad, so I lied so that you didn't know who his dad is. He's my friend and I didn't want you to separate us."
"Why would you want to hangout with him anyways?"
"Hey, what's wrong with hanging out with my kid?"
"He's your kid."
"Hey, don't talk to my dad that way."
"Not now, the adults are talking, well, one adult and whatever you'd call him."
"Mom! Don't talk to Charlie that way!"
Clarisse was about to say something, but then a horse man walked up. "Clarisse, Percy, both of you stop fighting. You're acting like children."
"She started it, Chiron." My dad said, the horse man had a point, he was acting like a child.
"I did not, you started it when you let your kid talk to mine."
"Actually, Grover was watching him, so he let him do it, but that doesn't matter because he can do whatever he wants!"
"Well I don't want him anywhere near my child!"
"Both of you stop it, you're scaring the campers."
My mom walked over to my dad. "Percy, let's just go eat, okay?"
"Fine."
"And keep your kid away from my daughter!" Clarisse added, I could see why my dad didn't like her.
"But mom-"
"I don't want you hanging out with that boy any more."
We sat a tables far away from each other. I just picked at my food, I was too upset to eat. I was never really good at making friends, now I had finally made a friend, and I get told to stay away from her.
