Cyrus, who happened to be a son of Zeus, seemed nice enough to Jay. He just wished he could have stayed with Tess.
Jay didn't like the thought of her being alone. He knew she could handle herself just fine, but he would rather her not have to. She had been on her own for so long… and he just didn't want her to be alone again. But she wasn't technically alone. She was with Jordyn. But Jay was still nervous.
"So this is the Hecate cabin," Cyrus said as he pointed at the blue and white cabin. It had two crossing torches over the door. "Bianca Lancaster is the counselor. I'm not sure where she is. Haven't seen her in a few days. You'll meet her… eventually. There are twelve children of Hecate living here, well, thirteen now."
"Okay, good," Jay said as Cyrus kept walking. He rolled up his sleeves to reveal a tattoo on his bicep. Angel wings with a J in the middle. "Cool tattoo."
"Thanks," Cyrus said with a grim look.
"What's the J stand for?" Of all the things Jay was, curious was one of his Top Five characteristics.
"Julia. My, uh, little sis."
"Oh, that's cool." Jay didn't know much about siblings. He didn't have any full siblings. And, while he thought his half siblings were pretty awesome, he still wanted a full on sibling. He guessed that was how he thought of Tess and Colin. But he'd never tell them that.
He would never hear the end of it.
"She, you know, uh, died. A few years back."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Jay didn't want to be rude, but he asked the question anyway. "How old was she?"
"Three." Cyrus looked like he was about to cry. Jay decided this was a good time to back off.
"So, uh, what's that?" Jay pointed to a wall that seemed to have some kind of glowing substance flowing down its sides.
"The lava climbing wall," Cyrus said, obviously relieved that he no longer had to speak of his past.
"Lava, huh?" Jay smirked. "Go big or go home, right?"
Cyrus chuckled. "I guess."
A group of teenage boys walked by. "Cyrus!" one of them shouted.
"What's up, man?" another asked as the boys surrounded Cyrus and Jay. "Who's the new guy?" The third stayed silent.
"This is Jay, son of Hecate. New recruit," Cyrus explained.
"Ain't that Roman?" the first asked, pointing to Jay's tattoo.
"Yeah. Something about being exiled," Cyrus answered.
"Maybe we should introduce ourselves," the second boy said. "I'm Nathanial Crux, son of Hades. I'm sixteen. This is Jaden Parker, son of Thanatos, fifteen." He pointed to the quiet boy in the back.
The younger boy was tall for fifteen, at least three inches taller than Jay, who happened to be five foot six inches. He wore a red t-shirt and jeans, his black hair tucked under a beanie. What was most unsettling to Jay were his red eyes. No kid should have eyes that color.
"Last, and especially least, Danny Snell, son of Prometheus, also sixteen." Danny seemed to be angrier than anyone Jay knew. But not particularly smart. His eyes flitted around, and he looked at the simplest things with wonder. He also had black hair tucked under a black hood, but crystal eyes instead of red, which wasn't as bad as the red, but not exactly normal. He was 5' 11" at the least. A blood red scar ran from the corner of his left eye to the middle of his left cheek. Jay wondered how he got it.
Nathanial himself had short brown hair unlike his colleagues, and golden eyes. What was up with this camp and the weird eye colors? Was there a club, or something? Anyway, he was tall also, probably about 5'9". Not quite as tall as Danny. Must have been a club for that, too. (Which Jay wouldn't be invited to join.)
"Cool," Jay said. "I'm Jacob O'Conner, Jay for short, son of- well, you already know." He shook hands with Nathanial. He offered his hand to the other two, but both ignored it. It slowly returned to his side. "Okay, then. So, Nathanial, how long have you been at camp?"
"Three years. I came on my mother's orders."
"Well, I'd better be getting Jay back to his friend," Cyrus cut in. "Almost time for dinner. Wouldn't want him to be separated from her for too long."
"Oh, so your friend's a her, is she?" Nathanial jeered. He even gave Jay the look. You know, the look that people give you when you have a crush?
"No, we're just friends," Jay said defensively. The boys just laughed.
"I bet they'll live happily ever after!" Cyrus declared. Nathanial and Cyrus stood on both sides of Jay, towering over him and giving him plenty of looks to last the rest of his days.
"I don't like Tess!" Jay said sharply.
"Oooo," Nathanial teased. "You don't have to get so defensive about it!"
Jay rolled his eyes. "Come on, guys, lay off."
"Fine," Cyrus and Nathanial replied together.
"Follow me to the... uh, who's her godly parent?" Nathanial asked as he began to skip, then stopped.
"Neptune."
"To the Neptune cabin!" He began to skip again and Cyrus joined him on his plight. Jay just shook his head and looked to the other two boys. Danny was glaring at him as if he was trying to read his mind, so he turned to Jaden, the slightly less intimidating of the two.
"So, uh, Jaden, right?"
"Right," Jaden replied quietly.
"They sure are dorks, huh?"
"Yeah."
The walked in uncomfortable silence for a few moments.
"Um, what's your favorite part about camp?" Jay tried again.
"Probably Capture the Flag."
"Capture the Flag?"
"It's Friday," Jaden said plainly as he walked faster to catch up to his buddies. Jay just hurried to get even with Nathanial and Cyrus again, who had stopped skipping and had begun to sing (badly, I may add) the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song.
Jay shook his head. What had he gotten himself into?
Tess wandered out of her cabin as soon as she got all her things put away. She decided to look for an archery range or something of the like to practice with her throwing knives. She had a pack of ten knives- four small, four medium, and two large. She had always loved the throwing knives better than any other weapon she could find in the armory because they worked for both long and short distances.
She had to work to throw them right and even longer to throw them well. She made sure she practiced at least once a day.
She finally came across an open field that was mostly empty of campers.
Good. She didn't really want to socialize.
Tess tightened her knife belt around her waist.
She found a target and began practicing. At first, she was having trouble getting them to stick at all, but soon enough, most found the center of the target. She smiled and went to retrieve them for the ninth time when she heard the bang, saw the flash of light. Shouts and screams followed soon after. By what she could here, she came to a conclusion.
Somebody was in the camp that shouldn't be.
Many campers were gathering around the volleyball pit. Tess could see smoke rising above it. She shoved her knives into her belt and ran across the field and toward the smoke.
She saw Jay and a group of other boys rushing in the same direction among others. Jay spotted her and made his way to her, Cyrus right behind him giving him strange looks.
"What's happening?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"I don't know," Tess replied.
They rushed together to the pit. Neither could see over the crowd already gathered there.
"Your Oracle!" a woman screamed from the center. "I must speak with your Oracle!"
No one seemed to know what to do.
Finally, Cyrus broke through the crowd with Tess and Jay following close behind.
A charred circle had taken place of what had once been the volleyball net. A woman stood at its center in an ancient Greek dress. Her eyes were wide with fright. She shook and seemed to be afraid of everything. But she sure was loud.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Cyrus asked in an authoritative voice. Things like leadership and taking charge came easily to the children of the sky god.
"I must see your Oracle!" she shrieked. "Your Oracle! Your Oracle!"
"I'm the Oracle!" a voice proclaimed from somewhere to the left of Tess. A path was cleared for the young girl who hurried to the center. "I am Olivia Test, the Oracle. What do you wish?"
"A prophecy! A prophecy! A prophecy has come to light!" the woman cried.
"Who are you and what is your business here?" Cyrus asked again.
"Melpomeme! I am Melpomeme! A prophecy has come to light!" she screamed.
"Melpomeme?" Voices raised with the questions. Who is Melpomeme? Why is she here?
One of the Athena kids stepped up. "Melpomeme is the goddess of tragedy." He took his place again amongst his brothers and sisters.
Olivia stepped closer to the woman. "What prophecy?"
"A prophecy has come to light! Those who are broken, prepare to take flight!" Melpomeme spun in a circle. "The tragedy! The misery! The five are here! The wicked have already begun their strike! The traitor! He is here! The pain! The misery!" She fell to the ground in a heap.
A green smoke enveloped her body. She stood once again and began to speak, this time in a different voice, a voice that was not her own.
"To the banished, the naive, the outcast Five,
Travel to the place where the horse fools the connived,
Tragedy and misery will lead the way,
Lost shall be found and old will bay,
Save the mortals first, those of your heritage last,
Destroy or save, the choice falls to the harassed."
Having delivered her piece, the goddess fell to the ground again, muttering "The prophecy has come to light." She soon disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Did anyone write that down? Because I didn't get it," Cyrus said plainly. "What?" he asked when he received many a glare. "Too soon?"