Disclaimer: I do not anything by Troll Riordan!
Vici P.O.V.
The New York Underground or "Subway", as the Americans call it, stank. Literally. But it wouldn't be an underground if it didn't. Ugh, how I hated those thingies. Whenever we were in London I avoided them as much as I could. As we stood at the station, holding our breath, we all wondered, why the hell we decided to come here. Then Jay made the best suggestion he'd ever had. Oh no, that's wrong. The best one was dressing up as a Celtic warrior for a party. Now that was cool.
"How about we just hire a taxi?" he suggested. Noah patted him on the back.
"Now that, dear brother, was the best idea you ever had!" he teased.
"Nah, being a Celtic warrior at party was way better." I disagreed. Jay nodded eagerly. And Penny lifted her head from his shoulder sleepily. We made our way up onto the "sidewalk". It was maybe 4 a.m., since our flight had arrived very late, but still, the city as bustling with life. And noise. We hailed a taxi, and squeezed inside. The driver was a middle-aged Latino, with a very bushy moustache. It smelled of rosemary and a little of incense in the car. Jay, who was in the front, with Penny sleeping in his lap, told the driver the address, whilst Noah and I squeezed in the back with Jay's laptop and the small bag of clothes and bath care essentials we'd packed. For some reason, Jay had been intent on us leaving as quickly as possible and on taking as few electronics as possible. The rest would be flown in by plane, under Uncla Al' watchful eye,a later. But first we'd have to go to this one summer camp where dad apparently had some friends who knew where he was. And we'd have place to stay until we found him. We arrived at the location at about 7 a.m. We got out, and looked at the valley, covered in strawberry fields. No cabins, tents or anything to really stay at, though. I spotted a blue farmhouse with a wraparound porch in the valley. Jay must have too.
"So… we go there and ring the doorbell?" he asked.
"Yeah. I guess", Noah and I replied in sync. We glared at each other
We walked past the huge pine on the top of the hill, and suddenly, the place looked even more like a summer camp. Loads of teens and kids in orange shirts were… sword fighting?! Flying on pegasi …, climbing a climbing wall with… wait, was that actual lava?! Playing volleyball, picking strawberries, canoeing, or just hanging out by the campfire. But somehow, it all seemed strangely normal to me - I've seen weirder stuff. For example, a lady with snake legs. Or a really tall dude with only one eye. Or skinny girls with wings. And my Great-Aunt Anna melting into the river Ness. Now that was weird. We walked down to the farmhouse, which now we were closer, we noticed was four stories tall. A middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard in a typical wise-teacher-blazer was sitting on the porch in a wheelchair, reading a book. We walked over.
"Excuse me?" He looked up.
"Ah, hello. How can I help you?" he asked.
"Uhm… our mum died, and we were sent here by our uncle, who told us that some friends of our dad live here and so we're here because we're supposed to find him or something." I explained awkwardly, unsure how to react to just about everything.
"Ah, the Rivers. I'm old friends with all your parents. My name is Chiron."
"Like the old centaur in the myths. Trainer of Heracles and stuff?" Noah asked. 'Wow, he actually knows something,' the snooty, arrogant side of me said in my head.
"Yes, indeed" He stood up, and whilst he did so, his wheelchair unfolded and out rose the lower body of a brilliant white stallion. Penny, who had woken up by now, got eyes as large as saucers. Chiron smiled.
"Come with me. I'll show you your cabin for now." We walked over to the Omega-shaped formation of cabins. We stopped at number eleven. It, unlike the others, was just a basic, simple cabin, in huge. A girl about my age of thirteen stepped out. She had an elfin, impish look, and long, frizzy, auburn hair. She also looked as if she was going to steal our stuff.
"Ah, Emily" Chiron greeted her. The girl grinned.
"Hello!" she replied, and mock-saluted him.
"Children, meet, Emily White, of Cabin 11, the cabin of Hermes. She will be one of your roommates until your parents claims you. Which, judging from your ages, should be pretty soon. The Gods made a contract years ago to claim their children at the latest at age thirteen," he explained.
He left. Emily mustered us.
"Sooooo. Do you know where you are yet?" she asked.
"Nope", Noah replied. Penny pouted.
"Where's Mommy?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes. I picked her up and held her tightly as to give her a feeling of "home". Suddenly I felt very sad thinking of Mum and her laugh, her history lessons, and her delicious homemade ginger nuts. I gave Emily an apologetic, sad smile.
"Sorry. Our mother died recently, and our sister's still pretty caught up and confused."
"Ah.", Emily nodded in understanding. "My pet squirrel died a few weeks ago, I know how it is to lose someone dear to you. My condolences. But in this world, we lose a lot. Jillian Goldstein from Cabin seven"- she pointed to the golden building further up the line- "was a good friend of mine. She died on a quest three years ago. She was twelve." She smiled sadly.
"Oh," was all that could escape my and my brother's mouths. Emily brushed off the sad smile and replaced it with her former impish, mischievous, grin.
"Wait a sec", she called, as she ran back into her cabin. A few moments later, she emerged with a small, worn-down, leather bound, orange book in her hand. She shoved it in Noah's hands.
"This is the Camp Half-Blood Confidential. Your all-around guide to your demigod training camp."
She smirked.
"This was created by a group of demigods ten years ago to replace the terrible orientation video that was shot in the 50s. You can try that one for laughs."
She grinned even wider, as if the sheer thought of it brought complete and utter joy to her. Noah grinned. He was funny in that way. Also, because he totally had a crush on Emily. Emily grinned back. 'Seems he isn't the only one with a little crush…. '
"Well anyway, I'll introduce… wait, what are your names again?"
Jay decided to start.
"I'm James, but-",Noah bumped in, "- but you can call Nerdbrain here Jay! I'm Noah!" He smirked. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm Vici!" I introduced myself, unusually cheery. I cradled Penny.
"This is our little sister Penny. We're the Rivers." I continued.
"Emily White, daughter of Hermes!" She cheerily introduced herself
We entered the cabin, and hereby, entering a whole new world!"
A/N:Hello everybody! I'm back, because I'm going on a holiday (vacation) next week, and I wanted to get the next chappie out beforehand. Also, I didn't receive any reviews of the last chapter, but some follows and favourites. And for those people, I've updated. So please guys, review, favourite, and all the other stuff! Also, tell me if you think K+ is a good rating for a PJO fanfic with the same level of violence etc.
-IDidn'tSignUp4This