Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.
Once again, credit goes to the Minotaur, GreekGeek7, and Element Wolf.
Chapter Two
Koeset hurried to her next class-archery-only to find Jamie, instructing a group of campers. She grit her teeth and stalked past them. The gods had obviously not been with her the day Chiron had allowed her to pick her schedule.
Koeset had never been very good at archery, and having Jamie there only made things worse.
Every time she missed a target, she could practically see Jamie smirking at her behind her back.
Finally, she wheeled around.
"STOP IT!"
Strange looks all around.
Jamie stared at Koeset.
"I wasn't doing anything. But your posture's wrong, and you need to only use these two fingers on the arrow."
She spoke as politely as she could.
Jamie corrected Koeset's formation, before gesturing for her to shoot. Koeset shot, and the arrow flew straight and true to the bull's eye. A few centimeters off of dead center, but nonetheless, a bull's eye.
Oh, great. Jamie was acting all nice to her and giving advice that actually worked. What was she supposed to do now?
"Thanks," Koeset mumbled grudgingly. Note to self: being nice to your enemies is a good idea. It either annoys them more or makes them think you're up to something.
Jamie nodded. "Travis, Howard, Hayley, come over here. I'll teach you how to do two arrows at a time."
After archery, Koeset headed back to the Zeus cabin to prepare it for the gods' upcoming visit.
Every few months various gods would visit Camp Half-Blood. It was sort of a "get to know your kid" day, and presents were occasionally given.
Chiron always made a big deal out of it and insisted that all the cabins be cleaned and the camp generally spruced up. What's the point? Koeset wondered. It's not like the gods ever come in here.
Eris had never come-probably too busy starting WW III-but Zeus, whenever he came, would always talk to her. He had given her a few gifts over the years, too. She glanced down at her wrist, where her charm bracelet lay.
"They're here!" someone shouted.
Koeset jerked, startled. She had finished cleaning up the cabin and had been daydreaming by the window.
She ran outside to greet the gods with all the other campers.
The crowd around the gods was thick, and even standing on tiptoe Koeset couldn't see anything.
She flapped her way about a foot up into the air to get a better look. Let's see...Apollo, Athena, Zeus, and...who's that? Demeter?
She sighed. Koeset had been hoping that Zeus wouldn't come-the gods could be rather fickle sometimes and she was always afraid of accidentally offending him.
Oh, well. It could be worse-she could be one of the unclaimed kids from the Hermes cabin. There was a tight knot of them, standing farther away from the rest of the group.
But then again, being claimed by one of the most unpopular goddesses wasn't much better. At least she had a cabin all to herself...
Jamie ran up to Apollo. "DAD!" Immediately, the rest of the Apollo kids crowded around him.
Soon, they found themselves at the archery range.
Apollo smiled. "Well, kids you know what I just remembered?" He asked slyly.
The eager half bloods responded quickly. "What?"
"It's Jamie's birthday."
Lilly looked at Jamie. "It's your birthday," she said. "You never told me that."
Jamie stared at her father.
"Is it?" She hadn't realized it, seeing as she wasn't expecting anything.
Apollo snapped his fingers.
In his hands appeared a small box, about the size of his hand. He passed to Jamie.
She tore at the wrapping paper, revealing an sleek music player.
"AAHHH! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"
Apollo grinned and reached around her to push the buttons.
After scrolling around for a few seconds, he clicked on something marked "Greek Stuff". The music player quickly lengthened and twisted into a celestial bronze sword.
Lilly looked at the glow in her half-sister's eyes and smiled.
"No way!" she said. "Sweet!"
Jamie's eyes were wide and shining-to her, this was one of the best days of her life.
Apollo smiled again.
"Now I swear, there is another birthday coming up. Who could that be?"
"Who?" Lilly asked.
Apollo smirked. "You're as bad as your sister. It's yours." He pulled out a large box from nowhere and handed it to here.
Lilly hurriedly opened the package. Inside was a flute case. Lilly opened it and found nothing more than a flute. It was gold, but still, not what she was suspecting.
"T-thanks dad, it's cool."
Apollo noticed that Lilly was disappointed. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You'll like it, don't worry. There's more to it than you think."
Jamie smirked. Her dad had visited her in her dreams last night. That flute was amazing. "Come on guys, let's go blast some music. But be warned. I saw some Ares kid messing with the drums," Jamie said.
Koeset dodged and weaved her way through the crowd until she reached Zeus.
"Uh...hi," she said shyly.
Zeus smiled. "Hello."
What was she supposed to say next? She glanced over at Athena. There was a group of her kids surrounding her, but one seemed to stand out.
Cade, who was the cabin leader for the Athena cabin, was just outside of the group, watching all the younger campers greet Athena.
He was wearing his favorite football jersey, and old torn up jeans with a Red Sox hat, shoulder-length blond hair dangling out of the cap.
Cade had to suppress a smile as he watched the youngest kid in the cabin, only six years old, literally tackle Athena with a hug.
Eventually, all the Athena kids were lost in a world of literature-Athena had brought them a stack of new books in both Greek and English.
Cade, the last one to greet Athena, talked quietly with her.
Koeset looked at the box Zeus was holding out to her. "For...me?" she asked.
Zeus nodded, and then gave one of his rare smiles. "It was your birthday, wasn't it?"
Koeset smiled back. "Thanks!"
She took the box and opened it. Inside lay a small charm in the shape of a crescent moon.
"For your bracelet," Zeus explained. "You'll find out what it does soon enough."
She slipped the charm on, where it joined several others. "Wow...I love it!"
She held the bracelet up to the sun. Even if you didn't know it was a magic item, it still looked beautiful.
Five minutes later, Zeus had left with important business to attend to and Koeset was alone.
She fingered her charm bracelet, thinking of the day she had been claimed.
Koeset had always known that she was different from the other unclaimed campers. Even if you didn't see the wings-which was pretty much a dead giveaway-there was something about her that didn't quite fit in with the rest of the campers. She was always starting fights, even when she didn't want to, and most of the other demigods refused to come near her.
She knew enough about Greek mythology to suspect who her parent was. She was fairly sure Chiron and a few of the older, more educated campers knew as well. But she wasn't officially claimed until she was eight.
It had been dinner, when the swirling symbol of a golden apple appeared over her head in front of everyone. Nobody cheered. Nobody clapped. Chiron directed her to the Zeus table and that was it.
Eris was one of the least liked goddesses, and fittingly, Koeset was one of the least liked campers.
Later, Koeset wandered aimlessly around Camp Half-Blood.
She walked by the forges, where Hephaestus's kids were busy working, ran past the archery range (eek..Apollo), and ended up sitting in the shade of a large tree.
Hearing voices from around the other side, she peered around the trunk to see none other then Athena and Cade, the cabin leader, talking. Athena sighed. "I have something very important for you to know..."
Koeset's ears perked up. Eavesdropping was bad, but who was around to tell her off?
"So...um...what's up, Mother? How's Tracy doing?" asked Cade.
Athena chuckled. "What is up? Well, I believe the sky is above us-"
"Mom..."
"Never mind. They are doing fine, but your mother, well...she has not eased up on her drinking. Curse me for trusting Dionysus to pick out a nanny for you..."
Cade nodded, smiling at his memories.
"Now, Cade. I have something important you need to know."
Athena lowered her voice, leaning closer to Cade. "I have been seeing the signs for several years, but recently they have grown much stronger. I believe that a dark time is coming closer toward Olympus. A quest will take place, and you must be a part of it. They will not want you, they will not be pleased by it, but it is imperative that you are one of the three."
Cade's eyes grew wide, a million questions bouncing around his head.
"Who's they? What's the quest about? Wait-I thought Apollo was the human fortune cookie!"
Athena sighed.
"I wish I could answer these questions for you, but I have been forbidden to say more. I must go and visit with more of my children. Take care my son, and good luck."
Cade gave his last good-bye, and was getting ready to go to the dining pavilion. However, on his way he happened to notice another camper sitting under a nearby tree...
Koeset's eyes widened.
A dark time? Oh, no would be an understatement in this case.
She leaned back against the tree. One thing was for sure: she was going on that quest. Koeset had only been on one quest before, and it hadn't been all that hard.
Suddenly, her eyes flew open as she sensed someone staring at her. It was Cade, the one who had been talking to Athena. He turned, and started to walk her way. Koeset's mind kicked into hyper speed:
1) Stay?
or
2) Run?
To the anonymous reviewer of Chapter One: Koeset is a daughter of Eris, goddess of strife and discord. Whenever she's around fights that normally would have been little things tend to become much bigger conflicts.
Reviews are appreciated, flames are accepted, constructive criticism is happily welcomed.