Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series.
When I awoke, I wasn't aware of my surroundings. I knew I was moving at a fast speed. The wind was playing with my hair and my arms and legs were hanging over something. I don't remember much – only being in the National History Museum with my History class. I was there, walking through the corridor, and then I was here – Wherever here was.
I made the mistake of opening my eyes. I stared down, terror in my eyes as I flew over a forest of some sort. I presumed I was flying, anyway. I sat up quickly, startling whatever I was lying on. I looked down and found myself sitting on a horse. But this wasn't an ordinary horse. This horse was grey, and it had wings. Wings! What kind of horse had wings? I looked to my left and saw a black horse-with-wings with two people sitting on its back. One of them was a girl with blonde hair, the other seemed familiar, really familiar. I don't know how, because I don't remember seeing someone with goat legs before. Then he turned to look at me.
"Sleeping beauty wakes!" Toni gave me a guilty smile, "Sorry we had to knock you out, OJ, but I know what you're like. You would have either killed Annabeth and Sky, or you would have killed yourself. We don't really need that. Not when you haven't even arrived at Camp yet."
"I can't believe that someone is that terrified of flying." A deep voice spoke from behind me. I turned my head to stare at one of the most handsome people I had ever seen. His eyes were a light blue, the colour of the sky on a cloudless day. His hair was long-ish and black. His hair was styled as if he was a skateboarder and wore a beanie hat all the time. There was no beanie present, however.
"I had an incident when I was three years old and I swore to never fly again." I heard myself speak, my voice shaking. I really wasn't comfortable at being this far away from the ground.
"Not everyone is as comfortable being in the air as you, Sky." The girl, Annabeth, spoke. "Just because your father is Zeus doesn't mean that everyone has to like flying. You know other Demigods don't fly because Zeus doesn't like them."
Demigods? Zeus? I must have hit my head earlier. This wasn't making any sense. We were on flying horses – Pegasi, as I remember – and this Sky person was meant to be the son of Zeus. The Gods are myths. Make believe. They don't really exist... do they? And what was this camp Toni talked about?
"But flying is amazing! It gives you this adrenaline rush that makes you want to scream and shout and just laugh," Sky said, chuckling a little
"It makes me want to be sick," I looked straight ahead, not daring to look down.
"We're almost at the camp." Toni said, just as the Pegasi started to descend. "You'll be fine once you have your feet firmly on the ground."
I didn't believe Toni. I had this weird, gut instinct that I'm safer in the air. I felt like something was going to attack us once we landed, or even before we had the chance to land. Why we were going to stop in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere, I had no idea.
"What camp? What exactly is going on?" I saw Toni and Annabeth looking at each other. That clearly wasn't comforting. "Are you going to answer me?"
"There's this camp," Toni began reluctantly, "For children who are half mortal, half God. It's called Camp Half Blood. It's where Demigods train and learn to survive in their world. Normally, you're supposed to go there when you're around 12 or 13, but your mother begged the Gods to let you stay until you turned 16."
"Gods? 16? My mum? This hasn't got anything to do with her cancer, does it?" Toni and Annabeth looked at each other again. "Toni, what's happened to my mum?"
"She made a promise to your father. She promised that once you turn 16, you will go to Camp like you were supposed to and her time on Earth would be... over. She let him give her cancer so she would see you grow up, and she would die once you arrive at Camp. She brought you up, just like she was supposed to, like she promised to, and ... it was her decision, OJ. She's proud to know that her daughter, her only child, is one of the few that can save this world from mass destruction. She was ready to let go. She knows you'll make the right decisions as an adult."
I couldn't believe it. My father gave my mum cancer, just so she can die once I left for this Camp? What kind of person would do that to someone he supposedly loves? Why would my mum do that? She had cancer because of me? Because I was born. Because I was supposed to go to this Camp. Because she wasn't ready to let go. And now, she's... dead. Because of me and because I'm supposed to save the world?
"I know this is hard for you, but you can't let your mum die in vain." I looked towards Annabeth, tears in my eyes. "You have to train and survive to make her proud in the Underworld. Make your father proud. To you, those are the only people that matter."
"And because of me, my father willingly gave my mother cancer and let her die as soon as I left home. If I wasn't born, my mum would be alive, and my dad would still be with her. I'm the reason he left, after all."
"He left because he had to. Everyone's God parent did. You're lucky. You had 7 months with your father. Some of us didn't even have a week with our father, or mother." I tried to ignore Sky's voice, but I couldn't. "Sure, your mum died. Sure, your dad didn't visit. That doesn't mean they aren't with you in your thoughts or in your dreams. Don't give up on life because they aren't there physically."
"Since when were you deep?" Annabeth asked Sky. Something told me that he wasn't that deep often.
"Since I wanted to cheer her up, and to get her mind off our descent." I looked up from staring at the back of the Pegasus' head to notice my surroundings. We definitely weren't in the sky anymore. We were in a stable, with other Pegasi around us in their stalls. I felt Sky's body move from behind me. He reached his hands up to help me climb off the Pegasus' back. When my feet were on the ground, I felt myself stop shaking. There was no way I was going to go flying on a Pegasus ever again.
"Well, now that we're here, let's get you to Chiron," Toni said, walking over to me. He gave me a sympathetic smile, "I'm sorry you had to hear that, but its better that you heard it sooner than later. You look like you need a drink. Tea?"
"You so know me," I smiled weakly at him. "But I should meet this Chiron person first. Isn't he a centaur?"
"Yup, and you'll love him. Everyone does. He's like a really cool uncle." I followed Toni, Annabeth and Sky out of the stables. I wasn't listening to what they were saying about Chiron. I couldn't stop thinking about my mum and how she made that terrible promise with my so-called father.
