The Legacy of Aphrodite

To: Leo forever….Thank you so much! Your review means a lot to me :)

The Journey to Camp Half-Blood

We had been travelling for a few hours. It seemed as if the scenery would never change. The grey streaks of Dawn were already starting to peep through the horizon. My back strained with the weight of my bag. I had already finished half my water, and I was beginning to doubt my decision to come here. But Bill strode on tirelessly. And I thought, if someone on crutches can walk that far, then so can I. Before long, though, I was gasping for breath and called out to him to stop. Bill looked reluctant, but when he saw how much my legs were shaking, he willingly came back. I flopped onto the slightly damp morning grass with a sigh of relief. Bill, on the other hand, looked as if he could do another tens of miles.

"How are you not TIRED?" I asked, spreading myself out on the cool grass. "We just walked 20 something miles, and you look like you didn't even walk 1!"

He shrugged. "Practice, ah guess. Been through worse than long hikes." He looked serious. I instantly felt guilty for whining. "When're you good to go? We wanna put some good distance between you and that ole town of yours before someone realises, eh?" THAT brought me back to my feet. The worst thing that could happen right now was a couple of wailing sirens that could come chasing after me before I'd barely left the borders. That was what I THOUGHT anyways.

So off we went, traipsing through wet grass and hard cement, staying out of peoples way, By the time morning came, every part of me ached, and I was looking worse for wear. Strands of damp hair stuck to sides of my head, Wet grass covered my shoes, and my shirt clung to my body. Plus, my stomach was growling.

"How…Long….Left?" I panted, striving to catch up to my curly haired friend.

"Not very long. We should make it before noon. It's surprising really, how ya'll haven't attracted any….." he stopped abruptly.

"Attracted what?" I pressed.

"Uh…Ya see, um, er, Mosquitoes! Yeah, surprising ya haven't attracted mosquitoes in this weather!", he said, fanning his face. I raised an eyebrow skeptically. It wasn't even that hot. Something was fishy here. And I didn't mean the tuna sandwich in my bag. But I decided not to press it further. He clearly didn't want to talk about it.

We kept walking. It seemed like there was nothing but the occasional car and grass and shrubs. Where was this camp anyway? Its not like they could just stop in the middle of nowhere and herd tons of abandoned kids into an empty space and call it a camp! I was getting exasperated. But I had to trust Bill. He was the only person I had now. I took an Apple out of my bag and bit into it. At least I deserved some food for walking so long. As I ate, I thought back to my last day at home. And the horns. I was still puzzled about that. Maybe some weird hippie fashion. The problem is, it didn't look plastic at all. But it couldn't be real, could it? Nah, things like that didn't exist. What were they called again? Satires? No. Sayteers? No. Oh wait, I got it. Satyrs. Those goat people in Greek myths. I mind wandered to Bill's "muscular disorder". For a second, an image of him with hairy legs popped into my mind, but I immediately dismissed it. It wasn't possible.

Then there was the matter of my father. What would he do when he realised I was gone? Would he be worried? Oh, hell, who am I kidding? Of course he wouldn't be. The only reason he would send out a search is so that he doesn't have to get off his fat butt to do everything for himself.

I was so caught up in my own thoughts, I almost bumped into Bill's arm. He had thrown it out to his side, to stop me from going any further. To my surprise, the sun was high in the sky. With all my scrambled thoughts running around in my head, I hadn't realised how much we'd travelled. I looked forward, squinting against the light to see…..a hill. A great, grassy, hill.

"We're here", he said.

Was this some kind of joke? He brought me all the way across Long Island to a HILL? He wasn't smiling though. In fact, he was sniffing the air cautiously. Great, I thought. I'm stuck on the other side of Long Island with a complete weirdo. What I didn't notice were the grey, wispy clouds that had suddenly floated in front of the sun and covered the whole sky. What was once a bright, sunlit day had transformed into bleak darkness…..the kind of weather you might expect in at 5 am in the morning, not at high noon. I felt Bill stiffen next to me. A strange smell permeated the air. Sulfur. Rotten eggs. Dark, mouldy shadows. Wet dog. Wait, DOG?

"RUN!", Bill yelled, pulling my arm, making me almost trip over my own feet.

We sprinted up the hill, my bag bouncing on my back. The smell was worse now-like an alleyway that hadn't seen sunlight in decades. Somewhere behind me, I could hear a faint snarling. I was terrified. If it weren't for Bill, I would've just stood there until I petrified.

"GET TO THE TOP OF THE HILL! I'LL DISTRACT IT!" he shouted. He let go of my arm. As I watched, transfixed, too scared to move, Bill shed his jeans and threw his crutches aside. His bottom half wasn't human at all…..hooves, furry behind and all…Bill was half-goat. He hurtled himself at a dog-like shape-except it was much, much bigger. The size of a small car, the monstrous dog growled, eyes smouldering with hellish fire, mouth open to reveal horrible, long, pointed teeth. Saliva frothed on its tongue. Not your average stray dog at all. Definitely not. It snarled, and pounced at Bill.

"BILL!", I shrieked, fearing for my friends life. But he nimbly dodged in between the monsters paws, and brought a reed pipe-WHERE did that come from?-to his lips. He played a quick tune, which HARDLY matched the mood right now-we were fighting a great demonic dog, and he was playing reed pipes. Totally not judging his sanity. It could hardly be heard over the top of the dog's growling, anyway. To my complete amazement, however, great, thick vines started to grow up around its huge paws.

The green vines snaked around its legs, entangling themselves around his body. The hound struggled, and for a second, I thought we had defeated it, but the…the thing remembered it had teeth and slashed them to ribbons. With a powerful swing of its tail, he swept Bill from under him. He flew out between the creatures legs and landed on the ground a few metres away, unconscious. The monsters turned its blood red eyes on me.

My legs unfroze. I ran screaming up the hill. I had no idea what I was supposed to find, but Bill had told me to reach the top of the hill. What else could I do? I could hear the heavy thudding of paws behind me, gaining ground much faster than me. My legs couldn't carry me much longer….100m, 90, 80, 70, 60,50…A heavy weight crashed into me from behind and I went sprawling. The monster stood on top of me, its breath stinking like rotten eggs, It's fiery eyes blazing

with malice. It's mouth was stretched wide open in a gaping grin, as if he were rubbing it in my face that I would become excellent dog chow.

"NO, NO, GET OFF, GET. OFF!", I shrieked, half sobbing. To my great surprise and relief, the dogs eyes glazed over and he shook his head. He stepped away from me, blinking in confusion. I bolted away, and sprinted the last 50 metres to the top. An arch with Greek symbols carved on them stood there. I stumbled through it, and felt a pair of strong hands catch me. I had no idea who it was, but I didn't care. "Bill…..dog….ran…hill…camp….", I stuttered, before I collapsed and my mind shut down in a dark wave of sleep.