3. A Diversion of Our Own Making
Since I was three weeks late to camp, and since I decided to hold a grudge for a while, it was July before I got around to apologizing to Noah and Lexie. Camp was having a huge celebration for Independence Day: a day-long barbecue and party on the beach and a fireworks show that night. The entire camp was in great spirits, and I'd begun to realize how childish I had acted, so I decided to swallow my pride and ask my friends for their forgiveness.
It was a perfect Fourth of July day: sunny and warm, and everyone was at the beach. The Hephaestus campers had built two enormous barbecue grills where campers from many cabins were pitching in to help grill ribs, steaks, and chicken, which, by the way, smelled delicious. All the Aphrodite kids were laying out on their beach blankets working on their tans, the Demeter kids were passing out glasses of lemonade, and most of the Ares kids were either playing football on the beach or trying to drown one another out in the sound. The Hermes kids were pilfering through beach bags that were left unattended, and I noticed Morgan was snoozing in her lounge chair that was shaded by a giant umbrella.
I looked around for Noah and Lexie. I saw Noah pitching horseshoes with a couple of Athena kids and Jade, and I noticed Lexie was boogie-boarding with her siblings. I decided not to interrupt her, but instead see if I could get in on the next game of horseshoes.
Jade knew what was going on. My cabin mate was like a big sister, always nosy and trying to give me advice, but with Jade, I wouldn't have it any other way. She was so goofy and such a riot that she never seemed overbearing, just full of good intentions. When I asked to play in the next game, she was more than happy to give up her spot for me. That put me playing against Noah and Aaron, a son of Athena. I was teamed with Penny, a daughter of Athena. The thing about horseshoes, though, teammates stand on opposite ends from one another. So, that put me and Noah throwing from one stake, and Aaron and Penny throwing from the other.
Noah picked up the four shoes out of the sand and handed me the two blue shoes. "Have you ever pitched horseshoes before?" he asked me.
I nodded, "A few times." Mom and I used to pitch horseshoes at our beach house at Montauk every summer.
"Are you any good?"
I shrugged, "Decent."
"You want to lay down a bet?" he asked.
I smiled, "You've been spending too much time with the Hermes kids."
"That's what happens when my best friend wigs out on me."
Awkward.
I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, "Yeah, listen, about that…I'm really sorry, Noah. I was angry…not at you, just angry, and I took it out on you when I shouldn't have. There's no excuse for the way I acted, the way I've been acting. I'm not mad at you, and I don't want you to be mad at me. I'm just really sorry."
He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder, "That's all you ever had to say. I get that you were angry and frustrated. We all get that way sometimes. So, apology accepted."
"So, we're okay?"
He nodded, "We're okay. Just don't blow up when I kick your butt at horseshoes."
I laughed, "You might be asking for my forgiveness after this game."
"Ten bucks says otherwise."
I shook my best friend's hand, "It's a bet."
As we played the game, Noah asked, "Have you talked to Lexie?"
I shook my head, "No, not yet. She probably hates me."
"Nah, she doesn't hate you. She's had a few colorful words to say about you, but she doesn't hate you." Colorful words, that doesn't surprise me.
"How'd you and Lexie become such good friends, anyway?" I asked him. I'd always been curious about that.
"I was the first camper she met when she came here," he said. "And she never treated me like something she stepped in like everyone else did. We've been friends ever since."
"She's pretty great, huh?"
Noah raised his eyebrows, and I realized how that must've sounded. I backpedaled, "I meant she's a pretty great friend to have."
Noah grinned, "Sure you did."
I needed to change the subject, so I turned the tables on him, "Have you talked to Morgan at all?"
He cut his eyes over at the still sleeping Oracle, "Umm…not really."
Clink
"Ringer!" Penny yelled in excitement as she scored our winning points.
I held out my hand to Noah, "Cough it up, ten bucks."
He rolled his eyes and dug some cash out of the back pocket of his board shorts, "Here."
"So, about Morgan," I continued as I relieved him of his cash. "Just go talk to her. She won't bite…I don't think."
"What's the point, CJ? She's the Oracle. She can't exactly have a relationship."
"I know that, but I didn't say anything about a relationship. I'm just saying go talk to her. You two could be friends, and if it turns into something more on down the road when she vacates the position, then good for both of you."
"What makes you think she'll eventually give up the spirit?" he asked.
"Everybody moves on, Noah. Aunt Rachel said there just comes a time when you outgrow camp."
"Rachel…she's the Oracle who told your prophecy, right?"
I nodded, "And she and I had a come-to-Zeus meeting about it when I got back from camp last year."
"Did you ever figure out why no one told you about it?" he asked.
"Mom said it wasn't time for me to know. And speaking of the prophecy, has there been any news on the state of the Rebellion? I've heard rumors…"
"The rumors about the three campers that are MIA this summer?"
"Is it true they were killed by the Rebellion?" I asked.
"We can't be sure, but it seems that's most likely the case."
I shook my head, "This is so messed up. These aren't evil, soulless monsters we're facing, these are people."
"Dangerous people who are committing murder," Noah added. "And CJ…we may have to murder them to stop this."
Those words sent a cold chill up my spine. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that," I said.
Noah shook his head, "I don't see any other way, do you?"
"I'm working on it."
"Well, while you're working on it, I'm going to go eat some ribs."
"And I guess I'll go talk to Lexie."
He patted my shoulder and said, "Good luck, dude." I had a feeling I was going to need it.
I walked down to the shore to look for Lexie. I asked one of her brothers if he'd seen her, and he pointed out into the sound. She was about a hundred and fifty yards out, floating around on her boogie board. She was just chillin', but she was further out than I would've liked. She was a good swimmer, but the mystical barriers only went out so far into the sound. If she got beyond that, she'd be fish bait for any sea monster that came along.
I shed my tank and sunglasses, then hit the water. I loved to swim. I've always loved the water. I guess that went along with being the grandson of the sea god, though I didn't have any of the advantages that went along with being a descendent of Poseidon (no powers and all), but I happened to be a pretty good swimmer.
As I swam up to her, I noticed she looked like she was asleep lying across her board on her back. If she hadn't been lightly splashing water on herself to cool off, I would've guessed she'd dozed off.
When I reached her, I gave her a nice splash across her bare stomach. She turned her head toward me and lowered her sunglasses. "You," she grumbled with annoyance.
"Yes, me."
She rested her head back on her board and groaned, "What do you want?"
"I want to talk," I said as I treaded water. "Can I talk to you?"
"Sure, whatever, talk."
"I'm sorry…about what I said to you and how I acted."
"Go on," she said. Ugh, she was going to make me work for it.
"You were right," I admitted. "I threw a fit like a child."
"And…" Grr, that girl drove me nuts sometimes.
"I expected you to fight my battles for me, which was wrong, and I'm sorry," I said.
She turned to me and smiled. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
"No, I guess not," I laughed. "Hey, Lexie, let's swim in a little. We're getting too far out."
"Are you worried the big bad sea monster will get me?" she teased.
"Maybe."
She laughed, "You're going soft, CJ."
Looking at her in that skimpy bikini with her skin shimmering like gold, soft was definitely not the description I'd use, but anyway… "Come on, I'll race you to shore," I said. She never could resist a challenge.
She grinned and rolled off her board. "On the count of three," she said. "One, two, aagghhh!"
She suddenly disappeared under the surface of the water. A stream of bubbles broke the surface, and I knew this wasn't a joke; something had her.
"Lexie!" I yelled then dove after her.
I swam as hard and as fast as I could. I followed the trail of bubbles deeper and deeper. I pulled my pen out of the pocket of my board shorts and clicked the button. It grew into my celestial bronze sword, and it gave off enough of a glow to help me see in the depths. Finally, I caught up to Lexie and monster that had her in its grip.
The monster looked like a delicacy, a snow crab of enormous proportion, and the first thought that entered my mind was how tasty its legs would be dipped in butter. It had its huge pincher clamped down on and cutting into Lexie's leg, and as she fought to get away, her blood stained the sea red. I had to do something fast before she lost her leg or worse…drowned.
Okay, so, giant crab; I knew this story. Dad killed one once, I think…I'm pretty sure. Think, dammit! Chink in the armor on its belly, that was it. I maneuvered my way around the crab, trying to avoid its thrashing legs, which I wasn't really successful in doing. The crab knocked me around like a punching bag. It's a good thing I had the curse of Achilles or I would've been sliced into chum. I took a hard swing at the pincher that was clamped down on Lexie, and my sword cut deep into it, almost severing the limb completely. Lexie broke free from the monster and began her mad rush to the surface for air. I continued to take a beating from the monster, but after a few good kicks of my feet, I was able to swim up underneath it, where I buried my sword into its soft spot. The crab shuddered and seized as its insides dissolved away into the sea. All that was left of the monster was an empty shell that sank into the depths.
I swam for the surface, and when I broke, I tried to take a breath. Yeah, that didn't work. My lungs were full of water. I'd been taking sea water into my lungs and didn't even realize it. I coughed and puked and coughed up salt water until my lungs were finally clear.
Lexie was resting on her boogie board and she paddled over to me. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine," I coughed.
"Are you sure? I've never seen you cough and puke like that."
"I've never breathed water before either."
"Is that a curse thing?" she asked.
"Well, it's not a Poseidon thing, that's for sure. I wouldn't be hacking like this if it was."
She had a goofy grin on her face, "CJ, you can breathe under water."
"No, I just can't drown."
She rolled her eyes, "Same thing."
"What about you? Are you okay? How's your leg?"
"It's cut pretty deep," she said.
"Let me take a look at it."
She slid up on her board and her bleeding leg floated up to the surface. She had two four inch gashes, one on each side of her calf. They were deep, too, clear into the muscle.
"Yikes, does that hurt?" I asked.
"Yes, it hurts. Oww, owww, don't touch it," she winced as I pulled a piece of debris from the wound. The only times I've ever felt pain was when I got hit in the gut, which I tried to avoid, so I couldn't really understand what she was feeling.
"We should get you to the infirmary."
She nodded, "Yeah, a little nectar should fix me right up."
As I helped her swim to shore, she turned to me and asked, "CJ, could we not tell anyone about this?"
She had her reputation as being a tenacious, die-hard, monster slayer to uphold, and I needed to be back on her good-side, so I agreed, "It'll be our little secret."
After I helped Lexie to the infirmary and she healed her leg with nectar and an incantation she learned from her father, we made our way back to the beach. Lexie went to see Russ, because she was sure he'd be wondering where she went, and I plopped down on Morgan's empty lounge chair. It was comfortable; I could see how she'd been sleeping on it. I kicked back and closed my eyes.
Only a couple of minutes had passed when I heard Morgan's voice, "You're in my chair."
I opened my eyes to see the lithe Oracle hovering over me with a hand on her hip. "I was just resting for a minute, Morgan," I told her.
She raised an eyebrow and gave me a crooked grin, "She wore ya out, did she?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"You and Lexie were gone for an awful long time." Oh, gods. "I saw you two sneakin' away." Oh, my gods.
"It-it's not what you're thinking," I insisted. "She just…she cut her foot on a piece of glass. I helped her to the infirmary."
Morgan wiggled her eyebrows and asked, "Is that all ya helped her with?"
"Really? Get your mind out of the gutter."
"I will when you get your ass outta my chair."
I reluctantly peeled myself off her chair. "Happy, now?" I asked.
"Very," she smiled as she kicked back in her chair and sipped her lemonade. "Now, run along."
I rolled my eyes, "Yes, my Lady."
After some barbeque, I sat down on a beach blanket with Noah, Lexie, Jade, Morgan, and a few other campers. Thankfully, Russ wasn't there; he was helping with the fireworks. It was dusk, and everyone was sitting on the beach waiting for the much anticipated fireworks show, and let me say, it wasn't a disappointment. It was spectacular…so colorful and loud. The shells boomed in the sky like cannons, and the pyrotechnics sparked in a wide assortment of designs ranging from the typical bursting spider effect to a complete recreation of the voyage of the Argo II that danced across the night's sky like a 3D movie. The show lasted for nearly two hours, and by the time it was over, my ears were ringing. That might've been why it took so long to notice a few wood nymphs running around, screaming in panic.
I ran over to one of the nymphs and tried to calm her. "What is it?" I asked her. "What's wrong?"
"It-it-it-" she gasped as she cried. "He-he-"
"Slow down," I said. "Just tell me what happened."
She took a couple deep breaths, "It's gone. It's gone."
"What's going on, CJ?" Lexie asked as she came running up to us. She turned to the crying nymph, "What's wrong, Ashley?"
The nymph had green tears rolling down her cheeks. "They killed him," she cried. "During the fireworks show, they took it, and they killed him."
"Who?" I asked with worry. "Who's dead? What was taken?"
"Peleus," she cried. "They killed Peleus and took the Golden Fleece."
