Chapter 3-
Thalia and I wandered into the woods. I was confused about everything mom or stepmom or Artemis or, what do I call her? Mommy? This is confusing, anyway. That she told me. The Zeus, Artemis and the war guy.
I turned to Thalia. "So are we like sisters or sister once-removed or step sisters or cousins? Dang, this is like my mom's name!" I whispered at Thalia into the night. She half-chuckled. "I don't know. Sisters? Maybe." She shrugged. There was a long awkward silence that must have lasted for only a few seconds but to me it felt like an eternity. A god should know what that feels like, especially imagine it if they are reading this.
I broke the silence. "Do you really think that Mom, or Artemis is making me leave just because Apollo is coming?" I asked her. Thalia shook her head. "I'm pretty sure something else is going on, something she doesn't want you to find out. Couldn't be the prophecy. She did tell you about the prophecy, right?" Thalia replied/asked.
I hesitated. "Sure, she did. Was the prophecy about that girl in your pictures?" I asked. She froze but kept on waking. "Yea, she helped the prophecy kid- WAIT? How did you know about the pictures?" she asked and turned on me. If I hadn't grown up in the wilderness I would have told a lie about how she showed them to me. But this was Thalia, and she would remember that. "They fell out of your backpack!" I squeaked. "Those were at the bottom. What did you do, dump it out first or knock it over purposely?" she accused, her eyes harsh. "Or "on Accident"?" her fingers did the little "up and down" motion. " "
"Well, I ran into your backpack and it fell over and curiosity took over." I said sheepishly. Her eyes narrowed. "I think we are far enough from camp now," she said. "Set up camp. I'll run the perimeter." She said and turned around and stalked out, her bow already cocked.
I sighed.
"Such an Idiot!" I said and slapped my hand to my forehead. "Why would I bring up pictures!" I finished. Sure, I had friends back at camp. But they were all "Boys suck" and "Girls rule and boys drool" and "Shut up", it got tiring. My only real friend was Thalia and I think I just lost her.
I began to set up. After thirteen years of moving around and setting small camps I could set up a small camp in under two minutes. Give or take a few pegs.
Then I heard this noise. Rustling leaves and pizza. Pizza, I didn't get the smell but the rustling leaves good enough. Someone was sneaking up at me. I began to walk toward it. The trees began to thicken. Yes thicken. You think that there might just be a random clearing in the middle of the woods. That doesn't happen people! Unless you know, it's man made.
I went closer and stopped. It was a man in a pizza delivery costume. He was holding a light and I could his eyes. One blue and the other brown. And then he disappeared in a golden mist.
I froze. Right behind where the man had been standing was a girl holding a sword. She wore army green cargo pants and a black tee-shirt that said "Skeletons are people too! (or at least they used to be)" and combat boots. Her army cap was tilted. I was about to step forward. And then the sword was at my chest. My weapons at the camp.
