A/N- Thanks to IvyGreenCat for editing this fanfic!
Chapter 2
Relations did get easier after my decision. I opened up a bit, and I started talking more. It turned out that Will was really nice, but shy. Shy, in a good way, though I didn't know why. I was the younger one, and the new one at this place. And he was nervous?
I stayed in the big room for about one more week. The big room was called the infirmary, according to Will. The infirmary was one of the rooms in the Big House. A big room in a big house. Of course.
The infirmary was a dull place to be. There was absolutely nothing to do or look at. Will and the man were my only visitors, and my hunch was right. The crippled man in the wheelchair was indeed called Chiron.
Every time Will came, he told me stories of Greek gods and heroes. I already knew most of the myths, but it was nice hearing it from Will. He had a speaker's voice. A gift, maybe?
However much I looked forward to Will's visits, Chiron's were not as pleasant. The first time he came back into the infirmary, he kept insisting that all the myths were true. When I muttered and told him I was Christian, he sighed and rose up from his wheelchair. The man became a centaur, half man and half horse. The legends were true, and the famous two thousand year old hero trainer was right in front of my face. The next visits weren't much better: bringing in other teenagers, lecturing about the Greek myths and how they were true, explaining about how this unknown place was a training camp for kids who were half god and half human, and so on. Very, very, boring. I think I actually fell asleep on one of his speeches before, probably because I didn't understand a word he was saying.
"The gods," Chiron told me one day, "are always moving. For the last few centuries, they have been in America. You see the gods everywhere, all over your cities, but you don't know it. They are the heart of the civilization. They try to bring peace to wherever they are, and their children must help them." That was a basic five sentence summary of the hour long speeches he gave me. Though I admit the last part got me. Children? I knew that in the Greek myths I read, the god's children were the heroes, like Hercules or Jason. But the fact that they were still around made me nervous. All those powerful beings living in the world with us didn't exactly make me all cuddly in the inside. I knew how dangerous they can be.
When Will visited for the last time at the end of the week, we discussed who my godly parent could be. Will's dad was Apollo, god of healing, poetry, song, and music. From what I've heard, all of Apollo's kids were great at archery and had healing powers. I secretly hoped my godly parent was someone powerful like Poseidon so I had a lot of magical powers, but Will warned me against the idea.
"Having a powerful god as your mother or father can be good or bad." He explained. "If you're the daughter of someone like Aphrodite or Demeter, it might be better. You will not attract as many monsters, so you will be relatively safer." I thought about that idea. I really didn't like the idea of monsters chasing me around the world, but I never had any accidents with them before. When I told will this bit of information, he seemed bewildered.
"No monster has ever chased you before? You had no encounters with any suspicious beings? Never?" He asked.
"Not unless you count the time when Kaylie was apparently trying to save me from that mysterious figure." I replied.
"That's strange." He commented. "Most of us are endangered from the moment we turn eleven or twelve. You're older than that, right? Maybe you are a minor god's child" Dang it. I hoped that wasn't true.
Will looked at me curiously. "Who's your mortal parent?" At first I didn't get it.
"What?" I asked. He tried again.
"Who did you live with before you came here?" he asked.
"My mom." I said. "Not that I will ever see her again, considering the fact that she disappeared a few days ago." Will looked really sorry to hear that. Ugh. I just hated sympathy.
Reading my expression, all signs of sympathy cleared away from his blue eyes. Eager to change the subject, Will said, "So your dad must be a god."
"Thanks for stating the obvious" I muttered. Now that I thought about my mom, all my eagerness to find out who my dad was vanished. Seeing that I was no longer in the mood for talking, Will said goodbye and left. I sighed. I hoped my only friend at camp still liked me and would visit me again soon. I was already regretting my bad mood.
The next day, though, Chiron took me out of the Big House. Finally. I thought I would never see fresh air again. I surveyed the scene. From what Will and Chiron told me, I would have thought there were more campers. I only saw about twenty kids outside. Most of the kids I saw were between the ages of twelve and eighteen. I think I saw one younger girl who was probably about eight. A few were playing volleyball. Some really pretty girls covered in makeup were gossiping around a small lake. The scenery was actually very pretty. There were many trees in the area, and at first I thought I saw a girl come out of a juniper tree. I rubbed my eyes. She was still there.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"Those are the dryads." Chiron replied. "They're tree spirits." Of course. Tree spirits. I think I read something about them from one of my mythology books, but I couldn't remember.
Soon, we arrived at a place where about twenty cabins we all in a circle. All of them had some sort of symbol on the front door.
"These are the cabins." Chiron explained, pointing to each one and their symbol. "There is one cabin for each god or goddess, and their children live in those cabins."
"Cool." I said, though my heart was sinking. If they didn't know who your godly parent was, where did they put you? The Big House? I really didn't want to be stuck in there again.
Chiron led me to a big cabin at the faraway edge of the crude circle the cabins made. The brown paint was peeling off of the walls outside. It looked really old. Then I noticed the caduceus on the door. It must have been Hermes Cabin.
"This is your temporary home." Chiron gestured to the cabin. I was confused. Was Hermes my dad? It made no sense how they would know without any sign.
"Is he my dad?" I asked. Chiron laughed.
"No." he explained. "Hermes is the god of travelers too. That's why he welcomes any newcomers into his cabin. You will stay here until we find out who your dad is. Deal?" I nodded.
We walked inside. It was a messy cabin. There were clothes and blankets everywhere. Soda cans and candy wrappers littered the floor. Yup, it was the best cabin ever.
A tall, skinny boy with blue eyes and curly brown hair walked over. He looked just like a troublemaker with his sarcastic smile and crooked smile. I shuddered to think of what he can do, as he was the son of the god of thieves.
"Hey look, a newbie! What's your name, Shorty?" He smiled.
I coughed. "My name is Bernie, actually."
"Okay fine. Bernie. I'm Connor Stoll, co-counselor of the Hermes Cabin."
Okay, so he was apparently the leader of the cabin. That could have been for better or worse.
"Let's get you some space." Connor said, still smiling. He led me to a space in the far corner. It was really small, and I guess that was where I was supposed to sleep.
"Your new home." He said, gesturing proudly to the small space. At least there was no trash covering the floor there.
"Uh thanks." I said. I guess with so many kids, they didn't have enough room.
I had just taken off my white furry jacket when Connor announced, "Line up! Time for some dinner!" I watched as ten campers stopped what they were doing and started to form a line. I fell in behind.
We walked across the camp to the place where we were apparently supposed to eat. I had just noticed how hungry I was, and couldn't wait to eat a good dinner, not like that pudding Will kept feeding me in the infirmary. My stomach grumbled, and that made me want to eat even more.
I knew we had arrived when I smelled the food. Delicous. Judging by the smell, there were tons of different kinds of food. Suddenly, I was worried. My mom had always said I was a very picky eater, and that was true. I only ate certain types of food. What if they served food I didn't like? That would be depressing. Food right in front of your face but you didn't even like it.
"What's the menu?" I asked Connor as we arrived at the dining pavilion. He just laughed.
"You'll see." He said, and walked toward the other Hermes campers. As a senior counselor, I didn't think Connor was very helpful.
I looked around. There were about twenty long tables in the pavilion. Half of them were completely empty. Others only had one or two sitting all by themselves. I guessed that the tables were also for each god or goddess.
I went over and sat at the table Connor was sitting. I looked at him, waiting for directions. Suddenly, his glass filled with a dark brown liquid that looked like Coke. His plate also filled with a hotdog, some fries, a red apple, and a cupcake. I stared at him in amazement.
"How did you do that?" I asked, bewildered.
"Just think." He replied. Again, thanks for the helpful answer, I thought. But I did what he told me to do. I thought about a cup of lemonade. It automatically filled my glass. As an experiment, I thought about fruit punch. The yellow quickly changed into a light reddish color. Perfect, I thought.
Next, I wished for a bacon and cheese pizza. Two slices appeared on my plate. I loved it. It was like a buffet…for free! I gulped down my punch and ate a slice of pizza. It was warm, and gooey. I was still savoring the taste in my mouth when everyone started leaving their seats with their plates.
"Is dinner over already?" I asked in dismay. No one answered. I watched as one by one, each camper scraped some food off their plate into a fire. Connor was right in front of me, so he explained.
"It's an offering to the gods. They like the smell." He scraped off some fries from his plate and went back to his seat. It was now my turn. Reluctantly, I threw my last slice of pizza in the fire and waited. Nothing happened. Remembering how some campers prayed to their parents, I started talking.
"Um, so hey dad, can you please claim me. Please tell me who you are and help me. I want to know who my parent is. So yeah…thanks." I felt really stupid talking to a fire that smelled like an All-you-can-eat-buffet, so I sat back down and finished my meal.
When I felt so full I could not eat another bite, I stood up. Connor and other boy that looked exactly like him came over.
"Hey Shorty, this is my bro Travis. Travis, this is the newbie Shorty." Travis extended his hand out to shake mine. I gritted my teeth as I shook it.
" . . Not Shorty!" I growled to Connor. He just smiled.
"Whatever, Shorty." I made a mental note to punch him in the face later.
"So are you ready?" Travis asked me, trying to change the subject.
"For what?" I asked, puzzled.
"For Capture the Flag, of course!" Travis and Connor laughed.
"What's that?" I asked. It sounded like some sort of game to me.
"Oh, it's nothing much."Travis said, trying to sound like it was no big deal.
"It's just a game where you try to kill the other team to get the flag. You wear a bunch of armor and you're armed with weapons and magic items. But don't worry, Shorty, we'll make sure you don't get hurt." The two counselors looked at each other and grinned. "Not that much at least."
Great. My day just got better and better. In the next hour or so, I was apparently supposed to play a game, and not get hurt. I hated that grin the two brothers shared. I prayed silently to whomever my godly parent was that I would not end up in the infirmary again, and I raced after Connor, still not knowing what I was supposed to be doing.