Chapter 3: First Day

"That was not intelligent on your part," Annabeth said, as they reached the bottom of the hill.

"I wasn't really shooting for intelligent," Emmaleigh retorted, "I was aiming for insightful." Annabeth continued to chide her, but Emmaleigh tuned her out. Her eyes drifted to the volleyball court.

"Imma go play volleyball, thanks for the advice." She interrupted, cutting Annabeth off mid-sentence. "Do you want to come?"

"I'm good, thanks." She frowned.

Emmaleigh nodded and jogged over, shedding her jacket and boots. "Can I join?" She asked.

"Of course," said a boy without a shirt, he had tan, muscled skin and gray-blonde hair that ended at his shoulders and he had a short beard, a satyr. "I'm Samson."

Emmaleigh played until her voice hurt from calling the ball and her arms stung and were on the verge of bleeding. The sun was almost beneath the horizon when they stopped, but Emmaleigh thought she had never had more fun. Penelope, daughter of Nike, came up to her afterwards. She reminded Emmaleigh of Tori, she had curly red hair just like her and amber eyes with just a hint of light green. Oddly, unlike Tori, she was devoid of freckles.

"Do you play club?" She asked, linking arms with Emmaleigh.

"Nah, I do play on a team, though."

"I do too!"

"So, as the daughter of the victory goddess, do you always win?" Penelope had been on her team, and they had won all the games.

"No, but as children of Nike we tend to excel in our chosen areas. My skills are volleyball, rock climbing, archery and other stuff I probably haven't found out yet." Penelope replied.

"Cool."

"So who do you think is your godly parent?"

"I dunno..." Emmaleigh said. "But it's my mom, that's all I know."

"Hey, maybe your mom is Nike; too, we could be sisters!"

"Hope so. Chiron!" She called, seeing the centaur.

"Emmaleigh."

"Is there a place where I can clean up?" Emmaleigh's skin was sticky with sweat.

"Sure, we have a guest house." Chiron led her to where the cabins were. A plain flat stood off to the side. Emmaleigh thanked Chiron and entered it.

After she showered and dried her hair, she dressed in a black miniskirt, her black boots, a black bomber jacket and a white scarf. As she finished applying her eyeliner, she heard the door open.

"Emmaleigh?" It sounded like Annabeth. Emmaleigh quickly strapped on her dagger and went to the door.

"It's time for dinner," She said, looking uneasy.

"What's up?" Emmaleigh inquired, as they made their way to dinner.

"Oh, um...well you're fifteen. Almost all demigods make their way to Camp Half-Blood by thirteen, once they get older their smell gets stronger and usually, if they aren't found in time, they get killed. But you didn't, and you send off a smell stronger than any other demigod. It's really unusual."

"I'm probably just really lucky," Emmaleigh shrugged. "It's not like they're gonna be a lot of monsters in Indy, we aren't as populated as New York."

"Maybe." Annabeth said with some skepticism.

Dinner was split up into tables by cabin. "Where should I go?"

"You'll be eating with us," Chiron said, coming up from behind her. He put a hand on her shoulder and steered her to a table, right up in front.

"Oh great." Emmaleigh muttered to herself. Dionysus sat there too. And to her displeasure, she was placed to his right, cut off from Chiron.

Chiron then proceeded to introduce her. Emmaleigh barely managed to feign a look of indifference as she stood up and gave a little wave. Her volleyball team cheered and she smiled weakly and sat back down.

"Dig in!" Chiron announced. Emmaleigh looked down at her empty plate and goblet. Before she could ask, Chiron explained how to use it. "Just ask it for what you want."

Surprised and doubtful, Emmaleigh asked for Diet Coke-unfortunately, it was hers and Dionysus's choice of drink-and fettuccine alfredo with green beans and a roll. She noticed everyone getting up to the big fire burning in the center.

"It's traditional to burn food for the gods," Chiron said, and they walked up together.

Emmaleigh scraped some green beans and fettuccine in. Thankfully, she knew some of the gods from her Religions course, and she knew which ones she liked and which ones she didn't. For Apollo, she thought, because you are the god of prophecy and you know who my mom is. I think that's cool, so this is for you.

Dinner ended too soon, and still Emmaleigh had not been claimed. Chiron's eyebrows knitted together. "She should've claimed you by now."

"Why, is my mom on some sort of deadline?"

So Chiron explained to her about the war with Kronos. "And Percy Jackson made the gods promise, over the River Styx, mind you, to claim their children by the age of thirteen. She will, by the end of the night. We still have capture-the-flag."

"Who's Percy Jackson?" Her eyes found him before Chiron pointed him out. He looked like the save-the-world type, she had to admit. He had scruffy black hair and dark, ocean-blue eyes. He had a confident air about him. Emmaleigh immediately liked him. Just then, Penelope rushed up.

"Checking out Percy?" She gave a nervous sort of giggle. "He's taken, he's Annabeth's boyfriend. And he's the son of Poseidon...very hot."

"Annabeth..." Emmaleigh mumbled.

"Ready for capture-the-flag?"

"No, not really."

"You'll like it." Penelope said, giving a wink. "We play with weapons, though. Kind of like a war-zone, except you aren't allowed to kill, maim, or seriously injure anyone."

Emmaleigh raised an eyebrow, "What about torture?"

Penelope stopped to consider it, "No, no I don't think so."

Emmaleigh laughed as they reached the forest. She hadn't realized where she had been walking until then. "Whose team am I going to be on?"

Penelope shrugged, "We'll see."

Chaos broke loose. Everyone started to get on their bronze armor, strap on their weapons, and talk about strategies and past games with mingled laughter. There seemed to be two teams, blue and red, from the plumes of the helmets. She was handed armor, which she put on, but no helmet. Emmaleigh noticed that Nike, Poseidon, and Athena were on the same team. That would make for tough competition for the other side. Finally, everyone assembled together.

"Who will take Emmaleigh?" Chiron asked. Immediately, a girl with a blue plume stepped forward. She had long, waist length black hair, sharp facial features, pale skin, and sparkling green eyes. She seemed to glow almost.

"We accept her." The girl said. Her voice was very pleasant. Penelope gave a sort of 'sorry-there's-nothing-I-can-do-but- beat-the-crud-out-of-you-now' expression. Emmaleigh rolled her eyes and the teams separated and entered the forest. The black-haired girl left her immediately. Connor Stoll took her place.

"Who's that?" Emmaleigh asked him immediately.

"Jenna, daughter of Hecate. Don't want to mess with her." He replied, "Usually, our leader is Clarisse, daughter of Ares, but she's sick today. That kinda sucks for us, because she's one of our best fighters."

"Who's Hecate?"

"The goddess of magic, she's a minor goddess. But her children have some scary powers." He gave a cheerful smile and a wink.

"All right," Jenna said, turning around and facing the crowd. "I want Hephaestus to set up the standard traps around the perimeter, combination SA1 if you please. Hermes, Nemesis, Aphrodite," She shot a glance to a group of giggling girls, "East side. Erebos and Nyx to the west. Ares and Hecate to the center. I want Gregory, Maria, and Clayton as our scouts. Report to my group if you find anything. Unless you see an opportunity. Then, you should take it." Her eyes swept the group. "Then let's go win!" Everyone cried out in unison.

"What am I supposed to do?" Emmaleigh said aloud.

"I want you to be part of my group," Jenna said, coming up from behind her. She nodded to the demigod at her side, a girl with a pixie cut dyed bubble gum pink. "This is Alyssa, we're going to be the people who capture the flag."