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Chapter 3: I arrive at the Camp of the Grim

I somehow managed to open my eyes as Zeus and I touched down on a grassy hill. Up ahead, a pale blue barn loomed over the hill between the trees, and I began to wonder if Zeus was tricking me, and I was already going to start my work with plants and crops. Zeus eyed me for a second and muttered, "Presentable." I stared at my clothes, which looked normal, except they had the odor of the Fates and the smell of dandelions. Trust me; it's not a great combo.

"Well, I'll have to leave you here, Skotinaphos. Chiron! Come greet your new guest," Zeus bellowed up the hill. He stepped back as a man in a crumpled tweed suit appeared at the top of the hill. The man looked incredibly wise and friendly, yet his brown tussled beard and eyes conveyed something like exhaustion. Zeus nudged me in the back.

"…Err...Hello there!" I said. Chiron laughed from the top of the hill, and I immediately liked him. Chiron…it sounds so familiar…it's on the tip of my tongue…where did that name come from? I winced as I remembered my mom droning on and on and on about Greek mythology. All I remembered was that he was an important teacher of heroes, he was the son of Kronos, he was unusually wise and calm for a…centaur. I glanced back up at Chiron and shook my head. That guy couldn't be the real famed centaur! How could he even live that long, and why, of all places, would he live in a barn on a hill?

"You must be Skotinaphos! Did you enjoy that gift I sent you? My, you've grown quite a bit." It was him! I nodded back at the centaur and was shocked as I saw him slowly lift himself out of the wheelchair, exposing a glimmering white horse body. Chiron shook his hooves and slowly warmed them up as he stared at me.

"Oh, the powder is useful for my travels. It's the reason I came to this farm!" I knew I shouldn't have expected Chiron to laugh, but I waited anyway. Chiron just stared at his black hooves so sadly; I wanted to stick my head in the dirt. Chiron looked up, but only at Zeus.

"Excuse me, dear half-brother, my Lord Zeus! May- well- you forbid that your lightning bolt should ever go out. Please pardon the odd grammar. It's quite hard to work around that phrase when it includes your name." Zeus smiled at Chiron grimly and suggested he promise upon the River Styx to keep me safe until I left, just to really make sure I stayed in one piece.

"I have made you immortal Chiron, and I hope you take this opportunity to protect all half and full god children alike."

Chiron almost looked regretful, but he gave no excuses and he swore upon the River Styx as somewhere in the distance, a lightning bolt appeared. Such drama, I heard Chiron mutter. "Well, come up Skotinaphos! I, Chiron Kentavros, give you permission to enter this camp!" I began running when Zeus prodded me in the shoulder with his bolt, who chuckled when I yelped.

"I only take pity if you show proper respect! Just remember that, son of my brother!" I continued trudging up the hill and finally saw that the land ahead was really a camp. Beyond the trees, I saw deadly swords and leather shields, colorful cabins, and statues of gods and goddesses scattered in the distance. This was my kind of camp.

"Welcome, Skotinaphos, to Camp Half Blood. As you may realize, this is not a farm for old domestic animals like me." I could feel my ears started turning red. "That's alright. I just hope you won't run into trouble with these other mischievous campers. No need to explain yourself, Zeus sent me some information of you ahead of your arrival."

"Where exactly are all these kids you say are here? Do they all stay in that barn or something?" It was a pretty weird thought, though after the events of the day, I would believe that the barn was full of hippie children and Chiron helped them find their inner meditative state through the art of egg tie-dye. It wasn't a far cry from helping a bunch of troubled, demigod heroes into meditative and warrior state.

Chiron stared at me seriously and only said "What are your powers, my son?" I looked back at him incredulously. Was he serious? Yet I felt like I could trust Chiron, so I told him about the tree, the flowers, and the squirrel. He nodded understandingly, but at the same time he looked troubled.

A strong wind began upsetting the grass on the hill, and I finally realized that all this time the sound of many kids was could be heard from somewhere behind me. "Go along into the camp. I will meet you later." Before I could ask for directions, he turned me around and pushed me in, and I was lost among the many other kids jostling around.

"Watch where you're going," said one who had an uncanny resemblance to Ares. I began noticing all of the kids had an uncanny resemblance to one god or the other. Kids who looked like Apollo were stringing luminous bows; other ones who looked like Aphrodite were flipping through Teen Vogues and squealing, jabbing wordlessly at some great new product.

Soon, I figured out the name of the camp for myself. These children were the products of gods and probably mortals, guessing by their minor aura. Yet somehow I could sense one or more people in the camp were not ordinary campers. They had a stronger aura than a normal half-blood, yet they were not fully god. I dismissed it as my stomach growled loudly, and I knew I needed more than some godly supplements.

"Excuse me, but do you have somewhere I can stay or get something to eat?" I asked a girl wearing a green wreath and a flowery ensemble. She resembled Demeter and Persephone so much, I felt like I could trust her just as much as Chiron. The girls light spray of freckles seemed to grow paler as she stared at me and walked away.

"Hey," I heard another girl's voice call out. I felt a hand clasp onto my shoulder and turn me around roughly. "Are you lost or something? Where did you come from?" A girl with chestnut hair glanced over my shoulder before examining me. Her eyes were a bright blue, mischievous but more intimidating than most eyes. Her nearly elfish ears and nose reminded me of Hermes, who often brought the dead to the Underworld and joked around with me, George, and Martha, his caduceus snakes. Well, maybe George didn't get it most of the time, but Martha and I were pretty attentive listeners.

Unlike her dad, the girl looked horribly upset and disturbed, as though someone had just blown their halitosis breath on her. Her mouth was set in a grim frown as she continued to inspect me. Satisfied, she looked back at my face. She muttered something that sounded vaguely like orca.

Suddenly, Chiron trotted up to us and crossed his arms. "How is the camp looking so far, my boy?" I looked away from the Hermes girl and put on a fake smile for him.

"Oh! It's great so far, this…girl was just talking to me about the camp."

"Oh?" Chiron raised an eyebrow and stared at the brunette suspiciously. The girl suddenly pointed at me, her finger hovering between my eyes, not moving her sight from Chiron.

"So when were you planning to tell me about him?" she demanded. Chiron tugged on his beard unhappily and paced around the dirt as some demigods momentarily stopped to watch. Chiron shooed them away and stared at us both thoughtfully.

"Abigail, I'm very sorry, but he just arrived. Skotinaphos, this is Abigail McMillan. Abigail, this is Skotinaphos."

"Who?" Abigail looked totally confused and demanded that he repeat the pronunciation of my name again.

"He's a son of Hades and Persephone." Abigail looked befuddled again, then it seemed like a light bulb went off in her head, pushing through her ADHD and dyslexia. She grumbled to herself and the frown that already existed on Abigail's face just deepened.

"So that makes him-" Abigail stopped and re-examined me, as though she had missed something crucial the last time, and then the orca whisper. Again.

"What's your power Skotinaphos?" Abigail tried hard to pronounce my name right, but it just came out sounding like "Scot eeny a foes." Her face didn't allow me to judge whether she was joking, or she really couldn't pronounce, because it was all twisted. Either way, that question was the last straw.

"Why do you need to know about that? I'm fine; I don't need your help or sympathy."

"Nice welcome for your welcome committee, eh," Abigail smirked.

"Just for the record, you can call me Scott. Fine, Hermes's daughter, I'll treat you like a welcome committee if that's what you really want." The girl winced as I said Hermes's daughter, but she opened her mouth to answer back defiantly.

"Abigail..."Chiron warned. "Well, if you want to show him around so badly, I appoint you Scott's official guide for Camp Half- Blood. Now, if you will excuse me, Mr. D is expecting me to play pinochle, and he mildly suggested that I save my Frank Sinatra Top 10 Hits from sudden death by grape juice. So goodbye!" Chiron approached Abigail, and I heard him say something like "You can't be sure it's him".

Then he galloped away quickly. Now I was the one who was uncomfortable, because I definitely didn't want Abigail as a guide, and I wanted to ask Chiron about his whisper (what was with this camp and whispers?), but I followed her as she introduced me to the teachers, the grumpy pinochle player who I recognized as Dionysus, the lava wall, the theater, stables, fields, lake, and finally, the cabins. Abigail looked at me; her face set in a satisfied grin. If I hadn't known better, I would call that girl a daughter of Ares.

"Sorry, neither of your parents have a cabin here at Camp Half Blood. But you could share with the Demeter kids if you want," she said, pointing to a leafy-vine covered greenhouse and cabin. Tanned kids with bright green eyes were racing around with pots and handbooks, yelling things like "Succulents! I need some balanced conditions ASAP!"

"No thanks, I'll just be heading on my way back to home sweet Underworld tonight." Abigail suddenly looked startled and her eyes grew as wider and wider. For a couple of seconds I thought she actually cared about my welfare in the Underworld, but I realized people sometimes said that meaning they were going to meet Death. Actually, he wasn't really a bad guy once you got to know him, as long as you were healthy and all. He hates people who feed on junk food.

"Ah, its fine. I actually live in the Underworld you know. It's not just a onetime only visit or, maybe in some demigod cases, 2nd or 4th time. You demigods get lucky with my sister Mack all the time. She's the one who lets you go to the Isles of the Blest and all that. Well, moving on, I usually only leave in the spring, but I would still need some allergy medication and you know that's not really-" Abigail held up a silencing hand and nodded at me to signal that I was blabbering too much. I glared at her and waited for her to explain herself.

"No, that's not what I meant. Hermes and his…kids aren't that simple-minded you know."

"Oh, I know." Abigail rolled her eyes and continued.

"What I'm saying is, the monsters come out to prey mostly at night. You probably don't want to get mixed up with a gang of Harpies because they will tear limb to limb, regardless of some minor godly status." I felt a pang of frustration as I heard Abigail mention I was someone of minor godly status. I tried to calm myself down by remembering that there were actually a lot of minor gods. There was Mack, Plu, Zag, and Mel (the creepy one). They were all my family. But I guess I was the only one given a decent human-like nickname. Scott…

"Scott?" Abigail was staring at me and waving a frantic hand in front of my face.

"Yeah? What is it? Did something happen?" Abigail looked exhausted from waving her hand in my face, and her face turned red as she talked again in a deadly quiet tone.

"Would I be standing here calmly if there was an emergency? Now, Chiron just sent me an Iris Message saying to invite you to the semi-annual Talent-Fest today. Some new tradition he came up with to cultivate our inner self and enhance our mental power." So I guess I wasn't far off on that 70's meditation-like idea. "It will be a blast to be there tonight; blah blah…I'd rather swipe something from a gas stop where the clerk is fast asleep. Now that is actually some fun stuff right there, especially if you go with some fake mustaches and a fri-" Abigail stopped. I waited for her to continue, but she never did.

"I am sorry, you have just been disconnected from the Abigail network," I said robotically. Abigail's eyes looked all watery and I immediately regretted it. I stood there in silence for a couple of minutes before Abigail finally gathered herself up and started walking towards Cabin 11, a log cabin with a caduceus that looked like it had just recently been TP'ed. Abigail mournfully swept some toilet paper from the door and walked in, letting out some loud screams and laughter from the mischievous kids within.

"I have to practice," Abigail explained softly. This definitely wasn't the cocky girl I had met when I entered the camp.

"Hey, so where am I supposed to stay? Or would you rather I got turned to Harpy kibble on your doorstep?" It was a lame crack at a joke, but hey, I tried.

Abigail smiled meekly and just replied, "I guess you can stay here…there's probably a space big enough to sit in that hasn't been bombarded with eggs and toilet paper. It's pretty much our cabin's job to house travelers and un-claimed demigods, though we don't do much of a job-" Abigail's talking was muffled by a sudden explosion in one corner, then a burst of multi-colored Styrofoam peanuts and a recorded voice saying, "Haha, lo-ser. Haha, lo-ser." The explosion kids with features like Abigail's laughed and talked to some other kids who didn't appear to be Hermes's children. Oddly, they were all staring at Abigail in a way I couldn't put my finger on.

"Is it always like this?" I yelled, but it didn't appear that Abigail had heard me. She had plopped onto her bed and was fingering a bead necklace with 1 bead, a black one with a sea green trident on it. Her bunk was littered with road maps, a yellow plastic backpack, and skeleton keys, like she was preparing for some trip to a museum of locks. Abigail grabbed some headphones from the backpack and listened to them, muttering some words as she nodded her head. She pointed a finger at a clean square at the back of the room, near the exploding Styrofoam kids. I carefully edged towards the area, wondering endlessly if this would lead to my doom.