Chapter 4: We Make A 'REALLY BIG' Splash At Camp

I woke up feeling better than I ever had before in my life. I stretched and blinked the sleep from my eyes. My room was still a mess, with my album jackets all over the floor and discarded laundry, but I noticed a slight weight on the end of my bed. I glanced down at it and realized that my mom must've left me some fresh clothes. I slipped out of bed to find that I was in PJs and pulled them off. I threw on an old shirt and some faded jeans and stretched again.

Ever wake up from one of those kinds of dreams that felt so real that you could've sworn it happened? That's how I felt as I tried to clean up my room a little bit. I glanced at my alarm clock to see that it read one in the afternoon. I must've slept right through school for the most part: Jacen's not going to be happy about that. Anyways, in my dream, I was given this necklace that turned into a giant sickle, my favorite teacher (who turned out to be the God of the Sun, Apollo) had Jacen and me fight a Chimera, which ended up torching the gym. Jacen discovered he was The Human Torch pretty much, and then I find out that my mom knows Apollo and that I'm a half-blood: half human, and half immortal! Then to make things even weirder, I had this dream within a dream about a giant space eyeball that could talk!

I know: it's pretty crazy, right?

I bent down to pick up a Pink Floyd album off my floor and felt something cool on my chest that I hadn't noticed earlier. I reached into my shirt and grasped it. I withdrew my hand to come face to face with the same necklace from my dream. I froze up.

All at once, memories from earlier this morning poured into my mind, and I realized the reason why I must've thought it was all a dream was because I wasn't dressed or beat up like I was after fighting the Chimera. Heck, even my back felt great, and I landed hard on it at least a bazillion times during the fight.

Almost like an 'I told you it was a real dream' I glanced over at my trash bin and saw Jacen's and my tattered, charred clothes from the fight, stuffed within. I gripped the necklace tightly in my right hand and after taking a breath, flicked the sickle dangling on the chain. The large sickle grew almost instantly and once more I stared at the weapon Mr. P had given to me just this morning.

Mr. P!

Mr. P was actually The God of the Sun, Apollo! The thought was so staggering, I almost blacked out again from realization. After a few deep breaths, I started to figure a few things out. As the God of Medicine, Apollo probably healed me, so that's why I felt as good as new. And if I remember correctly, if Apollo is also the God of Prophecy, it made so much more sense how he always knew what was going on! The guy could see into the future! God of music: which was a no-brainer. Didn't Jacen say…?

Dude! Where was Jacen?

I practically smashed down my bedroom door in my hurry to find my mom, Jacen, and Mr. P – I mean Apollo. I slid right past the living room and backtracked to the open arch doorway and peered in. To this day, I'll never forget the sight.

Jacen was fine. He looked good as new and was wearing some of my clothes that were a little too big for me, courtesy of my mom no doubt. It was weird seeing Jacen in any shirt that didn't have something sarcastic printed on it! Mr. P (Apollo – I'm never going to get used to that) was arm wrestling with Jacen! Jacen looked like he was winning, but I figured Apollo wasn't really trying. In fact, he looked amused at the effort Jacen was putting in. My mom was on the couch sipping her coffee and watching a news report on the incident at school this morning. We met eyes and she smiled warmly.

"Oh! You're awake Eddy!"

Jacen and Apollo seemed too wrapped up in their arm wrestling to look up.

"Say uncle!" Jacen cried as he forced Apollo's hand to the other side. I knew it was obvious that the immortal let Jacen win good-naturedly, but he made a face when Jacen said, 'uncle'.

"Jacen," Apollo deadpanned. "You have no idea how ironic that was."

"Stop trying to throw me off my A-game!" Jacen retorted. "Are you the God of Misdirection now too?"

Apollo looked like he was going to respond when he seemed to have finally noticed me and looked up. He grinned that mega-watt smile and I felt like I might need to shield my eyes.

"Good to see you up dude! Sorry about that, I thought that after everything you dudes went through today, finding out my true identity wouldn't make you pass out!"

Jacen sniggered. I felt my cheeks getting warm.

"Yeah well," I stammered, "It's not everyday you find out that all of that mythological stuff you learn is actually real."

Apollo nodded his in agreement.

"I do gotta say though," he remarked, "You two dudes took it better than most. Defeating a Chimera (of all monsters) is no real feat."

I shuddered. Now that I wasn't in a life-and-death scenario anymore, the thought of the monster gave me the chills. Jacen's face turned pale again. Guess he didn't want to think about it either.

"Are there more monsters like that?" Jacen asked quietly. Apollo's eyebrows rose.

"Like the Chimera? You bet. Some monsters make even the Chimera look tame."

I gulped and looked at my mom. She was looking down sadly at her coffee, and I felt awful. I hadn't even considered that as a mortal, she probably had no clue what we were talking about, unless Apollo explained it to her.

I went over and sat by her on the couch.

"It's alright mom," I began, "the Chimera wasn't that bad, it was…"

"I can see through the Mist, Eddy."

I looked at her in shock. Did I hear her right? It must've really shown on my face because she actually smiled a bit at my expression.

"According to Lord Apollo, some mortals can. I've always been able to, although it was easier when I was a little girl. I think that's one of the many reasons your father and I fell in love."

"Because you knew dad was an Olympian god?" I said.

My mom frowned at that and glanced at Apollo who shook his head in a warning gesture. Really guys? I'm ADHD, but I'm not stupid.

"So, dad wasn't an Olympian?" I asked. Apollo beat me to the punch.

"While it's true that most half-bloods are mostly children of the Olympians, there's plenty of other immortals, dude. Come on, I thought we covered this in class!"

That almost made me snort. I suppose teaching really did rub off on the God of the Sun. Jacen chuckled.

"How could we forget?" he laughed. His face took on a more serious expression.

"I'm guessing neither of us have Olympian parents then?"

Apollo looked like he was just struck in the face.

"What make you assume that, dude?" he almost stammered.

Jacen made a face like, 'Got you!' and just shrugged.

"I don't know. It just seems like, you know; if our fathers were one of the Olympians like you, wouldn't our abilities be more like those demigods in the Iliad or those myths you made us read?"

I wasn't exactly sure, but I could tell that Apollo was a little taken a back by how much Jacen thought his answer out. Like I said, the kid can be wicked smart when he wants to be. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he acts like a goofball to make people underestimate him. Apollo recovered quickly enough though and changed the subject.

"Well dudes," he said, "You're just gonna have to wait until I get you to camp to get those questions answered. Like I said: there are laws that not even Gods can skirt around. Speaking of camp, Jacen did you call your Grandma yet?"

Jacen's face drooped.

"Yeah," he sighed, "She didn't really care either way. I think she'll be glad to not have me around for awhile."

The bitterness in his voice surprised everyone in the room except me. Like I said, I already knew a decent bit about Jacen's home life. My mom however, had no clue how bad things were for him. She set her coffee mug down and embraced Jacen. I could tell he was somewhat shocked, because he froze up for a moment, before returning the hug awkwardly.

"Well, if you ever need a place to stay Jacen," my mom said with a smile, "Eddy and I are more than happy to have you stay with us!"

I could tell that Jacen was not expecting to hear something like that, because I noticed he was trying really hard not to sob. After a few moments of shaky breaths he finally croaked out: "Thanks, Ms. Brown."

My mom just smiled and turned to look at me.

"Eddy, I know that this is a REALLY big change, but your father told me that you will have a way to contact me from camp, whenever you need to. And it's not all year! Maybe you can come back home for Christmas with Jacen!"

After she said that she shot a pointed look at Apollo who just shrugged helplessly.

"I just don't understand WHY I can't just stay here." I said.

Apollo gave me a sympathetic look before he answered:

"Remember when I told you dudes in the gym that the Chimera had your scent?" Jacen and I nodded uncertainly. It was hazy, but I do remember Apollo saying something similar.

"Well," he continued, "The thing is, once half-bloods reach a certain age you begin to awaken your powers and that makes you stink to monsters…"

"Gee, thanks." Jacen sniped. Apollo rolled his eyes at him and continued on.

"Anyways, half-bloods can't survive for long after they start to develop their powers because monsters will seek you out. I suppose you dudes could stay at W.T and try to live life like you did before today, but you'll have monsters seeking you out constantly. And not just at school dudes, they'll follow you everywhere. And I mean everywhere."

"Even the bathroom?" Jacen said with a small grin. Everyone looked at him. "Sorry," he added, "Just trying to keep everything on a light note."

I understood what Apollo was getting at though. I could see the problem instantly. He meant that more monsters, maybe ones worse than the Chimera would hunt us. And in our case, could even put our families in danger. I could NOT let that happen.

"I get it," I said. "It just stinks. I mean, I didn't ask to be a half-blood."

"And I didn't ask to be a God," Apollo replied with a stern look, "But I am a God, and you are a half-blood. There's no changing who you are on the inside dude. I told you that earlier."

While I talked to Apollo, I noticed Jacen was thinking about something and looked uneasy.

"Something wrong man?" I asked, even though it seemed like an obvious and stupid question.

"Well," Jacen sighed, "I was thinking: is it possible that maybe it's not just monsters like the Chimera we need to be worried about Ed?"

I didn't even need to wonder what he meant. He was talking about the shared dream vision we both had when we got home a little while ago. Apollo's eyebrows rose and I could tell he knew exactly what we were talking about. My mom looked between the three of us and sighed, smiled and said:

"Do I even want to know what he meant by that, son?"

I flinched. Even when my mom speaks and smiles gently like that, I can always tell when I need to divert her attention.

"So, Camp Half-Blood!" I exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. "Where is it? And when do we need to get ready to go?"

Apollo and Jacen looked grateful for the sudden change in subject.

"Well, it's on the northern shore of Long Island in New York," Apollo answered, "and, we should probably leave as soon as possible. I'll be outside with Jacen waiting for you, Eddy!"

Jacen looked offended.

"Why do I have to go with you?" he asked.

"Let's boogie dude!" answered Apollo tossing an arm over Jacen's shoulder. They vanished in a flash of light out of the living room.

I looked at my mom who was rubbing her eyes in disbelief, and I was surprised to see a smile on her face.

"You know, your father used to make flashy entrances and exits ALL the time."

I stared at her. Why couldn't she just tell me who my dad was?

"Mom, can't you…?"

She shook her head sadly.

"I can't Eddy," she said, "one of the things I swore to your father was that I wouldn't tell you who he is. He wanted to be able to do it himself. When you have proven yourself to him."

She said the last part with a bit of anger and I understood why. I felt the same way. She embraced me and whispered:

"Don't resent him for it son. Immortals…well, they don't see things the same way we do. To them our lives are like a second. I was just happy to have fallen in love with your father because he gave me you."

I tried not to get angry, or to cry. I didn't know how to feel about everything so far today. I fought a monster, met a God, found out about my heritage, and so much more. I was being sent away from home, to a camp I've never been to, and I was scared. I didn't want to go, but if what Apollo said was true about monsters attacking my mom and me? I had to go. I nuzzled into her embrace and said:

"I love you Mom. I'll see you soon. I promise."

She smiled, kissed me on the forehead and led me to the front door. I stepped out and started to walk down the stairs. I turned back and looked at my mom again. She smiled that smile that only a mom can give you and waved. I waved back.

I heard a car horn beep and looked across the street to see Apollo and Jacen in the Mustang waiting for me. A few kids and neighbors stopped what they were doing to gawk at the car. I hopped the bottom step and ran towards the Mustang. I heard my mom call out:

"Be careful Oedipus!"

I groaned. "I will Mom!"

I hopped in the back seat to hear Jacen laughing at me. Even Apollo was chuckling. I buried my face in my hands and tried to look as small as possible. We started to move and I peeked out the tinted rear window and saw my mom still waving, but with a difference: she had tears running down her cheeks.

We traveled via Interstate 79 North towards Erie, PA. Once again, it felt like it only took a few minutes before I saw that we were passing the Grove City Outlets, which were at least two hours from MY place.

'Must be nice, being a God.' I thought.

We were just passing Erie when Apollo pulled over onto a windy country road and parked by an old abandoned farm. Jacen and I shared a bewildered glance, but Apollo didn't even notice. He was busy looking at his car keys and trying to pick a certain one out. I hadn't noticed earlier, but the guy had a lot of different keys.

"So, why did we stop?" I asked. Apollo was quiet for a second before he turned around and grinned at me.

"Don't get me wrong dudes," he began, "I love the Mustang mode of my chariot, but it's a total killer on gas!"

Jacen looked gob smacked.

"Wait. Did you just say CHARIOT?"

"Yep! We're flying to CHB the ol' fashioned way dudes!"

He found the key he was looking for and thrust it into the ignition and turned. There was a brilliant flash of light and when I finally blinked the spots from my eyes, I almost passed out again in shock. I've got to stop doing that!

You would've flipped if you were there though! Jacen and me were sitting in the back seat of a golden colored chariot. Apollo's chariot! It was even cooler than the illustrations those old painters came up with! It had sun pattered mosaics engraved on the outside all around the base, and ancient Greek inscriptions that I could for some reason, make sense of. The largest inscription read:

'All Hail the Bringer of the Sun, For He Is Awesome'.

"Lord Apollo?" I asked. He glanced back at me with a grin.

"What's up Eddy?"

"Did you come up with this inscription on the chariot?"

"Sure did dude! What do you think?"

"It's um…Honest?"

"I agree! Glad we're on the same page!"

I actually thought it was kind of overkill, but I wasn't going to say that to an all-powerful Olympian. I was about to ask Jacen why he didn't make the comment about it when I realized he was gawking at something else in the front of the chariot. I followed his gaze and almost shouted out. I don't know how I possibly missed them. There, hitched up with reins to the chariot, were two giant winged horses. Pegasi! It was still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that myths and gods were as real as I was. The pegasi had gleaming white fur and their manes…we're actual flames. Their eyes were red and they had to stand at least 12 feet tall. Apollo turned from his seat and grinned even wider at Jacen and me.

"All right dudes," he winked, "next stop: Camp Half-Blood!"

Ever been on a rollercoaster that shoots you out of the station super fast? Or in a car that's racing down a road at top speed, just because either you or the driver feels like it? Have you? Cool. Know what it's like to ride in the Chariot of the Sun?

Not like any of those things: unless, you multiply it by a thousand.

We started moving so fast; I KNEW I would never be able to sit up straight the whole time. Jacen and I were literally smashed into the backseat upholstery. I felt like I was on one of those carnival rides, you know; like a gravitron? Jacen yelled something about how fighter pilots have got nothing on the speed we were going. I wanted to reply, but I was afraid I'd swallow a bug at subsonic speeds.

I guess our silence confused Apollo because he crraned his neck around to see why we were so quiet. When he saw us smashed up against the backseat he laughed so hard that we tilted to one side at a forty-five degree angle. Apollo wiped a tear from his eye, sighed, then snapped his fingers with a resounding 'SNAP!'

Suddenly, even though we were still moving at the same speed, it felt like we were in the back seat of his car again. I held my breath to pop my ears and shook my head.

"What just happened?" I said, looking at the god in awe. Apollo chuckled.

"Sorry Eddy, Jacen. I forgot to reset the barrier. I don't usually use one see; perk of being immortal and all that jazz."

"Gee," groaned Jacen, "what would you have done if we got crushed by the pressure?"

He sounded sarcastic, but the pale color of his face told me otherwise. Poor kid, he just had to face two of his biggest fears today: fire and flight crashes, both of which killed his mom. Apollo shrugged.

"I don't know? Apologize to your spirits in the Underworld?"

Jacen and I both gulped and looked at each other. Apollo laughed at our expressions.

"I'm just kidding dudes," he chuckled, "I wouldn't let you two die on my watch! I'm the all-seeing Apollo!"

Jacen leaned over and whispered to me.

"I think I should give Apollo a piece of my world-famous humble pie."

I snorted. But I noticed Apollo raise an eyebrow in challenge.

"Did I mention that I'm all-hearing too?" he said with a smirk. We both shut up after that.

We flew a bit slower as we went over what I assume was Lake Ontario. Apollo mentioned something that Aeolus, Lord of the Winds had been griping about. Apparently, Boreas (God of the North Wind) had angered Zeus, so in retribution, Apollo had to fly a bit closer to Canada today to counteract Boreas' snowy weather. It all made my head hurt. I knew the gods in myth were kind of like normal people, but hearing about them from another god, was really surreal. Jacen leaned a bit forward in his seat and asked:

"So, Lord Apollo?"

"What's up Jacen?" he answered.

"So, what's your dad like in person? Isn't he like; the big guy upstairs, Zeus?"

There was a loud rumbling of thunder and I'm pretty sure I saw a lightning bolt flaring in the far distance on the horizon of Lake Ontario. Apollo paled considerably.

"Jacen," he whispered harshly. I was surprised how panicked he looked. "You need to be careful about how you talk about gods. My dad really hates not being shown the proper respect by anyone. Except, maybe Queen Hera. That goes doubly for YOU guys!"

Jacen scowled as he heard that. He always had a bit of a problem with authority figures, with the exception of Apollo. But even when we just knew him as Mr. P, Jacen still wouldn't ALWAYS show the proper respect to him as our teacher.

"Pssh, I just asked about him. He doesn't need to be all grumpy about it!"

I smacked his arm and gave him a warning look, but it was too late.

A strong gust smashed into the side of the chariot and we pitched sideways and began to spiral. Apollo heaved on the reins, but it was obvious even to ME that the pegasi were spooked by the change in winds. Apollo glanced in the direction of the east and gulped. (how he could find that as we were freefalling, I'll never know. Must be a god thing)

"That's not good. Not good at all."

I didn't even need to ask what Apollo meant. On the eastern horizon a HUGE storm was starting to form. Seriously, like; out of thin air. I glared at Jacen who whimpered when he saw the storm system.

"My bad!" he bellowed. "Forgive me, Lord Zeus! King of um…the Clouds?"

I wanted to kick him. I really wanted to. But he was my best friend, and I figured that just because I didn't directly insult the King of the Gods, didn't mean that I would be spared his anger. But then I thought about Apollo. Zeus wouldn't attack his own son, right?

"Lord Apollo!" I shouted over the whistling winds as we skimmed the very edge of the storm. "Your father wouldn't actually kill you right?"

Apollo looked at me as if I had gone insane.

"DUDE!" he bellowed. "I'm IMMORTAL!"

RIGHT. I can totally tally another point to the: 'Stupid Things Eddy's Asked Today' List!

"Well, you're his SON! Surely he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize you!"

Apollo laughed. But there wasn't any humor behind it.

"You kidding?" he roared as we were buffeted by winds. "My dad once punished his brother Poseidon and me by making us build the walls of Troy! He doesn't forget insults easily!"

Jacen was pale as a ghost. I can almost feel the fear rolling off of him. Apollo looked over at Jacen and sighed loudly.

"When you get to camp, you'd better offer a huge portion of your feast to me! I'm never gonna hear the end of this from dad!"

I was about to ask what he was about to do, when he took us right into a nosedive. I wanted to scream, Jacen already was, but I was in so much shock that nothing came out. A golden glow started to appear around Apollo and in a louder and more regal sounding voice he bellowed:

"BOTH OF YOU! EYES CLOSED NOW!"

I didn't argue. Jacen already had his hands over his eyes, like he was praying to every god except Zeus to save him. I felt a weightless sensation, and everything went quiet.

When I opened my eyes again, I gasped at the sight before me. The storm hadn't vanished at all, but somehow Apollo must've gotten us into the eye of the storm. Or at least, that's what I thought at first. I glanced over at Jacen who had both hands up to the sky and was thanking every single deity he could think of, although I'm pretty sure I heard him thank Zeus. Hypocrite.

I glanced at Apollo who was starting to return to normal. Well, as normal as an immortal god can get. I leaned forward in my seat.

"Lord Apollo," I asked, "what just happened?"

Apollo turned and grinned at me, although I could tell it was forced.

"I kind of bent the rules a bit more than I should've," he admitted. "Remember I told you dudes that immortals are bound by very specific laws?"

Jacen, (who had stopped his groveling and joined the conversation) and me nodded. Apollo grimaced.

"Well, I just broke one. Gods can't directly help half bloods or mortals. We can assist indirectly you dig? I jumped us through the storm using some godly magic, right over camp. Look!"

Jacen and me both glanced down. My jaw fell open. A cold gray ocean stretched out from the left. The fields, forests, and roads were blanketed in full blow fall. From the sky it looked like a painting with all the colors. Directly below us though, was a green valley, like an island of springtime, rimmed with autumn hills on three sides and water to the north. I saw a cluster of buildings like Greek temples, a big blue mansion, ball courts, a lake, and a climbing wall: call me crazy, but I could've sworn it was on fire!

Before I could process all this though, a gust of wind, stronger than any before rocked us so hard we plummeted from the sky like a rock. Apollo tried his best to maintain a level course, but it was hopeless. Zeus must have been peeved. We were two for three. First Jacen with the insult, now Apollo with cheating his dad from his windy vengeance, so even if I never said anything to offend him, I was overruled in life sparing by a majority!

We hurtled through the sky at a steep angle. By this point, Apollo was starting to regain some control, but it wasn't enough. Math was my worst subject, but even I knew that at the angle we were falling, not to mention the speed, it would equal a really ugly landing. As the landscape got closer and closer I tried to think of something to do. Apollo at this point was veering wildly, but we were still falling towards the camp at least. Great. My first impression at camp would be my impression left by a fiery, destructive crash. What would my mom say?

Apollo snapped me back into focus when he bellowed:

"We're hitting the magical barrier! The storm should end, but we're coming in too hot to land gracefully!"

Jacen, who was seriously giving Casper the Friendly Ghost a run for his money in paleness, shouted:

"NOT TOO CONCERNED WITH OUR LANDING! MORE CONCERNED ABOUT SURVIVING!"

I agreed wholeheartedly.

There was a great whooshing of air and suddenly, we were surrounded by weather the complete opposite of just a second ago. Instead the windy cold, it was warm. I couldn't say much for the wind, seeing that we were still free falling, but I assumed if I lived it'd probably be pleasant feeling. Now that we were closer to the camp I could see that the climbing wall was definitely on fire. Jeez, I'm falling to my death and my ADHD still can't make me focus on the big picture. Also, I noticed tiny dots (I assumed they were people) all in some kind of orange t-shirt? I wasn't sure about their clothes, but they all stopped moving and looked up. We zoomed passed the Greek looking temples, and missed the tallest one by inches. I glanced back and saw that we almost beheaded a bronze eagle sculpture on the roof of the building. From the front of the chariot I heard Apollo say, "Sorry Dad!"

I glanced forward and saw that Apollo was driving toward the lake, but we were coming in way too fast. For the second time today, since the Chimera attack, I felt my life flash before my eyes. It's TRUE! It DOES happen! And I thought of my mom, and Jacen and the fact that I never even got to find out who my dad was.

Wait! MY Dad!

I knew he wasn't an Olympian, Apollo said as much, but he was STILL an immortal! Hopefully he wasn't just a fairy or a nymph. To be honest, as I prayed, I was really hoping for someone helpful.

'Dad,' I prayed, squeezing my eyes shut. 'If you're actually watching over me, I could DEFINITELY use some help right now! Please!

The lake was closing in. 100 feet, 50 feet. The speed we were going, the surface tension would smash Jacen and me to half blood dust. Apollo? I'm not sure…maybe he'd just have wicked whiplash or something. 20 feet, 10, 5…

Then, it was as if time itself stopped. I looked around and everything was frozen. Apollo still had his hands on the reins, Jacen was in the middle of his third groveling session, mid word, and the pegasi were in the midst of trying to pull up! But it was all frozen. Then, I wondered why I wasn't. I felt a kind of warm presence next to me and turned my head, and for the umpteenth time today, I gasped.

Next to me was a man, taller than most with a very muscular build. He had caramel colored skin like mine and his hair was the same shade of black like me, but it was long and straight. He had a well-trimmed beard and was wearing what looked like Greek armor over a violet chiton. The most shocking part about his appearance was when I made eye contact with him. His eyes…His eyes, were the same exact shade of golden-yellow as mine. It's funny; I'd never seen the guy, yet I knew exactly who he was.

"Dad?" my voice broke at the end of that single word. The guy smiled at me. He nodded and waved his hand and vanished.

Was I confused? Yes. Was I completely shocked that I had just met my immortal parent? Yep. Did I want to know who my dad was? YOU BET. I had a ton of questions, and I wanted answers, but that had to wait. Because of one little issue:

Time unfroze, and with a giant splash of water, The Sun Chariot of Apollo crashed into the camp lake.