CHAPTER 4: I TEND TO CONFUSE MY PRONOUNS
Camp Half Blood was ablaze, spurred by gossip and questions. Demigods spoke of one thing only; Sholeh's claiming. Many thought she was unfit to be a daughter of the Big Three, while others believed she was a goddess. At the same time, a quiet feeling of desolation passed over camp, especially when Lynn of Cabin Eleven recounted her conversation with Sholeh the first night she came to camp. When Lynn told others how Sholeh said she didn't know if she would save Olympus, one thought came to the demigods, which was 'We're screwed.'
The girl in question woke up three days after her destruction of the forest. Staring around, Sholeh saw that she was alone again in the medical cabin. Disappointment washed over her. She didn't know whom she had been expecting to see, but thought that someone should have been there.
Light suddenly blinded her. Moving her hand to shield her eyes, Sholeh looked up to see the source and was surprised to see a mass of silver at the foot of her bed. Moving closer, her muscles ached in agony, but her determination was not to be deterred. There lay a celestial bronze dagger in its sheath and a silver bracelet. They were tied together with black, shining ribbon, which seemed to have been hastily tied into a bow. On top of the bundle lay a note made of expensive looking, thick black, paper. It was addressed to 'Sholeh Prometheus' so the girl opened it, though her foster parents' surname was conspicuously missing. The writing was jagged and small in silver ink, so that Sholeh had to squint to read it.
Daughter-
Please accept the dagger and bracelet as a gift from myself. I hope that you like them. My wife chose the bracelet, as I do not have as excellent taste as she. The dagger is celestial bronze, and is from my private treasury. I believe that it was a favorite of your namesake, Prometheus.
On this note, as you have appropriately disowned your mortal family, your last name shall take after mine. Therefore, I suggest Hadeva.
Sholeh, do not forget the importance of names. I know that you will live up to yours.
Train hard. I wish you to regain the time lost by not spending it at Camp. The son of Poseidon has had years more than yourself there, but work harder than Perseus and you will easily surpass him.
Hades
The letter had a cold tone only to be expected from the Lord of the Dead but Sholeh found his suggestions arrogant. Here was a father she had never even seen, who she didn't even know existed until a few days ago, and suddenly he decided to play Daddy? Throwing the letter in the trash bin disgustedly, she decided to take no last name, especially not one that would remind everyone of her utter isolation as Hades' daughter.
She was wondering why the letter held no mention of her mother, when someone burst into her room.
"Thank the gods!" exclaimed Leo. "Chiron! She's awake," he proceeded to yell to the centaur, who was presumably somewhere outside the cabin. The boy dashed over to her bed and sat down. "Stop doing that!" he commanded her furiously.
"Doing what?" Sholeh asked, puzzled.
"Well, let's see. I don't know…Passing out?!" Leo replied, as if it were perfectly obvious. "Not waking up for days? I didn't know what the Hades was going on. Chiron had to call my dad, you know, to see if you were all right."
"Well, I'm sorry if the agonizing pain I experienced after burning down most of a forest inconvenienced you," she replied sarcastically. Leo, however, missed the joke.
"Di immortales! Lie down, now, firegirl." He seemed shocked. Leo pushed her backwards into the bed and ran to get ambrosia.
"Leo! I'm fine," Sholeh replied, grinning at his mistake.
"Holy Zeus. Stop doing that!" he sat down on the bed next to her, and put his head in his hands. Running his fingers through his hair, Leo tried to take deep, calming inhales, but he never seemed to be able to catch his breath around her.
"Okay," he said, looking at her face once again, "No more jokes," he ordered.
"Alright. I'll be completely serious all the time," Sholeh deadpanned.
"More importantly, no more scaring me to Hades and back," he added, looking once more at the ground.
"Leo." Sholeh said, tapping him on the shoulder. He abruptly turned to look her in the eyes. She beamed at him before saying simply, "Chill."
"Chill!" Chill?" Leo really lost it. Standing up, he continued yelling, pointing at her accusingly. "Okay, you burn down the entire South Woods, and you're telling me to chill?" Sholeh burst out laughing. It really was a hilarious picture, seeing her friend who was normally so controlled, pacing around the room, golden hair across his face.
"Stop laughing," he told her, stopping to stare at the girl who simply wouldn't do as she was told. "Just… stop everything. That's it. I'm locking you in this cabin forever. No more being in danger for you."
Sholeh just laughed harder, seeing that he wasn't joking. Leo looked like he was about to implode, when Chiron calmly walked (trotted, really) into the room. Sholeh finally stopped chuckling, seeing the grave expression on the centaur's face.
"Sholeh," he chided. "You are going to give poor Leo here a heart attack. He's barely slept or ate in the past three days. He practically ordered his father here to check on you."
Sholeh gave the boy, who now looked very uncomfortable, a questioning look. "Excuse me, Leo, but 'Chiron had to call your dad?' I seem to recall you saying that."
"Yes, well, in stressful times I tend to confuse my pronouns," replied Leo sarcastically. He looked to Sholeh who was gazing at him expectantly and sighed. "I was worried. You weren't waking up."
"Worried? I have lived for thousands of years, and that is one of the greatest understatements I have ever heard," whinnied Chiron. Unexpectedly, Sholeh and Leo began to giggle at this. The tension in the air quickly dissolved as the two collapsed on the bed, howling with laughter until they ran out of oxygen.
"I… can't… breathe," said Sholeh amidst her gasps and laughter.
"Neither… can… I," replied Leo. He abruptly stopped laughing and stared at the girl. A grin slowly spread across his face.
"No, Leo," warned Sholeh, before recoiling in fear, but she was too slow. The boy remorselessly began to tickle her until she begged for mercy. Chiron watched them with a quiet smile on his face.
When the two demigods finally stopped, the centaur shook his head. "I'm very sorry to disrupt this happy reunion, but there are very serious matters we must discuss, Sholeh."
"Okay," she responded, the smile waning from her face.
"Leo, I think that there is work, or training for you to do—" Chiron began, but Sholeh cut him off.
"Whatever you have to say to me, you will just have to say to Leo, too," she replied, looking first at Chiron, then at Leo. The boy was amazed by her trust, and at the same time, a little afraid of it. Was he worthy of this complete faith? Leo doubted it, but he would try.
Chiron nodded, as if he expected that. "Very well then. First off, I believe that I have some explaining to do. Percy and Annabeth told me that you were angry that they wouldn't tell you why you'd never seen monsters. That was my fault," the centaur began.
"I believed that if you didn't know about your past, we might be able to postpone the prophecy. Clearly, I was wrong, and your parents forced me to concede that by claiming you. I wanted to wait until you were claimed to tell you this."
"The reason that you have not seen monsters before, is simple. A godly force has protected you. Or rather, not godly, but a Titan's force. Kronos' influence has protected you all your life from the monsters demigods usually face."
At this, Sholeh and Leo both gasped. "That's impossible," breathed the boy.
"Sadly, it is both possible and entirely plausible. That is why Apollo was present when Percy and Grover found you, Sholeh. Lord Zeus wanted him to confirm our suspicions, which he did."
Leo voiced the exact thought in Sholeh's mind. She was much to astonished and afraid to even speak. "But… why would he want to do this?"
Chiron sighed, "We think that it was to ensure you survived to the age of sixteen. This protection had yet another effect, however. It prevented you from becoming a minor goddess."
The centaur continued, "Sometimes, the godly parents of a child will wish the child to prove himself before becoming a god himself. Mr. D is one such example; he was a son of Zeus and Semele, who after inventing wine, was granted godhood."
"However, the protection of Kronos prevented you, Sholeh, from becoming a goddess."
"Because I would need to be a demigod, and not full goddess, for the prophecy to come true," replied Sholeh, speaking as if in a trance.
"Correct," replied Chiron. Leo, his face set in a frown and fists clenched, looked at Sholeh. He started to speak, but stopped.
"Now I believe I must tell the story of your birth, Sholeh. Because Hestia is a virgin goddess, she obviously did not conceive in the usual… ahem… way. Like sons daughters of Athena, you were born from her thoughts. Unlike Athena's children, you were not only born from Lady Hestia's mind, but from fire and sulfur as well; these being the sacred symbols of your parents." Chiron finished telling Sholeh about her past and there was a moment of silence.
"Now, I believe Sholeh needs to rest. And you, Leo, need to eat something." The son of Apollo began to protest, but Chiron silenced him with a glare.
"Okay, fine," Leo conceded, then looked at Sholeh. "Firegirl, go to sleep. As soon as you wake up and feel fit enough to walk, come meet me at the tree by the mess hall," he said, looking into Sholeh's deep blue eyes. She looked at him, lost for words, but Chiron was already dragging Leo out of the room. He darted back to squeeze his 'firegirl's' hand and Chiron picked him up by the neck to throw him out of the medical cabin.
Sholeh sat there for what seemed like hours, but was the course of a few minutes. Thoughts swirled in her head like a cyclone. Protected by Kronos, she thought, I wanted to know my past, and now I do. Remembering the old adage, 'Be careful what you wish for,' Sholeh thought that there had never been such an appropriate time for its use. With a sigh, the girl put on the silver bracelet from her father, and lay down, her eyelids already closed from exhaustion. Her chest ached dully, a reminder of the tickle fight, and Sholeh grinned in memory of the mischievious expression on Leo's face. The last thought to cross her mind before falling into a deep sleep was, I'm so lucky to have Leo as my best friend.
Sholeh woke up a couple of hours later with a gnawing hunger in her stomach. I think it's time to take Leo up on his offer to meet by the mess hall. Standing up, the girl nearly fainted again from dehydration. After taking a long drink from a bottle of water on the medicine cabinet, Sholeh dressed in black skinny jeans and her orange Camp Half Blood tee shirt.
When reaching for the doorknob, she noticed the silver bracelet and began to carefully inspect it. The bracelet was a simple and small band, but in the center glowed the reddest ruby Sholeh had ever seen. Shrugging, she went to open the door, but as an afterthought, grabbed the dagger and a band immediately formed around her waist, tying the dagger and its sheath to her.
Upon reaching the tree Leo had told her to meet him, Sholeh leaned up against it to see her friend coming out of the mess hall. Leo was gnawing ravenously on a piece of toast covered in orange marmalade. Leo grinned and began to walk over to her.
A group of love struck girls stood by the mess hall as well. It was only last week that the Aphrodite cabin had given Leo the coveted title of 'Camp Half Blood's Most Eligible Bachelor' and the boy literally had swarms of admirers.
These particular girls sighed dramatically as he went by and one yelled out his name. When he turned around, she noticeably batted her eyelashes and waved so flirtatiously, Sholeh thought she was going to be sick.
Leo, like his father, loved the attention. "Hey, girls," he simply said to them and winked. Two actually fainted. Sholeh just rolled her eyes.
"Leo! If you could spare a minute from your fan club, I wanted to talk to you," Sholeh yelled impatiently, annoyed at him, though she didn't know why. Leo spun around and walked briskly to the girl.
"Are you all right?" he said anxiously, grabbing her hands in his and looking her up and down. "No more fainting? You can walk fine?"
"Well, hello there, Casanova," Sholeh replied sarcastically, ignoring his questions. Obviously, I'm fine, Leo. I survived a strong urged to vomit after seeing your fan club, didn't I?... Wait, why do I care who he flirts with? Sholeh shook her head as if to shake the troublesome thoughts away. "I actually like that name for you. It's official. I now have a nickname for you."
Leo grinned. "Well, I can't just not say hello to them," he said, referring to the girls Sholeh dubbed his 'fan club'. "Plus, I need to give them something to talk about. Hmm… Casanova," he mused, trying out the name thoughtfully.
"Oh, trust me, they talk about you all the time. When I was in Cabin Eleven, honestly, their favorite pastime was discussing your favorite color, middle name, or where you live. It was pretty sketchy."
Leo looked taken aback. "That is very creepy. Did they actually know stuff about me?"
"No. Most of it was wrong. I mean, one of them," she gestured at the crowd, "thought that your full name was 'Leonardo Stanwick James II Eliot.'"
"Um, its definitely not," he replied, glancing a little nervously at the girls. "Did you talk about me?" Leo asked cautiously.
"Yeah." Sholeh grinned.
"Well… what did you say?"
"I said you were the most arrogant, pompous," with each adjective the girl inched forward, poking Leo in the stomach. He looked down into her eyes and she continued, "… selfish, obnoxious human being it has ever been my displeasure to meet," she concluded.
"Well, technically, I'm only half human," Leo countered, with a grin equal to hers. He was several inches taller than his friend, so the boy was smiling down at her. "You forget that I'm half," he paused for dramatic effect before continuing with a grand motion of his arms, "god!"
Looking over Leo's shoulder, Sholeh saw the flirting girls with shocked, scandalized expressions. She simply grinned and pointed them out to Leo, who surprised himself by how reluctantly he tore his gaze away from Sholeh.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" the boy asked.
"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I've found a place to live."
"Really?" Leo asked. He had often thought over the past three days about where Sholeh was going to live. Hopefully, it wasn't someplace dangerous and isolated like the cabin Nico lived in, deep inside the North Woods….
"Nico's cabin in the North Woods," Sholeh announced cheerfully. "I saw him just now, when I was walking here, and he offered that I live there—"
"No way, firegirl. There is no way in Hades, I am going to let you live there," Leo announced resolutely.
"Why not? And since when did you become my mother?' she asked, annoyed.
"Since… well, since… hey, I'm not your mother! I'm just being a responsible friend, is all!" Leo exclaimed, but he thought, a friend? Yeah, right. You're kidding yourself, Leo.
The two stared at each other, arms crossed and unmoving. Suddenly, Sholeh grabbed Leo's hand and began to run. Leo was dragged behind for a while until he hastened to catch up with the girl.
"Where the Hades are we going?" he asked, surprised.
"It's a surprise," she replied. "You'll just have to trust me."
"Don't make me tickle you," Leo mock threatened her.
"Okay, fine," Sholeh gave up, but not before adding, "Meanie," to which Leo scoffed. "We're going to the beach!"
"Neither of us have bathing suits," the boy protested.
"Speak for yourself. I'm wearing mine. Anyway, what's your point? Be spontaneous for a minute, will you Casanova? Don't you think your fan club would like to see you with a dripping wet shirt, or no shirt at all?" Sholeh grinned at him and slowed her speed to walking pace.
"Fine. But if anyone asks, this was not my choice," Leo conceded.
"What, your reputation will be destroyed if you ever have fun?" Sholeh sarcastically asked, but the beach suddenly came into sight.
"Race you!" the girl exclaimed, taking off sprinting. She arrived at Fireworks Beach a good five hundred feet ahead of Leo because athletic activity wasn't exactly what the boy was known for. In fact, the only shred of athleticism he had was in archery.
"You had a head start," Leo whined when she laughed at him.
"Boo hoo," she replied sarcastically, peeling off her shirt to reveal a red bikini top. Leo was entranced by her simple motions and stood there watching, until an idea came to him.
Silently creeping up behind Sholeh, he then swept her up in her arms and began running to the water. Leo nearly dropped her four times- somehow, it wasn't as easy as it looked in the movies. The girl shrieked and pounded Leo with her fists, but he only grinned. Then, reaching the water, he tossed her in.
Sholeh yelped at the freezing water and pushed wet hair out of her eyes. "Not fair! I wasn't even done changing!"
He smirked. "Well, you had a head start."
"Get in here, Casanova!" she cried. Leo pulled off his shirt and jumped in.
"Will you stop calling me that?" he asked Sholeh, after spitting salt water out of his mouth.
"Fine. But if you start to flirt with more than five girls at once, I may have no choice but to continue the nickname's use," Sholeh joked.
"It's a deal," Leo agreed, and the two solemnly shook hands, before bursting out laughing.
When Sholeh caught her breath, she addressed Leo, who was lying on his back, squirting water out of his mouth like a fountain. "You are officially my best friend," she said in a mock-dignified tone.
But if only I could be more, thought Leo before he could stop himself. He half-heartedly told himself that Sholeh's friendship was worth more than a relationship that could never happen, and said seriously to the girl, "And you're mine."
A camper from Athena cabin (Sholeh believed her name to be Jennifer), ran up to the two demigods on the beach. Sholeh and Leo were lying in the sand, wearing sunglasses, and drinking fruit juice. Jennifer didn't know where they had gotten the fruit juice, but forgot about it while staring at Leo.
"You wanted to tell us something?" asked Leo, thoroughly enjoying the girl's awestruck reaction. Sholeh just rolled her eyes. "Yes, excuse me, um… Jennifer?" he spoke, and the daughter of Athena was woken from her daydreaming.
"Yeah, of course, so sorry," she replied, shaking her head. "Leo, you and what's-her-face are wanted at Athena cabin…" the girl was cut off by Leo, who stood up angrily.
"Sholeh has a name," he spoke furiously, and took off his sunglasses to glare at Jennifer. "I would appreciate it if you would show my friend enough respect to refer to her by it." The girl looked terrified and instantly remorseful.
"I'm so, so sorry, Leo!"
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Sholeh," he ordered as Sholeh, watched the interaction with a smile, although she was very confused.
"Sorry, Sholeh," the girl said grudgingly. "Um, Percy and Annabeth are having a fight, and we're afraid that they'll… well… destroy the cabin."
"That's stupid," replied Sholeh and stood up. "Percy and Annabeth aren't going to destroy anyone's cabin. They're normal people. For the most part."
"Oh, no, if you saw them, you would think that, too," the girl said. "Silena sort of, kissed Percy. He didn't want her to, but well, you can imagine Annabeth's reaction."
Leo paled. A son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena, who secretly liked each other, fighting? Sholeh saw the drastic change of color in her friend's face and laughed.
"You aren't scared, are you, Casanova?" she asked, grinning, and beginning to walk to the cabins.
"Of course not!" Leo scoffed. "I'm just… well… can you imagine?"
"Yes, I can," replied the girl calmly. "Haven't you seen this coming? All that tension was bound to flare up eventually, Casanova."
"Don't. Call. Me. That!" Leo yelled, frustrated at the girl who just laughed in his face. They walked in companionable silence for the next minutes, and Leo thought about what Percy and Annabeth's fight could mean. Maybe, he pondered, if they have a chance at a relationship, so do we…. No, he corrected himself, I'm just a friend and 'Casanova' to her. Of all the girls, Leo, why do you have to fall for this one? I'm her best friend, but a silly flirt nonetheless. Just like my father, he thought bitterly. For the first time Leo resented being a son of Apollo, and it was because of the only girl he could not have.
Reaching the Athena cabin, Leo and Sholeh immediately saw why Jennifer had been so afraid of the fight. Or rather, they heard why. From a hundred of feet away. The two clashing demigods, although in the Athena cabin, were screaming loud enough to wake the dead. A large, but fearful crowd had assembled around the cabin, though they were standing as far away as they believed safe.
Sholeh could make out the sounds of Annabeth yelling, "How could you do this and then lie to me!" Something made of glass was thrown at a wall, probably missing Percy's head by mere inches.
"Oh, gods," breathed Leo.
"Indeed," agreed Chiron. The demigods did not know when the centaur had arrived, but many of the younger ones cowered behind him for protection. "Sholeh, I think you should go in there. You seem to have experience with, let's say, meltdowns."
The girl nodded and approached the cabin. "If I don't return in an hour, just go on without me," she said dramatically to Leo, who pushed through the crowd to talk to the girl.
"What, too cliché? I thought this moment needed a movie line, for, you know, comic relief," Sholeh joked.
"Be careful," warned Leo gravely.
"You too? See, I thought someone else might see the film parallels going on here—" Sholeh laughed and proceeded to climb the stairs, but Leo grabbed her arm. Sholeh turned slowly and Leo looked straight into Sholeh's dark eyes.
"I'm serious. Just… don't do anything stupid, or dangerous."
"When do I ever, Leo?" replied the girl. He stared at her with a look that very blatantly said, 'Yes.' She eased Leo's hand off her arm, and walked up the remaining step. "Come on; they're our friends, Leo. What are they going to do?"
Sholeh walked out an hour later, with her orange tee shirt ripped and hair a complete mess. She looked exhausted, but triumphant. The waiting crowd held its breath, waiting for something to happen. It was only then that they noticed the shouting had stopped.
"I told you, Sholeh," Leo scolded, "Look at yourself. Honestly." Despite his arrogant words, Leo was visibly relieved. Monsters were not the only dangerous ones; demigods themselves could be violent from fighting all the time. This applied especially to children of the Big Three. All the godly power inside a mortal's body could manifest itself in different ways, and they were not always safe.
"Thanks, Casanova," she replied, and before Leo could protest, she declared, "I give you… Percabeth!" Sholeh pulled the door open to reveal Percy and Annabeth, kissing passionately.
The girl jumped down to Leo, who was waiting for her with a look of awe on his face. "Am I good or what?" Sholeh joked. She called out to the children of Apollo, who sat writing poetry about the new couple. "I think this moment deserves a song, guys!"
Apollo's kids immediately started playing 'Time of the Season' by The Zombies. Leo began to sing, perfectly imitating the lead singer's voice. Sholeh danced to the music and the group processed down the path to the Mess Hall.
Sholeh joined in with Leo for the chorus, "It's the time of the season for loving." The girl sang horribly out of tune, but no one, least of all the new couple, noticed. Percy and Annabeth were much too busy kissing as if they were about to go to war.
