Chapter 3: Saved By a 4-year Old and Green Ice-Cubes (AKA The Questers Are Chosen)
Calanta Sorrento POV
I was standing there next to the ice-covered Camp Asgard Dining Table, next to a girl named Noreen Edwards, Nori for short. She looked like Luna Lovegood, with dirty blond hair that floated around her shoulders and spacey demeanor; she was currently staring up at the frosty-white lights floating above the table. She wore a camp tee, an aviator's jacket and paint-splattered jeans. She was actually really beautiful, in an odd way...
I didn't think about my words, or the reaction she might have, but before I could stop myself, I said "Wow Nori, you're beautiful."
Now, let it be known that this was a compliment. Also, knowing that Nori is a little odd will help you understand what happened next.
Nori turned to me, her eyes glowing pure white and yelled "WHAT?!"
She floated into the air and yelled "I am Noreen Edwards, daughter of Skadi, goddess of winter and hunting. I call upon the dimension of Jotunheim, send me a creature to help me avenge myself. Send me...a Frost Wyrm!'
A snowy portal opened up, and a insanely ugly head came out of it. It looked kind of like a cross between a Chinese dragon and a Mongolian death worm. Inside of it's frost-covered hairy head were rows and rows of shark-like teeth. It had the front legs of dragon, which helped it drag it's legless back end. It's body was covered in blue and white armor, and it's breath froze everything it touched, including our chairs and a stray raven.
Nori sat on the back of the beast and turned her necklace into a bow and arrow. She yelled "Attack!", which gave me a good sense that I should run.
I ran and ran, hoping to reach Odr Palace before she could catch me. Inside my cabin, I would be unstoppable. I turned around, which was probably my mistake.
I fell back into the snow, the Frost Wyrm crawling towards me. It's breathe was horrendous; a mixture of spearmint, fish and aluminum. It's breath wasn't too heavy, but it still left a light covering of frost on my body. It's tail end dragged on the ground, leaving behind a trail of ice.
Nori raised her icy bow, a blue arrow strung and pointed at my heart "You dare call me beautiful?" She yelled, the snow blowing around her.
"It was a compliment!" I yelled back, scrambling to back away from Nori's dragon-like steed.
She let her arrow fly. I braced myself for an icy doom, when a large war hammer suddenly flew out of nowhere and knocked the arrow out of the sky.
I looked to my left to thank a fellow demigod for coming to my rescue, but what, or rather who, I saw standing there surprised me beyond speech; a four year-old, wearing a Thor superhero costume with real armor. I recognized the boy as Sizzle Blue, the youngest camper in all of Camp God-blood. He was a son of Thor, with wavy strawberry-blond hair, bright blue eyes and a look that was a mixture of frustration and pure cuteness (Oh, and don't be like "Lol Calanta, I can't believe a tough guy like you would say that something is cute.", because I only say it how it is!). He was staring up at Nori, his now returned hammer hefted over his shoulder.
Sizzle took a step forward, yelled " No shooting people!" and smashed his hammer into the side of the Frost Wyrm's head. Thunder cracked, and the Wyrm's head was charged with hundreds of volts of electricity. It fell to the ground, it's whole body giving off a slight sizzling sound.
While Sizzle and a few others supervised Nori sending the Frost Wyrm back to Jotunheim, the dimension of giants, walked over to my friend Lester Morgan. He stood there, with the front half of a machine-gun protruding from his arm where his left hand should be.
He growled "Lucky that Sizzle kid showed up, or that Wyrm would be a whole lot worse then fried.", the gun morphed back into his hand. Now Lester wasn't really a wicked good friend, but he was nice guy to have around for...safety reasons. He was 6 feet tall and built like a NFL linebacker; with buzz cut hair, a gray sleeveless tee and dark blue athletic shorts. He was a son of Tyr, which didn't give him tons of powers. However, he had something that no other child of Tyr had: the ability to turn his left hand into any weapon.
Tyr, the Norse god of single combat and victory, is portrayed as a one-handed Norse warrior. The story goes that him and the other gods fought and bound Fenrir, the monstrous wolf and the eldest child of Loki. However, in the battle, Tyr lost his hand to the demon-wolf. Ever since then, the Tyr and Fenrir Palaces have had one of the most intense rivalries ever (Yes, Fenrir has kids, he is now able to shape-shift into a human. Same thing for Jormungandr, the Giant Snake). Sometimes you'll get a Tyr kid los oneing of his hands in order to be claimed, but nothing like Lester's power.
I left Lester behind and started on my way back to Odr Palace. Palaces are the Camp Asgard version of cabins, pyramids, etc. They are made to look like mini versions of the main palace of Asgard. The Odr Palace was white, with neon paint splattered all over it. If you looked, you could see shapes appearing in the splatters: a storm cloud, rain, the sun, a puppy, etc.
Inside, the cabin looked like a Picasso painting. The living room was a mini Omni theater, with multiple chairs upside down and another entire row of seats on the ceiling. In the kitchen, the sink is upside down, so the water defies gravity, and there is a medium-sized X-shaped stove. Finally, in the bedroom, chairs, beds and the occasional lamp come out of the walls, ceiling and floor at odd angles. Oh, and everything changes colors, which is pretty sweet.
I was the only one in the Odr Palace, so I chose a bed protruding straight down from the ceiling and plopped down (or is it up? or back?) onto it. I'd never quite got it, but gravity never seemed to affect me in my cabin. I looked over at the wall, where a button labeled ODR PALACE ROBOT-ATTACK was protected by a fingerprint-scan locked glass case. It was my favorite part of the cabin: if the button was pressed, the whole entire cabin turned into a Transformer-type robot, with the chair next to it acting as the control center. This way, if I ever got surrounded in my cabin, I'd have a secret weapon.
I decided to just lay here until the All Camper Campfire meeting in about fifteen minutes. I don't really like meetings, but this one was supposedly important. It also didn't help that I was the only kid in the Odr cabin, meaning that I have to attend all camp meetings.
On a bed almost completely sunken into the floor lays my huge pet. He was a humongous, hairy, white and orange-peel orange dog that you'd probably recognize: Barkley from Sesame Street. Apparently Jim Henson, who helped create Sesame Street with his Muppets, was actually a son of Odr, and one of the first Norse demigods to realize that there was other non-Norse demigods. So, in order to prove this to his home-away-from-home, Camp Asgard, he blackmailed one of the co-creators of Sesame Street, a son of Hades named Lloyd Morrisett Jr., into giving him a hell-hound. He ended up with Barkley, and the giant dog has been passed down through the Odr children ever since.
Barkley looks just the same as he did on T.V, with a few minor differences that Morrisett covered up with "The Mist": he has large black claws, glowing red eyes with slit pupils, huge teeth and a spiked tail. However, the "nice to everybody" demeanor is real; he wouldn't hurt a fly, unless it hurt me.
A horn sounds in the distance, signaling that it's time for the meeting.
Aspen Swift POV
I sat in the back-right of my group, reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the 15th time. The spring green light of the fire, mirroring my quiet contentment, alights my favorite scene: Snape's potion challenge, where Hermione uses a riddle to keep them both from dying painful deaths.
This is usually what I did around other people, sit way in the back and read. My shyness kept me from having many friends that weren't also shy, except for...
"Psst! Aspen!" I looked around and saw Maggie Jones, my only loud friend, standing at the back edge of her group. She waved frantically, gesturing for me to come over. I closed my book and jogged over.
"What Maggie?" I asked quietly "I'll be in big trouble with Chiron if he sees me over-"
"I know!" she interrupted me "But I had to show you this!"
Out of her pocket, she pulled two small objects; small golden keys, with arrow-through-heart shaped handles.
"No way!" I whispered "Are those..."
"The keys to the Eros love-weapon closets!" she said, giggling slightly "I picked them off Tom, the head councilor, when he was taking a shower."
I laughed "You snuck into the guy's showers?"
She raised an eyebrow, smiling "I do it all the time."
I shook my head "You're insane. But, what do we do now?"
Maggie grinned "We make guys fa-"
"Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Aspen, I would suggest you get back to your places." said a deep, kind voice from the direction of the Campfire. I looked around and saw Chiron, in full centaur form, looking over the other Hermes kids.
At the opposite side of my group sat the Council. After clearing his throat, Thor stepped forward (OG). He's your average Norse god, tall and very muscular with stormy gray eyes and long blonde hair that frames his large face. He wore a green muscle shirt, cargo pants and combat boots. He carried his silver winged helmet under his arm. He didn't look his usual optimistic self, quite the contrary, he looked as if he was about to tell everyone that they're grandmothers had died.
He cleared his throat "Children, you may be wondering why we have called you here. The reason: we have decided to issue a quest."
Immediately, murmuring breaks out through the campers. Lupa growls loudly, silencing everyone, and Elliot translates "Quiet! This is no ordinary quest!"
Somebody from Pomona cabin yells "What's so different about this one?"
"The difference" Thor says, bringing the attention back to him "is in the prophecy. For those who haven't already heard it, it goes:
"The Leaders each choose 8 to answer the call.
They'll defeat Vine, so they'll save us all.
Half use the thing that Hermes loves most.
Half go to the peak of Favonius coast.
3 hold a secret, kept to the death.
A young one gets lost, but keeps final breath.
Only six shall come home from the thirty-two sent.
But a seventh arrives, one from Family's descent."
A male camper asks in a heavy French accent "OK, what makes that different from others?"
Bes rolls his eyes "Listen Pierre, Françios, whatever your name is."
"It's Michéle." the camper yells, annoyed.
"If you were listening" Bes goes on "the first line says that we send out 8 campers from each section of Camp God-blood, which would equal 32 in all, which is confirmed in the second-to-last line. Fortunately, that same line says that only six of you will come back, meaning that I will have to deal with 26 less of you brats."
"Now, Bes" Chiron says, staring at Bes sternly "just because it says only six will come back, that does not mean that the others will die." He sounds more like he's reassuring himself though.
"Okay, so, what now?" asks Bruno Starr, a son of Atum and Head Craftsman.
Lupa growls again "Well" Elliot translates "each of the four Council members will pick eight campers from their own sections to join in this quest." Elliot looks at Thor, Bes and Chiron and says "My mother would like to go first." Thor and Chiron nod and Bes just gives an noncommittal shrug.
Elliot leans down and Lupa growls something in his ear. He pales, but stands up and says "The quest members from Camp Jupiter 2 are: Romulus Trent-"
Immediately, shouting breaks out.
"Romulus gets to do everything!"
"I think he should go, he's awesome!"
"You're playing favorites!"
"Quiet!" Thor yelled. His face was turning red "Lupa has the right to choose who she wants! Now, quiet!"
"As I was saying" Elliot continues "Romulus Trent, Eddie Crown, Shim Johnson" a squeak of excitement and rainbow light come from the young Head of Iris Cabin "Andi Lazar, Danny Grayson, Skiel Clearwater, Scorpio Rizzo and.." Elliot's face pales more, but he gulps loudly and finishes "and Elliot Macintosh."
Thor steps forward "Good choices" he says, nodding at Lupa "I will go next. The campers from Camp Asgaard will be: Tara Rowe, Lester Morgan, Marian Bennet, Demetri Cross, Carlo Vida, Nori Edwards, Daphne Jinks and Calanta Sorrento." Calanta's hair turns puke green, but, other than that, there is no reaction besides stoic silence.
Chiron steps forward, bowing to Thor, and says "The Camp Half-blood members will be: Chloe Montgomery, Maggie Jones, Cindy Cole, Pheonix Brooks, Midori Kobayashi, Aspen Swift, Violet Barret and Erin Kwon."
"WHAT?!" Erin yells, jumping up from the ground, her face clearly showing her horror. Shard, her wolf, barks loudly, but Chiron raises his hand and they both sit down.
My stomach turns over. I don't want to go on a quest! Especially this one! Why would Chiron even pick me? I'm not quest material at all!
Bes sighs and says "I have decided to send, most against my better judgment: Bruno Starr, Tessa Swan, Zander Bird, Mason and Julia Karn," No surprise there, they do everything together "Zane Rhodes, Cassie Numez and Leanna Balero."
Chiron nods "I think we have all made good choices. Now, if we-"
"I think" a guy says, stepping forward "that you are all making a big mistake."
The guy is fairly tall, maybe late teens or early twenties, with dirty gray and silver hair, a wolfish grin and deep red eyes. He wears dirty jeans and a brown t-shirt that says "Lend Me a Hand, I'm Starving". I heard on of Fenrir's kids laugh.
"Fenrir" Thor growled, his face turning red with anger "why are you here?"
Fenrir, son of Loki and truly a giant wolf, puts his arms up in a big air hug "Uncle Thor! I totally forgot you were part of this Council!" he puts his arms down his arms and plasters his mischievous grin back on his face "What I was saying was, I think you are making a great mistake sending this quest out. You will lose more campers than you can afford."
"What do you mean 'more than we can afford'?" Chiron asked, confused.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Fenrir laughed "Death is coming either way. So, you can either send out this quest and have 26 less campers, or keep them here and have a greater number of campers after all the deaths. Your choice." He laughed maniacally.
"Fenrir, for the love of Odin, be straightforward for once in your miserable existence!" Thor yelled, exasperated "Or, do I have to go get the to come down here and tie you down again?"
Fenrir flinched and whimpered like a dog, but quickly regained his composure and shrugged "Whatever. I'm just saying, you need to make sure you want to do this before you send out 32 of your best campers. Just to save you some time though, I think I'll feed on demigods tonight."
His body morphed, hair growing from his pores and fangs shooting from his gums. Within ten seconds he was a full blown werewolf. His blood red eyes swept the screaming crowd and locked on me.
He jumped forward and knocked me down. He stood over me, licking his lips. His breath smelled like rotting meat and wet dog. Why wasn't the Council coming to my aid?
In the distance, a loud boinging sound cut through the screams. It got louder, and louder.
"Well, girly, what part of you should start wi-" Fenrir was cut off by a green, slimey cube smashing him in the face.
Fenrir was knocked away from me, and landed in the campfire. He yowled as the flames blood red flames burnt his skin.
In front of him (and the two dozen other werewolves that had apparently been keeping the Council and the other campers busy) sat a battalion of little green sludge cubes, no bigger than an ice cube. They bounced up and down, making a high-pitched boing sound.
Fenrir glared at me "Have you summoned the beasts?" He apparently took my astonishment as a yes and growled "Don't worry. Death is coming for you, girl, quicker than you think." Then, the ice cubes attacked.
Each time a cube hit one of the werewolves, they were blasted back multiple feet. I don't know how, but each cube seemed to possess the strength of something multiple hundred times it's size. Pretty soon, the cubes had chased the werewolves into the woods. And, from the howls of pain echoing from the direction of which they fled, I doubt they were coming back anytime soon.
An awkward silence fell over the camp. His words echoed in my head: Death is coming for you girl, quicker than you think.
"Well.." Thor sighed "I think the rest can wait till morning. Questers, get ready. You leave at noon tomorrow. Everyone else, you might as well get a good night's sleep. I have a feeling the next few weeks are not going to be easy."
We all started shuffling away. Most of the other quester's faces mirrored my own dread and overall nausea.
Everyone was talking in hushed tones, but I definitely heard Thor whisper to the rest of the council "I wonder which of the six of them will come back."
End of Chapter 3
Sooo? If there is any OOC, I apologize. Just tell me, and I will fix it.
Also, for the record, the lack of paragraph breaks is FF's fault. It's been acting weird lately. Trust me, as a Grammar Nazi, I would fix it if I could.
Pants Out!
(By the way, sorry this took a...year...to update. If only you knew that sh*t that went down in this last year, you'd wonder how I did this in a year.)