Chapter 4:

I Settle Into a (Almost) Normal Routine

When I pushed open the door everyone that had been waiting in the large foyer of the cabin immediately silenced. It was like my very presence had sucked all sound out of the room.

Not the best welcome for the new kid if I may say so…

"So you're the new bloke?" asked one of the kids from the couch. "Only one of you this time?"

"Yeah… Just me," I muttered, looking over the sea of faces. They all seemed to have similar traits…

Just about everyone in the room had blond hair, really good tans; like they had just spent all day outside, and no one looked like they had managed to break the six foot height barrier.

It was a home sweet home for me.

"Well congratulations then," said one of the camper, shaking my hand as other campers joined in cheers of welcome. "You have, if I may be so bold to say, been born into the best cabin here." He chuckled to himself while others behind him hooted and hollered their approval.

All the jubilee was kind of infectious, and I felt my own face splitting into a grin.

"I'm Rick by the way," he said smiling. "I'm in charge of things in this cabin."

"Alex," I introduced myself, looking over Rick. He shared the blond hair and height similarities of me and everyone else in cabin seven.

"This here is Will Solace," continued Rick, motioning to a man joining by his side. This guy looked like he was twenty-one; not near as young as everyone else in the room.

"I'm a senior camp counselor," said Will, smiling as though he had read my mind. "Seven years ago I was in your shoes."

"So you've been doing this for a while then…," I said, blinking in surprise. It had never really crossed my mind that adults would be apart of this world of Olympian gods and monsters.

"Well, naturally," chuckled Will. "It is my life after all. You never stop being a demigod. Some go off to be real famous; I'm sure if I mentioned some you'd recognize the names. But most, such as myself, lead very simple lives. Keeps the monster attacks to a minimum."

"So I guess there are more out there…?" I asked nervously.

Laughter rippled though the sea of campers. I felt my face heat up and looked down at my shoes.

"Hey now, don't be like that to the kid," scolded Rick. "We all had to learn."

"What came after you?" asked Will.

"An…Empousa?" I said, trying to remember what it was Pete had called the flame haired demon chick.

"Oh yeah, there are tons of Empousa clanking around," said Will. "And naturally there are others. Hydras, and the Minotaur, and Medusa… You get the picture."

I felt the color slowly draining from my face and let out a shaky breath. So all of the worst monsters from Greece were real?

Great. Just amazing. Best news all day…

"Don't worry about it though," said Rick quickly, perhaps noticing the lack of color in my face. "They can't get past the camp borders; they're magically protected. And after were done training you, you'll be able to take any monster out there."

Surprisingly…that didn't make me feel better.

"But…But how are all these monsters here now?" I said, flustered. "If they're all the monsters from the Greek myths, shouldn't they be dead by now?"

"Monsters don't just die Alex," said Will kindly. I could tell he had explained this to more than a few campers. "They can be dispelled. Sent to Hades for a while. Maybe even a lifetime if your lucky. But they eventually always piece themselves back together and come back for more."

"So that Empousa I killed…," I muttered.

"Isn't dead," finished Rick. "Just pissed."

Great. I really wish people would stop giving me such great news.

"Anyway, enough with the somber monster talk," said Will, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Allow me to show you to your bunk space."

Will and Rick led me up the flight of stairs, past more staring campers that all vaguely looked like me. It was a mix of pretty cool and very creepy…

"Here you are," said Will, gesturing to a bunk right next to the window. "You lucked out; people have been wanting this bunk for ages."

I stood next to my bed and looked out the window.

Camp Half-Blood really was a beautiful place. From my window I could see a beach running parallel with the creek. More campers were running around the fields, playing music in the strawberry fields, or sitting around and talking; it was almost like a normal camp.

Then I saw a pretty girl run into and through a tree and I was reminded of where I was. Still…it was nice.

I glanced up to the sun, shining brightly in the midday sky. It shone with a radiance that seemed to put everything else on the ground into sharper focus and that was the first time I thought Hey… My dad is the SUN GOD!

"That's right kido," came a voice in my head.

I blinked in surprise. Now I was hearing things…

I shook it off though; Will was starting to talk to me again.

"So, now all we need to do is get your schedule figured out, get you some armor…, oh, and we'll need to get you a bow. Everyone in the Apollo cabin needs a bow."

"Er…," I muttered. "I already have one…"

"You do?" asked Will, eyebrows raised. "I thought you were new to this?"

"I am…but…I have one anyway," I said quietly. I took out the flashlight and clicked it for them.

Rick whistled in surprise and Will laughed. "Well how about that?" he chortled. "Looks like Dad's looking out for you."

"Glad he was…," I said. "Or I'd be shish kabob."

"Yes you would," chuckled Rick. "Now c'mon, lets get you some armor and a schedule."

The next week of my life was pretty much a normal schedule. Or almost normal. Normal if you're an Ancient Greek born monster fighter I guess.

I started every morning with Ancient Greek. It was basically the equivalent to English class. Except in English class…I was a lot worse.

Next was always sword practice. Now I had found that, being a son of Apollo, I was supposed to be a lot better with a dagger. Turns out…that was correct. What's bad about that is that sword practice is with the Ares cabin. Yeah like the god of war. So I have this short little knife and I'm trying not to get my head cleaved off by these big Ares kids with eight foot long swords.

So after that near death experience, I go to archery with Chiron. Advanced archery actually. I took maybe three shots in Starting archery when they moved me up. Guess it's another perk of being Apollo's kid.

Next, we had horseback lesson. Flying horseback lessons. Turns out this camp has a large cabin full of winged Pegasi. Apparently there was the immortal winged horse and he had gone off and bred…now there were a lot more. Anyway, those lessons were always fun. I enjoyed feeling the wind in my hair, flying high over the ground. It was good fun.

After that it was campers choice between Art & Crafts, canoe races, and the climbing wall. I tried the climbing wall…once. Pete completely showed me up and I almost got burned by some lava to boot. So I spent most days in Arts & Crafts.

I know, I know…sounds girly. But hey, Apollo's god of arts so I got some skill there. Not to mention it's pretty cool getting to make your own weapons.

After that it was a bunch of free time. I got to run around with the other camper and the naiads (who are very friendly and very…pretty nature spirits), play volleyball and basketball, and just lay around.

Pretty much my favorite part.

After those days everyone went to the wide open dining pavilion. I sat with everyone else from the Apollo cabin, surrounded by all the other gods children. Apparently after this Percy Jackson had made his deal with the gods, a lot more campers had shown up; according to Will the pavilion was four times the size it was in his day.

We did have an army of campers; I couldn't believe Chiron could call them all by name.

Anyway, that night after everyone had made their food sacrifice to the gods, I was sitting there, munching on some ribs and studying all the different campers.

One caught my eye over at the Hades table. It wasn't exactly hard to tell who Hades kids were…because they all fit the same stereotype. All dressed in black, with everyone (including the guys) having long black hair, looking like Goths.

But there was one that was a little different, and this was the one that caught my eye.

Yes, he was dressed in a long black sleeved shirt, black pants…you get the picture. Strangely though he didn't have the long tidy raven black hair. He actually had almost no hair at all. This kid was a skinhead.

He was giving his plate a look that, if looks could, would cause the whole table to burst into flames. Then again…he's a son of Hades…maybe his look could do that.

"What's wrong with skinhead? You think he knew the lamb he's eating?" I muttered to Rick.

Rick glanced up, chuckling. "Eh, ignore the Hades kids. They're all the same depressed idiots. Convinced that no one could understand their dark, dramatic lives, or some crap like that."

Skinhead glanced up at me, like he knew we were discussing him. He gave me a hard look. I held it for a few seconds but eventually looked away, expecting some corpse hand to suddenly shoot out and grab me.

I then lost interest in skinhead, because Chiron was standing up to address the pavilion.

"Another day of camp done," he said, the campers drawing silent. "And I would only like to remind you all that the capture the flag game will be held tomorrow. Athena will be leading one side. Ares the other. If you do not already know your team, you will by tomorrow. Good luck to everybody."

"Ares rules" shouted one of the meatheads, standing up and pumping his fist in the air. The Ares table roared their agreement.

"Shut up Duke, you haven't got a prayer," shouted back a girl from the Athena table. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her gray eyes narrowed.

"Oh sit down girly," sneered Duke. "Ares doesn't lose. Much less to the likes of you."

There was uproar from both tables.

"Enough," boomed Chiron. "Enough! Save the action for tomorrow if you will."

The two tables relented, but reluctantly.

"How do you guys play capture the flag?" I muttered to Will.

"You'll see tomorrow," grinned Will. "But I'm sure you'll be of good use to us. Just make sure you have that bow of yours handy."

"Yeah," said Rick, looking me up and down. "We're definitely going to be needing you."

"Great," I muttered. They needed me and I had no idea how capture the flag would even work.

I went to bed that night, anxious about tomorrow.

Just thought I'd say sorry for how slow this is moving along. The action will pick up by next chapter. Until then, please review and let me know if you have any ideas or see something that needs improvement.