Chapter 3
I slowly opened my eyes to a bright light, but then quickly closed them as the light burned my pupils. I felt pain course through my body as I took a deep breath. "Wait did you just see that?" I heard a voice say. It was unmistakable, Grover.
"Grover?" My voice came out weak and barely audible.
"Summer," he said in a relieved voice. "Are you all right?"
"Grover," I said still not opening my eyes. "The light."
"What?" Grover yelled. "No don't go toward it! Don't go."
"No… You idiot… Turn it off." I said wincing in pain every few words.
"Oh… right." Grover said. Suddenly I saw through my eyelids the bright light disappear. I finally opened my eyes to see where I was.
I was under a huge tent and was surrounded by kids. I looked up at Grover who was leaning over me.
"Hey." He whispered.
"Where am I?" I asked confused.
"The infirmary." He answered. I looked around.
"And who are they?" I said nodding to the group of teens.
"Who, oh them." He said just noticing the group of twenty teens staring at me like I was in a cage at the zoo. "They're campers."
"Campers?" I asked. I was confused, "I'm at a camp?"
"Yea," Grover said, "Hey, what do you remember?"
"Some dream with this monster thing that was like a bull," I said, "Oh yeah, and you were like half donkey or something."
"Goat, actually." He said.
"Oh yea, you said you were a goat and- Wait, how did you know that?" I asked startled.
"Well Summer, it wasn't a dream." He said hesitantly. He backed away from the cot so I could see his goat legs.
"It wasn't a dream? Wait, that means…" I couldn't finish the sentence.
"I'm sorry Summer." Grover said.
"No! No! No! This can't be happening! She's not dead, she can't be dead." I screamed. All the kids backed away like they were scared I would start a supernatural occurrence. I tried to stand, but when I did I fell down and screamed in pain. My spine was on fire.
"Apollo cabin, who's in the Apollo cabin?" Grover yelled to the group of kids. 3 kids ran up to me. A tall blond guy, probably around 19, picked me up easily and placed me on the bed. I winced in pain as he put pressure on my back. He laid me on my stomach and someone lifted up the back of my shirt. (Only the back, get your mind out of the gutter)
"It's broken. Here drink this," a girl gave me a water bottle of golden liquid. I grabbed it and took a big swig of it. It tasted amazing, like a cheese burger with onion crisps in the middle, like I used to get at the burger joint down the street. She touched my back and I screamed in pain.
"It didn't work?" another girl stated like a question.
"Of course it didn't. You idiot it's a drink!" The girl just ignored me; she didn't even get mad that I called her an idiot.
"What else could work?" The boy asked the girl.
"I don't know."
Suddenly I had the urge to drink water. Like a really bad urge. "Grover," I said calmly. He ignored me and kept talking to one of the kids, "Grover" I said a little bit louder. My throat started to feel like dry sand. He ignored me. "Grover!" I screamed. My throat was on fire. He jumped in surprise and then turned toward me.
"Yea?" he asked.
"I need water." my voice was getting raspy.
"Water? Wait… Water, that's It." the boy said suddenly everyone knew what was going on like some kind of inside joke that I had no clue about. "Hey, someone get some water up here!" he shouted to the crowd. In less than 10 seconds he had a canister for me. I grabbed it and smashed my lips to it. I gulped down the full canister in 5 seconds. Suddenly my body started to tingle and I felt cold. Not uncomfortably cold, but cold like your mouth after brushing your teeth. I guess the better word to use is fresh. The pain in my back suddenly disappeared. I sprung up into a sitting position.
"What just happened?" I asked in a mixture of shock and confusion.
"The water it healed you." Grover said as if that answered the entire question.
Then I remembered my Mom, she was dead… dead, deceased, gone. I started to cry. I never cry, the only time I cry is when Gabe crashed a beer bottle over my head or hits me or worse.
I thought of the best times me and Percy had with her. Wait, Percy! "Percy, where's Percy?!" I screamed.
"He's over there," Grover answered pointing to a cot. I ran to him as fast as I could.
I stood over Percy. "He's… He's alive, right." I was scared of a bad answer.
"Yea, he's alive unconscious, but alive," Grover said with a sigh,"He's been out for as long as you, 3 days.
"Well, what are you doing to wake him up?" I said angrily. I wasn't going let my brother be in a comma forever.
"We've tried everything Summer, there's nothing more we can do but give it time." Grover tried to explain.
The voice came into my head again. This time it was the man, "Your brother and you are one in the same. You make mistakes you share the blame. Together you cry, together you die. Together you feel and together you heal."
"Together you heal… together we heal," I whispered to myself. Then it hit me, together we heal, we heal with the same thing. "Water!" I yelled to the crowd. Just as quick as before the water was a canister full of water was in my hand.
I fumbled with the screw top until it opened then poured the water on Percy's face like Gabe did to me when I was little. The only difference was that the water Gabe poured on me was boiling.
Percy bolted up as soon as the water hit his face. "Percy!" I ran in and hugged him.
"Summer?" he asked confused.
"Perce, I'm sure glad you're alive." Grover said. Percy sat up confused.
"Ow." He said grabbing his shoulder. He was definitely sore but I guess not as bad as I was because no kid doctor kids came to his rescue, in fact the kids were gone.
He looked around the room before asking where he was. Grover went over the same answer he gave me and asked what he remembered. Percy had a similar answer also, "Some crazy dream. I don't know, there was a monster. My mom was there and you, Summer. Well you were there two, you were some weird hybrid man-goat thing. Whoa!" Percy saw the rest of Grover's body.
"Yea," Grover said calmly, "The politically correct term is satyr."
"No," Percy whispered. "No, no!" he said louder. "All of it was real?" Percy asked Grover, "My mom's gone?" Percy sat up next to me and I fell into his arms sobbing. Percy held me there and stroked my hair.
"I'm sorry guys. I try. I really do," Grover tried to apologize, "But frankly, I'm just a junior protector. I don't have my horns yet. It was my job to protect you guys, all of you guys." Percy just sighed and Grover left as my crying started to die down.
Eventually there were no more tears left to cry out, so we sat in silence. I could hear something in the other room.
"Should we tell her now?" a voice asked someone. I had no mistake, it was Grover.
"No, no. We shall tell her later. It is already hard enough on her." I heard another voice said. This voice was familiar, I was sure I had heard it somewhere before. I wondered who they were talking about and then I realized it was me.
"Well, what if Summer gets claimed by them… Both of them?" Grover asked.
"Well, we will just have to hide the truth until Summer is ready and hope she doesn't realize it before then." The familiar voice said. I got up and walked into the room.
"Hide what from-" I stopped in the middle of my question. I had found out who the familiar voice belonged to. "Mr. Brunner?"
Standing before me was Mr. Brunner and he wasn't in a wheel chair. I looked at him in amazement half of his body was that of a horse's. The top half was normal though. "You're… You're a horse."
"A centaur, actually." he corrected me"Summer I need to properly introduce myself. My real name is Chiron. I was surprised for a second but then waved it off, Grover was a satyr anyway. Then I remembered why I was there.
"What are you hiding from me?" I asked them, by this time Percy was in the room staring at Mr. Brunner in shock. Grover gave Chiron an uneasy look and Chiron returned the gesture with weary nod.
"Well Summer, your mother is not who you think it is." Grover said.
"What? What are you talking about?" I asked confused.
"What I mean is that your mother is not Sally Jackson. Your mother is the Greek goddess, Artemes."
"Greek goddess? Is this some kind of sick joke?" I asked not believing what I was hearing.
"I am afraid not, Summer," Chiron said. "The Greek gods are real and you are the daughter of them."
"This is impossible." Percy yelled angrily. I took an unsteady breath, I had no doubts he was telling the truth. After everything that had happened it made sense.
"Are you saying Percy is not my brother?" I asked nervously.
"Not quite, Percy is your half brother," Chiron explained, "Percy is the son of Sally Jackson but he also has a godly parent. He is the son of Poseidon. Because he is the son of a god and a mortal he is a demigod."
"So how are we siblings?" I asked before I realized, "Wait my father is Poseidon?"
"Yes, he is, you are the offspring of Poseidon." Chiron said.
"Wait if she is the offspring of two gods, what does that make her?"
"Summer, you're a goddess." Grover said calmly.
"What!" Me and Percy yelled simultaneously.
"I'm, I'm, I'm a goddess?" I said still not believing it, "Wait, how is that possible? I bleed, I've broken four bones, I grow, I, I, I-"
"You are not fully grown, yet, Summer," Grover explained, "When you turn 16 you will stop growing and then you will reach your full potential." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
"Summer, are you okay?" Grover asked.
"No," I answered honestly. The room was silent; no one knew what to say. I finally spoke breaking the silence, "How powerful are gods?" I asked.
"They are very powerful. Each one controls different things. They are the most powerful beings and rule the Earth. Your father is the 2nd most powerful god, being the god of water, earthquakes, and the horse." Chiron said looking at me and then at Percy,"That makes you very powerful, Percy, and you, Summer, even more powerful."
"If Poseidon is the god of the sea, what does Artemis rule?" I asked.
"Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and the moon." Chiron told me.
"And that's all?" I asked. I felt like he was leaving something out.
"Well, she's also the goddess of the maiden." Grover said a bit nervous of what my reaction would be.
"Wait the maiden as in a women who never has children?" I asked now totally confused.
"Actually that depends on your point of view," Grover said, "one belief is that she must be childless to be a maiden god, but another is that you must not have a child by doing… Well, you know what I mean."
"So how was I born?" I asked.
"Poseidon formed you out of water and then Artemis breathed life into you." Chiron explained.
"So my mom is not Sally Jackson?" I asked even though it came out more like a statement. I don't know why but that hurt a lot. It was like how I could have been loved by her if I wasn't even her own daughter. I didn't cry though, I refused to.
"Why was I sent to live with Sally and Percy, then?" I asked trying to stay strong.
"Well, you are not a goddess yet, so you cannot take your rightful place on Olympus yet," Chiron explained, "but in 2 years you will. Poseidon placed you in the care of Mrs. Jackson because he knew she would raise and love you like her own." I wanted to believe what he said, that Sally loved me, but it just didn't feel right, she wasn't my mother. There was silence as I processed my emotions until Grover broke it.
"Well, you two need a tour of the camp." Grover said trying to get off the touchy subject. I just nodded and for the first time during the conversation I looked at Percy.
His face was drained of color and he was frowning. He was deep in thought. I guess he was taking the news just as hard as I was.
