IV
Calista
Alyssa Learns The Truth
I was sitting on the porch railing next to Chiron and Mr. D reading my Ancient Greek textbook when Adon and Calvin walked up with a girl that I didn't know.
She looked to be around thirteen, a year younger than me, and around an inch or two shorter than me. She had bright green eyes and long auburn brown hair that reached her shoulders. She was simply pretty; not beautiful, not dazzling, just pretty.
She talked with Mr. D and Chiron for a while, so I went back to my book. I tuned back in when I heard Chiron say my name.
"Cali, if you could please show Alyssa the camp and explain everything that is necessary."
"Sure, Chiron," I said putting on my best smile. I held out my hand and the girl shook it. "I'm Calista Clark, but please call me Cali."
"Alyssa Ember," she replied, returning my smile. "Please call me Lys though."
I was beginning to like this new girl already.
"No problem Lys," I said. "Come on, let's get you checked into camp."
We walked off of the porch. I assumed that Chiron hadn't explained anything like always, so this girl probably had no clue what was going on.
This was going to be fun.
"So, Lys, how are you feeling right now?" I asked.
"I'm extremely confused. Chiron explained absolutely nothing," she replied.
So I was right.
"Yeah, he does that sometimes. He just likes to make me do all of the work."
"Do you always explain stuff for him?" She asked.
I laughed. "Yeah, basically."
"Ok."
"So, you probably have a million questions in your head now, right?"
"Yeah, nothing makes any sense to me."
"Ok," I said. "Fire away."
She grimaced for a second, and I thought I might have said something wrong, but it was gone as quick as it came.
"Ok," she said. "Why did Chiron say I was lying if I wasn't? My parents both died in a fire, and I remember going to their funerals, both of them."
"Oh, giving me a tough one, huh? Ok, let's start simple before we get complex. Have you learned Greek Mythology in school?"
She nodded her head. "Yeah, all of the Greek gods like Zeus, Poseidon, and Hestia."
"Correct," I said. "The Greek gods are one of the most well-known of all mythology. Many believe that's because they were the basis for other types of mythology, Roman for instance. However, this is incorrect. Greek Mythology is the most popular because these gods – the immortal Greek gods you learned in school – are alive and living in this world."
I waited for her reaction. Her face contorted, filled with confusion and then disbelief, as if she thought I was lying.
I continued, "I'm not lying. Calvin told me that you got hit by lightning on your way here. Can you remember what he said at this time?"
Realization dawned on her face. "He said, 'Zeus must be mad at us' or something like that," she said.
"Exactly-" I started to say, but Lys was on a roll.
"And when I woke up," she exclaimed, "Adon was telling me who you were and Calvin muttered something like 'she's a daughter of Athena.'"
I waited to make sure she was done.
"Yes I am, but I'll explain that later."
"But I don't get it. The Greek gods are myths, stories to explain nature and stuff."
"I know this is hard to believe, but immortal means immortal Lys. Those gods and goddesses are still alive today. They move with the West."
"The what?" She asked.
"The West. What humans call 'Western civilization.' It isn't just a concept. It's a living force, both indirectly and directly tied to the gods. The gods move with it, just like Greek Mythology turned into Roman Mythology. You could say it follows the most powerful spot on earth."
"What do you mean?" Lys asked.
"When the gods were first born, the most powerful spot on earth was Greece, and thus it's called Greek Mythology," I explained. "Then, the most powerful spot moved to Rome, and it became Roman Mythology. The gods then moved to Germany, France, Spain. They spent several centuries in England, and I think you can guess where they are now."
"Here," she said slowly. "They are in the US. They are in America."
"Yes, that's correct," I replied. "You know, Lys, you are taking this quite well."
"Really?" She asked.
I nodded my head.
"I guess it's just the fact that one of my parents is alive that keeps me believing this. It's been over ten years since I've seen either of them, and it would be so amazing just to see either of them again."
"Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. My dad is still alive, even though we're not on the best terms, but this isn't about me, it's about you. Come on, let's not stand by the porch the whole day. Let me show you the camp."
I led Alyssa towards the volleyball courts. I noticed that she had stopped and was looking around the area, so I took a look at the house that we had just come out of, the Big House, as the campers called it. When you see it for the first time, you are surprised how big it seems compared to the size of the inside of the house. It is four stories tall, painted pale green with white trim, with a brass weathervane shaped like an eagle. Overall, it looks like a normal seaside resort.
"This place is pretty cool," Lys said.
I laughed. "Girl, you haven't seen anything yet."
We started walking again, and I led her to the strawberry fields.
"What are these for?" She asked. "I hope we don't just eat strawberries here."
"No, Lys," I laughed, "These strawberries pay the camp's expenses. Mr. D has an effect on all fruit-bearing plants, and since he is restricted from growing wine grapes, which work best, we grow strawberries."
"What do you mean he has an 'effect' on them?" Lys asked.
"Didn't they explain this?" I asked. Lys shook her head. "I remember something being said about Mr. D's father though."
"Yeah, I asked who is father was, and nobody answered me."
"Ok, then how about I tell you who his father is, and you try to figure out who Mr. D is."
"Ok."
"Ready?" Lys nodded her head. "His father is Zeus," I said.
I could see the gears turning in her head. After a couple of seconds, she seemed to figure it out.
"Do you know who he is?" I asked.
"Dionysus, the god of wine," she stated. "So that's why he said to respect your divine elders."
I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but it must have occurred when I was zoning out during their conversation.
"Yes," I said. "That's correct."
"Mr. D is a god?" She asked out of disbelief.
"Yeah," I said. "But, just between you and me, and I think everyone else at camp would agree with me, Mr. D isn't that great of a god."
"Yeah, I agree with you. I don't like Mr. D a lot anyway," Lys said. "Can we keep moving? These strawberries are starting to creep me out."
I laughed. "Yeah, let's go."
I led Lys to the woods.
Most people, upon seeing the woods for the first time, are amazed by its size. The forest covers at least a quarter of the entire valley, and its trees are towering above you, as if they had been there since before the Civil War.
"Wow," Lys said. "It is a lot bigger when it's right on top of you."
"Yeah, we all know what you mean," I replied. "Just make sure that you are armed when you go in. The woods are stocked."
"Stocked with what?" Lys asked.
"You'll see," I said. "Cabin events are Tuesday, and capture the flag is Friday night."
"What are cabin events?"
"They are games and other events that you do with your cabin. I'll explain more when we get to the cabins."
"Ok, cool. Where do you guys play capture the flag?" Lys asked.
"In the woods," I said. "Where else would we play?"
"I don't know. So far I've only seen the house, the strawberry patch, and the woods, so I didn't know if there was anyplace else."
"Ok, that makes sense." I saw someone I knew down at the canoeing lake. "Come on, I want you to meet someone."
On the way down to the lake, we passed the stables which held the pegasi, or winged horses. Lys immediately wanted to ride one, but I told her we would need one of the teachers, and it would take a while to find one.
We continued down to the lake. There was a small pier that overlooked Long Island Sound. A girl with long light brown hair sat on the edge of the pier.
"Hey Ally!" I said to the girl.
She turned around, got up, and ran over towards me. We shared a hug for a couple seconds before she noticed Lys.
"Who's this?" She asked.
"Oh my gods I'm such a bad tour guide. Ally, meet Alyssa Ember. Lys, meet Allison Soto."
"Howdy," Ally said.
I rolled my eyes. Ally was such a southern girl.
"Hey," Lys said. "Nice to meet you."
"Ditto," Ally replied.
"Ally, seriously," I said. "The girl just met you and you're going all crazy on her."
"Sorry, Cali."
"Ah, forget it."
Ally's next question surprised me.
Although, it wasn't directed at me, it was directed at Lys.
"So, Lys, right?" Lys nodded. "What's your parentage?"
"What?"
"Ally!" I said. "I haven't explained that yet."
"Well, do you want me to help?"
"Fine," I said. "I was going to wait a little longer, but go ahead."
"So, Lys," she started, "what do you know so far?"
"I found out that one of my parents is alive, the Greek gods are real, and Mr. D is Dionysus."
"So," Ally dragged out the o, "Cali didn't hit any of the good parts. That's good, because I get to explain them."
I rolled my eyes again.
Ally continued, "Where should I start?"
"How about you start with the fact that she's a child of one of the Olympians, and that she has powers no other mortal child has, et cetera," I said sarcastically.
"No, that's too straight forward," Ally replied.
"Wait a minute," Lys said. "What is this about me being a child of an Olympian?"
"Ok, Lys," I said, reasserting my authority as tour guide. "Can you tell me what the gods would do most of the time back in the Ancient Greek stories?"
"Um, I don't know, fight?" She guessed.
"Not quite." I paused. "Well, technically yes, but that wasn't what I was looking for. See if this rings a bell: the gods would go around and fall in love with mortals."
"Yeah, I remember that from somewhere," Lys said. "What does that have to do with me though?"
"Remember when Chiron said you were lying?" Lys nodded. "This is where that comes in. Both of your parents couldn't have died in that fire because one of them can't die," I said, trying to make her get it.
"I don't follow," she said.
"Well, let's see-"
"Oh, come on Cali! Why won't you just say it!" Ally yelled.
Ally turned towards Lys.
"Lys, one of your parents is an Olympian."
"An Olympian?" She asked, still confused.
"Yes, Lys," I said. "One of your parents is a Greek god."
I expected her to be speechless, like I was when I found out my mom was a goddess. And she was for a couple of seconds, but then she asked a question I couldn't answer.
"Who?"
"We don't know. It could be anyone for you since you don't know which one of your parents it is. The only way to find out is if they claim you."
"Claim me?" She asked.
"Yeah, they send some sort of message, telling the camp that you are their child."
"When will that happen?"
"It depends on the situation," Ally explained. "Most gods will claim you in front of the whole camp, but some will do it personally, when you are only with a couple of people."
"Yeah," I said. "For instance, I got claimed in front of the whole camp, but Ally got claimed when she was only with me."
"Oh, cool," Lys said. "So, if I remember correctly, your mother is Athena?"
"Yep," I said. "Goddess of wisdom and battle strategy."
"So Ally, who is your parent?" Lys asked.
"Aphrodite," she said proudly. "Goddess of love and beauty."
"Oh, that's really cool," Lys said. "You really look like one of her kids too."
Indeed, Ally was the typical Aphrodite girl. Her long light brown hair reached her shoulders. Her blue eyes sparkled like a clear summer day. She was the perfect height for a fifteen year old girl; not extremely tall, and not extremely short. And of course, she was one of the most beautiful girls at camp. That's basically a given with the Aphrodite girls.
"Why thanks, Lys," Ally replied. "I hope you are my half-sister. You're pretty good looking yourself."
"Thanks Ally."
"No problem. Hey, I have to head off to my cabin, so I'll see you guys at dinner?"
"Yeah, sure Ally. See you around," I said.
After Ally left Lys turned towards me.
"You're an Athena girl, and they are supposed to be smart, right, so who do you think my parent is?"
"So, first off thanks for being stereotypical," I laughed when her face dropped a little. "I'm just kidding. And as for your parent, I really have no idea, because it could be anyone. I have some ideas, but I really can't be sure."
"Well, who are your ideas? I might feel some connection if you say the right name."
"Well, I really don't see how you can have a connection when I just say a name, but we can give it a shot," I said. "Ok, let's see. We can eliminate Hera, Artemis and Hestia because they are all virgin goddesses and would never have kids. That at least narrows it down a little. I was thinking possibly Apollo, Aphrodite, or maybe Athena. I think it would be cool if you were my half-sister. But then again, there are many other possibilities, so it's basically impossible to say until they claim you."
"Well, thanks for trying anyway."
"No problem Lys," I said. "Glad I could help."
"Yeah, so what's the next place on the tour?" She asked.
"I'm glad you asked. Come on, let's go see the archery range."
When we got to the archery range, we saw three people, one guy and two girls, practicing. The three of them were clearly siblings. They all had blond hair; short blond hair for the guy, and long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail for the two girls. The guy was the oldest, at sixteen years old. The two girls were around the same age, one fourteen, the other a couple months younger.
"Hey guys," I called in-between shots. "I want you to meet someone."
All three of them shouldered their bows and made their way over to us.
"Hey Cali, who's this?" The guy said.
"This is Alyssa Ember. She goes by Lys though," I told them.
"Nice to meet you Lys. I'm Colin Mitchell, this is Daphne Parker and this is Crystal Fox." He pointed to each of them in turn.
"Nice to meet you three. Let me guess, your parent is Apollo?" Lys guessed.
"Well, those two are Apollo, but my dad is Hephaestus," Colin said with a smile.
"Oh, shut up Colin," Crystal said shoving him on his shoulder. "Don't listen to him, he's a child of Apollo too, he just likes to show off."
Crystal was the youngest, but acted older than her age.
Daphne smiled, "He's more of a Hermes kid though, all he does is joke around."
"Yeah, whatever. So who's your parent Lys?" Colin said after recovering from his shove.
"I don't know," she said.
"Well, is it your mom or dad?"
"We're not sure," I told them. "Her other parent died when she was really young."
"Oh, ok. Well I hope it's Apollo. You would make a pretty cool sister Lys."
"Thanks," Lys replied.
"Well, we need to finish practicing and shower before dinner, so we'll see you around guys," Colin said.
"Ok, see you Colin. Bye Daphne and Crystal," I said.
"See you," they said.
We walked out of the archery range. I quickly showed Lys the javelin range, but since no one was there, we kept moving.
We walked to the forge where a few Hephaestus kids were forging some weapons.
Lys looked confused, so I helped by explaining, "The Hephaestus kids work on swords and other things here. You learn some things from them, but they basically make all of the weapons."
"Oh, that's kind of cool. Did they make my knife?" Lys asked, pulling out her knife.
"Most likely," I replied. "Come on, I don't think we can meet anyone right now."
I quickly showed Lys the arts-and-crafts room, and then we continued onto the climbing wall.
Whatever you think of when I say climbing wall, it isn't enough.
The climbing wall is fifty feet high, with two facing walls that drop boulders, spray lava, and clash together if you don't get to the top fast enough. They also shake violently the whole time you are trying to climb to the top.
"That's awesome!" Lys exclaimed. "Can I try?"
"Yeah, but not right now. Let's finish the tour first," I replied.
"Ok," Lys said, sounding kind of sad.
"Don't worry, you'll get plenty of tries to fail on it later."
"Ok, where to next?" Lys asked.
I laughed. This girl was having such a good time.
It was pretty clear that it had been quite a while since Lys had been this happy. No one could have guessed that by the end of the tour, this same girl would be the happiest she had ever been in her life.
A/N:
Hey, what did you guys think? The next chapter is kind of short, but we get our second godly presence (behind Mr. D, who doesn't really count).
Question of the chapter: Who's Lys's parent? Apollo, Aphrodite, or Athena? Or maybe none of them?
Answer with who you think it is and who you want it to be. Creative answers might get a shout-out in the next chapter.
Make sure to review!
Thanks!
-PSON
