Five minutes later, Jesse was standing in the back of the line for cabin twelve, watching all the other cabins assemble. He took note that all the cabins varied greatly in numbers, three cabins in fact had no campers while two cabins only had one each. The line he was in, representing Hermes, was the largest by far, so they got to enter the cafeteria first. Jesse followed the line towards one of the tables. In front of each chair was a plate, silverware, and an empty goblet, but no food.
While the campers noisily sat by cabins, Chiron, who was standing at the head table with Mr. D, stamped his hoof against the marble floor, causing silence to ensue. "Before we begin our feast, I have two announcements. The first is that we have a new camper joining us today. Please welcome, Jesse Cantor."
The campers half-heartedly lifted their empty goblets and chorused, "Welcome Jesse." Although, most of them got his name wrong.
"And we have a returning camper today!" Chiron said, this time, almost all of the campers and staff started cheering. "Welcome home to Noah Fouad!" Chiron shouted, causing the campers to give a standing ovation.
Jesse stood as well, mainly not to look like an idiot while the others clapped. He looked around to see who Noah was and finally spotted him. Noah was the only camper staying in his seat, and was smiling sheepishly while his cabin-mates patted him on the back.
Chiron stamped his hoof on the floor to cease the applause, but it took a full minute for the clapping to die down. "I'm sure our young Hero will be happy to tell us of his quest, but first, dinner."
Disappointed that they wouldn't hear the story until after their meal, the campers sat down and started to eat the food that had suddenly appeared on their plates. Jesse shook his head, "I'm going to have to get used to this I guess." He muttered to himself. He dug into the juicy piece of steak that had appeared on his plate and groaned inwardly. It was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted.
"Tell the goblet what you want." The kid sitting across from him said.
Excited and a bit suspicious, Jesse took his goblet and said, "Coke." Instantly, the goblet filled itself with the dark colored liquid. Grinning, Jesse took a great chug from his drink. Over his cup, Jesse saw that one of the tables in front of his only had one person seated there. And that was Henry.
Jesse noticed that the table behind Henry's was also occupied by only one person, Andrew. Jesse nudged the kid next to him, "What's the deal with those two sitting alone?" He asked.
The camper next to him, whose name was Paul, put down his fork, "Well, Henry is the son of Poseidon, and Andrew is the son of Zeus." He said, "After world war two, the three brothers, Zeus Poseidon and Hades all swore never to have mortal affairs again since the war was pretty much between their children. But, Zeus and Poseidon of them could keep their promise and they all had one more child. But since the punishment was pretty severe, they've been careful not to have anymore."
Jesse nodded and thanked the camper, who returned to his meal. Jesse ate in silence for the next twenty minutes before Chiron trotted to the center of the room and called for quiet. "Half-Bloods, Satyrs, Naiads and Dryads, our friend Noah has returned!"
Cheers erupted from the campers mouths and the sound of clapping echoed through the building. "Noah," Chiron shouted over the noise, "Please come up here and tell us of your quest."
Jesse turned and watched Noah stand up from his table, the other six people who Jesse assumed were his siblings gave him a standing ovation as he did, and made his way to Chiron. Noah was African-American and had a shaved head. He had the biggest arms Jesse had ever seen. Jesse noticed that Noah used a cane to walk due and had a band limp on his right leg. When the clapping finally ceased, Noah told his story.
"Well, as you all know, my father, Hephaestus, gave me a quest." At the sound of the god's name, Noah's table gave a quick cheer. "He gave me the task of defending one of his forges near Hawaii from the Stymphalian birds."
Jesse had a quick flashback to his ancient Greek classes from freshman year and remembered that the Stymphalian birds were metallic, man-eating birds that Heracles fought.
"Traveling there was difficult, because flying was impossible since somehow the birds knew I was coming. I could see them flying above all the time If I had boarded a plane, they would have torn it apart." Noah said. "So I took a train to California and then built a small, one man submarine."
"Yeah, he can do that." A voice came from behind Jesse. He turned and saw that Charlie had come over to talk to him, "Noah is the son of Hephaestus, god of the forge and fire. Noah can make anything if he's given enough metal." Jesse nodded to Charlie and moved over to give the son of Hermes a seat.
"The forge was located inside a small volcano, about fifty miles from Hawaii," Noah continued. "By the time I was there, the birds were already attacking, and the guns and other traps my father had set were running low."
"Show us the war-hammers!" Someone shouted from Noah's table. Everyone laughed and started chanting for him to show them the 'hammers'. Grinning sheepishly, Noah pulled two small rods out of his pocket and pressed a small button causing them to grow into two gigantic war-hammers.
"And I used these gifts from my father to defend his forge." Noah shouted over the noise. "And after the birds were killed, my father came to me for the first time and thanked me." The crowed when silent.
"Wow." Charlie muttered, "That doesn't happen everyday."
"It doesn't?" Jesse asked.
Charlie shook his head, "You have to be pretty great for your immortal parent to meet you like that. Henry and Andrew haven't meet their dad's yet, and they're the strongest Heroes here."
Jesse raised his eyebrows, surprised by the gods incessant need to be impressed. "Have you met Hermes?" He asked, but before Charlie could answer, Noah had continued his story.
"But I have a bad feeling." Noah said, bringing his speech to a close. "Those birds seemed very determined to attack the forge. I feel that they were after the weapons my father had made. I do not believe that this was a simple raid. I think that something bigger may be going on." Jesse saw many people, Chiron, and the older campers nod in agreement. There was a long moment of silence before Noah finished his speech. "BLUE TEAM FOR THE WIN!" Noah shouted, and made his way to his table, with half of the cafeteria cheering, and the other half booing.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jesse shouted over the noise.
"Capture the flag!" Charlie shouted back. "There's a match once a month. The next one is in a week. The cabins make alliances with each other and divide into two teams, Red and Blue. This month the teams are led by cabins two and five. Poseidon and Ares."
"Henry's cabin?" Jesse asked, not having to yell now that the noise was dying down. "Isn't that a bit unfair? He doesn't have anyone else in his cabin."
"Trust me on this one, he doesn't need anyone else." Charlie laughed, "Besides, he has cabins twelve, one and seven. The rest are on Red, so the numbers are about even, if not favoring Red a little."
"So I'll be playing with you guys?" Jesse asked, liking the prospect of having a little normalcy in such a crazy camp.
"Sure thing, we'll have to get you set up with a sword though. It shouldn't be a problem."
"A sword?!" Jesse exclaimed. Charlie only smiled and walked away to talk to Chiron.
Jesse walked out with the rest of the campers a few minutes later and spotted Henry talking with Andrew. Wanting to speak to his other rescuer, Jesse ran to greet him.
"Henry, right?" Jesse said, extending his hand to shake. "I thought I should actually introduce myself."
"Yeah, hey Jesse." Henry said, shaking his hand. Like Jesse and Charlie, he was quite tall. He had dark, curly hair and piercing grey eyes. He had a scar below his right ear and (Jesse noticed when shaking his hand) the tip of his right pinky finger was missing. "It's good to see you finally woke up. About your mother…"
Jesse cut him off with a wave of his hand, "Later, I'm still a bit high on ambrosia."
Henry chuckled sadly, "Later it is, how are you adjusting to the life of a half-blood?"
"To be honest, it's a bit easier to understand than my old life." Jesse laughed.
"Ah shit," Andrew muttered, "He's at it again…" Jesse followed Andrew's gaze towards a commotion by the volleyball court. From what Jesse could tell, Noah and his cabin mates were arguing loudly with a much larger group from another cabin. The second group's leader finally shoved Noah and an all-out brawl started.
Jesse heard Henry mutter something in ancient Greek, which Jesse somehow understood to be a dirty word, and ran over to the volleyball court with Andrew by his side. Not wanting to be left out, Jesse ran after them. As soon as they reached the fight, Henry and Andrew started pulling the campers off of each other, Jesse had trouble pulling a kid off of Noah's back, for a twelve year old, the kid was strong!
"What's going on here?" Andrew shouted once the fighting had stopped.
"Nothing Thunder head." A tall kid from the larger group said with a sneer, "Why don't you go mind your own business."
"Jacob made fun of Noah's leg!" A younger kid from Noah's cabin said, "And he tried to take his cane away!" Jesse looked at Noah, who was wiping blood from his nose. He had a blank look on his face, but Jesse see it in his eyes that Noah was furious.
"Is this true Jacob?" Henry asked, bristling angrily.
The tall kid sneered again, "All I did was ask if it would affect the match next week." His cabin mates chuckled. "I guess we'll just have to see. Lets go guys." At his command, all but one of the campers from his gang, followed Jacob back to the cabins. The one who lingered behind turned to Noah.
"Hey man, I'm sorry about Jacob, he's just jealous that you met your father." He said. "I would've stopped him, but you know Jacob…"
Noah shrugged and shook the other boys hand, "Don't worry about it Derek, you didn't fight, that's what matters." Derek nodded, turned and ran off to catch up with his cabin-mates.
"That's cabin five, Ares' kids." Andrew said, "Most of them are violent jackasses, but Derek's ok."
But Jesse wasn't listening. He was to busy bouncing a volleyball on the palm of his hand and aiming his throw. Satisfied, Jesse stepped forward and flung the ball as hard as he could. It sailed through the air, and for a brief moment, all was silent as Jesse, Henry, Noah, Andrew and all of Noah's cabin watched as the ball smashed the back of Jacob's head, causing him to face-plant into the grass. The son of Ares sprang up and turned around, trying to identify the thrower, but the campers at the volleyball field had already scattered, leaving Jacob looking stupid and embarrassed.
"What are you thinking?" Andrew asked Henry from their hiding place behind a statue of a Centaur.
"I'm thinking that I want that kid on our team."