Chapter 4- The Camper
"It's funny: I always imagined when I was a kid that adults had some kind of inner toolbox full of shiny tools: the saw of discernment, the hammer of wisdom, the sandpaper of patience. But then when I grew up I found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools - friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty - and said 'do the best you can with these, they will have to do'. And mostly, against all odds, they do." –Anne Lamott

"Laurel, dear, why are you not directing this girl towards camp?" A woman said behind us. Laurel cringed like she would rather pour lemon juice in her eye than talk to her. Ava turned around and there was another- she bet- Greek goddess.

"Hera…" Laurel said slowly. "We will in a couple days."

"Why not now?"

"Because we want to try to explain more to her."

"You're not even Greek," Hera said. "I do not know why I am talking to you."

"I don't know either." Laurel snapped. "Sorry," She said after Hera was gone. "I have no patience for her." Ava was about to reply, but before she could, she felt herself falling. She landed in the middle of what looked like an archery range, on top of someone. She groaned and sat up.

"I'm liking the gods less every day." She muttered.

"Who are you? You got dirt in my cornea." Someone said in a nasally, snotty voice.

"Excuse me," She said. "Don't sound so disgusted." He sniffed.

"Cute-" He started to sneer when she cut him off.

"I know I am. Continue." He was standing there for a while trying to find something to say. Eventually he came up with;
"Just go to the big house, freak!"

"Alright sniffles. I'm on my way." I said laughing.
"I have allergies!" He yelled after her. Ava took a guess that the big house was the literal big house. She got stopped along the way by Hera Almighty herself.

"Yes?" Ava asked impatiently.

"Is that any way to speak to a goddess?"

"For me it is."

"I could incinerate you right here!"

"Well. You took all this time getting me here, wouldn't that be a waste?" She ignored that statement completely.

"Your things are in the cabin of your godly parentage."

"So it's like a scavenger hunt?"

"No, you're not allowed to look."

"Then what's the point of that?" Ava guessed she decided she was done answering her questions because she left. When she finally got to the house that was big, she just let herself in. Apparently that's what everyone did because no one looked up. There was a man with a scruffy brown beard in a wheelchair and the god she saw yesterday. Dionysus. They looked like they were playing a game of cards while a girl with curly blond hair was talking to them.

"Chiron, we have to do it now or it'll be too late. They're already too close to the shore."

"I'm afraid it's a trap."

"It might be, but it'll cause too much damage to leave it. It's a disadvantage either way."

"Um, excuse me." Ava said. The blond girl looked up.

"Beckendorf's ready. He'll get Percy." The wheelchair guy nodded then turned to me.

"Hello child, what's your name?"

"Ava Williams. Is this the camp Laurel was talking about?"

"Ahh, yes. Laurel has explained to me you were coming, but not quite so soon. Is she here?"

"No. Hera dropped me on a kid.

"Pardon me?"

"That's what I thought too." He excused himself to go talk to Hera and said he would be back in a bit to find her a guide to show her around camp. She decided it wasn't worth the hassle telling him that Hera was already gone. She would probably show up again anyway. Ava went around the table and sat down in front of Dionysus and stared at him.

"Would you like something?"

"Yeah, actually. I would like to know why I'm here, who I am, and who my father is."

"Nope, sorry, can't help you." She glared at him in a way that let him know she wasn't stupid.

"Look. I think you do. Would you like to rephrase?" He shook his head and smirked.

"You remind me of your mother." She had a sudden sinking feeling. She decided she didn't want to confront it, so she feigned ignorance with surprising accuracy.

"What… how did you know my mother?"

"Let secrets be secrets, child. That's what she always said." Ava narrowed her eyes. Do all gods have to be so impossible? She thought. He stopped shuffling the cards and stared back at her. There was once a time when she would have backed down. Shifted in her seat and shrank away, but that was a while back. She had a feeling they would have continued to stare at each other for a long time if Chiron hadn't come back in the room. Ava looked up and the blond girl was there again.

"Annabeth will show you around camp." He said and nodded towards the blond haired girl. Ava gave Dionysus another glare then went with the girl.

"And this is the archery range." Annabeth said, pointing at the lake. She was doing that the whole time, with her mind clearly somewhere else.

"Annabeth, what's going on?" She looked over at Ava as if just seeing her.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone looks really worried, half the people are pacing with full battle armor on, and you just said that lake is an archery range." Annabeth sighed.

"This was a bad time for you to come."

"You have archery ranges and swords, and you fight monsters. I think any time is a bad time for me to come." Ava pointed out. Annabeth gave her a look of bewilderment.

"I-yeah, sure," She said. "We're actually in the middle of sinking a ship…" Ava looked around just to make sure there wasn't a ship in the lake, although she knew there wasn't. One thing she did know was that camp just got a whole lot weirder.

"Is there a purpose for that, or is it just a regular Monday ritual?"

"It's a long story… That hopefully you don't have to worry about." She looked at Ava with uncertainty that made it clear Ava did have to worry about it; now and later.

Okay so I'm laughing at my writing. Anyway, someone asked me when this was taking place. This is right before the titan war. GOOD TIMIN' RIGHT? Percy Jackson is not my books or characters. Those are Uncle Ricky Booboo's. I have also come to the conclusion that Thalia is my all time favorite character, and I ship Thuke way too hard. Also, sorry it took so long to upload I was (insert some really convincing excuse here). Okay babes, that's all for now it looks like. If you have any questions, just ask. If you need help with writing, or just anything, feel free to PM me.