Hermes' mission of messages
Chapter 6- Preparation and lessons
George
Woooooaah! The whole prophecy declaration thing rushed so fast. That Rachel girl just said it as if she was just reading it normally. And the other shocking thing, HE was chosen! But how does Louise or Rachel even know he or the others are the right ones to come along with Louise? It was just early morning but he knew that those questions would be answered soon.
He looked around the cabin. Just like the attitude of most of his half siblings (yep, he still didn't believe that he was even related to them), the cabin was badly decorated. Its bloody red colour was bright in the sun shining through the broken windows (Clarisse's anger parties). He slowly and silently sat up his bunk and looked around his surroundings. On the ground, various weapons and rocks and other sharp materials were scattered. He then heard a moan, which sounded a little like a growl. He craned his neck to see who it is.
It was Ms. I-would-pulverize-you-if-you-mess-with-me a.k.a. Clarisse. She saw George awake and walked (though George would preferably describe it as stomping lightly) over to his bunk.
"So kiddo," She said "You thought about what you would need or anything you need to do or somethin'?"
George straightened up, "Um… well, what should a demigod bring on quests?"
"Well… firstly you bring a weapon." She grabbed a sword nearby "this sword was owned by our immortal brother, Phobos, the god of fear." Clarisse hands it over toGeorge, who accepted it nervously. "The user would kinda have like an imaginary shield of fear. Meaning to say, the person you're attacking would be afraid. But it depends if they would want to have an after-fight. But never mind the facts, just take it with you."
George grabbed his backpack and dumped it inside "Ok… thanks for the helpful facts. So what else do I need?"
Someone yelled out Clarisse's name. Clarisse aggressive yelled back something rude. She continued, "Well, lil' bro, just bring whatever you think you need… and also some cubes of ambrosia"
She handed a Ziploc bag filled with big chunky cubes. "Just remember," Clarisse added, "to eat this in small amounts. Very powerful, eh… it could kill a demigod if you overdose. Just take it when you are seriously injured… ya know something like that."
Someone called out for Clarisse again, though he wasn't sure if that was the same person (George still haven't figure out everybody's voices. They all sound scruffy and rough). Clarisse cursed something in Ancient Greek and headed towards the voice. George looked around the cabin. All of his half siblings seem to be awake at the moment. He then heard Clarisse clear her throat and announced, "Right! Let's head to the mess hall for some breakfast!" George and all of his siblings immediately formed a line and they headed to the mess hall.
The Ares cabin sat at their table. George spotted Nyssa, who was fiddling with some tools, Jake, who was actually reading a book, and Louise, who still looked astonished , maybe because of the prophecy. He also noticed the nymphs started serving their healthy breakfast. He still wasn't used to everything yet. He definitely wasn't used to using the gold cup that was placed near his plate.
He nudged Jamie, one of his half siblings (who he actually kinda got along with) who was sitting next to him. Jamie looked back and replied, "Whaddaya want, lil bro?"
George found the fact that everyone in cabin five were calling him lil bro. "Um. How do we use these cups again?"
"Ugh. Well you just tell the cup what you fancy to drink and PRESTO! Instant beverage!"
George looked back at him with a confused look.
"Go on!" Jamie tried to encourage him, though his scruffy voice made it hard for George to believe him. He looked at the cup, which was glistening with miniature jewels and muttered "Grape juice" soon the cup filled up with dark liquid. He took a sip and let out a small pleasing grin.
"Thanks man." He said to Jamie who was heading to a burning furnace with his food. Everyone was doing same so George just followed with his food. He noticed that every demigod was throwing their best pieces of sausages and grapes. They were dedicating their food to a god, preferably their parents. Then, it was George's turn. He glanced at his plate and held out a ripe bunch of cherries and dropped it to the furnace. "To Ares" he said and walked back to his table.
After breakfast, he headed off to his first class which was 'ANCIENT GREEK WITH THE ATHENA CABIN'. This must be good, George thought, Jake explaining a language he never spoke before. But to George's surprise, Jake was actually fluent with Ancient Greek. After his speech (which was amazingly spoken in perfect Ancient Greek), Jake sat back on his seat next to George.
"Dude," Jake said "Was I good?"
"You were great." George said "But how come you never mention Ancient Greek before?"
Jake shrugged "Well, I never told you guys that I'm dyslexic. That's partly why I get such low grades in school especially English-"
"Wait, but if you find it hard to understand English, then how come you understood Greek properly?"
"See," Jake explained "if a Greek demigod is dyslexic, it means that he or her brain immediately understands Greek easier than other demigods."
"I see…" George concluded. "So even if you never spoke Greek in your life you could understand it?"
"Uh huh" Jake grinned "and also read Greek"
"Cool" George admitted.
After that, it was 'SWIM & BEACH TIME WITH THE NEREIDS'. Cabin five's idea of swim time is basically using water guns and aiming at each other. George also got to enjoy this time, seeing as he participated in the game. The nereids were too busy playing and throwing water and seaweed around the beach. "Okay" Clarisse announced "Dear siblings, during Capture the Flag we gotta win! Do I hear a yes?"
"YES!" everyone shouted.
"Let's not let the dorky nerds of Cabin 6 beat us again" Clarisse added
Cabin 5 let out another yell. A horn sounded in the atmosphere. Next lesson: 'SWORD FIGHTING WITH THE HERMES CABIN' This should be interesting, George pondered as he grabbed a plain sword and headed off to the grounds. When he reached there, for some reason, the Stolls Connor and Travis were battling themselves. No seemed to win. George could actually figure out the problem. They weren't holding the swords properly and they were tricking each other so that the other brother could take over. It seemed like a simple math problem to him. He stepped forward and said, "Um, you guys are not doing it properly."
"You know how?" Travis or Connor or whoever asked, sniggering. "Who do you wish to try battling with our apprentice here?"
"I, challenge George to a sword battle." Louise appeared in front of George.
George held out his hand and they shook. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" George whispered "I'm kinda like an expert at this…"
"I know what I'm doing." Louise assured him as they put on their armor.
Then, they stood in position. Louise did the first move and aim the sword at him. George immediately blocked her sword and slashed his sword against her elbow cap. It left a mark and within a second a mark of Louise's sword was visible on upper left of his breastplate. Soon, they were clashing and swinging their swords. George knew what to do, but with that heavy protective gear he has on, it makes it harder for him to actually do his sword tricks. George aimed his sword right in the middle of her breastplate. As he did that, she tumbled and rolled out of place, disappearing to nowhere. Then, George felt a tap on his shoulder and as soon as he turned around, Louise stabbed him in the middle of his breastplate with the back of her sword.
He fell down and looked up to Louise, who was holding out her hand to help lift George up. He noticed something different about her, something about her hair. In her hair, a hair strand in the colours of blue on top of red was brightly shining in the sunlight. "No, this can't be it." George stammered.
"What's wrong?" Louise asked.
"Nothing" He gripped the hand and stood up.
"Good match. You did great."
"Thanks. You too" they shook hands
She touched a symbol of the caduceus, the symbol of her dad. And it shrunk into a purple USB flashdrive, decorated with tiny diamonds near the edge of the object where the USB pops out.
"Dude, that's cool! Where did you get it?" George said, looking amazed. "But I thought we are not allowed to use magic items during lessons… "
Louise put her finger to her lips, "Dude, Be quiet! I didn't know, so I'm just trying to get away it" She then looked at her USB, "This? Well I carry this everywhere, wherever and whenever I need to insert some files… you know the normal USB stuff. But, when I was playing with this in my cabin, a sword just appeared." She slid the USB part out and the sword appeared again. "See?"
"Wow!" George clapped.
Louise bowed playfully, as if she just presented a magic trick "How about you? Any magic items you received?"
"Well, Clarisse gave me a sword which my immortal brother Phobos used to own. It is kinda strong. It has like an aura to make whoever I'm battling with afraid of fighting with me. You get the idea…"
Louise's eyes widened "Oh my gods really? Good thing you didn't bring it, cuz it would scare the guts out of me."
They laughed as they walked backed to the benches to sit down. "So Louise, how come you're so familiar with using weapons?"
Louise replied, "Well, it's mainly cuz of my ADHD, which stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. So basically I could handle weapons and create war strategies at ease."
"I guess I'm ADHD too."
"Maybe, maybe not. It's kinda hard to judge seeing as your dad is the war god."
"I actually remember my mom telling me that I'm ADHD but not exactly extreme."
"Oh well. Doesn't matter. Each demigod is different right?"
George nodded. His next lesson is 'MAKE YOUR OWN WEAPONS WITH HEPHAESTUS CABIN'. He was kinda excited seeing as he enjoys making crafts. But when he reached there, it was harder than it looked. All the screws he touched poked him and a lot of the tools seem heavy and uncomfortable. By the end of the lesson, he gained to splinters and small cuts here and there. It was finally FREE TIME!
George was just heading back to his cabin, when someone called his name. it was coming from a girl. He turned around and saw Nyssa, the girl Louise chose to come with her on the quest. He sat next to Nyssa and said, "Yes Nyssa, any problem?"
"Not at all." She shrugged casually "so you're George, one of the guys Louise chose for the quest?"
He nodded "Yeah, I'm the one! I'm just kinda nervous. I never actually experienced being on quests often."
"Yeah me neither. I was just happy cuz this is one of the only times I get to explore the world outside Camp HalfBlood."
George blinked, "You mean, you've never been outside camp ever since you came here?"
"Kinda like that" Nyssa explained "I'm kinda like a year round camper, meaning to say like I stay here most of the time. But not all campers are year round, seeing as those type of campers could stay safely in the mortal world without any monsters looking for them."
"Ahh… ok so it depends on how powerful we are?"
"Yup" Nyssa nodded.
George winced. "You alright?" Nyssa asked.
"I'm fine."He managed " Anyway, I didn't' get to ask Clarisse to explain the stuff we need to bring. Still confused about how the ambrosia works."
"Well, we can test the ambrosia, seeing as you badly hammered your finger and poked yourself with-"
"Let's just skip those points." George said, foolishly "Let's try it out."
Nyssa reached for a small treasure chest. She opened it and inside were some miniature golden cubes. It was shining as if someone sprinkled fairy dust on the cubes. She took a small piece, and broke it into even smaller pieces and handed it to George.
"Ok. ALWAYS remember to take it in small quantities only." Nyssa reminded.
George took it and popped it in his mouth. The ambrosia tasted like chocolate fudge with hot chocolate syrup oozing out of the fudge. It reminded him of those rare moments when his mom used to bake him when she was in a good mood. The ambrosia made him a little homesick, but he reminded himself that he ate this to heal his swollen hands. He looked at the hands and tried stretching them. He didn't feel any soreness. It felt as if he never even crushed his hands with the tools.
"Whoa!" George exclaimed "these things are like painkillers!"
"So that's how they work" Nyssa grinned. She looked at her watch "Oh no! you're late for your next lesson."
George concluded "Well thanks for teaching me. See you later"
They waved goodbye and he carried on to his next lesson.
After his lesson ('ARCHERY WITH CHIRON') he prepared for the next activity. It's his first 'CAPTURE THE FLAG' game. The Ares cabin were the leaders of the red team while the Athena cabin was the leaders of the blue team. Hermes, Hephaestus, Demeter and Dionysus cabins were on the red team. The rest were on the blue team. It seemed unfair for Jake that most of his friend weren't on his team (even if Lucy was on his team), but his expressions didn't show. He had the same competitive look, but now his confidence improved a little, maybe because his siblings and him made an idea on how to defeat the red team.
The teams took their positions and got their weapons ready. They were to use their magic weapons so George managed to use Phobos' sword, though he hoped the power would not be that intense. He didn't want to hurt anyone seriously.
Chiron blew his horn and the game started. "Ok, punks" Clarisse ordered "Hermes kids stay near the boundary with some of us Ares kids. Dionysus and Demeter kids stay near the woods and do whatever you wimps do with the plants to help distract or to help keep them away from catching our flag. The Hephaestus and the rest of the Ares kids, head over near the river to protect our flag. Now Go Go Go!"
George ran to the river. He spotted Nyssa heading to the river. The Ares kids and Hephaestus kids soon reached the place. George also spotted the flag. It was tinted in nasty bloody red, with a head of a rather creepy boar. Then, he heard a sound of a crowd rushing towards the other side of the river. One of those included in the opposite crowd was Jake. Most of them then stopped at the river and started rolling up their pants and taking of their shoes. George too did notice some Aphrodite kids who were arguing over who should carry who to get over the river.
He also noticed Lucy in the other team. The different thing about Lucy is that however girly she is, she would do anything to get what she wants. She snapped her fingers and her outfit turned into a wetsuit with flippers. He was distracted by the outrageous sight until a shout from the red team reminded him that there was a flag to defend. George noticed Jake moving near him.
He pulled out his sword. Jake also took out a dagger. The dagger was fully in celestial bronze. The hilt was coated with titanium and was embroidered with carvings of grey owls. The tip of the dagger is made of obsidian. George guessed that maybe his siblings made it in the 'WEAPON MAKING' class. At the same time, George took out his sword and got ready to battle with Jake.
Jake swinged his dagger over George's head. George immediately block his aim with the body of his sword. He then continued the battle, but secretly leading him near the river. His next plan sounds too harsh, but, hey! , George said to himself, I bet I'm gonna battle more bloodcurdling creatures outside camp! The pair went on with their nonstop sword fight. Then after a while, George released his sword from the collision and fiercely hit Jake's leg closest to the river and he slid down.
George actually felt sorry for him but then all this time, they actually captured the blue team's flag. Since Hephaestus kids captured the flag, the flag just magically changed its theme from grey owls to fiery colours with nuts ornamented around the edges. The Hephaestus kids cheered around and head cheerfully out of the woods, heading straight to Cabin 9 to celebrate.
George almost forgot that his friend was on the stony ground. Jake moaned, "George, little help here?"
George apologized, "oh sorry man." He pulled Jake up and helped him clean up and wrapped his jacket around Jake's waist to cover up the water. "Did you seriously get hurt?"
"Not exactly," Jake grinned "Good fighting skills, no offence to your dad! Anyway, we obviously need the talents for our trip. So it's totally cool dude! "
They both walked back to camp where everyone was settling down and started melting chocolate for some s'mores.
After the singalong campfire, George piled up the stuff he was going to bring for the trip. He kept it on his bedside cupboard and laid down on his bunk. A brand new adventure awaits!
Author's note: So, this is practically by now the most longest chapter I ever wrote for this story. Next chapter is when the four actually leave camp! I hope you like the concept of the story so far. Also, a lot of the scenes I described are written in kinda like my own vision of Camp HalfBlood, but I'm trying to make it sound natural. So, please review about your opinions on the story. Thanks