Well this chapter is a little shorter then the other one, but oh well I'll have mo up later on today!
"Shall we go?" Chiron said.
I looked at his wheel chair, "How are you going to get down the stairs?"
"Well..." he said, "You already know who I am, right?" he put his hands on the armrests on his chair, like he was going to get up. "Yeah..?" I suddenly remembered something, Chiron was not a demi-god, he was Half-man and half...
As I was trying to think what the other half was, he started to get up. My mouth dropped, he started to get taller and taller, until he was towering over me, "Half-man and Half-horse!" I blurted out loud.
My mouth still hanging open, he looked at me and smiled, "Yes, indeed I am half-man and half-horse, but the political term is 'Centaur'."
I thought pretty much nothing could shock me, but I was wrong. I knew about Centaurs and everything, but the thing that stunned me was, Chiron was still alive, and he was in a wheel chair not too long ago.
"How did you do that?" I asked completely Confused, I noticed my mouth was still hanging open, I closed it and looked at Chiron again.
He waved the question away, probably too much explaining, so I just nodded and said, "I've read about you in books, shouldn't you be dead? I mean only gods can live forever...Right?
Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... And I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed. Also gods aren't the only ones that can live forever."
"Well that's...Fun, but doesn't it get boring?" I asked
"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."
Depression, I knew all about that if you were an immortal god, or trainer, then you're going to see lots of deaths, and while they age, we don't, I know this because of my father, I've been dead for sixty-six years, and during those years, something changed him, it might have been my death or the death of his lover Maria.
Anyway, I didn't want to press the question any further, so I just said, "Now when are we going?"
He smiled kindly, "Now, what would you like to see first?"
I hesitated, then a thought came to me, "The cabins." I smiled.
"Alright, let's get moving," he said
On our way there, we passed a lot of cool stuff, like the armory and the sword arena. We got to the cabins, there were twelve of them that made a big U around the camp fire. The first two cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.
"Zeus and Hara?" I guessed
"Correct." Chiron said.
"Their empty." I said.
"Yes, several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."
"So why some of them empty?" I asked curiously.
I looked around and saw no cabin to Hades, "I guess he was telling the truth," I thought to myself,
Chiron didn't answer my question, he put his hand on my shoulder, "Come along, Wyatt"
Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers. Number five was bright red-a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. 'Hmm...So there are mean people at this camp...Well of course there's bound to be one or two.' I thought.
We were walking, towards a cabin, I looked at the top of the cabin, CABIN Eleven, there was a girl waiting there for us, she had blonde hair and grey eyes. "Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Wyatt from here?"
"Yes, sir."
"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."
Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it...? A caduceus.
Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.
Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.
"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Wyatt. I'll see you at dinner."
With that he galloped away toward the archery range.
I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, probably because I look like I'm dead, oh well.
I looked around feeling like I don't belong here, "Well?" The one named Annabeth said, "Go on."
I'll have more chapters up tomorrow :D But for now here you go, please leave a review or favorite this, and always thanks for reading! - Rilurz
