Well, finals are over, break is near, and, it's cold outside. Minus the fact that the house smells like my Aunt attempting to cook and falling, (she burns everything) Life is good. Sorry for the long wait, and with break I hope to update soon-ish. Happy Holidays.
*.*.*
'Welcome to Camp Half-blood' Percy said as he dismounted Blackjack.
I already didn't like the place. The only thing that kept me from running and hiding in the forest off to my left was my hope of finding Copper here. Don't ask me why, but the place didn't give me a good feeling. Or maybe it was just me. Pony Boy seemed completely at home here.
Where we landed was some place near the stables. There weren't many campers around here, but the ones that were didn't give us any second looks. Gee great, I'm blending in already.
'I'll take you to meet Chiron, and hopefully tonight at campfire, you'll get claimed. It's not so much of a rare even any more.'
'Ah, yay.' I said flatly, trying to contain my non-existent enthusiasm.
Percy stopped and turned around, 'You sure you're fine?'
'Yeah, never better...just tired.'
The rest of the walk was in silence. When we came to a clearing, a big three-story house sat not to far in the distance. It had a fresh looking coat of bright blue pain. The rest of the details I couldn't make out; my vision is bad and I lose things too often to even try to keep track of glasses. Contacts annoy me to no end. Why am I telling you this?
Oh, right. Because if I could have seen what was ahead of me (looking back at the lake didn't help) I wouldn't have run into the thing in front of me. Which appeared to be a tree, lo and behold a tree. 'Stupid tree' I muttered.
'Yeah, caution, there are trees.' Percy warned.
'Could of told me before I ran into this thing.'
'Whatever.'
Soon we reached the steps of the house. 'Stay here' Percy said and went inside. I leaned against the side of the house, waiting. This place; this camp, seemed, exquisite. Green hills and flats of grass, seemed to stretch on forever. To the right of the house was a volleyball court with a few campers playing a game. Next to that was a basketball court with faded yellow lines. The campers playing the game seemed to be dunking some killer three pointers.
On the other side of the house, further down the field, were sat in a U-shape, with five or six others on each side, so it looked like a horseshoe. I couldn't make out the fine details from this distance, but I could tell that none of them were alike in any way.
Not far from the cabins was the forest; which was full of trees, shadows, and other deadly things, and in the shadows of one of the trees was a shadow-y looking person...wait what?
I quickly glanced back to the tree where I thought I saw the person. Turns out I was right, I wasn't really crazy; there really was a person. It was a boy, that looked around my age, it was hard to tell. His dark hair fell in his eyes; he also wore dark clothes to help him hide in the shadows. He looked like he needed all the help he could get if he wanted to hide in the shadows, for his skin was unnaturally white. Thought his face was expression-less, his eyes seemed to be laughing at me, like he had stood there, watching for a while.
Maybe he was laughing at my tree-run in incident. That was not funny. I thought.
'Course it was a voice nagged in the back of my mind. Shadowboy smirked.
I glared at him and felt my irises heating up. Shadowboy's dark eye's widened, either in shock or fear; then composed an expression that seemed to say 'Well then, be that way'. After that, he vanished into the shadows.
There was a voice behind me and then a hand on my shoulder, spinning me around. I was still glaring with heated irises; when I realized that it was Percy, I tried to blink them away, not wanting to flip him out like back at the hotel. When my irises turned back to their original color, I saw that a horse stood behind Percy...
Scratch that, the horse had a human upper-half. At first, I thought it was a middle-aged man riding a horse, but then I saw that the two were connected at the waist, as if fused together.
I've read too many sci-fi books.
'Onyx, this is Chiron, the camps' activities director.'
'Chiron, as in the one who was born like, when the earth was made?'
'Not exactly that long ago, but yes, I am that Chiron.' Chiron said.
'Ah...hi.'
'Has Percy given you a tour of the camp yet?'
'Only the stables.'
Chiron cracked a slight smile...maybe he was part human after all. 'Percy, give Onyx a full tour of the camp and meet the rest of the camp in the mess hall for dinner.'
'Sure Chiron.' Percy said, then motioned for me to follow him as he started off in the direction of he cabins. I followed him, already wishing I was on the run again.
*.*.*
'So these are the cabins' Percy said as we entered the U-shaped cabin green.
'I can see that Captain Obvious. Thank you for pointing out that oblivious fact.'
Percy went about explaining what was for who and where and why...I don't know what he said exactly, I wasn't paying attention. Unless something interest me, which is rare, my attention span is that of an exploding party popper.
I heard the first two words, 'This is-' Then I saw a butterfly, flutterbye, I use to call them; and still do, catch my attention. Then watching the grass grow seemed intriguing...but that was happening too slow. If I could only watch paint dry, But then I would need to find paint, and that weren't any hard where stores near here I would Imagine.
'Are you listening to a word I;m saying?' Percy asked.
'Yeah, paint,' I said.
Percy exhaled loudly. 'Never mind.' He said 'I'll show you the shooting range next.'
I commented 'Fun.' With no visible enthusiasm.
On our way over to the shooting range, we passed a group of campers clad in armor with mean looking swords in hand. They were circled around what looked like another camper. The other campers were snickering and kicking the object.
Percy scoffed, 'Aries children. Best to stay away from them.'
'Whats that their kicking around?' I asked more disgusted than curious.
'Most likely the newest recruit. Happens all the time.'
'And you're just going to stand there? You're a terrible person.'
'You don't know what they'll do to you if they get a hold of you.'
'Your right.' I said pausing. 'I don't know, and I don't care.'
'Onyx!' Percy complained, but I didn;t care. I hated kids who were push-overs, pushed kids over, and pushed other people around, like the world revolved around them, or the person who thought they could gt away with everything.
I walked to the river bed that was near by and shivered inwardly. I hate rivers. After picking up a few good-shaped river stones, I walked back to where Percy was.
'You with me?' I asked impatiently?
'I think I'll sit this one out.'
'Wimp. At least keep me supplied.' With that I threw one of the river stones. I was aiming for one of the kids heads, but my aim went wide and hit the kid to the left him...least I think it was a he.
The kid I hit didn't seem to notice I hit him, they were all wearing helmets. I picked up two more and threw them, not aiming anywhere in particular. By the fifth stone, some nut-head noticed that someone was throwing things at him, and he didn't seem to like it very much. 'Oi, leave the poor bastard alone!' I yelled at the bunch and chucked another stone.
This time a camper caught it and it crumbled to dust in his hand from the pressure he compressed it with. Make that a she, the camper took off her helmet to see better, and short stringy brown hair fell out.
'You want some too, Girlie?' She snarled.
'Clarisse, leave her out of this.' Percy said, stepping forward.
'Stay out of this, Jackson,' Clarisse growled, 'Unless you want some too.'
By now the rest of the Aries gang had left the camper alone to see what was happening. A few Other campers had strayed from what they were doing to stop and see what was going on.
'Bring it.' I snarled, sick of her already, and gripped my river rock in my hand so hard it cut my palm.
Clarisse responded to my challenge by throwing her helmet on the ground and unsheathing a sword at her waist.
'Onyx!' Percy said, 'Catch.' He chucked a pen my way, and when I caught it wasn't a pen, but a full-out bronze sword with a leather grip. It was light and well-balanced. For a moment, Percy looked surprised, like he didn't expect me to catch the sword. 'Lefty?' He asked.
I rolled my eyes. 'No, I just hold stuff in my left hand for the look of it.' I turned just in time to see Clarisse coming at me full-force. She was right-handed, so she charged at me from her right, my left. I parred her first strike, and then stuck my foot out so she would trip on it when she slowed down for follow-up. And to my delight, she did. It didn't help her that she was laden down with armor.
When Clarisse was up, she looked angrier than ever. 'You, will die!' She half yelled, enraged; she looked as if she may explode.
For a moment, I had the thought: If she did explode, would she explode in multi-colored confetti?
Some questions are best left unanswered.
Clarisse charged at me again, this time ether aiming for my arm or gut. I knew I didn't have the time to block the strike, so I dropped to the ground and stabbed her left shin. She cursed loudly and stabbed down, impaling my left shoulder. Clarisse turned the blade for it to go deeper, but I turned and kicked her injured shin, and she went down a second time. Grabbing the blade, I jerked the blade out, ignoring the pain biting into my right hand.
I tried moving my left shoulder. It hurt to move it, but no to the point of useless-ness. Plus, my right hand was too slick with blood to hold the blade properly.
Clarisse was up with her blade in hand. She raised it over her head and brought it down for a head shot, or a bad shoulder wound. I moved aside quickly and stuck Percy's sword in the red stained grass. I wasn't getting anywhere with it and may as well be better off with out it. As Clarisse brought her sword down, I kicked it out of her hand, and flipped back; suddenly thankful that I;d taken gymnastics when I was seven. Even though I hated them, I'd stayed in them. I don't think I'd still be live with out them.
Clarisse's sword went flying, and she unstrapped a spear from her back.
Great, just great. I thought. She's loaded with more weapons than Carter has pills.
Clarisse swung her spear around and grazed my cheek because I didn't back up fast enough. A surge of energy ran through my body from the cut, like the one time I had accidentally touched the plug of a toaster oven half way in the socket. Well shit, her spear's electric. Could my luck get any better?
That's when I noised the ring of camper around us, cheering and jeering. I wondered how often this happened.
My brilliant mind was out of ideas, all I could come up with was: Stay Away From the Spear...which sounded really good at the moment.
Clarisse and I kept pushing the circle of bystanders closer to the woods, closer to the trees, closer to the shadows.
A quick planned formed in my mind. I would get Clarisse to stick her spear into one of the trees, then use Percy's sword to main her right arm; not completely chop it off, but bad enough she couldn't continue fighting. Or damped her fighting spirit.
The main problem was Percy's sword. It was behind Clarisse, and she most likely thought that I was going to try to retrieve it at some point in time. Which, in this case, she was correct.
Out of nowhere, a sharp pain pierced my left shoulder, like something had stabbed it and quickly withdrawn itself. I looked at my shoulder, but nothing seemed wrong with it, minus the blade wound.
Right below my left deltoid, was a scratch mark in the shape of a #, that had been made years ago. Over the years, it occasionally decided to act up, and burn like it had been freshly cut. Now, for some reason, it decided to act up.
My back was now against a tree. The only way Clarisse's spear was going in the tree now, was through me.
'You're so dead, punk,' Clarisse said through gritted teeth. She raised her spear, and I leaned back into the tree as far as I could. Maybe I could jump out of its path, or move so it collided with my shoulder, not any vital organs, such as the one's she was aiming for.
Clarisse swung her spear down as I turned my left shoulder toward her. My old scar burned, and I kicked at her injured shin again. Clarisse's spear went askew, but she recovered quickly. She held her spear horizontally across my throat, pinning me to the tree.
I reared my right leg up and kicked her in the stomach, which didn't do much to her since she was wearing armor. It only knocked her back a few feet.
I leaned back into the tree, exhausted, with no plan. I didn't know what to do, and this was getting tiring...yes, I'm a VERY lazy per, thanks for asking.
At that moment, the tree I was leaning on disappeared, and I was tumbling through darkness.
*.*.*
When I awoke, the first thing came to mind was: I'm not dead. Which was good. Not-dead was good.
How could I tell I wasn't dead? I wasn't translucent, I was in pain, and I was in starving...the dead don't starve.
I also noticed that I wasn;t alone.
