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Chapter 9
"Get up dork!" Reyna shouted in my ear.
I was lying, face down, on the dirt covered road gasping for breath. Every muscle in my body protested like it was on fire, every gasp of breath I took came painfully, my muscles were sore beyond comprehension and my body just couldn't run anymore. The rest of the Mars and Mercury campers just stood standing like saying; it's no big deal to run three hours straight carrying survival backpacks.
Before the day started I was having a wonderful night. I was having one of those rare nights of uninterrupted sleep without the prank calls from Juno and her strange omens of death and danger. At around five in the morning Bobby woke me from my sleep.
"Get up." he whispered.
"What's going on?" I yawned.
"Get up, quickly!" Bobby insisted. "The camp is going jogging and, sadly, that includes you kid."
I opened my eyes and looked around. Most of the other campers were already wide awake and getting ready to jog. A few of them already had their sneakers on and had already changed clothes but there were still a few getting up from their bunks.
"What time is it?" I asked. I looked toward the windows and noticed it was still dark outside, only a few streaks of daylight shone through the windows.
"It's early enough. Now get up and put some tennis on we haven't got much time," Bobby said while checking his watch. I hadn't noticed it before but it was made out of a digital display and an hourglass combined. I didn't know how it could have kept track of time but it somehow did. "Lupa is going to be watching your performance, and it's our turn to jog with the Mars cabin." He said Mars cabin like it was a punishment or something.
I decided to do what he said and changed clothes. Bobby kept glancing at his watch while I changed, he looked so worried about being late that I tried to change faster and ended up getting tangled in my clothes. Bobby let out an exasperated sigh.
"For gods' sake, will you hurry up?" he said. At the mention of gods the sky rumbled and a thunderbolt landed near the open door of the cabin. "Sorry, sorry…" Bobby said while looking at the cabin roof.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Nothing… don't worry about it just hurry!" Bobby looked more nervous than before and I decided I would continue the conversation later.
I followed the Mercury cabin toward a section of walls decorated with signs of danger on all sides. Most of them looked like your traditional danger signs that you see on movies, like Danger! Careful! Beasts inside! But there were a few really strange ones like:
"Careful! The camp is not responsible for accidental or fatal damage as well as death that may occur to property, people or swords inside the forest grounds. Proceed with care." Sincerely Camp staff.
"Wow what was that about death?" I asked looking at Bobby.
We were approaching the clearing were the forest started but for some reason the Mercury cabin slowed down and started advancing very slowly. I waited a few seconds for an answer but got none. "What's going…?" The rest of my sentence was left unfinished as Bobby raised a hand to silence me.
"Shut up. Everyone keep your head down. No one moves until I give the word, you got it?" Everyone nodded in agreement and laid low. A few tense seconds passed and then we heard them. It was the sound of a bunch of kids moving through the forest clearing.
"We know you're in there, you're late!" A voice shouted from the border that separated the forest from the camp. "We've been waiting for hours!"
Bobby just laughed like he was used to this. We got up from our hiding position and advanced a few more paces toward the other cabin. I noticed Reyna had been the one speaking, she had a smile on her face, most likely savoring her triumph but as soon as she noticed me her face went sour. She was standing in front of her cabin, most of them were wielding a golden sword in their hand and a shield slung over their back. Each one was carrying a light backpack slung over their shoulders.
"Hello Reyna, nice to see you, again." Bobby said while waving a hand at Reyna's direction. Reyna returned the wave and for a second her smile returned to her face. She looked really pretty as long as she didn't try to kill me, I thought.
"I trust it you brought your equipment?" she asked Bobby.
"Yes," Bobby answered immediately and then I noticed the rest of the Mercury cabin was also carrying backpacks and shields. Reyna looked doubtfully at Bobby and pointed a finger at me, Bobby noticed I wasn't carrying anything for the first time and swore under his breath. "Stultus."
Reyna just sighed like she was expecting this. She pointed toward one of the kids in the Mars cabin and motioned toward me. In two minutes the Mars kid had me outfitted with a backpack and a shield. He was about to give me a golden sword but I told him I would use my own.
We jogged toward the hearth of the forest for three hours. I started well enough, I felt in great shape and ran happily but after the second hour I started feeling heavy. The rest of the campers kept jogging and talked among themselves from time to time. I tried to start a conversation with Reyna but she wouldn't look at me. She acted distant like she didn't want to be here.
Finally, after three hours of running we came to a clearing. A circle of ground the size of a football field spread out before us without any type of vegetation. The trees grew proud and mighty in a circle around the clearing but didn't enter it.
I noticed the rest of the campers had stopped and were looking around satisfied.
"Halt!" Reyna ordered. I thought no one would listen to her but as soon as they heard her speak they stopped in their tracks. "We may rest here for a few minutes."
As soon as I heard her say rest my energy left me and I fell to the ground. I hadn't planned it but my eyes closed, even before my head touched the ground.
I dreamed I was standing outside a cave. I didn't know exactly where the cave was but something told me I had to get inside. The cave had a short entrance that lead to an antechamber. It was decorated with bronze braziers on all sides that provided enough light for me to distinguish a figure in the middle of the chamber.
"Oh Iris Goddess of the rainbow please accept my offering!" The figure said.
I couldn't see the figure but something about that voice irradiated power, it had its back to me and I could only see something that looked like fur covering its body. The figure moved its hand and flicked a coin into the air. I expected to hear the sound of the coin clattering to the floor but I never heard it. Instead a figure emerged in the middle of the chamber. At first I thought the new arrival was there but then I noticed it was just a vision.
I didn't know it then but I was looking at an Iris message. For the first time the thought that I shouldn't be here passed through my mind but my curiosity got the best of me. I advanced toward the figures not even trying to hide my presence. After a few steps I heard them speak for the first time. I still couldn't see the figure that appeared but something about his voice reminded me of my past.
"…I thought we had an agreement!" The figure in the message said.
"Trust me; I wouldn't call on you if I didn't have a reason." The cloaked figure answered. Something told me it was female but it was hard to tell, her voice was sharp like a whip.
"But the oath we took…!" The figure protested.
"It doesn't matter anymore. Juno has put a plan in motion and I don't like it."
"You know?"
"An amnesia kid appeared in my camp, a demi-god but he smells different. To make matters worse I lost my best camper and Head Counselor for the Jupiter cabin."
"A kid named Jason, son of Jupiter?" The figure guessed. At the sound of that name the cloaked figure let out a startled growl and I recognized her growl as Lupa's. "And he got replaced by a kid named Percy?"
"What's going on Chiron? I thought the war with the Titan's was over!" Lupa shouted.
At the mention of the figure's name a shiver ran down my spine. Chiron… something about Chiron… frustration entered my mind as I couldn't understand what was going on. I felt like I was getting really close to something, a breakthrough, and then I lost it. The figures kept speaking but I couldn't understand anything. I was too much in shock to understand what was going on. Only Chiron's next words registered in my mind.
"The campers will be reunited shortly, this war we cannot win divided" He said.
"There will be deaths, the likes of which haven't been seen for centuries." Lupa protested.
"It will be as the gods wish it to be. I don't want this to happen as much as you want it to Lupa but it is a matter we cannot interfere in. I trust you will keep my camper's identity a secret for as long as possible?"
"Yes, he will still have to prove his worth. I cannot force the camp to accept him."
"Then so be it." The figure said ending the conversation.
Thanks for reading. Remember to R&R.
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