Luke was excited about sneaking out at night. It was so cool that Connor let him come along to pick up the "goods". Luke thought that the Hermes cabin kids were really cool with their laid-back attitude about everything. He found himself hoping he could be in this cabin. It would be cool to have these guys as his brothers and sisters but somehow, he had the feeling that this wasn't his cabin. He wasn't sure how he knew that, but he knew it was true. They tiptoed quietly through the grass, and down to the beach. Luke was glad that Travis had stolen him a pair of shoes and a camp T-shirt from the camp store because walking around in swim clothes when everyone else was wearing jeans and t-shirts was a little weird. "Duck!" hissed Connor. He and Luke quickly hid behind a sand dune as an odd little figure flew by. She (was it a she?) looked sort of like an odd mix between a little old grandma and a chicken. When she/it had gone, Connor whispered, "That's a harpy. They make sure that nobody is breaking the curfew. Apparently they messily devour anyone who they catch out after hours. I'm never tested the theory myself." Well that's encouraging. Thought Luke. They reached the waterfront and walked along it. The beach narrowed into a thin strip only about a foot and a half wide. On one side was the gently ebbing tide and on the other side was a steep bank up to the dark forest. Nighttime owls called out to one another and cicadas chirped. After about a ten minute walk, they came to a point where the "path" ended. The beachfront turned in a small, flat area and the forest stopped abruptly. There, in the center of this area was a tall guy with dark brown hair in a business suit. Connor walked forward quickly and Luke jogged to keep up with him. "Ah, Will. Thanks for coming with the …." He broke off very suddenly and looked very embarrassed. "Dad? Um what are you doing here?" Luke realized that the guy was Hermes, Travis and Connor Stoll's dad. Hermes looked at Connor with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Delivering the goods, of course," he said. "Unless you'd much rather wait for Will to deliver them…" Connor looked embarrassed. "Sorry," he said. Hermes didn't look very offended at all, however. "You asked what I was doing here. I'm here to deliver a message to Chiron. This spot here is a favorite landing place of mine, part of the reason that you come here often." He looked pointedly at Connor. He then noticed Luke, who was standing a little behind Connor and feeling very awkward to be caught in some sort of family reunion. Connor followed Hermes' gaze and then said, "Oh yeah. Luke this is my dad, Hermes. Dad, this is Luke Pride. He's staying in our cabin until he's determined." Hermes held out his hand and Luke shook it. Ok then. At least it's not the whole bow down on one knee thing. I mean that would be a little weird since it is the 21st century. He thought. Luke looked back at Connor. "Hey, man. I'll …well... I'll go back to camp and leave you some time with your dad. Nice to meet you, Hermes." He started walking back to the camp. "Hey it's ok little dude," said Connor. "And I still do need someone to help me with the goods… and …."
"Connor's right," said Hermes. "As for the goods…" He snapped his fingers and they vanished. "All in Cabin 11. As for going to camp, I happen to be headed that way myself so let's walk." They set off into the night. The night had turned cool and a sharp sea breeze swept over them and into the trees. Luke shivered as it cut through his thin t-shirt. He wished that he had had his windbreaker with him when he had arrived at camp. Hermes stopped and cursed in ancient Greek. "What is it?" asked Connor. "I left my blackberry at the beach." "I'll go get it!" offered Luke. "Where are your manners, Connor?" Cut in Hermes. "Stop moving, both of you." Both boys froze, Luke as he was moving as quickly as he could moving in the direction of the beach and Connor as he was moving just as quickly in the opposite direction. "Why don't you go get me the phone?" Connor grumbled and then set off towards the beach. They both watched Connor's retreating figure and then Hermes turned to Luke and said, "Come, Luke." Luke highly suspected that the whole thing had been a set up but said nothing. They continued walking in silence for a few more moments and then Hermes said, "I saw your sister at the Legion Camp today." Luke instantly forgot about everything else and exclaimed excitedly, "How is she? Is she doing alright? Did she …" Hermes held up his hand to stop Luke's random outburst of questions. "She seems to be doing fine. She apparently made quite an entrance into the camp but that's another story for another day. I wanted to tell you the only known reason that the two of you were separated. This is that you two are two different types of demigods. You are a child of a Greek-form god and a mortal and while she is a child of a Roman-form god and a mortal and the two types have separate camps and training styles. I do not know who your godly parent is. This in itself is very strange because usually gods and goddesses make this known to each other, but nobody has any idea about your sister and you. Tomorrow, your sister will be in a battle to prove her worth at the camp and all demigod children at that camp are claimed there and then if they can prove themselves. Then, it will be apparent who your godly parent is as well." Luke looked worried and said, "You said "if" she proves her worth. What happens if she doesn't? I mean, I don't doubt her abilities or anything like that…" Hermes looked sympathetically at Luke. "I understand your concern. I believe that your sister will be fine, so we don't really need to talk about what would happen if she were to fail; it makes for an unpleasant conversation topic." Luke nodded, reassured, and then a few thoughts came into his head at once and he frowned. "Then, you must have some ideas about my sister's power." Hermes nodded. "Theories, nothing more." Luke continued. "Will I have to do some sort of test like that? I don't really think I'd be ready for that sort of thing and from what you say, failure doesn't really sound like a great alternative." Hermes laughed. "No, no. Here at Camp Half Blood, there isn't such a test." They came into sight of the beach onto which Luke had first landed and then Hermes continued thoughtfully. "In any case, I do not think that you would do so badly either. You may not be aware of it but from what I know, you may be as powerful as your sister is. But now I must go see Chiron. We shall meet again, Lucas Pride." He shook hands with Luke, ruffled Luke's hair and then strode purposefully towards the Great House. Luke watched him go until he had opened the door to the Great House and disappeared inside it. He stared in that direction lost in thought. His sister was powerful. He had known that. Somehow, he had guessed that her skills were a result of her godly parent. Then, how could Hermes say that he would be powerful too? They were related to each other, yet he had none of his sister's skill when it came to anything air related. It was such a relief not to have to take a do or die test as well, but what if his "test" came in another form. Maybe they didn't need a test. He would obviously be in the same cabin as his sister, wouldn't he? "Luke! Huff… Puff… Luke, have you seen my dad?" Luke nodded. "He went into the Great House to talk to Chiron about something or other." Connor looked slightly miffed. "Well he could've waited here til I got back. I ran all the way back. Oh well, who cares. Have you seen this thing closely, by the way? He's got those two snakes from that old caduceus thing on it. I think they look a bit like inchworms personally, but they get really irritated if you call them inchworms." He showed Luke tiny fang marks on his left hand. "Nice work, George." Said a hissing voice in Luke's head. Luke realized it was one of the snakes. He also realized that it was addressing the other snake, which was probably George. The snake continued. "See, now you're made us look bad and Luke won't bring me a rat, will you Luke?" Luke thought the idea was rather revolting but said, "Rat, uh yeah sure! Yep, I can bring you a rat. Small, medium or large?" The other snake broke in, "Extra large please. And bring two so that Martha the fatty over there doesn't get more rat than I do!" The other snake, Martha, hissed at George. The snakes started play fighting on the cell phone. Connor cleared his throat. "Yep, so I'll go bring the phone to my dad. You should get to Cabin 11 quickly. The harpies might come for a second round." Connor left with the cell phone. "Don't forget the rats!" called George. Luke ran quickly through the cool, moist grass and slipped quietly into the warmth of the Hermes cabin.
