Seeing as he had no siblings to walk with, Nico led me back to the dining pavilion.
I absently wondered if he visited the Underworld for Christmas. If he did, what did the Lord of the Dead get this guy? A Ouija board? A three-headed puppy?
Anyway, I watched as lines of campers trucked up the hill toward the huge Greek pavilion. We reached the place ourselves and he told me to go sit with the Hermes cabin: a batch of kids with troublemakers' grins, upturned eyebrows, and sharp features. In other words, the kids who looked like my kind of people.
For a moment I just stood by the table awkwardly, waiting for someone to tell me what I was supposed to be doing. After ten or so kids sat down, a guy with wild brown hair and an even more crooked grin than the rest looked at me. His grin grew wider.
"You must be the new kid," He said slyly, as if we were sharing an inside joke. Something about this kid, who looked a few years older than me, made me want to grin back. So naturally, I did.
"Who wants to know?" I asked.
"Travis Stoll, Son of Hermes, at your service," He told me, bowing dramatically. I laughed and held out a hand for him to shake.
"Andi Smith," I introduced myself. He shook my hand then sat down, gesturing for me to do the same. When I did, I looked over at the kid sitting next to me. He looked exactly like Travis-same blue eyes, same curly hair. I looked back and forth between the two. I swear, they were identical.
Travis Number 1 laughed at my facial expression, which probably was comical, then introduced Travis Number 2 as his younger brother, Connor. That was hard for me to believe considering they looked like twins, not just brothers. The Stoll brothers went down the table introducing the other Hermes campers.
We fell silent as Chiron cleared his throat and stomped his hoof.
"We have a new camper, as you all have heard," His voice rang out. "Her name is Andi Smith. As of right now, we don't quite know what cabin to place her in, but-"
"What?" A voice called out. "How old is she?"
"Why does it matter to you?" I asked loudly. Chiron shot me a warning look.
"So that's her?" A different voice shouted into the quiet.
"She's got to be over thirteen! How come she's not claimed?" Yet another voice yelled.
"That's so typical of the gods!" A runty kid with a scrunched up face shouted, standing up. He sat around a bunch of pale kids with black hair and black eyes. The runty kid was no different than the rest. "They always break their promises. It was only a matter of time!"
Chiron shot a warning look at him as well, his eyes switching from the kid, to the sky, then back.
"Sit down Ray," Percy sighed. "This is only the first time that a demigod hasn't been claimed."
"That we know of," Ray grumbled but sat back down anyway. People did what Percy said, end of story. I'd have to ask someone why.
"As I was saying," Chiron said with a look daring anyone to interrupt. "As of right now, we don't know who her godly parent may be, so the Hermes cabin will be playing host." A few people at my table groaned. Chiron ignored them. "Now without further a due, let's eat!"
A/N: Gods, where did all the interesting(*cough* LONG *cough, cough*) chapters go? Jeeze, I hate writing that in-between-bigger-events stuff. The story needs the in between stuff for a backbone, I get that, but I hate posting it on it's own. I'm afraid y'all will get bored...rme. Am I just paranoid? Aaaanywaaaay, next chapter has something BIG, I promise!
A/N/N: Does the authors note work like a p.s.? Whatever, it doesn't matter. A Ouija board is pronounced Wee-gee. Like Luigi...only not like that at all...xD If now you still don't know what a Wee-Gee board is, Google is man's best friend. (But don't spell it Wee-Gee. Spell it Ouija. :)