Hey! Long time no see! I know I am sorry, but I had a humongous writer's block. You should thank Guest, that got me writing again! As for your question I am finishing this story, and if I seem to take too long like more than a month, don't be afraid to demand an update. Sometimes that is the only reason, my blocks go away. For those of you that read my other story A New Day I am working to update that one too. I will see you at the bottom so you can read, I also have some questions to ask you. Thanks to those who reviewed, favorited and followed!
Chapter 10
Previously on Another Day Another Story..."All right that's the end of the chapter, guess I should pass this around, to see who will be reading next," Rosalie announced passing it to Emmett. At that moment, I heard a voice behind me saying, "Why don't I read?" I turned around, startled, when I did I exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"
"What, I can't visit my favorite cousin?" Thalia said as I hugged her. I wasn't expecting her here, I would have thought she be with Artemis hunting some big monster.
"Ha, I knew it I am going to tell Nico!" I said giddily. "But, no seriously what are you doing here?" she sighed and led me to the circle again. Oh right introductions, before I could though, I saw a hairy thing streak past, and the next thing I knew,Thalia was on the ground with a happy Grover hugging her.
Finally, Grover let her up, so I could make introduction, "Everybody this is Thalia, daughter of Zeus and a great friend of mine." I said pointing at Thalia, who was on the other side of me. "Thalia, this is Paul, my im-" Thalia interrupted me, I was rather glad since I didn't know how to explain to her that I had met my soul mate. "Imprint I know," okay, my job was done, she knew, but wait. She knew?
She must have seen the confusion on my face, "Seriously, Kelp head did you not hear, when I came tumbling from the sky?" the still confusion seemed to be answer enough, "The fates, took me from the hunt, and they explained everything that had happened in the past couple of days. Then they sent me here to read." She said taking the book from Emmett's outstretched hand.
Before I could ask her how she planned to read, what with her dyslexia and all it will take us a long time, when Carlisle interrupted me, "Could we perhaps learn more about you? You are informed about us," he said gesturing to the circle, "and that is just an unfair disadvantage." He did have a point there, but if we told him, some parts of the book will be uncovered.
"Sorry, doc, but I can't say but don't worry y'all will learn about me soon enough I am sure, right Kelp head?" I nodded my head, "Air head is right," At this Thalia narrowed her eyes at me, while some of the group laughed at her my nickname for her. Back to my question I asked how she planned to read, rolling her eyes, she said," By saying out the words of course," she pointed to the print and I saw that it was in Greek, oh well, problem solved. I was rather surprised that it had only been Carlisle that spoke out, the others were silent...that was never good.
I play Pinochle with a horse.
Grover interrupted before the real chapter began, taking over Seth's job I guess, "Chiron is only half a horse."
I had weird dreams
"Again, Paul wouldn't be the man of your dreams if you didn't have weird dreams," Leah said making the majority laugh, Thalia was the one who laughed the hardest. "Leah, you are funny, you should hear some of the dreams Andie has told me about," Thalia told her. I could see a friendship blossoming between those two. Glancing at Paul to see if the comment had made him pout like last time, I saw that he had a pleased look on his face. Noticing my stare, he said, "Leah called me a man." I rolled my eyes at him, not commenting any further.
full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me.
At hearing this Seth looked up from the last of his enchiladas, "Dude, I had a weird dream last night!" at hearing this most groaned while some looked curios I was one of the few curious one. He continued unfazed by the groans, " I was dreaming that I was in La Push beach when I heard this groaning, and I was like whaaaaat? You know," the wolves nodded while the Cullens looked amused by the way the pack interacted and Seth's silliness in general.
"I was looking around for whatever caused this, when I saw this huge red sour patch kid coming at me," most had gaping expression I was thinking okay, so this is not what I was thinking was going to happen. After a minute or two, all of us started laughing, Seth seemed pleased that his weird dream had caused all of us to laugh.
The rest wanted food.
Everyone laughed at Grover's embarrassed expression.
I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again.
When Thalia read this there was more than one person laughing, "Awww, Andie, you think exactly as I do." Paul said putting an arm around me, and snuggling me closer.
I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The cute guy with blonde hair hovered over me, smirking as he scarped drips off my chin with the spoon.
That said arm tightened around me, which loosened when I kissed him on the cheek. Seeing Paul's semi'stony expression the wolves didn't comment. Unfortunately, Thalia didn't get the memo and asked, "Is that Sean?" I nodded afraid that it might make Paul more jealous if I answered with words.
When he saw my eyes open, he asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"
I managed to croak, "What?"
He looked around; as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"
"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."
Somebody knocked on the door, and the guy quickly filled my mouth with pudding.
"Did you choke?" Jared asked me. I thought back I shook my head, even if Sean had been unfriendly at the beginning, he hadn't let me choke.
The next time I woke up, the guy was gone.
"And then I came in and you instantly fell in love with me," Paul said, kissing me on the cheek, much to the amusement of the others.
A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.
Apparently, Edward and Carlisle had made a competition on who figured the book out faster, since they both screamed out, "Argus!" then they both looked at Alice who said, that Carlisle had taken it this time. Looking at me he asked if he was right, "Yes you are right," once his happy moment got old and he noticed that people were still looking at him weird he started looking embarrassed.
When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries.
At this Edward sighed, at our confused expressions, Alice explained that Edward loved the smell of strawberries, and that if he ever found a girl with that smell, he would instantly fall in love with her. Hmm, good thing I had stopped using that type of shampoo when I was fifteen.
There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.
"Ouch," Paul said, and I couldn't help but think what he will think of my injuries later on.
On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.
"I love the restaurants that do that," Leah said and Thalia was quick to agree.
My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.
"Careful," a familiar voice said.
"Sean!" Carlisle said the same time Edward said "Grover!" I looked over at Grover and saw him smiling at their antics, seeing me rolling my eyes, his smile got wider.
Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.
"Did you?" I asked him, curious. He laughed and said, "Dro, you were only asleep for two days, and last time I checked a week was seven days." making the others laugh, and me to hide in Paul's arms, already planning my revenge.
Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover. Not the goat boy.
"Goat boy? Really?" Juniper asked me, sheepishly I grinned at her.
So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation,and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...
Esme couldn't help but feel bad for the girl, she had just lost her mother, she also wondered what Andromeda would do next.
"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."
Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.
Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.
Paul gripped me tighter and I couldn't help but be glad that I had taken this trip to Forks.
"The Minotaur," I said.
"Um, Andromeda, it isn't a good idea-"
"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."
"And completely ugly," Emmett snickered, and surprisingly he pumped fists Jake. I guess the barriers were crumpling down.
Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"
"My mom. Is she really ..."
He looked down.
"Andromeda, I just want you to know that I will be here for you," Esme told me. I went to her, I squeezed her cold hand, and leaned in to whisper that it was going to be okay but thank you. She gave me a small smile, and then I went over to Paul and snuggled into his arms once more.
I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree
"Hey, I wasn't that huge," Thalia said indignantly.
on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.
"Are you saying that I shouldn't be beautiful?" Thalia asked.
My mother was gone.
"Oh," she said.
The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful. Everyone's heart was breaking at that moment for Andromeda.
"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."
"No, you are not Grover," Thalia and I said at the same time, trying to console him. He grinned and felt a burst of happiness, that his friends cared so much.
He moaned,
Emmett again whispered something to Jasper making both of them laugh, I was curious about what he said, I was even more curious when Rosalie eyes wider than before, hit Emmett upside the head. Followed by Alice when she hit Jasper, murmured something into his ear, making him look panicked. Rosalie grinned and murmured something to Emmett too making him look like Jasper.
Rosalie then said to Carlisle, "Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper are going to cut the grass tomorrow." this didn't seem so bad, and it was then the words sunk in, "Wait, Rosalie don't you mean mow?" Carlisle asked. Alice grinning told him, "nope, she means cut and with scissors." and there is the punishment.
stomping his foot so hard it came off.
There was a squeal, and then laughter, confused I looked at where the squeal had come from. It had been Sam, and I laughed too since it had sounded like something from the Aphrodite cabin when they didn't find the right shoes to go with whatever outfit.
I mean, the Converse hi-top came off.
"Oh," Sam said looking embarrassed. I knew that none of the wolves, were going to let him live it down.
The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.
"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.
Thunder rolled across the clear sky.
As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it. Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair,
At hearing this, Grover put his hand on his hair, and narrowed his eyes at me while slowly shaking his head.
I'd find tiny horns on his head. But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.
I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe? No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army.
"Weren't you like twelve when this happened?" Jasper asked me. Looking over at him I nodded. "Then how could you pretend to be seventeen?" He asked. "Easy, I would be like, hey I am seventeen." he opened his mouth again but before he could speak Alice interrupted him and said, "Save your breath, you can't beat her."
I'd do something.
Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever-looked as if he expected to be hit.
I said, "It wasn't your fault."
"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."
"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"
"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."
"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.
"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here."
He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.
Suddenly Thalia broke off when she heard laughter, looking over I saw that somehow Jake had gotten...something in his hair. Everybody was laughing at his expression of disgust, it looked brown and green and suddenly started moving. Thalia unimpressed continued reading.
I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.
Esme's and Rosalie's hearts broke at hearing this. They both wanted someone to care about them in that manner so bad, one a mother who lost her child, and one that will never have one.
Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.
"Was it good?" Grover asked.
"Grover it's nectar, of course it will be good." Thalia kinda scolded him.
I nodded.
"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.
"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."
His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."
"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."
"I bet that didn't make him feel good," Emily said. "How so," I asked her.
"Because, he feels bad about your mother, and then you say something about her." I looked toward Grover mouthing 'sorry.'
He sighed. "And how do you feel?"
"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."
"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"
"What do you mean?"
He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."
"Dun Dun Dun," Quil exclaimed, in an ominous voice.
The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.
My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.
As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.
We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecturean open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arenaexcept that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.
"Oh man, that is so awesome!" Seth exclaimed, and Emmett nodded along. "I would love to see a Pegasus," Emmett boomed. They soon got all of them wanting to see a Pegasus, Grover looked over at me, and raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was time for a friend of mine to visit.
Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired guy who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.
"Who is this mysterious guy, Andie?" Leah asked me. I was bout to answer her that he was a guy that you will like to have your back, when Grover beat me to it, but instead said that she will figure it out later on.
The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties,except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather.
"I don't think that is a big feat, Andie." Hunter said. I nodded agreeing with him.
"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The boy, that's Sean Chase. He's just a camper,but he's been here longer than just about anybody.
"So that is who he is? Not very much on him huh?" Leah said, and I couldn't help but think that she might sound a bit interested.
And you already know Chiron..."
He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.
First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.
"I knew it! That teacher seemed too cool, to be normal." Quil exclaimed and I could help but think about Paul, my mom's husband, he was pretty cool and he was a teacher. True, he didn't have a sword but you know, whatever.
"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.
"Andie, didn't you hear that his name was Chiron not Mr. Brunner?" Edward asked haughtily. Rolling my eyes I retorted, "Did you not hear, that I lost my mother? I was still in shock, Ed." Paul seemed to like my answer since he stopped growling and started laughing at Ed's stunned expression.
The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.
"Ah, good, Andromeda," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."
He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."
"Why, isn't he charming" Kim commented. "you have no idea," I answered.
"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because,if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.
"You wish you were this awesome," Grover said. I smiled, "Careful, Grover you might just float away." This caused everyone to laugh, even Grover after he got after his shock.
"Sean?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond boy. He came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lad nursed you back to health, Andromeda. Sean, my boy, why don't you go check on Andromeda's bunk? We'll be putting her in cabin eleven for now."
Sean said, "Sure, Chiron."
He was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With his deep tan and his curly blond hair, he was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California guy would look like, except his eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if he were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.
"I don't like him," Paul announced.
"I didn't think you would," I replied. Quil probably having a death wished said, "Why not? Y'all have so much in common, starting with liking the same girl." Before I knew it, Paul was on him, trying to separate them, I drenched them both in water, gathered from the air. This did the trick and both stopped at once. Jared opening his big mouth said, "Man, Paul I thought you were going to be peaceful when you met Andie, but I have to say that you certainly held back. If you didn't Quil would have been a chocolate smoothie." I thought Paul was going to attack him, but he didn't instead he grinned.
Getting himself off the floor and came my way, wrapped me in his arms, and kissed me on the cheek and said, " What can I say? She brings out the best in me." Then of course Jake said, "She can't bring out what you never had." Looking at him, Paul said quite smugly, "Oh I have it, trust me." he winked at me, making me blush and Emmett and Jasper laugh.
He glanced at the Minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined he was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.
Instead he said, "You drool when you sleep."
There was a lot of laughter when that was read and I couldn't help but blush at that piece of information, "Wow, so that's how you won him over, or how he won you over, huh, Dro?" Grover asked. I blushed even harder at that, Paul who had been laughing, started growling when Grover said that. "No, and I don't do that anymore by the way." I said unfortunately it only added to the laughter.
Then he sprinted off down the lawn.
"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"
"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."
"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"
"I can tell you what it stands for," Thalia murmured darkly. Edward hearing what she thought laughed loudly.
Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young lady, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."
"Oh. Right. Sorry."
"Then how do you introduce yourself?" Embry asked. We stared at him, unable to say anything, gestured to Thalia to read.
"I must say, Andromeda," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."
"Potential camper?" asked Cal. He knew that Andie was a half god, but he didn't know that she was...good in what she was. Andromeda raised her eyebrow at him, "Yeah," she said wondering if she should be insulted.
"House call?"
"Yeah, you know like in the old times, where doctors went to see their patients at home." Emmett said in a it-should-be-obvious voice.
"I hated those sometimes, some people didn't know shame if it hit them in the face," said Carlisle with a faraway look in his eyes. Esme reaching over to take his hand asked, "What do you mean Carlisle?" After a sighed he began explaining, "In the time I was a doctor when house calls were still the norm," he said with a half smile, "there was this one time," he stopped. "Well, it was the one that stuck the most with me, at least, and it was before I had you, dear Esme." he said stopping to look at her in the eye, Esme seemed to understand, though there was some unnamed emotion in her eye.
"Well," he said continuing, "I had this house call, and the woman, a single woman, called saying her father was very sick, it was out in country. I of course went," we nodded Carlisle wouldn't say no even if they didn't have money, "when I got there, there was no sick man, only the girl, wearing a dress that was not...appropriate in that time." Ah, seems like someone tried to seduce the good doctor. A lot of people laughed when they got where this was leading. Esme though didn't look amused, and asked, "And why didn't you tell me before of this? Or however many times this has happened?" Uh-oh in trying to entertain us, the doc had gotten in trouble.
Carlisle appearing sheepish, rubbed his neck with his free hand, that wasn't being gripped in a death-grip, "I well, uh, didn't think it would matter." Esme nodded her head appearing understanding, "Huh, well, has this happened when I have been with you?" she asked, putting an emphasis on with. Carlisle bowed his head and said or at least I think he said, "Yes," Esme again nodded her head, not looking at Alice she said, "Alice, dear, Carlisle will love to help out Jazz and Emmett, don't you think?"
Alice giggled and doomed Carlisle, after apparently having a vision and saying, "Oh he will immensely enjoy it, that's a promise." Carlisle at hearing this groaned, but otherwise stayed quiet, Esme quite pleased with herself smiled, and gestured to Thalia to keep going.
"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."
"Oh my gods, he killed him!" Jake said flabbergasted. I laughed, that certainly sounded like it.
I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.
"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.
"And there is the ego," Seth said rolling his eyes, "Why of course, she will have an ego the size of Texas, she is Paul's mate." Sam said, making me and Paul growl at him. "Oooh, scary," they both said in unison. I met Paul's eyes, and we reached a silent agreement, before they finished saying scary Paul launched himself at Seth, knocking his enchiladas out of his hands, and Sam was dripping wet, and sticky from the soda I had drown him in. They were left spluttering, while the rest of us laughed, and me and Paul shared a short but passionate kiss.
Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."
"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"
"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.
"Is that who I think it is?" Edward asked, directing his question at me, Thalia, Grover, and Juniper. Thalia looking up from the book long enough to mutter, "I don't know Edward, you might not know much about me, but mind reading is not a skill of mine." Leah was the first to burst out laughing, and they high-fived each other. Yep, a friendship was definitely there. I wonder, Leah was alone and from what Paul told me about her she was still bitter about the whole Sam imprinting on her cousin fiasco. If this friendship continued I wonder if Thalia is going to ask her to join the hunters. Looking over at them I thought, Only time will tell.
"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.
"I'm afraid not," I said.
"I'm afraid not,sir," he said.
"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.
"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man,
"I love Pac-Man!" Emmett shouted.
"Dude, what video game do you not love?" Jasper asked exasperated.
Emmett seemed to think about, after a long pause, he said, "Those imagine teacher and babysitter." Does that mean, he tried to play them?
one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young ladies to know the rules."
"Then, you know that Andie doesn't know how to play then," Jared snickered, Andromeda tried to deny it but with her mouth full it was a lost point.
"I'm sure the girl can learn," Chiron said.
"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"
Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."
The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.
Grover looked embarrassed at how he sounded, but he did a lot of growing up in the time he spent with Andie.
Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer.
"And the ego grows!" Emmett boomed, Alice tried to warn him but it was too late. Seeing the panicked look Alice tried to send to Emmett, Rosalie moved from his arms just in time. One second later and she would be doused in soda, too.
"Andromeda," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'
"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."
"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed.
Paul gripped Andromeda closer, but then he realized that Andromeda was still alive, let her go a bit, but kept a grip on her.
Young lady, are you bidding or not?"
"What?" I asked.
He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.
"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."
"Orientation film?" I asked.
"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Andromeda. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lass.
"Wow, I didn't know you were awesome, you made it sound kind of easy." Seth said and others agreed with him. I shrugged never really classifying myself as awesome,just fit enough to survive.
What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."
There was an exaggerated sigh through the circle, and I couldn't help but smile, this people just brought joy to me.
I stared at the others around the table.
I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.
Lucas was silently laughing to himself, haha, cackled haha.
"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"
"So that's why when I clean up there are no cans laying around." Esme said. We all laughed at that while Grover mournfully chewed on a Sprite can.
"Eh? Oh, all right."
Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.
"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."
Carlisle seemed to be having an internal battle, and I could somewhat understand him, after all he had grown up being a preacher's son. I only hoped that with what Chiron said next will appease him somewhat.
"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."
"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"
"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."
He seemed somewhat more at ease when he heard this.
"Smaller?"
"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."
"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."
And there it was again, distant thunder on a cloud less day.
"I wonder why it didn't thunder when she read it," wondered Derek.
"Maybe they just have a thing against Andie?" Quil said. I shrugged, "or maybe it's because she is reading them." Carlisle said. Too late, Seth said, "Hermes," there was a boom, Paul covered my eyes, as did all I think. When Paul took away his hand, I saw that Seth's short hair was sticking straight up.
"Young lady," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."
"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."
"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Andromeda Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, - "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this girl and tell me."
"I thought we had," Carlisle mumbled. "I mean, there are cures for diseases that killed a lot of people in Ancient Greece."
I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.
"You don't mean to say, that he, the cherub trailer dude, is a god, do you?" Leah asked Thalia incredulously. We both nodded mournfully.
"Andie," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"
I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.
"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.
"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Andromeda Jackson, that some day people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little girls can get over losing their mothers?"
"That was harsh," Paul muttered, nuzzling me, I didn't pay attention to his words, I was just happy he was beside me.
My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."
"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."
Grover said, "P-please, sir. She's just lost his mother. She's in shock."
Esme turned toward Grover, "You are such a good friend toward her aren't you, dear?" Grover turned red at her words, and stuttered out, "Y-y-yes ma'am or at least I try to be." When he was this way he reminded me of the goat boy I knew and not the lord of the wild he was.
"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with girls who don't even believe."
"It seems that he isn't the only one that is miserable," Quil muttered.
He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.
There was a murmur of appreciation and awe, I just rolled my eyes and first it might seem great, but then it just turns into a pain in the neck.
My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.
"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."
Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.
"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"
"Wait, the wine, the tiger skins, its the wine dude, right?" Leah asked. The ones who knew nodded.
More thunder.
At this Seth looked fearfully up at the sky.
Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.
Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."
"A wood nymph,"
"Yes, you know like your best friend's girlfriend," Juniper said snickering. "In my defense, he didn't have a girlfriend back then," I said.
I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.
"Maybe it was," said Jake.
"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha! Absolutely unfair."
"Yeah to us," murmured Thalia.
Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.
"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."
"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."
I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.
"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."
"I was right!" screamed Edward, proud at being right, I hope he didn't float away with that inflated head of his.
Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"
"Y-yes, Mr. D."
"Then, well, duh! Andie Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"
There was a burst of laughter filled with annoyance at the old wine dude.
"You're a god."
"Yes, child."
"A god. You."
"Kelp head! You just have to seek danger, huh?" Thalia exasperatedly. I smiled sheepishly at her and shrugged.
He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.
"huh, no wonder Andie, is seems so crazy at times," Jasper snickered, while I pouted.
"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.
"No. No, sir."
"Well, at least you seem to show some life perseverance," murmured Thalia.
The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."
"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."
I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.
"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."
Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."
Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Andie Jackson. And mind your manners."
"What manners?" Jared again snickered, though he shut up once he saw the glare Andromeda gave him, and remembered Quil soaked in soda.
He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.
"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.
Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."
"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"
"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Andie, just as the gods do."
"Wait, so he is saying they moved here to the U.S?" asked Paul aloud. He knew the gods existed, Andromeda was proof enough, he just didn't know that they moved from Greece to here.
"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"
"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."
"Dude, so how come you didn't meet them before, you know since you said you came from the old west," Emmett asked Jasper. Jasper seemed baffled by his question, he mulled over if he should answer him, but he thought better of it and instead ignored him.
"The what?"
"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."
At this point Carlisle and Edward got out little notebooks, and started to write what they had learned. No doubt they were going to discuss this at home.
"And then they died."
"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Andie, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome,either- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."
It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.
"That reminds me of what I used to think the pack was, though I called it a cult," mentioned Quil. Jake and Embry agreed, while Sam looked a little put out about what they thought about him at first.
"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"
"And there is her philosophical mind," Rosalie said.
Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.
"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to 'meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."
There was a chorus of agreement, all of them came from the La Push gang.
And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear,but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.
And that was the cue for Sam to shriek again, I admit it I laughed at him.
I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.
"Dude, what if your dad, can do that, and you are secretly a satyr," Quil said sounding awed. Jake was quick to deny it, "Nah, my dad isn't that cool, and I don't have hooves." When no one was looking he and Grover shared a look, both making the international sign of shh, with the pointer finger in front of the lips.
"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep.
Emmett, Andie, and all of the wolves laughed, while the rest looked exasperatedly at them, finally Juniper snapped and said, "You know, it doesn't mean what you think it is." Andromeda broke of mid-laughter, "Really, I thought it was the joint between the cannon bone and the pastern." she said sounding confused. At this the pack and Emmett stopped and looked at Juniper nodding. Juniper not understanding, why they had laughed then, face palmed.
Now, come, Andie Jackson. Let's meet the other campers.
"That's the end," Thalia announced, relieved, if things got weirder she would probably loose it. Andromeda and her imprint left after saying their goodbyes, Thalia was going to go with them but then Leah asked her to come over to her house and she accepted. She had accepted because Leah showed potential to be a hunter and she wanted to convince her to join the hunt. Unfortunately, she didn't know that Leah was not going to join the hunt. That another half-blood was going to fall from the sky.
I hope you liked it, I already have the next two chapters on my mind, now who sincerely thought it was Thalia? Who do you think is coming? Also, is there anyone interested to help me with the next chapters? You know what with the whole Sean thing? If you do tell me in your reviews! Oh, and tell me your methods, to get over blocks. By the way aren't y'all excited that the Sea of Monsters is coming out? I am! I want to go see the premier! Hope it is good, better than last time, which it probably will be, since Annabeth is blonde! Yay!