Thanks for sticking with me! I know it's dragging... I'd recommend reading the last chapter before this one as it might get confusing.
Annabeth, Chapter 11
"What do you know about the newbie?" I asked, sitting next to a notorious member of the Apollo cabin. Will solace looked up from whatever he was doing. He seemed unnervingly calm. "I don't know what you're talking about." He said. He promptly stood up and began walking towards his cabin. I got up and followed him, determined to get some answers from him."Oh really? Everyone knows YOU and Chiron found her in England! Which, by the way, is one of the most unlikely places to find a demigod nowadays." I stated proudly. He stopped and turned around, a shocked look planted on his face. He suddenly sighed. "I should have remembered how quickly gossip spreads through camp..." He looked around before continuing, "I'll tell you everything but I can't tell you here... It's top secret, okay?" and with that he walked in an almost opposite direction to what he had been facing in before. I was surprised, generally it would take a bit longer to get any information out of anyone.
We finally arrived at the base of Thalia's pine tree when he slumped back onto its' trunk. "Well?" I asked, at this point I was quite tired of all of the mystery going on with the new girl. He rolled his eyes. "I don't know where to begin..." He sighed. I rolled my eyes. "Okay okay! Well I'll start with what I know from her medical files..." He continued. I raised an eyebrow. "Why have you been digging through her medical files? And how did you even manage to get them in the first place anyway?" I asked, struggling to understand why he had gone through all of the trouble of digging through her medical files. He shrugged. "You have your ways I have mine. Anyway, For starters she has the strangest interior bone structure I have ever seen." I was about to ask him when he had seen the inside of her bones but he raised a hand to stop me. "Please, let me continue, basically she's been thinking she had brittle bone disease when in fact she has numerous air pockets through out her bone structure, making them weak but extremely light. Generally, the air pockets are found in the human skull commonly... But they fill her entire skeleton- like a bird's," He looked around warily, in case someone was listening. "I think it may have something to do with her parent, whoever they may be. The mist must have covered up her weird bone structure too."
Will and I sat in silence for a few minutes. "So you guys still have no idea who she is...? She's just going to be another unclaimed kid?" I asked. Will shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, things are confusing enough already. We found her outside a hospital after she had knocked out a tree nymph. The whole time the poor kid thought the tree nymph was her sister... That has got to mean something. A tree nymph doesn't just suddenly decide to masquerade as someone's twin sister." He replied. I felt the cogs turn in my head- surely this could all mean something? But unfortunately, I didn't have a clue. "So tell me, why did you feel the need to look into her medical files again?"
Luna
Chiron and I walked through a particularly dense part of the forest. The rain before continued to shower down from above but the leaves from the trees acted as an umbrella because they were so densely packed. "So can you tell me why I'm going to live in a wood filled with monsters again? Because y'know, last time I was around monsters I was almost devoured - twice! I don't really want to relive that a third time. My luck have just run out too! I could end up as some monster's tooth pick." I stated. My legs were aching and sore from the long trek. "Oh don't worry my dear - monsters never go near cabin 0! They're much too afraid." He declared. I silently rolled my eyes. Due to recent events I was seriously doubting that any monsters would stay away from me. I honestly felt like a monster magnet. "You know, I'm going to stay in a creepy cabin in the woods surrounded by monsters. Sound familiar to you?" I said, pushing a branch out of my face that I couldn't previously see through the shadows. Chiron trotted a few more steps ahead. "Can't say I have. Is it a well known story? I will have to read up on it." He responded.
"Typical," I muttered under my breath, "seems like everyone here is cut off from civilization."
After roughly twenty minutes of stumbling through twigs and leaves we eventually arrived at a clearing. At first I couldn't see what was there (after all, it was in the middle of the night.) but I soon realized that is was a cabin that was only slightly bigger than the others. It was painted in an eye-sore of pink, blue and yellow splatters. Not very pretty, anyone from the Aphrodite cabin would have fainted on the spot. In fact to put it bluntly it was extremely ugly and stuck out like a sore thumb against its' surrounding. I wrinkled my nose. "That's cabin 0?" I inquired, not quite believing my eyes. I had honestly thought that it would have looked a bit more... Cool?
"Chiron?" A red haired girl walked out of the door. The girl looked curious- her pajamas seemed to have gotten a DIY tie-dye job and her hair was tied up in a unnecessarily complicated braid. "Who is she? I thought we were supposed to stay away from regular demigods?" She asked. She looked at me warily. I suddenly felt quite awkward. Like a rabbit in headlights. "Ahh, Sol Berry. This is Luna. She'll be staying at cabin 0 with you," Chiron paused, waiting for the red head girl's reaction. "She's your cousin. A child of Selene." Sol looked at me with a surprised expression. "Another demi titan!? We thought we were the only ones!" She exclaimed. Sol quickly pulled me into a crushing bear hug. Well, it was obvious that she had been working out. "Come on! Let me show you inside!" Sol then tugged me into the cabin. Chiron stood and waved good bye with an obviously sympathetic smile.
To be perfectly honest the inside wasn't nearly as bad. The room I entered in first was kind of like a living room. A sofa, a shelf full board games and an old TV with a few DVDs. The colour scheme of the room was weird. White, grey and orange. It kind of fit with the nostalgic atmosphere that the room produced. Sol flopped down onto a sofa. "This is our home. Aduro, your other cousin, is asleep. You'll probably see him at dinner though. He likes to sleep in late." I sat down beside the daughter of Helios, feeling a little out of place. "So... Do you ever leave the cabin? Do the monsters ever come and try to attack you at all? I mean the monsters do live in these woods, don't they?" I asked. Sol laughed. "Okay well Aduro and I do leave the cabin. We like to explore the camp. We don't talk to many other people though or they'll start to wonder why we keep disappearing and what cabin we stay in," she paused, "we should probably go to bed. Capture the flag is tomorrow and I actually plan to join in tomorrow. You do too. Everyone in camp probably knows who you are now. It'll be suspicious if you just vanish."
Sol led me to one of the bedrooms in the cabin. It was a small room with plain furniture and pastel-coloured walls. "This is your room. Pick either bed, no one else stays in here. My brother and I just share the bigger room anyway." She smiled but a concerned expression clouded her seemingly sunny features. "If you need any one to talk to I'll be here. Aduro might be as well... Who knows, he might not take a liking to you. He doesn't talk to other people much," she paused, "we both know how hard it can be when you're even more different than the people who are 'different..." She smiled sheepishly. "I don't suppose that makes any sense, does it?" She yawned. "Trust me to get all philosophical at three o clock in the morning. If you need any spare clothes there is some in that wardrobe. Pjs are in the drawers in case you need them." And with that she closed the door with a muffled goodnight echoing through it.
I got changed and tried to get to sleep but found that I wasn't even tired. My brain was still really hyperactive from the events of that evening. My mother was a demi titan? I wasn't even supposed to exist... She passed away long before I was even born. Eventually I just gave up and sat at my window watching the rain pour down. It was quite peaceful and almost lulled me to sleep. The tiny pitter patters of the rain was soothing. That was until I saw a mouth full of gleaming teeth staring at me from the edge of the clearing. It wasn't close enough for me to be alarmed but it definitely woke me up again. I quickly raced back into bed and pulled the covers over my head. It already seemed like a nightmare even though I was wide awake.
At some point I must have gone to sleep because I woke up feeling ridiculously groggy. "Rise and shine!" Sol burst into my room with a bowl of porridge. Well I guessed it was porridge. It just looked like a grey lumpy mass. Some one walked into the room and snatched the bowl off her. "Don't feed her that. You'll poison her! You can't even put cereal and milk in a bowl correctly? Why would you even attempt to make something that involves a microwave?" The newcomer demanded. He had the same bright red shade of her as sol and the same facial features. He was a little bit taller but was hunched over slightly and seemed to be a little bit more chubby then Sol. "Aduro! Don't embarrass me like that in front of the newest addition of our family! She thought I was like her hip big sister!" She whined, pouting at who I presumed was her twin brother. Aduro rolled his eyes. He shoved a bowl of sugary cereal into my hands. "Don't let Sol cook. She can't tell the difference between a spatula and a spoon." Aduro sighed. "I'm going back to bed. Wake me up in about 8 hours when I have to start making dinner." Sol's brother left my room. Sol glared at his back as he had left, it was safe to say that she did not appreciate being treated in such a matter. Meanwhile I was slowly eating my cereal during their sibling squablle. It kind of reminded me how Phoebe and I used to act in a sad way.
"Are you ready for capture the flag!? It's going to be sooo exciting!" Sol asked as she urged me through the woods towards the rest of the camp. I laughed. Now that she had had a full nights rest Sol seemed to be really over-excited. "I'm sure it's nothing that special. It's just a game of capture the flag." I replied. The other girl's manner reminded me of a small child. She grabbed me by the shoulders. "Have you not heard about capture the flag from the other campers!? It's life changing!" She declared. Her statement kind of made me feel a little nervous. What if I mess up and embarrass myself? Sol giggled. "If you get worried though I'm sure you can get some last minute practice in." She reassured me, noticing the worried expression on my face. I shrugged. "I barely know how to write in English let alone fight with a sword. The only weapon I have an idea how to use is-" I trailed off. I didn't want to reveal anything about my bracelet. Not just yet. I wasn't even sure if Sol could be trusted anyway. Sol frowned briefly but quickly returned to her usual composure. "Come on, there might be some classes still going on!" and with that she dragged me off to some where else in the camp.
I grasped the sword in my hand. It was too heavy for me. Perhaps I wasn't strong enough to hold it. My hammer felt a lot more natural in my grasp though. "Okay kids! You're going to choose partners! You should all know the basic moves by now," the Ares kid leading the class looked at me purposefully with a glare, "so just practice some moves in preparation for capture the flag." The Ares boy flashed me and ugly grin full of crooked teeth. "After all, some of you are going to get obliterated during tonight's game so you better learn quick!" The ugly boy stood smugly with his arms folded across his chest. Many of the other campers quickly found partners while I just hung back at the back of the class.
"So the newbie hasn't got anyone to partner up with?" The Ares kid sneered. The other kids turned to stare at me. I felt heat begin to creep up and begin to turn my cheeks into a rather bright shade of red. "It's fine. She can partner up with me. I haven't got a partner either." I turned my head to see the boy with the sketchbook from last night (Neptune I think it was?) walk over and tower over the Ares kid. They seemed to glare at each other for a few moments before the Ares kid shrugged and took a few steps back. "Fine, you can work with the newbie if you really want to." The Ares kid spat and then marched off to nag some other poor camper. Neptune looked at me and smiled. "Sorry, I was late. I guess Gary can be quite scary to the newbies. I'm sure he wont nag you anymore after a while." Neptune laughed airily. Sure, he seemed that he felt relaxed but the way he moved seemed awkward and self-conscious. I tilted my head. "Why are you so nervous? I'm the one who's going to embarrass myself. I don't know a thing about sword fighting and you're probably going to win." I stated. He suddenly turned a deep shade of scarlet.
"I'm not nervous!" He protested. He began to fumble with the hilt of his sword and drew it so it was at my eye level. (Which, might I add, wasn't very hard since I was like at the height of his shoulder.) "Yes you are!" I insisted, holding my own sword up.
Within seconds of trying to fight with Neptune I was on the dusty floor and aching from the fall. I could see the Ares kid from earlier bent over laughing in the corner of my eye. Some of the other campers joined in while others looked at me sympathetically. It had began all over again. It was just like it had been at school. They either thought I was a big joke or felt sorry for me. Neptune held out his hand, a concerned expression was planted on his face. "Are you okay? That was quite a fall." He wasn't laughing and he didn't look sorry. He just look concerned like he was actually worried about whether of not I was hurt. For a moment I considered letting him help me up. I did the stupid thing, I got up and ran. I dropped the heavy bronze sword and it clattered noisily to the ground.
"Are you kidding me? You just up and ran? In front of everyone?" Nicole asked, rolling her eyes. I had ran to the Aphrodite cabin. Most of the residents of that cabin were prepping and not really practicing anyway. "Even I know not to do that and I have nearly nothing to do with anybody here!" She sighed, sitting down on her bed next to me. I just kind of absorbed what she was saying. I wasn't in the mood for talking after embarrassing myself like that. "What are you going to do for capture the flag anyway? You can't just run away from that too. Although... It might save you a few broken bones." Nicole continued, twiddling with a celestial bronze dagger.
"I'm just going to have to ride it out and avoid as many people as I can... It can't be too hard can it? It's going to be dark when it happens." I reassured myself. Nicole rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do? Hide? One of Annabeth's cronies from the Athena cabin will hunt you down in two seconds flat," Nicole scoffed, "Good luck though." Nicole got up and walked off.
I sat on Nicole's bed for a few moments before I stood up and left the cabin. With no where to go I just went back to Cabin 0. The trek wasn't as long or as tiring as I had remembered but was twice as frightening without Chiron there. All I could remember was the set of gleaming teeth I had seen the night before. I finally arrived at the cabin and pushed open the door with ease. "Sol? Aduro?" I called into the cabin. No answer. I sighed and shut the door behind me and flopped down face first onto one of the sofas, defeated. "Just do what I do and don't go." Aduro walked into the room with a bag of chips. He looked tired and had dark purple shadows underneath his eyes. I rolled my eyes. "I can't just do that. I can't just not turn up, I'm not injured or sick. Plus, they'll know I chickened out and it'll be worse than it was before" I replied. Aduro shrugged before sitting down next to me and turning on the television. We sat in silence for a few moments. "How come you sleep so much? I mean, I sleep loads too but you sleep for like thirteen hours straight or something..." I asked. Aduro glanced at me as if I was an annoying mosquito buzzing in his ear.
"It runs in the family. Sol sleeps loads too. That's just what demi-titans do. We use up loads of energy when we're awake," Aduro paused, "besides, sometimes the world that we sleep in is better than the waking world." He watched my face for my reaction. "You do know what demi-gods and stuff dream about?" He asked. I shook my head, confused. "We dream about the future. Sometimes they're like nightmares though." He said, digging into the bag of chips on his lap for another handful of food. Something like a memory flitted across my mind but it was gone before I had even realized. "If they're like nightmares then why do you insist on doing it so much?" I inquired, a little scared of what he would say. Aduro cleared his throat. "Because even if it's a nightmare it's still an escape." He replied. It took me a few moments to process what he had just said.
At that moment, Sol walked in through the door. "Luna? What are you still doing here? Capture the flag is about to start!" Sol exclaimed. I noticed what she was wearing. It was armor and she was fully equipped with a wicked looking sword. It looked like she was ready for a war. "Sorry... I was just having a rest first." I replied, sheepishly. She rolled her eyes. "Rest over, you're going to be late! I can't have that! It's all apart of the camp experience!" She huffed and pulled me to the door. "You better not have scared her! You know how weird and creepy you can get." Sol said, directing her attention to her brother as she pushed me out of the cabin door. Aduro glared at Sol menacingly. "She started the conversation. It's not my fault if she wants my opinion on things." Aduro replied, ominously.
"What were you guys even talking about?" Sol asked. We were steadily making our way to the outskirts of the woods. I shrugged.
"He told me why he sleeps so much. I think he's sad about something..." I answered. Sol laughed. It sounded kind of forced, kind of like she was trying to keep the atmosphere light but in the end it only made me more suspicious. When she noticed my expression she stopped. "Well... He's still kind of haunted by some things..." She sighed. She brushed a stray hair out of her face. "Haunted? Why, what happened?" I responded. Sol bit her lip.
"It's not just him... I kind of think about it a lot too. We just have different ways of handling it," she paused, "sometimes kids don't get to camp that easily, like you did." She suddenly started to walk much faster and I struggled to keep up. I didn't really want to pressure her about it any more. It seemed too personal.
A couple of random pieces of leather armor was pushed into my hands. Sol grabbed an elbow guard and started lacing it on to me. "We'll be on the blue team and against the Athena cabin," Sol paused, "so it won't be your fault if we lose." She smiled brightly at me. I sighed. As if that was going to make me feel any better about my chances of not embarrassing myself. "But we're also against the Hermes and Apollo cabins. They're like the two biggest cabins in the camp." She stood back and surveyed her work with a smile. "Perfect!" She exclaimed, handing me a rather heavy bronze. I looked at it disdainfully.
"Don't you have any other weapons?" I asked, trying to get a comfortable grip on the hilt. Sol glanced at the sun as it slowly dipped over the edge of the horizon before answering. "Well, what kind of weapon do you have in mind? I mean, you can have a bow but I never thought you'd be any good with one." She responded. I tried my best not to feel offended. "Well, I don't know, a hammer maybe? This sword feels a little heavy." I said. Sol looked at me with a frown on her face.
"You're saying that the sword is heavy but you want a war ha,,er instead? Are you kidding me?" Sol laughed. I blushed, feeling a little embarrassed at my mistake.
"Yeah I should of realized... Silly me..." I mumbled and hid my red face behind my hair. We slowly walked off towards the rest of our blue team mates.
"Alright I don't want to lose against the Athena kids again!" Gary (the Ares kid from earlier) yelled. A few of the other campers rolled their eyes at him. He obviously wasn't very popular. Almost immediately, the blue team moved into the forest, swords in hand with the blue flag fluttering behind us. On the outside I seemed calm and collected but really I was shaking and felt terrified. The team seemed to break up into smaller and smaller groups until Sol and I were the only ones left. "This is going to be fun... They're already here. Get behind me, Luna." Sol smirked and I did exactly as I was told, my sword shaking like a leaf. Suddenly, at least three of the red team broke out of the leaves and branches around us in almost completely different directions. We'd been ambushed. "Oh it's just the newbie," one of the red team members said before noticing Sol,"who are you?" he asked. Sol laughed and twirled her sword around in her hands. I kind of felt sorry for the other team. Sol seemed to be a little bit of a maniac when she got serious. "The winner of this fight!" She said as she brought the sword down on the kid that had spoken. I kind of felt that her line was a little bit cheesy but didn't say anything. With one out of three was down Sol seemed to pretty confident about her odds.
Suddenly, one of the team mates lunged at Sol's feet and with a muffle cry she fell to the floor. I held up my sword shakily. "Run! Go find the flag!" Sol screamed! I decided that maybe she took capture the flag a little too seriously. I was about to turn and run when the other red team member tackled me to the floor. I was sure that one of my bones was going to break but thankfully they did not. "Nep, take that one to the jail. I think I'll have to wear down this one first before she'll tire herself out." The attacker that had pulled Sol down took off her helmet and brushed her hair out of her face. The attacker who held me down did that same. "Sure thing Lola." Nep laughed. To be honest I felt a little betrayed. I squirmed as he dragged me by my arm across the forest floor. Eventually, we out of sight from 'Lola' and Sol. Nep let go and turned around to face me. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" He asked, pulling me to my feet. I glared at him. He was on the opposite team and had ambushed Sol and I. I wasn't about to trust him. "I'm fine."I replied. Nep gave me a look of disbelief.
"Come on, you obviously don't want to be here. To be honest, neither do I. Let's just run somewhere else. It's unfair to make you do any capture the flag when you don't know how to handle a weapon." Neptune sighed. I studied his expression to see if he was lying and if he was he had hidden it quite well. "Okay...?" I mumbled and we both began to walk away from the heart of the forest.
Gasp!? Where are they going!? Who knows! Wait until next time! I hope you enjoyed the extra long chapter! So hard to concentrate as there was a heat wave.
