Chapter 10:
Dylan, Liam, Jack, and I all entered the dining area. It was a bunch of marble columns surrounding the tables. On the marble floor, I saw a large crack it was almost like something tried and succeed to break through the ground.
"Yeah, a friend of mine did that many years ago." I turned around and saw Percy. He winked and laughed at me, and headed towards a table where Annabeth was with the three children.
Jack waved me over to the designated Hermes cabin table. Together all of us barely were able to squeeze onto the benches.
"It's a tight fit but we're all family here. Even the three of you that just joined us today you may or may not be children of Hermes but you're family, so to family!" Jack raised his glass and the rest of us shouted the toast back at him. Suddenly, everyone got up and headed towards the fire. They all scraped the best portion of their meal into the fire.
"What are they doing?" I asked Jack.
"We always over a portion of our meals to the gods. It helps so if they feel the urge to go on a killing spree they probably won't kill us," he said in complete seriousness. I laughed at him but he looked at me and said, "I'm not joking."
I headed towards the fire with my meal and stared at the flames. I'd never met my father who supposedly was this god and yet I had to give him and his friends the best portion of the steak that sat on my plate. Well if I have to do this I might as well pray to him and ask him for a sign or something I thought. That's what I did 'hey dad' I thought silently, 'I know you're probably busy, and whatever but if you could send me a sign to help me know that you're there that would be great! You know what would be even better if you could somehow cure my mom. She's sick and I think it might be from heartbreak because you left her with a small child to remember you, so if you could use your godly power to fix that I would make up for all of the years you left me to fend for myself.' After I said my prayer I scraped the whole steak into the fire. Nothing felt different until I heard gasps from behind me. I turned around and saw everyone looking at me… no they were looking behind me. They were looking at Dylan.
Above Dylan's head, a gold caduceus. He seemed to be freaked out by all of the attention he was getting and said, "What did I scrape the wrong part of my meal into the fire?"
"All hail Dylan Matthiou, son of Hermes, god of trade, wealth, luck, fertility, animal husbandry, sleep, language, thieves, and travel." Chiron bowed along with the rest of the camp.
"I'm honored Chiron truly," someone spoke from the shadows and everyone turned towards the voice, "but this boy is not only my son he is also a gift from me. Children of mine that are anything like Dylan are very hard to come by yet this camp has been blessed by two in the range of seventeen years." Complete silence struck the camp, but Hermes continued, "Yet sadly I'm not only here to claim my son. I am also here to bring something to one of the campers, Mya Gethern step forward!" Hermes shouted even though there was nobody to talk over. Everyone's eyes turned to me while I walked towards Hermes. At first, his face was cold and calm but as I approached him a smile crept across his face. I noticed that it was the same smile that both Dylan and Jack had. He motioned for me to follow even farther into the shadows and after a few moments, I could hear the soft noise of chatter rising behind me.
Farther and farther away from the mess hall, I followed Hermes. Until finally near the woods he stopped.
"I have something from you Mya," he told me without turning around. From where we stood I could make out Long Island Sound seeing the sky's orange and red reflection on the water calmed me down.
"What is it, Lord Hermes?" I don't know why I called him Lord but it felt right.
"A gift. A gift from your father." he turned around and looked at me. He stuck out his hand and in it were two things. The first a silver necklace it seemed like it should've had a charm hanging from it but it didn't. The second thing that sat in his hand was a matching silver bracelet. "To use the necklace you must summon use the command word, λειτουργεί. As for the bracelet just flick your wrist and one of your two desired weapons will be ready to use within seconds."
"Thank you, Lord Hermes it means so much!" I said gratefully.
He starred at me and asked, "What do you have on your mind? I mean I hope I'm not overstepping but there's something that you're holding back."
"You said these were a gift from my father correct?" he nodded, "Then can you tell me who he is?"
"The Fates won't allow it. I'm sorry Mya I'm just a messenger." Hermes looked at me sadly while he spoke.
"So he doesn't care that's all you're trying to tell me?" he looked down, "If he cared he would've shown his sign by now!" I shouted at him.
"Goodbye, Mya. Have fun during your game tonight." he started glowing and I looked away. When I looked back he was gone.
I walked back towards the pavilion angry with how that conversation went. I looked down at my wrist and saw the bracelet. I took it off not even sure how it got on my wrist because I didn't put it on. I also felt my neck and felt the necklace. I took both of them off and threw them to the ground. I didn't need any gifts from my father. In the end, they would only make me angrier with him, and I'd been fending for myself for my whole life, so why would I need him now?
I returned to the Hermes table and they seemed to be pretty happy with having a new brother.
Dylan noticed my return and leaned over and whispered, "What did he talk to you about?"
"Nothing much just a few things about my first day," I responded trying to keep the anger from my voice.
"Did he also give you the necklace and bracelet?" Dylan smirked at my shocked reaction. Yet sure enough, when I looked at my wrist the bracelet was back.
"I'm pretty sure when the messenger of the gods gives you a gift it's probably from your godly parent," Jack said. I glared at him. "But I could be wrong."
"So who's it from then?" Dylan asked, "Is it from your dad?"
Before I could answer him Chiron started to stomp his hoof.
"Campers listen up!" he shouted.
"Thank you, Chiron." Percy said, "Ok campers it's time for the game of capture the flag. Athena and Apollo cabins are the team leaders so hopefully, you guys know which team you're on. As you all know magical weapons are allowed, no maiming or killing unless you want to be harshly punished, Chiron, Annabeth, and I will be field medics. Get ready at the next horn the game will start! Have fun!"
Everyone scrambled around to go grab their armor, but Dylan, Jack, and I all stuck close together.
"So you have a necklace and a bracelet what do they do?" Jack asked me.
It was a good question considering Hermes hadn't cared to explain too much about either of them.
"Λειτουργεί!" I said. Suddenly, my necklace began to form into a flexible but protective breastplate. It was a black metal speckled with a light blue bronze and some type of gold. Jack and Dylan stood there stunned. I still had one more surprise for them. I flicked my write and a matching black metal sword appeared in my hand.
"Mya! What is that?" Perc stood back closer to the pavilion. His facial expression hid none of the shock that was spread across his face. "I've only seen one person with that type of dark metal before that's stygian iron, the metal of the Underworld. Yet your sword and chest plate don't seem to be sucking in shadows as much as the last sword of that metal that I've seen."
"A gift-" I started to say but the horn blew and everyone rushed off. I followed close behind Jack with Dylan right on my heels.
We entered the forest and ran along a small stream.
"What team are we?" Dylan asked.
"Well, the Hermes and Athena cabin have a pact so we're normally on the same team. Most of the time that's a good thing because the Athena cabin almost always wins." Jack responded. We stopped at a small clearing to my left I heard the soft running of the stream. "The stream is the boundary line. You two stay here and make sure nobody gets across. I'll send Liam over here if I can find him." Jack told us before running across the stream and disappeared into the trees.
Dylan and I stood where we were told to in silence. I stared into the dark dense tree line to see if I could see any movement.
Finally, after about twenty minutes of silence, Dylan spoke to me, "Did Hermes say anything about me?" He seemed sad and after how many years of abuse he suffered through I couldn't bear to tell him the truth.
"Yeah, he said he was proud of you. He said it took a lot to suffer through everything with your mom." I lied to him.
"Really?" he seemed shocked by my answer.
"Yeah," I answered. We fell back into silence.
I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and turn towards it. I raised my sword and moved towards the tree line where I saw the movement. After a few moments, someone stumbled towards Dylan and me.
"Liam!" Dylan said shocked.
I relaxed a little while Liam walked towards Dylan and the two started a conversation. After a few minutes of them talking I told them I was going to go walk around a little. They both nodded and went back to their conversation.
I crossed the stream and entered enemy territory. I could hear the clashing of swords quite a ways away. I held my sword out in front of me just in case someone popped up in front of me, but I saw nothing. After about two or three minutes of walking, I came across a small opening where the trees weren't as dense. In the clearing, I saw a gold flag with the sun and bow embroidered on it. I glanced around me and only saw two guards standing on the other side of the flag. They didn't notice me just yet, but they seemed to be deep into a conversation because they were only looking at each other. I quietly snuck up to the flag. The two guards still didn't notice me. Even when I grabbed the flag and made my retreat back towards the thicker trees they hadn't noticed what was missing. It wasn't until I was almost in the tree line that another camper came up to them and noticed their mistake.
"Where is the flag!" the boy shouted. The two guards looked at him and back at each other and when they looked back at the flag that's when they finally noticed me.
"There! Get her!" I didn't stick around and see if they were going to really chase me or not instead I took off into the trees. The farther I ran the closer to the sounds of the battle I came. Finally, I reached the battle. I ducked and swerved around people fighting, and a few campers noticed that I was carrying a flag.
"Hermes cabin fall in! Protect Mya!" Jack shouted from somewhere in the fighting.
A bunch of the Hermes cabin formed a semi-circle around me. They fought off any of the other team that dared to get close to me. I kept running and didn't around me. As we neared the stream I could see Dylan and Liam stand ready with their swords out in front of them. They probably heard the chaos nearing them so they got ready for whatever it could be. Finally, I reached the opposite side of the stream and jumped right into the chilly water. I crossed and a cheer came up from the crowd on the other side of the stream. The flag began to shimmer and a gold caduceus appeared on it.
Chiron galloped toward the group and shouted, "Congratulations to the Hermes cabin they will be facing the Athena cabin in next week's game, but for now please et anyone who has been wounded to the infirmary and report to your cabin to turn in for the night."
Suddenly, a camper gasped and shouted, "Look at the flag!" Everyone turned towards the flag that I was still holding. It began to flicker from black with a gold caduceus to blue with a green trident. Chiron looked confused and then realization came across his face.
Another gasp was heard and suddenly a faint green light appeared over the faces of all of the campers. I didn't know where it was coming from until I looked above my head. A green trident hung in midair just like Dylan's gold caduceus earlier that night.
"Well, at least he wasn't lying when he told me he would send some of my siblings my way." I heard Percy mutter from behind me.
"All hail Mya Gethern, daughter of Poseidon, the god of the sea, the mighty earthshaker, and father of horses!" Chiron said while he lowered into a bow. The rest of the camp followed his lead.
Fairyn- Thank you once again for your amazingly kind review. I also agree that the musical is amazing. I don't mind you asking what my favorite song is because it's definitely Last Day of Summer just because of the twist that Luke puts onto Good Kid.
Thank you guys so much for almost 300 readers it blows my mind. I hope you all are having a great day! Please review it would mean a ton!
~Emily