Chapter Four: I Move Out

I didn't see the problem. "Isn't that good? Isn't that what you wanted?

"Normally this would be a good thing," Annabeth began. "But you got claimed by someone it's impossible to get claimed by."

I didn't get it. "Why is it impossible?"

The campers exchanged nervous glances, "Well," She continued. "Artemis is the only goddess other than Hera that swore off men. She started the hunt, which is only girls. There were stories of her meeting men, and befriending them, but it never ended well for the guys. In other words—"

She was cut off by the girl that led cabin five. "In other words, you got claimed by someone who's never had any kids before and was never supposed to. Something weird is going on if you've been claimed by Artemis."

"Maybe she's been claimed by the hunt. So in a figurative way, she's been claimed by Artemis, but in reality, by the hunt as a whole." A small kid from Annabeth's cabin spoke up.

"Shut up brainiac, that doesn't even make any sense." A guy from cabin five shouted across the amphitheater.

An argument broke out between the two parties, with other cabins starting to choose sides.

"Who're you calling a brainiac?" Yelled one.

"Yeah who even says 'figurative' and 'in reality' anyway?" Shouted another.
"At least we have brains and not just fists!"

"I'll show you a fist!"

"SILENCE!" Chiron had appeared with Mr. D following him. "What's going on here? Does this have anything to do with the matter at hand?"

"Clarisse called me a brainiac—"

"I did not, Sherman—"

"ENOUGH! Campfire songs are canceled, you are dismissed to your cabins. Counselors, take your campers back and then assemble in the big house. Travis and Connor, as stand-in head of the Hermes cabin, you will attend the meeting." With that, he turned and walked in the direction of the house.

Everyone stood in shock, not wanting to break the silence. And then the counselors began taking their campers back to the cabins. no one spoke on our way back. I noticed that cabin eight, which had looked normal earlier, now glowed silver in the darkness. It looked elegant, but it seemed to be vacant.

I sat on my sleeping bag next to Des and started getting ready to go to bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" I looked up to see Connor walking up to me.

"Going to bed, I'm not a counselor."

"The whole reason we're having this meeting is because of you showing up here. You're coming."

I got up and followed the brothers towards the door and took one look back at Iridessa.

She gave me a weak smile and a thumbs up. "Good luck." She mouthed.

As if luck is going to help me, no one is ever going to look at me the same now that I'm some sort of mistake. A result of something that never should have happened. Why would Artemis claim me? She could have left me alone and no one would have ever known she had broken her vow.

"Stop whining to yourself Caly," I muttered, it was weird finally hearing my name spoken aloud like that. "that's not going to fix this. It's not like you can turn back time. Or magically grant yourself your memory"

Connor stopped walking and faced me. "What did you say?"

"Nothing…" I said, falling in line behind them.

When we got to the big house, Travis led us to a room with a ping pong table where several of the counselors already sat. Chiron walked in, closely followed by Dionysus. With a wave of the god's hand, a veggie tray appeared along with some Diet Coke.

Mr. D and Chiron sat at the short end of the table, with the Stolls sitting opposite them. On the far end, Clarisse sat with her shaggy brown hair hanging loose around her grumpy face. I swear she was flexing her muscles like she was planning on punching someone, probably me. Next to her was an older burly boy, who had dark skin and short-cropped black hair. Peeking from behind him was a petite brunette girl with pale skin. Across from them, an athletic-looking blond boy sat all alone. I took the seat by him.

Annabeth sat next to me, followed by a tanned girl with caramel hair, containing streaks of blonde. Finally, one of the boys who had sat with Mr. D at dinner walked in and took the seat to him. He must have been a child of Dionysus.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming," He began. "You all know why we're here. Though the circumstances have become a little more urgent."

Connor scoffed. "'A little more urgent'? That's a bit of an understatement don't you think?"

Travis shook his head at his brother and mouthed the words 'Not now!'

Chiron ignored the comment and continued speaking. "Let's go through the events that have taken place over the last three days one at a time. Please hold your comments until I open the floor up." That last sentence was subtly directed toward Connor.

"First, when she—Caly, first arrived, delivered by two griffins."

Don't interrupt, don't interrupt, don't interrupt. I repeated in my head, willing myself not to speak.

"What griffins?" The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Chiron and Mr. D shared a look and an understanding seemed to pass between them.

But it was Annabeth who answered my question. "You showed up here with two of the griffins right on your tail. You fought them off, but they overpowered you. The commotion caught the eyes of some of our nymphs, who got help from Chiron and some campers. When we got there one of them was holding you in their paws—or claws—and it dropped you off at the border."

Clarisse stood up and pointed her index finger at me. "If those things wanted to hurt you, they easily could have. Heck, they could have KILLED you. But they didn't, it seems an awful lot like their job was to deliver you. Unscathed and everything."

Now she was speaking to Chiron only, waggling her finger at me like I was some kind of monster. "Suspicious, isn't it? She could be supposed to infiltrate our camp. Destroy us from the inside out." She swept her hand around the room. "Everything: gone."

Mr. D grunted. "She does have a point centaur."

"Those things will be discussed later, let's stay on track. Clarisse, sit down, no more questions."

Still fuming, Clarisse did as Chiron asked. Everyone pretended not to notice her anger. Meaning they did the thing where they looked everywhere except where she was or started studying the table.

Chiron resumed as though nothing much had happened. "After Caly was left on the border, she was taken in and cared for by Will and Annabeth, and woke up two days later. Everyone knows what happens next, she gets the tour, is put in cabin 11 and then Artemis claims her.

"Though there are a few details to take notice of. One, she was able to both eat the ambrosia we gave her when she first arrived and drink the nectar when she woke up. Two, at the pine tree, the border hesitated to let her in, but it did relent. And three, from what I've heard, there was a bit of a fiasco at the campfire before she was claimed.

"According to Connor, the fire changed from the normal-sized fire to a red tower of flames. Just for a second."

He left this last point hanging in the air, apparently open for discussion. But no one was daring to say what it was they were all thinking.

They think it was me. They think I did that. It wasn't a question I had to ask myself, it was a statement. They all suspected me of having some sort of power over the flames. And for some reason, I wasn't at all fazed. It was me.

After a few moments, the athletic blond boy spoke up. "That, and point four should be that she got claimed by Artemis at all. Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but I'm 87% sure that Artemis was a virgin goddess. She made a vow. She doesn't have kids. How is that possible?"

Clarisse rolled her eyes as he spoke and now turned to shoot him you're-such-an-idiot' look. "Michael please, obviously that's on the table, we all know that that's true. That's why we didn't mention it, only a dummy wouldn't know that."

She feigned regret. "Oh, I guess that explains why you brought it up."

He returned her comment with a smile that dripped in sarcasm, not bothering to retort.

Annabeth cut in and brought them back to the subject. "I think Chiron is asking what we think those points mean. The griffins escort, the nectar and ambrosia, the border, and the claiming-fire thing." When no one looked eager to voice their thoughts, she turned to the tan girl with caramel hair. "Katie, what do you think about all this?"

The girl glanced up nervously, then cleared her throat. "Well, I think she is a half-blood or at least a hunter. How else do you explain the border letting her in, the ambrosia and nectar not killing her?" She was gaining confidence now, due to the nods of agreement coming from many of the others.

"Maybe Malcolm was right, maybe she was claimed by the hunt. I don't think Artemis broke her vow, why would she? Maybe we're holding her here until the hunt can visit her?"

"Nice speech Katie, but what about the fire?" Connor reminded her.

"Yeah," Clarisse began again. "if you seem to understand what's happening here, why don't you tell us how it wasn't her fault we almost got burned to a crisp tonight?"

Katie returned to her shy self again. "I don't know," She mumbled. "so what if it was her? I don't think she did it on purpose. Look at her, you really think that she's trying to kill us? That this whole memory-loss thing is an act?"

Everyone turned to look at me and I jolted upright. Do they expect me to say something? Heck, I don't know what's going on any more than they do, probably less actually.

Luckily I was spared having to answer for myself because Travis cut in.

"I agree with Katie, she has to be one of us somehow, it doesn't make sense if she's not. And we can't be the only ones. Am I right?" He smiled and nodded his head, searching for signs of agreement.

It was silent.

"That's the only logical answer." Annabeth prompted, shooting the ones who hadn't spoken expectant looks.

Clarisse finally gave in. "Fine."

Annabeth moved on to the burly dark-skinned boy next to her. "Beckendorf?"

A grunt that must have meant he agreed satisfied her enough to move on to the petite girl next to him. She blushed under the gazes of everyone in the room and mumbled a quiet "Yeah."

Annabeth skipped the Stolls, me, herself, and Katie, which left us with the boy next to Dionysus. "Castor, that leaves you, any reason to think that she's not one of us?"

He shrugged and said, "Guess not."

Chiron smiled at me. "Then that settles it. Caly may be one of the strangest half-bloods we've had here, but there's no reason to think you're dangerous. And since she was claimed by Artemis, we'll have her move into cabin eight. Travis, Connor, make sure she has anything she would need."

Clarisse had scoffed when Chiron said the part about not being dangerous. And when he announced I would be moved to cabin eight, fell into a shocked silence. But as Chiron announced "Counsel dismissed." and everyone stood up to leave, she recovered her voice.

"So we're not even going to discuss the fire? We're ignoring that? The biggest piece of evidence against her and we're not touching that subject?"

Mr. D's shoulders fell and he turned to shoot her an annoyed glare. "Darling girl, we were just permitted to leave, do you have to bring this up? Forget about it and go to bed!"

"But-"

"Clarisse he's right," Chiron said. "There is no reason to believe that Caly caused the fire to do what it did. I presume it was the magic of the fire. It reflects the mood of the campers. And as it happened right when she was claimed, perhaps the fire reacted to the surprise felt by everyone at once. It was added to even more by their shock at the sudden growth. Once they got over that shock, the fire returned to its normal height.

"I didn't bring it up because I thought the answer was as simple as that. Goodnight everyone, Travis, Connor, don't forget to help Caly."

I could see the wheels turning in Clarisse's head as she stormed out of the door. The rest of the council made their way to the cabins in a more calm manner. I trailed along with them as they discussed the day's training and the upcoming capture the flag game.

Chiron is right, of course it wasn't me who did that to the fire. I didn't know about the fire so naturally when everyone was claiming I did it that would make sense. Even as I said those words to myself I could tell they were empty. Because somehow I knew it had been me who did that.

The part of me that knew this crept into my mind. But it was me, that rush of anger I was feeling, it all left me right before that happened. I didn't know how I was so sure, but I was. It made me uncomfortable, so I pushed those thoughts away. Instead, I turned my attention to the instructions Travis was giving me.

"-so get your things from inside, got it?" He finished

I have no idea what he said before that. "Yup!" I gave him a thumbs up and turned towards the girls' side of the cabin. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

Iridessa was waiting on her sleeping bag for me. "So what happened? How'd it go?"

"Good I guess, they decided I must be a half-blood, and I'm moving to cabin 8."

Her face fell. "Oh, well it'll be nice for you to have more space." She turned her face away.

Oh please don't cry, I don't know how to deal with people when they start crying.

I awkwardly patted her shoulder. "Oh, Des, I'm so sorry. I know it sucks, having to stay here, crowded and out of place." Wow, I suck at comforting people. I hope I haven't always been this bad. "But you will get claimed one day. And at least you have people with you. You fit in here. I'm gonna have to be in a cabin by myself, dealing with the people staring, hoping that one day someone makes more of a fool of themself than I did. And we can still hang out, nothing has to change there."

She sniffed. "I know, it's just—I thought—well right when I meet a friend who isn't all bitter and stuff, you get moved to another cabin. But you're right, you're not gone. I'm fine, stupid emotions."

We both laughed at this, I rolled my eyes. "Girls, am I right? They can be the worst."

"Definitely." She smiled back at me and we laughed for a minute. But after we composed ourselves we did that post-laughing sigh in unison and that set us off again.

"Okay, but I should get going." I whispered.

"Well don't forget breakfast tomorrow at 8!"

"For sure, I'll be there. Do you guys have alarm clocks or— "

"Conch shells, fives minute before each meal. But you can probably also find one in your room somewhere, every cabin has one for the counselor."

She helped me pack up my few toiletries the Stolls got for me, and a few minutes later I was standing inside cabin 8.

Not bothering to look around, I dropped my things onto the bathroom floor and brushed my teeth. Then I plopped onto the nearest bunk and fell asleep instantly.