A/N: Sorry about the late update, I got a little distracted with a bunch of AP tests and it was kind of hard to get back into writing. I'll do my best to update chapters more frequently now that I have some more time on my hand, but not absolute promises though.
I also decided to try out something different for this chapter. I wanted to see whether you guys would like to see this story from other people's point of views, other than Perseus' that is. If you could leave a comment and tell me your opinion on it, that would be greatly appreciated. And as always, if you have any questions, comment them and I'll try to answer them in my next update. I'll also promise that the next couple chapters will be longer than the one I am putting out today.
Now enough of me rambling, enjoy the chapter I have for you people.
Mira's day was not at all the way that she planned for it to be. She just wanted to go back home and into the safe and warm embrace of her father, but no, she had to be dragged by a goat man miles upon miles from her home to go to some camp because it was "safe".
If she was being honest, she had never disobeyed her father. Ever since he rescued her from her old father she has been nothing but grateful. Her life was filled with abuse until he came along, she still felt like she hadn't repaid her debt to him even though her dad said that he was only doing what was right.
Running away with a stranger was one of the top rules that he advised her against, that along with no cell phones. She never really understood why he said that until today. Mira had used one of her friends' cell phones at school to text some random person as a prank, but later that same day a monster had impersonated her bus driver and then tried to kill her.
Currently she was in the passenger seat of a car while the goat man that saved her was driving toward a camp that he said was a safe place for people like her. Then he started launching into the history of Greek Mythology. She would've been excited to learn something new but her father already told her many stories about Greek Mythology so it was all just repetition.
Mira didn't want to go with the satyr to this camp. In fact, she put up a pretty good fight saying that there had been no incidents with her dad around. Eventually though, she learned that since one monster attack happened, her scent would get stronger and more monsters would come to torment her. The best way for Mira to help and protect herself and her father would be to stay away from him for a short time, train herself to fight monsters and then come back.
"Okay," Mira interrupted. "First of all, how far away is this camp of yours, we've been driving for like an hour or two."
The satyr, as he called himself, huffed in annoyance, "Normally this trip would take seven hours but with my excellent skill, we should be arriving in about half an hour."
She couldn't shake the guilty feeling she was getting, she knew her dad would be worried sick and try to find her as soon as possible. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to go running off without telling him at all.
Mira looked out the window and sighed, wishing she could be home in her father's arms and reading a book. She really lucked out with finding the best dad in the world.
There were surprisingly not many people on the road, the only interesting thing that she saw during the car ride so far was a falcon that seemed to be following them for a while but then suddenly broke off and began flying back the way they came.
In about half an hour she found herself passing by some strawberry fields and a big sign that said Delphi Strawberry Service. The goat man pulled the car off to one side of the road and snapped his fingers. The car responded to the noise by shrinking down in size to nothing more than a toy car, surprising Mira.
How could an entire car just shrink down in size, she thought to herself. Seeing her confused and flabbergasted expression, her companion smirked, "It's an invention made by the Hephaestus kids, there's plenty more."
Even after thinking about it in the car ride to the camp, she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that all those Gods from myths are real, especially when she was told that one of her parents was one of those Gods.
To be honest, she kind of didn't want to be a demigod, or whatever her goat friend said she was. She heard enough of the myths from her father to realize that the Olympians and most minor Gods weren't good people in the slightest, they were arrogant and childish, having even more childish arguments when together.
Her companion dropped her off at a big house looking structure and then went off in some random direction. The camp looked pretty nice, as far as Mira could tell. There was a forest, a beach, some rather nice looking cabins with decorations on them, and a couple other buildings that she didn't have time to look at because at that moment someone stepped out of the house-looking building.
Mira instantly recognized the creature as a centaur, combining that with her knowledge of Greek mythology already she concluded that this had to be the hero trainer Chiron, well the satyr also told her who he was but she'd much prefer to think she figured it out herself.
"I take it you're the new camper that has been found?" The centaur said with a gentle smile on his face.
She crossed her arms and stared defiantly up at the much taller figure, "Well, more like kidnapped. I still don't get why I needed to come here, I guess it made sense at the time but now that I'm thinking about it, I was perfectly safe with my father!"
Chiron frowned at her attitude, "I guess I should explain everything to you then. Please follow me."
The centaur then led her into the nearest building, which was the house looking structure. Despite being upset about what had happened today, she was left in awe about how nice the house looked on the inside, it felt almost as cozy as her actual home. There was a large sofa against one of the walls and Chiron gestured for her to sit down on it, she did as he wanted and sat down on the sofa.
She looked toward the centaur but found that he had turned into a man with a wheelchair, who was staring at her, seeming to wait for a question to come out of her mouth.
"How did you…" Mira began, eyes wide.
"It's called the mist," Chiron said. "It is basically magic."
She blinked again, shaking her head. Magic couldn't be real, there was no proof of it except for random people on the streets claiming they can do real magic. All of it was just illusions though, nothing more. However, she had no idea how such a massive creature could hide its body.
"Do you know about the greek Gods?" Chiron continued.
Mira, looking up from the wheelchair, nodded her head, "Yes I do, my father read me stories about them."
"I am going to be blunt with this, you are a child of one of these Greek Gods and this camp that you are in now is designed to be able to help you survive out in the real world."
She couldn't believe it, it wasn't possible. How could one of her parents be a God. She remembered her original father before her dad had saved her, he was definitely no God so that would mean her mother was a Goddess. Mira never met her mother so if what Chiron was true then she would be really mad.
"So you mean to tell me," Mira began quietly, getting louder the more she spoke. "That my mother was - IS a Goddess and she hasn't ever paid attention to me at all!"
Chiron slowly nodded his head with a sad expression on his face that irked Mira even more, "If your father was the one taking care of you for your life then yes, your mother is Goddess."
Mira stood up and started pacing around the room they were in, "I was abused for years and she looked on and did nothing. She ignored me and is still ignoring me-"
She was suddenly cut off by a large symbol of an owl with an olive branch in its talons appearing over her head, making her yelp and jump backwards, tripping on the couch and landing on the ground. Mira waved her hand through it trying to get away from the weird floating symbol, "What is that?!"
A comforting hand was placed on her shoulder as she looked toward her side and saw someone completely new looking at her interestingly.
"Ah, Annabeth. I wasn't sure you'd be able to make it, this is Mira," Chiron said with a smile and with a slightly proud tone of voice. Clearly she was an important person, Mira thought to herself.
"Chiron," the new girl, Annabeth, said. "You should know that we do the impossible everyday, if I want to come see my new sister then I'll sure as Hades come and see her."
Sister? Mira thought. "So is anybody going to tell me what this floating owl thing is?!"
Chiron laughed, "She nearly has the same reaction that you did when you were claimed."
Annabeth frowned slightly at the memory, like it brought up some unpleasant memories, but it quickly shifted into a happy smile when she saw that Mira noticed her frown. "That is a symbol of claiming. The Goddess Athena, has claimed you as a child of her own." She then helped Mira up and sat her down on the couch. "That makes us sisters."
She couldn't believe it, Mira always assumed that she was just a normal kid with parent problems, not to be a child of an actual Goddess.
"No no no no no," Mira said, standing up and slowly walking backwards to the door. "You lie, Gods aren't real, there is no such thing as magic."
Chiron sighed, like he had seen this a thousand times, which she probably assumed he had, if what he said was true. Annabeth however, got up slowly and began walking toward Mira in a non-threatening manner, "I can prove to you that is all real, if I can prove this to you, will you sit still and just hear us out."
Hating every second of it, Mira nodded her head. Her curiosity was at its peak, if Annabeth could show her that magic was real then she would need to rethink many things that she had seen in her life.
The woman then reached into a bag that Mira hadn't noticed her carrying and took out a baseball cap. She put it on and then immediately turned invisible making Mira's eyes go wide with shock, "Where is she?"
"Relax, I'm just sitting on the sofa," Annabeth's voice said. She then reappeared sitting on the sofa. "Is that enough to prove to you that magic exists?"
Shaking out of her stupor, Mira shook her head and crossed her arms, "That must've been some sort of illusion, you haven't proven anything."
Annabeth sighed, "Alright, please come with me, I will show you what we do around here at camp and I can guarantee that you will believe me after I show you."
Decided to take her sister up on the offer, Mira accepted and followed her out of the house and took a walk past all of the different cabins. There were too many to keep track of, but she managed to memorize at least half of them, including all of the Olympian cabins.
Annabeth brought her to a large field where some of the other campers, which is what her sister called them, were tending to the plants. Mira's tour guide told her they were the children of Demeter and could control plants to a degree and could nourish them very well. This was proven when Mira saw one of the kids playing with what looked like a branch from a tree, making it coil and make shapes in the air.
There were many other cabins that had been shown to her but Mira refused to give in until the last cabin they came across, which was the cabin of Hecate. She could literally feel the magic coming off of the building, which felt weird at first, like a prickling sensation throughout her body. She shrugged it off though and finally admitted that she was wrong.
Annabeth then told her about the downsides of being a Goddess' child, most of which Mira already knew. The monsters, the prophecies, the quests, and sometimes a life of being on the run.
They had just walked into a shed and all Mira could see was a bunch of rusty old weapons, some looked kind of cool but overall, it wasn't much. Annabeth must've noticed her expression because she then picked one of the swords up and said, "I know it doesn't look like much but each of these weapons can hold their own in a fight."
Mira nodded her head and took a second look around the shed filled with weapons, spotting a spear in the corner of the room. She walked up to it and picked it up, admiring how tall it was and how perfectly it fit in her hand.
Giving it a quick thrust, she found that it felt comfortable to her. Glancing behind her, Mira saw Annabeth smirk at her, making her blush a little bit.
"It seems that you have found your weapon, that's good, I will introduce you to our siblings now and then we will head to dinner. Sounds good?" Annabeth asked. Mira simply nodded, still looking at her new spear in awe with a slight bit of giddiness.
The more Mira stayed at this camp, the more she felt that this was where she was supposed to be, that this camp was her home. However, she still had a nagging feeling of guilt, what was she supposed to tell her father? That magic and Gods were real and she was the daughter of one?
She could not see him believing it for a second. He would probably just sigh and sit down on his favorite chair in the living room and calmly explain to her how wrong that would be. Her dad always took care to not insult her on what she got wrong, but he always ensured that when she was wrong, to correct it.
"Hey Annabeth?" Mira asked a little nervously as they were approaching the Athena cabin.
Said demigoddess fell back to walk alongside her new sister, "Yes?"
"What about my dad?"
Annabeth looked a little confused, "What about him?"
Mira took a second before explaining how her day went and how she had been scared into leaving her home behind in favor of getting away from the monster that was attacking them. Annabeth took it surprisingly well and told her that after dinner, they could use something called an Iris Message and could contact him.
Mira agreed hesitantly, wanting to talk to her father right away, but settling for talking to him later. The pair made their way into the Athena cabin and she was introduced to all of her siblings right away. It seemed like she fit right in, everybody had the same thirst for knowledge and genuinely enjoyed architecture like she did, not to mention some of the boys told hilarious jokes that made her laugh like she never had before.
Altogether, Mira was having a great time. They all went to a big pavilion to eat some dinner and she found that she could simply just think of the food that she wanted and it would appear in front of her. Being the child she was, she thought of some Mcdonalds burgers and some fries, greedily eating it up while the rest of her cabin made some more jokes and talked about some of their latest projects.
Finding herself genuinely interested in their projects, Mira inserted herself directly in the middle of them, fitting in almost perfectly. She saw the approving smiles of both Annabeth and Chiron, who were both looking in her direction from their respective places.
However, halfway through dinner, she found herself deep in thought about all the magic that was happening around her and what that could mean in the future. Then she suddenly remembered the day when she first met her dad, how he saved her from a fate that no child should go through.
Mira remembered that he snapped his fingers and then her previous father had simply just walked away. She'd always assumed that he intimidated her previous father into walking away, but now she suspected that something else had happened. Something that probably had to do with magic.
Being the curious child she was, after dinner she walked straight up to Chiron and asked to speak with him in private. He hastily agreed and led them both to The Big House, letting her sit down on the same sofa she sat upon earlier that day.
"So Mira, what is it that you wished to talk about?" The centaur asked in his normal calm voice.
The daughter of Athena took a deep breath and voiced her concerns to him, telling Chiron all about how her father had snapped his fingers and seemingly altered someone's memories in the middle of a plane full of people. How she had seen her father with strange falcons in his room, sometimes speaking in a language she couldn't understand, and having strange guests that only showed up once.
Chiron looked deep in thought, it seemed like a million different possibilities were racing through his head. "I honestly do not know Mira," he admitted. "Those guests could have been monsters that appeared because of your demigod scent, but the question that I have is how did he know they were monsters and how did he kill them? Perhaps he is a demigod as well."
"He always was secretive of his past," Mira murmured to herself, but Chiron overheard her.
"You should Iris Message him," Chiron suggested. "You can ask him yourself." Mira nodded her head as she watched the centaur walk over to a corner of the room and throw a golden coin into some mist that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere.
"Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering," He started by saying. "Please show me…"
Mira then jumped in, realizing that Chiron did not know her father's name, "Perseus Aetos, somewhere in Maine."
The mist started to circulate and it formed into an image of her father sitting in his favorite chair, across from the fire with his head in his hands. She felt extremely guilty seeing her dad like this, she should have told him where she was going. "Dad!" she yelled, startling him so much that he jumped up out of his chair.
His eyes then landed on her. "Mira!" he shouted. "Where are you? Are you okay? What happened? And what is this strange mist thing?"
Mira chuckled slightly, "I'm alright dad, I'm at a place called Camp Half-Blood. Guess what? The Greek Gods are real! I know how it sounds but it is true, there is actual magic here, the Demeter kids literally control the plants and the Hecate children can actually do magic! It's awesome here."
Out of all the reactions she expected, she was not prepared for what her father did next. He took a deep breath and sat down on his favorite chair, staring at the fire with a sadness that she had never seen on his face before.
"I didn't want you to go," Mira's dad said in a whisper, almost too quiet for her to hear. "It is dangerous there. Monsters, quests, Gods… but I guess this was unavoidable. You are a demigod child of Athena, you were destined to go to that Camp."
Mira sat there shocked, he knew about her being a demigod the whole time and never told her? "Why wouldn't you tell me, was it because you didn't trust me?"
Her dad looked up quickly. "No!" he said. "It's just dangerous and I don't want you to be hurt in any way. Being a part of that camp is more than just training and fighting monsters, it is about following the Gods will, going on pointlessly dangerous quests, and defending a throne that is corrupt."
Chiron then spoke for the first time, "You seem to know a lot about the Greek Mythological world, who, or what, are you?"
The man on the other side of the Iris message just smirked a little, "You'll find out eventually. Stay safe Mira, be on your toes at all times, don't accept any quests, and train hard. I'll handle messaging the school and telling them you'll be absent for the remainder of the year. " And with that last line, he swiped his hand through the mist, cutting off the message.
That night left Mira with more questions than she had started with. Her curiosity was at its peak, taking over her mind, making it so much more active than it was before.
Her dad clearly was more important than she thought and it seemed he did not like the Gods a whole lot. All Mira knew was that next time she saw him, they were going to have a conversation, and that is when she would finally learn everything about him.