Author's note:
Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying this so far. Oh look, we know that character! From chapter 2, remember? It seems these separate characters are all converging on the same point, look at that. Huh. Well, anyway, on with the chapter!
And as always, any feedback, positive or negative is appreciated so I can keep improving!
Chapter 5
Ian wasn't sure what to think. He had his uncle's blessing to get into a van with a complete stranger who also had goat legs. For the past few hours, he had been riding in an uncomfortable silence with said Goat Legged Man, who had insisted to Ian that, "Camp would explain everything."
He sighed and leaned against the window. Nothing made sense in his life. His sketchbook was still clutched underneath his arm, but he was too confused to even draw. That worried him. He could always draw when everything else failed him.
"So where is this camp?"
"North." came the reply.
That was helpful. Even Ian, who couldn't read a map to save his life, could tell they were going north. "Could you specify?"
"New York."
"We're in New York."
"Manhattan."
Ian sighed again, and leaned back onto the window. After hours of slow traffic, they finally made it to wherever this Goat Leg Guy was taking him. He hated change, and this was about one to many changes all at once.
The driver had Ian get out, and follow him over a hill and past a pine tree. Ian did a double take as they passed. It looked like there was a dragon coiled around it. But the Goat Legged Guy didn't stop to look, so Ian didn't either.
As they were over the crest of the hill, a huge house came into view, in baby blue with white trim. There were four small figures on the wrap around porch. An old man and woman, a middle aged woman, and a man on horseback. Next to the porch was a pegasus that was just waiting for something.
The pair got closer, and it became clear to Ian, that the middle aged woman was the child of the old pair. The younger woman's hair was an amber color that looked wavy and bouncy, and looked just like the grey the older woman was sporting. She had the old man's eyes, and the woman's smile, and her face was the perfect mix of both. It also became clear that the man on horse, was a centaur.
"Ernie." the centaur said, looking at goat legs, "You've...you've brought back another one?"
"There was another today?"
"Yeah." the younger woman said, "I brought in a daughter of Nemesis about an hour ago."
"She was already claimed?" Ernie said in surprise
"Apparently her father knew all along. But Nemesis is like that. She tells them when she leaves."
The older woman nodded. "True enough. Not common among gods, but common enough for Nemesis."
"Okay,...I guess your name is Ernie? Ernie said that when we got to camp, you guys would answer my questions. Now I'm at camp and I have more questions than ever, so if someone would please-"
There was a collective gasp from the group, as though Ian had said something horribly wrong.
"Claimed already?" the old man said, dumbfounded.
The air above Ian's head was swiveling with purple light, with a pair of theater masks and grapes visible in said light.
The centaur bowed his head respectfully. "Hail, the son of Dionysus. God of wine, madness, and theater."
Ian felt pretty uneasy about that. "What do you mean?"
The centaur's gaze softened. "You are a demigod….?"
"Ian"
"You're a demigod Ian. Your mother may have been mortal, but your father was the Greek god Dionysus. As of late, he worked here, in this demigod haven, however, his fifty years of service ended and he was just recalled to Olympus. At this point, the orientation film may not give you the information you're looking for….Marianne, would you please give the child a tour of the camp? And answer any questions he has."
The younger woman shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Come on, Ian."
She stood up, and walked down the steps, and Ian did the only sensible thing. He followed her.
"So where am I?"
"Camp Half-Blood. One of the only places for demigods to be safe, and not constantly hunted by monsters."
"And when you say demigod-"
"I mean half god, half mortal. Western civilization anchors the Greek gods, they're still around, blah blah, blah. Chiron makes it a whole lecture, but here's what you need to know: The gods live on Mount Olympus, which is the empire state building. They like to have kids with mortals. Those kids have pretty crappy lives being hunted down by all the malevolent forces ancient Greece had to offer, because those are alive and well too. If you don't want to die, you stay and train until you can kill the monster before it kills you. Get it?"
"Hardly. Everyone here is a demigod?"
"Not everyone. You met Chiron, who's a centaur. Then there are satyrs, who are half goat, half man. And there's me."
"You are…?"
"I'm what they call a legacy. My parents are demigods."
"Those guys from the porch?"
"The same. Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, only the most powerful demigods in….ever."
"But your name is…."
"Marinane. Here's the lava wall."
After touring the lava wall, the armory, the stables, the forges, and the lake, Marianne led Ian up to the strawberry fields.
"So, while your Dad was here, the strawberries grew even better, but for now, the Demeter kids and Dionysus kids do a pretty good job. You'll probably be helping them soon."
"I guess."
"Want to see your cabin?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"I mean, we've seen everything else…."
Marianne didn't wait for his response, and led him down to the main U of cabins. Surrounding them were hundreds of other cabins in their own, slightly smaller, horseshoe shapes.
"We originally had only the main twelve gods represented here. So anyone else had to bunk in the Hermes cabin. But my parents did a thing, and got the gods to pay better attention. They always seem to have done a thing and got something else to work, but that's besides the point. Your cabin is that one."
She pointed to cabin in the curve of the U. "Cabin 12"
Ian got the distinct impression that she might resent her parents a little for giving her impossible to live up to standards, but had gotten so used to it, she didn't really see a way out.
They walked up to the door, to find exactly one demigod sitting on a bunk in the cabin. They looked up at the sound of footsteps. "Oh, hey Marianne." they said and put down thier book. "Who's the new person?"
"This is Ian, your new brother. Ian, this is Sam, your…" she looked at the demigod in front of her.
"She, her today." The half-blood piped up
"Your sister. She'll give you some more advice if you need it. As for the moment, you two are the only ones in this cabin." Then, she turned around, and walked away.
Ian turned around to give her a questioning look. Sam smiled. "I'm gender fluid. Today, my pronouns are she and her, if that's what you were wondering."
"A little. But I mostly just wondered if I should ask more questions, or give myself a minute to take everything in before requesting more information."
"Well, why don't you take a minute? Then ask more questions. You can pick any bunk, really, because I'm the only other one here. Then, we can take you over to the camp store, and find you a t-shirt, a toothbrush, anything you need."
Ian picked a bunk, and allowed the full force of all the information to simmer in his mind
