Chapter eight: Try Not To Kill Us

The god Dionysus was not what I'd imagined him to be like.
When anyone had mentioned the camp director, I'd pictured a tall, slender guy who walked around carrying grapes, twirling his moustache and talking with a French accent. Yeah, I know, stereotypes.

But I mean, who could've guessed that one of the great Olympian gods who, mind you, could chose what to look like, would want to walk around like a fat middle aged guy!
Mr D was wearing a very bright shirt with palm trees on it and drinking a Diet Coke, his small eyes on my face as I approached.
Around the chair he sat on like it was a throne, were three satyrs, all bowing and providing him with more drink and what looked like nachos.
I disliked him the moment I saw him.
The god didn't say anything, not even when I'd reached the porch and was standing, like, two feet in front of him.
I wasn't sure what to do. Do you bow to a god? Curtsey?
In the end, I continued standing there looking at the guy, wondering why on earth everyone was so afraid of him, until Chiron, who was standing next to us in horse form, cleared his throat.
"Mr D, this is-"
"I know who this is, Chiron. I'm not an idiot, after all." Mr D interrupted Chiron, his voice irritated and rude. I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows.
"You can leave us alone." Mr D commanded the centaur, but Chiron hesitated, eyeing Mr D and looking a little worried.
"Oh, don't get your tail in a knot, I won't vaporize her." Mr D waved his hand impatiently, and, shooting me a look that clearly said Don't do anything stupid, Chiron trotted off. I wasn't sure if he heard the god's added "Yet."
"So" Mr D said, turning his small eyes on me again. "You're the new one, ey?"
I nodded, trying to control my irritation. I hated rude people.
"And you are able to speak?"
With tight lips, I said "Yes."
Mr D raised his eyebrows.
"Sir." I added, as an after thought. The god looked amused.
"You really are new. Well, Chiron has asked me to determine who, or rather what, you are. Are you aware of this?"
My heart sped up. By the sounds of it, I was about to get some answers.
"I didn't know he'd asked you to tell me-"
"Well he didn't." Mr D cut across me, his eyes flashing trickily. "He simply asked me to determine it. And I did. But no one ever mentioned me actually telling you."
He laughed, amused by his own wit.
I couldn't help but gape a little. Was this guy being serious? He knew what I was, but he wouldn't tell me? What kind of camp director was he?!
"Careful, Erin Carraway." Mr D now continued, having watched my face intently. "You wouldn't want me as your enemy, I can promise you that."
I stayed silent, a feeling in my gut telling me he was right. There was something crazily powerful about him, like a mad drunk with a shotgun.
"What I can tell you" the god started, before stopping to eat a handful of nachos, the cheese dripping onto his chin, "is that you are not a Half-Blood, whatever theories you might have heard."
"I'm not a...a demigod?" I asked.
"No." Dionysus shook his head. "I should think I'm able to recognize family when I see it."
That remark hurt a little, but I let it pass.
"I knew it." I muttered, under my breath. And I had. No matter what Piper or any of the others had tried to convince me off, I'd known deep down that my parents were actually my parents and that neither of them was an Olympian god. Frankly, I felt pretty relieved.
"But then, if I'm not a demigod, why can I enter Camp? How come I transported myself to where Ryan was?" I couldn't stop myself from asking Mr D, eager to know more.
I knew I wasn't a demigod, but I was equally sure that there was something else going on with me.
"That, I will not tell you." Dionysus stated, popping open a new can of coke handed to him by a satyr.
"But I need to know!" I exclaimed, angry at the god for denying me the thing I wanted most.
"No, you do not. And if you do, you should find out yourself. In the mean time, try not to kill any of us, will you? My punishment at this blasted camp is almost over, and the Fates be damned if I get any more bad press with Zeus before it is. To think I might have to stay for another fifty years!"

I stood there, staring incredulously at him, until he flashed me a pointed look.
"You're dismissed."
Feeling hollow, I turned around and walked away from the Big House, my hands clenched to shaking fists by my side.
How is this fair, I thought, hurrying past the cabins toward the town boarder.
My cheeks felt hot, and I guessed I was bright red in the face, but I didn't care.
That stupid god of wine, how could he do that? And why didn't Chiron stop it? He must have known how Dionysus would react. He'd known the guy for a millennia, for heaven's sake!
I stuck my visitor's pass out at Clare, a girl on duty, and stormed through the streets to the Jacksons' house.
There, I opened the front door (Percy almost always forgot to lock it, it seemed) and ran upstairs to the guest bedroom.
Once inside, I slammed the door shut and stood behind it, shaking all over.
Hot, unwanted tears started to blur my vision, and I blinked furiously, trying to get rid of them.
But it was no good, and they flowed down my cheeks, leaving cold tracks in their wake.
Sobbing, I slid down onto the floor, my back against the bedroom wall.
I wasn't even sure why I was crying.
Maybe because I was so angry at Mr D for being such a prick.
Maybe because the past few days had simply been one big emotional roller coaster.
But if I was honest with myself, I knew it wasn't that.
I knew I felt this sad because the home I'd thought I'd discovered, turned out not to be for me after all.
I didn't belong here, even though, to me, it felt like I did.

An hour later, I heard the front door open and close, and voices drift up from downstairs. I was still sitting on the floor, but no longer crying.
The voices sounded angry, and suddenly I heard footsteps up the stairs and down the hall toward my bedroom. They stopped right in front.
There was a knock.
"Erin?" Percy called. "Are you there?"
Before I could respond, more footfalls were audible coming down the hall at a fast pace.
"Is the girl actually in there right now, Percy?!"
The voice was a woman's, and it was sharp like a needle.
There was silence outside the door, and I kept quiet, listening hard. I thought I knew who the woman was.
"You'd better sort this out." she shot at her husband.
It seemed that Annabeth Chase had returned home.
And it also seemed she wasn't happy at all to find me there.

So, there we have it:
Erin is definitely not a demigod, and Mr D is a prick as always!
The question is, what will happen now?
Rights for PJO/HoO Characters and places to Rick Riordan, reviews are welcome! xx