A/N: Ok, so to kind of make my life easier, not having to change chapter names and deleting them. Here's a REALLY long chapter!
Raymond's POV
I have never been an outgoing person in my life. I have… let's just call it a 'difficult' past. However, today at school, I encountered an empousa. Not my favorite morning ever. However, once I had sapped all of its strength and shoved its head down the toilet, I felt a little better. Then thanks to it being my first day here at Goode, I got new classes. Apparently, I was in the same class as these people named Kace, Jameson, Amanda, and Abigail for multiple classes. I had figured who the four of them were, but not who each of them was, so I went to go say hi to them at dismissal. For the sake of friendliness, to not seem depressing, and because I had a strange feeling about them. At dismissal, they immediately proceeded to start talking about this place called CHB?
What in the world CHB stood for, I didn't know. I walked over to them and said, "Hey. I'm Ray. I'm new here, so any tips on how to survive?" After a bit of a silent argument, they replied back to me. One said, "Hi, I'm Kace.", which tells me right off the bat who this is. "What do you want?" The girl with silver eyes shot at me until Kace jabbed her in the ribs and said, "Abigail, be polite. He's probably older than you, so respect your elders." She stuck her tongue out at him, but I glanced at the other two. This leaves the girl with dyed hair to be Amanda, and the last, who must then be Jameson, replied, "Hey, what's going on?" In a singsong voice, so he probably enjoyed music. After a moment of silence, Kace Amanda, and James looked at Abigail. She seemed to remember something, and I then felt something foreign enter my mind., I immediately realized they were part-humans too, or at least Abigail was. I responded with, "OK then part-humans" Jameson and Kace looked at me with a surprised, annoyed, and perplexed look on their face, while Abigail glared at me. If looks could kill, I would've been dead. Note to self, don't mess with this girl. All the while I sat there and smirked at them. After a while, they seemed to give up on secrecy and told me everything about them. I still had no idea why they wanted to go to a camp that was called Camp Half-blood. Then they proceeded to tell me about this place where kids like them were safe and sound behind a magical barrier, when Jameson started singing a song called, "Safe and Sound" by Capital Cities. I immediately liked this guy Jameson. He seemed the very reincarnation of excitement and happiness. He asked me about myself and all about me to the point where I was kinda feeling like a cornered animal. However, Kace saved me by saying something about that we needed to go to the camp. James, or Jay as he said, was reluctant, but we managed to convince him it was for the best, though he seemed pretty ticked off about missing a D&D club. We each had our own methods of travel, so we decided to meet up at the camp. Abigail and Kace decided to fly while Jameson and Amanda disappeared into a beam of purple, um, tendrils, so I decided to use one of my abilities. After shadow traveling to this so-called haven for demigods, it didn't look like much. If a strawberry field was the ultimate safe haven, I would believe that when demons would become friendly. Kace and Abigail landed gracefully on the grass while Jameson and Amanda jumped out of another… purple thingy.
"Um, guys? A strawberry field isn't impressive." I said and I received a sigh of exasperation from Abigail, more singing from Jay, a nod of approval, surprisingly, from Amanda and a facepalm from Kace. "What?" I said. Abigail rolled her eyes and turned to Kace. "He's too dimwitted to be one of us. Why don't I just-" She turned back to me, a knife was in her hand. Kace quickly summoned his own sword (Um, why do they even have weapons) and wrapped one arm against her throat, pointing the sword point to her throat. Abigail sighed and dropped the knife. "I was just going to knock him out!" Kace released her before taking off her necklace and picking up the knife from the ground. She groaned, looking annoyed. "It's not like I was going to murder him!" Kace ignored her and stowed both things into his pocket and explained to me about CHB and why it looked like a strawberry field. After he was finished explaining, he added, "I know her probably better than she knows herself, so trust me when I say she actually was just going to knock you out." I raised my eyebrows at this and he continued, "Ok, if you want an enemy, don't choose Amanda, Abigail, me, or any of us for that matter. We, or at least those three could kill you and not even look back. You will be hacked, sliced, and stabbed. I have plenty of ideas on how to kill someone slowly and painfully... Abigail is just going to drive you insane." "How very… pleasant." I said.
"No, I'm serious, she has this ability and she could go into your mind and make you do stuff. She finds it a bit funny sometimes…" "Ah but you forget, I have antikinesis! They couldn't even touch me." "Did you forget? We have multiple people that can mind control you, plus someone who I bet would render you power useless. Even if you could make them "powerless," there are two people that I know who can throw knives with deadly accuracy, and other people who can turn you into mincemeat with her knives before you knew what was happening. And yet another who could manipulate your insides with gravity, mixing up everything." Kace finished. I gaped. "Remind me to never mess with Abigail or you… Also, who is this person that can render my power useless?" I asked. Jameson quickly smirked at me, and Kace laughed. "Can I have my necklace back yet?" A voice from in front of me said. I jumped backward and Abigail flickered into sight. "Did I forget to mention there is also another incredibly annoying girl who can turn invisible?" Kace asked, putting a hand to his pocket and cursing. "Abigail!" She jumped out of his reach. "You took my necklace! I have the right to take it back!" Those two immediately began arguing, involving cursing, punching, and kicking each other.
"Anyway, who wants to race?!" Jay asked. Kace and Abigail stopped arguing and exchanged smirks and I shuddered. If those two were a pair in anything, there were going to be some creepy stuff going on. Without warning, Kace and Abigail shot into the air and started flying off. I was about to shadow travel when I suddenly held back. I heard a voice saying, "Not yet. Not yet." I looked at Jay, who was hopping aboard a… purple dragon? I presume the purple thing was a trend with him. Amanda looked bored and slowly trudged up the hill.
After a few seconds, that mind hold on me disappeared and I shadow traveled away. On the top of the hill, I saw Abigail and Kace leaning against a pine tree while talking to a… wait, was that a centaur? They suddenly high fived and I guess they were talking about the "race" we had. Anyway, there was another girl with blonde hair and similar grey eyes like Abigail. I assumed she was Abigail's half-sister or something. As I walked over, I heard the centaur saying, "No! I'm asking the gods to KEEP you at school! You are teenagers! YOU NEED A NORMAL LIFE!" "Um, we do have a normal life." I said "Well, about as far as normal goes for demigods" intercepted Jameson, who had somehow heard the rest while dancing around to his music. "Seriously?" the blonde girl said.
Kace cut everyone off by saying, "Ok then… let's cut to the introductions. Raymond, you know us, but the blonde girl is Annabeth and the centaur is Chiron." Annabeth just looked at me before putting out her hand and saying, "Nice to meet you." I shook her hand and replied, "Same. Pleased to meet you." I then saw Amanda trudging back up the hill towards us. Why was she always wearing sunglasses? It was cloudy! She was certainly strange. Jameson saw me staring and said, "She has hypnosis. She wears sunglasses because she doesn't want to control anyone." I suddenly knew what they meant by multiple people who can control you. Hmmm. She was still weird, although maybe not as vicious as she looked. Still, I would have to watch out and make sure I didn't cross that Amanda girl or anyone, to be honest.
Jameson's POV
Well, I had no intention of further involving myself in that conversation. As such, I summoned my magic MP3 player. I skipped through the usual songs, assuming time was limited, and we wouldn't stay long. Boy, was I wrong. Soon I came across Fireflies on my playlist, which was one of my usual songs. I sang along, frolicking in the large field of CHB. A few campers glanced my way, but I didn't care. When music is involved, my mind transports itself to another dimension. I got to the last few words, "'... cause everything is never as it seems… " and realized it had an uncanny relation to my entire existence, specifically the last week of it.
I was walking in the field with Abigail, Kace, Amanda, and Raymond. Nothing was different; Kace was talking to Abigail, making her laugh, Abigail looked like she was about to die from laughter, I was listening to music, Amanda was being antisocial and not talking to anyone, and Raymond was studying Amanda. He seemed very curious at why she had not been talking. I paused my music to overhear a conversation that he had started. "So… why aren't you talking to anyone?" he asked. "Because of Nunya," She said. "Who's Nunya?" he asked, confused. I knew what was coming. "Nunya business," She replied. He sighed. "Um, okay. You got me there. So I heard you have hypnosis…?" She sighed back. "Yes, but don't start to be all like, 'Oh no! I must make sure I never see her again… she might control my mind!'" Raymond looked at her. "Um, no. I just think it's odd that you don't speak to anyone. You should try it." She looked up at him, surprised, and said, "I am. Right now. I am talking to someone." He laughed. "Okay, suit yourself," he said. Hmmm, I thought. She does need to start talking to someone. That was when we heard galloping from behind us. "You five! You are going back to school. Right now," Chiron said. We all groaned. "Um, excuse me? But the school day is over. We'll have to go tomorrow," said Raymond. Chiron grumbled. "Okay, but you are going home right now." I was okay with that; I could listen to my soundtrack on the way home! And then sit on the computer for the rest of the day while listening to music!
There was a clap of thunder and a blinding flash of light. I blinked and suddenly we were in front of the Empire State Building. Chiron was there too but in a… wheelchair. Ok then, nothing weird about that. We walked in and Abigail said, "Wait, why are we-" "Entrance to Olympus," Chiron replied. "Also, we would like the six-hundredth keycard," he added, addressing the doorman. "I'm sorry, the Empire State Building only has one hundred and two floors." The doorman said. Chiron stepped forward and muttered quietly to him. The doorman hesitated, then brought out a gold card. "Make sure no one is in the elevator with you." He said. "Thank you," Chiron added, before heading with us to the elevators.
Abigail's POV
In a matter of seconds the elevator door opened and we walked in. Amanda jammed the card in and we went up slowly. 50, 100, 150…. I sighed. It was terrible elevator music too. Judging from the looks on Raymond, Amanda, and Kace's face, I could guess that they were thinking the same thing. No surprise to anyone, Jay was listening to his own music. Amanda said my thoughts out loud. "This music is horrible!" "Um, excuse me?" Jameson asked. Nobody had realized that he had taken off his earphones. "Why are we going to Olympus? I thought you said we're going home. " "Well, there are about twenty demigods going into the mortal world. You can't all go back and forth. I'm asking the gods to build you all a house where you can live in while going to school!" Chiron said. "I take it we are still going to camp on the weekends?" I asked. "Yes, you are still going to camp," Chiron replied. I nodded and turned to Amanda. "You just need to learn to accept that you are different Like all of us. And you should also take the chance you have to learn how to control this." I said. She rolled her eyes. "I don't need your help! I can teach myself on my own!" "Yup. You clearly have that under control." Kace muttered. Amanda blushed. "That was by accident. I have everything under control-" "And that's clearly why you still wear sunglasses, hiding behind them like a coward," Kace and I both said, in unison, before glancing at each other in surprise. The elevator door opened and saved us from Amanda's angry retort. We filed out and my jaw dropped open.
How do I say Olympus in one word? Heaven might be it. With the golden buildings and the creative architecture designs by Annabeth, Olympus was truly amazing. I caught sight of pegasi flying around while the satyrs entertained the nymphs. The cabins at Camp Half-Blood were in the same design as the thrones. I looked at Chiron and saw that his wheelchair was replaced by the horse half of his body. We finally stopped in a giant building similar to the Athena Parthenos. I looked at the stairs leading the way up to the building. "Chiron, is this the throne room?" I asked. He nodded and looked at my discomfort. "Oh, you guys can fly up or however you like to travel. I always run up." He added, and with that, he started galloping across the steps. Kace changed the gravity slightly, letting him float up. Before I followed him, Jay grabbed Amanda and hopped on a dragon of magic. I started flapping my wings, creating gusts of wind and flew high up in the air.
I stared in astonishment at the huge gods sitting in their thrones. Unfortunately, they didn't look exactly happy to see us. They frowned unhappily for some reason. I looked and saw a goddess that resembled me, I think, and said, "Um… mom?" She smiled, slightly. "Yes, Abigail." Amanda crossed her arms and, I think, glared at the floor. Jameson stared at a goddess I assumed was Hecate, while Kace said to Poseidon "Um, hey dad! How's… life?" Ray looked around to see if his father would show up, whoever his father was. Chiron said, "Children! Silence!" He kneeled. We all did, although Amanda was reluctant to do so. "We were wishing for you to create a safe house for the demigods that are attending school." Zeus nodded. "That can be arranged," he said. "Is that all?" "I believe so," Chiron answered. We were about to leave when Athena spoke up. "Abigail and Amanda," she said. "It is unwise to forget the situation you are both in. You will need to work together if you are to survive under the current circumstances." She turned to look at Ray. "Your father is… occupied, but you'll see him in a matter of time." She looked at each of us, before saying, "Be careful of who you all trust."
Kace's POV
Yeah. That was fun, if you think getting to see your dad who you have never seen in your life, fun. It could've been a five to ten-minute flight to our new house, but NO. Chiron refused to let us go by ourselves and made us stay in the trucks. We were mostly silent on the way, but I finally broke the silence. I couldn't stand it. I said, "So, how was that for everyone?" I was greeted with more painful silence and a glare from Amanda. "Um… yeah. So. Uh… jawbreaker, anyone?" I pulled out a box. Abigail took one. Jameson, with his eyes closed, still listening to music, took one. Amanda even took one. But for some reason, Raymond didn't. He looked preoccupied. "Hey, Raymond?" He glanced over. "Yeah? Oh sorry, this is just all thrown at me and it's a little shocking to actually believe that my dad is a god." I thought about when I first heard that I was a demigod and that my dad didn't die. I thought it was cool at first, but then I started to really think. What does this mean I am? What happens next? I didn't know. It was annoying. "Eh, I'm fine," Jay responded, once again uncannily hearing everything while listening to music. Abigail took out her phone and started, oh gods, reading unOrdinary. "That's not real manga," I said, sighing in exasperation. "It's practically online manga" she replied, not looking up. After a while, we all took out our phones and started doing whatever. That's when Chiron said, "Stop that!" Abigail frowned. "Chiron, sir, Annabeth gave me five spare chips to put in our phones, so that monsters can't find us." "I mean, you can't just stare at a screen in all your spare time!" He said angrily. Amanda started to look up and shot, "I can do it if I like," she said.
Suddenly, she dropped her phone. The chip fell out and I grabbed it and tried to shove the chip in. Abigail looked around the truck and Jay stood up. It wouldn't fit back in. Amanda started to curse, not just because of the chip but because of the fact that her sunglasses had fallen in a crack between the door and the floor. She tried to grab at them, but they fell onto the ground. BEHIND THE TRUCK. She cursed even more. Abigail yelled. "Forget about your sunglasses for a second. There are monsters outside, trying to break in!" In the worry of Amanda's glasses, we were totally oblivious of the fact that the truck was shaking. Abigail pulled out her necklace and started throwing beads to Raymond since he was unequipped. Amanda hopped out of the car and… started kicking ugly legged things and knocking them down? Eh, well. One of them looked into her eyes. "You will fight these other monsters," She commanded. The monster nodded and started to hit into other monsters. Amanda did this with some other monsters too. Abigail and I were throwing knives back to back. Jameson had his cat, well now a lion. Raymond was using weapons but also some weird skeleton things. I yelled, "Skeletons? Is your dad Hades?" He slammed a few monsters in the head with a sword before replying. "I don't know! They just showed up out of nowhere." I focused on the fight, we could have time to discuss parent problems later. We all fought, and Chiron did too. It was amazing and terrifying. That's when I felt a sharp coldness on my shoulder, numbing my whole body, and I dropped to the ground.
Amanda's POV
I was not having fun. I hate controlling things, but sometimes it does come in handy. Harvey was gnawing on monsters as a lion, Jay was turning others into mincemeat, Kace and Raymond had formed a double-teaming strategy, Chiron… he was taking down monsters with one shot from his bow. Abigail had blood spattered everywhere on her, but she was whirling around, slashing demons and hellhounds. For a while, it actually seemed like we were winning. Suddenly, a wave of fear washed over me. It vanished within seconds, but from the look on Kace and Ray's face, they couldn't fight it off. All the monsters ran off and Abigail collapsed. As she struggled to stand, I heard a thud and cursing. Kace was lying in a pool of blood, twitching, and someone was standing over him. Their face was covered by the cowl of their cloak, but he, she, or it ran off as if they sensed that someone saw them. I heard a yell and I thought, "What now?" Jay was kneeling with his hands clasped to his ears, screaming. Ray was covering his ears and was disappearing from one place to another. Abigail seemed to have given up on standing and had her hands over her ears, muttering something under her breath. It wasn't long before I heard it too. I will find you. Whether you want to be found or not, I will find you. And you WILL be useful, daughter of Hecate. I shuddered. The only one who wasn't affected was Chiron and he galloped around carrying us to shelter. Abigail and I came out of that… whatever it was, first, and we helped drag our friends back.
By the time we reached our new house, the three boys were finally waking up. "Ok then, what the Hades happened?" Ray groaned. "External force threatens to find us, blah blah blah," Abigail replied, not entirely focused. She was muttering something and had a puddle of water next to her. Jay had his eyes fixed forward, muttering something to himself. "Are you ok over there?" Ray asked. "Someone was… was speaking to me." Jay muttered, still motionless. "She… she said that she would find me, and… and I'm more powerful than I think, which I guess is a compliment. But she said that I… I will be a great tool to her, whoever… whoever 'her' is." He then laid back and put on his earbuds.
Raymond's POV
Seriously?! Why would she want me out of all people?! I guess it wasn't just me. Jay, Amanda, Abigail, and me. I just thought to wonder if Kace was okay when he stopped twitching and eyes wide opened, gasping and covered in sweat. "About time, child. You're an idiot, letting yourself getting stabbed." Abigail began cursing at him. Kace smirked, weakly. "Well, I'm sorry. I was, what was it? I was preoccupied with a wave of fear washing over me." Abigail rolled her eyes. "And I got 35. How 'bout you?" "39," Kace replied, smugly, leading to more cursing from Abigail. "Can someone please explain to me what the heck that is about?" I said, unable to resist "Lord of the Rings reference, and I got 36." Jay said, answering my question. "Oh, that's why it sounded familiar," I replied.
Kace sighed. "I guess Jay's joining the game." he said "Nah, it just feels good to be able to make references and have people understand them. I'll leave you guys to it." Jay responded. "By the way, how can you hear our conversations while listening to your music?" I inquired. "Just some good old magic-a!" he answered. Amanda rolled her eyes. "Siblings, am I right?" Jay joked and received an elbow to the side from Amanda. "We've arrived at our destination," Chiron said.
Kace's POV
Ok… so, a wave of fear comes out of nowhere and frightens all of us, but I'm the one who gets stabbed. That's totally fair. The only bright side is a new house with new possible friends and I beat Abigail, again. She seemed kind of glad to see me awake, but then me telling her about killing 39… Well, she could never kill me. Her Whisper ability is strong, I admit that, but I don't think she's that cruel to do it to me. Then again, she could always turn cruel… you know what? Let's not look at this situation in that view.
When we arrived, there were gasps of awe everywhere. It looked amazing. You would've never believed that teenage demigods were living inside by themselves. As we walked in, I heard Leo and Jason high five each other. The living room had an Apple TV, comfortable sofas, and pretty much anything you would want for your living room. The kitchen, well, Leo and Calypso would basically be spending their whole life there. We lost Annabeth at the library, Hazel at the art room, basically, everyone went to explore our new house. Abigail and I had left the others to the music room. Different instruments, cellos, pianos, flutes, they laid on the table or against the walls, untouched. I picked up a cello and walked over to a chair, itching to play it when suddenly someone yelled. In excitement, not in warning or pain. "Guys! Check out the garage!" We all zoomed towards the voice and saw Percy, Annabeth, and Jay staring at six white Tesla cars. 'Whoa!" Leo said. "These are Model X and S! I wonder if…" and he dragged his hands one of the cars. Instantly, it turned orange. "Wow, we should write down what everyone's color is on the cars," Annabeth said.
AND HERE IS DA LIST!
Percy- Sea Green
Kace- Blue
Jason- Yellow
Katie- Light Green
Jay- Magenta
Abigail- Silver
Annabeth- Grey
Piper- Pink
Hazel- Dark Purple
Frank- Red
Calypso- Peach
Reyna- Cream
Nico- Black
Raymond- Charcoal
Leo- Orange
Amanda- Electric Purple
Travis and Connor- Orangish-Yellow
Thalia- Light Grey
We were all so fascinated by everything that we forgot one tiny part: picking our rooms! Thankfully, everyone had their own individual rooms, so Amanda calmed down a bit after that. Mine was between Frank's and Travis's rooms. I remembered something about Travis and Connor being pranksters, and I made the door as heavy as possible to ensure that they couldn't open it. My room was all white, but as soon as I thought of any color, and dragged my hands on top of the object, it would turn that color. I spent the rest of the night unpacking and arranging my new bedroom.
Raymond's POV
Well, a lot just happened… and now I'm living under the same roof along with my "fellow" demigods. To be honest, I only like Amanda and Jay. They seem "easier" to talk to than Kace and Abigail. Those two are hiding something, I can tell. The room I chose was somehow in the middle of Amanda's and Jason's room. I heard a crash and looked out the door. Katie was wet and she looked upset. "TRAVIS!" she yelled and started storming in the other direction. I closed the door and decided I needed to get out of the line of fire. I shadow traveled to the gym that we had (WE HAD A FREAKING GYM! A GYM!) and decided to practice some sword fighting.
I saw that I wasn't alone and an Asian guy was shooting arrow after arrow at the archery range. I edged my way over to the armory, not wanting to talk to him, but he caught me. "Hey. You're Ray, right?" he asked. I nodded. "That's me, and you're? Sorry, I don't remember your name." I said, embarrassed. "Oh, I'm Frank, son of Mars, or as you would say, Ares," he replied. He seemed to notice how I was grabbing a sword before he caught me. "Have you fought with a sword before?" he asked. "Um...no. Normally, I just kind of wrestle or punch them." I responded. "That can only help you so much. How 'bout I help find you a weapon you'll like?" Frank asked. "Sure…" I replied, reluctant.
We first checked out the knives. I found a few I liked, but none of them satisfied me completely. As we walked to where the swords were, I had the weirdest feeling, as if someone were watching me. I had flashbacks to that day on the truck. I began reaching for a sword. "So I hear you guys are finding Raymond a sword? I believe I could be of assistance!" Jay said as he leaped out of a portal in the wall. Frank morphed into a bear until he realized who it was. It must've caused a commotion because everyone else walked in. "Oh, it's you guys," Frank said. He looked to Jay "I didn't you were a son of Trivia." "Say who what now?" I asked, confused. "Oh right. You guys aren't Roman. Trivia is the Roman part of Hecate." Frank responded. I looked to see what everyone else was doing.
Suddenly a knife whizzed by a few inches from my face and smack right into a target. I looked around and saw that Amanda had thrown the knife. "Alright," she said. "Your turn." Abigail stepped out of the shadows and unsheathed a knife from her belt. She turned back, facing the wall, before whipping around, hand outstretched. I practically felt the coldness of the blade as it passed my face before it hit the target, narrowingly missing Piper. They did this repeatedly until Amanda missed, then did it again until Abigail missed. I looked over at Percy, who was slashing the head off of a dummy with a sword. And here I was, inexperienced. "Hey, Raymond!" called Abigail. "Purple eyes and I will show you how to throw knives!" I was a bit uncomfortable because I wasn't really comfortable with any of them earlier, but I still gave it a go.
"Okay, so you want to look sort of down your arm at the target, and then throw," instructed Amanda. I tried and missed, over and over and over. Eventually, I wasn't too bad, though it took about 257 tries. Yes, I counted. Jay dragged us to the corner of the room. "Who here is feeling rebellious?" He inquired. "I have something I was going to show you at my house until a certain 'someone' interrupted us. Raymond, you weren't there, but an annoying sibling, am I right?" Amanda elbowed him in the gut. "Youch! Ok fine, I'll stop. So you guys coming?" "Sure…" I said, as suspicious as always. Everyone else seemed to agree, Kace uninterested, Abigail reluctantly, and Amanda, unwillingly. "Well, who here likes secret bases?" Jay asked.