Hi to everyone who's reading this. Thanks so much for actually reading this far into my story. It's more like a book, but it includes all the PJ characters. Anyways, please review and enjoy the next chapter! :)
"Camp Jupiter," Percy and Jason said together. "That's where the other three are." Chiron nodded thoughtfully.
"Chiron, what about the three demigods?" asked Piper. Chiron regarded the three of us struck demigods.
"Because you three are now combined demigods, I need to know which powers you received first. I know Rylan's—Hermes, Hephaestus, Demeter and Hera. And Apollo is you count the original one," Chiron said.
A boy with dark eyes, pale olive skin and black hair about my age stood up. He gestured to the girl next to him. They had about the same complexion, so I figured they were siblings.
"Lianne got Hades, which is also her original godly parent, Athena, Ares and Dionysus," he said.
"We can't do anything about the next few lines of the prophecy now," he said.
Chiron nodded and turned to me. "You?" I was about to say that I didn't know when Annabeth stood up for me. "I was there when Sam got hit, she got Aphrodite, her original parent, Artemis, Apollo, Zeus, and Poseidon." Annabeth thought for second. Then she added: "Apollo's sign seemed to be dragged after Artemis's. I think she only got Apollo because she got Artemis."
I got confused. "Wait a second," I said. Everyone's eyes turned to me. "Am I a child of all those gods now?" Chiron thought for a while.
"No," he said finally, "You're still a child of Aphrodite but you earned to powers of the other gods whose symbols appeared over your head. So you'll still live in the Aphrodite cabin. Same for you two," he said nodding at Rylan and Lianne.
There was a moment of silence. I glanced at my cracked watch. Twenty minutes had passed, though I suspected the functionality of my watch.
"Meeting over." Chiron dismissed us all.
I trudged to the Aphrodite cabin with Piper, still in my perfect makeup and all.
"Hey," I said to Piper, "How do you get rid of the makeup and stuff?" Piper glanced at me and laughed. "You can't for a long time. I was like that too," she mused. But then right after she said that, the sleeveless white dress melted off of me, and I was back in my normal clothes. The makeup also melted straight off and my braid just sort of fell apart. I glanced at Piper. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised.
"Well, that was fast. I think it's because mom is incapacitated now. Even her blessings don't last anymore."
We arrived at the Aphrodite cabin and walked in. Aphrodite's cabin had a painted roof, with pillars and a blue-and-white checkerboard deck with steps and gray walls.
There were girls and boys inside, doing what you would do at home in your bedroom, I guess. I glanced around. The inside of the cabin smells very heavily of perfume. The inner walls of the cabin were pink with white window trim. The curtains and beds were pastel blue and green. Every person had a chest with their name painted on it to store their belongings. Their personal bunk spaces were decorated with famous and attractive Hollywood movie stars and singers, and with pictures of their family members too. I made a face behind Piper's back.
Piper led me over to a lower bunk and gestured to it.
"You can have this one," she said to me. "Lacey!" Piper called. A girl with blonde pigtails around my age came over. She smiled at me.
"Hi, I'm Lacey," she said.
"Sam," I said.
"Could you help me paint Sam's name on her chest?" asked Piper.
"Sure!" said Lacey. They left together, leaving me by myself with literally nothing. I shuffled around a bit on my bunk restlessly. Then I couldn't stand it anymore, being ADHD, and I walked over a small group of girls at the back of the cabin. They were listening to a tall Asian girl with dark ringlets. I moved a bit closer and the girl noticed me. She straightened up and smiled at me.
"Hi, sweetie," she said, "Are you new to the cabin? I'm Drew Tanaka, so glad to meet you." She didn't sound like she meant it.
"Hi, I'm Sam," I said. I seemed to be saying that a lot these days. I sat down and listened to their conversation. The Aphrodite kids were talking about something called the rite of passage. A young girl around twelve explained it to me in a hushed voice while the others kept talking. I frowned inwardly because breaking a person's heart just to get approved by mom? But apparently, she approved of the rite of passage. I just shrugged.
"…plan on doing it tomorrow night," I heard Drew say.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Weren't you listening?" Drew said. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Tomorrow night I'm completing the rite of passage, hon."
"You have a boyfriend?" I asked.
"'Course, dear. Two actually. Rylan Keagan and Mikhail Jenner. Both I've been dating without the other one knowing, just for the purpose of getting approved," she said casually. Rylan? Isn't he the guy who helped me in the infirmary? The guy that got struck too? I considered Rylan to be the second nicest guy I've met, first being Percy because without him I wouldn't be alive now.
"You're completing the rite of passage twice at the same time?" squealed a little girl. Drew nodded excitedly.
"Just to make sure I get approved," Drew said, "And I told Rylan to meet me on the beach at eight. And at seven forty, I planned a date with Mikhail. So when Rylan sees us…" She mimed breaking a heart. That was about as much as I could take.
"How can you do that?" I asked angrily. "That's so cruel! What if you were one of them? How would you feel?"
"But I'm not," said Drew calmly for the sake of her attention, but her eyes burned with hatred.
"Hey Drew," said a girl around ten, "What if they break up with you instead? Does it still count?"
Drew considered for a moment. "I don't think so. So don't let the plan slip!"
I got up and walked away, anger boiling inside me. The bathroom was empty so I walked straight in and glared at the me inside the mirror. There were still white lines around my eyes, though they seemed to be more faint than before. After being struck I didn't feel much different. I thought about what Drew said and suddenly made up my mind.
I walked up to Piper.
"Hi," I said, waving to her.
"Hi Sam," she replied.
I shifted on my feet. "Um, I was just wondering do we have a curfew in this place?"
"Yeah," she said. "But the sky's not dark yet, you probably still have an hour." I nodded to myself.
"You know the guy that got struck today? Rylan…Keagan?" I asked. Piper nodded.
"Which cabin is he in?" I questioned. She thought for a second, pausing in her painting.
"Apollo, I think. Got claimed yesterday, I think."
"Thanks!" I said. I rushed out of the cabin and paused for a second, looking around at the circle of cabins. There was one that looked like an ordinary cabin on first glance, but the setting sun's rays hit it and it looked like it was made of solid gold. Apollo, I guessed. I walked over to it and knocked. A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes opened the door. I recognized him from the meeting.
"What are you here for?" he asked, more like growled. He obviously wasn't pleased to see me.
"I just wanted to see Rylan," I said urgently, "I need to tell him something."
A few moments later Rylan came out of the cabin. The door shut and I glanced around, making sure that we were alone.
"Sam?" he asked, confused. He looked really cute when he was confused, one eyebrow higher than the other.
"Look, I need to tell you something." I explained the whole thing about Drew and the rite of passage to him. He was quiet the whole time until I finished.
"That's not possible." was all he said. He looked at me with a weird expression. "Sam, Drew wouldn't do that to me. Besides, I know Mikhail. He never stayed anywhere near Drew. You're just jealous. Why don't you go back," he said, pushing me away. Then he returned to his cabin without even looking at me. I stood there in a mixture of shock and anger. Why would I be jealous? Where's the logic in that? But some people do think weirdly. At least I tried to warn him. I turned and walked back to my own cabin.
How was that? Next chapter...Rylan's reaction to Drew's cheating. Yeah, I think I'll make it about that. Anyways, thanks again for reading my story. It feels nice to know that someone read all the chapters up to here.
-mi5hao
p.s. and don't forget that you can request one chapter stories about anything for PJ if you read my author's note!