Best of Both Worlds
Chapter 6: Welcome to Camp Half-Blood
Gill's POV:
I figured I'd give Gill some credit with Sam. He deserved his point to be shown during Sam's slumber.
I felt her breath become regular and I gave Dylan a long look. He shrugged and patted Sam's foot.
"She's stronger than you think," Dylan whispered.
I shifted her in my arms. She was small for a demigod and didn't have that much weight on her. I knew for sure Mr. Jackson was going to stuff her like a pig when I brought her to camp. Mr. Jackson was a good guy, but he couldn't stand it when demigods were that thin. Almost supermodel thin. Maybe even anorexia thin.
"Is she always this small?" I questioned him.
He grinned back at me.
"She eats like a horse!" he said. "And yet she doesn't gain an ounce! She must have a high metabolism, or it's because of all the sports she does daily. But in the end, she loses even more weight!"
I looked more closely at the girl.
"Who's her mortal parent?"
The grin slipped from Dylan's face.
"She won't say. But her emotions say that she was with two mortal parents. Possibly her true parent with a guardian. But they are both dead. She's been an orphan for a few years now. Been on the run before the police caught her six months ago and sent her to this school."
A whistle escaped my lips. An orphan? That's the worst type of demigod of them all. Trying to tell them that their parent is a god is hard for them to understand. Let alone pray to them daily.
"Anything else I should know?" I asked.
The grin appeared.
"Except the monsters? Let's see, it seems that she is forming a crush on you."
I rolled my eyes.
This is the reason why I don't hunt down demigods. Got one girl stuck on you and suddenly there are fifty of them. The girl shifted and a pained moan escaped her lips. Then she shifted back to her original position and fell back to sleep.
Dylan gave her a long look.
"The monster attacked her before," he read with a blank monotone, "and people were killed. But when the monster went after you, she had to stop it." Then he shrugged. "Must have been all the deaths stacked against her. Something snaps when you could have been the twentieth person to be killed."
I snorted quietly, careful not to awake up the girl.
"It's not like the last time, Gill," he whispered, "something's different about this girl. Something the gods hate. I can't put my finger to it, but it's what made me first find you."
Fear gripped my heart.
"Must be because she's damn hot for her young age," I joked.
But the girl was hot. He could tell that by next year guys were going to be all over her for her to become their girlfriend.
"I'm serious, Gill!" Dylan said, "something's off with this girl! S-"
"I'm back."
Dylan jumped a foot in the air and my heart somersaulted in my chest. I was careful not to move my body.
Alex had a weird look as she looked at the girl. A golden dagger was in her hand.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
She wouldn't answer me for a few seconds. Then she put the dagger in her combat boot.
"Come on," she said, "we have to get back to camp. Something tells me that guy will send more monsters after us if we don't get the hell out now."
Dylan nodded and we started to jog to a SUV that was parked sideways in the parking lot. Alex climbed into the driver's seat and turned the car on. For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that Alex was young no matter how many quests I had with her. She should have been over sixty years old, but the gods granted her permission thirty years ago to help and save demigods that were in trouble. Now she was a deadly fifteen year old ghost with a bad anger management case. I laid the girl in the third row of seats and buckled the middle seatbelt and climbed into the second row of seats along with Dylan.
"Ready?" Alex questioned.
Dylan laughed and I chuckled. We both grabbed the seats in front of us as Alex pelted the car out of the school driveway. Sam groaned in the back and Alex ran over a speed bump without slowing down. I glanced back to give a last look at the school. Half of the school was in rubble when Alex and I blew it up. The broken pipe where Sam killed the boy monster, then the dried grass where she also killed the monster.
"Hey Alex," I said, "what was that beast that attacked us?"
I could see Alex's hands grip the steering wheel.
"It's better if you don't know." She said.
What had gotten into her? She never held back information away from me.
"Is it bad?" I edged.
She nodded viciously.
"It's deadly. And to have one sent after Sam shows that someone powerful wants her dead before we can step in and save her."
Dylan paled.
"Does this have something do with her past?"
"Speak, Dylan."
He told her what he told me.
Alex swore as she drove onto the highway.
"That has everything to do with it!"
"What do you mean?" I demanded.
But she wouldn't talk about anything. After a few hours on the road, we pulled into Camp Half-Blood. Home sweet home. I was finally back after a trip to save another demigod. We all climbed out and Alex left to talk to her father.
"Keep an eye on her, Gill," she told me.
Soon, Dylan and I were walking down the hill with the passed out Sam in my arms. Cabins were all over the place and kids were laughing, joking, and practicing sword fighting with each other. After the war with Gaea, the two camps were in shambles. What ended up happening was the two camps combined forces to bring together the strongest demigods in over a thousand years. With some of the seven's help, the camps grew to be the strongest kids in America. At that time, over fifty cabins were built for the demigods. Then a few years later Leo found the Egyptian magicians and banded with them. They don't stay often, but when they do, their five cabins are crowded with kids. After that, Norse gods came forward and asked for residence for their kids. At least, that's what the Greeks say. Then the Norse kids say that the Greeks invited them. But Chiron would be the one with a smirk on his face when they got into the fight.
The Norse kids added twenty cabins of their own. Percy and his sister, Alex, had to add more room to camp by cutting the ocean shorter and expanding the camp by twelve miles. At total, there were eighty cabins for everyone. But only one fourth of the demigods were actually here during the school year. Now that summer was coming tomorrow, kids would be flooding in to own their bunks and roam the camp for the summer.
When we got to the Big House, Percy was sitting on rocking chair, rocking back and forth as he watched them come up. He didn't miss anything, that man. I could only guess that it was because of the time he spent down in Tartarus. That changed Alex, Annabeth and him deeply when they did get back out. They were more controlling, others told him, much stronger than before. And no one messed with Percy or his sister. Even other children of the sea god were careful not to cross them.
"Gill, Dylan," Percy said in a whispered tone. "What do you have there?"
"A new demigod, sir," I grunted back.
After carrying her for over twenty minutes, she was beginning to get heavy.
He nodded and stood up. Bones cracked as he walked slowly to the doorway and opened the door.
"Bring her in," he beckoned.
I brought Sam in and set her down on the table. Then I truly saw her for the first time. Her brown hair seemed be black in the low light, yet red when a lot of light hit it. Her lips were soft and round, a mark of a changing body before its time. Sam's body was so small yet showed deep muscles tones in her arms, chest, stomach, and legs. Her collarbone and shoulders were clipped by bone indents, signs of not enough food. Sam even wore a skirt, high socks, and short black boots. Indention at the cheeks showed even more signs of not enough food.
Percy sighed when he scanned the girl down.
"Bring me water," he said, "I'll be here for a while."
Dylan nodded and got Percy the water he asked for.
Then Percy turned toward them.
"Go enjoy your first day back, boys," he said.
I nodded and yet threw him a look at Sam.
"Alex said I need to keep an eye on her." I said, nodding toward Sam.
Percy looked back at the girl.
"You can check back on her in two days. By then she should be awake."
Once again I nodded and Dylan and I left Percy with the girl, Sam.
"What was that creature?" Dylan asked.
"Let's go find out." I answered.
Then we both ran toward my cabin.
