Chapter 2

Marie walked outside the cabin. To her surprise things seemed almost, normal. The sky was just beginning to turn its daily arc into a beautiful sunset and the temperature remained as it always had, perfect. The only peculiarity was the emptiness. On a normal day, dryads and satyrs would be running around, playing tricks on unruly campers and exchanging contraband sodas. But it was silent. Chiron had ordered everyone to report to their daily activities, and the remaining satyrs and dryads were to help in the Big House, where the wounded still needed tending. Marie scanned the cabins, her gaze lingering on Aphrodite. She reached to clutch the special charm on her camp necklace, only to remember it was gone, just like the boy who gave it to her.

"And who are you?" the gorgeous blonde eleven-year-old asked, her tone hinting a bit of malice as she stared down at dark, awkward, eleven-year-old Marie.

"Um…Marie, Marie Grendel." She regretted having walked up to the beautiful girls under the oak tree making daisy chains, but she took a deep breath and stuck out her nail bitten hand,

"I'm new." The blonde chuckled, waving the handshake away,

"Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, and Alexander Beauregard," she referred to the wealthy actor, who was most famed for making People's Sexiest Man Alive list five years in a row, "I've never seen you before."

"I came last winter, this is my first summer."

"Oh, yeah, there's always those few with the trailer-trash mortal parent." She looked over at her gang of equally beautiful half-sisters, who snickered into their daisy chains.

"My mom isn't trailer trash. She just—"

"Just what? Went back to the tar pit she crawled out from?"

"No, she went to be an actress in Holly—"

"Well, if she looks anything like you, she'll never make it!" Marie's eyes blurred and she mumbled,

"I just wanted to make daisy chains…"

"Well then, we have a problem," Silena's eyes flashed and the snickers of her clique buzzed in Marie's ears. Silena moved close to Marie's ear,

"Your hands are too ugly."

In that moment, a manic rage hit Marie in the chest, unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Without understanding what she was doing, Marie slammed her fist into Silena's face, causing both the girls to go flying apart. A wail rose up and kids began to gather. But they weren't staring at Silena, instead, Marie, who was surrounded by a ring of fire, the sounds of a motorcycle faintly heard in the distance. Chiron galloped over, in time to hear the last rev of the motorcycle before the entire illusion evaporated.

"Marie, are you alright?" He knew her name?

"I'm fine," she replied, still slightly disconcerted, "Um, what was that?"

"By the looks of it, it was from you father. Ares had claimed you as his daughter." The War God? Marie thought, My dad? Chiron surveyed the situation, before whispering to her,

"If I were you I'd leave the area, Aphrodite will be here soon enough. Lee!" he yelled to a boy Marie's age, with golden hair and a never-needs-braces smile, "Would you please accompany Ms. Grendel?" he galloped towards Silena, who was still bawling.

"Lee!" she whined at the boy, "Will you help me up?" he pretended not to hear her and hoisted Marie up with considerable ease,

"Hi, I'm Lee Fletcher." His blue eyes were deep, god-like…Well duh! Marie thought. A sickly sweet perfume began to pervade the area under the tree and everything seemed to gain a rosy hue.

"We better go, Aphrodite's almost here." Lee tugged on her arm and began to run. They ran away from the tree, down the hill, past the cabins, and the stables, and Marie began to cry, her tears whipped behind her as she followed Lee through the forest, only stopping to rest at Zeus' Fist. Then Lee noticed her tears,

"Are you o.k?" he gave her a concerned look.

"I-I-I," Marie's sobs came faster, "I didn't want to hurt her!" Lee looked confused,

"A child of Ares? Crying?"

"Doesn't that happen?" Marie asked, wide-eyed.

"Um, no." Lee replied, cracking a slight smile.

"Well, don't children of—of—of whoever cry?" she fired back, before groaning at her lameness. Lee just laughed,

"Children of Apollo don't cry, we strike an attractive pose and look wistful." He demonstrated and Marie laughed, wiping away her tears.

"You know? I think what you did to Silena back there was really brave, I've been wanting to do that for 'bout a year. Why did you do it?"

"She called my mom trailer-trash, just because she couldn't take care of me while she was in Hollywood. She's gonna be an actress." Marie was opening up more than she had to anyone else in her half-year at camp.

"Its ok, my mom had to leave me alone too. She's in Africa building a hospital." They spent a long time talking, Marie felt safe, even though the forest was growing darker and darker, and the fireflies were coming out.

"Its so peaceful here. I love fireflies." Marie sighed, watching the little bursts of light.

"I know! They're like—" but he was cut off by the dinner bell. He jumped up, but Marie just kept staring at the fireflies,

"Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, in a minute. I'll give you a head start." She smiled.

"I'll talk to you later." He smiled back and headed off. Marie huffed and heard a rustle in the bushes. She jumped, ready to fight, only if she was a puny eleven-year-old. But only a few dryads emerged, giggling hysterically and rushing to engulf her in a hug.

"We heard everything!" they squealed.

"Um, hello?" Marie responded.

"Oh! How impolite, we're quite sorry. I am Juniper."

"Thyme!"

"Sage!"

"You guys are destined for each other!" Juniper giggled.

"Who?"

"You and Lee." The three said in unison, giving her the 'duh' look.

"You think?" Marie asked, looking into the distance.

"We're certain."