The story of Cressida Smith

Chapter 2

Cressida Smith looked at Orthrus, her eyes wide. How was it possible? It was a myth! It wasn't real! Those were just made up stories to tell how things were made, and other stuff like that. "You're fake!" She screamed.

Orthrus hated being called a myth, or a fake, and he immediately started heating up with anger. "No, I'm real, you demigod! I'm real, I'm not a myth!"

Cressida tried to buy herself some time, but it was running out quickly. "What's a demigod?" She asked dumbly.

"One parent is a Greek god, the other is a mortal human." The dog serpent replied, baring it's teeth, ready for action.

Cressida took a deep breath, and she started thinking rapidly. 'Whoever my godly parent is, if you could help me out, I'll love you forever.' That sounded slightly stupid in her mind, and cheesy in a way. 'Please, just save me.' she added.

Almost immediately after, a charm bracelet dropped into her lap. There were 5 charms in total. Each had a word Cressida couldn't understand, but she knew this thing glowed power, because Orthrus flinched when it appeared.

The monster tore the whole car apart, and leaped at her with wide claws. Cressida turned a charm and threw it at the double headed dog.

She heard a growl of pain, and saw one of it's paws bleeding heavily. But it was still alive. Her eyes searched anywhere for a weapon, and the charm bracelet was back in her hands in a flash.

Quickly, she took a bronze colored charm, twisted it, and slashed in a big ark as Orthrus charged again. Cressida held her breath..

Then Orthrus disintegrated into dust. All that was left, was a sharp tooth from the Greek myth's mouth.

Klark climbed out of the car, and smiled weakly. "It's all that's left of the monster for a few years, hopefully. You can keep it as a souvenir." The satyr sounded worn out. "Come on, let's head to Camp Half-Blood."

They stole a local motorcycle on the side rode, and drove to Camp Half-Blood with the goat human driving.

Neither said anything during the whole car ride, until Klark parked the car in front of a bunch of strawberry fields. "Come on, we're here."

Cressida cast a glance back over her shoulder, and thought she saw a whoosh of a black wing. She whipped around and sprinted until she passed a gigantic tree, then paused for a deep breath. Klark was right behind her.

"I didn't know they wanted you dead so badly. Usually Orthrus never comes out to fight. Even Percy Jackson only got a minotaur sent after him!"

Of course, Cressida was clueless. "Who's Percy Jackson?"

The satyr gasped. "Only one of the most powerful demigods in our time!" He straightened his battered hat. "In fact, I can show you to him!"

Cressida shook her head. "I rather not be caught hanging out with.. YOU." It was rather harsh, but she really meant it.

Klark was about to say something, but a teenage girl rode up on a pegasus. "Hey, who's this? A new demi-god? I'm Annabelle Chase, nice to see you here." A tall girl with blond hair and gray eyes greeted her. She had on an orange t-shirt, that said Camp Half-Blood.

Cressida hesitantly smiled. "I'm Cressida Smith." She wondered how she looked. Tattered? Messy? Like she just got run over?

Annabelle jumped off the pegasus and walked next to Cressida. "So what happened?"

Cressida bit her lip. "Well I was walking to school, and I got this weird feeling. Then I went back inside, and came back outside feeling I needed to do something. Then Klark ran up and started screaming, and we ran into a car. Then it turns out it was the wrong car, and there was an evil monster named Orthrus or something that wanted to kill us. Then I killed it and got a tooth." She said quickly, not wanting to think much about what had happened.

Annabelle looked her over. "And you're okay?" She asked.

"For the most part, yeah." Cressida replied.

"Okay, I'll take you to meet Chiron, our camp counselor. He's a centaur, by the way." Annabelle said, jogging up to a house.

When the entered, she recognized the face in the wheelchair. "Hey, you came to my class once!" She said, surprised.

The kind face turned to look at her. "Ah yes, Cressida Smith. I had a feeling you were something special. I wished to see you in person, and I sent Klark after you." He replied, smoothing out his beard.

"I assume it was a hard day?" Chiron asked.

"You bet it was!" She replied, sighing.

"Well how about Annabelle goes to show you around, and we can introduce you later." The centaur said, giving her another smile and turned back to his scroll.

As Cressida walked out, she wondered out loud to Annabelle. "He seems distracted.. is he okay? Is something bad going on?"

Annabelle looked at her, then sighed. "Recently, Chiron has received a message from the gods. He won't tell me what, but it's important. Extremely important."

Cressida and Annabelle walked into a row of cabins. "For now, you'll stay with Hermes. That cabin takes in all new comers, Hermes doesn't exactly care."

When Cressida walked inside the cabin, there were unmade beds, backpacks everywhere, and kids having fun. She gazed. This is where she would be staying?"

"Just until your godly parent claims you, you'll be staying here." Annabelle said, as if reading her mind.

Cressida nodded, then followed her out the crowded, noisy cabin. "Over there is the archery range, Chiron usually teaches that." She nodded to their right. "And over there is the strawberry fields where they tend to the plants and sell them." As they walked along, Cressida noticed more and more teenagers all gathered here. "And that's the stables.."

"Annabelle, how come there are so many kids here?" She asked, butting in before Annabelle could say another word.

Annabelle hesitated. "Well the gods tend to have children with a lot of different mortals.. whoever they fancy." She finally replied.

"Who's your parent?"

"Athena. Goddess of wisdom." Annabelle replied.

"Who's my parent?"

"We don't know until your parent sends a sign."

"I see. Continue on the tour then." Cressida said, a little dissapointed.

"Well that's the dining pavilion, where we'll be eating in a little. There's the lake, the arena, the showers, the kitchens, and then there's the house where we always meet up for meetings, and then there's the forest."

"The forest?"

"We go there for games like capture the flag, or to bring in a beast to eliminate, and such." Annabelle replied.

"Are we going to do anything today?" Cressida asked.

"Probably. It's been a few days already, so Chiron must know we're getting edgy." The older counselor replied.

Cressida stared at Camp Half-Blood. It seemed like a nice place.. it seemed fun. It seemed like they would care about her. It seemed so. But not everything that seems is real.

Annabelle and Cressida stood on top of a hill that overlooked the whole entire camp. Annabelle breathed in the fresh air, and said to Cressida..

"Well that's Camp Half-Blood, your new home."