Raina woke up on a hospital-y type of bed. "Stupid Cyclops.." Raina moaned, trying and failing to sit up.
"Shut up and drink this." A rough hand pushed a cup of– Mello Yello?– into her hands.
Shakily, Raina raised it to her lips, expecting it to actually be Mello Yello. As soon as she tasted it, she recoiled. It tasted nothing, NOTHING like the sweet lemony soda.
Instead, it tasted like her stepdad's homemade Triple-Chocolate-Chip Brownie D'Lites. Slam! Raina jumped.
The boy who'd saved her stalked over, but his hands weren't glowing. The polecat was still on his shoulder, but it was quiet. "Who are you?" Raina growled, backing up. The boy eyed her in a totally off-hand manner, like she was a Maserati, like he was wondering if Raina would be worth the trouble he was getting into. Raina didn't like it.
"Deuce." The boy didn't look at her. Raina rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, are we playing tennis? Otherwise, there's no other way you'd say–" "My name is Deuce." The boy growled. The polecat chattered. Deuce's hands glowed with black energy.
Unfortunately, he fired. Fortunately, it hit a blue comfort chair, which immediately melted into a pool of fire.
"Woah, woah, woah! Let's talk and not add me to the barbecue!" Raina said hastily. The fire died down. "You're wanted in the dining pavilion." he growled.
"All right, all right, I'm coming!" Raina retorted. "Good." Deuce snapped. Raina stomped out of the cabin. As she trailed into the dining pavilion, she managed a muffled,
"Woah!" Then, a blonde girl with green eyes walked up to Raina and Alexa, a friend who'd let Raina sit with her and said, "Hey. Is any- one sitting here?" she asked. "No, nobody is. My name is Alexa and this is Raina," Alexa said to the girl.
"I'm Bella," Bella said. "Who's your godly par-" Alexa was interrupted by a bright, blinding light.
"Whassup, kid? Yeah I'm talking to you, Alexa," Apollo said. I bet Alexa felt superly embarrassed. "Um, Dad?!" Alexa asked uncertainly.
"I'm here on official godly business. As you know, Kronos is rising and monsters are attacking camp. Artemis has gone missing. The last time I saw her she was hunting a deadly monster that can kill the gods. We need her for the war council during the winter solstice, or all of our war efforts will have gone in vain. I wish to have my daughter, Alexa, lead a quest, with any two people she chooses, to save my sister," Apollo stated, with a super ior air.
Chiron was watching the whole scene from behind Apollo. He cantered over to where Apollo could see him. "Lord Apollo, it is certainly a pleasure," Chiron said, bowing. "Ah, Chiron. I wish to have Alexa lead a quest. Artemis has gone missing. The Hunters are scattered, search-ing the globe for my sister and they can't find her. Alexa must lead a quest, she must!" Apollo exclaimed.
"Very well, Lord Apollo. Your wish is my command," Chiron said, a smile flickering across his face. "Thank you, Chiron. I don't know what we gods would do without you. Farewell, Trainer of Heroes!" Apollo said, and there was a blinding flash of light.
"CLOSE YOUR EYES EVERYONE! HE IS REVEALING HIS TRUE FORM!" Chiron shouted. The campers shut their eyes, and some turned away. The blinding light disappeared, leaving the campers blinking blind spots out of their eyes.
"Well, Alexa, you must begin your journey tonight. Pick your companions for your quest. You may pick only two," Chiron declared. "I'll pick, um, Raina and Bella," Alexa managed shakily.
Just then, a glowing green trident appeared over Raina's head. "All hail Raina, daughter of Poseidon!" Chiron declared loudly. Chiron bowed and all of the other campers followed his example. Chiron turned to Alexa.
"Well, my dear, it is time for you to visit the Oracle," Chiron said. He walked her to the big house that stood close to the strawberry fields. "Go to the attic of the Big House and in there you will find the Oracle of Delphi, your father's very own Oracle," Chiron stated. "OK," she said uncertainly. "Do not worry, I shall come with you if you wish," Chiron said.
Alexa nodded a yes. "Okay, then, let us go," Chiron said. He and Alexa disappeared. Raina sighed. "Here one minute, gone the next." she said, quoting her mother.
Then she turned and trudged to her new cabin. Her own watery cabin! Her own amazing cabin! Her own.. lonely cabin.
"Hey! Raina, we gotta go!" To make a long story short, Raina summoned a boat to take them, Poseidon, that jerk-faced daughter-deserter, visited and warned them of coming trials.
When they got to Mount Talampais, Raina was assigned the "important, super-important" task of.. Drumroll, please. Guarding the cruise ship boat. Yep. Whoo whoo. Raise the roof. NOT. Bella got to fight monsters, Alexa got to murder Hyperion, and Raina? She got to lol with squids and clown-fish. And they had absolutely no sense of humor. Eh.
When you're a squid, you don't really need to exercise your one brain cell in that kidney-bean-sized brain. Seriously. It was a heart-attack-level workout for Squidney's kidney-bean brain. Anyhoodle, Raina got to talk about "how pretty orange anenome would look" against Jokey-The-Clownfish's scales. Around an hour after 'ol 'Lexa and Bella left, a hippocampus showed up.
Hello. Do you like pineapples? the hippocampus asked. "Uh... Yes?" Raina wasn't sure how to respond: Fish pony asks you if you like pineapple. You have a minute to record your response! Go! Seriously, though, how do you answer?! Yay! I can tell we're going to be such good friends! the hippocampus whinnied.
"I have the feeling it's gonna be an l-o-n-g, long guard duty." Raina muttered under her breath. The hippocampus danced merrily, but after a couple of seconds, an expression of tight terror froze on its face. Bye, lady! He darted away. "Umm.. Jokey? Squidney? Pineapple-Pony? Anyone?" Raina called uneasily. The boat rocked, the sea eerily quiet and smooth.
"Oooookayyy..." Just to be safe, Raina slipped downstairs to her bedroom. Several mermen were at the bottom of her room– er, that is to say, at the window that seperated her room from the sea, gazing soppily in. Scram! Raina told them mentally. A look of intense fear fell across the lead merman's face, and he darted off. Somewhat gladly, they left, swimming as fast as their fish tails would allow.
"Jeez Louise. What're you afraid of?" Raina muttered. She got her answer. A giant thing erupted out, screeching shrilly. It looked suspiciously like a shrimp-thingy with giant tentacle-y nose hair. "Um.. First off, major EW.
Please say you believe in trimming your.. tentacles? Second, why don't you pick on somebody your own freakishly big size?" Raina yelled at it. It regarded her coldly. Then it turned and, just when Raina thought it was running, it trashed a particularly ugly nose hair at the boat, making the craft reel. "NO!" Raina howled. The horse amulet glowed, like the tiger pendant her mother had given her. The tiger opened its bronze mouth, revealing ivory fangs, and roared.
The shrimpzilla backed away, surprised. Not for long, though. It shook itself and attacked again. Raina was furious. She imagined all the anger pumping through her blood, centering on the tiger jewel. With a deafening yowl, the tiger seemed to expand. Raina blinked. It was dissolving off the copper chain.
It roared and lunged at Shrimpzilla. Howling and snarling, it raked bronze claws across the monster's throat. Raina yelled and jumped, pumping her fists up in the air. "Get 'im, Fuzzy!" The tiger roared once more as the Shrimpzilla sank down, dead.
"Woo hoo! Woo h–" Raina crumpled to her knees, her head buzzing. Fuzzy purred and nudged her, slowly turning back into the tiger charm.