Her mother had claimed her. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together.
The first thing Katie felt, relief. She had heard of some campers who never find out who their godly parent was. Some part of Katie wished that she didn't know who her real mother was. Her parents back in North Carolina had lied to her. She didn't want to have another parent hide the truth.
Olivia decided that they would wait until the hour was up, in another fifteen minutes and the campers would be dismissed, before going to the Big House. Until then they continued to walk around the strawberry fields and help. Katie did not know whether or not Olivia saw what Katie had done with the daisy, but decided not to bring it up. She was new and did not want to bring more attention on herself.
The thing about Olivia, she could talk for hours before needing to take a breath. While walking around, Olivia continued to talk but now she could focus on what happened inside the Demeter Cabin. Katie did not mind. She nodded and smiled along. The more Olivia talked about the six other campers in the cabin, the more nervous Katie got about fitting in.
When the hour was finished the Apollo campers filed into the gardening shed to return their tools. As they returned the supplies, the chatted endlessly about their free time coming up in the next few minutes.
"Hey Katie!" someone had snuck up behind her when she was putting the watering cans back on the shelf. She turned to find the boy previously introduced to her, Will, standing behind her.
"Hey Will. What's going on?" she inquired.
"Apollo cabin has their free hour next. Michael is going to help Adam over at Archery. They have the Hermes cabin next. So he asked if I would be willing to show you around camp since you never got a proper tour."
"Oh thanks Will. That's nice of you to give up your free time," he shrugged and looked like he wanted to say something but Katie kept talking. "But, Olivia is going to take me up to the big house. I was claimed a little while ago."
"Really? By who?" Will asked.
"I am now officially a daughter of Demeter."
"Wow Katie!" his face lit up. "That's amazing! I-" Will was interrupted by someone walking into the shed.
"Katie! You in here!?" Olivia yelled from the door way.
"Yes!" Katie shouted back. She placed the last can on the shelf. "I'll see you later Will."
"Yeah, see you. And congratulations Katie."
"Thanks." She turned to walk to the door. Katie saw Olivia impatiently tapping her foot with her arms crossed.
"Come-on slowpoke." She chided then lightened up. "We have so much to do!"
The walk to the Big House did not take nearly as long as Katie had hoped it would. They met Chiron on the front steps. He was in full horse form and did not need them to talk because he already knew why they were there. Chiron told her to go in and grab her things then Olivia could show her to their cabin.
With the help of Olivia, Katie got her bags from where she had left them in the infirmary. Olivia led her down the hill from the big house toward the rows of buildings Katie had seen the previous night. There were twelve of them in a U formation around a plaza type area. All of them different in so many ways; one was bright red, another a golden color.
"Each cabin represents a different godly parent. We are in Cabin Four, down on the end." Olivia informed.
Together they walked down the middle of the courtyard. Before they reached the end, Olivia stopped
"This is it."
Katie's draw dropped. The cabin was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was like a picturesque storybook cottage. With a small wooden porch steps leading to the door that were covered with flowers like none Katie had ever seen. The brick façade was covered with thick vines that created a maze up to the roof that was lines with the greenest grass. Along both sides were small vegetable gardens. If Katie had to choose which cabin to live in, this would be her pick. Nothing too flashy. Just a warm and cozy dwelling.
After giving Katie sometime to gape at the building, Olivia walked up the stairs toward the screen door. At the top of the stairs she turned around and motioned for Katie to follow.
The door creaked as Olivia opened it. The inside was just as wonderful as the outside was. The room held eleven beds, five on each side creating a walkway down the middle to the one at the end. In between each bed was a small window and nightstand. Campers had hung up pictures and posters to personalize their own space. Only a few of the beds seemed to be getting regular use.
"The others will be back soon." Olivia said pulling Katie out of her observation. "Here, you can take this bed." She pointed to the bed just to the right of the door. "We don't have many campers here in this cabin compared to some of the others. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing for you. We will be even smaller after this summer."
"Why?"
"You are the first to know this so don't tell anyone but I'm not going to stay year round next year. I'm going to go out into the real world and start my life. "
"How long have you been at Camp?"
"It's been five years. My protector brought me to camp when I was thirteen."
"Oh, my. And you have been in the camp this entire time?" Katie was only eleven now. She wondered if she would be here the rest of her teen years as well. It seemed like forever to her little mind. But, her family had lied to her, and as of now she did not want to go back to them. This place did seem like a nice home. She had already made some new friends here, as well as found a new family. How bad could it be living here?
"No, I have been out in the world. But, it was never longer than a few weeks. Somehow I always find my way back here. I am not the only one who is going to be leaving though. For two of other Demeter children, this will be their last year."Olivia's face became somber as she talked about the thought of her departure and her friends leaving.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you guy were trying to get away from me," Katie joked trying to lighten the mood. It worked because Olivia began laughing.
The 18-year-olds mood instantly lightened. The pair stopped talking about the thought of leaving and began to work on getting Katie's bed set up.
Each camper received their own bunk in the cabin. Along with the bed they got a trunk at the foot of their bed, a bedside table and window. Katie had not brought much, as she believed she would be traveling across the country for a few weeks instead of living in a cabin the rest of the summer. Unpacking did not take long. Just as they had finished putting everything away they heard people approaching the cabin.
The creak of the screen door indicated their entrance,so did their yelling.
There were two of them a boy and a girl. The boy was tall, tan, Katie guessed him to be around the age of fifteen, he had chocolate brown hair shining with sweat being held back by a green bandana, brown eyes to match, and a square jaw. He was handsome. The girl was shorter than him by around three inches, but her voice coming in the door proved that those inches were not a problem. She had more of a golden eye color that helped with intimidation. Her hair was brown as well but it had a lighter tone with golden highlights and was braided down the back of her head. They argued as they walked into the cabin.
"I so won!" the girl yelled.
"No! I won! They called the fighting to stop!" he yelled back.
"Hey guys," Olivia acknowledged them, "this is-." obliviously the two kept walking to their designated bunks, arguing the entire time and ignoring the two girls. "Guys!" she yelled louder. The two did not even turn in her direction. Olivia walked over to the boy and girl attempting to break them apart and yelled again, "Jaz! Riley!"
They didn't stop fighting but now acknowledged that Olivia was there. The couple turned to here and tried to explain themselves. They talked at the same time however, and Olivia could not understand what they were saying. She threw her hands up in frustration.
"Seriously stop fighting. Is this really how you want to introduce yourself to your new sister?" she stomped her foot. "I am sorry you had to see that Katie?" she turned to the little girl and then back to the pair. "This is Katie Gardner. She was just claimed an hour or so ago. Welcome her, please." She then added in a motherly tone, "and be nice to each other. You would think you guys were children of Ares. Gods."
The tall boy walked over first. "Hi", he said, "Riley Wells." He held out his hand.
Katie returned the hand shake.
"Katie," she replied.
"That's Jasmine-"
"Jaz!" the girl interrupted from her bed on the other side of the room. She was lying on her stomach with a book in front of her nose, scribbling fiercely.
"Sorry," Riley continued. "That's Jaz Rockford." He leaned in to whisper in Katie's ear, "She is kind of the thorn of this cabin, if you know what I mean."
Katie suppressed a giggle.
"Okay guys we have twenty minutes until lunch," Olivia announced. "Get cleaned up."
The girl, Jaz, grabbed a fresh shirt and claimed the bathroom in the back of the cabin. Riley, announced he was going off to the showers. While they were away, Olivia did a check of the plants inside the cabin then did the same outside.
Katie surveyed the individual bunks in the room. The only ones in use were the three that belonged to her siblings and her own. The others had pictures around their headboards but were covered in a thin layer of dust. She walked by each of them. She saw Olivia had hung up a poster of some romance movie Katie had heard of but never seen. Next to the bed was a vase filled with beautiful soft pink colors.
On the other side was Riley's. His was not covered with flowers or anything girly like that. Katie saw a signed photograph a basketball player she didn't know. On the nightstand were postcards from all over the country. They were all neatly stacked and preserved inside a Ziploc bag.
Katie moved passed a few other dusty mattresses until she reached the far corner of the room. Jaz's bed. Nothing frilly about this Demeter girl. Her bed was unmade, clothes spilling out of the trunk at foot, pencils lying on the table. Lying square on the pillow was a journal. A simple brown leather book. It looked well worn. Pages bent and wrinkled so much the cover could not lay flat. Just sitting there, begging to be looked at. Katie was tempted. She remembered the intense look on Jaz's face when she was scrawled onto the pages.
Katie couldn't resist any longer. She reached out for the journal.
Not before a sword can down over her hand.
"Do not touch," an aggravated voice growled at her. Jaz had come out of the restroom.
Katie slowly lifted her figures off of the book, and looked over the bed to the mysterious girl.
"You're new here, so I'll let you off easy," she glared. "You should learn soon, don't mess with me or any of my things."
Jaz had shifted her sword over so that it was pointed directly at Katie's face.
"Sorry," the girl responded.
There was a stomping from outside. Someone was walking up the stairs. Jaz lowered the sword and Katie turned to see, a clean Riley walk through the screen door.
He didn't notice the girls' position around Jaz's bed. Shortly behind him Olivia walked in.
"C'mon, guys," she sang. "It's lunch time."
On the way to the dining pavilion, Olivia explained how lunch worked around here. Katie understood. She thought the idea of burning food for the gods was a little strange but went along with it. Everything about this place was a little strange. But this was Katie's home now. She would have to be okay with the strange rituals. Throw part of your meal into flames. Why not?
They made their way up the stairs to a large space filled with tables. To call it a building would not have been right. There was no ceiling. Columns surrounded the sides of a large cemented piece of land. Picnic tables of different sizes were scattered around the space. There was a long table in the front. It was raised and only had seats on one side. There were only five seats that Katie could see. She could tell almost instantly that this would be were their leaders would be sitting.
The four sat down at a table near the front.
"Where is everyone else?" Katie asked.
"We come in, in the order of cabin numbers," Riley explained from his spot next to her. "Since there is no one living in Cabins One through Three, Four gets to come in first."
"Oh," Katie responded with a nod of her head.
She saw another cabin making their way up the stairs now. Five or six kids, of just about every age, all of them looked like a mess. Like they didn't care how they looked to anyone else. Katie could only describe them as what you would imagine a school bully to look like. They were still in their armor, and had their weapons at the ready.
"That's the Ares cabin," Riley tipped.
Another group strolled in behind them. They were being led by a small girl around Katie's size with curly, sandy-blonde hair. All of them had grey eyes that could stop traffic. They weren't as scary as the group in front of them was but still they were very intimidating.
"Athena."
Katie recognized the next group. She had spent most of her morning with them, Apollo cabin. She saw, Will waved to her. Michael was also in the group towards the front next to Adam.
Behind them a group of kids just as burly as the Ares cabin, all of them covered in some sort of sludge.
"No one lives in the Artemis Cabin, so they are skipped. That's Cabin Nine, Hephaestus. And behind them, that's the Aphrodite cabin."
Sure enough, just after the sludge monsters walked in, a huge group of children of all ages walked in. every girl looked like a Barbie doll with their hair and makeup done just the right way, while every guy had that rugged handsome look that you thought only actors could have. They were all so perfect looking that you couldn't help but slink back into your chair and feel self-conscious.
"Don't go near them if you like the way you look right now," Jaz chimed in. "They're always looking for a new makeover subject. Take it from me, it's not fun."
Riley laughed and went on to tease Jaz about how good she looked in the pink mini skirt, who in turn glared daggers into him. Something about the look made Katie think that Riley would pay for his comment soon.
Katie looked to Olivia to help. Olivia, however, was not paying any attention to the pair. She stared off at the entrance to the pavilion.
"Olivia," Katie tapped her arm, "you okay?"
"yeah-yeah, I'm fine," she shrugged the little girl off without taking her eyes off the entrance.
"Don't worry about her," Riley advised. "She's just looking to see if Luke is back."
"No, I'm not."Olivia snapped quickly. She stretched her neck to see the next group come in.
Katie looked too. The amount of campers in the group made up at least a third of the amount at the entire camp. Unlike the other groups, none of these kids looked like they belonged together. No family resemblance at all. One boy stood out to her among all the rest. He looked around her age. A mess of curly brown hair hung across his forehead and framed his piercing blue eyes.
He took notice of her first. And stared, intrigued. A small smile formed on his lips like he knew some secret about her. Katie watched the boy as he walked to his table. He sat down before looking back up to meet her gaze. She never like secrets or surprises or tricks and this boy looked like three. She immediately marked his face in her mind as a person not to be affiliated with. Katie jumped back into the conversation with her table forgetting about the strange boy.
They talked and ate without any problems. Katie felt that even though she only knew them a few hours she could trust her siblings. She had not even been here a full day but already she had made some of the best friends she could imagine. But she guessed that was how you knew where you belonged in the world. Where you felt the most comfortable. And she did feel comfortable here. Once you get used to the gods thing, it wasn't that bad.
It was as warm and welcoming as any home could be.
Thank you for the reviews!
Just a few things I should mention:
1. I do not have loads of time to write so these updates wil be kind of random. Just think of them as surprise presents from me to you!
2. I have plans for Katie, but how she gets there i usually do not know until I begin writing. Suggestions are always welcome!
3. The story is going to follow Katie around. I have this idea that i should do little side stories from other character point of views. (Ex. Michael's first reaction to meeting Katie.) Would you guys read that? Where should I put them? As seperate one-shots, that I can just give you a link to, or as a story and upload the side-views as different chapters?
4. I have different inspirations for what write about. I will try to get links up so y'all can see. I just thought I would tell you so if there is a link you know what it is.
Inspiration:
watch?v=2cKNleDdUFY
My version of events. Rick Riordan owns PJatO.