I broke into a fast sprint, the girl following suit, keeping up with me fairly easily as my feet pounded down the street. I was impressed when she showed no signs of tiring. We darted through some back-streets before skidding out onto a busy street lined with dinky trinket shops and cafes, crowds of mortals scattering around us like cockroaches as we pushed past them. The city we were in was San Francisco, it had never been my favourite city, and it wasn't exactly making a name for itself as a demigod friendly environment. Nearly tripping over a bunch of black plastic bags sitting on the sidewalk, I made a sharp turn down a grimy alleyway, and pulled the girl into a tight gap between two buildings.
"I thought you knew what you were doing!" she hissed, glancing around uneasily.
"Besides I don't know why I'm even following you, I don't trust strangers!" She looked down into her box of noodles, which she'd sprinted all this way with. She poked the food a bit with her plastic fork, before sighing and chucking both items into a nearby garbage bin.
"I do know what I'm doing, we just need to wait, my friend will be here soon... Besides if anyone's a stranger you are, and you haven't even told me your name!" I retorted.
"Nadia, my name's Nadia" she said hotly, rummaging in her pockets, she produced a tourist map and spread it out on the concrete.
A cool breeze swirled around my ankles and the map skittered across the floor, before Nadia could retrieve it, Mrs O'Leary bounded out of the shadows, knocking me to the ground with a great, shaggy paw on top of my chest.
"Ow, good to see you too girl, now please… OW!" I could feel my ribs beginning to crack under the weight of her paw.
"What the…?" Nadia struggled for words. Mrs O'Leary lifted her wet nose up and sniffed her cautiously, before giving her a slobbery kiss, leaving her dripping from head to foot in dog drool.
"Ew." Was all she said. I clambered onto Mrs O'Leary's back, before offering Nadia my hand and helping her climb up too. "Get ready!" I yelled as Mrs O'Leary hurtled towards a brick wall, just as we were about to hit it, the shadows curled around us, tugging at my skin. They wrapped around us, sucking at my eyes, then my nose, then my mouth. I felt like I was suffocating, as the shadows started to creep down my throat.
Then we were surrounded by light, and the shadows shot back away from us so fast it left me feeling like my insides were still churning.
Once the shadows had fully melted away we were at camp, in the dining pavilion whilst the campers were making their offerings to the gods. Thunder rumbled in disapproval as we crashed straight through the tables, sending both food and campers flying. When Mrs O'Leary finally slumped onto the floor I slipped off her back, helping a dazed Nadia to the ground,
"Suicidal maniac" she mumbled as one of the Stoll brothers came over, briefly introducing themselves before guiding her towards what remained of the Hermes table. After that little input, I figured she could speak to Chiron in the morning.
I woke up early the next day, just after sunrise. Little streams of white sunlight were beginning to shine through from under the door. I pulled myself out of the sleeping bag, changed my clothes and tried my best to rub the sleep from my eyes.
I walked over to the door and pulled it open, the handle was stiff. I wasn't sure why that bothered me.
A breeze ruffled my hair as I stepped out. It was going to be a nice day, and I pulled my sunglasses out of my pocket.
I took a first proper look at my surroundings. Chiron had sent me straight to the Hermes' cabin after the incident in the pavilion. And although I wanted to learn more about camp, I was grateful for the night's sleep, even if it was on the floor.
There were twelve cabins in all, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo… I counted them on each my fingers, all the Olympians, before running through the minor gods I could remember as well.
The cabins were arranged in a U shape around a large commons area. In the centre was a burning fire and seated next to it was a young girl. Gently tending the flames with a wooden stick. I approached her cautiously and she looked curiously at me, tilting her head at an angle before silently patting the ground next to her. I sat down awkwardly and stared at the flames. Warmth and comfort radiated from her like, well, like a fire.
"Lady Hestia," I recalled, the pieces clicking in my head. I had learnt about the Goddess from stories I had heard and books I had read. She smiled at me, playful flames flickering warmly in her eyes.
"You honour me, and I thank you. Not many pay respect to me, and it has been a long while since I last had company…" she said, and sighed, the fire in her eyes flickered and died. The colour in them swirled and cooled down to a deep brown. She looked so sad.
Then she locked eyes with me, the flames flared up and burnt more intensely than before as she held a steady gaze with me. It was really rather creepy.
"You are a fascinating character child…" She paused, "How unusual that you have no home, no family, no friends, you belong nowhere…" she stared at me, "a lost soul".
"I'm not lost," I snapped. Furious. "I had family, my home is London, was London…" I trailed off, breaking eye contact with her and turning to face the fire. I avoided any further eye contact.
"Do not worry" Hestia said more gently, "you-" But she didn't get to finish her sentence, I didn't hear what she was going to say. Because, at that moment, a small group of campers rushed from out the edge of the forest, some of them were shouting loudly, like, emergency loudly. A few figures split off from the sprint, and started running in other directions, shouting and half screaming something I couldn't quite understand. One of them was Percy.
He was sprinting towards us, a girl with piercing grey eyes and blond hair closely following behind him, I opened my mouth to ask what was happening, but before the syllables could form in my throat, he grabbed me, hauling me to my feet, and pulled me into a sprint behind him.
A/N I would like to thank H. Trivia for editing AGAIN, she is wonderful! Please please review this chapter! I'll try to update soon!