Warning: Contains abuse, self-harm, swearing, monsters, secret societies, death, memory loss, Hecate, twins, and a whole lot of stuff that PJO forgot to mention.
Warning: Contains abuse, self-harm, swearing, monsters, secret societies, death, memory loss, Hecate, twins, and a whole lot of stuff that PJO forgot to mention.
Sam
We arrived at a huge green hill topped with a lone pine tree standing tall and thin, like a guard.
I slipped off Chiron's back and stretched. God, it was uncomfortable to ride a centaur. For a horror struck moment, I wondered if riding a horse for an hour or so broke my hymen (hey, my thoughts aren't censored, are yours?).
Gillian stumbled off Chiron. Her face was tinted green and she was clutching her stomach.
Gillian: "So... urghhhh... that's, uh... Half-Blood Hill...Uhm... I gotta-" She keeled over and puked, missing my shoes by an inch.
I took a step back and tried not to breathe in.
"Have blood what?" I asked looking at Gillian in a kind of disgusted yet fascinated way.
Chiron cut in, "Half-Blood Hill."
"Doesn't everyone have blood, though?"
Gillian pushed herself back to her feet, groaning. I noticed how Chiron seemed to ignore her. He didn't even help her up or ask if she was okay.
She said,"Half-Blood. Half. Not have. Ohhh it's coming up agai-"
More vomit. I took another step away from her. Whatever she had eaten before was very... um, potent.
I glanced back and forth between Gillian and Chiron and said,"Uh, sir, she.. she looks like she could use some help."
He replied quickly with, "Oh, no, she'll be fine." Gillian looked up for a second and glared at the back of Chiron's head before she started puking again. Chiron glanced at her with annoyance as she was holding her hair back. There was no more coming out of her, but it didn't seem like she'd stop retching until her stomach came up, too.
Her's and Chiron's relationship didn't seem so stable. Their interactions almost reminded me of my mom and dad's. Secretly hating each other, but only one seemed to do anything about it, and that was Chiron: ignoring her to the point where she could be internally bleeding to death and he didn't give a fuck.
"If you're mad at her because they lost me, it's my fault. I ran away from them."
Chiron laughs. "No, no. Nothing was your fault. It's understandable you were afraid. I don't exactly, er, approve of Freak's methods but... Well, they've worked before. Now, come. It seems she's done for the moment."
His methods have worked before, I thought to myself. Methods? He knocked me out using chloroform and in the process made me feel like I was being kidnapped… And then I woke up in a dark, uncomfortable cave with extremely sore muscles. If they'd just explained things in the first place, although I may not have believed them, I would've gladly gone with them wherever. It's not like I was looking forward to going home.
The three of us huffed up the hill.
Well, two of us, actually. Chiron cantered to the top much faster than Gillian and I and waited by the pine tree, swishing his tail.
I was only walking up, but by the time I got to the top, my thighs burned and my breath came out ragged.
Gillian would've been about as fast as Chiron if she hadn't been stumbling and stopping every few seconds to make sure she wouldn't get sick again. Even though it took us a few minutes to make it up to the tree, Chiron looked at us the whole time quite amiably as if he were simply watching his favorite television show.
"Sir, I really don't think she's okay." I said at the top of the hill after I'd caught my breath.
Again, Chiron waved my concern away.
Gillian joined us. She smelled like vomit. It kinda made me want to puke, too.
Chiron smiled,"Let's get going, shall we?" He gracefully turned away from us and began prancing down the other side of the hill.
Then, I turned around and saw... Wow.
To my right, there were sprawling fields of strawberries, continuing over several miles of hills.. To my left, a vast forest that seemed just as endless as the strawberry fields..
Towards the horizon, there was a hilly beach and some jagged cliffs overlooking a bay. On the cliffs was a little tuft of trees looking like it belonged with the rest of the forest but had been misplaced. Next to it was a pavilion looking precariously balanced on the edge, probably for a beautiful view at mealtimes. A little less dangerously placed, but still close to the pavilion, was what looked like an amphitheater.
Off the beach towards the left was a U shaped collection of brightly painted buildings, each one unique. Cutting the whole amazing scene in half was a creek that ran from the woods into the strawberry fields and beyond. In between the forest and strawberry farm, the creek pooled into a lake, and then trickled away again.
There were rock climbing walls, and archery ranges, volleyball pits and a homey looking building that was splashed with paint.
Besides all this were people milling around. Some looked normal enough; others, like they were ready to be thrown into war at any moment. And I don't mean modern warfare. I mean a roman war or something. They had shields and swords or spears, not to mention the armor that covered their bodies.
"What-" I was about to say, 'What is this place?!'
but I didn't get the chance. Chiron waved me in the direction of a huge house. Kind of colonial, kind of like a giant farmhouse. And I mean giant. It had a wrap-around porch and, wow, a lot of windows.
"This way, please," Chiron said politely.
And so we descended towards the large house/mansion.
Gillian: *GROANNN*
Gillian
"...And so basically, yeah."
"Yeah?" said Sam, frowning. "What?"
Oh, oh right. See, I'd imagined I had finished explaining the whole oh-yeah-greek-myths-aren't-myths-they-happen-to-be -actual-history shit.
Only, I hadn't even started. My throat tasted like vomit. At some point on Chiron's back, I swallowed a spider. And, my gods. I have never really been freaked by spiders, but a creepy crawly thing in my stomach? It was too much. I secretly wondered whether or not Chiron had purposely run us into a spider web - it seemed exactly like something he would do, him being all passive-aggressive.
I held the barf back for a few minutes, but as soon as we landed, my stomach went into convulsions. I decided not to tell Sam about the spider. Anyone with a quarter of a brain could tell she was a child of Athena. The gray eyes and blonde hair were one thing, but it was mostly her build and the way she spoke that clued us in as to who her godly parent was.
Freak was lounging in the game room when we arrived at the Big House. Chiron gave me a warning look that meant, "You better do a good job this time." And then, he left us alone with Sam.
She sat there, waiting with her wide eyes. Waiting for us to tell her everything. She didn't drown us in questions, or anything. I figured that for me, this would be the easiest demigod to collect because she barely spoke.
Freak opened his mouth to begin, but just then, there was a flush from the bathroom and Mr. D walked out with a pepsi can in his hand.
"I didn't know gods had to go to the bathroom?" I said.
He snorted and quite rudely said, "Where else would I find time to read the paper?"
And then he walked out.
That's my dad for you.
He's not so into social encounters, but he's nicer to me than most. Probably because I'm his super-awesome daughter. Or maybe I'm just likeable. I hope both.
"So, Sam." Freak was wringing his hands nervously. "Sorry for, uh, kidnapping you."
She cocked her head, waiting for more. When it was clear he was done, she said "S'okay."
"Okay, yeah, cool, cool."
"Alright!" I interrupted. "This is the part where I tell you all about how you aren't really human."
Sam's eyes were big. Somehow, they grew even larger. Well, actually, if we wanna look at this scientifically, it was probably her pupils that grew, but what's the fun in knowing the truth?
"-Uhmm-"
Freak shot me a look. What the fuck... he mouthed.
"Wait," I continued "Just lemme talk. I've had... wow. My day has probably been worse than both of yours, and I just need you to listen so I can get this over with, go to the nurse's station, and go to bed."
I turned to Sam.
"Look, I remember what it was like to be told I was a half-blood, so let me try and be clear." I thought for a second.
"You are a demigod, or half-blood as kind of slang. Both are correct. Being a demigod means a lot of things. It means you have one mortal parent, which is human. They might not know you're a half-blood. They might not know they had a kid with a god."
I paused. Sam's mouth hung open, and for the first time she actually looked a little surprised, but I'd kinda been hoping for a little more than just raised eyebrows. I wanted a 'HOLY FUCKING SHIT NOPE YOU'RE LYING WAIT NO YOU'RE NOT THIS IS SO COOL I'M SO COOL FUCKING SHIT OH MY GODS I TOTALLY DIDN'T EXPECT THIS,' but really it seemed like part of her - no, most of her - already knew. I continued, deciding this was a lot less fun than Freak made me hope for.
"Greek gods, if you were wondering. Zeus, Apollo, Hera, the works. You can ask questions, now." I winced as thunder rumbled overhead. Sam glanced up, too. Freak only stared at his new sneakers, spattered with mud and monster blood. "By the way, try not to use their names. They don't much like it. For some reason, it's disrespectful."
Sam swallowed and was plunged into our world. Like the rest of us, she had no choice in the matter.
For the next hour and a half we kept talking, and when we were done, I'm pretty sure she believed us, but she still looked awestruck when a satyr popped in asking me for some help in the forest.
I sighed and pushed myself up.
"Show her around, and then bring her underground. See ya."
I left.