Hey! I hope no one has given up on me, but I guess it's my fault if you did! Anyway, I own nothing here except for Taylor because she's me in demigod form!
I walked up to them to hear what they were talking about. What was so important that they would risk getting eaten? Oh my gods, they're just gossiping! Are they all Aphrodite kids?
No, wait, that's Antonia! There's Taylor, Cristina, Margaret, Alexandria, the two Aphrodite girls, and a bunch of other kids. There were a lot of guys there, making up the other half of the group.
Most of the guys had blond hair and blue eyes, so I wondered if they were all half-siblings. Then I realized that everyone who had played Don't Stop Believing was there except one of the flute players and one of the trumpets. There was also the short, blond girl that hugged the boy who had sang and played the guitar. In total, there were about fifteen of them.
As I watched, two more demigods walked up and joined the group. One of them was limping slightly, and the other one was trying to help him walk toward us. I wonder what happened to them, and if it was actually important at all.
When they got here, the boy with the limp looked at Taylor and smiled.
"Thanks Taylor, that really helped a lot!" Everyone stared at Taylor, and she blushed. She wasn't nearly as red as Cristina was after she sang, but she was still blushing.
"It was nothing. Most of my half-siblings are a lot better at that kind of thing than I am; well most of them. That was actually my first time healing anything larger than a rabbit. We should probably be thanking the gods that it actually worked. Although you really should be more careful next time you're trying to get away quickly!" Taylor looked embarrassed as she said the first part of that, and I'm guessing that she got teased about it on more than one occasion. Especially since at least two of the guys were acting like they were her half-brothers.
"Well, I'll thank the gods that Robert is fine, but couldn't have you died trying to heal him?" Right on time! Thank you for proving my un-spoken point boy I don't know who just walked up to the group!
"Ohmygods! Thanks a lot Evan! I feel so rejected!" Well, apparently that guy's name is Evan. He had short brown hair, and was kind of tall but most of the boys in the group were really tall, so he wasn't that huge in comparison.
"Good, you should be!" One of the guys that were blond with blue eyes said, but Taylor completely ignored him. I think I heard one of the guys say something like "Go Donald!" when they high-fived him, so I think that's his name.
"Oh, way to be mature guys! No, but, seriously, do you guys think that she really is your half-sister?" Antonia looked around at Donald, Taylor, and one of the other boys that looked like them when she said that. Now that I think about it, they act like they're brothers and sister.
"Well, she sings like one of us, and she was definitely into the music; but she doesn't really look the part. She might be, but I think it's more likely that she's one of our half-siblings' daughters instead of our half-sister." Taylor was the one to say this, but the other two both nodded. I wonder who they're talking about.
"Well, no matter who her parent is, I think the camp has a new favorite singer. Sorry, Taylor!" Everyone including Taylor laughed, but she seemed to be laughing for a completely different reason.
"Haha, don't apologize to me Mickey! Antonia is a better singer, so she would be the camp's favorite anyway, before or after the new girl came!" That just made everyone laugh even more, and Antonia blushed. Apparently the guy who had spoken was Mickey, and he looked nothing like the rest of the group except for one of the other boys.
"Okay, but honestly, I thought there were no more unclaimed demigods!" The one guy that looked slightly like Mickey talked over the laughter and everyone immediately sobered up.
"Norman, the rule was that no one was unclaimed once they turned thirteen, I heard that she joined the Hunters the day before her birthday; just like Thalia did, what, twenty years ago?" One of the Aphrodite girls spoke up this time, I guess because they are the gossip queens of the group. I now had an idea of who they were talking about, and I had a suspicion that it was me.
"Um, Marie, how would you know that?" Okay, hold on, I got this. There's Taylor, Donald, and one other boy who are all kids of Apollo; Antonia is a daughter of Athena; Cristina is a daughter of Lethe; Margaret was a daughter of Mr. D; Marie and her half-sister are both children of Aphrodite; and then Robert, Evan, Mickey, Norman, Alexandria, and then five unknown demigods. That leaves a total of . . . nineteen people all just here to gossip! Wow, they obviously have no lives!
"Julianna and I have our ways!" The way she said that, I was scared. Yep, you heard me right; I was scared of two daughters of Aphrodite. I'm pretty sure a few of the people in the group felt the same way, because they all slowly backed away from her as she said that.
"Right, well then, is anyone else tired?" A girl with really long blond hair yawned as she said this, and almost instantaneously the entire group (including me) all joined her.
"LeAnne! It's not nice to make the rest of us tired, just because your dad's Morpheus! That's nasty!" Cristina started out with a straight face, but soon was laughing along with everyone else.
"Cristina, do you think everything is nasty? You said your lunch was nasty the other day; and it was FOOD!" The tallest guy there was talking about food as if it was the best thing on the Earth. Wow, that's sad.
"Gosh Michael; do you ever stop thinking about food?" Another one of the tall guys was saying this, and from the back, he looked almost exactly like him except slightly shorter.
"Watch it Lover Boy! I'll totally kick your butt in Capture the Flag! I don't care if we're on the same team or not! I hate having the Eros cabin on the same team as the awesome Ares cabin anyways!" Okay, that was completely random but it was funny to watch everyone's reaction to that. Most of them were either laughing or looking scared for their life, before laughing. Maybe it's just really hard to take Michael seriously.
"Ugh, I love Capture the Flag because I totally get to fulfill my threats, but the work afterwards is so exhausting! Seriously, most of my older half-siblings want me to help them heal everyone, and I've only been practicing for a few months! Not. A. Word, James!" Taylor looked pointedly at her half-brother. He looked actually scared for his life now, instead of just faking it like he was before. Gods, Taylor was threatening when she wanted to be!
"Guys, we should probably head back to our own cabins before we get eaten! Although I do love the cold out here, I just wish it would snow more!" One of the flute players from earlier was looking around like she was hoping it would start snowing even though we were inside the camp's protective borders.
"AH! Winter, stop it! Or ask your mom to stop it! Please Lady Chione! It's not time to snow yet!" Okay, was that girl's name honestly Winter? I guess it would explain why her mom is the goddess of snow!
"Sorry Earl, but I just LOVE snow! It's epic!" Oh, so the boy who had guitar and actually sang was named Earl. Okay, I think I'm beginning to understand a little bit more about these kids; but why the Hades would they still be out here only a few SECONDS before lights-out?
"Okay, so we still don't know anything about why the Hunters are really here except that they dropped off two of my half-siblings and we're playing Capture the Flag tomorrow. There has to be another reason that we're missing!" Alexandria was the one to speak up this time. If Taelor and Zack are her half-siblings, then she must be a daughter of Demeter! Wow, I think there's a demigod child of every Olympian in this group.
"Well, they might be looking for new Huntresses too." The boy named Evan pointed this out and everyone nodded. A few of the people looked around at some of the girls in the group as if they were trying to decide who would leave camp to join the Hunt. Apparently, no one was sure on that subject.
"Yeah, that's true. I've talked to Thalia and she says that this place is awesome for the Hunt to recruit more girls; not that I would know." Taylor said this and then added the last bit like it was an inside joke. From the way Cristina, Antonia, Margaret, Alexandria, and LeAnne were laughing; I take it I was right about the inside joke.
"You know, if anyone here was going to go to the dark side just because they offered you cookies, it would be Taylor. Just because no one else here is blond enough to believe that immortality and maidenhood is really better than Camp Half-Blood!" Whoa, did they just call the Hunt "the dark side"? And what's with the cookies thing; that was totally not part of the deal!
"Ohmygods, it's the Hunt! It's not like I'm joining Darth Vader or anything Evan! Honestly, what is so bad about leaving Camp to join the Hunters?" Thank you Taylor! The Hunt is awesome and NO ONE should be allowed to diss it like that.
"You know that our dad is Artemis's twin, right? If their sibling relationship is anything like ours, you have no chance of getting into the Hunt!" Okay, that's true, but I really don't think that Lady Artemis judges her potential-Huntresses by who their parent or parents is or are!
"Lady Artemis doesn't get along well with any men, and who can blame her? I mean, honestly, I think she's even gotten mad at Evan's dad before, and he's her dad too! I honestly don't think it matters, and why are we talking about this at all; my decision and reasons for joining the Hunt have nothing to do with you." Taylor stressed that it was Lady Artemis, and I'm glad that she had the decency to only use Lady Artemis's name and no one else's. James could learn something just by talking to them!
"Whoa, you mean you're actually going to join the Hunt? Oh well, it's not like we'll miss you at all! I am going to go back to my cabin now, so good night everyone!" Okay, that was just plain low, even for a boy! How could Michael be that mean? 'We're not going to miss you at all'? That's rejection, and can't be described as anything else.
"Yeah, I'm going to sleep too. Good night people!" LeAnne walked off to the minor gods' cabins along with Winter and the boy that Michael had called Lover Boy. Apparently his real name was Ace, but they liked to tease him because of his dad. That's racist! Everyone else walked to the Olympian cabins, except for Antonia, Cristina, and Taylor.
"Hello Nicole. I'm guessing you heard our conversation, so how did you enjoy it? We always act that way towards each other, it's really nothing new." Antonia was the first one to address me, but the other two smiled at me. I was trying to decide how to respond to that, when Thalia walked up to us.
"There you are! You're the only one who hasn't shown up yet! Oh, hi Taylor, do you have your answer yet?" Thalia didn't even bother saying hello. That's just the kind of person she is I guess.
"Yes. Yes I know my answer, and my answer is yes." Wow, Taylor makes decisions really quickly. Antonia and Cristina both stared at her as if she never made choices with that much certainty and so fast.
"Great, we'll ask Lady Artemis if she can accept your pledge tomorrow right before Capture the Flag. That way you'll be on the winning team for once, and you'll be able to beat all your half-siblings." That's a really good plan, join the Hunt right before Capture the Flag and surprise everyone by showing up with awesome archery skills and on the Hunters side! That would be fun to watch.
"Okay, thank you Thalia; I can't wait!" Taylor, Cristina, and Antonia all walked off to their own cabins while Thalia and I headed in the direction of cabin number eight. This has been one long day.
Hey, I did it! I finished this chapter, thank you to everyone who has read this! I know I spent A LOT of time introducing random demigods, but they're all based off of people in my classes (not all of them can be considered friends) and they'll actually be important later on. Especially in Capture the Flag . . . *insert evil laughter here* Please review! Thank you!
~monkeypicklez