Finally, Leo opens his mouth to say something. "We'll explain once Mat gets in the car." I was about to ask why we were picking up that prick, but Leo interrupts me and says, "You'll see why, once everything is explained." I sink lower into my seat, looking outside as the buildings flash past us, a frown painted on my face.
We pulled up to the building where my classmates were lined up, waiting to board the bus that took them there. I checked the time and saw that it was the end of the day, so us taking Mat for an unknown reason would be fine. He looked around before spotting Adam's waving arms and jogging over to us, only stopping to explain to the new teacher there with the kids. Mr. Brunner was nowhere to be seen.
"So, it's time we explain?" Mat asks as he sits in the seat next to Adam, looking at the others before catching my eye. I growl at him, but he gives me a genuine smile, making me blink, the face I was making at him melting away. Adam and Leo send him smiles back, and I get suspicious. What kind of trick did they have me believe? Was Nolan even my real dad? Had I been living a lie?
"Explain." I say, turning around to stare at the three in the back. "Now. Mat's here, so keep your promise."
The said boy looks around, then smiles as no one moves to say anything, giving a small sigh, one that doesn't sound annoyed, but, content. "I guess I'm the one that has to explain. Basically-"
"Stop. Now." I say, angered. "I'm not going to trust someone who tried to make my life a living hell in school and almost succeeded!" Mat's smile falls, his gaze flickering away from my face to look at his shoes. Adam sighs.
"Just listen to him. The whole 'mean' thing was just a test." My friend explains, looking over Leo's shoulder to stare outside. My eye twitches. He doesn't even have the decency to look at me while I'm in a time of distress. My mind fizzled with anger, but I knew that within the storm, there was a great amount of confusion.
"But-" I'm interrupted by my father's hand being placed on my arm, and I look over at him. He shakes his head, locking eyes with me for a moment before going back to driving, his warm hand leaving my cold skin exposed. The touch had a familiarity to it, the only thing that was familiar right now.
"Well, it's about your mother." I stiffen at Mat's start, everyone knew I hated talking about my mom. "She didn't run away from your dad and you, she was forced to leave."
"Start from the beginning. Mr. Brunner mentioned a camp earlier. Is it for crazy people? I'm a crazy?" I ask, trying to move the subject away from my mother, even for a little bit. Mat sighs at the interruption, but explains what I want to know.
"You're not crazy Mitch. You're... special." Was all he said, and I couldn't tell if he paused just to search for the word or just because he didn't want me to know the truth. I went with the latter, only because I still didn't trust him.
"It started when I- no, we- fell in love. We met on a cruise ship where I was working. She was dazzling." Nolan added, still looking in front of him. "Your mother had a special reason to leave."
"Was it because-"
"Watch out!" Adam interrupts me, ducking down in his seat. Instinct kicks in and I follow his example, just as Nolan slams on the brakes. We hit something and momentum pulls us over it, making the roof slam into the ground. I look outside the window to have my hazel eyes meet some sort of creature.
"Get out!" My dad says, already in the procedure of opening his door. Leo takes off his jeans, revealing hairy legs with midnight hooves at the end of each limb. Hr kicks at the door on his side, ripping it off the car. He jumps out while pulling Adam and Mat out with him.
I threw myself at the door, and the hinges gave way. I tumbled out of the car ungracefully, earning a few bruises. The others were already at the edge of the forest, on the opposite side of the road. They were all waiting for me, yelling at me to hurry and follow them.
I glance in the direction of the farm where there was a dark shape on the horizon, running towards the road. It was tall and large, obviously not human, if you couldn't tell by the horns. It's arms looked like it could easily tear anyone in half. I couldn't pull my gaze away from the… thing, but the others yelling eventually got me moving.
The others moved as if they had a destination, and the speed at which they moved made me think that there was some sort of hidden path that the others could see. I thought I would be left behind, but my legs moved with incredible speed. Seeing that thing on the horizon freaked me out.
We soon tumbled out of the forest into a clearing, one so sudden it seemed like it was placed there, but hidden from the world. The arch just standing in the middle of the clearing only made my skin crawl, as if I was being forced into something ominous, like a world that is hidden from the world…
"Mitch, go through the arch!" Adam yelled, dragging me over to said arch. There were letters at the very top of it, but it was clear that they were Greek, not English. I stared at them, and they slowly blurred together and changed into readable English. It said Camp Half-Blood, and I stared at it in confusion before Adam started pulling me again.
The four of us passed under the arch, but when my dad attempted, it seemed like he bounced off. I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him through with all my strength, looking back at Leo, Adam, and Mat to try and get them to help me. They avoided my look by staring at the ground.
"Mitchell," My dad called, and I stared at him in bewilderment. "just let go off my arm." Out of shock, I did as he asked and fell back. "I can't pass through. I'm not like you guys."
"What do you mean?" A sudden flash of anger passes through my head, and I saw red. "You never finished explaining. How am I different? What is this camp for? What is happening?!" I yell. I hear some stomping in the background, but my mind ignores it and covers it up with more anger.
"Fine!" Leo bursts out. "You're a demigod, just like us! Your mom was one of the gods, but we don't know which one."He grabs my arm again. "Now come on, before the Minotaur catches up!" I pull my arm out of his grasp, and give him an angry glare.
My mind thinks back to Mr. Brunner's lecture in the museum, back when Leo and Adam had shared a look. "That doesn't explain what this camp is for. And when you said 'just like us', does that mean you guys are demigods too?"
"Yes, we are, minus Leo, but- just don't question it right now." Adam explained, placing a hand on my shoulder. He took a glance over to look into the forest, where the stomping was getting louder. "The camp is made to keep demigods safe from the monsters- monsters that want to kill us."
Before I could ask about Leo, the monster from across the road trampled out of the trees, letting out a roar. It blew air of its nose, the golden ring hooked through the nose barely moved as it did so. It snarled, revealing jagged, yellow teeth. Smashing one of its hooves against the ground, the monster got ready to charge at my dad.
"Mitch! The pen!" Mat yells, and I hurry to get it out of the pocket I had stuffed it into. I stare at the black fountain pen, waiting for it to do something magical. "Uncap it! Just watch your hands while doing that."
I did as he told me so, and when I did, it took me a moment to process Instead of a black pen in my hand, there was a silver grip. It extended to a black crossguard, one very similar to a medieval sword. There was another one, still black, that was smaller than the one was a small oval white gem in the center of the first crossguard, and the pommel had the small gem, just in a circle.
On the silver blade, there was an engraving of Greek words. They blurred together, similar to the arch, and revealed one word: Charmer. I ran a finger over the words, careful not to drag it onto the sides, which were both sharpened to an edge.
I was snapped back to reality when my friends let out a yell as the Minotaur flung them to the side with the back of his fist. Unfortunately, they fell into a bunch of thorn bushes, and their clothes got snagged on the sharp plants. Struggling as hard as they may, the branches were intertwined into their clothes, and they were indeed stuck.
I started running towards them, ready to slash the branches to pieces, but Leo quickly stopped me. "Turn around, you dolt!" I did as he said, sharply turning one hundred and eighty degrees.
There stood the Minotaur, huffing air into my dad's face as he flailed his legs, just barely missing its arm. His arms we locked to his side, but he probably wouldn't be able to do any damage to the monster, even with them. I stood there for a moment, shell shocked as I watched my dad struggle. My arms went numb and my feet seemed to disappear. The yells from my friends turned into a loud buzzing, breaking into my thoughts before I could register what was happening.
My life seemed to resume when I heard my dad let out a strangled yelp. There was a small scarlet trail falling down the Minotaur's hand, dripping on to the grass. I ground my teeth before charging, my sword poised out in front of me. With a strangled yell of my own, I charged, locking my eyes onto my target: the Minotaur's leg.
I ran the metal weapon into its leg, expecting my dad to fall out of its grasp. When he didn't, I looked up, not seeing a corpse of any kind in the thing's I did see was an angry monster looking down at me, it's hand reaching down to slam me away from it. I started pulling on the sword still lodged in its leg. It slipped out after a bit of struggling, but by then I was too late.
Its hand slammed into me, and I flew into a tree which was ever-so-conveniently placed behind me. A gasp passed my lips, and the sword that caused this to happen slipped out of my hands, clattering to the cold soil. My head had been snapped against the tree bark, and it had to have made my vision dance with dark circles and lines.
I can't feel my arms or legs, and my hands feel raw from yanking the weapon out of the monster's leg. Without even needing to touch the back of my head though, I could easily feel a sticky red liquid ooze its way out of my head, probably drying to my hair.
"Mitch, move!" Adam and Leo screech at me, their hands shoving the plants away from their faces. It ended in failure.
I forced my mouth open, but nothing came out. Not even a wail of pain. A gurgle of death. A sigh of giving up. Nothing. It seemed like my vocal cords didn't exist, and soon an invisible force willed my gaping mouth shut.
The Minotaur let out a snort, as if it couldn't believe killing me would be so easy. Stomping its foot against the ground one last time, it bunched its shoulders together and ran straight at me. The pounding of the thing's hooves against the ground sounded just like a heartbeat, and it was somehow soothing to me. I found my eyelids getting harder to keep open as I was lulled by the vibrations.
The last thing before I saw darkness was Mat leaping in front of me, a twisted red thorn piercing his stomach.
Ayyy, I finally updated! This took Zeus knows long to write. And the part before the very end was really hard to write. It was just really awkward. Strange, because that isn't the darkest I can write. Huh. Anyways, I'm probably not going to write this for a long while, since I did say this was originally gonna be just a one-shot, but eh. How about people write a fan-fic based off of this, huh? Fanception! I might resume this. Maybe. Anyways, I'll see my clanmates later! KK, so, BYE!