I opened my eyes with a searing pain in my left arm. I'm not dead! was my first thought. My second was, where the heck am I? I was lying in a soft bed, in a room
with at least a dozen other beds and a bunch of medical supplies. It smelled like medicine and disinfectant wipes. Open windows took up most of the walls; they blew in a warm breeze and cast
a comforting golden light into the room. I guessed it was morning, based on the light and the crisp feeling in the air. A few injured or sick people occupied the other beds, with healers aiding
and addressing their wounds.
A boy that looked about seventeen burst through the door, looking in the direction of my bed with an anxious expression. I blushed, immediately recognizing him as the blond boy I'd thought
was cute. I closed my eyes, pretending I was asleep to hide my blush. He came over to where I was laying down and took a seat in a chair next to my cot. The boy placed his cool hand on my
forehead, probably to check my temperature. That made my breathing speed up, which would have totally given me away, so I pretended to wake up. My eyelids fluttered open. Up close, the
boy was even more beautiful; he had light blue eyes, a surfer's tan, and super white teeth. He met my eyes, took his hand off my forehead, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank the gods you're okay! That was quite a fall; we were all so worried..." He ruffled his hands through his blond hair. "My name's Will Solace." Will stuck his hand out as a
friendly gesture, and I shook it.
"I'm Lucy... Lucy Wheeton," I mumbled, a bit dazed and weak.
"How are you feeling, Lucy?"
"Okay, I think... Except for my arm." It had three huge claw marks etched into it that were still raw. His eyes moved to where the gash was.
"Ouch... Yeah, lemme' take care of that for you." I wasn't sure what he meant; a band-aid wasn't exactly going to cover it.
He closed his eyes and placed his hand gently on the cut. My arm stung at first, but when he started whispering, the pain began to subside. I couldn't make out what he was saying; he was
speaking too quickly and quietly. It seemed to be some sort of incantation of healing. I watched in surprise as my gash turned from red to pink, from pink to a white scar, and from a white
scar to normal skin again; it was like magic. He opened his eyes and took a shaky breath, as if the incantation drained his energy. I stared at him in amazement.
"How did you..?" I trailed off as he met my eyes with a cocky grin.
"I'll try to explain... I'm guessing Rachel told you about half-bloods and how they're the child of a god and a mortal?" I nodded.
"Well, I'm the son of Apollo, god of prophesy, music, healing, and the sun. Because I'm a son of Apollo, I can heal people's injuries or sicknesses with my dad's blessing."
"Oh. Thank you, then." I told him.
"Anytime," he said with another smile. I tried to sit up, but as soon as I did, I felt dizzy and sick, almost falling off the bed.
"Er, maybe that's not the best idea," Will said, gently steadying me and pushing me back against the pillow. "Stay right here. I'm going to get you something to eat." I followed his directions
and stayed put as he got something that looked like a brownie out of a cupboard. He handed it to me, and I hesitantly took a bite.
It was the most wonderful thing I had ever put in my mouth. It tasted like something between hot fudge and honey; it melted as it touched my tongue. As soon as I swallowed, I felt all warm
and fuzzy inside.
I ate the rest in a hurry, not even bothering to taste it; I hadn't realized how hungry I was.
"What is this stuff?" I wondered.
"Ambrosia. The food of the gods. I don't think we can risk anymore..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if you eat too much, then you can basically just turn to ash," he said with a calm expression, as if we were discussing the weather.
"Lovely," I muttered. He chuckled at my sarcasm.
Someone else came through the door. When I looked to see who it was, my breath caught. What ever it was, or whoever it was, had the top half of a middle aged man and the lower half of a
white stallion. The horse-man had reddish brown hair and a trimmed beard, with eyes that seemed very wise. He came over to where I was laying, making a loud clip-clop noise with his
hooves as he walked.
"A man-horse?" I blurted out; I was worried that he would be offended, but instead he just smiled. I saw Will try to hide his smirk out of the corner of my eye.
"No my dear, not a man-horse. I am a centaur, actually. My name is Chiron, and I am the activities director for this camp," he told me. Then Chiron turned to Will.
"You've done an excellent job Mr. Solace. Her head, ribs, and leg have been successfully healed. I'm sure your father would be proud." He patted Will on the back, and Will looked at him
gratefully.
"Um... Chiron? Where am I?" This was all so confusing, but I felt like that question was the one that needed to be answered most.
"Camp Half-blood. A safe place for demigods to train and live... That reminds me. William, would you give her the tour? I have to go discuss... things with Dionysus." The two of them
exchanged a knowing look.
"Sure Chiron. Let's go, Lucy" He helped me up, and I followed him out the door. We walked out of what was probably the infirmary, and what I saw was incredible. The property itself
was huge, and it was in a sort of meadow. The landscape was dotted with ancient Greek buildings: an amphitheater, a pavilion with 13 picnic tables, a circular arena, and 13 cabins in a U
shaped formation nestled into the heart of the valley; each one appeared to be different from the next. To my left, there was an archery range, horse stables, and a climbing wall with red
liquid, that suspiciously looked like lava, flowing down the sides. When I turned to my right, I saw a big blue farm house, empty volleyball courts, and a canoe lake glittering in the sunlight. My
favorite part was the strawberry fields that spread over the hills, and led all the way up to the ocean, about a mile from where we were standing. Woods surrounded one side of the camp, and
the other side abutted a big hill with a pine tree that Rachel had said was the boundary. Kids from about age 8 to 19 milled around, all wearing the same orange tee-shirt. Will saw my stunned
look and smiled.
"Amazing, isn't it?" I nodded, my eyes bugging out of their sockets.
"It's incredible," I agreed breathlessly. I stood there, drinking in all my surroundings. After about a minute, Will interrupted my daze.
"Come on, I wanna show you the cabins."
I let him lead me to where the 13 cabins were nestled in the heart of the meadow. As we got closer, I saw how crazy and different they looked; only one cabin in the whole bunch looked
anything close to normal; number 11. One was hot red with a barb wire fence around its roof, and another was an olive green color with a wooden owl above the entrance.
"Why are all the cabins different?" I asked him.
"Each one represents a god." He pointed to a bright pink cottage with lace curtains. "That one belongs to Aphrodite, so the children of Aphrodite bunk there." I nodded. It was all beginning to
come together. So we're all demigods and, according to our godly parent, we stay in a certain cabin. The first cabin we visited was big and white with polished marble columns. Unlike the other
cabins, it was empty.
"Why is this one empty?" I wondered.
"It belongs to Zeus, and Zeus is one of the Big Three. They made a pact awhile ago that they wouldn't sire anymore children, because their children are too powerful. Poseidon and Hades broke
the pact, and I wouldn't be surprised if Zeus did too," thunder rumbled in the distance, "anyway, a kid named Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon, convinced the gods to cancel the pact."
We moved on to the next cabin, which looked about the same as Zeus's cabin, and it was also empty. Before I could ask Will about this one, he answered my unspoken question.
"This one's Hera's. She's the goddess of marriage and family, so she only has children with her husband. This isn't really a cabin; it's a shrine, but Hera would've probably gotten mad if we
didn't build one for her."
He showed me the rest of the cabins by introducing me to the head counselor and to all the campers inside. Most of them seemed friendly enough; at least that's what I thought until we got
to the Ares cabin.
Ares's children were buff, mean, loud, and rough. We walked inside to blaring punk-rock music and kids punching and wrestling each other. I heard some of them snickering and saying things
like "fresh meat" and "new kid". Will introduced me to Clairisse and the others in a hurry; he seemed like he wanted to get out of there, whether it was for his sake or mine I didn't know.
When we got to Athena's cabin, I saw the girl with the curly blond hair again. She told me her name was Annabeth, and she asked me how I was. Annabeth seemed really friendly, but her
eyes were really intimidating. The rest of the Athena campers were nice, but they were all pretty occupied with maps, books, and Smart boards.
The last cabin we visited was Aphrodite's. It was hot pink and smelled strongly of designer perfume. Everyone inside was either reading a trashy magazine, dancing to Taylor Swift, braiding
their own or someone else's hair, or babbling about upcoming social events. To me, it seemed more like a sorority than a cabin at camp. The campers stopped what they were doing and stared
at me when I entered; some gave me kind smiles, and some turned their nose up at me.
The bathroom door opened, and a girl with shiny dark brown hair and a pretty face came out. As soon as she saw Will, she ran to hug him. My heart sank; of course a guy like that had a
girlfriend.
"Hey Willy-kins. What are you doing he-" She stopped when she noticed me, and she narrowed her eyes. "Who is that?" She sneered in my direction. Forget what I said about a pretty face;
her ugly attitude made up for it. Will looked a little annoyed; I wasn't sure if it was because she called him Willykins, or if it was because she was totally being a snobby brat to me, or both.
"Drew, this is Lucy. Lucy, this is Drew, the head counselor for the Aphrodite ca-" Drew interrupted.
"That's right, the goddess of love and beauty. Hmm..," she looked my up and down, "I doubt you'll be in here sweat heart; you don't fit the beauty part, so you can move along now..." Some
campers snickered, but I just stared at her in disbelief. What a brat.
"Drew, that was really rude," Will said with a stern expression. She gave him a pouty face and leaned in close to him.
"You're right, baby. I'm sorry Lucy, I was just being honest," she said in an innocent voice, holding Will's hand possessively. So That's what it was about; she didn't like me hanging around
Will.
Well, she'd have to get over that.
As soon as we left, Will turned around and apologized for Drew's behavior.
"Sorry about Drew... She can get really nasty, and what she said to you was uncalled for and not true. You'd fit the beauty part just fine," he comforted, his face turning red. I blushed a little
in return at his compliment.
"Thanks," I smiled.
I spent the rest of the afternoon being showed the stables (which had both regular horses and Pegasuses), the climbing wall (which had real lava spewing down the sides), the canoe lake
(which had strange creatures called Dryads swimming around in it), the woods (which we didn't go into because it was apparently stocked with monsters), the arena, the dining pavilion, the
amphitheater, and lastly, the archery range.
The archery range was empty, and equipment was lying around on the ground.
I picked up a bow and arrow.
"Can I try?" I asked.
"Sure. In fact, I'm supposed to make you. It has to do with finding the right weapon for you"
I positioned it like I thought a bow and arrow should be positioned, but I must've failed horribly, because Will laughed at me. It wasn't mean or anything, but enough to make me blush with
embarrassment.
"Here, let me help." He came over and got behind me, like right behind me. He put his right hand on mine, and his left hand on my elbow.
"Put your right hand up here," he murmured and slid my hand higher, "and relax your elbow." I tried to do what he asked, but my heart was moving a mile a minute
with him so close. His warm breath tickled the back of my neck.
I closed my eyes, which probably wasn't the best idea for shooting a target, and pulled back on the string. I let go, my eyes still shut tight, and heard a thud on the other side of the range.
Well at least the arrow hit something. I opened my eyes to find the arrow in the very middle of
a tree, 200 yards away from the target.
"Whoops," I muttered.
"That's okay, it was only your first try. Shooting bows and arrows takes practice," he said, trying to make me feel better.
After I retrieved the arrow, Will dropped me off at what they called the Big House so he could go get cleaned up for dinner. My stomach was growling miserably, because I didn't eat lunch; Will
and I forgot all about it until it was already 4:00. The sun was just beginning its decent as I sat in one of the rocking chairs on the porch. As I rocked back and forth, I realized two things:
1. I did NOT want to be in the Aphrodite cabin under any circumstances
2. A bow and arrow was definitely not the right weapon for me
It's not where I want it yet, but I'm gettin there. Please please please review! I want to hear what you think.