AUTHORS NOTE: Just to explain (if it's not clear), that the writer who writes Kaylee's POV, IS NOT ME. I write Lyra's, so I'm sorry for any confusion and apologize in advanced. Thank you for reading this so far! *brofist*
The whispers began like this:
"Four? How curious, and they all knew each other?" I heard a girl's voice say.
"Yes, and one of them seems to be offspring from one of the gorgon sisters." Chiron said gravely.
"The gorgons...?" Artemis asked.
"It seems so." I heard a deeper, more menacing voice say. It was most likely Mr. D.
"She could be dangerous, I don't know the reason why the gods let her into the-" Chiron began.
"How come I was not told of this, monsters, even half-monsters should not be allowed passage unless-" Artemis said, a slight sound of irritation in her voice as she was cut off by Mr. D.
"Somebody allows them to be, it may not have been the gods." Mr. D grumbled heavily.
"I do not think it'd be the wisest decision to trust a daughter of a gorgon." Artemis said with a slight tinge of pity. "However, should she ever lay a hand on any maiden, I will not hesitate to let an arrow fly." Her tone raised and became almost ferociously protective, like a wolf protecting her cubs.
"So, another daughter of Hades, another of Hephaestus... This third girl, who is she?" Chiron mused.
"I have my suspicions." Mr. D Admitted.
"Who do you think it is?" Chiron asked.
"Ah, that, we shall find out soon, I doubt the gods would want to anger Percy by not keeping their promise." Mr. D said, with an almost chuckle. Hang on, did I hear that right? He actually said Percy.
"Keep your secrets Dionysus, but I will find out, I've sensed someone powerful from this camp." Artemis said with a tired sigh. "Whoever it is, I shall request them to join my hunters, it'd be too dangerous to leave them in the camp, more monsters are rising, the gorgon sisters have not been spotted in nearly one year and I've hunted throughout all of the 50 states, no trace of them."
"Missing?" Mr. D growled, "Those snake haired wenches."
"But they left their offspring behind..." Chiron noted.
The conversation ended like this: the large sound of a swinging door came from my side. I turned quickly, seeing my three friends standing there with Annabeth at their side. I looked at the floor, backing away from the door.
"Were you-" Annabeth began, shocked.
"Ah, good timing you four as the lady Artemis would like to speak to you, Annabeth, you may go." Chiron said as he leaned against the doorway. I gulped, but he didn't look at me, thank goodness
"Alright." Annabeth looked at Safdeisha once before turning and leaving, once again.
"Come in." I heard Artemis ask.
We all walked in, sitting down in the familiar room. She smiled at us, her beautiful face lighting up happily. Her silver-like yellow eyes reminded me of the moon, and then I remembered she also governed the moon, so it made sense. Her being the goddess of maidens, made her feel overwhelming for some reason, don't ask me why because I needn't worry as I've never fallen in love before, ever.
She watched Safdeisha for a moment, "Do you know who your mother is?" she asked, her curiosity apparent, I'd heard everything, so she could not hide the fact she hated Safdeisha for being part monster. It wasn't like Safdeisha asked for it; she just got stuck with it like how I got stuck with Jim as a step father. Artemis had no true reason to hate Safdeisha until she heard her out.
"No, my caretaker at the A. home told me three women dropped me off with a huge wad of gold." Safdeisha said truthfully with a frown.
"I see..." Artemis said with an outtake of breath. "Well, which one of you has not seen their own blood before?"
Odd question, but I haven't seen my own blood. I never fell down when I was a child, or cut myself when cooking; I have never shed any blood. Kaylee shrank back in her seat, her hair covering her face; no doubt she was recalling angry memories. Raven seemed unaffected and so did Safdeisha, I looked at them as I was hoping one of them would raise a hand or give a nod so I wouldn't have to admit it.
"I have not seen my own blood before." I admitted with a sigh, she looked me up and down.
"Well it would be rather inappropriate for me to shed a maiden's blood, so, Chiron if you'd please." Artemis said with her eyebrows creased in worry.
"Right." He said with a civilized nod, but as he was holding a pin in his hand, I'm sure what he was about to do was not civilized.
"What are you gonna do?" I asked shakily as Chiron gripped my hand, compared to his, it was tiny, the pin neared my finger tip, until I drew it back as I stood up angrily, heat rushing to my face. Okay, so maybe I wasn't all happy tree buds with Chiron, but that didn't mean he could stick a pin through my finger.
"We need to see something, don't worry, It shall not hurt, I promise." Artemis said, smiling slightly.
I relaxed a little and Chiron held my hand open, palm facing upwards. I waited for the pricking pain of the pin to go into my forefinger's tip. But as it went through my skin, I felt nothing but a tiny bit of pressure. Artemis was right; it had not hurt at all. I stared for a moment, nothing happened for a few seconds as the pin came out.
Then, a tiny drop of my blood finally 'erupted' from the wound. Which you know, makes sense. Apart from my blood was basically orange. I sunk back into the chair; Chiron didn't let my hand go. His eyes narrowed at my finger.
"Lady Artemis, what could this mean?" Chiron asked, raising his head to look at her.
She approached me carefully and held my hands after Chiron reluctantly let it go. She looked right into my eyes, as if judging my soul. I didn't look away; it was like playing the slender computer game which holds the rule: don't look behind you. She reached into one of her pockets and took out a small bottle, after letting a drop fall onto my skin; she bottled it up and put it away. The blood seemed to just seep back into my skin like the pin prick was never there.
"No fair, I want orange blood!" Safdeisha moaned.
"No, you do not." Mr. D. corrected her with a sigh.
"Chiron, this means that we have a demigod that could rival... You know who." She said, her delicate face melting into a frown. I sighed.
"Anybody like to give me some heads up on what this has to do with me?" I asked, irritation flaring at my throat.
"Lyra, you have orange blood, this has everything to do with you." Raven pointed out.
"Oh yeah," I said sarcastically, "I think I missed that part."
"Hang on," Said Kaylee, finally motioning the fact she was alive. "You have orange blood?"
"Apparently-" I began.
"No, not apparently, she most certainly does, and she may have to seek counsel from Olympus." Chiron said, cutting me off.
"No, the gods would kill her on sight, she needs to prove herself." Mr. D said knowledgably.
"Oh, Dionysus, you're sticking up for a demigod who is not your offspring, odd." Artemis noted.
"I like her, I think she deserves a chance." Dionysus admitted, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Enough, Artemis, you may ask them now." Chiron said with his voice steely calm.
Artemis nodded looked at Safdeisha and passed her by, then looked at Raven closely. "Daughter of the king of the underworld, you may join my hunters if you wish, though your obsession may have to be left behind." She eyed the goat book in Raven's hand. She gripped the goat book tightly and frowned for a moment.
"I will have to decline." Raven said, bowing her head a bit.
She then looked at Kaylee, who shifted uncomfortably, she smiled gently. Artemis cupped Kaylee's cheek and gave a kind smile. "It is too late to offer you companionship as Aphrodite's hand is watching over you already, young one." She turned to look at me.
"I shall leave the option open for you; your mind is too... Busy right now for you to choose." She said, "All your questions shall be answered when you are part of my midst." She said, raising her eyebrows.
Okay, not going to lie, it was tempting, really tempting. But could I really go on for hundreds of years without ever falling in love? It couldn't be that simple, but seeing as I've had fourteen years without even crushing on anyone, maybe it was simple. Being immortal was tempting, but I'd never be able to grow up or have any children of my own. Surely if she was the goddess of childbirth she could understand the difficulty?
"I'll think about it." I said stiffly. The little devil warred against the angel in my head, 'oh do this', 'no you can't do that'. Ugh.
"Alright, I expect an answer at our next meeting on the road, Lyra." She smiled then turned and left the building. I reluctantly turned to meet Chiron's 'should I trust you' face, and all my friends looking at me funny. Mr. D was nowhere to be seen.
"I think I'll take my leave." I said with a frown. Why did I have orange blood? Maybe it'd make sense after I get claimed... If I get claimed. I turned and walked towards the door, it was wide open and Grover was standing there with a nervous grin.
"Let's begin your tour of the camp." He offered.
"Fine." I agreed, my three friends nodded and we left the building as fast as we could. I had the impression that if I didn't prove myself, not only would the gods hate me, Chiron would too.
The tour began as soon as we got out of the building. Grover grinned at himself, it seemed he hadn't given a tour since the time he became the leader of the council the cloven elders. We hopped over a stream and came to a very large building. Even from two yards away, I felt the heat radiating away from it, I didn't fare well with hot places...
With a frown on my face, we approached it. Kaylee was grinning widely, as if it was her life's ambition to visit a forge. Then again, she was a Hephaestus kid. I rolled my eyes, but the only one who saw was Raven, who didn't seem impressed. I wondered what was up with her.
The forge door flew open and I saw Leo was inside, tinkering away like the world didn't exist, I didn't know what he was making, but whatever it was; it couldn't be good, him being a trickster and all. With all the grease and oil around, I looked at Kaylee and pointed at my hair, it wouldn't be the greatest time to mess it up.
"I may need help." I said with a ghost of laughter.
"Seems like it." Kaylee grinned, approaching me as fast as she could. She almost tripped over a small bolt on the ground, I face palmed for a moment. She quickly began to work on my hair like it was a wire that needed to be bent. In moments, my waves were restrained in a tight ballerina bun, Leo looked at Kaylee reproachfully.
"You sure you're not beauty queen's sister?" He asked with a huge laugh.
"I'm pretty sure." She said with a nod, "But I learned how to do Lyra's hair when we were stuck in Mr. Morrison's boring science class every morning." She sighed, but it was soon replaced with a huge grin so much like her brother's. "So, what's going on in here?" She said, taking in the sights around her.
A group of kids were having trouble with a machine that didn't seem to be working, they all looked desperate. One girl walked up to Leo and told him what was wrong.
"We can't seem to find an electricity source, the power seems to have cut and we have no idea why." She admitted with a shameful frown, her dark brown hair was tied up with a dark green headband that was decorated with maroon zig zags.
"Surely it can't be a problem for you, Nyssa?" He laughed.
"It's not." She growled, turning to face the other kids who were trying to fix it. "We'll fix it later, let's get onto more important things, like weapons for tomorrow's CTF." She said with a huff.
"So, sis, show me what you can do." Leo grinned at Kaylee.
"Is that a challenge?" She said, folding her arms.
"You bet it is!" He got back to work and Kaylee quickly began to burn some metal in the fire place. She began to bend it into some sort of curve, then changed her mind and flattened it again with a sigh. She gave me a wink, and I chuckled to myself, she was pretty serious about this mini competition! We all watched for about an hour before she revealed what she made.
In her hands was a collar, like the type you'd put on a dog. Pedo-dragon eyed it with interest before snaking his way off of Raven's head. I glared at him for a moment but then looked at collar again. The collar was a light brown that shimmered with a light, so bright it looked like fire. The small tag was inscribed with curly lettering that read;
'Festus- please return to:
Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141
Long Island, New York 11954'
How come she knew the address of CHB and I didn't? Maybe she asked Leo... Ah well, It's not like I cared too much or anything. Well, Leo made an odd little gadget. It was a little ring, but when he pushed the tiny metal gem on the top, it turned into a dagger with the metal jewels all glued on the handle. Well, it was obvious who won here, but then he did have more experience than her.
"Nice try sis," He winked.
"Oh, this is just for Festus, I wasn't competing yet." She said with a laugh.
"What?" He fell of his chair, shocked.
"You heard me." She grinned, grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the forge, the other three followed, leaving a very confused Leo behind. I almost fell on the floor trying to contain my laughter, this had cheered me up after the whole 'orange blood' incident. Which reminds me, if I became a hunter; I could find out why I had orange blood straight away. I may have to wait a lifetime to find otherwise... But I'd have to say farewell to my friends and that would be too hard...
Next, Grover took us to the Stables, were we had a quick and polite conversation with Butch and some of the Aphrodite kids. Then we were taken to the fields, they were full of ripe strawberries that Grover said paid for more than half the camp expenses. Hey! Swords don't come cheap!
After that, we took a quick trip to the stables, a large wooden barn full of Pegasus' and hay. The smell was not the best, but finally seeing July again was fantastic! I gave her the thumbs up as I walked past her stable, she snorted huffily. Next on the list was the Armoury.
It was Chocó-block full of weapons from sticks to axes! The Cyclopes from earlier was sat on a stool, fiddling around awkwardly with something in his hands. Kaylee sat near him trying to fit the collar on the Pedo-dragon's neck, the dragon looked down at it and made some sort of sound like he was rolling his tongue. I rolled my eyes and looked at some of the weapons on the wall, none of which interested me too much. I put my hand on the necklace in my pocket, it was cold, almost freezing, just like silver should be. Why the charms were silver, I'd probably never know.
Raven poked a large battle axe with keen interest; she smiled for a moment, holding its long oaken handle with great care. She rested it against the wall and turned away; unfortunately, it fell and crashed to the floor causing her to jump back in shock.
On the other side of the armoury, Safdeisha was keeping her eyes on a long hunting knife that glowed as green as the snake in her hair. Maybe it was because her mother was a sea monster that the knife was calling out to her? Whichever gorgon sister was her mother, she can't have just abandoned Safdeisha entirely. But then again, my father had abandoned me... Well, I shouldn't dwell on it.
Still fingering the necklace in my pocket, I approached the Cyclopes with the nicest smile I could manage. "I'm Lyra, what's your name?" I asked him.
"Tyson," He grunted with a grin, "Are you sister or cousin?" He questioned me, looking confused.
"Uhm..." I mumbled, just as confused as he was.
"Lyra, quick, come and look over here! Festus loves his new collar!" Kaylee exclaimed, cutting the awkwardness between me and Tyson.
"Fire lady owns dragon?" He asked, his one eye widening at the little brown dragon. Who seemed to be joyfully fluttering around in the air for a few seconds before falling down with a gurgle and then he decided to pounce on me once again. Remembering its gurgle, I tried it out for myself; he jumped off of me with an offended look. Well, on the plus side, he wouldn't bother me for a while.
I grinned at Kaylee, "You speak dragon?" She asked me.
"I speak 'get off me' in dragon." I laughed and turned to check on Raven. She stood with Grover, holding the battle axe she had earlier, looking at him with pleading eyes. I leaned closer to try and decipher what the conversation was about. Really, I need to learn how to stop being nosy.
"...Oh, c'mon, the Ares kids are not going to miss one axe are they?" She said with her best puppy dog eyes.
"I don't know... They got pretty upset over a chariot a few years back..." He mumbled with a frown.
"...Please let me keep it? If they ask for it, I'll return it." She said desperately. "I'll even battle with one of them for it..."
"Bah! I would not try and fight an Ares kid, 'specially if you're friends with Percy!" He said with his nervous goat laugh.
"Maybe they'll take pity on me and give it to me for trying?" She said hopefully.
"You don't know Clarisse..." His eyes widened at something at the entrance to the armoury, I turned my gaze a little to see who was there, expecting it to be Jason or someone.
"So, this little priss wants to take cabin five's battle axe?" The beefy girl at the doorway snarled angrily, she had dirty blonde hair that literally looked like someone had cut her hair whilst being blindfolded. Her piggy brown eyes glared at Raven who gave a small frown, she opened her mouth to stick up for herself.
"C-Clarisse!" Grover gave another bah, and hid behind a set of armour, but he could still be seen clearly.
"It's only an axe, what's the problem?" Raven asked defiantly.
"...Only? Only an axe? You missed the point." Clarisse walked up to her and grabbed her shirt. "It belongs to my cabin, not some prissy god of the underworld's daughter." She said threateningly.
"Fight me for it." Raven said, showing extreme anger that flickered at her grey eyes.
"Hah, alright, let's see what you've got then, priss, if ya win, I'll give you that axe... If you lose, you have to claim who almighty I am to the rest of the campers." She growled a laugh and turned to walk out, when she reached the door, she gave a glare once again. "Half an hour, meet me at the arena."
"You shouldn't have done that Raven. Percy told us not to get involved with her unless we need help! You do remember what he said right?" Kaylee said, her blue eye widening, but her green eye was –as usual- covered by her fringe. She took a glance at Tyson.
"Could you tell Percy that a huge fight between Clarisse and Raven is about to embark?" She asked him with a smile.
"Anything for the fire lady." Tyson nodded, gave his wide grin and took off with a Cyclopes waddle, bowing his head to get passed the door frame. I watched him leave, then I too told Raven off.
"It wasn't the smartest Idea to start a fight on our first full day here." I said sighing.
"Oh shut up, if she thinks she can go around and tell everyone what to do, she's gonna get another thing coming." Raven snapped, looking me in the eyes. She was completely serious, which meant it'd be pointless to try and stop her now. I sighed again.
"But she is the daughter of Ares, y'know, the war god?" Safdeisha pointed out, giving a sigh that rivalled mine.
"Oh, wonderful, Raven, sorry to prophesize this, but you're going to die." I said sarcastically, "unless you have a plan."
"No plan, just instinct." Raven said, stretching her fingers and throwing the axe over her shoulder, "Let's go to the arena quickly and better early then late."