The Sacred Lot Cards Chapter 2:
Dessa rose at dawn and anxiously looked at her reflection in the mirror in her room. Were the curls overkill? She didn't know. She fussed with her fitted T-shirt, resettled her shorts on her hips, and was in the process of re-curling all of her hair when the doorbell rang.
Flustered, Dessa rushed to the door, stumbling down the last step just after her father had opened the door. He was about to go to work, but Silenus had come early.
"Hello," Silenus introduced himself politely, "My name is Silenus. I'm here to pick up Dessa for the ADHD/dyslexia camp?"
Mr. Baracson, who's name happened to be David, said, "Oh, yeah, that. Kay. Um, this is in New York, right?"
"Yessir," Silenus replied promptly.
"Just checking," Mr. Baracson replied before turning to his daughter. "You all set, Dess?" She nodded. "You have your toothbrush?" Dessa nodded again, more anxiously. "Money in case something goes wrong?"
Dessa put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm fine, Daddy. Go to work." Mr. Baracson's eyes softened as he gave his daughter a kiss on her forehead.
"You have a great time, Dess," he said, his brown eyes boring into hers.
She smiled broadly, causing her dad to grin. "I will." He towed her into a hug, giving her one more kiss on her forehead before entering his beaten old Honda Civic and driving away.
Dessa turned to Silenus. "I gotta get my stuff. It's upstairs."
"Cool," Silenus said. "I'll chill out here." Dessa gave him a slow nod before bolting upstairs to grab her tote. It had toiletries, clothes, and her iPod full of music introduced to her by Raya. When she tore back down the stairs, Silenus was crouched on the floor, stroking Jellybean.
"Your cat acts like a dog," he said, rubbing Jellybean behind her ears. Dessa narrowed her eyes curiously at her cat.
"Jellybean," Dessa said, picking up her cat and cradling her in her arms, "You never act like that." Shrugging, Dessa threw Jellybean into a carrier with some food and picked up her litterbox kit. "I'm ready to go," she told Silenus.
She had her tote of necessities thrown over her shoulder, held a cat carrier under one arm, and held a bag of supplies for her cat with the other. Silenus choked back giggles as he led her to his father's car.
She threw her stuff in the trunk of the hybrid car and jumped in the backseat.
"Hey there, Dessa. I'm Silenus' dad, Mr. Underwood. It's a couple hours away, and you'll stay for the weekend," the driver said. Silenus sat shotgun, so Dessa stretched out in the backseat and fell asleep.
Next thing she knew, Silenus was shaking her awake at the base of a hill. "Come on, Dessa. We're here."
Dessa glanced around apprehensively, anywhere but up at the tree they skirted. There was a big python around it, and that freaked Dessa out to the point where they had to go around.
She looked down on what looked like a summer camp in September. There was a volleyball court, coated with auburn leaves dead ahead, flanked a pair of big, Greek-looking houses, one splattered with paint. She could see a creek peeking out from behind some hills beyond that, but past that was too distant for her to see properly. Silenus led her to the bigger Greek-looking house, directly into a mini- movie theater.
"Dessa, this is the orientation film. Once it ends in about twenty minutes, go to the main room we passed through to get here, and there will be someone to collect you and explain more," Silenus instructed her. Dessa sat as Silenus left and the lights dimmed.
"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Whatever you have been told, this is a camp for people who aren't normal," a calm male voice narrated. There were cutesy little cartoons illustrating the calm guy's narration. Dessa closed her eyes and just listened. "You're special. This camp is for children of the gods. Yes, the Greek gods are real and have moved their base from Greece to America…" Dessa's eyes snapped open. Greek gods? In reality? What? Dessa thought. She tuned back into the documentary. "I know a lot of you probably tuned out and went into shock. That's okay. One sign of a half god, also known as a demigod or a half-blood, is ADHD and dyslexia.
"Here at camp, you will be taught to control the monsters in your life. If you have not yet been attacked, that likely means that you are a minor or weaker demigod. At Camp Half-Blood, you will be taught how to fight, survive, and have fun with your demigod side," the voice went on about extracurricular activities and dining schedules, Dessa slowly tuned out.
At the end of the twenty minutes, she slinked back into the main room, where she found a centaur standing there, perspiring slightly, and holding a bow and arrow. Dessa raised one eyebrow. "Chiron," she said, one of the few names she remembered from the video.
"Hello," the centaur Chiron said. They looked awkwardly at each other for a second, each waiting for the other to speak, until Chiron's eyes moved slightly from her eyes to an area slightly above her head. Dessa's eyes followed his, finding an odd, shimmering image of sunrise floating above her head.
Dessa looked at Chiron and swapped brows. She had kept her right one up since she had entered the room, but changed to her left. Chiron could hear the unspoken question, "What just happened?"
Chiron gulped, sucked in a breath of air, and endeavored to explain. "I presume you've seen the orientation film?" Dessa nodded shyly. "You just got claimed by your godly parent. Judging by your sign, you got claimed by Eos, the goddess of dawn. Let me escort you to your cabin," Chiron said, bowing and offering Dessa his hand. She blushed and took it as he scooped her on his back.
They arrived at a long, low cabin, painted innumerable shades of oranges, yellows, and reds, intricately interwoven, like the most beautiful sunrise ever. Dessa grinned wide, and quietly opened the door.
Inside was painted a less intricate but no less beautiful sunrise, with bunk beds the color of the night sky and sheets in varying colors of the sun. Those bunk beds lined the two short walls, and the back wall was devoted to dressers, vanities, and the bathroom doors. The front door was almost on a corner, and the door's wall was bookshelves and desks. The entire room was natural, rounded, and full of the colors of dawn.
The room wasn't lived in- the beds were made and nothing was on the dressers. Dessa's stuff was delivered in a matter of minutes, while Dessa claimed a bed with sheets the same color as the walls, on top.
Jellybean was delivered wailing her lungs out until Dessa released her into the room. She set up the litter box and feeding area, and put Jellybean's blanket on the bottom bunk so the cat could sleep there. Dessa laid down on the top bunk, and gazed at the ceiling dotted with glistening stars. She could be very happy here.
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bekeyboo ;)