2
Willow
Jake stared at her as the cab pulled out of the lane and onto an empty street.
Willow ignored this, but she felt proud of herself for stepping up to her step-mom right when she was about to leave.
'Check' Willow thought, as they rolled across a narrow road. Gloomy, bare trees hung around them, allowing
the dark clouds to show through them. "We're almost there..." Jake hushed under his breath to Willow as he glanced at the cab
driver, who didn't seem to even notice they were there. Just up ahead, they could see and open valley's hilltop, and from what
she could see, was a large pine tree... and something gleaming on it. "Just stop here, that's fine." Her brother said to the driver,
who nodded and pulled over. Willow opened her door and slid out, pulling her backpack along with her. She got an excited, tugging feeling
in her gut, like she was meant to be here, like she had a real family. Jake paid the cab driver and walked along-side her, also having
a happy gleam in his eye. They strided beside the road, both keeping their eye on the pine tree growing closer and closer with each step they took.
Soon enough, they were just at the bottom of the hill, looking up at the giant hill they had to climb. Right in front of them was a large, wide ditch, with mushy,
brown mud. Willow ran back, then forced her body forward, pushing her legs until the last step then launching herself with her body force and the speed,
and leaping over the entire ditch, rolling and then standing up in one motion. She lookeed behind at Jake, then smirked and started sprinting up the
hill. She kept her eye on the gleaming speck of gold, using this as her motive to release that excitement on what she'd see on the other side.
She could hear Jake about 5 meters away, but she sensed something bad, just like she expected a math test. She suddenly stopped, looking
directly at the grass, glancing at the trees down by the road. Jake stood beside her, glancing at Willow, from experience he knew she was
having a little moment. He glanced up at the pine tree 20 meters away, but he never left her, because he thought something might
happened. Willow heard a rapping of slithering, and sharply turned behind her. She was human from the waist-up, but from the waist down,
it was replaced with a snake's tail. She had long, red hair and sharp green eyes that seemed to stare right into Willow. The snake woman
was holding a long spear, and it was pointed right at Jake and Willow. Jake spun around, grabbed Willow's arm and dragged her to the top of
the hill as fast as he could. "I- It's Lamia! S-She's from Greek Mythology, she ate.. children or something...! According to the book I read,
the author was saying she was the daughter of king Belus of Egypt-" She staggered to keep up with Jake.. 10 more meters... Willow
thought more, how was she killed? "S-Some say she was a species, and they could be killed with a blessed dagger by a priest, or
a big mixture of salt and rosemary punctured into her blood...!" She called to Jake, while Lamia slithered after us. "I will devour you
two..." She slithered, just in range of grabbing Willow's ankle. Lamia reached forward and grabbed her foot, dragging it down and making her
slipp and land on her hands. While Lamia struggled to drag her down away from the pine tree, she kicked Lamia in the face, spun around and kicked her
again, having her roll down the hilltop and stop at the very bottom. Willow didn't stop to admire what she'd done, she bolt right behind Jake to the
trunk of the tree, and past it. While going past the trunk of the tree, she got a slow-motion moment, like she was being analyzed. Time went back up again and she
crashed and rolled all the way down the hill. Not noticing the volleyball court, cabins, a house that looked really familiar, and a ton of people crowding
around them, Willow blacked out.
When she woke up, her head felt fuzzy, and black. She could tell by her surroundings she was in a white, blank room. The whiteness
stung her eyes, but she blinked it away. There was a black figure that Willow couldn't make out by the door. Beside her she could sense was another figure.
She blinked once, and adjusted her surroundings. By the door was a tall, blonde haired man, with blue eyes all over his body... and beside her was Jake, who was looking scornfully at her, scowling, yet smiling. "We made it.. but do they really have to tazer people around here?" He had burns all over his body, obviously from the attack.
He handed me a tall class of dark, liquidy substance, with a twirly straw out of it. "Drink." He said, shoving the straw into my mouth.
I took a gulp, it tasted like fudge brownies Willow's father used to make. This brought tears to her eyes, but she wiped them away when Jake faltered
his smile. "N-Necter, right?" She croaked, her body frail and weak, and her mouth was dry. She curled up into a tiny ball and faced Jake's way. "Jake... I-I admit..
I'm scared." She said, curling up tighter in the light cotton blankets. "Do you want more?" Jake asked, giving her the heavy glass of necter. "Please," she croaked.
Willow took the necter and started drinking, listening to Jake explain about camp. "... Once you get rested and your strength back, you can get the tour, and the really
long explanation of the greek Gods and everything..." He sighed, staring out of the door. Willow noticed the blonde haired man by the doorway, and all of his eyes...
"Argus?" She said, widenning her eyes and staring right at him, well, at all of his eyes. Argus nodded, but spoke nothing. "He doesn't talk, some say he has an eye on his tongue." Jake said to Willow. Her eye's started to blink shut, and her head was getting fuzzy again, so she closed her eyes and immediately passed out.
She had a couple moments when she could see people surrounding her bedside singing hymns, and she felt better then. But when no one was around,
she'd stare out the window to the right of her and watch the strawberry fields wave in the wind. When she really woke up, it was in the middle of the night, but Argus
was still there standing by the door. Quietly as she could, she stood up, out of her bed. When she crept closer to the door, Argus' eyes shot up, alert. But when he
noticed it was Willow, he closed them again and nodded, allowing her to pass through the door. She walked along the balcony, there was a picnic table, with
shuffled cards in the middle of them. She silently sat down in one of the chairs, looking down over the camp from the Big House, that's what Jake said.
Willow was tracing through her thoughts. 'This couldn't be real, it's too.. weird. Maybe I'm in a dream, and I'm about to wake up to Lily yelling at me to get up.'
She thought, she barely noticed the sound of hooves behind her, when she did, she slowly turned around to find herself in front of a horse, but when she looked
up, it was connected to a man with a shirt that said: 'Yes, I did train Hercules.' He had curly, brown hair that reached his shoulders and dark, murky eyes,
like he's been here before. "Well hello, Willow. I'm glad to have you back. What are you doing up so late? I wouldn't like the Harpies to eat you way past curfew." He said, smiling.
"Aah, I did not introduce myself, I am Camp Activitys director. I heard about you and your brother's arrival, can you explain what had happened?"
Chiron asked as Willow gawped at him. "Well, it started when I was waiting for him afterschool..."
She began, and started to explain about the giant in their school, how they left home, and the weird cab driver, Lamia, and blacking out. "It usually happens like that, I didn't know Lamia would come after you, especially since she's dead.
Someone must have smuggled her into the real world, but Percy closed the Doors of Death, so I cannot see how that can happen. Someone from the inside must have
done it, but it's good you're here. In the morning, I'll explain to you about the greek Gods and Goddesses that are a part of human civilization. But before that,
you must need a weapon. Even at camp, you must be prepared, Would you like to go now?" He asked, pointing towards the wooden shed by the armory. "Please," Willow said, standing up. Chiron picked her up like a small dog, and placed her on his back. He was a white stallion, with a bow and quiver on his back. They galloped past the forges and the arena, finally arriving at the armory's shed of weapons. Chiron placed Willow gently beside him, opened the shed, and let Willow browse through the
spears, clubs, swords, and bows. None of them suited her, there was a silver sword that looked pretty cool, with the words incrusted into the hilt: Trechery. "Is this-" Willow started, swinging the sword around. "The sword of the Argonaut's leader, Jason? Yes. It is. The original, no one's taken it, you wouldn't want to see why." Willow stared at Chiron, who held a wooden club in his hand. Willow put it back, scared if what would happen if she took it. They looked around, Chiron handing her weapons that might suit her. She lifted up a heavy, double-sided sword from the shed, swung it around like no problem, but felt a sudden, cold rush come from behind her. Willow immediately placed it back where it was. "I.. I don't think there's anything in here for me, Chiron. I can always use my body force and stuff." She said dissapointingly, but Chiron shook his head. "There's always some sort of weapon here for campers, maybe your mortal parent gave you something when you were 'll have a war meeting today at noon, but get some rest for now." He said, "Your items have been moved to the Big House, but you can be in the Hermes
cabin for now, right now you're unidentified, meaning you havn't gotten the sign from your- Mother, is it?" He asked, and Willow winced. "Yeah... I never knew her."
She said, looking gloomingly at her feet. "Most half-bloods never do. But don't be so down, she'll give you a sign soon enough." Chiron said reassuringly. Willow nodded
and started walking towards the cabins, in a long, oval/circle. She turned to a cabin that had winged shoes on it's doorway. The walls were painted
a dark orange, decorated with party streamers and lost items on their roof. She knocked on the door, a long silence, but then the door opened, and there in
his pajamas was Travis Stoll, like any other son or daughter of Hermes has, upturned eyebrows, smiles that deceive, and the body stance that they're going
to pull a big prank on the Ares cabin. But Travis had droopy eyes, wasn't smiling, and was litterally falling asleep on the spot. "Staying in here?" He asked sorely,
Willow nodded and Travis let her through. The room was packed with sleepingbags, bunk-beds, and snoring demigods. "We got a new bed thing, made from the Hephaestus cabin." He nodded to the small panel just by the nearest bunk-bed. "They're ordered from undeterminded to sons, and daughters. These here are just
waiting for their bunk to be finished." He hushed to Willow, who nodded. Travis pressed a red button, obviously fr undeterminded. Two bunk-beds shot from the wall and waited patiently. "Here yeh go, we'll wake you up in the mornin'." He added, rubbed his eyes and advanced towards his own bunk. "We're going to have a war
meeting tomorrow in the morning," Willow added as he climbed into his own bunk. She climbed into the soft matress on the top bunk, curled up with the blankets and fell
asleep soon after, excited for tomorrow at noon.