Letters Home
Camp Half Blood Campers' Correspondence a Year Later-[Coral Delacruse to Alice & Greg Hollmann]
Dear Mom and Greg,
I arrived at camp safely. Thank you for seeing me off. I'm using my real name instead of my stage name here, so I'm hoping that I won't detract too much attention from everyone else, although there was a bit of an upset when I showed up.
You may be surprised to hear that there was no cabin for me when I arrived, though. I thought it was really weird since I was pretty sure whoever fathered me was important, especially with all the fuss going on. It turned out all right, though. My head counselor arrived that same day with these other kids who are really famous here. They got kind of swarmed so I didn't bother trying to talk to them, but I'm told they helped win a war last year. Chiron tried to explain everything that had happened at the camp over the last few years during the mini orientation. Apparently a whole lot has happened after this kid Percy Jackson showed up, one that got mobbed. Chiron explained to me, specifically, that the main three male Greek Gods took an oath on the River Styx not to have any more kids. They must've all sworn on a fake River Styx because they all broke the oath and had kids, and you can't break an oath made on the River Styx. Percy was the first of these kids to successfully find his way to this camp and it caused a huge ruckus in the whole Greek god/monster world. Hence the wars, I guess.
Nico, my head counselor, was really ticked when he saw me, which is understandable, I suppose, since his dad technically didn't break his oath until he had me, but you know that wasn't really his fault so I don't blame him. I don't think I, personally, deserve all his hatred, but I was warned by Chiron before that Nico's had a bit of a hard time. I can deal with grumpy for a little while, but I'm not going to allow him to be rude to me, especially since he's the first sibling I ever had. Chiron said Nico was born before the whole fake oath thing and then got stuck somewhere where he didn't age until a few years ago and he got thrown into all the craziness. It sounds insane, I know, but with all the crazy stuff around here, it doesn't sound all that far-fetched.
Don't worry too much. I don't think Nico actually hates me. I found out that we didn't have a cabin yet because Nico wanted a hand in building it himself. He had a whole pile of pictures and sketches so I think he must've been trying to design it all summer. He did try to erect it out of the earth all by himself, which didn't work too well so I helped him, against his will. It looks really cool. The outside doesn't look very Greek. I think Nico wanted to just do something completely different. It's got this old, gothic, medieval cathedral look to it in the front with spires and everything, except it's all made out of a solid hunk of stone. For a kid of Hades, it's bizarrely tasteful. He let me design the back since no one can really see it. I didn't really do anything to it because I don't really know what I'm doing so it's really just a bunch of rough stone, but I got some flowers on there in honor of Persephone. Nico hates flowers and Persephone, but she's always been nice to me.
The steps in the front go down into the ground so we're basically living in a really nice cellar. Inside is all white veined black marble and looks a lot more Grecian with pillars set into the walls and everything. It's got these windows lined up so that there's this one spot that always has light, which I thought was clever of Nico. I want to put a little cactus flower there or something, but I may have to twist Nico's arm before he'll let me bring a plant inside the 'not quite a cabin'. There's a girls side and a boys side sleeping area too, which I appreciated. There isn't a whole lot of furniture yet, but the beds are pretty classy and there's a whole lot of little lights and almost everything is set with precious and semi-precious stones. I think as long as we never let a Hermes kid in here, we'll be all right.
In spite of it all he did try to make it look a little like a cabin, about as much as all the other cabins are, but since we're a bit out of the way (we tucked ourselves into a shady, wooded corner), I don't think it really matters what the cabin looks like.
Besides his standard grumpiness, Nico's barely talked to me. No one else really has either. No one really talks to Nico either. I think they're a bit scared of us, with our dad being the lord of the underworld and all. The few kids he showed up with talk with him just fine so at least he has some friends. The only conversation I've had with Nico since I've been here is about how he doesn't like my name. He said it was stupid and I said I didn't name myself and that coral looks kind of skeleton-like anyway so it's not the worst name ever. He calls me Delacruse instead, like when he wants me to get out of the doorway. He doesn't seem to enjoy being outside at all, which makes him even harder to talk to because I go outside a lot. I like the dark, but being closed in where no one can see you is no fun.
I'm running out of paper, but I love you and I'll write to you again soon.
Sincerely,
Coral Delacruse
Hades Cabin – Cabin 13