As promised here is part two of 'Everybody Needs Love'. Just so you know, I've made it look like both people who are angry and sad need love to get them through the tough times. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and enjoy the small song that I made up (seriously, please tell me what you think).
Everybody Needs Love – Part 2
You know you're having a bad day when:
A) Your younger siblings gang up against you and steal all of your clothes, leaving only a homemade and thus suspicious loin-cloth,
B) You have to go to the showers – which are outside – in the loin-cloth just to get clean,
C) Your older siblings gang up against you and swap the shampoo for hair removal, and
D) When you're halfway across the cabin green after your shower – in your loin-cloth and going bald –you realise what day it is.
That's exactly what happened to Griffin Lowe, son of Hermes and one week boyfriend of Andi Prince. And the problem was that ever since he had basically asked the daughter of Apollo to be his girlfriend, the entire Hermes cabin had decided that it was their job to prank him because of it.
But that day… all you had to do to tick him off big time was just one tiny joke.
" None of you had better touch my cactus or I'm feeding you to Mrs O'Leary!" Griffin roared uncharacteristically before proceeding to charge towards his cabin whilst still dressed in the loin-cloth.
Unfortunately for his siblings, piling up behind the door did nothing to stop Griffin from entering the cabin. Their pranked brother was that annoyed with them that he completely forgot about the door and, calling on his spear, drove his weapon through one of the front windows. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But onlookers could only watch in shock as the practically naked and clearly annoyed son of Hermes leapt into the cabin after his spear.
" Like I said, touch that cactus and I'm feeding you to Mrs O'Leary." The angry demigod growled, rising to his feet.
" We weren't going to do anything to your cactus." Ryan Murik hurried to say as he and three other siblings stepped away from the cactus next to Griffin's bed.
" But I thought we were going to take it to the beach?" One of the younger daughters of Hermes questioned, clearly confused.
" Taniah!" Numerous people groaned.
" And what were you going to do at the beach, Taniah?" Griffin asked, trying to keep his anger in check.
" We were just going to give it some sunlight. It's been cooped up in the dark all this time and Miranda said that cactuses live in the desert." Connor hurried to save the prank.
" Exact words." Travis added, just to prove his brother's point.
" Connor. Since when did you turn into a six year old girl by the name of Taniah?"
" They were going to bury it in the water." Taniah replied as if her older brothers and cabin leaders hadn't spoken.
" They?" Griffin asked the little girl.
" Travis and Connor."
A dark sparkle shone dangerously in Griffin's eyes as he gripped the shaft of his spear tighter. Travis and Connor, realising that they were in trouble, turned to face each other as they slowly began sneaking to the front of the group and thus the door. Of course, Griffin had to notice their attempt at escape and jumped over the nearest bunk. Those who were at the door easily let him through for fear of their own safety.
" Do you know where my clothes are, Taniah?" Griffin asked as gently as he could despite his obvious anger. He didn't want to look at the girl in case he scared her.
" They're in a box under Ryan's bed." The girl replied as face-palms and groans filled the cabin yet again.
" Thank you, Taniah."
" You're welcome. Can I go have breakfast now?"
" When I get Thorn back."
" Who's Thorn?"
At the innocent question, Griffin's anger seemed to melt instantly into pain and sadness. The dark look in his eyes gave way to his hidden tears and his throat tightened so hard he almost choked. He couldn't even look at his siblings anymore; choosing instead to look at the floor. It was almost like he had just lost the hope to live.
Instantly, the others realised what they had done and, on the Stoll's orders, began trying to fix their problem. Regardless of their reputation outside of the cabin, they were still family… and they did care about their family. Ryan even pulled the box of clothes from under his bed so that Griffin didn't have to go searching for it in front of them (or rather, in front of the girls).
With a heavy sigh, Griffin finally answered. " I'll tell you about him some other time, when you're older. I think the story will give you nightmares at the moment."
" But…" Taniah started.
" I'll see you at breakfast."
With that, Griffin grabbed some clothes from the box and went to change, leaving the rest of his cabin to go to breakfast without him.
Unfortunately for Griffin, breakfast was as bad as the morning shower. Other campers (read: the Ares cabin) seemed to enjoy the looks of his baldness and welcomed the new opportunity to tease him about it. It was insults galore almost as soon as he walked in wearing proper winter clothes and a snug beanie hat that covered most of his ears. Some of the other campers stuck to snickers and whispers while a small few (those that apparently felt sorry for him) smiled sorrowfully at him.
" Griffin? What happened?" Andi Prince called from the Apollo table as her boyfriend slumped past.
" Siblings." Was all Griffin muttered in reply.
After sacrificing most of his breakfast and returning to the Hermes table, he allowed the laughs from the prank to sail right past him as he barely ate what was left on his plate. Since discovering – or rather remembering – what day it was, he had lost his appetite for just about anything. Instead, he allowed his thoughts and memories to drift from the present and back into the past.
The first thing he heard was the soothing voice of a woman singing a love song. It was slow and haunting like the woman was singing about a lover lost to the tides of war and falling into despair over the discovery of his death. Only, as the song progressed, he remembered being woken up in the middle of the night when he was nearly five years old to the sound of his mother crying. In reality, the song was about a friend of his mother's, Tony someone (Griffin mainly called him Uncle T), who had died from something else. In memory of her friend, his mother wrote the song.
' The Silver Stone' was the last song his mother ever wrote.
" Closing my eyes to the shadows abroad,
I stand aside the shore.
The daemons of pain and hate and misery
Shall haunt me forever more.
To think of he, so warm at heart,
To be taken by another man.
Alas my pain cannot compare
To the silver stone from that beast's hand."
It took a while for him to realise that the dining pavilion had fallen silent, but when he did, Griffin almost cursed himself for singing out loud. Other than that one time in the amphitheatre where he basically asked Andi Prince to be his girlfriend, he usually kept his singing to himself. Because of that, he didn't realise that he had been singing aloud until the background noise had fallen silent after only the first verse of his mother's song.
As soon as he realised, however, he clamped his mouth shut and glared at every single person in the pavilion, daring them to say anything.
" Welcome back to Camp Half-Blood, Baldhead Lowe." Someone from the Ares table sneered.
That was the last straw. Tears prickling at his eyes, Griffin stood up and stormed out of the pavilion.
The climbing wall was Griffin's next torment.
Ryan woke him after he had been found behind the Hermes cabin. Apparently, after finally getting past the apologising stage, Andi had ordered the Hermes cabin to go in search of him after practically interrogating Ryan about what was wrong with Griffin. The order had been given hours ago… and it was now after lunch. Griffin figured he had fallen asleep while listening to his mother's CDs.
Of course, now that he was awake, that meant that he had to go back to normal camp schedules… and that did not include moping around and trying to remember a lost past. Neither did it include sleeping behind your cabin.
Ryan dragged him to the climbing wall.
Why were they going to the climbing wall? Believe it or not, it wasn't just for free time. There were climbing competitions on it with the winning cabin – in fact all participating cabins – gaining nothing except more experience on how to survive the climbing wall. Griffin, himself, was one of the Hermes cabin's best climbers, though he never admitted it. He never told anyone, but he deemed himself a gryphon hunter.
Just as the two had gotten to the climbing wall, the rest of the Hermes cabin showed up, along with the other three cabins that were competing in that day's challenge; Apollo, Hephaestus and Nemesis. If Griffin had to place a bet with Ryan, he would say that his biggest worry was Leo Valdez and his inability to be burnt by fire. However, not even the thought of a bet could enter his mind that day.
" Griffin Lowe." Andi called as she made her way up to her boyfriend. With surprising strength and speed, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his face down to hers. " What has been going on with you today?"
" I thought Ryan told you." He replied dully, freeing his shirt from Andi's grip and straightening himself.
" I want to hear it from you."
Griffin looked around at the other demigods. The only two demigods that knew the complete story of his arrival to camp were gone, both lives taken during the Titan war. And both of them were Apollo campers. His own cabin knew most of what had happened that day, seven years ago when he was eight. But the other cabins – especially the Nemesis cabin – had no clue. And he wasn't about to tell them any time soon.
" Let's just get this thing over and done with." He grumbled instead, making sure not to catch Andi's eye.
That said, he turned and disappeared into the swarm of Hermes campers. After a few minutes of arguing between Travis, Emelia and Tim (they were fighting over who would be the first climber… again), Griffin split from the Hermes cabin and made his way to the foot of the climbing wall. Behind him came numerous protests which he ignored.
Beside him, the Nemesis cabin leader, Anne-Marie something-or-other, turned to face him, a curious look on her face. Still ignoring everyone around him, Griffin said nothing. But he did notice her shrug her shoulders and turn back to the climbing wall, waiting for the other two competitors to claim their positions. In the end, a grumbling Leo Valdez from Hephaestus and a slightly scared brother of Andi's (Austin maybe?) made their way to the front.
" Okay, your goal here is simple." A satyr known only as Despotes called. He was the referee for every climbing wall competition. " The first member of the team is to place their flag on top of the climbing wall before returning to solid ground. After that, each team member must race to the top of the wall, touch the flag and make their way back down again. The last person up the climbing wall…"
It was about this time that Griffin tuned the satyr's words out. To be completely honest, he didn't really care about what this guy was saying about the rules. Like any child of Hermes, he didn't care much for rules. He just wanted the day to end… or at least the training exercise to be over so that he could go back to listening to his mother sing.
Before he knew it, he was the last one still standing at the starting position; Despotes had already called 'Go' and the other three demigods had started to make their way up the climbing wall. Cursing his stupidity, Griffin grabbed the fireproof flag of Hermes and charged up the climbing wall with it clamped firmly in his teeth.
It was the best way if he was expected to use both his hands.
It was about half way up that his troubles began. With the wall constantly shaking and spitting rocks at him, it was hard for Griffin to get a proper hold and keep moving forward. Already lava had burnt one of his arms and he had been lucky enough that a rogue boulder had grazed instead of broken his other arm. His side was also hurting him after he was forced into a ledge by another boulder making its way down. But the main danger came from below him, not the climbing wall.
Below him, the other campers were cheering on their siblings. In fact, Griffin could clearly hear Travis and Connor arguing with Will Solace, Jake Mason and Nyssa about the meaning of cheating. All he could gather from the argument was that Leo was the cause. But, of course, Ryan had to realise that he was focussing on the crowd below and not on the climbing wall like he should have been.
" Griffin! Ignore us and get the flag to the top! Keep climbing!" Ryan called up to him.
" Keep climbing."
Those words were almost as good as turning Griffin to stone as Medusa's glare was. And he would never forget the first day he heard them or the one who had spoken them. As the words echoed in his head, he was drawn into darkness.
" Griffin Lowe, if you don't shut up right now, we are both going to become bird food." A teenage voice growled from below the dirty-blond haired son of Hermes.
" But I'm tired!" the boy groaned.
" No 'buts'. Keep climbing. I have to get you past the boarder."
The call of an eagle coming from above them made Griffin cringe in fear. The drum of the beast's wings beating in the sky made his heart beat even harder than he thought possible. In a matter of seconds, a strong gust of wind rushed over the boy and he was ripped into the sky by sharp claws.
Panic instantly washed over him, clouding his mind and blurring his vision. He wasn't sure if it was the panic that was threatening to stop air from going into his lungs or it is was the beast's claws. But he did know one thing. He needed help and fast.
" Thorn!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
His protector and friend responded with a quick blow of his pipes. In an instant, Griffin was thrown to the grown, drops of blood following him as the beast's talons raked across his side. He landed with a thud against the earth and it wasn't until a few seconds later that he remembered what was going on. He and Thorn were under attack. Fear and pain clear on his face, Griffin turned to face the creature he had been running from for the past week.
The thing was, at least, the size of a large horse… well, it stood as tall as a horse. For hind legs, it had lion paws and a lion's tail to complete the strange mix. Instead of horse legs (or lion legs), it had eagle legs. And, just like an eagle, it had wings, razor sharp talons and a razor sharp beak.
The good thing; it was wrapped in vines and so had been forced to the ground. The bad thing; Thorn, a black haired and black furred satyr protector, was standing dangerously close.
" Thorn! Come on! You've tied it up! Let's go!" Griffin called in an attempt to get his friend out of harm's way.
" I need to stay here a little bit longer, Griffin." Thorn replied.
" But? No, you're coming with me!"
" Don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Just run past the big pine tree on the hill and get help! Go now while the gryphon's still trapped! Hurry!"
What happened next, Griffin would never forget. Right before his eyes, the gryphon broke the vines that held its beak shut and, quick as lightning, pecked at Thorn's chest. It was something no eight year old should ever have to see.
Tears streaming down his face, the boy turned and ran like his friend had told him to. Only, instead of running into camp like he should have, Griffin found himself running into a hospital room. There was only one bed in the room and it was occupied by a tall woman with golden blonde hair. It was the same colour hair that Griffin had been born with and that he had lost. The woman's eyes were a sad kind of blue, but they seemed to light up when she saw him.
" Griffin, my baby." She sighed in a raspy voice.
" Dya!" An almost six year old Griffin cried as he ran to his mother's bedside and tried to hug her.
" Shh, it's okay pumpkin. Everything's going to be fine."
In an attempt to calm her young golden blond haired son, the woman moved her hand to the edge of her bed and squeezed Griffin's small hand tightly but gently. But even at that young age, Griffin knew it was a lie.
" I love you, Griffin."
Again Griffin cried – if not harder than before – as the doctors came and took his mother away. The guy who brought him to see her before the operation had to hold him to make sure that he didn't run after them. But there was one thing that Griffin had yet to learn (at that age); those four words were the last words his mother ever spoke… to him or anyone else.
He still saw his mother after the operation, but never again would he be able to hear her. Two years later, he was taken from the burden of looking after her by Thorn. All the memories from that time (and before) flashed before him. But only the most recent remained after everything else finally calmed down.
Andi Prince and how she looked when she stormed into his cabin the day he asked her to be his girlfriend.
To be completely honest, the daughter of Apollo looked like a red-haired angel delivered by the Fates straight from Olympus rather than one of Hades' secret agents like others seemed to think of her as. Yeah, she had a mean temper. But Griffin figured that was because of her past. In that sense, she reminded him of himself; someone changed from what they should have been by their past.
As Andi approached him, demanding the return of her property, something seemed to change with the memory. Instead of punching him the face like she should have, the daughter of Apollo planted her hands on either side of his face and kissed him full on the lips. Even his dream-self had no idea what to do. They had never shared a moment like that in real life, especially since they had only just started dating. But then something even stranger happened.
" Come back to me, Griffin." Andi's voice echoed soothingly around him as everything else went dark.
That couldn't have been Andi Prince. She never sounded that soft and loving unless she was singing. Maybe someone was impersonating her. If they were, Griffin was sure to hunt them down when he woke up… or before, he didn't really care. Either way, their days were numbered.
" Now's not the time to be sleeping on the job. You still have to answer my questions. So if you don't wake up right now, I'll convince Chiron to get a set of defibrillators just so I can wake you up with them!"
That threat definitely sounded like it had come from the true Andi Prince's mouth. Not wanting the threat to become reality, Griffin obeyed.
Griffin opened his eyes to the sound of something being crushed between two slabs of rock. Silently, the son of Hermes prayed that whatever was being crushed wasn't something (or someone) important. It took a few minutes for him to realise that he was lying in the infirmary and that his head felt both hot and sore. In an attempt to figure out why his head hurt, he raised his hand to it.
" I wouldn't do that if I were you." A quiet voice stopped him.
" Wha?" Griffin slurred, sitting up.
Standing at the end of his bed, a mortar and pestle working feverishly in her hands, was the very girl he had been dreaming of… only, the Andi Prince from his dreams didn't have big, dark circles under her eyes like this Andi did. Something had happened… and Griffin wanted to know what.
" You're… eyes… tired." He tried to get out.
" Take it easy, Monkey Man." The girl sighed with a small smile in his direction. After placing the mortar and pestle on the trolley beside her, she grabbed a glass of what looked like orange juice and handed it to the older boy. " Have some of this. And keep still."
Without objections, Griffin took the glass and sipped at the drink, knowing full well that it wasn't orange juice he was drinking. Instantly, the taste of cornbread and cabbage stew fresh off an open fire filled his mouth. The last time he had truly had that meal was when he was eight and no one could make it like his mother. Before he could stop himself, a single tear was falling down his face.
" Oh gods, I hope I'm not hurting you." Andi's worried voice returned Griffin's memories back to the depths of his mind.
" You care?" Was all he could say with his throat as tight as it was from the memories.
" Yes, I care. Maybe not all the time, but I do care. Now what's hurting?"
" Now? My heart. There's a reason why I try not to take nectar and ambrosia, you know. The memories are too close for my liking."
" What did it taste like?"
" My mum's xaritsa with cabbage stew. She always made it when I was sick or hurt or when I just needed some loving. Simple, I know, but the way she made it, over an open fire under the stars or sky, well, you'd know you were home. The last time she made it for me was when I was eight. It was the night before I left with Thorn to come to camp. Now I'll never get to have it again."
Silence fell between the two. It was then that Griffin noticed that his head was no longer burning. Andi was standing by his head (quite possibly with the mortar in hand because it was no longer on the trolley) where it was obvious that she had just put some sort of gold paste on it. Whatever it was that was now on his head, it was cool and soothing.
But it was also during that silence that the son of Hermes got the feeling that he was going to be answering a lot of questions in the very, very near future. Some of which were going to be answered or else followed by awkward silence.
Sure enough, the first of the questions came and broke the silence. " Bread? Does every meal you eat have to have bread with it?" It was clear that Andi was trying to steer clear of depressing answers.
" It's a Romani thing."
" Romani? I didn't think you were from Romania."
" I'm not. And I'm not Romanian. I'm Romani and so was my mother and our ancestors." Seeing that Andi still didn't understand, Griffin added. " I'm a gyspy. But don't call me that. I don't like it just like you don't like your true name."
That was how the questions started. It wasn't even a proper game of 20 questions. It was more like an interrogation crossed with a language lesson. By the end of it, Andi knew a lot more about Griffin than most of the people in camp did – including some of the language that he had grown up around. And Griffin, well he learnt a few things too.
For starters, the daughter of Apollo found out that if Griffin's mother hadn't had chosen Hermes to be the father of her only child, Griffin Lowe may have been her brother instead of her boyfriend. Then there was the story of how the boy had gotten the scar that travelled from the top left of his skull to the base of it which hit the metal plate inside.
After telling her about Thorn and what had happened to him that fateful day, Griffin also learnt that Andi's 'protectors' were actually her grandmother's pet Rottweilers that had hated her just like their owner did. But that was a random discovery which he instantly placed into the back of his mind after seeing the dark look in Andi's eye.
The main thing he really took notice of were the fact that he had been unconscious for almost eight days and that his girlfriend had been by his side the majority of the time – save for a few times were one of her siblings would take over to give her some form of rest. That and the Demeter campers were looking after his cactus because she had decided it was best for the plant while he was unconscious.
Five days after he woke up, Griffin was allowed to leave the infirmary. After his head was healed of its lava burn, some sort of hair growth cream was lathered on twice a day courtesy of a trade made by Andi with the Aphrodite cabin. That's why he had to stay in the infirmary (it was Andi's orders and she was one of those people you just didn't disobey). Now his darkening hair sported a military look.
But something felt different about the camp as he walked out of the Big House. It seemed empty and deserted… and that generally wasn't a good thing. Next to that, he hadn't seen Andi all day; it was her sister, Kayla, that had said he was fine to leave.
It was on his way to the cabin green that he noticed the teal Romani wagon with gold patterns in the distance. The wagon was strategically placed between the cabin area and the dining pavilion, almost as if dinner wasn't in the pavilion that night. Curious about the new (and very non-Greek) addition to the camp, the son of Hermes went to explore. Turned out the teal wagon wasn't the only one there.
Griffin counted eight wagons altogether and all of them were positioned around a massive fire. Next to that, each one of the wagons looked like they were designed to belong to certain cabins. What was even scarier than each cabin owning (and thus sharing) a wagon was that each wagon had a cooking fire of its own that was being attended by campers. Some of the campers he trusted with cooking on an open fire (like Leo Valdez), others he did not trust (like his brothers Travis and Connor Stoll). In fact some Ares and Nemesis campers were fighting over who was to tend to their fire over at the red and black wagon, and Travis and Katie Gardner were back to back with their arms crossed - obviously ignoring each other – while Andi kept slapping Connor's hands away from the teal wagon's fire.
That was when he noticed that Will Solace was bashing the teal wagon's corn bread to death.
" Keck! So keres?" Realising he was speaking in Romani, he quickly switched languages as he hurried to the teal wagon in order to save the cornbread. He wasn't aware of the fact that everyone around the bon fire was watching him. " What are you doing? You don't bash the cornbread!"
The look Will gave him clearly said that he was both annoyed and offended. " How do you do it, then?"
" First you get rid of the one that's not going to work. Then…"
Griffin quickly found that he had an audience as he worked from both memory and scratch at making a new batch of corn bread. When he asked Will how many they were feeding (and Will answered with 'the entire camp'), he decided to get the son of Apollo's help. He even explained how to make the cornbread the way his mother had done with him seven years ago. Unfortunately, that got the Ares cabin riled up and it took both him and Andi to get them to realise that he himself was only eight when his mother explained the recipe.
Night had fallen by the time Chiron had announced the meal over and the music begin. Andi had managed to seclude Griffin and herself away from the main camp and the usual songs being sung back at the bonfire. And, to be honest, Griffin wouldn't have had it any other way; sitting at the Hermes table in the Dining pavilion while listening to the rest of the camp singing from afar.
" Your cornbread tasted pretty good, you know." The daughter of Apollo whispered, breaking the peaceful silence.
" It wasn't my mother's." Griffin sighed.
" It didn't have to be. But you were right about one thing. There was no need for Will to bash his first try like he was doing."
" Well, I remember my mother saying something about animal fat and-"
" Griffin. Shut up."
The son of Hermes obeyed and swapped his voice for a confused expression on his face. All he had ever wanted was to make his mother's cornbread so that he could share it with Andi. And he didn't really like the fact that he couldn't share it or make it. But the look on the thirteen year old's face clearly said that he was judging himself and she didn't like that. With a sigh, Griffin turned away.
" I was trying to do something nice for you, you know. You gave me love, so I'm giving it back. Stop ruining the niceness of this thing with your negative cornbread vibes." Andi growled.
" I'm sorry. I really did like what you did with the wagons and getting everyone together the way you did. I don't know how you managed it – especially having Katie Gardner and Travis Stoll at the same wagon – but, Hades, did you pull it off."
Griffin thought he saw a blush creep over Andi's face. Before he could stop himself, a small smile lit both his eyes and his lips.
" I had help." The girl replied quietly.
" I can imagine. And you did great."
There was a few minutes of silence, in which Griffin chose to sneak in a kiss on Andi's hand, before two heads looked up to the stars above them. Finally, the silence was broken once more. This time it was Griffin.
" You know, my mum had a saying. 'Life may be friend and foe, but if you meet it with friends at your side, you will always know your family'. I never knew what she meant until tonight." The boy admitted.
" And what did she mean?" The girl asked, urging him to continue.
" Everyone here in this camp is my family just as much as they are my friends and enemies. This camp is my home. It took me seven years to realise that. And you… you are the most important friend of all."
And that was when Griffin's dream became reality. The two shared their first, proper kiss. And no one was watching except maybe Artemis as she rode her moon chariot across the sky.
Dictionary Time! Language = Romani
Dya = Mother
Xaritsa = Fried Cornbread
Keck! So keres? = No! What are you doing?
Hope you enjoyed reading this and learning something new. And if you're wondering how old Griffin is, he's 15.