Yet another lovely chapter of our book. Explanations at the end.

I am deeply sorry for any damage the use of incorrect grammar and made-up words will have upon your soul. Then again, this is from kids who are still in school.

Also, since Chapter 3 was too short I stuck it onto Chapter 2. I also have other ulterior motives for doing this but I 'delight in not talking'. AF fans will know what I'm talking about. ;)

~Innovation

Chapter 2: Pranu

I had a dream. It was a weird one. They say that demigod dreams are warnings from their parent god, yet I wish this one was not. It was about death. So many deaths. None about my friends, but of our whole camp. It was blazing, a bright orangish-yellowish flame twitched from a spark on a small bush. Suddenly, it sprang to life, seizing the campgrounds, devouring the cabins. People screamed in terror, they ran, they leaped. Anything to escape this horrid fire. The fire spread, it pounced on the whole camp. Trees toppled into flashing flames tinted with blue. Buildings crashed into the ground. Worst of all, kids were being eaten by the growing flames. Their yells of agony were awful, almost as bad as their faces, contorted and twisted with pain. Everyone was tripping over each other, smashing into friends, banging into others. The whole camp was slowly burning down into black ashes. The scene was disgusting, even through a thick screen of smoke. When I thought it couldn't get worse, I saw Nikita. His evil laugh upon his creepy, shadowed, pale face. I felt chills penetrate deep in my heart. That's when I was frightened awake. I was drenched in more cold sweat than I thought I could've ever been.

On my way to breakfast, I was still shaking from the aftershock. Luckily, nobody seemed to noticed my uncomfort. I was in no mood to share my thoughts.

I noticed Alex was walked toward me, I seriously hoped she wouldn't read my mind.

"Hey Pranu!" She called.

"Hi Alex," I tried to sound cheerful but I still felt chills from the dream.

"You going to breakfast?" She asked.

"Yup," I replied, trying to smile.

After few moments of awkward silence, we reached the very building I had seen engulfed in flames last night..

Inside, it was a warm place. I shook off my thoughts and tried to concentrate. The room was massive, 20 or so fold up tables spread out over the grey tiled floor. The floor reflected the illuminating, and extremely bright lights that were attached to the ceiling. It was early but the place was already filled with campers. The chitter chatter of many random conversations filled the room. They echoed off the walls, making sounds blend and mix together more. Alex and I quickly bounded down the stairs and found our usual table.

After everyone got settled, I noticed that Raven and Charlie were just kind of awkwardly standing to the side. I waved them over. "Here, you guys can sit over here with us!" The table was already crammed, and it would be hard to squeeze another two new additions in.

Neesik noticed our problem. He dragged another table out from a shack in the corner and pushed it up against the already-too-long line.

"Thanks, Neesik," I told him.

He nodded.

"Pardon me, but may I inquire as to what delicacies we are to consume?" Raven asked, formal as ever.

"It just kind of appears on your plate. And your cup," I explained. "You just sort of tell it what you want to eat."

Raven looked bemused. And a little doubtful.

"Here, just look at your plate and talk to it," I told her. I directed Charlie to do the same thing.

"I want beef jerky... with a side of white rice!" Ruidi exclaimed at his plate.

"I WANT... STEAK AND... MASHED POTATOES!" Someone else yelled at their plate.

"Uh dude, it's breakfast," I stated.

"I know," The person simply replied.

"'Kay. Whatever floats your boat," Then, I turned back to Raven and Charlie. "Now you guys try it."

"Um... Hi there, plate," Charlie said nervously. "I'd like, um, a bowl of cereal and a cup of orange juice?" he said the last part hopefully as if he didn't really believe it would happen.

His bowl immediately filled with Cheerios and his cup looked like an invisible pitcher had poured fresh orange juice into it.

I could tell that Raven was thinking hard about what she should eat. Come think of it, I don't think I've ever actually seen her eat. Finally, after a bit of hesitation, she said, "An apple would suffice."

A shiny, round, red apple dropped onto her plate out of nowhere. Raven stared at it for a while, almost as if she was checking to see if it was poisoned. Then apparently it passed her inspection, and she took a cautious bite.

Neesik made his announcements. He said a bunch of things that I wasn't really listening to, until he said."Due to the incident that happened recently, the kidnapping of a fellow camper-" Well, that was Nick, obviously- "and invasion of our grounds-" When did that happen?- "I have decided to make weapon training a required activity."

Chapter 3: Caiyi

I always went to weapon training, it is something I actually enjoy doing. Apparently, it wasn't the same for others. I heard groans and moans from campers all around.

"That's right, it's required. Now cheer up, it can't be that bad can it?" Neesik teased.

Everyone knew that weapon training was on the bottom of the "favorite activity" list. Though I really couldn't understand what was so bad about it. Compared to other activities, I guess you can say weapon training was among my favorites.

"Now when you all finish eating, you must immediately come to the training room," Neesik added.

More groans and moans.

"Are we ALL going to be there at the same time?" Some random person shouted.

"Yes, how about at... 9:00?" Neesik answered.

Even more groans and moans.

"One more groan or moan and it will be 8:30," Neesik warned, shaking his finger like we were a bunch of naughty puppies.

No more groans. Or moans. Neesik could be pretty convincing if he wanted to be.

A/N

Yes, another thing you have missed by my decision to not publish the first book is the capture and rescue of Nick, Alex's boyfriend. Since I am not very partial to the story turning into a bunch of mush, I have decided to keep 'contact' to a minimum.

By the way, the invasion is from Alcyone when she fled toward the camp. Alcyone is one of Raven's ravens, who used to be a human that was a shadow but lost the ability to transform when the scientists captured her.

Confusing, huh?