Chapter Fourteen: Bathroom Mishap

A/N: I'm starting to really get the plot down. Please, please, please review! First three people to review get a shout out from me in the next chapter (Which is coming soon).

Carly's POV

Thalia was kind of like Sam in her demeanor in that she was very pretty but could obviously break a bone or two if she needed to. She had these very bright intense blue eyes that appeared as though she could see right through you. The other girls didn't look so harmless either. Even the young ones looked fierce and ready to kill.

I couldn't really make out whether it was morning yet. It was still rather dark outside, as no light peered through any of the windows. My back was disgustingly sweaty and it was starting to get cold. Thalia and the huntresses stood at the foot of my bunk, all staring at me with blank expressions, as though they were still trying to figure out what to make of me. Thalia finally broke the awkward silence.

"Our lady has sent us here to inform you that you will have a quest. You are to go to the Oracle of Delphi for further information." The other girls didn't say anything. They just kept staring at me with a look of, what was that, pity? I couldn't stand it. I sat upright and scanned them all. Nobody said another word, so I did.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked.

"I just told you. Your mother has sent us to inform you of your quest," Thalia answered. I was getting kind of annoyed that Thalia was the one doing all the talking. Although she was the leader, she wasn't the only one with a mouth. I shivered as a very cold wind entered through the window. Thalia put a hand on my shoulder, a look of sympathy on her face. "Look, I know how it feels to be in your shoes. My father is Zeus, lord of the skies, king of all gods. I, like you have had mixed feelings about my godly parent." She stopped to see my facial expression, which hadn't changed, and continued. "Don't worry, Carly. Our godly parents do care about us. My father turned me into a tree. Literally, a tree! He did it to protect me from my uncle Hades." I didn't know where the story was going, but I listened on. "At certain times, you may feel as though your mother doesn't care about you, but she does Carly. And since you're the daughter of our lady, we care about you too." The other huntresses nodded rather nonchalantly.

"What kind of quest will I be going on?" I asked. Thalia shook her head.

"Can't say. You'll have to find out from the Oracle. Just know that, my lady has assigned you this quest to protect you from a very horrible fate. I'm afraid we have to be off. Farewell, Carly." She began to get up to leave and then stopped suddenly. "Oh and one more thing; please take care of yourself. You may be family, but not all of the gods are your friends. Beware of family, Carly Shay." And with that she was off, the other huntresses following suit. I was left alone with a vague warning, a severely sweaty back, and a putrid memory of my nightmare. The guy who had killed me in my dreams was obviously a god. The question was which one?

By now, morning sunshine had begun to penetrate the windows. I searched my drawers for a T-shirt, some jeans, and underwear. I undressed, wrapped myself in my towel and exited the cabin. In the daytime, the cabin apparently did not shine silver. It looked like a plain old white cabin. The cabin across from mine however, shined a fiery golden color.

The showers were located in the middle of all the cabins. It had two sides; one for the guys, and the other obviously for the girls. It was still very early, maybe five or six A.M. Nobody else appeared to be up. The keyword was 'appeared.' As soon as I stepped into the girls' showers, I heard water running in the last stall.

"Hello?" I called.

"Carly?" replied Freddie's voice, the water shut off. I screamed.

"FREDDIE WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE GIRLS' SHOWERS?" Freddie ran out of his stall, almost slipping. He was wrapped in a white towel and he was dripping wet. His bare chest was soaked in tiny water drops. I did not remember the last time I had seen Freddie without a shirt on, but boy was he muscular, you know, in a 'none-attracted-to-him way.'

"What do you mean this is the girls' showers? Travis told me…" He stopped mid-sentence. "Travis! I should've known!" I couldn't help but giggle. Freddie looked so ridiculous standing there all wet and mad. He gave me a cold stare and then began to slowly laugh. I don't know how long we stood there laughing, but it must've been long enough because Sam stepped in and then stopped and stared. She too was wrapped in a towel.

"No, no, no, no, Sam, this is not what it looks like!" Freddie stammered. I couldn't help but continue laughing.

"Freddie was tricked into thinking this was the boys' showers," I said, though it was kind of hard to understand through all my laughter. Sam didn't pay attention. She was focusing on Freddie. No, not just Freddie, she was focused on Freddie's abs. Luckily, I pinched her before Freddie noticed.

"Oh um, yeah." Sam choked out a nervous laugh. "Stupid Freddie." Freddie shook his head with what was undoubtedly embarrassment.

"I better go," he said. I smiled.

"I think you should too." He exited really quickly, almost slipping on his way out. Sam stared at him until he was out of sight. I fake coughed to get her attention.

"What?" she asked, blushing. I smiled and shook my head.

"Oh, nothing," I said, walking towards a stall.

"Carly Shay! You better tell me what you're thinking! Carly!" Sam was yelling, but I closed the stall door and turned on the hot water.

Once we were all dressed, we; Sam, Freddie, Melanie, and I, met up in front of the dining pavilion. Freddie was still red from what had happened in the showers earlier. Sam was still blushing slightly and Melanie was all smiles, as usual. I first told them about my nightmare and then I told them about the huntresses and my quest. Melanie said that Chiron would tell me to go see the Oracle and that the huntresses would've let him know first. It still felt a little shaken up by my nightmare. It had seemed so real.

Sure enough, as we entered the dining pavilion, Chiron approached me at my table. He looked at me with great concern. Then he whispered in my ear.

"After breakfast is over, I want you to go consult with the Oracle. She is in the main building, in the attic." I nodded and he left. Just that quickly.

I noticed Freddie arguing with one of his half-brothers, which I could only assume to be Travis. Travis was laughing his head off while Freddie raved on and on. Not even this could put a smile on my face as I ate my toast halfheartedly. I didn't know what to expect when I spoke to the Oracle. What would my quest be? Based on what the other campers had said, quests were usually very dangerous. Something told me that this quest wouldn't be any different. My nightmare suddenly popped up in my head again. Did my nightmare have anything to do with my quest? I surely hoped not.

Freddie's POV

I wanted to kill Travis! He had told me that the boys' showers were the one on the northern side. He had tricked me! I can't believe I had fallen for that stupid trick. Maybe Sam was right; maybe I was gullible. Speaking of Sam, wow! I had seen her almost-naked. It was weird. I was so nervous; I just hoped she hadn't seen me blushing. What boner! Oh, damn. Ok, so maybe I did get a little excited, you know, down there. But any sane heterosexual guy would've! I mean, Sam's body was so perfect and the way the towel had hugged her curves, Oh my gods! The weirdest thing was that I felt absolutely nothing towards Carly, and trust me, Carly was no clunker.

Carly had told all of us about the nightmare in which she had been searching for Sam, Melanie and I in the wilderness. A strange feeling told me that this had something to do with the quest she had been issued by the hunters of Artemis. I did not like the part where Carly dies or the fact that we went missing. I hoped I was wrong, but my gut feeling told me that her nightmare and quest were connected somehow.

I found myself screaming my head off at Travis, who just laughed and laughed. Connor smirked and took a long swig of orange juice.

"Dude, that wasn't cool!" I was saying. Travis kept spitting chewed up bagel bits all over the table.

"C'mon, man! Lighten up! It's what we do, we're children of Hermes!" I barely understood this, as he said it through immense laughter. I hoped he had forgotten that he'd be taking me to steal my first item ever today. But, I was wrong. Connor made sure he remembered.

"Hey Travis, don't forget we're taking Freddie out on a shopping spree," Connor said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. I groaned.

"Oh yeah," Travis said, suddenly all serious, "A shopping spree." Now I was no genius, but I knew that he didn't literally mean a shopping spree; more like a shoplifting spree. Travis gulped down some milk before forcing me and Connor into a small huddle. "Look," he began, "The Ares kids were mocking us for losing Capture the Flag last night. Guess what you're gonna do, Freddie?" I didn't like where this was going. Sam and Melanie were Ares kids. "You're gonna sneak into the Ares cabin and steal all their weapons." I knew I wasn't going to like it.

"All their weapons? Won't that take hours?" I don't think Travis knew me at all. He didn't really, but I was new to camp. If he was that good, why did he expect me to be as good? Connor patted my back rather hard.

"Freddie, Freddie, fuh-get about it," he said in the phoniest New Yorker Italian accent. "You're a son of Hermes, god of thieves. Stealing all their weapons should be light work." I reluctantly agreed. I still thought they were overestimating me though.

They got up simultaneously and motioned for me to follow them out of the dining pavilion. I did. They led back toward the cabins. The Ares cabin was very badly painted, as if the kids had begun to paint it themselves and then got bored and gave up all together. The paint was bright red and the roof was bordered with barbed wire. A wild boar's head hung from the doorway, its eyes looking very well alive. Travis kicked the door open. It was empty.

"Of course they're not here. Everyone knows all Ares kids are pigs, probably stuffing their faces as we speak," Travis said. I took a little offense to that as Sam and Melanie were Ares kids. I mean Sam fit the description perfectly, but I didn't think she was a pig. I didn't say anything though. I followed Travis and Connor into it. It was very messy. Clothes and garbage covered most of the floor. It didn't smell very pretty either.

"Now," said Travis, looking around the cabin, "Where do the animals keep their weapons?" Connor had gone back to the entrance to keep guard. I looked around the cabin nervously. Was if they came back? "Aha!" I heard Travis say across the room. He had walked up to what appeared to be a bag of dirty laundry. He motioned for me to go help him. I helped him turn over the bag and we spilled out the contents. Dozens of swords, maces, knives, bronze knuckles, and various other highly deadly weapons fell to the floor very loudly.

"Holy shit! These guys are loaded," Travis yelled to his older brother.

"Hurry up, Freddie! You gotta take it!" Connor snapped. I began to panic.

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked frantically. Travis walked over to the door to help Connor look out.

"Just trust your instincts man, you can do it," he said. For a long moment, I stood there. Nothing was happening. Then, out of nowhere, I got this sudden burst of energy. I picked up all, that's right all, of the weapons in my arms and with inhuman speed, busted through the door. Travis and Connor followed suit as we ran just before the forest, where I dropped all the weapons. I was now panting heavily, but feeling really accomplished. I had stolen my first thing ever. I don't know why I was happy that I did something so wrong, but I have to admit, it felt so right when I did it.

"You did it, bro!" Connor slapped me a high-five.

"I knew you could. Now I know you're my half-brother!" Travis said, adding a high-five of his own. He then began to jump up and down like a maniac. "I can't wait to see the looks on those Ares kids now!" he said.

"I'm gonna go meet up with my friends," I told them. I began to walk towards the dining pavilion when I saw Sam and Melanie running full speed towards me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Carly went up to go see the Oracle," Melanie said.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Now," Sam said, "We wait."