Chapter Nine: Is This a Soap Opera or What?
If there was one thing to say about demigods it was this: meals with us are never dull events. Gwen, Sophia, and I crawled out of the Apollo cabin late that morning exhausted, but happy. There is nothing like an all night girl's night to clear the air. We had made it to the mess hall with breakfast already in full swing. Or full chaos. Seeing as I had to duck to avoid an airborne waffle right as I sat down, chaos would most definitely be the word. According to Pollux, who was lazily working his way through his plate of toast and eggs, the Hermes kids were having a food war with the Demeter kids. Again. Geez, would Travis just ask Katie out already?! I've heard of boys picking on girls they like for attention, but this was ridiculous. Not too mention he was way too old to be doing that.
I managed to get a plate of dry toast and some fruit, make my offering, and get to my table without getting pelted with anything. Going to a public school had its advantages after all.
"So I notice Sophia actually walked in with you and Gwen today and there was no blood shed." Pollux said without looking up from his food.
"Yep." I didn't bother to swallow my food before talking, he wouldn't have noticed anyway.
He looked up with a confused look on his face. "That's all you got to say? After days of avoiding each other like the plague then waltzing in here like some sappy Disney ending, all you have to say is 'yep'?"
I arched an eyebrow. "Want me to write a book? I thought it was girls who needed to know all the details."
"Well some details wouldn't hurt." He pouted, but I could totally tell he was faking by the slight glint in his eyes.
I sighed. Picking up a grape and rolling it between my fingers I retold the night's events leading up to the reunion.
"That's where you were last night. For awhile there I thought you had run off again to go on your next quest."
"No, I would tell you before I did that. Truth is I'm still trying to figure out what it all means." I popped the grape in my mouth and mentally moaned at the taste. Red and purple grapes were fine, but green grapes were my favorite.
He rolled his eyes. "You have got to get your mind off this, if something happens then it happens. If not, then fine. Sometimes you just have to wait it out. There's no point worrying over it when you have no control." He went back to finishing his plate.
Picking at the remainder of mine, no longer having much of an appetite, my mind wondered. I knew he was right. That I was worrying more than I should be, but I was never one for sitting around and twiddling her thumbs. I needed to be doing something, making progress on this. I would go nuts otherwise. Speaking of going nuts, I guess it would be helpful to make more time to meditate before my next quest got into gear.
When breakfast finished I was ready to train. For once I was glad that Chiron had kicked up the training these last few weeks. Because working yourself so hard that you have no time to think about anything else was a blessing to me. If I could just put my mind elsewhere, even just for a few hours, would be ideal. Leaving the mess hall with Pollux we made our way over to the arena. Kicking his sorry butt over the place was just the thing to relief some stress.
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Everything around me was silent. The only thing I could see was the person in front of me, who was Percy at this point. Pollux and I had spent an hour sparring, me winning every time. Percy ha waltzed in without either of us noticing and after another defeat Pollux swapped out. Then things got serious and I went into focus mode. The only thing I could hear was the whistle of my blade as it sliced through the air. The clings and bangs as our swords met between us. This time around, the victories were more evenly split an I actually felt like I got a workout. Training with the best swordsman in the camp will do that to you.
"Alright you two, we need to move on to the obstacle course. Are you joining us there as well Percy?" Pollux asked as he made his way away from the wall and over to us. He looked bored and I felt kind of bad. This was supposed to be his training session too. He would get his moment though, seeing as he was way quicker than me on the obstacle course. Being taller and much more broad than me one would think he wouldn't have much grace or agility. But demigod laws of physics screwed up common sense.
Pulling back I let my sword drop to my side and Percy capped Riptide. I think it's really cool how his sword is so easily portable while mine is bulky and normally stays either in my cabin or the weapons shed. But hey, some people get the bigger perks. I put my sword into my side holder and we all made our way out of the arena, passing the Hephaestus cabin making their way in. A smaller girl with a slight tan and thick eyebrows passed me. I had only seen her a handful of times, the last one unforgettable, but that frizzy light brown hair stuffed into a make shift bun was hard to miss. Tabitha (Tabby) Sparks looked at me for a lingering moment before turning away. I had only talked to her once in my entire time at camp seeing as our paths never really crossed. That is until I broke into the weapon's shed and stole her shield before running off to do my first quest. I had given back her shield in once piece, but she hadn't said a word, just took it and left. I still don't know if she had been mad or not. I wasn't going to risk asking her and starting something that would be better off alone.
Our trio made it had way to the obstacle course when we noticed the other campers gathering around the big house.
"What's going on?" Pollux asked Percy. Chiron might run the camp with Mr. D as the director, but everyone at camp and on Olympus knew that Percy Jackson was the head of Camp Half Blood. And very little went on, or at least the major things, that Percy wasn't in the know on. But when Percy shrugged and started to walk towards the growing group I knew something was up.
I saw Gwen and Sophia standing on the outside of the group. Gwen holding her bow and Sophia looking sweaty. "Hey guys." They both turned to look at me before meeting us halfway.
"About time you guys came." Gwen said as she looked at Percy for an explanation. He held his hands up in defense.
"Why does everyone assume I know something?" he asked while we made our way through the crowd. People seemed to just move away to make room. We reached the porch with ease.
"Because you should know." Sophia explained.
Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah because that makes sense."
Our group of five made it into the main room before Chiron came and stopped us. He didn't look mad, but he also looked like we wouldn't be going any further.
"Chiron what's going on? What's with the groupies?" I asked as I took a seat on the couch nearby. I propped my feet on the coffee table.
"We simply have a new camper." Chiron explained without meeting any of our eyes. Mine I could understand with the whole one-look-and-it's-straight-to-the-looney-bin, but for everyone else it was odd. He was hiding something.
"You're not telling us something." Pollux said with his arms crossed. Way to state the obvious bro.
"You demigods do not always need to know every little thing that happens around here." a bored voice said beside me. Looking sideways I mentally groaned. Mr. D had somehow entered the room with no one noticing and took up residence on the other end of the couch I was sitting on. He took one look at my feet placement and frowned. "Feet off the table Sarah."
I cocked an eyebrow. There was no reason for me to move them seeing as Chiron hadn't cared enough to voice his opinion. And my feet were comfy. But I knew I had to pick and choose my battles if this whole thing with Mr. D was going to work out. I could feel multiple eyes on me as I made my choice. Huffing a little I slowly slid my feet back before they fell to to the floor. It left a small streak of dirt of the table and a small bit of satisfaction that I had won a little. The frown that had yet to go away on his face told me he knew exactly what I was thinking, but surprisingly he didn't comment. Percy broke the small moment by continuing with Chiron.
"Has something happened?" he asked trying to get a glimpse past the man in the wheelchair.
Chiron sighed before leading us back into the infirmary, a decent sized room where the Apollo kids and sometimes a sprite or two could be found healing the wounded. Today though it was cleared out with the exception of two. One I recognized and one I didn't.
Nick looked up from his seat beside one of the beds as we entered. His gaze found mine instantly. "Hey Sunshine, I wondered how long it would take you to get here."
I just shrugged and went to stand by him. Quickly I took in the form on the bed, a girl who was awake, but just barely. She had a darker skin tone that wasn't just a tan and light gray eyes. At least, that's what I could see as her eyelids started to droop. She looked small, but that could just be from her curling up on the bed. At most she couldn't be past fourteen."Who is she?" I asked quietly as the mystery girl fell asleep.
"We do not know. A satyr from outside of camp brought her here. He found her wondering Connecticut exhausted and fleeing from monsters. She has no memory, when asked she couldn't even give her name. The satyr just got her over the property line before she collapsed. Luckily Nick was near and helped bring her here." Chiron explained.
"That's strange." Sophia put in looking over the girl.
"Yeah, I mean no memory an no back story? Sounds like a a bad TV show." Gwen grunted.
Sophia looked closer at the newest camper. "That's not what I meant, although I do agree. What I meant to say was that she got over the line and nothing happened? Has any gods claimed her yet like they're supposed to?" Okay that was a good question.
Chiron shook his head. "Not yet, but it may just take some time. Who knows, her memory loss may be the work of the gods."
"That would be messed up." I put in.
"Agreed." Gwen said as she looked closer at the girl too. But now I wasn't so much looking at her rather than feeling the air around her. It was a different feeling, but I couldn't figure out why. Before I could explore it further Mr. D came into the room.
"Now that you all have stuck your noses where they don't belong I suggest you get back to your training. I know you have done nothing yet today Nate." he glared at Nick who looked more amused than anything.
We were all shoved out of the big house and Chiron told us to go back to training. Gwen and Sophia ended up with me and Pollux at the obstacle course. Turns out before they had been working on Sophia's stamina by running laps. Or at least Sophia attempting to run laps and Gwen shooting padded arrows at her to keep her going. Yes, I had some truly weird but devoted friends.