Jay Evermist and the Olympians

Book One: The Battle Begins

Chapter 8: Home Sweet Home

(I was reading my other chapters and it seems I owe everyone who has read my story or whoever will; an apology. I have messed up too many times to count. Whether grammar or placement, I need to slow down. Again sorry hopeful I will get better in the future!)

The look at Half-Blood Hill literally made me want to cry tears of joy. I had been away for a day and had gotten killed more than twice in the same hour. But looking out among the camp made me feel at home and safe. I stood there with Jacob and Miki and we just stared out. The snores of Peleus were starting to get my nerves and I turned to Jacob.

"Thanks." I whispered just quiet enough for him to hear me.

"No problem." He managed, but looked like he would drop dead.

I gasped and turned to Miki. "Come on we have to get him to the infirmary."

"Yeah sure," She turned her head slowly until it snapped into place like she was waking up from a trance. "It just feels like we haven't been here in forever."

"Oh please, it's been what? A day?" I moved to Jacob where we was now starting to slump. I grabbed his shoulders and draped an arm around my neck.

"Well, yeah but it was good to be away." She sighed and did the same with his other arm.

We brought him down the hill but when I took the first step on the ground beneath the hill, I heard the shouts. First it was just whispers and stares but they must have noticed Jacob passed out between me and Miki because when they did come, Will ran up and took my place with Miki. A crowd swept over me they crowded Jacob and Miki. I picked out that girl, Diana, and Nico who I had some words about touching rigged capture the flag posts without thinking it through. Or maybe his problem is that he just doesn't think at all. Jacob is nothing like him.

I walked to my cabin as the camp seemed empty. Some kids must have gone home because it seemed that all of them were currently carrying Miki and Jacob to the infirmary. I sighed as I looked upon the porch of my cabin to the story of my mother's birth, even that didn't cheer me up.

Yeah, the whole experience was fun, but it only reminded me that I would be coming home to an empty cabin with lost hopes and dreams. Only that wasn't what happened. I walked into my cabin to see a woman crunched over a bed next to mine with a bag in her hand. She couldn't have been older than 20 and had dirty blonde hair that ran to her shoulder blades. I almost asked what she was doing and who she was, until I noticed her highlights. She had faded red tips almost invisible to the human eye. It was almost like she had been trying to wash them out. I shook off that thought, this was Hannah. She was home, and perfect timing.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat causing the girl to jump and spin around. She strained her eyes and grew pale when she made out my face.

"Uh, Jay, I was just leaving." She grabbed her bag and sword and slung it over her shoulder.

"Wait." I put my hand up. "Why are you leaving so soon? I just saw you. You're not going to stay and chat?"

"Well," Hannah shifted uncomfortably from each foot until she looked down at her feet to stop. "I have classes to take, and clothes to clean."

My smile faltered "You're not going to stay for lunch or dinner, or the camp fire? You just got here." I could feel myself tearing up. After everything I had been through today, this was the last thing I needed.

"I'm so sorry, Jay." She walked me over to the bed and we sat down next to each other. "But there's something I haven't told you." Her voice got quiet almost like a whisper.

"There is a battle brewing in Olympus." I recalled my dream. Hannah noticed I had heard of this. "I'm guessing you know what about." I wanted to scream no, but i figured I would let her finish. "Iris has chosen a side, and I must join her. She is asking for all demigods to accompany her, she thinks there will be a war."

"What?" I was too confused to listen to any more. "What battle? We just finished two wars." I just wanted to hug Hannah and talk for hours but it felt like she wanted to leave now.

Hannah drew back and stood up, facing the wall of handprints. For a minute I thought I saw fear and doubt in her eyes as she looked upon our names and hands. But it was washed away with a smile before she turned back around. "You'll know soon enough." She held my hand and I got up to stand in front of her. "I just want to let you know that were mom and I are going or which side we chose should in no way affect you." Her eyes got watery as she embraced me.

"I love you Jay and never forget that." She wiped a tear as she backed away and headed for the door. "Never forget that I'll never stop missing you and caring about you." And just like that, I was sitting on my bed, crying my eyes out.

I let my mind wander as I thought back to the first time I came to camp, when I met Hannah.

Probably seeing a nine year old girl climbing over a hill with a dracaena on her tail isn't the thing most people see on a casual Saturday morning. Apparently for this camp, it was. I remember running up and passing and oddly shaped pine tree on my way to the top of the hill. I didn't really know where I was going but, it felt right, like I was supposed to go there.

The monsters seemed to drown in the distance as kids in armor passed behind me. The clangs of swords rang into my ears until I drowned them out as well. The last thing I remembered before passing out was two kids, one girl with dirty blonde hair and a boy with blonde hair. It must have been my brain shutting down but I could have sworn he had an eye on the back of his hand.

When I did wake up it was in the infirmary. I was lying on a cot with white linens and a white curtain surrounding my bed. It reminded me of a nurse's office. I rolled over and saw a small group of flowers in a vase on the table by the cot. Also next to the flowers were some small square things that I couldn't make out, with some yellow liquid that looked like honey.

Talking was getting louder as I heard footsteps and shadows approach the curtain. It was pulled open and standing there was the girl I saw running towards me on the hill and an oldish looking man in a wheelchair with a brown beard.

"Looks like she's awake, I trust you can show her around, Hannah." The man nodded his head and wheeled away. In the corner of the room I saw the boy with the blonde hair and was shocked to see I was right. All over his body were eyes. I had averted my eyes so I wouldn't get too creeped out.

I had gotten up, brushed myself off, and since then me and Hannah had been as close as sisters. Butch came about two years later but at this point neither of us, me or Butch, knew we were descendents of Iris. Hannah had been there two years before and been claimed about when I was 13. It was random but that was how it was back then. It wasn't until the war when we were claimed, and not until afterwards that we got our own cabin.

We had grown up together, and now she was leaving forever.