Logan:
I made it to the top of the Climbing Wall in 20 minutes without too much trouble even though the lava had almost gotten me. By the time I had gotten to the top of the wall, my shirt was smoking and had little burned holes and the hairs on my forearms had been singed off. Christina had saved me a couple of times before I could either fall off or get hit by the lava.
"Not bad hero," she had told me, "most first year campers that just got to camp and saw the wall, would not be so anxious to try it."
"Oh, well, I don't have anything against walls that pour lava and clash together," I said, suppressing a smile.
"You will soon have something against this wall as soon as you fall off for no reason or because you just can't make it to the top because the wall is too violent on you," she joked.
"Very funny," I replied, trying to pull a straight face and make my voice sound not amused. It didn't work.
"You find it funny because you're trying as hard as you can not to laugh," she said laughing. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore on trying to pull a straight face when I burst out laughing. She had made me laugh and I realized that she was fun to hang around with if you weren't making her mad.
"So now what?" I asked. She thought for a split second and answered, "Do you want to go to the beach?"
"Sure. Why not"
We walked in silence, not sure what to say to one another. Finally I came up with a question.
"So who do you think my godly parent is? Do you think its going to be Hermes? Because I really just a loser and since Hermes is jack-of-all-trade, not saying Hermes is a loser, I could probably fit right on in. Or, do you think I could be the son of Hephaestus? I mean, I'm good at building stuff and figuring out how to build something," I said. Christina chuckled.
"Ohhhh, I highly doubt that you will be the son of Hephaestus because the building and all that stuff requires lots of math and working in the forges all day long making nothing but weapons and repairing other stuff. Also, you would have to be non-stop, all day long putting random pieces together quickly and then dissembling them as quick as you had made it with your hands."
"Oh. Never mind," I said. "What about if I was the son of Apollo or Dionysus?"
"How goods your singing? Do you play any instruments? Are you good with poetry?" she asked.
"What's this got to do with anything?" I demanded.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Just answer the question," Christina sighed.
"No. I don't sing. I don't even like singing either. I also don't play instruments because I think if I tried, I would break glass or something which is saying a lot. Also, I'm not even good with poetry. I suck."
"Ok then. You probably wouldn't be the son of Apollo either because he is the god of the sun, poetry, medicine, and music, like I said when we were discussing the cabins and the symbols of power."
"Right. Now what about Dionysus kid?"
"Are you good with growing grapes and knowing different kinds of wine?"
"No…I don't grow grapes. And the wine thing…I don't drink wine."
"I didn't ask if you drink wine. I asked if you know different kinds of wine."
"Oh…um, no I don't know different kinds of wine. I can't even tell the difference when I look at the bottle of wine without reading what kind it is."
"Then you wouldn't be the son of Dionysus," she answered.
"Hmmm. What about Demeter's son?"
"You good with plants and growing them?" she asked solemnly.
"Um, no," I said firmly. "Every plant I touch, I usually kill it. What I mean is, my mom asks me to water the plants and I end up over watering or not watering it enough. She asks me to take care of them and I end up killing them before 24 hours is up."
"Mmmm. That says a lot about you and plants. And since Demeter is the goddesses of wheat and plants and all the crop harvesting, then you wouldn't be the son of her."
"Oh, ok." I tried not to feel too disgraced that she didn't know what to make of my dad. I also tried not to feel too disgraced about not being able to know who my dad was and if I was going to ever be claimed.
"Please Logan. Really? Don't feel disgraced. You'll get claimed," she tells me.
"Do all the demigods here get claimed?" I inquired cautiously.
"No. Sometimes the demigods who don't know who their godly parent, get stuck inside the Hermes cabin because Hermes isn't picky about who is in his picks. He shares it with all kids."
I was silent because I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to be claimed. Here she was telling me that some demigods don't get claimed so they don't know their godly parent and then they just randomly get stuck inside the Hermes cabin. How unfair was that?
"Just don't worry about it okay? I'm am quite sure that you'll get claimed. Lets just focus on something else to take your mind off of the gods sometimes claiming their kids. Ok Logan?" she assured.
"Fine." We walked in more silence as we kept heading towards the beach. When we reached the beach, I saw that some other demigods were there. Some were putting on sunscreen while others picked and prepared themselves with javelins and other weapons. We watched as one camper hustled by taking a glance at me. Another camper ran by, but this time she stopped and said to me, "You're the new camper, eh?" She looked just like Lillian, honey blond hair and startling gray eyes. She must've been one of Lillian's sisters. A daughter of Athena.
"Yeah. Nearly got ripped to pieces by seven hellhounds before I crossed the border," I answered.
"So I've heard," she sneered. "You should be grateful that Christina was there to save your sorry butt. Because if she hadn't," the girl made a cutting motion over her neck with her finger, "You would've been dead." She looked at Christina but her expression was hard to read. She took one last unfriendly glance at me and left. I let out a whistle.
"What's her problem. Its not like I did anything to her. Who is she?"
"That's Fansalee Mueller, another daughter of Athena."
"Figured," I commented.
"Oh shut up. You wouldn't want the children of Athena as your enemy, especially on your first day at camp, because if you remember, Athena is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Besides, I have some pretty bad history with Athena herself, my mom like I told you earlier. Anyways, I wouldn't mind Fansalee too much. She's going to be sour to you for a little bit because you're a new camper. She does it to all new campers and eventually it will wear off," Christina said casually.
"Good enough. What do you mean you have bad history with Athena herself? Have you met her in person?" I noticed.
"Yeah. I've met her. I see her every single time we visit Olympus during the solstices like I told you earlier," she answered in a dangerous tone.
"Right. So what are we going to do?" I said trying to change the subject. I could tell that her and Athena's history was a subject that was dangerous to speak of.
"I know this is going to suck for us but do you want to sit and watch them train in the water so you have an idea of what the beach activity is?"
"Sure." We both found a huge sand dune near the water and sat down about halfway up. I observed the demigods and the women in the water as they trained. Finally I asked Christina what were the women called that were in the water. She told me that they were called nereids.
"There's a difference between nereids and naiads," she told me. "The naiads always flirt and wave at you however they are very, very bad flirts. The nereids never really flirt but they are great at weaving underwater baskets."
After watching them for an hour and me constantly getting up to walk up and down the sand dune, a conch horn sounded in the distance, signaling to move to the next activity.
"What's the next activity Christina?"
"Free Time, Volleyball, or Cabin Clean-up. But since you don't have a cabin yet, lets just roam around and maybe do a couple of games of volleyball against the satyrs. What do you think?" she decided.
"Anything to keep me going," I responded, grinning at her.
We did roam around camp and play a few games of volleyball against the satyrs.
The satyrs were awesome but Christina was incredible. The way she would watch the ball, and then cup her hands to bounce it back over the net. And she was amazing when she spiked the ball. Her long black and brown, kind of wavy hair glowed in the sunlight making it look lighter and darker in different places. Every single time we took a break in the middle of the game, we would talk and her sea-green eyes would sparkle and catch the light like water smooth and calm on a perfectly beautiful day at the beach. When it was time to resume the game, she would grab her black hair band that she carried on her wrist and tie her hair up into a ponytail. She looked really awesome and for the first time, I noticed that she was wearing seashell earrings, making her more cute. Then the conch horn sounded again and by that time I was almost drenched in sweat.
"Time?" I asked her. She looked at her watch and replied, "Six. I should take you to the Hermes cabin so you can see because that's where you'll be staying tonight. Just follow the cabin when its dinner time which in a hour and thirty minutes."
"Ok." I followed her back to the cabins and she introduced me to the cabin leader, a guy named Landon Caled. He had a warm welcoming and explained that they had already picked a spot for me in the corner to sleep. Since I had nothing to place there, I was pretty fine with sleeping there. Then I noticed something else. There were kids in the Hermes cabin who looked depressed and I realized that they were the kids who hadn't received signs or may never receive signs from their godly parent. There was maybe about five kids who had depressed faces and I didn't know how many others hadn't received signs and weren't showing their depressed faces.
"Why don't you get washed up for dinner?" he said.
"Ok."
Christina showed me where the showers were and then told me that she needed to go and prepare for dinner also.
"See ya'," I said.
"See ya' too," was her only reply before she took off toward the cabins, obviously heading for hers. I wondered why new campers who didn't know there Olympian parent got stuck in the Hermes cabin and not any other cabins so it was less crowded. With that thought hanging over my head, I got showered.
I came out feeling fresh and I checked to see what time it was. Reaching the Hermes cabin, I found them cleaning up with the idea of shoving things under the bead and arguing with one another about stealing each other's stuff. I was about to help but Landon told me I didn't have to. By the time the Hermes cabin had finished accusing one another and 'cleaning' up, it was time for dinner. We filed out and headed for the Mess Hall which was an open roof pavilion.
I saw Christina but she was talking with the centaur, Chiron. I sat at the far end of the Hermes table and Christina joined, sitting between Landon and I. Wood nymphs and dryads melted from the trees with silver platters of food. Barbeque chicken, pork chops, broccoli, warm, buttered rolls and all kinds of mouth-watering food. I loaded my plate and looked at my goblet, wondering where the drinks were. Everyone else's cups were filled. Then off to my right, Christina said, "Speak to it. Ask for anything except for alcoholic things. That's strictly prohibited."
I looked at her like I would be crazy enough to ask for beer or wine. Then I looked back at my cup.
"Root beer," I said and it automatically filled itself with the thick, dark, foamy liquid.
"That's AWESOME," I said in amazement.
Christina smiled and told me to come with her. I saw that everybody else was getting up also and were going to the center of the Mess Hall. I followed Christina and when we reached the middle, I saw a bronze brazier. Campers were scraping in the biggest and ripest fruit, the most freshest piece of meat or the yummiest piece of bread into the flames. Basically they were throwing the best parts out.
"What's that for?" I asked her in awe.
"It's a sacrifice to the gods because they like the smell of the smoke. The smoke doesn't even smell like burning smoke. It smells like foods mixed together that shouldn't go together but do."
"Ooook."
"Then while we are scraping part of the meal into the flames, we say our godly parents name. Come on."
We both scraped part of meal into the flames and I was hoping to catch the name of Christina's godly parent when she said it but she was smarter than that. She told me to go first and I didn't even realize that she didn't want me to hear the name until she had finished. We both walked back to the table, sat down in our places, said blessing to the gods and dug in.
Then Landon said, "What are you doing here at the Hermes table Christina? We're not allowed to switch table to eat. That's the camp rules."
"Hi to you too Landon. I got permission to sit here by Chiron."
"Oh, ok. Never mind then," he grinned.
"So your dad is Hermes? And were not allowed to sit at someone else's table?" I asked Landon.
"Yeah, but Christina basically just overlooks the rules. I'm not saying that she can get away with it or that the rules don't apply to her. What I'm saying is that she basically can just sit wherever and skim the rules because of her godly parents who are-,"
"Landon, shhhh, don't tell him. It's my place you doofus," she said firmly. She turned to me.
"You remember when you ask me who my parents were and I didn't answer you?"
"Yeah. I was wondering why you didn't answer me."
"Because-," she took a deep breath, her face hardening with anger.
And I'll tell you, what she said next said, shocked me.
"Because I'm not really a demigod."