I searched through my bag for a moment before pulling out a fresh pair of sneakers, stowing my TARDIS shoes in their place. I slipped the shoes on then looked over the camp from the spot on the hill. It was a little fascinating to see the campgrounds. I found it odd that all of these super powerful people of varying ages would choose the most secure setting for save-the-world training to be a summer camp as quaint as the one I was currently looking out over.
"So, how is it that this is just staying hidden completely?" Lindsey asked, collecting a few things from the wreckage of the Hummer. Freddy picked a few specks of mud from his legs then looked over the camp.
"Well, if you see through the mist like we can, then you see the camp. If not then you see a strawberry…orchard? Is it orchard?" Freddy said unsurely, looking around a moment. "Farm, I think. Yeah. Farm sounds right. A strawberry farm."
"So, do we actually grow strawberries?" I asked, my stomach grumbling. I thought about it and I hadn't really had food since lunch and that was nothing substantial. "I could really use some strawberries or…something."
"We'll get there." Freddy said, patting me on the shoulder. He looked toward the camp and cleared his throat, looking back at Lindsey and me. "It looks like the welcoming party is here." Freddy said, putting his hands on my arms and leading me to the top of the hill, looking down toward the camp. He did the same to Lindsey and I looked down as 4 kids in orange shirts, marching up the hill, being led by a tall girl with brown hair. As she grew closer, I saw that she was big. Not freakishly big, but a lot bigger than I was. She finally reached the top and looked at Freddy and nodded then narrowed her eyes at me and Lindsey.
She had bright blue eyes and brown hair that hung down a little bit past her shoulders. I stared at her as she put her hair up into a ponytail. She was short and thin, but by the definition in her arms and the broadness of her shoulders, I could tell that she was strong. Not only that, but based on how she held herself, she knew she was strong, too. I felt Lindsey's arm brush against mine before I felt a few of her fingers hook around mine. She was warm and comforting and in this strange new place, I needed warm and comforting.
She walked right up to me and looked me in the eye. She looked me up and down then moved to Lindsey's hand with mine and looked at the two of us funny, the gaze focused on me mostly. She rolled her eyes and sighed then looked to Lindsey who looked just about as nervous as I did, her blonde hair flecked with dirt and in a wild miss around her head. After a few moments of awkward silence and me being mostly confused and nervous, the girl cleared her throat.
"Jackson. Walker. Lead these two ahead toward camp. Bring them to the fire to be claimed." She said with a nod, walking toward Freddy. "Albie, stay with me. Freddy, you doing alright? Looks like Peleus has a new home."
"Yeah. I'm doing well, Jillian." Freddy said with a sigh. "It was…a pretty wild ride, to be quite honest."
"Come on, you two. I'm Jackson. This is Walker." A large built black guy said a muss of black hair hanging around his face. The other one, Walker, was short, but looked like he could take on a semi in a headbutt contest.
"I'm Peter." I said with a nod, extending my hand. Jackson shook it, but Walker didn't. I didn't mind. His hands looked kind of gross.
"I'm Lindsey." She said, shaking Jackson's hand as well.
"So, umm….Question: Claiming…" I said with a sigh. "What's-her-face. Jillian. She said the fire to be claimed. That sounds umm….Bad. And not really something I would like to do."
"No, no. It's just a campfire." Jackson said with a nod. He started walking toward the camp and in a few moments, we were right in the middle of everything. "Some of the gods like a little bit of fanfare and if we bring the unclaimed to the middle of the camp, then more people see." Suddenly, a bright light shone right next to me. I felt Lindsey tighten her grasp on my fingers and I looked over to see her glowing. Not only that, but music was playing from out of nowhere and suddenly a bright golden bow appeared over her head, making me squint at how bright it was.
"That's Apollo, alright. Such a showboat." Walker said, shaking his head.
"Apollo. Just like Freddy said!" Lindsey said with a bright white grin. She stopped glowing and immediately threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. "This is so exciting!" She pulled away and then looked above my head, expectantly. She had a bright smile on her face, but it started to fall when nothing happened. I looked around at the crowd that had started to gather, but I shrugged and Lindsey pulled away.
"You should have been claimed by now…" Jackson said unsurely. "This is odd. We'll just give it a little bit more time. Until then we'll put you in Hermes Cabin."
"But…wouldn't Hermes be a little peeved with me for living in his cabin? I mean…he's not my dad. At least, if he is, he's late." I said with a sigh.
"Hermes is never late." Jackson said with a chuckle. "He typically doesn't mind. They don't stay there very long."
"Right. Because they get claimed now at age 13 because of that war." I said quietly. "Well, maybe he's busy. Or something. Can gods be busy?" My question fell on deaf ears and the crowd scattered just as Jillian's angry and fiery eyes appeared in front of mine.
"Cell phone. Now." She said, angrily holding out her hand. I pulled out my phone and handed it to her, feeling confused again.
"I probably don't get reception out here." I went on to explain, but it was needed all that much as I watched her spike my phone into the dirt then stomp it to death. "Hey! What the hell!" I say shoving her. She barely moved and her hands quickly grabbed my wrists, twisting them painfully.
"You do not touch me." Jillian said quietly. I felt my skin heating up. I didn't understand yet what was it exactly that made my skin heat up every time. Anger was typically the most surefire way, so far. Honestly at this point, I needed to get a hang of whatever this was. I felt my skin burning and I started to smoke and Jillian let go of me.
"Back up, people!" I shouted, closing my eyes and focusing on taking deep breaths. "It's just a phone. It was my fault." I told myself, trying to calm down and not burst into flames again. I'm a big fan of not bursting into flames. I felt my skin cool down finally and I opened my eyes to see everyone staring at me and backed away, except Jillian. She looked…unimpressed.
"Get in line, newcomers. We're going over the rules." She said. Lindsey quickly stood next to me again.
"Jillian, let's just bring them to the big house. Chiron should know about Peter not getting claimed anyway." Freddy said with a shrug.
"Yeah. Thanks for bringing that up again." I said with a chuckle. I really wasn't happy with this 'system' they had created for claiming. I'm not sure what I expected with all of this, but finding out what kind of powers I should be expected to have would be nice. I mean, usually puberty involves acne or growth spurts or some hormonal nonsense. I'm pretty sure no one expected spontaneous combustion.
"You said he might be Ares." Jillian said with a nod. "I can deal with my own. Clarisse wouldn't just let Chiron take care of things."
"You are not your cousin, Jillian. I've never seen anything like this. Chiron needs to know." Freddy said. Jillian turned to me and raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, Walker. Does Peter seem all that scary to you?" Jillian asked. Walker looked me up and down and shook his head.
"Nah…About as scary as a canary." Walker said, nudging Jillian.
"Well, I'm not really trying to be scary. What would be the point?" I said with a shrug.
"Oh, you probably wouldn't hurt a fly, would you, Princess?" Walker said, taking a step toward me. I rolled my eyes.
"Let me guess. I'm a girl. I'm gay. I have no genitalia. Come on. Show some originality, would you?" I shrugged. I played it off, but I could already feel my skin heating up a little bit. Call me short-tempered.
"So, you're just gonna lay down and die like that. Well, you're definitely not Ares." Walker said, getting in my face as best he could due to his state of being shorter than me.
"Well, if being like you two is the prerequisite for being a child of Ares, then there's a handful of meatheaded jocks at my school who love to ditch that 'good for nothing' book learning to come out here and be butt buddies with you." I smiled, but that was soon stopped when Walker raised his fist and Jillian caught it. "Your attempt at angering me has backfired, hasn't it, pal?" I sighed. "Well, better luck next time. No fireworks today, it seems."
"Don't you want to control it?" Jillian said, letting go of Walker's fist who dropped it to his side. "Freddy told me you pass out every time you use your power. So, come on. Get angry. Learn to control it."
"I'm not some sideshow! I was forced to leave my home and now you want to prod me like a caged bear to see if I'll ride a unicycle." I shook my head. "I don't even know why I'm here."
"I don't know why you're here either." Walker finally said. "I mean, Lindsey is here and she seems anxious. She's claimed, but she seems excited. When I came here I was glad I finally had a place I belong! You come here. Make jokes. What are you doing here?"
"That's nice for you since you're claimed. I hope that goes well. Maybe later tonight we can share a gallon of ice cream and talk about our feelings and how nervous I am."
"Peter…" I turned to look at Lindsey, but that's when I felt a large fist hit me in the stomach. I lifted off the ground slightly before crumpling to my knees and looking down at Walker's muddy sneakers.
"Angry, now? No?" Walker said before hauling me up to my feet and punching me in the stomach again. I fell again and coughed as I felt the wind knocked out of me. Unfortunately, I got angry again. I put my hands on the ground in front of me as I wheezed to catch my breath and I could feel myself burning up.
"You wanted to see me angry!" I gripped the dirt under my hands and I saw the ground crack around my hands. Grass seemed to wither around me and suddenly, I saw the cracks grow and glow a bright orange the glow seeming to come from my hands. People started to gasp and back away and I stood, glaring at Walker who was looking in surprise at my hands. I looked down and saw that my hands were dripping with bright orange liquid, it looked like lava. I held my hand out and imagined myself holding a ball of magma and one formed in my hand, a swirling ball of hot molten rock.
"Peter." I looked over quickly, my heart still beating rapidly, my skin white hot, my hands dripping lava, to see Lindsey looking at me concerned.
"What's going on here?" I looked past Lindsey and saw a man in a wheelchair pulling up and looking at me in surprise. I closed my eyes and stepped away from Lindsey. I needed to regain control. I needed to calm down. It was odd because I didn't feel tired this time. At least, not tired like I was when I exploded or when I became the human hurricane. I felt like I was in my element. After a moment, I felt my heart return to normal and I cooled down. It wasn't for another second later when I realized, I still had the ball of lava in my hand.
"Chiron, we were on our way with the new campers." Freddy said, trying to hide me a little bit.
"Good." He said, looking right at me. "I'd like to have a word with this…young man here." He said, his eyes moving toward the ball of lava in my hand, still dripping and glowing orange.
"Oh, sorry." I looked at the lava then looked around, not sure what to do with it. I finally just closed my hand around it, and it vanished, my hand looking no different. "Let's…go then, I guess." I finally said, looking up and trying to ignore all of the terrified looks of my fellow campers.
"Good first day, Peter." Freddy said, leading me after Chiron. "Believe it or not, there have been worse."
"Well," I sighed, shouldering my bag. "The day's not done, yet."