Chapter 10! This will reveal some secrets and give some explanations.
That night I lay under the covers in my sleeping bag, a flashlight and the book in my possession. I had waited until everyone in the Hermes cabin was asleep. I was still stuck in the Hermes cabin because there was no cabin for Ate. Percy told me they were working on the construction of many other minor cabins, and it might be a while before they got to build a cabin for me, and that was only if they could find out enough about her.
I turned on the flashlight. I carefully opened the book, and felt a breeze blow through the cabin. I turned to the page after the warning, and read the Ancient Greek writing:
Ate is the goddess of mischief, delusion, ruin, and folly. She represents the youthful and reckless part of a person's life, mainly when they were children. Ate herself is a carefree goddess, and there is much argument over whether she is a goddess, or just a free spirit. She is, however, very much a goddess and anyone who calls her otherwise is cursed with misfortune for their life.
Ate is the eldest daughter of Zeus and Hera, but she does not like to talk about them for the mistreat they put her through. Ate was sent by Hera to make Zeus promise that his next demigod child would have a blessing and become a great leader. Zeus, knowing that Hercules would be his next born son, promised, not knowing that his wife, Hera, would cause his other demigod son, Eurystheus, to be born prematurely. Zeus, furious, blamed Ate for this and banned her from Olympus. Since then she has been causing misfortune to the lives of innocent mortants on earth.
Ate has done many mischievous things in the affair of both gods and mortals alike. Once, Ate convinced a mortal, Ampelus, a mortal whom Dionysus loved, to impress him by riding on the back of a bull. Ampelus fell off the bull, though, and died from breaking her neck.
Ate is mentioned in much literature, including Shakespeare. Shakespeare states in his play, "Julius Ceaser" :
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Atë' by his side come hot from Hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war, ...
She is mentioned again in another play of William's called, "Much Ado Without Nothing":
"Come, talk not of her. You shall find her the
infernal Atë in good apparel...
Ate's symbol is the apple, her sacred animal is the monkey, and she favors the color of amber.
I would have read more but I could feel my eyes getting heavy. As I lost consciousness and my need for sleep took over, I thought about my mother. She was just how my dad explained her. I tried to picture what her face might look like, but I couldn't.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.
The next morning I awoke to the sound of a horn. Time for breakfast. I yawned and stretched my way out of my sleeping bag. I pulled on a pair of jeans and my new camp t-shirt. On my way out the door I passed by the Stoll brothers.
"Jo," Travis said with an air of respect.
"Stolls," I said, returning the gesture.
After breakfast I headed to the library of cabin six, where I found a quiet corner to sit in. as I read the book I found there wasn't very much about Ate herself, but rather, the pranks she pulled on mankind. According to the text, she played a small part in almost every major hero's destruction; Hercules, Jason, Perseus, Odysseus, even if they didn't realize it. Turns out, all mischief and foolish decisions are a shadow of the work that Ate does on the lives of men. There was even some hints in artifacts and mythology that she may have played a part I the battle of Troy.
"Wow," I said. This lady made my pranks look like mere child's play.
I read for hours, happily soaking up the information I was receiving. I finally stopped when I heard a voice say, "Hey Chica".
I looked up and saw Leo.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" I asked.
"Because I know it annoys you," he said.
I rolled my eyes. I put a bookmark in my place and stood up.
"Have you found anything yet?" he asked, referring to the book.
"Yeah," I said. "It has lots of things I didn't even know".
"Great," he said, "Cause I have a plan".
I raised an eyebrow. "What plan?"
"It's a surprise," he said. "Follow me".
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
I followed Leo into the forest.
"Leo?" I said. "Are we supposed to not go into these woods?"
"Not alone," he said.
"I think I just saw something. Just my nerves probably," I tried to comfort myself. "Not a monster".
"Actually that probably was a monster," Leo said. "The forest's stocked as a challenge for the campers".
I gulped. "Now I know why you're not supposed to go in here alone".
"But you're not alone," Leo said. "You have me".
"Yipee," I said.
We walked on until we came to a bog stone wall. Leo slapped a hand to it and curls of fire outlined a door. Leo stepped back and said, "Now close your eyes".
I closed them cautiously.
Leo guided me forward. I heard a stone door closing behind me, and I almost tripped a dozen times on things that clinked and wirred. Finally Leo stopped me.
"Wait here," He said. "And no peaking".
I waited with my eyes closed. Waiting was not something I was god at. Then, after what seemed like a lifetime, Leo spoke again. "Ok, open your eyes".
I opened tem and what I saw took my breath away. I was in the middle of a huge workshop, with many gears and greased joints, blueprints and several unfinished projects.
"Welcome to bunker nine," Leo said. "Here".
Leo handed me a rolled up blueprint. I unrolled it to reveal the basic plan for a building. Then I looked closer and realized it was a cabin. I looked at the top of the paper and the title read, μέρος της αναστάτωσης, which I translated to place of mischief.
"These are plans for my cabin," I said.
Leo nodded. "Since we found the book, we'll have enough information to build a cabin. We'll get started tomorrow".
So there's chapter 10! The information Jo read from the book is true, I researched it myself. The only thing I made up was the sacred animal and color because there wasn't any info on that. I just chose an animal and color that would make the most sense.