chapter 12!

The freak accidents concerning the construction of my new cabin continued through the whole thing. It was eventually finished, but not until two weeks after the date we were supposed to finish it. By now the whole camp was aware of the "cursed cabin" and stayed as far away from it as possible.

The day it was done, I walked into it alone, clutching my book of Ate close to my chest. I opened the door and gasped. It was even better than what I imagined. The main room was that of a traditional cabin, with bunks and racks for weapons. All the blankets and pillows were amber, and throughout the whole place there was a homey presence. i felt right at home instantly. i walked through it and saw a portrait on the wall of monkeys of every kind; snow, mandrin, capuchin, spider, even an owl monkey. I walked over to it and placed a hand on it. the painting slid aside, leading to another room. I walked into the other room and saw a lair of sorts, with shelves for pranking materials and monitors that showed a view of the camp, and on a desk, a war map with little figurines to represent certain people; Chiron, Percy, Mr. D, even a few that i didn't even know.

I looked to a small table to see a bowl of apples, as red as rubies. I picked one up and the table collapsed, revealing a hole in the floor. I slid down the fireman's pole into another room. This one was filled with pranking things; balloons, water guns, dye, and an endless supply of firecrackers. My heart warmed at the sight of this. I was home.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Things went on normally and soon I got used to my new cabin, and considered it home. As the days went by I got used to my solitude again, and realized that I had forgotten how being alone felt in my time staying in the Hermes cabin. But one thing still lingered in my mind: where was Mandy? It had been days with no word of him. Had something happened to him? Should I go back into the forest to find him? I didn't figure out why he seemed to be hiding until I least expected it.

I woke up to the sound of birds singing. I stretched, yawned, and got out of bed. I dazedly walked over to my vanity, which gleamed gold and studded with amber jewels and jeweled apples that were as red as rubies. I opened my eyes and looked at my reflection. My hair was frizzy, and my eyes were foggy. I set to work getting ready for the day, planning out my activities. Little did I know what kind of trouble I would get myself into soon.

I walked over to the dining pavilion, where my table had been recently constructed, and sat down as a plate of waffles and eggs was placed in front of me. When I got up to the fire to give a burnt offering, I was pushed aside by a big girl with stringy brown hair.

"Watch it Girly," she grunted.

"Hey!" I protested.

The girl turned around, revealing an ugly face. "You say something to me Twig?"

"Yeah," I said. "You shouldn't push".

I caught out of the corner of my eye Annabeth. She was vigorously shaking her head, giving me an obvious warning. The big girl gritted her teeth. "You back off, or that smart mouth of yours is gonna be punched".

"You don't scare me," I said. This was true. I feared this girl no more than I feared my "cursed" cabin.

The big girl pushed her tray of Fruit Loops into one of her siblings' hands and picked me up by the collar. "Oh, you'd better be. Do you have any idea who I am, little worm?"

Suddenly I heard a hoof pounding on the pavement. Chiron said, "I think Miss Goodrace has had enough, Clarisse".

Reluctantly Clarisse set me down. I smiled and continued making my way to the fire to give the gods a part of my breakfast. I threw a waffle into the fire and said, "Ate. Thanks for claiming me Mom". I was about to walk away when something strange happened. The waffle, instead of burning, flew right back out of the fire and onto the floor. I thought this was unusual, but the people around me acted like this was completely horrible. They acted like I had just committed an unforgivable sin. I looked around at them, but it was Chiron who spoke up.

"Never in all my years..." he said. He turned to me.

"What?" I asked. "What did I do?"

"Your mother has rejected your offering," he said. "This has never happened".

Ominous murmuring broke out among the campers, and I awkwardly made my way to my seat. I tried not to look anyone in the eye while I ate, and it was really hard to because everyone kept glancing over at me.

While I was eating, I noticed Percy. He usually sat by himself, but today someone else was sitting by him. It was a satyr with curly hair and a t-shirt that read, got hooves? The satyr and Percy were talking like they were old friends, laughing and sharing jokes and stories. I wondered where Percy knew him from.

Then the satyr looked in my direction and I gasped. He looked familiar, like I had seen him somewhere before recently. His eyes...where had I seen those eyes before? Then he looked away and continued to talk to Percy.

After breakfast, Percy introduced me to him.

"Jo, I'd like you to meet Grover," he said. "Grover, this is Jo, the new camper I told you about".

"Pleased to meet you Jo," Grover said, shaking my hand. "Who's your godly parent?"

"Ate," I said, and when he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion I said, "The Goddess of mischief".

"Oh," he said. "I think I've heard something about her before. So how do you like camp?"

"It's amazing," I said, smiling.

"That's good," he said.

"Jo, I've been talking to Grover, and we've been wondering something. Satyrs, in the magical world, are protectors of demigods, you know. Grover was my protector".

"I know," I said

"Oh," he said, frowning. "Well, it's a very important part of a satyr's life".

"What he means to say," Grover said, "Is that we want to know who your protector".

I bit my lip. Why did they want to know about Mandy? "I, um, didn't have one," I lied.

"Really?" said Percy. "You can't remember anyone? Maybe they just didn't tell you about yourself. Did you ever have any friends that walked funny, or seemed to have an almost goat-like laugh?"

I looked down at the ground. "I've never had a friend in my life before camp".

"Oh," Percy said, looking at the ground. "Well, if you remember anything at all, just find either me or Grover. We need to take record of the demigods that the satyrs have rescued".

"I will," I lied again.

Percy and Grover turned to walk away, and I

heard Grover mutter, "I do not walk funny".

When I got back to my cabin, I headed straight for the room with the maps, a room I called the Scheme room, and plotted a prank for that day. That girl, Clarisse, had given me an idea...

I had heard plenty of stories about this girl. I knew she was the daughter of Ares, that she was the meanest, toughest bully at camp, and she wouldn't hesitate to pound me to a pulp if I looked at her wrong. Heck, she had slayed a drakon almost all by herself. She was just the challenge I needed. And she had been wrong to cross me. I set up, and soon I was stalking to cabin five.

I held up my water gun to my chest, breathing just barely. When one of the campers of cabin five came out, I slipped in.

The room looked like a war room. All the campers looked deadly, and it was a good thing they hadn't seen me come in. Taxidermy covered the walls, but these were of monsters and wild beasts you wouldn't normally find on your typical hunters' wall. Weapons lay everywhere, ready to be used at any moment.

I found Clarisse, studying a war map. I reached in my pocket and pulled out an invention of mine. It was a small cloth pouch filled with—well, if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore. With as much effort as I had, I threw it point-blank at the back of Clarisse's head. It hit her, sending up a cloud of orange. Clarisse let out a bellow of rage, and I barely escaped a random blow to the face. I jumped up and ran just slow enough so Clarisse would follow, and sprinted out the door.

"GOODRACE!" she bellowed.

I looked back and laughed. The bomb had worked just how I wanted it to. From head to toe Clarisse was bright orange. I raised my water gun, which of course was filled with something more effective than water: pickle juice, and squirted it. Clarisse screamed and ran faster, yelling how she was going to kill me. I just laughed and ran faster, keeping her out of reach.

We ran all through the camp, bringing much attention from the other campers. At some time I ducked into a cabin, just to catch my breath.

"Jo, what are you doing?" said a voice I could never mistake. Leo appeared next to me.

"Oh, hi Leo," I said. "I'm just seizing the day".

"The whole camp's been talking about you," he said. "They said you're gonna die".

"Die?" I laughed "I'm not going to die Leo. I just pranked Clarisse".

Leo's jaw dropped. "Yep," he said. "You're gonna die".

"I'm not gonna die," I insisted.

Suddenly I heard a roar right outside the cabin.

"That's my queue," I said.

"Wait!" Leo said, and chased after me.

I walked outside the cabin, where Clarisse saw me.

"Goodrace!" she shouted. "You are dead! You hear me! D-e..." Clarisse stopped. "D-i...D-a-e...you know what I mean!"

I just smiled and squirted my pickle-gun in her face. Pickle juice trickled down her nose.

Then I took off, Leo right behind me.

"You've got to be crazy!" he shouted.

"You're right about that," I said. "Man, what a way to spend a Tuesday morning!"

Finally we came to my cabin, number twenty one, and Clarisse stopped. I stood in my doorframe, taunting her. "Aren't you going to come kill me?" I asked.

Clarisse shook her head. "Nuh uh," she said seriously. "You gotta be crazy to go in there. It's cursed. You're cursed".

I closed the door on her, laughing. But what she had said made me uncomfortable. I was cursed? That's really what people thought of me?

I shook my head. I refused to believe in curses. I looked at Leo, who was admiring the cabin. "Great place," he said.

"Well you built it," I said.

"I wonder what all is in here," he said.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "You built it," I said again. "You should know it".

"I don't know the secret passages," he said.

"Oh," I said. "Well, would you like to see a few?"

"Really?"

I showed Leo the scheme room, and he ogled over everything he saw.

"So you can see everything in camp?" he asked, fiddling with the controls on the computer.

"I guess," I had never given it much thought.

"What was that that you put on Clarisse?" Leo asked. "That stuff that made her orange".

I smiled proudly. "That is an invention of mine I call a tan bomb".

"A tan bomb?"

"It has a mixture of tanning spray and a few ingredients to make a powder that will give one an instant over tan," I explained. "It took me years to perfect".

"Cool," he said. Leo got up and we walked to a doorway. Suddenly I heard a creak. I stopped and looked up. There was a little crack in the arch, getting bigger every moment. I heard a crack! And I screamed, "LEO!"

"Uh?" he said, but was knocked aside by me. At the same time, the arch broke, and I was buried under a mound of wood and marble.

So there's chapter 12! Hop you like it. Remember, review please!