Chapter 12, Rose's POV, Hermes Cabin
I realized I never said how long Rose was unconscious. So, to confirm it she woke up the next day. Enjoy!
After I left Greg, I went over to where archery was. It was strange, because on my way over I got lost. I found that weird for many reasons. 1, the camp wasn't very big; 2, I'm a very big fan of the books; 3, I'm a huge fan of Archery; and finally, we just had a tour. To be fair, I was kind of distracted during the tour and it wasn't described in great detail in the books, none the less I shouldn't have lost my way.
Maybe I should have asked someone for help or something, but I didn't want to look or feel stupid. I tried visualizing the map in my head, but truthfully I never looked at the maps very long. So I just headed towards the big house to see if I could find it from there. Gee, you would've thought Greg could take me to the archery range.
When I made it to the top of the hill, I spotted the archery range and headed towards it. On my way I noticed Percy in the Strawberry fields picking strawberries. I tried to contain my urge to fan girl squeal, run over and hug him (or faint). It was very possible it wasn't Percy but I recognized his black hair and sea green eyes. I have to say, he so doesn't look like Logan Lerman, which is sadly how I pictured him. I certainly hoped he didn't turn to see me staring at him in amazement.
Also on my way over, I noticed people staring at me. Then they quickly turned to whisper something to their friends. I was used to this enough in school for being weird, and normally I couldn't care less, but now it really got under my skin. I wanted to befriend these people but I didn't see how I could if they all saw me as the enemy. I wish I wasn't so nervous, otherwise, I could prove I wasn't a threat.
When I made it to the Archery range I tried not to be noticed. So naturally, everyone noticed me. I got a mixed reaction from the crowd. Some looked nervous, meanwhile others looked humoured, and others looked furious. I got a lot of angry looks, and lots of whispers passed through the crowd. They were obviously debating whether or not I was the spy, or whether or not they should kill me. It could go either way really. I had to clear my name before August came around or I was going to die!
The only ones who acted friendly towards me were Travis and Conner Stoll. They walked over to me with huge grins on their faces that made me nervous, like they were saying oh goodie, fresh meat! They probably didn't care if I was the spy or not, or they were just very good at hiding things.
"Welcome to Camp half-blood! We're the heads of the Hermes cabin!" one of them said, I resisted the urge to say I know that. Then as if reading my mind, the other one said (I couldn't tell them apart yet), "You probably knew that."
My eyes widened like a deer in headlights and I went straight into panic mode. "But-but-how, I mean I don't-" I stammered out,
"You know, news travels." He stated. I sighed with relief. That was a way better excuse than my 'vision' thing. I thought I'd use that instead.
"This is my first time at a camp," I said nervously, "So what do heads 'do' exactly?"
"Wow you haven't been to a camp before?" the-slightly-shorter-one-which-I guessed-was-Conner blurted out. Then his brother (who was most likely Travis) knocked him upside the head.
"Of course she hasn't been to camp before! Try to keep up!" He shouted at his brother before he turned to me and whispered, "Ignore my brother, he's a little slow." To which I laughed,
"To answer your question, as cabin heads we tell everybody what to do. Since we're your cabin heads, that means we tell you what to do."
"Oh great..." I said nervously,
"We also steal-I mean get you some supplies if you don't have any, and help you settle in." They said, which made me feel so much more secure.
"First thing we're going to do is tell you to join everyone else in archery lessons. Have you ever done archery before...um...uh?"
"Rose Thomas, and no not really. I always wanted to, but I never got the chance. Mostly, I just did it on the wii." I confessed. The Stolls just stared at me like I was an alien from another planet. "You went on the wii?" They asked, I didn't understand what the problem was for a bit, and then it hit me. I mentally face palmed myself, Demigods can't use tech! (Which made me wonder why I wasn't hounded for all those years of demigod tech using; probably wasn't important.) "Um...no...When I said wii, I meant...we...as in all of us together right now!"
The two of them looked confused for a moment, and then they just shrugged it off like it was no big deal. "Well since you've never done it before it's about time you learned." While Chiron was busy with some of the others, the Stolls showed me what to do, which I wasn't too sure about. I mean, what do these clowns know about archery?
After they showed me the basics, which I was already aware of, I practiced on a target. I notched my first arrow, and shot it at the target. It didn't hit the center, more like the sixth ring, but still the Stolls said, "Maybe you're a child of Apollo?" I turned and gave them an exasperated sigh, "I didn't hit the bulls eye, just the target. There's a difference!" They held up their hands in surrender, and I continued practicing. As I continued to shoot arrows they moved in closer and whispered different questions to me.
"Are you a spy?" Travis asked, I was so startled by that question I missed the target completely. For a split second I thought they said that on purpose to throw me off, but when I turned to look at them they looked totally serious. This was bad, because the Stolls were never serious. "No! What kind of question is that? I just got here!"
"Okay," I went back to firing arrows. They fired their questions,
"Why did you get here so late?" They asked, this time I didn't lose focus. Without turning to look at them I said, "I'm from Canada. Where I'm from summer vacation doesn't start until the end of June. I even left early." I fired and hit the eighth ring.
"So how do you know so much about this camp?" Conner asked,
"News travels. Don't you two have to practice too?" I said quoting him. They probably wished they didn't give me that excuse now, but I didn't care. I needed one better than my original idea. Visions, seriously what was I thinking? They left me alone after that and went to shoot some arrows of their own; luckily none were pointed at me. By the time practice finished I had managed at least one bulls eye.
After we finished, the Stolls came up to me. They said, "Nice job in Archery today, but sometime soon you might want to get yourself a camp T-shirt, or you're going to look weird."
"Too late." I muttered to myself, but I still felt reassured since they dropped the whole 'spy' issue.
Throughout the rest of the week Hermes Cabin was going to help me with discovering who my godly parent was, but after what they showed me today I don't think they were really trying that hard. To be fair, I think they were sort of in a hurry to know if I was a traitor or not so I could help out in the war. Plus, if I figured out who my godly parent was ahead of time, I could hone in on my godly powers faster.
Still, it was kind of annoying. Later that day, we went to the rock climbing wall. Now I'm a total softie, so lava walls I had a problem with. I climbed the wall, and as soon as the obstacles started coming I let go of the wall and hung on by my safety harness, swinging in the air. From down below, one of the Stolls shouted up at me, "Maybe you're a Hephaestus kid, you know because you're afraid of heights." They suggested, I groaned,
"I'm not afraid of heights," I shouted down at them, "just falling ever since the chariot incident and besides it's the lava on the wall that scares me."
"Okay... so rule out Hephaestus." The other said, I did a face palm, before realizing that I was dangling from a rope and grabbed on again.
Later that night we went to dinner in the mess, and Hermes was last, meaning I was dead last in line. I normally wouldn't mind being last; I was kind of used to it at school, except this made me stand out more. Campers kept shooting me suspicious looks, I tried my best to keep my head down and turn invisible.
At dinner, after we toasted to the gods, the wood nymphs brought out the food and I loaded my plate, and everything looked so good. Then people got up and put a portion of their meal into the flames. The Stolls told me to do the same, which I already knew, but the truth was I couldn't decide which one looked the best. If I had it my way I'd dump the entire platter, and get a new one. I looked at my plate wondering if my parent would give me a godly hint of what they wanted.
Finally, I decided my bread looked the freshest and through it in the flames, I said, "Whoever saved me, thanks." And I sat back down. I turned to my glass, and said anonymously, "Gee, wish I had a coke." And my glass filled. People might have been surprised when I wasn't surprised by the dinner customs, but not too many people were watching me at dinner. Even if I didn't read about this stuff in advance I was pretty sure it wouldn't have surprised me. I'd seen enough weird things today. Slowly food started to disappear from my plate, and I didn't even eat all of it. When dinner was finished, Mr. D made announcements.
"I guess it's time for announcements and whoop-de-doo for that. Our activities director Chiron, would like me to remind everyone that capture the flag is this Friday, cabin nine currently holds the laurels."
Cheering erupted from the Hephaestus table.
"Yeah, woo-hoo and all that, I should probably mention that we have a new camper today, Josie Thermos."
Please don't correct him, please don't correct him...
Chiron whispered something to him, "Sorry, Rose Thomas." Drat, now everyone knows my name. "Now that's another name to remember in case anything eventful happens, yay. Now off to your silly campfire." And off we went.
I wish I could say I enjoyed myself at the campfire, but I didn't, not really. I never really enjoyed campfires before; smoke always drifted into my eyes, my marshmallows kept falling into the fire, and bugs liked the taste of me. I've never been to a camp before so I didn't really understand the protocol for sing-a-longs or ghost stories.
Plus, the entire event felt tense. It was like everyone felt my presence and didn't like it that I was there. I hugged my new camp T-shirt the Stoll brothers got me. I really wanted to fit in here, to belong, like Percy did on his first day, but I still felt like the outsider. I would give anything to belong there; if I had to sell my soul to Hades, perform an ancient ritual, if a god came down and offered me immortality or belonging I would choose belonging. Yet nothing happened, and the angry glares continued.
Greg came and sat next to me during the campfire and tried to show me the ropes with the Stolls. That made me feel a little better, but not a lot. I spent most of the time nibbling on a marshmallow half-heartedly. After the campfire, it was time for lights out.
We went back to our cabins, and I changed into my PJs and washed up. I laid down on the floor using my suitcase as a pillow, and fell asleep feeling extremely guilty for nothing. That night my dreams didn't help.
I dreamed of Amanda, which I thought I wanted. Yet, I was better off not knowing. She was running through the Canadian wilderness, and something was following her. I didn't know what, but I knew it wasn't friendly. Amanda looked terrible. She was scratched badly, her hair was a mess, and she had some metal kitchen knives attached to her belt. The worst part of all, she was terrified. Never in my life had I seen her as scared as she was now.
I was awakened suddenly by a splash of cold water. "Rise and shine!" they said, I let out a gasp and then a shiver. My hair was completely wet and I had to rub the water out of my eyes. Once my vision and shock cleared, I saw Travis and Conner standing in front of me. "Travis, Conner, what are you doing over here?" I asked through shivers, "Waking you up." They said with wild grins, I wasn't very happy at that moment. They had come over on the girl's side just to douse me with water. An urge came over me, and I uttered, "I-I-I-a-a-am-ru-ru-rub-ber, and you-you are gl-glue, wh-whatever you do to me b-bounces off and-and sticks-to-to you!"
They just stared at me, wondering what the heck I was doing, and for a moment I agreed with them. They just shrugged it off and left, and as I got up the water seemed to leap from me and I was dry, meanwhile I heard a cry from the other side of the cabin that sounded like the Stolls. Next thing they shouted was, "Okay, who did it?" and I couldn't help but giggle. Maybe this would be okay.
Okay, so that had little to do with the Hermes cabin and more the first day of camp. Oh well, Day 1 sounded like a boring name for a title. So, whose kid do you think she is now? Tell me in the reviews.