Chapter 4

The Camp

Caspia Kelly

We walked out. She guided us around the camp; the cabins, the temples and gardens the basketball hoops, the lake (which she said there would be canoe races, I LOVE the water!)but then she started to freak me out a little bit.

I asked if we could go to the woods and she said : "No, you shouldn't go by yourselves until you've completed your training or mastered your powers completely. It's dangerous. They stock monsters in there. I would go with you to protect you, but we need to get you moved into the Hermes cabin.

I liked her. You'd think that with the way she looked, she would be prissy, but she seemed like a genuinely nice person, funny, and incredibly intelligent. She said she had an identic memory, which made it to where it was impossible to forget anything. She said she had a twin named Topaz.

"So, who's your godly parent? You seem very powerful. One of the big 3 you talked about, maybe? Or Aphrodite"

She laughed. "No, I'm not a demigod. I'm not a god, either if that's what you're thinking. No, I'm a witch. So is my sister."

I shifted from foot to foot. " So, you're a sorceress? Aren't they supposed to be really mean and like, kill people? Like Medea and Circe."

"No, a witch, very different. Much more powerful. A sorceress has control of the mist, which basically just clouds people's eyes, making them see things differently. A witch actually creates things. I draw my power from nature and fire. Topaz's comes from nature and water."

"Who do you think my godly parent is?"

She shook her head. "Honestly, I don't think it's Hecate. You're sort of the type, the silver eyes and dark red hair, and you're smart and a little mysterious, and you're Goth, most Hecate kids are, but it couldn't be her because you said you're mom's mortal. Unless she's not a 100% straight." I laughed at that one.

"But seriously, you seem like a Poseidon kid. You said you liked water, right? That almost guarantees that you're his daughter. You're not obsessed with blue, are you? Percy is. Maybe you're his sister. I know he would like that." When I first met Percy, I thought he was kind of dumb, but he seemed like a nice guy, and he must be smart to be able to save the world that many times. He might make a nice brother.

"No, I don't like blue that much. My favorite colors are black and purple." She smiled. "Me, too!" Blade cleared his throat. "Who do you think my Dad is?"

"What's your mom like?"

He scratched his chin. "Her name is Jessica Roberts. She is a history professor at Thomas Jefferson High school in Denver. She taught history, and she was obsessed with war. Not so much to where she'd want to risk her life and leave me, it was a hard choice for her to send me to Clear Creek, but I guess she did it to keep me safe... She was more interested in the strategy and the history than the blood." She nodded "You probably are an Ares then, but Grover's right, you are too nice. You're certainly big enough, but I think we'll have to wait until the campfire. Another factor that points toward him, Lamia called you 'son of war' and monsters can sense who your parent is." I frowned "Why do you keep monsters in the woods?"

"Campers sometimes summon them for practice fights or pranks."

"Pranks?" She looked in front of them. "Speaking of pranks. We're here. The Hermes cabin. Watch your wallet. Bye." I turned to say goodbye too, but she was gone, replaced by a faint purple glow on the grass.

Before I could think too much on it, though, a kid appeared. "Hi, I'm Travis Stoll. My brother... Connor! You ruined our entrance!" Another boy who looked exactly like him except taller. "So what are your names?"

"Caspia Kelly."

"Blade Roberts."

"Cool. Come inside and-"

"-Make yourself comfortable." I got the feeling that would get annoying after a while. I wondered if Snow and Topaz did that too. The guys themselves seemed cool, though. They were pretty nice, but she was right. Someone tried to pick my pocket and I swatted his hand. Connor sighed. "Forgive him."

"He's new."

"We'll have to work on that."

"Your bunks are over here." I looked where he was pointing. There was an empty bunk bed. "I want the top," I announced. "Fine by me. I don't want to fall off." We sat on our bunks, having nothing to put on them. "This is boring," I said. " Yeah. Let's go do something." We were going to the rock wall. It looked really cool, it clashed and poured lava.

Then two guys nearly knocked us over. They both wore smirks on their faces. "Oops, sorry." The dirty blonde one said.

"Yeah, total accident." The blue haired one said.

"Hey, look Eric, they're newbies!" The first one said.

"You're right Hanson! We'd better tell Clarisse!" Eric said.

"Hey, cutie, what's your name?"

"Caspia."

"Okay, miss medieval princess, why you hangin around this loser?" Hanson asked.

"Why don't you talk to someone cool? Don't come much better than us." Eric made kissey faces at me.

Blade glared at them. "Leave her alone." His voice was steady and angry."Oh, Caspia, I think you have an admirer. Too bad you're way out of his league." Hanson said.

"But completely in ours." Eric said with a blinding smile.

"Leave them alone," said that familiar sweet voice, filled with force.

They completely forgot about me and turned on her with another blinding smile.

"Yo Sabrina the teenage witch, you ever gonna dump Solace and go out with a real man?" Eric said, flexing his muscles.

"Get away from me."

"Aw, don't be like that. You know you want this." Eric said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. He moved closer to her and she punched him in the nose, with so much force, it almost looked like the ground vibrated.

The sound was loud and everyone turned toward them. Blood was gushing out fast.

"Come on dude, let's go!" Hanson said.

"You can't fight this!" He said pinching his nose and wincing. "We're destined to be together!"

They ran to the infirmary.

"Thanks Snow." She smiled. "You mistake me for my sister." I looked at her more closely. Her eyes, instead of being violet, were blue-green-black, and reminded me of the deep ocean, instead of different shades of purple. "You're Topaz." She nodded.

"So how do you know those guys?"

She sighed with exasperation. "My sister and I have been here nearly since the camp opened. As soon as they got here, about 6 or 7 years ago, they've been hitting on us, even when we're dating someone else. They do pretty much whatever they want to any girl they like, to pretty much anyone in general. They like to beat up the weaker demigods, classic bullies really."

There was a silence.

"So do you and Snow have much in common, I mean besides your faces?" Blade asked.

"My sister and I are very different. She's smarter and less shallow than me, but I'm funnier and I get into trouble more. People like us about the same, and we have the same face."

"What kind of stuff do you do?" She gave us a brilliant smile. "All kinds. At my school in New Orleans, It's a private school by the way, which is why I hate it, I like to torture the teachers. You can throw birdseed all over the teachers parking lot and wait for them to crap all over everything, throw some Styrofoam in the ventilation system so it snows, one time I put a sign on all the doors saying 'new teachers needed' It's fun!"

"It's genius! You'll have to collab with me sometime!"

"You must spend a lot of time with the Stolls." She smiled. "I do! They're fun! Snow always says you shouldn't go around making enemies, but it's fine because you're pranking your friends. Do you want me to teach you how to use a sword?" I was starting to like her. "That would be great!"

She motioned for us to follow her. "We'll have to go to the armory, first. At least for Caspia. Blade already has weapons." I wondered briefly how she knew that, they were all concealed, but it didn't last.

When we got there I thought it was a garden shed. But it was filled with weapons. "Just look around and see what you like."

I scanned the room. There was spears, shields, knives, bow and arrows, and swords. I decided I wanted a sword. I looked around. There was a very gaudy jeweled one, a bronze one that looked like it weighed as much as me, a skinny dyed pink one, and a silver emerald ring. I picked it up.

"What's this in here for?" She frowned. "Oh, that. That is a hidden weapon. You twist the jewel, and it turns into a sword. Weird, It looks familiar..."

I tried it on and twisted it. It grew into a 4 foot long silver sword with a raven on the hilt. It was well balanced, and I decided this was the right one. The hidden feature was especially cool.

"I want this one," I said confidently. "Okay, something just feels weird about this..." I was uncertain. "So, you don't want me to take it? Is it cursed or something?" She shook her head. " No, I just think it's weird that It feels familiar, but I don't remember."

"You have an identic memory like Snow?" She laughed uncertainly. "Yeah I do. It almost seems like someone wiped my memory... I dunno. Let's go to the Arena to practice."