I will be switching character POV's and I'll list who it is before it starts, to save any confusion. If I don't, it defaults to Grayson's. I will also have a flash back here and there, mostly to tie in additional characters to the story. I have some fun stuff planned for that, so look forward to it;). Before you continue, the words Grayson uses to turn the charm into a knife/sword/bow, which you'll see later on, is Παιδί του Κυνηγιού, which means Child of the Hunt. Also, finding the right spelling for Riptide, was a hassle, and the word is about as close as it's going to get. It means something else, but for the sake of the story, it spells out Anaklusmos in Ancient Greek. On a side note, if you have any marvel characters that should be demi-gods, feel free to post it in the reviews/pm me, and I'll think them over;).
The Demi-god Chronicles: Chapter 6
Emma's POV
Grayson kept pace with me, and we headed off down another trail. I had been eager to get this tour over as soon as I could, but after the bathroom incident, my mind was changed. It hadn't been a trick of the light, or my eyes playing tricks on me... he had grown claws. No demi-god I'd met could do that, not a typical one anyway.
With his dark auburn hair, and grey eyes, there was something familiar about it, but I couldn't for the life of me place it. I shifted my gaze to look at him for just a second, and he was taking in the woods around us. He looked different than when I'd met him in his apartment. Of course, I knew why, since it happened to all of us.
Grayson was no different than us when it came to that, but yet, he seemed different at the same time. I hadn't realized I was staring, my thoughts going elsewhere, and he must've felt eyes on him. Grayson glanced back at me, and I felt my eyes widen against my will in response. His eyes were grey, I knew that, but looking now, they were a lighter shade, almost silver.
They looked like they could take in every detail, even those that a demi-god couldn't. Kind of intimidating, but it was a nice shade of grey, and...
'Did I just say nice?'
I finally moved my gaze away from him, and back to the trail ahead of us. Grayson kept glancing at me, and after the third or fourth time, I got tired of it. I sighed and turned my eyes to him.
"What?" I asked.
"The thing with the water... how did you do that?" he asked. I kicked at a few rocks alongside the trail, and just shrugged. My powers were cool, sure, but they could also be a problem. If I got too emotional, the control could slip from my fingers. I didn't want that to happen again... not after last time. We kept walking for a few more yards before I finally worked myself up to answer.
"I get them from my dad... my godly parent. Cabin three," I said. Grayson looked back to where I was pointing and took in the cabin. It was smaller than one and two, like his was. It was longer, built low and solid. It had the look of a fisherman's home, and a small dock jutted out onto the lake, which was one of my favorite spots in camp.
Wooden pillars stood around the structure, and the windows were all decorated with white curtains, cut out from the sails of ships. The roof was made up of wooden boards and shingles, and the walls were built using rough gray stones, studded with pieces of seashells and coral, pulled up right from the sea floor. Despite its run-down appearance, it was far from such, and to me, it had a better look than most of the cabins. It must've clicked in Grayson's mind who my dad was, and he turned to me, his eyes widening.
"Your dad is Poseidon!?" he said.
"Yeah... but it came with a lot of trouble," I replied. I rubbed my hands up along my arms, staring into space. Grayson opened his mouth to ask me something else, but I cut him off.
"I don't want to talk about it, Grayson... not now," I said.
"Right, sorry," he muttered. I walked ahead of him, heading off the trail, and we ended up in a different part of the camp. This part of camp had more buildings dotting the area, and I pointed to one of the first ones. It was made of mostly brick, and the roof was flat. A large doorway was built into it but had never had a door.
The heat from the forges inside could be felt from here, and there was always the smell of something burning. I headed inside, a dozen campers bustling around, busy with projects. I turned to see Grayson standing at the opening, peering in at the weapon covered walls. He moved inside, and his nose was scrunched up at the smell of molten metal.
"This is the blacksmith's shop. Cabin 9 is in charge of running it, keeping up with repairs or making new weapons," I said. His eyes shifted around the large room, before they stopped and stared at one of the racks. This one was stocked with bows and knives, and he reached a hand up, rubbing at something under his shirt. He saw me looking, and he quickly lowered his hand back down. We left the shop and were moving away to go look at the other buildings when he stopped.
"Was your bracelet made there?" he asked.
"No, it was a gift from Chiron after I got here," I said. I unclasped one of the seashell charms, this one bigger and with more detail to it, and held it in between two fingers. In the next second it turned into the three-foot-long sword, and I gripped the leather wrapped hilt, showing him the wickedly sharp edge. His gaze was pulled to the words etched into the hilt, tilting his head so he could read it. Ανακλυσμός.
"Effusion?" he said. My face scrunched up, and I resisted the urge to smack him.
"No. Ανακλυσμός is the spelling for Riptide," I shot back. I shrunk the blade down and clasped the charm back onto my bracelet.
"There's others sort of like this if you want, when it's time for you to get one," I said. Grayson looked like he was about to say something, his fingers brushing up against his shirt collar, but he froze. His eyes got a faraway look in them, before he dropped his hand.
"Are you ok?" I asked.
"How much longer do you think that'll be?" he asked, ignoring my question.
"When Chiron decides. Probably before we have capture the flag. He won't just toss you in there without at least some training, don't worry," I said.
"Come on, I've got a few more places to show you, and then I've got training," I added. When it was finally over, we went back to the canoeing lake, the trail leading back to the cabins.
"We have dinner at the pavilion at 7:30, and you'll just follow your cabin there," I said. I went to turn away, but he stepped in front of me.
"Wait. When all that's done, when will I be able to go home?" he asked.
"Grayson, don't you get it? this is home. This is the only safe place on Earth for kids like us," I said.
"For kids like us, you mean...," he said.
"Not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half human," I said.
"Half human and half...," he said, pausing. He looked like he was afraid to say it, like it would make everything final.
"Half god. Demi-god, Half-Blood, whichever. Just like in the old stories, the gods run around falling in love with mortals and having kids," I said.
"Then who's your mom?" he asked.
"Zoya Tyler. I haven't seen or heard from her since I was seven. I ran away, and I've been here ever since," I said.
"And my mom?" he asked.
"I don't know. I'm sorry, I wish I could give you an answer but that's the way it is sometimes. You could go your whole life without knowing who your godly parent is," I said.
"Except my dad. He had to have known," he said.
"Maybe, or maybe not. The gods don't always reveal their identities," I replied. Despite this, Grayson looked set that the exact opposite was true.
"My mom would have. She loved him," he said. I gave him a sad look, not wanting to ruin the hope he held onto. I got it, I really did. Growing up, and not having your parents around, it could damage someone deep inside. Or in our case, a lot of the kids here who waited on a sign... never got it.
"Ok. Maybe you're right. Maybe she'll send a sign, and you'll know for sure," I said.
"And when she does, so what? I'm stuck here for the rest of my life? I can't just turn my back on the family I have," he said.
"Well, that depends on what you want to do. Some of us only stay for the summer. If you end up being a child of Demeter, or Athena, you probably won't be a really powerful demi-god. The monsters might ignore your scent, so you could go to school, and spend a few months in the summer training, and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for a few of us, year rounders, it's a risk to leave. Our scents are stronger, and we attract monsters. They sense us, and sometimes come to challenge us. You've been through what happens when they do. Most demi-gods either make their way here, or they get killed. A few manage to survive in the outside world, and sometimes even become famous. In rare cases, they don't even realize they're demi-gods, and live a full life," I said.
"Can the monsters not get in here?" he asked.
"No, not unless someone intentionally stocked the woods, or summoned by someone on the inside," I said.
"Why would anyone think that's a good idea?" he asked.
"Year rounders do it for practice, or jokes," I said.
"Jokes!?" he said.
"The point is the borders are magic that keep out mortals and monsters. If a mortal were to look into the valley, they wouldn't be able to see any of this. To them, it'd just be a strawberry farm," I said.
"Are you a year rounder?" he asked. I nodded and reached up under my shirt collar. I pulled out the leather cord of my necklace, showing off the five clay beads. Each one was a different color. At the end of it, hung a small apple murex shell I'd gotten from my father.
"What do the beads mean?" he asked.
"Campers get one at the end of every August, for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all college age," I replied.
"How come they don't just go to college?" he asked.
"They could, but without training, it'd be suicide. If they wanted to just walk out, they'd need permission from Mr. D or Chiron first," I said. I could see the thoughts flashing over Grayson's face, and I quickly put an end to it.
"But they probably wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer unless..." I said. I stopped myself before I said anything about the oracle, but Grayson picked up on it.
"Unless what?" he asked.
"Unless you were given a quest. But that almost never happens. The last time it did...," I said. My voice trailed off, thinking about how horribly wrong it had gone. Grayson saw the look on my face, and didn't ask me what happened, which I was glad for.
"Hey, what does the summer solstice mean?" My mouth fell open, and my eyes widened at that.
"Do you know something?" I asked.
"No. Back at Yancy, my old school, I heard Grover and Chiron talking about it. I uh, might've been eavesdropping, but Grover mentioned it, like there wasn't much time before the deadline. What did he mean?" he asked. I felt a tugging deep in my stomach at that. I knew about the summer solstice deadline, but the other stuff going on, I had no clue.
"I don't know," I lied.
"Chiron knows, but he won't tell anyone. But something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty bad. The last time I was there, everything seemed fine," I added.
"Whoa, you've been to Olympus?" he said.
"Yeah. The year rounders took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the gods have their annual council.
"How did you guys even get there?" he asked.
"The railroad here in Long Island. We got off at Penn Station and headed to the Empire State Building. There's a special elevator to take up to the six hundredth floor," I said.
"Oh, um... doesn't the Empire State building only have a hundred and two floors?" he said.
"Sure, for mortals," I said.
"Oh, right," he muttered.
"But after we visited, the weather changed in a weird way, like the gods had started fighting. I've heard a couple of the Satyrs talking about something important being stolen. If whatever it is isn't found by the summer solstice, there could be a war. I figured you would know something, but I guess I was wrong," I said.
'This is why I've got to get a quest. I'm a child of the big three, and I'm not that young. If they would just tell me what happened.'
Grayson shook his head, looking a little tired, and I thought I heard his stomach grumble. I could smell barbecue coming from the pavilion, and I guessed Grayson could too.
"You should go on, and I'll catch up with you later. Remember, dinner is at seven," I said. I turned away, leaving him at the pier, tracing my finger across the railing.