Chapter Five - Cabin Fever part 1

Pandemonium. I had once heard that word used to describe a scene of chaos and confusion, and it seemed like a perfectly fitting description of the dining pavilion now as dozens of kids began talking over each other in unison. Most didn't even have the decency to disguise their stares and some even outright pointed at me. By now, the strange holographic symbol over my head had vanished. Unfortunately, my clothes had not returned to normal. The only thing keeping me rooted in place was the slight raised heels in the sandals - I was worried that I might break an ankle if I tried to run.

"Everyone, shut up!" A man grumbled. He didn't shout, but his voice carried across the entire pavilion. "Now, let's let Chiron explain things. The floor is yours."

"Ah thank you, Mr. D." Mr. Brunner said. This was at least the second time I had heard him called Chiron before. Was that his first name, then?

"How did she get two claimings?" a boy at the really crowded table asked.

"What'd you mean by Legacy?" another girl asked from a different table. I turned to see Annabeth looking at me like I was a puzzle that needed solving. I gulped and turned back to look up at Chiron.

"The dual claiming is a rarity," Chiron said. "It only happens in cases like this where the child in question has ties to one or more godly lineage, and the non-parent acknowledges them. In this case, that would be Aphrodite. What this means, in simplified terms, is that somebody in Miss Jackson's direct family line - be it a grandparent or many times great grandparent - was themselves a child of Aphrodite. If... When a demigod has children, those children inherit some of their parent's godly heritage. Unlike in purely mortal bloodlines, however, the godly lineage doesn't dilute so completely."

"Demigods don't have kids," an older camper cut in.

"We don't usually live long enough for that." another agreed.

"While it is unfortunately less common these days," Chiron said, a look of deep sadness filling his eyes, "it was far more common than you might believe. Some lineages can be traced back as far as the ancient times. As a matter of fact, Mr. Pace, you will find that the last king of Athens - the city named for your mother, in fact - was one such Legacy of Poseidon."

The boy sitting next to Annabeth blushed slightly as kids from the other tables shared a laugh. Both Poseidon and Athena had competed to be the patron of the city, and they had chosen Athena. The fact that Poseidon's own however many times great grandson was the last to sit on the throne must have been a touchy subject for him, if he was really Athena's son.

"Yes, yes," Mr. D. said, sounding incredibly bored with the whole speech, "thank you for that truly riveting explanation. Miss Jacobson, have a seat now."

"It's Jackson," I said, finally finding my voice again.

"Don't care," Mr. D. said, grimacing as he took a drink from his cup.

I looked around. The table that Luke had sat at was really crowded. Probably best to give that one a pass. Not because Andromeda was there, or anything like that, honest! I just didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my body heat was all. With that excuse repeating in my head, I turned to look at the other tables. A very pretty teen-aged girl with long, straight black hair and perfect makeup waved a well-manicured hand at me, beckoning me over with a friendly smile.

"Hey, I'm Silena," she greeted me. "Silena Beauregard, head counselor of Cabin Ten. Aphrodite's cabin. I figured you might want to sit here instead of over at Charlie's... that is Beckendorf's table. He's the head of Hephaestus' cabin, number nine."

"But isn't Hephaestus my dad?" I asked. "Why would I want to avoid that table?"

"Well, your white dress would be absolutely ruined almost immediately," she said, pointing out the very obvious reasoning behind her thinking. "They work in the forges, and while I'm sure they at least wash their hands before coming to meals, their own clothes are still covered in muck."

"She should sit where she belongs. Besides if mom really blessed her, then there's no way her clothes would get ruined," said a petite Asian girl who looked close to my age. "And if they do get ruined, then it's just further proof that she doesn't belong here."

"Drew, behave yourself," Silena told the other girl with a frown. "Don't mind her, she's just being bratty. Besides like Chiron said, mom also claimed you, so that gives you as much right to sit here as any of her other children."

"Huh?" I asked, ignoring Drew's scoff. "What's that got to do with where I sit?"

"Seating and cabin assignment is based on who your godly parent is," Silena explained. "So if you were claimed by, say Athena, you would sit over there." She gestured to where Annabeth and the Pace kid were sitting. "And you would sleep in Cabin Eight."

"But I was claimed by two gods," I said. "Or well, a god and a goddess technically. I can't exactly sleep in two cabins. Can I?"

"That's actually an interesting question," Silena said, tapping her chin. "We'll just have to ask Chiron after lunch."

As it turned out, apparently I could sleep in two cabins if I really wanted to. After lunch, Silena took me to talk with Chiron and he had explained that, as I had been claimed by both gods, I would be allowed to stay in my choice of cabin. Silena had then decided to show me my options with all the enthusiasm of a Manhattan Walking Tour Guide on her first day. Of course, our first stop was her cabin.

"It will give you a chance to put your things down," she assured me - as if it was a foregone conclusion that I'd be staying there.

There were twelve cabins nestled in the woods by the lake, all arranged in a giant U shape with two at the base and five in a row on either side facing a commons area the size of a soccer field which was dotted with various Greek statues, fountains, flower beds and even a basketball court. In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Despite it being sunny and warm out the fire still burned, and a girl who looked no older than nine years old was tending the flames - breaking up the smoldering coals with a stick.

The only common link between all the cabins around the commons area was the bronze numbers on the doors. Beyond that, they all looked to have been designed by warring contractors. Cabin Five, for instance, looked like someone had not bothered with painting the walls traditionally, but had instead thrown whole buckets of red paint at the walls. There was barbed wire on the roof and a decaying boar's head was strung up directly over the door. By contrast, Cabin Six was a study in understated dignity with pale grey walls and plain white curtains in the windows. The only decoration seemed to be a stylized engraving of an owl on the door.

My first thought upon seeing Aphrodite's cabin from the outside was that this was probably where Barbara Roberts and Elle Woods went on summer vacation together. The building had six Greek style marble pillars in front, spaced around the windows and door. The white trimmed windows had white lace curtains and there were pink flowers growing in planter boxes hanging under them. The walls were pink. The roof was pink. Even the door was pink!

The walls were even pink inside the cabin as well. Of course, the cabin was spotless inside and smelled very heavily of expensive perfume. A row of beds lined one wall, each with a chest at the foot of the bed and a dresser with mounted mirror beside it. Most of the chests had names on them, and the accompanying dressers had personal effects laid out. The other side of the cabin was separated off by a privacy curtain that was currently open to reveal a second set of beds, chests, and dressers all just as tidy as the rest.

"That side is for the boys," Silena said, gesturing to the curtained part. "The curtain is for privacy. We're all siblings in here, but it is still weird to get dressed in front of your brother you know? Since there're more girls, we get the bigger space. Sadly we have to share a bathroom, but we can't complain too much. We are the only cabin to have our own. Everyone else uses the communal showers and toilets."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Apparently a group of campers in the early eighties got it in their heads to emulate the rowdy behavior of a certain genre of movie at the time," she said. "It was enough of an incident that it was determined Cabin Ten would get separate accommodations to prevent something like that happening again."

I blinked, "That explained almost nothing."

"I'll tell you when you're older," Silena grinned. "Now if you stay in Cabin Ten, this bed is yours," She pointed to the bed closest to the door. "Our last Head Counselor slept there before she... left."

I stared at the bed, not sure I was comfortable sleeping in a dead girl's place. Silena must have read my mind, however, because she quickly spoke up; "No, no, she isn't dead or anything like that! No, she just up and left the camp halfway through the Summer last year. According to some of the nymphs in the woods, she'd had a big argument with her boyfriend right before."

"She left camp over an argument with some boy?" I asked.

"It's not like that," Silena said, sitting down. "Well, not exactly like that. You see, our mom is the goddess of love. As her children, we feel so much more strongly than anyone else. We love so much deeper and break so much harder for it. Surely you've heard of the concept of a soul mate, right?"

I nodded.

"Well for us, that concept is as real as breathing. A literal match made in Heaven before we draw our first breaths. It's fate or destiny or whatever you want to call it. And, when you find your One, it's like nobody else exists. The two of them were so close to each other, all of us were so certain he just had to be her One. They were going to get married one day and grow old with a big family. But then they had that fight. Nobody but the nymphs were around to see it, but according to them she was screaming mad. Like I said, when our hearts break they shatter. It's no wonder she couldn't be around anyone after that.

"So, as the next oldest in the cabin, I took over the responsibilities for the rest of that Summer. I even stayed on year 'round to help out, figuring she might be back the next year. Of course, she didn't show up this Summer, and Chiron made my appointment official. Sadly, nobody knows where she went. We do know she never went home, and Iris messages will still connect so we know she's at least still alive, but she forcefully disconnects them before anyone can see where she is."

I wasn't sure what to say to that. And so, for a while, neither of us said anything at all.