Chapter Seven - Group Activity

I returned to the first floor of Cabin Nine after inspecting my basement bedroom. Nyssa was still upstairs watching TV if the sounds of a canned laugh track were anything to go by. I decided to go downstairs to check out the workshop. Fifteen work benches in three rows of five ran down the center length of the basement with shelves full of crates, boxes and other containers lining the walls.

Silena was near the back of the room, sitting on a workbench and talking to, I assume, Beckendorf. The guy was huge, and not just from all the time he must have spent in the forges. He was easily six feet tall, and his arms were as big around as tree trunks. Looking at his face I'd guess that he was probably around Silena's age but, because his height and powerful frame, he easily looked much more mature. He must have noticed me staring because he looked up at me with a scowl.

"Um, h-hey," I said with an awkward half wave.

"You're Penelope, right? Did Nyssa show you around?" I nodded. "Cool. Welcome to Cabin Nine."

"Oh, lighten up a little bit Charlie," Silena said gently shoving his shoulder (he didn't even budge). "You're scaring the poor girl."

"Oh, sorry," He said and his face relaxed slightly, though the scowl didn't vanish entirely. "My name's Charles Beckendorf, but everyone just calls me by my last name. Nobody calls me Charlie."

"She did," I pointed out, and his scowl deepened as Silena giggled.

"You're going to be trouble, kid," Beckendorf said, shaking his head. "But that's fine. Just means you'll fit in here."

"So, have you figured out what you're doing for your sleeping arrangements?" Silena asked me.

"I think so," I said. "I figure I'll stay my first night in Nine, since it's my dad's cabin and all. Then, maybe Ten on alternating days?"

"That could work," Silena said with a thoughtful expression. "What do you think, Charlie?"

"I won't complain," he said.

"Cool," I said. "I'll just go get my things from Ten, then."

I turned back to the stairs, leaving Silena to watch Beckendorf work. Was it just me, or was he also checking her out when she wasn't looking? She really did have it bad, but maybe he did too. I remembered that, according to the myths, our godly parents were married to each other. Was that a good sign for their budding relationship, or a potential doom flag?

Shaking those thoughts from my head, I stepped outside the cabin only to suddenly find myself struck blind. Okay, so that was a slight exaggeration, but the complete lack of windows had left me unaccustomed to the bright glare of the sun. I had to blink a couple of times to get my vision back.

The sound of distant thunder caught my attention. Rain was the last thing I wanted to deal with today - or any day for that matter. Warily, I glanced up as a flash of lightning split the sky. Dark storm clouds heavy with rain were rolling across the sky directly toward the camp from the East.

"Oh, for the love of..."

"Hurry, come on!" Andromeda's voice carried across the commons area, and I turned to see her practically dragging her blonde friend - Annabeth - away from Cabin Eleven.

I almost felt compelled to do a double take. Of all the cabins around the commons, Eleven looked the most like what someone might expect a summer camp cabin to look like. No special bells and whistles, just exposed wood walls and timber frame with glass windows. It looked... welcoming.

For a brief moment I imagined myself calling out to them both. I had even started to raise my hand, but another crack of thunder broke my reverie. Right! If it really was going to rain soon, I should definitely grab my things and get back to Nine. Keeping my head down, I half ran the rest of the way. Opening the door to Barbie's Dream Cabin, I was once again smacked in the face with a cloud of designer perfume. Thankfully it seemed that nobody else had been in the cabin yet, and my bag was still where I had left it. I guess everyone was more concerned with catching up with friends that they hadn't seen all year than the impending thunderstorm.

"Must be nice," I mused out loud. If not for the weather's adverse effects on me, I'd be a lot happier. "Still, it can't rain all the time."

Figuring that it would be best to hurry in case the weather broke, I took off at a run once I got outside. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and ended up bowling right into someone - sending us both crashing to the ground in a confused tangle of limbs. With a strangled yelp of more shock than pain, both the other person and myself quickly tried to untangle ourselves from the other. Unfortunately, I got an elbow to the side of my head for our troubles.

"Oh my gods, I am so sorry!" Andromeda's voice said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I said as I blinked up at her, the throbbing in my temple managing to keep me grounded enough to not get tongue tied. Maybe that would be something to look into in the future? "Are you okay?"

"Am I...? You're the one that nearly got brained! We should get you to the infirmary."

"Ah, no. No, I'm good thanks," I said, sitting up with a wince. Okay, the world spinning maybe wasn't a great sign. "I'll be fine once I have a snack bar."

Andromeda shared a look of confusion with Annabeth before the other girl said; "I think we really should get you seen by a healer. I can already see a bruise starting to form."

"Really, it's fine," I said. "Besides, I need to get back to my cabin before the weather breaks."

"What do you mean?" Andromeda asked as another crack of thunder rumbled in the distance.

"That," I said. "I have a thing against being caught in the rain."

"What are your thoughts on piña coladas?" Annabeth asked.

"Huh?"

"Dumb joke, doesn't matter," she said. "And don't worry. It's not going to rain. Not here, at least. Unless it's for watering the strawberry fields, bad weather stays away from the camp."

"Oh," I said, simply.

No rain? Forget West Virginia, Heaven was located firmly in Long Island! My head throbbed again, bringing me back to reality. Okay, I definitely needed to do something about that before these two dragged me kicking and screaming back to the healers. I opened my bag and pulled out a snack bar that I'd purchased up on Olympus, making a big show of unwrapping it and taking a bite. The ambrosia effect kicked in almost as soon as I finished chewing and swallowed the first bite.

"What the...?" Andromeda looked shocked as, I assume, the fledgeling bruise on the side of my head started to vanish.

"Like I said, it's fine. Juist needed a snack is all," I grinned while the two other girls shared a mutual look of confusion.

"Okay, what was that?" Andromeda asked.

"One of those healthy breakfast replacement snack bars," I said after swallowing another bite. "It's got things like dates, oats and honey."

"I meant how did that heal your head?"

"Oh, that would be the ambrosia," I shrugged.

"Ambrosia!?" Andromeda's voice jumped three octaves. It was honestly really impressive, and I wondered if her godly parent had anything to do with songbirds. "I... You... That's not..."

I looked to Annabeth for help translating.

"We aren't supposed to just eat ambrosia," she said. "It's food for the gods, but it's dangerous for us except in small doses. Even then it's meant to be used medicinally, not as a culinary ingredient. Where did you even get that?"

"I picked it up from a pop up on Olympus' main street," I said truthfully.

What I neglected to mention was that I had agreed to a sponsorship deal with said vendor after he had recognized me from the Winter Solstice eating competition. Probably bad form, but neither Andromeda or Annabeth seemed to be the target demographic for this particular product anyway.

"Riiight," Andromeda said slowly. Clearly, she didn't believe me.

"So, it's really not going to rain?" I asked, bringing the conversation back around. "Like, really truly not going to?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "I've been here for six years, and bad weather always passes right over the valley. Well, sometimes Mr. D will let in some snow during the Winter, but only when he's in a good mood."

"I've been coming for six years myself," Andromeda said; "and I've never seen him in a good mood."

"So that's why nobody was in Ten yet?"

"Yeah, probably," Andromeda said. "There aren't any scheduled cabin activities on the first day back, but that doesn't stop people from doing things anyway. I know I didn't get to finish showing you around earlier, how about we do that now?"

My heart thumped to a stop for a moment and I felt myself struggle to breathe, but I still found myself able to nod my head. She smiled, hooking an arm around mine. "Alright, then. Annabeth, you take the other side." Annabeth rolled her eyes with a snort of amusement before taking my other arm. "First stop, the infirmary!"

What? No! I was tricked! Unfortunately for me, both girls were larger than I was and had no trouble dragging me along - not that I resisted too much.

Fortunately, Healer Lee was still in the infirmary when I was dragged in. After a quick examination showed that I was - in fact - just fine, Andromeda finally deemed me capable of walking on my own. I was almost disappointed.

"I still can't believe you literally dragged me to the infirmary," I said.

"I just wanted to make sure I didn't hurt you," Andromeda said. "Was that so wrong?"

"I... No, I mean," I stammered.

"Great," she said with a grin. "Now to make up for it, we can show you around properly."

"For real this time," Annabeth chimed in.

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "Where to first?"

"Well the lake is just over there," Annabeth said, pointing past the row of odd numbered cabins. "Swimming and canoeing are the main activities, but there's also volleyball."

"Ah, no lake for me," I said, suppressing a shudder.

"Me either," Andromeda said firmly. "Sorry Beth, you're out voted."

"Well in that case, there's the training arena,"Annabeth went on. "That's where we go to learn how to fight with different weapons. Most just practice with dummies, but you can spar with a partner if you're both advanced enough. We use real weapons, so there's a chance of real injury. Luckily the healers can fix almost everything."

"Almost?" I asked.

"That might be fun," Andromeda cut in. "We might even be able to get a practice spar in before it devolves into a competitive tournament."

I raised an eyebrow; "What do you mean by 'devolves'? A tournament sounds a lot more structured than open sparring to me."

"It turns into a ratings match between the older campers," Annabeth said.

"And when that happens, the practice space becomes unavailable," Andromeda finished.

"Well, maybe we can sign up for the tournament," I said. "It might be fun."

"They usually don't let newbies join," Annabeth cautioned. "You don't want someone untested with a blade getting hurt."

"Besides," Andromeda said. "This late in the day, it's probably already going."

Sure enough by the time we walked over, there was a tournament well under way. Unfortunately it was too late to sign up without throwing everything off, so we left after watching an Ares camper practically humiliate a kid from Demeter's cabin. Andromeda waved to her twin brother as we walked past the archery range, but none of us felt like stopping by there.

Finally it was decided we'd all try the climbing wall. The earthquake mode and lava features looked intimidating, but after being thrown off the wall right into a pool of the lava and coming out just fine, I was excited to try again. It took me nearly a dozen tries, but I finally managed to reach the top in the end.

And, as promised, the stormy weather skirted around the edges of the camp's borders. That night, as thunder rumbled and lightning lit the sky, I slept peacefully in my basement bunk room of Cabin Nine. Meanwhile a demigod, his mother and his satyr protector fled for their lives through the storm to reach Half-Blood Hill.