Kailyn – a daughter of the underworld

Story

Kailyn

I

We get attacked by a centaur

My name is Kailyn Ramiro Alerano. And I am a normal 13-year-old girl, at least that's what I thought. I go to a High School in Brooklyn, and I live with my mom Maria Ramiro Alerano, my house is a few streets away from school. I have difficulty making friends, and I like to think am like that because I am ADHD and dyslexic, which am pretty fine with but sometimes, I get really mad at it, because sometimes it can get difficult reading street signs, and I end up getting lost. But in all that, I have a friendly shoulder, Sally, my best friend which for my luck, I am grateful

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for, she also happens to be both ADHD and dyslexic like me, so she understands me and helps me with that stuff, and she lives a street away from my house. There are these mean girls in my school, the group head is Clarisse, who happens to be the popular girl there, and she is a bully of curse, and popularity always comes like that in my school, she likes to bully us for being ADHD and dyslexic, which I think is an invalid reason. Everyone says she and Sally are the same, but we are not she is more easygoing and wiser than me. And I am more of a fighter, which by that I

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mean I have anger issues and lose control quickly, and even when both of us feel like punching Clarisse, she is always there to help me control my anger, and tells me the reasons why not to, and I admire her for that. If you ever happen to see a girl with sea-green eyes, chocolate dark hair, with three straight parallel scars on the left cheek that's me, and with a girl with red hair, blue eyes, and three straight scars that are parallel on the right cheek that's Sally. It all started at the start of Summer, we were walking down the street, when suddenly we saw a centaur, yes people a centaur

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and I wouldn't know three days ago. Then the centaur comes to us and says "Great. Demigod lunch" with his cruel smile. We were coming from the library, a few yards away from my house, we were so confused, that we just threw our backpacks, then we started running towards my house, and the centaur started chasing us when it finally seemed to have started coming out of his confusion. Then when I finally the door of my house, the centaur was just a few feet away from us, then I open the door and then the centaur stars kicking it, but after two minutes he stopped, and

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went back to his life and as usual my mom and Sally's father were having lunch, then they came towards us, my mom with her blond hair and blue eyes was beautiful as always, and Sally's father his brown hair and brown eyes that were strangely shining. Then they came to us ask what happened and to my surprise, instead of laughing like my aunt would if she heard it, they looked kind of worried and their expressions were always changing, as if they were having a salient conversation, and they knew something we didn't, then after that they both said in unison,

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"you need to go to camp" Then my mom said, "You are going tomorrow morning, we will leave you with your escort he will take you inside camp, and today you can have a sleepover, if you have any objections speak." It's been three weeks, since we started asking them for a sleepover, and they both have been saying NO, we were not going to speak a word if that meant we were going to have a sleepover. Then after that, we went to my room without a word and enjoyed the rest of the day.

II

We accidentally attacked our camp director

My mom and Sally's father, woke us up at 5 AM, God knows why, they told us to pack our bags and that it would take at least about 40 minutes, to reach camp they would not enter camp, and that they would leave us with our escort about 1 mile from camp, they said that if we had any questions about camp, we should ask our escort. We went out of Brooklyn, with no traffic problems the whole trip, then 1 mile away from Brooklyn they left us with a man, who from a distance looked kind of normal to me,

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but then as we came closer to him we realized he wasn't as normal as we thought. He had lots of fur, and hooves on his lower part of the body, his eyes were brows just like his fur, and they seemed to show lots of concern, or was it pity I couldn't tell, his upper part of the body seemed like a regular's man body, which I was pretty fine with after seeing the centaur yesterday but he was half got on his lower part, which was the part that terrified me, and from Sally's face I can guess she was seeing the same as me. When the man reached us he told us that he would be our escort for the

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day and that if we wanted to reach camp safe and sound we should listen to him, from the car our mom told us to go with him and that he was the right person, but didn't believe that they were seeing the same as us, but we reluctantly followed the guy/ goat (whichever) in our mother's and father's orders. Then after that, we walked about a mile until we reached a hill, but as good as our luck was we needed to be attacked again at least I thought we were being attacked. Up on the hill, I saw a familiar body structure of a centaur, then he came to us but this time that centaur

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seemed less wild, and more civilized like it was tamed. His fur was cleaner than the other one like it was brushed every day, his tail was longer and dark brown. When he kept walking towards us I just looked at Sally's face and she directly understood my plan, since we talked about it the previous night. When the centaur was about one meter away from us (we were still down the hill) both of us ran in opposite directions, then I jumped onto the centaur's back, and we tried to make him lose equilibrium, then the centaur fell sideways. Then the centaur seemed to be crying as well as

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laughing, which seemed kind of strange to me, and as for Sally's face, I think she thought that too. Then our escort told us to come off the centaur, but even then the centaur still seemed to be crying/laughing, then he stopped and said "Well that was interesting. It is good to be attacked by 'demigods' once in a while." Then I asked "Why do centaurs keep calling us demigods?" then he said "Well let me introduce myself first. I am Chiron, camp director, and Roy's friend, which is the satyr that brought you girls here, the first centaur to be born, I trained some of the most powerful and famous demigods of all history. And we call you demigods because it means, that you are half

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human half gods or goddesses." Then Sally asked "Why do you believe we are demigods?" this time our escort his name is Roy answered "Each demigod has scent, and that will be strong or weak depending on whether the demigod's godly side is a minor god or a god like Poseidon. The scent also is a kind of alert for monsters it tells them if a demigod is nearby. But we satyrs can also smell it" Then she said, "So you saying that the gods from those myths from Greek and Roman mythology exist and you want us to believe that?" "YES," Chiron said. After that we got up the hill, from up the hill we could see at least forty cabins, a city, and a field where they were building

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something I couldn't understand, and I saw a strawberry field, and a vine field, a bunch of people coming out of the shops, and houses, and a few kids playing in the garden, and also some teenagers some seemed to be age, some younger, some older, and some adults looking after their kids, which made me think of my mom, how she must be dealing with me around a bunch of people I don't even know, and I just hope she is fine.

III

We get a tour of Camp Olympus

After we went down the hill Chiron told us all about camp. 1. The camp's name is Camp Olympus; 2. There are 40 cabins in camp each one of them for the child of a certain god or goddess; 3. The place that looks like a house is called the war house/the senate house, there is where they have their head counselors meeting, and where the voice of the oracle of Delphi speaks; 4. And that the field is where they held the exercises for war, and some war games; 5. The place that looks like a city is called New Rome and the god Terminus

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protects the city limits; the city there is a garden called The Garden of Bacchus; 7. each cabin has a cabin head; 8. They eat and give offerings to the gods at the Pavilion; 9. Whenever a demigod is brought by the satyr they are given some tests to define if they are a child of the Roman gods or the Greek.;10. Each demigod will be claimed at any time. After he told us all the rest about it, he said "Well, so let us get to the tests, your first test is to read these two tablets one is in Greek the other one is in Latin you should try to read it and translate, the girl with sea-green eyes what's your name? could you please start." "My name is Kailyn. Thanks" staring at him.

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"Ο Δίας είναι ο βασιλιάς του Ολύμπου και η Ήρα είναι η γυναίκα του" "' Zeus is the king of Olympus and Hera is his wife' could you please tell me how I read this! I never learned Greek it is impossible I just read this!" so many thoughts were running in my mind. "Kailyn each demigod Greek or Roman is born with the ability to read the ancient languages, and the fact that you can read Greek means that your father is a Greek god, now it is just left to know which one!" Chiron said "what is your name girl with brown eyes? And could you please take this tablet and read it in Latin" She took the tablet and said "My name is Sally, and thank you" 'Senatus Populusque Romanus'

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"The senate and the people of Rome. So this means I am a Roman demigod right? So we are Greek and Roman. Great off a god start in camp Olympus" Then Chiron said "Yes so it means that you Kailyn are Greek, and that Sally here is Roman, so now you are defined as Greek and Roman. So now until you have been claimed by your fathers, Kailyn you will stay at Hermes's cabin, and Sally you will also stay at Mercury's cabin, and hope they won't steal anything from you, and that they don't play any silly pranks on the both of you, Hermes's and Mercury's kids can be a bit unpredictable, and tomorrow the Wolf Goddess Lupa will give both of your basic demigod trains, so you can start learning swords fighting, archery, etc. and remember you can be

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claimed at any time any hour keep, that in mind. Now Roy here will guide you to your temporary cabins. Have a good night of sleep." "Thank you," we said. When I entered my cabin there were a lot of demigods there were bunks for everybody somewhere saying that they still hadn't been claimed some said that their parent was the god of the cabin but thankfully I found a bed, and my eyes closed quickly.

IV

We get some coin weapons

In the morning on our second day at camp, I was dressed in a white tracksuit and black trainers, and my hair was braided, in a kind of messy way. Then I open my door and find Sally with two wolves behind her. I jumped out of surprise, nothing else. Today, Sally was dressed in a blue tracksuit and white trainers, and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. "Where are you scared? Because you just jumped, don't worry I had the same surprise on my door, Chiron told me that these were the wolves of the wolf goddess and that they would lead us to her, so we can start our training. I guess that this training is really

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important for us, because the way that Roy said 'monsters' did not sound quite good, so are you ready? Can we go now?" she said "First of all I wasn't scared, second I guess you are right about the monsters, and yesterday night I heard some of my cabin mates talk, about wild centaurs, minotaurs, medusa, and other types of monsters. But I don't even know what all of them are, I just know the centaurs. And third yes I am ready, and we can go now" I said. We walked with the wolves about one km into a forest, when we were in the center of the forest, I thought. We saw a throne made up of, sticks, leaves, and some rocks. Around the throne, there were a dozen wolves, their fur

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was silver-colored, shining with the sun's light, and from a distance I could see a figure, to be certain a big one. And when the figure came closer, I could see its aspect. It was a wolf with silver fur, like the other ones but it was shinier, its nose was dark brown, and at the end of its paws, it was white like snow. Then the wolf came up to us, sniffed us, and looked at us quite quizzically like it was confused. Then after that, the wolf spoke, but in a feminine voice it was then that I figured out that she must be the Goddess that Chiron told us about because she looked kind of

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godly to me at least, but I have never seen a goddess before. Lupa is her name. When Lupa spoke she said, "Are these the demigods?" Her pack made some noises, I could simply not understand. "good. So you sea-green-eyed girl, your name is Kailyn right, and you are Greek what are your abilities girl?" the goddess said "Yes you are right and I guess you are the goddess Lupa. My abilities are: I can run very fast, know how to distract people with my talk, and find escape routes." I said. "good then. And you Sally what are yours?" the goddess said "My abilities are I can build things, I can think of plans quickly, I can find out how machines work, and I can read expressions."

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Sally said afterward Lupa made some sounds, for the wolves to do something, and then one minute later the wolves brought some gold coins and gave them to us. My coin on the front part had the figure of a woman wearing a helmet, and on the other side, it had the figure of a howl. And on Sally's coin on the front, it had a spear and a sword crossed, and on the back, it was written with the initials SPQR on it. My coin was made of silver and Sally's was made of gold. Then Sally said "OMG. Kailyn is that an Athanasius coin? And this seems like a coin from the Roman impairer? It is written SPQR on it and I think it stands for

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'Senatus Populusque Romanus' Kailyn this is historical" she said with so much enthusiasm, gosh she likes history. "I remember it from Ms. Allison's class, she told us about it. yes," I said which was kind of strange to me because sometimes I do not remember stuff from her class. "So you can recognize a Roman and Greek coin. But girls these are not just some random coins, these are weapons each coin can transform into any weapon you desire, for example, a bow and an arrow, a sword, a hunting knife, a spear, a javelin, and that weapon, and it is quite useful in battles. Each demigod that comes to camp gets one, and each one of them must learn how to use the weapons every single

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one of them. So first you will need to ask for the weapon you want then toss the coin into the air, and then it will come back as a weapon. But before we start. You will need to run about three km. then you will train your reflexes, only after that we will come back to the weapons. Alright, start running!"

Sally

V

I get to hear some old voices

When Lupa told us to run the pack started to glare at us, with their red glowing eyes, that seemed to be sparkling. Then I decided it was best to run. I took Kailyn's hand and pulled her along. When we started running after two minutes, I saw the wolves running towards us, I guessed this was the actual training. After what I could figure out was that we had already run about two and a half km, I stopped and started gasping for breath, by then I could only hear but not see the wolves behind us, but strangely Kailyn seemed fine even though we had

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lessons at the gymnasium at our school, she always started complaining about how much they ran. Then I asked her "Aren't you tired you always used to complain about how much we ran at school, and now you are just fine! what is wrong with you girl, where is the Kailyn I know." Then she answered, "You know in school the gym was a closed place so I felt so tired, but here we are in the forest I get more air here you know I feel better." Then we saw the wolves again and started running, after a bit someone stopped us, Lupa. She said "Oh. You girls came earlier than I expected dears. Good at least my wolves did not catch you, now that you are here we can train your

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reflexes, oh they are here look out!" then the goddess disappeared, and right then I figured it out that when she meant to train our reflexes, she meant that the wolves would be attacking us, and when she said lookout, and I am great full that she said it one of her wolfs was already jumping upon us, with his claws ready. Thankfully Kailyn pulled me aside, or else I would have been wolf meat by then. All around us the woods seemed to have closed out of them, the woods seemed tighter, and each time Kailyn or I got distracted, a wolf would try to jump onto us, but fortunately, she and I had

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pretty good reflexes, from the time we spent playing a game named 'Look out' in gym class, but this time it was different it was more dangerous. Sometimes Kailyn would grab my hand and we would appear in some place that would be safe for a few minutes and would be out of the reach of the wolves that were attacking us, maybe over a rock or something or the other, I could not figure out well, since it was dark even though it day, they were a lot of shadows, but that didn't seem to stop Kailyn, she would do that whenever three to five wolfs would try to attack us, whenever she did that

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we were surely not running fast, we just popped out where ever, always the wolves did not seem very surprised, they were just sometimes confused because of where we would pop up, and thankfully sometimes over the head of one of them, after multiple times Kailyn doing that, and I still could not understand how she could do that, it seemed so magical, but it also seemed quite real to me, but I could see it was draining out her energy, every single time she seemed more and more tired, sometimes it seemed like she was about to faint, but catch her hand and help her, and

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randomly I would just take a leave and make her eat it and she would be a little stronger to continue, though sometimes I thought I was going to poison her with the leaves I was giving her, and sometimes when Kailyn would do her thing with the appearances, I would feel like my ears were popping, but it was fine though sometimes it hurt, but also whenever I would take out from the trees and bushes a leave for Kailyn to eat, I would hear some voices screaming, some were children, some were women, and then I remembered when I was a child playing in my father's

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garden, sometimes I would take out the leaves from the trees, bushes, and grass and play with them, and whenever I did that, I would hear voices screaming in my ears to stop because it hurt. I never understood why, and whenever I would tell my dad about it, he would just say it was nothing, by the time I grew up I stopped hearing them since I also stopped playing that way with plants, and now I could hear them scream in pain each time I picked up a leave, and my heart seemed to grow heavier by the time, even though I wanted to stop it I couldn't, Kailyn needed those

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leaves they were like medicine for her, sometimes I could shut the voices, but they always came back and they would sometimes distract me, but this was not the time to complain, I had to move fast since Kailyn was getting weaker with each try. Sometimes I would find a stick and stab a wolf in the paw, or eye, or even try to hit it, but there were too many to fight, so I just kept doing what was doing best hitting them, which was quite fun after everything the wolfs made us go through, and it only took Kailyn a few minutes to recover each time I gave her the leaves, and I think she will

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probably wanted to hit me with a stick after making her eat leaves. Since I was always trying to find the leaves for Kailyn, running, and carrying her around trying to escape the wolves, I also got tired and whenever that happened Kailyn would do her appearance thing. After more than thirty minutes of distraction, wolves, sweating, and fast thinking, Lupa appeared again and ordered her pack to stop attacking us, they slowly backed down, but this time she was not alone three people were behind her, and we only knew one of them which was Chiron, then she told us "Well girls, you are stronger than you seem,

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for holding back, the pack for so long, some demigods can't. So now would you please take out your weapons, for training." And as soon as she said 'training' I felt relieved, which by now I guess I shouldn't but I did, right after the woods didn't seem too tight, they were open, sun rays were now passing through, the air seemed fresher, and now I wasn't sweating as much, only Kailyn seemed to be sweating a lot, but right when I was about to take our coins out (yes I kept them because Kailyn has a great problem with forgetting has she kept her things, even in her bedroom, and she loses things quickly so I keep some things

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for her) Kailyn collapsed on the floor, then I ran to her, her face was pale, at the end of her hair was starting to turn gray, and shouted at the Wolf Goddess for help, I looked at her again and saw that over her head, was a red fiery symbol of a helmet, and a ghost beside it.

VI

We find out our godly parents

As soon as I scrambled for help, Chiron came close, put his hand over Kailyn's forehead, and started singing a song in ancient Greek. Then he stopped but the look on his face wasn't pleasant, it was a worried look, but also a kind of happy one, it was difficult figuring out his expression. Then he said "I have good news and bad news. First, the good news we finally know who her godly parent is 'She is a child of the underworld, she is the child of Hades'. Next, the bad news she has been shadow traveling a lot, and now she is fighting a battle with the shadows, she needs the help of a doctor, but fortunately we have better than a doctor we have sons

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and daughters of Apollo, they can help us, Miguel please call the best from Apollo's cabin" "We don't have time, she needs help now!" I said "My dear I am afraid, we can't help her without the help of a doctor, and also Miguel your swords fighting teacher can run pretty fast he will get them quickly" When he told me that so many things were passing through my mind, memories, whatever I was feeling every single time Kailyn and I passed together, how my life would be without her if she didn't make it through, my heart was racing, every single beat of it seemed like all me and Kailyn had passed together, was in that was the beat, but then a memory

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came through the day when we got our scar, two years ago in the library in the center of the city, I wanted to get some history books like always, and Kailyn wanted to get some of her fictional books from her favorite writer, when we were some feet away from the entrance a man came out and called out for help because the was a fire inside the city library. It seemed like someone inside had already called the fireman to come there, and in just one minute the place was all around with flames, then the fireman started putting water to extinguish the fire, and some of them

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went inside to take the people out, but sadly they forgot two people at the top of the building they were stuck, the fireman did not see them but me and Kailyn saw them Kailyn grabbed my hand and we went inside to save them even though when the fireman saw us they were shout at us to get back there, but we didn't look back. We ran towards the second floor, but then wood from the sealing fell over us, fortunately, it didn't hurt us but it made some scars on our faces, we finally reached the end of the second floor where two girls were surrounded by fire, nearby Kailyn saw

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a fire extinguisher took it and used than the two girls were not surrounded anymore, then all of us ran to the nearest exit and ran outside, then the fireman came to us and told us how dangerous it was for us We should never do it again, then I looked at Kailyn's face she now had three straight scars across the face on her left cheek, and when I told her that she also told me that, now I had three straight scars on the right cheek, and as soon as she told me that we just started laughing, and for me, that was one of the sweetest memories of our friendship, and as soon as that

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memory was over, and it filled my heart with hope in every single heartbeat, and then I felt something, a green burst of flame was around me, I started moving my hands and the woods started to bend to my will, I simply heard nothing around me, not even the screams I was hearing, they became quiet. I just moved my hand around making gestures to the forest, making it shift until no shadows could be seen, in a few seconds there was only sunlight around us, seeing the sky then was blue, birds flying, some migrating, some stopped to see what was happening. But then I felt dizzy,

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then I also collapsed but I wasn't unconscious, I was still awake, and thankfully when I collapsed Chiron happened to catch me. He sat me down over a rock, made basic medical tests, and then asked me "Sally you are a daughter of Ceres, look at the fiery green sign above you, the 'weed,' it is her symbol, and why did you do that? Now you too are not in a good state, but it seems like what you did has affected Kailyn, she will regain consciousness in a few hours, it seems like her battle is over now she just needs rest, and you also need rest. I will send two people to take each one of you to your respective cabins" I completely ignored Chiron, even though he is our camp

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director, nothing mattered more at that point than to make sure that Kailyn was going to be fine, then I touched Kailyn's forehead and said to Chiron "Chiron I did this because I can't afford to lose Kailyn, she has been my friend since we were kids I couldn't let anything happen to her. And there was also logic behind it, you said that she was having a fight with the shadows, so how can there be a fight when there are no shadows around her to fight?" "Indeed. That was very clever Sally, you would have been a good daughter of Athena." He said, happily. "Thank you, Chiron," I said. "For today there won't be any more training the day after tomorrow will be training, you two need to rest it is

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part of the life of being a demigod. As for how to use your powers, you will have training with your respective cabin heads, and there will be dinner after seven pm, but I guess you won't be able to come, we will send food to your cabins for you, tomorrow you can have a look around the city if you would like to. And that is all now go get some rest please." He said with little enthusiasm. "yes we will, but I have I request to make" "Please do" he said "Today could I please sleep with Kailyn at the nursery? I want to make sure she is feeling comfortable, and if she wakes up in the middle of the night it will be good if she sees a familiar face, so she does not get scared all of a -" I asked him, but then

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Miguel barged in, he looked so tired from the running, from here to there and from there to here, indeed he was sweating a lot, and it seemed like he had fallen onto the lake nearby, because he was full of sea-weed around him, and a fish could be seen a halfway out of his pocket, and that made want to laugh right then, but it was a serious moment Kailyn was still unwell, so I put myself together and tried not to laugh at him, or make an expression that showed I wanted to laugh. "Chiron here is the doctor, his name is Sam, he will examine her-" Miguel said. "Miguel, there is no extreme need for a

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doctor right now Sally took care of the situation, but I guess still he can examine her just to make sure she is okay, and yes Sally you can." Chiron said. "Thank you, Chiron, really" And as always Chiron's expressions were unreadable sometimes it seemed like he was about to laugh, and sometimes it seemed like he was worried about him and Kailyn, and it was a serious one, or thinking one, overall he was hard to read, and I know what I am talking about, because when you have a friend for more than five years you learn how to read every single expression she makes, and with a mom like mine because both Kailyn

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and my mom are kind of difficult people to read, they are some of the most difficult people I know to read, it took me years to know every single one of their expressions. So now Chiron has become one of my biggest reading challenges. I sat there alone with her for a few twenty minutes, there I knew we were in the middle of the forest, with the wind hitting my face, Kailyn's pale face made me remember my father's face when he saw for the first time that I destroyed part of his garden, he didn't get angry with he just told me that by doing that I was creating a connection with the

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plants, like the one my mother does, talking about my mom always made him sad, and I would always make up something to lighten him up, To this day I never understood what he meant by 'connection' now I do. He meant that the connection I had for the first time with plants was important be it good or bad it is important. After those long forty minutes, Kailyn regained consciousness, and asked "What…what…what happened? Where are the wolves? why are we alone here Sally?" Then I answered, slowly, calmly, and with no hesitation. "First of all Kailyn, please lay down you are not in a

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good state. Second Chiron came here and said that you were having a battle with the shadows of something or the other, Third you collapsed when we were about to start training with the weapons, and last but not least I need to talk to you."

Kailyn

VII

We talk about certain feelings

The last thing I remembered before falling unconscious, was seeing Lupa, Chiron, and a big tall guy, with red hair with some parts of gray hair. Then when I regained consciousness Sally as always, started slapping me with information of what happened, while I was out. First, she said that I had been unconscious for about two hours, second she said that the reason I fell unconscious was that I was having some kind of battle with shadows, third that she already who her mother was and who my father was, she had some deep she feeling she need to

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release. Starting with the second point she said "Kailyn, Chiron said that you shadow traveled too much and that's why you fell unconscious, I guess shadow traveling is when you use the shadows to travel, I guess that is what you were doing, when we were still with the wolfs, and about the battle part I have no suggestion." I could feel a sense of worry in her tone, and the only thing I wanted to tell her was that she didn't need to worry, that I was fine, but I knew that saying that would have been of no use, it would have just made her even more worried because she would have felt like I was just saying that so she does not worry, she would have felt

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like I was lying to her that I was not fine, though to tell the truth I didn't feel that well, I felt as if something was eating me up from inside of me, but apart from that feeling, I was fine. Then I asked her "So what about our parents which so glorious goddess and god, have the honor to be our parents?" I said that in a joking tone, which I noticed, and especially because of her expression, she was about to but eventually she put herself together. "Kailyn stop that is not something you are supposed to joke about okay, our parents might just sap you out of anger, so stop okay." She said it with a bit of frustration, and I could see she also

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wanted to laugh. okay, mother." I said it basically laughing, but now I knew I had started to get under her skin. "Kailyn stop," she said with anger, so now I had to stay quiet if I still wanted my head in the right place. And I was now hitting the wrong nerve, because of the face she made at me, and the way she was glaring at me with her blue eyes, I knew I had to stop right away my joking around. "Okay, okay, okay I will stop joking around, Okay" I said it so quickly I didn't even know if I had spoken something. "so about our godly parents, Kailyn your father is Hades, and Chiron called something like the child of the underworld, and as per what I know he is

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the god that rules the under part of the earth something or the other, and he rules over the souls of people or ghosts, and he can also control bone I think, I can't remember properly." She said, and when she said it she had no expression, as if that didn't bother her me being the daughter of the skulls man, or that she was happy, or worried I could simply not know that. Then I asked her "And what about your mother Sally? Which goddess is she?" her gaze was shifting constantly, as if she didn't like who her mother was, but could see in her eyes that something else was bothering her, something I should know and probably is what she wanted to talk about with,

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and I thought I should ask her, she might go mad at me for it because maybe she didn't want to tell, maybe she wanted to keep it to herself. She said "Kailyn, my mother is Ceres, and I don't remember her, which goddess she is, what is her job, whose daughter is she, I know nothing" I could see that she was a bit embarrassed about it, but tried to hide it, I guess this was an actual problem for her. "And what is the problem with it I bet, half of the kids here before they found out who they are, didn't even know anything about the gods, or the ancient Greek times, and you should be glad that at least that news didn't smack you on the face as hard as it did to me, and why are

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you are so worried about it, why do you care so much to forget it? Okay" I could see, she already wanted to laugh a bit, but I guess this was something I couldn't fix by cheering her up like I always tried to do, and whatever happened here today must have affected her, judging by the looks of her face. "But I am ashamed of it because two years ago I studied Greek and Roman mythology, may the gods forgive me for calling them myths. And then still I know little about my mother" she said a little hesitant, but I guess it was a little bit fair since Sally loves history and such. "Girl! I have been trying to say this, though you know little about your mom, I know simply

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nothing about my parentage, just a few minutes I didn't even know I was the daughter of the skulls men, and you are there pissing off yourself about that, girl you are impossible" I said it her with a confident tone, in hope that she would drop the matter. Then she said "Okay then. Let's go we need to get there for your check-up, and we need to walk I will help you out with it" But before she could get up, and take a step, I quickly said "Wait! You said there was something else we need to talk about, what is it? Is it serious?" I saw her gaze drifting again as if she was trying to avoid the matter, which kind of seemed strange to me since she always tried to be straightforward

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with everyone, even when a boy said he had a crush on her, she just said that she didn't like him that way, as simply as she could, the other girls like Clarisse, were jealous of her, and angry with her, for apparently rejecting the most handsome boy in school, which I don't get why he was, because he did not have handsome as they said he was. But then she took a deep breath and said "Look Kailyn, when you collapsed I started having these strange feelings, remember the day when we got these scars." We touched our cheeks, and Sally kept shifting her gaze from me. "Everything since the day we met, all our adventures, the miss happens, sleepovers,

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everything. I just felt like I couldn't afford to lose you, you are like a younger sister, and I think now you are one. Thinking that I might have lost you, would have completely shattered me" By now she was already sobbing, I actually could understand what she meant, because when that fire came up, and I dragged her inside, I always kept the thought that if something happened to her that day, I would never have forgiven me for it. Thinking about that, gave me a shiver down the spine, and I found myself with a tear down my eye by now, which was the very moment when nothing more really mattered to me other than Sally. "Kailyn I realize now that you

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are important to me, you are a part of my life, and I just can't think of living without hearing your voice at least once a day, and I am grateful to the gods for this." When she finished I found myself giving her a big fat hug too and I said "Sally, if something ever happened to you because of me, I would never be able to forgive myself and thank you for saving me, and I feel the same way as you do about that, thank you for being my best friend, for being in my life, for standing up for me whenever I need it, and for always being there for me, thanks a lot I mean it." Then I wiped both mine and Sally's tears off, both of us stood up, and I said "so now let us get back to camp, and could I possibly

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go to the doctor, I think when I collapsed I broke a rib, and I am hungry, am tired" I said with a smile on my face and suddenly Sally's face seemed to brighten up a bit, and then she said "Yes sure, and I would be grateful for a proper meal, since this morning we only eat apples, will you forgive me for making you ate leaves, I was just trying to help you, I was following my instincts" she said it with a bit of worry in her face, as if I was just about to give her a tight slap across her face, which I would love to do with Clarisse, really she managed to take my peace off, even in the hardest of times she could always do it, no matter what, she is impossible,

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she could manage to make the happiest days of my life a nightmare. "Hmmmm… Yes, I will only if..." I said it with a smile across my face from ear to ear. "only if what? Kaiiilyn… what are you up to!" she snapped, angrily. "No it is nothing as such, I mean, I need your help in playing a prank on Hermes kids, then played one on me last night, and I didn't like it, I found my hair covered in glue, and the scene was not beautiful at all." I said it in a convincing tone, and I think Sally also thought playing with my hair was not funny at all, I was so angry, that I didn't speak a word and just stormed off to the bathroom to try and get the glue off. "Yes they won't get away with

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it!" she said it with so much conviction, that now I was a bit worried that she might just go a bit further than needed, which I admit I sometimes like to see this side of her, especially on playing pranks on others. "And if could you also possibly sleep with me at the nursery tonight? Because I guess tomorrow we will have to go to our cabins and see our half brothers and sisters." I said it with a bit of sadness and bitterness in my tone, because why would I want to live with them, maybe I wouldn't get along with them, and maybe our style of organizing thing things don't go along because since most demigods are ADHD or Dyslexic, we can't have

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many things around us that can distract us, and it will be difficult to try and concentrate, I don't have anything against them it might even be good to have people with the same struggles around us, but I just fear I won't fit in, I never do, it has always been like that people tent, to distance themselves from me, which I now know why, since I am the daughter of Hades and stuff, but still the only people who I think cared about me were, my mom, Sally, and her dad, and I guess it is also my the fault that I don't have many friends, since I have trust issues, and sometimes I do tests with people by

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telling them a fake secret, to see if they would tell anyone so that I see if I could trust them, but every single one of them who proved to be trustworthy ended up leaving me for testing them, and up until now only Sally, her dad, and my mom have accepted me for who I am. "Sure, you actually read my mind, have talked to Chiron, and he said we can and that tomorrow we have the rest of the day to rest, and visit the town, and stuff," she said, and I felt so happy that I even shouted "yes!" I said it enthusiastically. "So let us go and, probably take a bath because we sticking, after everything we went through today, we can go to the bathhouse, I have heard that

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the baths there are awesome!" She suggested, and we went ahead through the forest, and with Sally's powers, it was a piece of cake getting out of there.

Sally

VIII

Planning Vengeance on Hermes's Kids

So, last night in the nursery, we started or sleep over there with some talk, like how we felt about being demigods, how we felt about camp, how we felt about being the daughters of these powerful beings, and we also gossiped a little, ate some snacks even though the sons and daughters of Apollo told us not to, and most important of all we decided what we would do to Hermes's and Mercury's kids when we would execute it, and we figured out the only way to trick them were we something from the ancient times, and we also

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heard from some kids, that when the blood of a centaur touches your hair it burns it, and then… and when it touches your forehead you get memory loss for 12 hours, and you are only allowed to say the truth for a day, but we also had some plans of using magic. Sally also taught me the little she knows about the deities, we told some jokes and laughed all night long until it was one a.m., and until a son of Apollo told us to go to bed or else we would find an arrow stuck in our shoulders when we wake up and since his father is the god of archery, and probably he inherited some of his

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talents, which mostly might be the archery ones, and which made his threat even more dangerous, we went rushing into our beds since we didn't want to find arrows stuck on our shoulders.

So both of us woke up before sunrise, which was around four thirty-something, and we saw some kids of Apollo and Hecate training, we guessed since Apollo is the sun god, he might always wake up early to pull his chariot in the skies, and his kids might have inherited that habit of waking up before sunrise, and that the kids of Hecate might also have the same habit

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because as per what I had heard about the goddess she is the goddess of mist, it is some veil that prevents normal mortals from seeing monsters, so she has to wake up before the world does, to control it, and do whatever stuff she does with it. So we decided to go by both plans, and we needed Apollo's kid as a backup for some of the problems, and the kids of Hecate to use some of their magic to the mist thing. So then we went and talked to Apollo's kid about the centaur blood, and it seemed to me that they were eager to help us with it, and they said that they also wanted vengeance on

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Hermes and Mercury's kids, for all the pranks they had played on them, and Hecate's kid's same story we told them about the hair thing, but they told us there was one problem, and it was that most of them came this year, some last year, and most are not very good with the mist, so they told us to get to their cabin, go to the second floor and we would find one of the best among them, and that she would surely agree with it, but we before we went to their cabin we went to get the centaur's blood, and for our surprise it was easy, it seems like they use it to make some kind of

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medicine, I was sure that this camp was strange, but I swear that this camp now was at a level way above strange. So afterward, we went to their cabin, Hecate's cabin had objects that were floating around, there were some illusions. So we knocked on the door and there was no answer, instead, the door opened by itself, and that gave me a chill down my spine. So we walked in, and we saw someone sitting on one of the bunkers, and we asked if we could see the best of that cabin, and the person just told us to go upstairs, and we would find her meditating, then we went upstairs,

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and at each step towards the door that was up there, the stairs made crackling noises which also sent a shiver down my spine. When we reached the end of it, we knocked on the door, and the girl told us to enter, we opened the door and found ourselves in a room with, sunlight peeking through the curtains, some meditating mats, and then a figure at the end of the room, then the figure came close it was a girl with brown beautiful glittering eyes and shiny blond hair, she was simply beautiful, she had this aura or vibes she was sending, and they were simply just

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great, and I knew from that moment that would most certainly be friends. As she came closer I looked at Kailyn she had frozen right on the spot and just was not moving, and her skin was so pale I thought she was dead for some minutes, and she was directly staring at the eyes of that girl, and the same thing happened with her too, now both of them were glaring at each other, with looks of confusion, anger, lost, and worry, and I just kept trying to understand what is happening, but with no luck, and the silence just broke up, after about two minutes, (of staring and glaring at

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each other, with unreadable looks, and a silence I would never have broken it by myself, not even dared to.) when both of them said at the same time, with tones of anger, desperation, desperation, worry, surprise, and none inviting ones "You."

IV

Making a new 'FRIEND'

I looked at both Kailyn and the girls standing in front of us, while still not giving up, on trying to figure out what was happening, they were both glaring at each other, in silence, but I eventually got sick of it, gathered the guts to break it, I looked into Kailyn's eyes but my question remained unanswered, then I asked the both of them now shifting my gaze on to both of them, "What is this! do you know each other, and if you do why do you two look unpleased with it?" Both of them suddenly turned, as if just realizing that I was still there, then Kailyn took

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a few steps forward, and so did the girl, and then she said "No, I don't she just seemed like someone I knew, and disliked" In both of their faces I saw simply nothing, no feelings, just empty "Same" and right away she changed the topic, and I figured that maybe there is the slightest chance that they might have seen each other before and it was not good, or simply the girl seemed a bit suspicious, and to be honest why would I trust someone who mediates on the darkest part of the room, because I heard that hades and Pluto's kids like doing that since they have the shadow travel thing

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going on, but she only gave me good vibes when she spoke, and she seemed like a good person, so I decided to let go of it and drop the matter. "So what are the both of you doing here, are you guys some newfound kids of Hecate?" we immediately answered, obviously there was no doubt left, about our parents. "No, we are not" She looked at us quizzically, for a while and then asked, "Then if you are not, what did you come here for?" I looked at Kailyn grinning which probably looked a bit scary since there was not enough light, and my hair was all messed up, so I guess I probably looked like a

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demon, instead of an angel (which some people think I am, but I am not, because I I wouldn't be planning revenge) and she smiled back, but she looked a bit scared probably thinking that my bad side would just take over, and then use my powers to grow plants, that will trap around her and suffocate her to death so that she can meet her father in the underworld. "It is something that you might be interested in, we have heard that Hermes and Mercury's kids have played a lot of pranks on the people here, and we talked to Apollo and your siblings, both Greek and Roman," I noticed a tone of confidence in her voice, had I had great hopes that the

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the girl would agree to it. "What! You girls managed to convince the Romans! Into what you are planning to do, they usually are not very much into such things, you two are two in a million, well done!" I guess from the compliment the girl has started to like us, but now was not the time to start to be friends it was time for business. Right after we asked her, her name she said it was Maya, then we also introduced ourselves, then we told her about our plan, and what the other kids told us, and so on, we gave her a few minutes to think about it, but it passed about thirty minutes, and while she was thinking she was moving her hands, and she was

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making them levitate, move from place to place,e and make illusions, after those thirty minutes, and during that time, the sun was already rising and there was more light, and I could see the mess the room was in, but when those thirty minutes finished she had her answer, and I could not see any mess, anymore now it was all organized and tidy. Thankful to Goddess Fortuna she said yes, I was so happy that I started grinning again, that I even jumped. Now the only thing that needed to be done was to put the plan moving. So we found out that Hermes and Mercury's kids

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usually wake up late like at nine thirty-something, unlike the rest of the camp who usually wake up at seven o'clock, there are rumors that they sleep late because they are preparing a prank for the people they want to attack the next day, so the person gets struck by it on the next day while they sleep. So it was ten to six so we still had plenty of time to prepare ourselves, for our prank, supposing that they didn't wake up earlier than nine-thirty, the first thing we did was to ask Apollo's kids to help us get some centaur blood, which was quite easy since it seems that they use it for some kind

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of ancient medicine (which does not give you memory loss). Then we asked Apollo's kids to try and miss some arrows, to see if they could do it or not, and the trial turned out good (though not that well because they are just not able to miss the target always, I bet if they are angry with Hermes and Mercury's children they wouldn't miss such a golden chance like that.) then we asked Maya if she could make good illusions with the mist, which was great turned out that the other kids both Roman and Greek were not lying she is the best, she is talented, and what is more impressive is that

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she only has one year in camp but she overcame all of her brothers and sisters who were there for years and were considered the best, in just one year, she is also such a good/ very kind person, I like her personality, her dressing code and I would sure like to make our meeting today way more than that I want it to be the begging of a new friendship, of course, it will never replace mine and Kailyn's but it can still be good, though I noticed that Kailyn rather does not like her that much, which is kind of acceptable since nobody as to like everyone, and that is pretty much

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what I have learned from my Dad, thinking about him I miss him, taking breakfast together, dropping me off at school, when he bakes his fabulous treats for me, going out for dinner or both of us cooking it together, the way he used to teach me about plants, as he always said that knowing how to treat nature, is something that every member of our family should know. I hope he is fine, just want to go back home and give him a huge fat hug, it has barely been three days and I miss him so much, think I will call him tonight to see how he is doing.

Kailyn

X

SWEET, SWEET REVENGE