Gods, she said. The Gods are coming for you.
I should've listened.
Yes, okay, so maybe my memory loss was worse than I thought.
"What—How?"
Irene sulked her head.
"Let's walk," she said.
I complied and did the only thing I could; listen.
She continued. "The woman found us, the one in the middle of the road. Piper made the cab driver speed down the street, straight to the airport. When we got there she told us about something called charmspeak. It's a kind of hypnosis thing she can do, because of her mother—"
"A goddess?" I remembered from Twigs conversation.
"Aphrodite," she replied before continuing the story, not giving me time to comprehend what she said. "Anyway, she said it was risky as we had to catch the first plane to camp, but she did it anyway. She's strong. She managed to convince the entire plane that we were passengers without so much as a ticket. The flight wasn't too long, 3 hours maximum."
3 hours, I thought. "Where are we?"
"New York."
"New York?!" I exclaimed. "What about our parents?"
"Chiron has a plan for that."
"The centre or something?"
"Centaur. Like I was saying, we managed to get to camp without the lady following us. Piper says she's a deity," she said, stopping as we reached some cabins. "We met Chiron, who said we had to have been demi-gods, since we didn't need 'inviting' into the camp. There was a campfire that night, someone saw you walk into the forest and then we heard you shouting. Some of the campers even insisted that you were screaming for help, and then you went missing. Nobody knows what happened to you."
"Not even me," I said sullenly.
"I've been worried about you," she uttered. "Chiron said I shouldn't worry, and that's he'd find you. He sent three different satyrs into the forest with the task of finding you."
"Twig."
"Two others as well. A satyr named Grover and one named Hedge. Nobody could find you but Twig went back inside after playing his pipes and hearing your voice in the forest."
"He can do that?" I asked surprised.
"You'd be surprised what the people at this camp can do, Daryl."
We continued through the camp in silence, and I had no idea what Irene was feeling. She looked cautiously for any danger, something she used to do a lot, but now it seemed real. Our reunion cut short when I met the Centaur.
"Charon?" I asked, as a half man, half horse approached me outside of a big house.
"Chiron," he replied. "Charon is a ferryman."
"Fairyman?"
Chiron laughed. "Let us go inside of the Big House."
"Wait, you call the big house 'The Big House'?"
"We have much to discuss," he replied, trotting to the open doors of his home, leaving me to say my goodbyes to Irene, and follow him inside.
"You don't remember?" Chiron asked.
"Not a thing."
"Hm." He trotted around for a moment before turning his attention back to me. "Well I don't think I need to explain much. You've seen most of it," he explained. "I'm sure you have many questions though."
"Who's my father?" I blurted.
"It is unclear. Perhaps your mother is the one you suspect. Why your father?"
I shuffled. "I don't know. I think he doesn't care for me much, my memories are still playing with me."
But the truth was, I don't remember a mother. Not a face, no voice or memories. Even before now.
"It's uncommon for the divine to visit their family occasionally, however they often make exceptions. Perhaps we'll see at the fire, tonight. Your things are with the Hermes cabin. You left them there last night, however I wasn't sure if you remembered."
"Thanks," I said.
He clopped towards the door.
"Hey Chiron," I interjected.
"Yes child," he said, facing me.
"What if—" I paused. "What if I'm a child of the big three? I heard the others talking about it. It didn't seem good. And some were saying how there are still a few cabins under construction. What if my parent's one of those cabins? What if my parent doesn't even have a cabin?"
"All questions will be answered in time, boy. And none of the answers guarantee a bad outcome." He turned back and left me alone in the big house.
I couldn't sit still. After Chiron told me my ADHD was real, it felt like it began heightening. I shot up and began snooping.
It's not my fault Chiron left me alone in an unfamiliar place. The room he left me inside of was bare, except a table and chairs that we'd been occupying, along with several greek vases lining some shelves. I exited the room and peaked out to confirm my solitude.
Once confirmed, I, too, left the room. To save the boring details, the kitchen was empty, along with the dining hall and living area. The only thing you'd remember about them is the god-awful mat that the kitchen housed. It got interesting when I went upstairs.
The entire house looked so brown you would have thought it was made of dirt. Even so, there was a sense of elegance inside of it. Picture frames with Chiron inside of a wheelchair surrounded by campers littered the walls of the Big House, along with a surprisingly clean and rich looking carpet that lined the floors. The house stayed silent as I walked upstairs. Creaking from the floorboards couldn't be heard so I knew it was safe to continue.
As I reached the top of the stairs, something caught my eye. An attic entrance lay open and the steps on the ladder did not match the rest of the house. They looked broken and shaved, as if one step would snap the wood in half.
Still, I was intrigued. I pursued, advancing toward the open attic.
Luckily, the steps did not break. My ascension into the attic didn't take long, although it was pretty cramped. I barely fit, especially with the junk that the attic had become a forgotten home to. More ancient greek furniture and decor gathered around the floor, as well as plenty of candles to fill a swimming pool. In what I assumed was the centre of the attic sat an empty chair, with a drape over it.
The attic smelled funky, like mouldy wood and burnt plastic. I would have looked around some more, had I not been interrupted.
"Why are you in here?" A soft girls voice came from behind. I faced her to meet a redhead, whose curly hair reminded me of a bowl of spicy noodles. Her eyes were a piercing green, and she stood at only 5ft 7. "Do I need to repeat the question?"
Fiery redhead; got it, I thought. "I was just leaving," I lied.
"You're that guy that went missing in the woods, aren't you?"
"Is that what I'm known for already? Gee—" I scoffed and turned to leave.
"Do you have a name?" She asked.
"Daryl," I answered.
She smiled. "Rachel."
She stood inside of the attic for a moment as I returned the smile and descended, before a soft gasp escaped her lips and what looked to be a green glow illuminated the attic.
I climbed back up, even though looking back, I wish I didn't.
Rachel stood gasping slightly for air, pointing to the empty chair. Except now it wasn't empty. The drape covering the chair now covered what appeared to be a person. The green glow emitted from the top of the drape and another began appearing in Rachel's throat. She struggled for breath and it was clear that she was choking. I tried to help, but she continued pointing her finger at the draped body. I didn't want to, but I had a feeling that I needed to remove the tarp.
So I did. I ripped the fabric from the silhouette and in its place sat the rotting corpse of a lady. The glow exited her mouth and went into Rachel's, lighting her eyes up pure jade green. Smoke began emitting from her mouth and she began speaking in a raspy voice.
The sorcerers blade finds its mark
When light complies and joins the dark.
The dove will spill an ancient blood
Once the tide diverts the flood.
The golden child unleashes pain
Upon the land of endless rain.
Acquire the source of fertile time
And exchange a life for half a dime.
The soft smoke left her body completely, but Rachel's eyes continued to glow as she began reacting strangely. It was as if she began hallucinating things that weren't there. She screamed, cried and shook with shivers as the glow began dimming, her eyes returning to normal.
I looked at the chair that was now mysteriously empty, the cover still on the floor.
Rachel began panicking. "Oh no, we have to—I need—You have to go!" She struggled so hard to form a coherent sentence that it kind of scared me. "I saw them! And they weren't—Oh they looked so angry."
"Slow down," my head shot back to her. "I have to go? What do you mean?"
"It was you! They were coming after you!" She kept shouting, no doubt alerting the other campers to our location. "And we can't stop them," she frowned. "No matter how much Chiron believes we might."
"Who?" I asked. "Who's coming for me?"
She resisted looking at me. Her forehead creased.
"Gods," she said. "The Gods are coming for you."