Hey, just a quick note from the author. This is my first story so please be nice. Also, I do not own any of Rick Riordan's Properties that appear here namely: Camp Half-Blood. Please enjoy and I would love feedback! As of now, I do not have a solid schedule worked out yet sorry. Now on with the show!
I see liquid gold (No, it is not olive oil)
Sam felt a rush of relief and broke out in a grin when he heard the bell ring, letting him out of his last class of the day. As fun as learning about the theory of relativity was, he was happy that he had a week off for spring break.
He made a quick pit stop at his locker, which had been covered in sticker remnants due to the previous occupants putting away the textbooks that he wouldn't need for the next few days. As he was doing this, his best friend Gabe showed up. He was a 15-year-old boy with bright orange hair and a gleam in his coal-colored eyes that would make any substitute teacher panic.
As for Sam, he was also 15, with sandy blond hair and hazel-colored eyes. "My guy! Mr. Hill's lecture was so boring today!" Gabe started.
While Sam agreed, he couldn't exactly blame Mr. Hill. Hardly anybody could make finding the speed of an object attention-grabbing. Sam closed his locker and turned to look at Gabe. "Well, at least he's trying. There aren't very many people who are still willing to work in public education right now," Sam said, cutting him off before he went off on a tirade that would land him in detention.
Gabe quickly dismissed Sam's protests by asking, "Anyways, what do you have going on this spring break?"
Sam shook his head. "I'm going to pump out some homework and try and get some extra service hours in for the Honors Society. Plus, you know how my mom gets this time of year."
An awkward silence passed between Sam and Gabe before Gabe asked, "This is right around the time your dad died from that freak storm from Mt. St. Helens, right?"
Sam nodded. "Well, sort of. He died in late August from a flying piece of metal. He was deployed right around this time. I kind of have to walk on eggshells. But she got more hours than usual at the hospital this week, so I think she might be on the up and up."
Sam looked down at his watch and saw the digital numbers read that it was nearly 2:50. "Gotta go!" Sam said quickly. "I'm volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club in 20 minutes."
He ran down the tiled hallways and out of C.M. Russell High School. Grabbing his bike, he raced down the cold streets of Great Falls, Montana. He looked at his watch as he pedaled and wished he had time for a donut. That proved to be a near-fatal mistake as the distraction meant he didn't see a patch of ice on the sidewalk and slid right into the traffic of 9th street.
But the strangest thing happened: as he did that, time seemed to slow down around him, and the cars seemed to be moving through golden-colored jelly, the Red Ford F-Series just a few feet away.
With some strain, like he was moving through waist-deep snow, he got up and moved to the sidewalk with his bike. When he looked at his watch again and heard an audible snap, time started progressing as it had been before. Suddenly, there was an inexplicable time for him to stop at Hemple's, the best donut shop in the state. He quickly made the purchase before heading into his shift, glad that Hemple's had still been able to avoid getting bought out by the massive conglomerate of Monster Donut.
He walked and greeted his manager while the smell of freshly baked donuts battled with the scent of sweaty teens wafting up from his bag. Jamie just gave a curt nod and allowed Sam to go about his business. All through his shift, he kept thinking of how to mentally prepare for when he came home, considering the state of mind his mom would be in when he got home. But he had much worse problems as he would find out soon enough.
Sam walked out of the Center at 7:30, just as the sun was setting over the snow-encrusted rooftops. The glow of the street lights turning on and the nearby Papa John's sign casting a glow across the street made the street nearly empty, leaving evidence of a fresh dusting of snow that had fallen while he was inside. He breathed in a breath of crisp air, ready to start an amazing spring break.
Just then, he saw an angry pit bull chasing a young blond-haired girl in a dark red jacket, a bright orange shirt, and a pair of blue jeans, who looked to be around his age. She appeared to be carrying a bow with a quiver slung around her back. "Jamesen, Melanie, better be looking out! I NEED YOUR HELP OUT HERE! I AM NOT DYING TO A FREAKING HELLHOUND!" she shouted.
Sam thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he swore he saw the pit bull change into a giant dog as she said that almost instantaneously. At that moment, Sam knew he had to do something. He looked in his backpack and brought out the last of his half-eaten ham sandwich from earlier that day. He threw the sandwich at the pit bull—or hellhound, whatever the girl had called it. "Hey, get away from her!" he yelled.
Well, he should have known better; there was a reason he wasn't on the baseball team—his aim was bad, and he hit the girl right in the face. Suddenly, the same thing that happened earlier that day occurred once again. Time seemed to move slowly. Everything around him seemed to be moving through thick snow covered in golden jelly. He saw Liz's bow fly out of her hand and her eyes grow wide. He took a step forward, expecting to move slowly as well, but to his surprise, he moved at a normal pace.
He wasn't exactly sure about what he was going to do. He then started to feel strained, as if he were trying to stand in a raging river. As soon as he felt the pain, it was almost like he felt a snap, and time resumed back to normal.
The girl who had been hit with the flying lunch item hit the ground hard, her bow skittering about 20 feet. Suddenly, a large stocky boy jumped down from above the building Sam had just left and landed on what Sam had decided was probably not a pit bull's back. The boy swung his legs, which had cowboy boots with what looked like bronze spurs on them, and drove them into what Liz had called a hellhound.
The dog let out an ear-piercing howl that he was sure would wake everyone in the nearby neighborhood if they hadn't been so close to the train tracks. Sam looked on in shock. "What in tarnation?!" he exclaimed as he saw the dog slowly dissolve into a fine powder.
"Tartarus," the stocky boy corrected, who now that Sam could see more clearly, looked like he was of Greek descent. He had black hair and olive skin and was wearing khakis and a blue sweatshirt that read "Georgia State" with what appeared to be a blue panther. "With that stunt, you just pulled, you mean Tartarus," he finished.
Sam was still trying to process everything that happened. "What do you mean by the stunt I just pulled?" Sam asked. "I didn't do anything!"
Liz, who was starting to get up, gave Sam a concerned look and said, "We'll address that later, but first names. I'm Liz, and this is Jamesen, and you are…?"
Sam held out his hand. "I'm Sam… it's short for Sampson."
Liz ignored his hand and turned to Jamesen. "Hey, is Melanie doing any better?"
Jamesen winced. "Well, not too much better than when you went to get supplies at that drug store across the river."
The girl nodded and went to the alleyway behind the Boys and Girls Club, with Jamesen following close after. Sam, deciding that he needed answers, went after them. As they walked in, he saw an older girl, possibly around 17, lying on a makeshift stretcher of sticks and a bright orange sleeping bag that had 'Camp Half-Blood' scrawled on it with a picture of a pegasus.
The girl had chestnut brown hair and was wearing a pink sweater along with a pair of snow pants. "Ooooookaaayyyy, it has gotten much worse," said Liz.
A moment of silence passed where the only sound was the wind blowing and the traffic passing. Sam then spoke up. "Hey, my mom's a nurse. She might be able to help your friend."
Liz snorted. "No offense, mister time miser, but I'm a daughter of Apollo. Not only that, but the head counselor of the Apollo cabin. I think I can do better than a mortal."
That was a lot of words to process all at once: Apollo, head of a cabin, mortal… but Sam saw red. He couldn't stand that his mom had just been insulted like that. "LOOK! I'm sure she knows more about medical stuff than someone who still thinks the sun is pulled across the sky by a man wearing bedsheets!"
Now it was Liz's turn to get mad. "How dare you—" she began, but right then, the girl on the ground groaned and shifted to her side.
Liz took a deep breath. "Okay fine, this might be a little beyond my skill set. I got blessed more on the music side, not as much with healing. Where do you live then?"
Sam pointed down the road. "Just down there, in the apartment complex that used to be the old school."
"I'll lead you there," Sam started walking his bike while the two teens grabbed the makeshift stretcher by the ends, and he led the way carefully to call out any slippery parts of the cracked pavement, using the flashlight attached to his bike.
They then reached his apartment complex within 5 minutes of walking.
He punched in the code and led the way up one flight of stairs to his apartment. As he was putting the key in the lock, the door flew open. The smell of the lavender wax melt hit his nose immediately, and the familiar face of his mother stared back at him, her blond hair about the same shade as his own.
"Hey, Sam." His mom then immediately got a panicked look and said, "What's going on? How did you meet these questers?" as she saw the makeshift stretcher.
Sam didn't know who looked more shocked, him or his new blonde friend, Liz. Before he could explain or get over his shock, his mom was already rushing everyone inside and pulling out the guest cot from the living room closet. She then shoved Jamesen out of the way and made eye contact with the young girl across from her. "We'll move her over on the count of three… One… Two… THREE!"
In one swift movement, they switched the girl over to the cot. "What is the situation here?" his mother asked while looking over the girl Sam assumed was Melanie.
The two strange teens hesitated. "I mean, has she gotten any nectar? What mortal treatments have you used?"
A moment of silence passed where the only sound was the space heater starting up.
"Um, yeah," said Liz. "She's gotten Ambrosia and Nectar. I was just getting some regular medical supplies… okay… sorry? How do you know about this stuff while you're…" She gestured at Sam. "Are you completely clueless?"
Sam tried not to feel offended as his mother checked Melanie's vitals.
"I'm a daughter of Hecate," she began, her voice steady yet tinged with an edge of defensiveness. "As you can probably guess from my age and parentage, I fought for Kronos in the last Titan War."
Sam noticed Liz's hand twitch toward her bow at the mention of Kronos, her expression tense. He could see the struggle in his mother's eyes, the urge to put up walls rising within her.
"I was a healer near the U.N. during the Battle of Manhattan. I didn't kill demigods… or mortals, for that matter," she finished, a pained look etched on her face.
Liz paused, processing. "HOW COULD YOU FIGHT FOR A TITAN?! Also, that doesn't explain why Sam was able to see through the Mist! Legacies raised outside of camps don't usually do that—or mess with time!"
"I've changed," Sam's mother said quietly, a tear carving a path down her cheek. "My mother is recognized now. I help people."
She turned to Sam, her voice firm yet softening. "What do you mean he messed with time?"
Liz snorted in reply. "Well, your son here threw a sandwich at a hellhound and made time move slowly."
Sam's mother looked at him. "Is this the first time this happened?"
Sam shook his head and briefly explained what happened while en route to his volunteer opportunity.
His mother sighed in relief, then visibly braced herself mentally. "Well… Sam… you're a demigod as well."
She bit her lip as if she was thinking through how to say what she was about to say. "Your father is Kronos… He was the son of Hermes at the time… So you have the blood of three immortals… Hecate… Hermes… and Kronos."
The room went silent once more as the smoke of the bombshell that had just dropped cleared.
The sound of an engine roaring to life in the parking lot broke the silence. "Ok Mom, how did Dad die then?" Sam cut through the silence "Luke took control back from Kronos and killed himself to prevent Kronos from rising." Sam was still reeling but decided he could ask questions later.
"Well, she should be on the mend now." Sam hadn't even noticed that his mom had kept on mending Melanie throughout the conversation.
"But she isn't in any condition to quest now," she continued. "We'll see how she feels in the morning, though. I have some soup in the crockpot if you want some." Cheer entered her voice once more.
