There will come a poet, whose weapon is her word… (Chapter 4) [Silena]
"You've got to be kidding me…"
"Ok, we are not adding that next. This cannot just be a Percy blows stuff up montage."
"Hey- I wasn't even the one"
"Still, we add something else first."
"I did go to camp early that year so…?"
"Yeah, we can do that now."
"Is he really wearing that tie to work again?" I groaned, flopping onto the couch dramatically beside my dad's girlfriend Alice as we both stared at my dad, who quirked a smile at my indignation. "Let your dad be, Lena. It's become his signature look", Alice joked, "like you and your perpetually perfect hair." I groaned. "Hey, it's not-" Alice just laughed at me again, taking a sip of her coffee. "Seriously, how do you look like such a princess just after waking up?" I blushed. My dad knew that mom had been a goddess, but he'd never asked which one or told Alice about it. They'd been dating for 3 years now, and I'd thought of telling her but… I just hadn't gotten to it yet. "Stop teasing her, Alice." My dad said, walking over with a cup of coffee for me and kissed me on the cheek. "Have fun and stay safe at camp, yeah?" I nodded and gave him a hug. "I will, dad. You and Alice look after yourselves in France." My father, William Beauregard, worked as a fashion designer for a multinational clothing chain. He was going back to France with Alice for a couple of months, which was where I'd been born, and he originally was from. "This camp you're going to, it's mainly for the summer, right?" Alice asked. "Are you sure you'll be fine staying there for all these months?" I nodded.
Though my life at home was far more pleasant than most other demigods, Camp Half-Blood was special. That place felt like home. "Yeah, some of my friends stay year-round too there, it'll be fine." She wouldn't understand the anxiety of always having to look over my shoulder for monsters. There would be no more awkward questions and pretending to be normal for a while. Just the scent of pine needles, the clang of swords, and the constant, low-level hum of magic in the air. At Camp, I could truly be myself. I smiled wistfully, thinking of the pegasai and my friends at Camp. Luke would definitely be there, so would my cabin counsellor Elena. Alice noted my smile and said "You really love that place, huh?"
"You have no idea", I replied.
"Did you finish packing?" Dad asked me. "Are you sure we shouldn't drop you off?"
"It's fine, I can take a cab, don't worry." I reassured him. While it was nice of him, I think he wouldn't like the lava wall at camp very much, and I'd rather not be sent to a more "normal" summer camp because this one freaked him out. "You guys should leave, you're going to be late!"
They did leave after making sure I had my wallet and diary with their contact information with me. I couldn't use a smartphone due to it attracting monsters, but if it made dad feel better, why not, right? The Big House had an enchanted phone that even use demigods could use, so I just used that to keep them updated with my life. About 10, I put on my necklace and decided to finally take a cab towards North Shore Beach, Long Island. As we exited route 25A, leaving the city behind, I felt calmer. The air here was cleaner, lighter. I was so glad to be back early. As we drove past the small hills on farm road, I told the driver to let me out at the base of half-blood-hill. Looking a bit confused, he pulled over. I pulled my backpack onto my shoulders and exited the cab and paused at the base of the hill to breathe in the familiar fresh air. "Here you go", I told the driver and handed him the fare in cash. The taxi drove off as I began my hike up the hill.
Luke was the first person I saw. He was leaning against Thalia's pine, smiling as if somehow, he'd already known I'd be coming today. Since his dad was the god of all travellers, I suppose it wasn't impossible. Alongside being the best swordsman Camp had seen in a century he was also freakishly fast and had a few odd powers. He still looked the same as he called out to me, blonde hair gleaming in the afternoon sun. "Silena! How have you been?" I laughed as he shoulder-checked me and dragged me over the border. "So glad you made it", he said, his smile dazzling.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I replied, returning his smile. Luke was my best friend at Camp. He'd always made me feel like I belonged. Older, wiser, the cool older brother everyone wanted. Even I could acknowledge he was attractive, though I was one of the very few girls at Camp who didn't have a crush on him; the scar he'd got on his quest was the only thing that marred his otherwise perfect appearance.
"I guess Mr. D doesn't know you were technically outside the property line?" Luke's ever-present smile just turned into a more sinister smirk at my question. "Hey, you can't blame a guy for wanting to welcome a friend back to camp" he joked, as if evading the notice of an actual Olympian was just parlor tricks.
"Wait, isn't Luke-"
"Yes."
"Please, can you two not"
"Sure, Lena."
After leaving my backpack at my Cabin I ran over to the Big House, hoping to see Chiron and let my parents know I had reached safely. Upon entering, however, the room seemed empty.
"Ah, Sierra, welcome back and all that, I suppose." I turned, and spotted Mr. D hunched over a bunch of old black and white newspapers in one corner of the room. "Hey Mr. D", I said, unsure what to do. I, like most demigods who were not his kids were not well-liked by the camp director. "Where's Chiron?" I asked. "The old horse is out on a house call. Which means I've lost the only decent pinochle player this place had." I grimaced. While house-calls, as Mr. D called them were not uncommon for potentially powerful demigods, it meant the rest of us were stuck at his mercy. "Can I use the phone?" I asked him. "I need to let my dad know I reached camp safely." Mr. D looked up once, and said "Can you play pinochle?" "Uh, no, Mr. D" He lowered his head back to his papers. "Well then, you're clearly not of age and neither can you play pinochle, so I have nothing to do with you. Go call home, girl."
I nodded and thanked him, and let dad know. I'd pray to mom during lunch as well, I decided. "The inebriation of America indeed", Mr. D muttered as I left the Big House. "And here I am without a single drop of the good stuff."
I knew exactly where I wanted to go after the Big House. While some of the campers (especially Cabin Five kids) didn't get along with the pegasai, I loved them, and it was definitely mutual. There was no one near the stables when I went in, as usual. "Hey Porkpie", I greeted as I heard the tell-tale whinnying of the white winged horse. "I missed you too." I rummaged through the feeding bag outside the table to find a few apples. "Here you go, guys" I said, and tossed them a few. As they were magical creatures, we weren't certain exactly what they ate, but I'd never seen them complain about anything sweet. As they ate, I took a seat by the door to the stables and watched the year-round campers go about with their daily lives. I hadn't gotten the year's schedule yet, so I wasn't sure where I was supposed to be. Usually, Chiron would handle it but since he wasn't here…
Porkpie finished two apples and came over and nuzzled me fondly as I patted his clear mane. "Can't stay for a ride, sorry." Almost on cue, I heard the conch horn calling us for lunch. I reluctantly said goodbye to Porkpie and got up, heading towards the dining pavilion. The other demigods from across the camp streamed out of cabins and the archery range towards the commons. Only about a quarter of us that stayed year-round, with rest of the campers only staying for the summer, as did I, earlier.
The food was always great at Camp, most of it was actually locally sourced from the adjoining fields. For drinks we could have almost anything we wished for, as long as it was non-alcoholic. "Diabolo Menthe", I told my glass and within a few seconds the glass was filled to the brim with the light green liquid. With Chiron absent, none of us were sure about who was going to lead the customary toast to the gods before we began eating. I glanced uncertainly at Elena, while Mr. D glared at all of us from his seat at table twelve. After a few back-and-forth glances between Elena, me and the other year-round cabin counsellors we raised our glasses one at a time and said "To the gods!" Mr. D hmphed and waved his hand at us. "Go on, go on, make your offerings."
There was a shorter queue than I was used to before the central fire, so I almost missed my turn. "To Aphrodite", I said, throwing four of the strawberries into the flame. I waited for a moment before continuing, hoping she was paying attention. The smoke from the flames started to smell less like burnt fruit and more like perfume. "Hey mom, thanks for listening. I got to camp without any issue", I paused after that, unsure how to phrase my next words. "I wish you'd have warned me about the cannons, I messed up there and my friend got the blame because of me. His name's Percy Jackson… I wanted to ask …If you could keep an eye on him? He's probably a demigod too." I took a breath, unsure if she was still listening. "Anyways, see you on the winter solstice. Love you, Silena." With that, I walked back to my table and dug in. There were no announcements to make, and Elena told me the weekly Capture the Flag game had been called off due to Chiron, who was our activities director and referee for the game, being gone.
After lunch, Luke found me by the arena. "Want to help me train?" he asked, twirling his sword. His scar seemed less prominent in the fading light. "Some of the year-rounders are getting sloppy with their footwork." Sword-fighting wasn't really my thing, but I still agreed. Luke always said with my footwork and agility I'd be a formidable opponent to face. Personally, I preferred a short dagger for fights where Charmspeak wasn't helping. Still, I practiced a few basic thrusts on the training dummies with the sword Luke tossed at me. His younger brothers, Connor and Travis Stoll somehow were even faster than he was. Despite not being particularly good at defense, they moved out of the way of his sword too fast for Luke to hit with his calculated, precise slices.
"Where's Annabeth?" I asked Luke after a while. Usually, that girl followed Luke around everywhere. He managed to disarm Connor before answering. "She's been hanging around the Big House, hoping for some word from Chiron about the new demigod he went to teach." I didn't miss the tinge of annoyance in Luke's voice. "That's odd, I didn't see her when I visited," I told him. "She has a divine gift now", Luke told me with a strangely unreadable expression on his face. "Makes her completely invisible and undetectable." That was- strange. It explained Luke's annoyance, though, since divine gifts were usually given before a Quest, and he hadn't received one for his… and now Annabeth had a pretty useful gift without being sent on a Quest. Sometimes, the gods gave gifts to their children so that they could make it safely to Camp, but he hadn't lucked out there either, as the pine tree on the hill clearly showed. "But- she doesn't have a quest, right?" I asked, just to be sure. "Nope. Chiron thinks it's still too dangerous to go outside," Luke clarified. We both sat down on the benches, and watched Clarisse from Cabin Five decimate the dummies with her spear. "It works on mortals too, you know" Luke said suddenly. I glanced at him "The spear? But it's celestial bronze" Luke shook his head "No, no, the gift Annabeth got. It looks like a normal baseball cap, so it won't trigger any alarms. Once she's wearing it, mortals, demigods, monsters-, nothing can see her." Well damn, I thought. "So, she can basically break into any place in the mortal world if she wants to?" Luke shrugged, and said "It depends. Some of them have heat sensors and pressure sensors which could still detect her… but still, it's pretty darn powerful." I nodded. It actually sounded better than my Walkman, which I'd always thought of as a very cool gift. "Anyway, how'd your summer go? Any attacks?" Luke asked me. "Nope," I said, and then remembered the canons. "I did stumble onto one of my mom's husband's traps", carefully avoiding Hephaestus' name. "There were two war cannons from way back when and they blew up my school bus and then my Charmspeak kicked in, and a friend of mine got expelled though he didn't even do anything." Luke grimaced and said, "I just wish they'd leave us alone sometimes -but no, they have to keep ruining things for us." I frowned at that. Granted, he'd had a worse time of it than me but still, "That's treason, Luke. And I doubt I'd like someone to cheat on me for millennia either." He shrugged and walked off at that. I wanted to tell him more about Percy, but he didn't seem to be in a good mood.
I spent the evening talking to Elena by the beach. It was one of my favorite places in Camp, especially since there was no one in the first three cabins, so this part of the Camp was always peaceful. "-in the cupboard beside your bed", Elena said and I realized I'd zoned out mid-conversation. "I'm sorry?" She laughed. "Go to bed early today. You're tired, babe." She was right, I knew. "What were you saying about dresses?" I asked her, curious now. "Mom gave us all outfits for the Winter Solstice, it's in the cupboard, make sure to wear it when we go." I smiled. "That's so nice of her. Course I'll wear it."
The Solstice meeting was nothing too interesting, with most of the gods arguing with each other while others gossiped and joked. It was after we left that the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse. Torrential rain poured down on our white van, thunder rumbling across the sky. I even heard people on the streets say something about a tornado. With Chiron gone, and Mr. D on Olympus none of us knew what was going on. I prayed to Mom asking what on earth was going on while some of the demigods looked properly scared. Luke had gone white as a sheet and was fidgeting every time I looked at him. Even after we came back to Camp, the strange weather continued, despite the magical barriers protecting it. Mr. D was waiting for us at Camp, his eyes burning with purplish fire. "Dinner will be delivered to you inside your cabins", he said. "An immediate curfew is in effect. If anyone is found outside their cabin before dawn, I will personally turn them into an ant and then step on them."
"Camp isn't supposed to be like this...What do you think is going on? " I asked Luke the next morning. The sky was still overcast, and the waves of the sea were higher than I'd ever seen. "Things are changing", he replied, staring off into the distance.
(A/N : Updates might slow down, as I have exams. TLT canon event start next chapter!)