Let the Games Begin!

Chapters 19-21

Chapter 19

Hecate. Apparently the goddess of magic. A demigod like me would expect to be related to her, being a witch and all. Apparently, the centaur hadn’t thought that maybe I might be descended from the goddess of magic, even though I have magic.

“The fact that there are three stars shows that Hecate was three generations back. Your great-grandmother must have been Hecate.”

“Wow, I had no idea that I’m a demigod!” I gasp in astonishment.

“Welcome to the camp!” Percy exclaims.

A boy with hair as dark as night approaches me.

“My name is Aera, member of the Hecate cabin.” he says. “Follow me.”

The crowd parts as we pass, the girls staring wistfully at Aera. We walk towards a cabin near the end of the ‘U’ shape. It is made of stone and purple velvet curtains hang from the windows. Dark, thorny vines grow up the window frame. As we step inside, I gasp.

The lighting is fairly dark, and the walls are painted a deep purple. There are three bunks placed at the back of the cabin, each post has a vine of some sort growing up it. Blood red velvet beanbags are scattered around the room.

Two girls; one fair-skinned and dark-haired, the other tanned with ash-blonde hair, sit on a bunk, showing each other some magic tricks. A young boy with green hair sits by himself on the top of a bunk, the faint sound of heavy metal coming from his headphones. Another boy, pale and gloomy, sits by the curtained window, glaring into space.

Aera directs me to the bunk next to the window.

“This will be your bunk,” he explains. “I’m on the bottom level, so do you want to be on the top, or do you want to swap beds?” 

“I’ll take the top.” I say decidedly.

“Top it is, then.” Aera says, smiling at me.

I climb up the few ladder rungs, and throw myself onto the bed. The mattress is very comfortable, and the bed sheets are made of blue velvet, their touch very soft. A small window is situated on the wall on my left. It has a set of purple curtains with little red stars.

I lie flat on my back, trying to clear out the clutter in my brain. I have received so much information in the last 24 hours, my brain is having trouble sticking to its usual 10%.

Chapter 20

Little rays of light shine through the tiny gaps in the dark curtains of the Hecate cabin when I awaken. The other cabin members sit on the floor below my bunk, chatting.

The fair-skinned girl sticks her head up to my bunk.

“I’m Lou Ellen. I’m the counsellor for this cabin.” she says.

“I’m Helena Everdeen.” I reply.

“I know. Now, there are a few things you need to know. First of all, never loosen one of the stones from the walls of this cabin. It will either explode, or turn anyone within a half-mile radius to turn into a tree. Secondly, Aera will be your guide for your first week here. Last thing you need to know is that you can’t leave the camp. The Ancient Greek monsters are locked in Tartarus, but they can still come to the real world with a few simple spells,  so be careful.”

“Wow, okay.” I say, overwhelmed.

The blonde-haired girl climbs the ladder and sits on the end of my bed.

“I’m Amy Holster,” she introduces herself.

I introduce myself, and then climb down from my bed.

Lou points to the green-haired boy. “This is Louis,”

Louis waves at me.

Amy points to the other boy, the gloomy one. “This is Will!” she explains in her girly high-pitched voice. Will merely raises his  hand towards me, immersed in his space-gazing.

“Let’s go to breakfast.” Lou says.

***

We line up in front of a small fire.

“We have to put a small portion of our meal into the flames and say a god’s name, to make an offering to them.” Aera whispers in my ear.

When it’s my turn to offer, I scrape my tomatoes into the fire (I don’t really like tomatoes, but the gods don’t know that).

“Hecate” I mutter, hoping my great-grandmother will accept my offering.

I go to sit down at the Hecate (Cabin 20) table, next to Aera. The rest of my cabin members are still lining up to offer their food.

“Aera?” I ask.

“Yes?”

“Why is your name so different to the others’?” I ask.

“I’m a bit different to them,” he replies shortly.

I give him a look that suggests for him to go on, but he remains silent.

Chapter 21

The rest of breakfast is a blur to me, the light chatter between Lou and Amy is merely a background noise to my ears. Will and Louis sit side by side, playing a game called Mythomagic. Aera seems very fascinated with his scrambled eggs, trying not to rekindle the topic of our last conversation.

When breakfast is finished, everybody goes separate ways, to their daily activities. The only Hecate campers that remain at the table are Aera and I.

“Helena, today I’m going to show you around the Camp, and you can decide what you’d like to do for the day.” Aera says in his soft, silky voice.

“Okay,” I reply, excited to be able to discover the Camp.

He rises from the table and I follow suit. We exit the Dining Pavilion, Aera in the lead. We come to a stop in front of a climbing wall, several campers attempting to reach the top. I observe as a heap of lava comes pouring down the sides of the wall.

“What?!” I yelp.

“Calm down. It’s fine.” Aera reassures me.

I laugh, as the climbers are left almost naked, their clothes disintegrated into mere threads.

Aera next takes me to an old set of stables. We walk inside, and I gasp in astonishment; there, before my eyes are a herd of Pegasi! They have different colours; some as black as night, some as white as marble, even one as orange as…well…an orange.

We see the whole camp, chatting and getting to know each other between each part of the camp. We visit the Armoury, the Forge, the Archery targets and we see all of the campers sparring. 

Finally, we sit in the shade of an oak tree, eating strawberries and cake that Aera managed to persuade the cooks to give him.

“Aera?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you mean, you’re different to the others?”

He brushes his dark silky hair out of his cold blue eyes.

“I’m not really a demigod. My mother is Hecate, but my father is Zeus. Not many people know, but I’m a god. Minor and insignificant, but immortal all the same.”