The Second Legion

The Visit

It was a normal time of the month when Percy and Annabeth would visit Cora, and she enjoyed it as she normally would. Her parents would greet her, then they would go to their godly visiting cabins and would spend the rest of the summer teaching campers skills with swords and daggers, and help the kids (in their power range) to better control, and make them more powerful with their powers. This meant that because Cora was the only Poseidon kid, she got all of the most famous demi-god/god's teaching, all to herself, but this time, something seemed off. Percy was on his phone. Normally, to a mortal that would seem like just a normal thing, but Cora knew that he only used his phone for emergencies. Here was the conversation,

"So dad, what have you been up to?"

"Ya, ya Cora you are doing great!"

"Umm, ok, so did you want to teach me that last move you did?"

"I am not allowed to show you the next great prophecy, I thought we talked about this?"

"But..."

Percy looked at her with a stern face. His eyes as usual, calm and blue, yet firm.

"Fine..."

Percy saw his phone light up. Great, another distraction, Cora felt as though the world just wanted to take away her parents from her. Percy picked up the phone, and after a few seconds of trying to figure out how to answer the call, which led Cora, to end up answering it for him, and handing it to him, spoke into it.

"Hello? Can you hear me?........... Rachel! What's up?....... Are you sure? Tell me................. Today............ Yes, I am sure.............. Please. Thank you........ Yes, see you soon............bye."

"Cora." He said briefly.

"I'll see you later, don't stress about it."

He walked off to see a woman about his age, gave her a hug they started talking in hushed tones, as the grasshoppers and birds in the trees created an unbreakable sound barrier that made even the sharpest ears groan with the effort. This being said, Cora couldn't make much of it but...

"I don't know if it's time. I mean she wouldn't be safe here" Percy expressed. "Maybe I can hold it off for a little while. I don't want your family to be unsafe." "Thanks, Rachel." Then the conversation was over and the woman walked off. Maybe it was about a new camper? They must be pretty lame if their parents were nervous about sending them to Camp Half-Blood, the safest place for half-bloods unless he or she was a child of the big three. Would the new camper be a friend or foe?

For weeks Mom wouldn't talk about any summer camps so Pia gently brought up the topic at dinner. "So, what summer camps were you thinking of?" Mom dropped her silverware and said "I found one that might be perfect for you and I'm taking you there tomorrow." "But, it's not summer yet..." "I know" She interrupted. Pia flinched, startled, she had never heard her mom talk to her any other way besides as a pet. She went up the seven stairs, often jumped by twos, or trying to reach three, but this time, just walked straight up, not a skip or jump adorned her lowly march to her room thinking what she would, or could say to Rose about such a strange camp starting in the middle of the school year. She hoped that she would understand.

Pia sprawled on her bed. What could she do? How could she explain? Her eyes crawled across her room, the yellow walls, the pictures of butterflies, a small pink desk in the corner, over the fuzzy blue rug. A small lamp light fixture hung on the ceiling of flaking paint that fell on her head like lice. The room was old, and so was the house, tiny too, very unlike her grandparents, who were now in the Hamptons, arriving by private helicopter. For some reason, the house had paintings all over the walls, the ground, really, anywhere that her mom would hang or place anything. Pia had almost gotten used to the pictures of the man with the green eyes, a stick in his hand as he jumped in mid-air... the vision flickered, and the painting seemed to come to life, the man jumped over something, swinging wildly, as a golden beam slashed across the front of the painting- it should have ripped the canvas that her mother had painted it on, but no magical beam of light was there anymore.

Back in its place was the man with the stick, but in the corner of the frame, a piece of blond hair, and another stick came into view, only her mom could draw like that. It was for a hobby, not for fame that she gave the art museums that longed for another piece of work, a painting, again and again.

Pia's eyes finally landed on her trunk. The beaten-up edges gave a mask as to what was inside of it. All the jewels and gifts that she had received from her grandparents were hidden away there. Designer clothes, tiffany rings, none of that she cared for much.. Maybe that was why she still kept it there. Hidden, yes, but away, and admired. She walked over to it and unhooked the latches that attached the lid to the base. She dumped everything in there on the ground. All of the contents were scattered across the floor, it was surprising how much of it could fit in such a small trunk. She opened her closet and grabbed a broom, she swept all of the items into the closet. It was almost too much stuff, for she had to lean and push against the door, finally getting a jump rope, tying it around the doorknob, and attaching it to a leg of the desk for the door to stay shut. She took a breath.

Pia had never been good at athletics, and only really succeeded in archery. She loathed basketball with all that she was, and simply refused to play it when they played in gym class.

Pia packed her bags for the time she would be away and went to sleep. Early the next day she got her trunk and packed it into the car. The way down to the car from the car was depressing, as the trunk bumped against the steps and cried as screws flew, not used to much work. As they started to drive across deep creek lake and had just reached the other side, just as the sun went down. Mom started to look left and right, then settled her eyes straight forward. "Pia honey, I think that there's a blue plastic hairbrush in the back of the car on the floor, can you go back there and stay on the ground?" and frantically sped when she saw something. Pia looked back to catch a glimpse of what she saw, but her mom screamed at her, "Pia, now!" Pia needed no other urging as a shadow covered the light that created a veil over the sky, the sunset disappeared into a void of darkness. The being wielded a beam just like the painting it held it to Mom's face and she shuddered, it seemed to absorb her essence. I screamed in horror and the being came up to my window and peeked through. In the split second, Pia saw it and it didn't look like a person at all. Pia's mind short-circuited. With the strength my mom had she pushed on the gas and the being fell to the ground as we sped off. "What was that!" Pia yelled in confusion. "Nothing." She said, wiping the blood from her cheek. Finally, after a long ride of silence, they arrived at a camp called Camp Half-Blood. 

not the best chapter... please keep reading, I promise it will get better