Loveless Daughter of Love

Ch 3: A Day for the Notebook

I lead the way down towards the beach steeling myself for all of the lovey-dovey couples I'm about to be surrounded by. I stop at the top of a dune and look around for Chiron when I hear a surprised gasp beside me. I turn and look at Kalen having forgotten that he was with me.

"Is everyone here really a demigod?.." He asks in awe looking at all of the people laid out before us.

I nod smiling at his reaction remembering my first time seeing the camp. "Every single one of us. If you can make it past the barrier then you have godly blood in your veins."

"Barrier? I didn't see anything on my way here." He says his eyes narrowing slightly in doubt.

I smile and laugh shaking my head. "Skeptical huh? It's a magical barrier, invisible to the naked eye. You know how you said that the hound stopped chasing you half way through the forest? That was the barrier: let's demigods and good spirits in, keeps monsters out." I say as my eyes scan the beach settling upon the half man, half white stallion form of Chiron the camp coordinator. "And there's our man," I say walking towards him.

"Who? The guy on the horse?"Kalen asks glancing around us taking in everything around us before he looks at Chiron again, his eyes widening substantially. "Wait he's a centaur?! He's not the Chiron is he? Like from the old stories?"

I laugh and nod waving at Chiron as he turns and starts walking in our direction, "So you know your Greek mythology? Good, and yes he is the original trainer of demigod heroes. The gods gave him basically eternal life in exchange for him to keep training future heroes."

"Ah, Alyssa! Glad to see you joining in on the festivities- oh. And who is this?" Chiron asks spotting Kalen raising an eyebrow curiously looking him up and down.

"Chiron, this is Kalen Michaels. Kalen, this is Chiron, trainer of demigods and leader of the camp when our camp director Mr. D isn't here." I say introducing the two as Chiron leans down holding his hand out to Kalen, which he doesn't hesitate in grasping in his own and shakes hands.

"It's good to meet you my boy, do you know who your godly parent is? Since I'm sure Ms. Phoenix has already started bringing you up to date on what you are doing here." He says releasing Kalen's hand, casting a smile in my direction before focusing back on the boy in front of him.

"Actually I have no idea," Kalen admits rubbing the back of his neck. "The only parent's I've ever had were my dad's, they adopted me from an orphanage where they said that my father dropped me off as a new born."

Chiron nods knowingly. "I've heard of such cases before," A massive firework goes off momentarily deafening us and Chiron frowns slightly looking up at the sky still colored with bright green sparks of light creating the shape of a five-headed hydra, it's necks writhing in a life like motion. "Why don't we head up to the Big House, it's quieter and we can talk more about how you came to be here."

I look at Kalen and see that his eyes are still transfixed on the sky above us and I smile slightly nudging his shoulder, his attention snapping back to us on the ground. "Huh? Oh, Big House, okay." He says smiling back at me, my heart fluttering in my chest.

"Alyssa, would you be so kind as to lead the way?" Chiron asks kindly smiling with a mischievious glint in his eye that I immediately recognize; it's the same look he gave me when everyone thought that Luke was going to ask me to be his girlfriend years ago.

Then he turned out to be evil.

I nod and turn walking briskly towards the Big House with Kalen easily keeping pace with Chiron and me.

"Chiron?" I hear Kalen ask to my right.

"Yes?" The centaur responds looking over me down at Kalen.

"Who do you think my mother may be? Like, do you have any idea at all?" He asks, his voice showing how lost and confused he really was. I feel my chest constrict in sympathy for him and I rest a hand on his arm smiling reassuringly.

"Don't worry about it, we'll figure out who she is soon," I say confidently despite the fact that some gods never claim their children. Recently it has been less of a problem since Percy Jackson made a deal with the gods to claim their kids.

I hear Chiron clear his throat causing me to turn and look up at him, my eyes meeting his as he relayed a silent message to me. Don't get his hopes up too much.

I nod once as we arrive at the Big House. Chiron walks over to his enchanted wheelchair and backed up, magically compacting his lower half so that he looks like a man with a blanket over his lap. "I think we should go into my office." He instructed smiling before wheeling himself into the building.

I look to Kalen and smile. "Ready to start a new chapter?"

He nodded and rolled his shoulders. "As ready as I'll ever be." He said before walking through the door following Chiron. I stayed outside for a moment thinking about what he said and it certainly felt like a beginning of a new chapter for all of us.