Our Creators

AUGI III

A/N: hiya unicorns, I am so sorry about the huge wait. Things are crazy in my life rn, I have way too much unfinished homework, a huge project due May 11th, two ballet exams next week, and I'm trying to write five fanfics all at once at the moment. Pretty insane yeah. Don't kill me. Ily guys.

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Once I had gotten over my initial shock that this Chiron dude was actually half-man-half-horse, and not an elderly disabled man, I followed after him and the girl from the car, Grace. That girl seemed to know a lot about all this Greek stuff. Me, I was more confused than I'd ever been in the whole of my sucky life. I walked behind Miss Well Informed, feeling slightly awkward. I wasn't in the mood for talking. My brain was probably going to implode. I busied myself with assessing my surroundings.

Briar and Laurie had vanished. Ditchers. There seemed to be hundreds of kids here - all wearing orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirts. A lot of curious glances were directed our way, a little too many for my comfort. Grace didn't seem bothered; she was smiling and waving and greeting like some kind of celebrity, despite having recently recovered from a lengthy period of unconscious-ness. As for me, did I ever mention that I am the most introverted, antisocial creature on this planet? Hah. Blame my mom for that. I swear, my entire life had been the equivalent of a thirteen-year grounding. I wasn't used to being around a bunch of random strangers. It rattled my nerves. Too overwhelming.

So I just kind of tagged along behind and tried to look insignificant. At least there weren't any flying horses around.

Grace's almost-shoulder-length blondish hair bounced around behind her as she walked. She was tall, slim. Probably not as tall as me though. (Mwa-ha-ha). I wondered how old she was. Adam had seemed surprised when I said I was thirteen.

We passed by a lake - "The canoe lake," Chiron informed us - across from which what looked like a circle of smallish cabins was visible. I wondered about those, but didn't ask Chiron. Like, dude, I barely knew him.

We walked on past a volleyball court, where a bunch of campers were playing. Then a big, cabin-like building came into view.

"The Big House," said Chiron. "We hold all our meetings here. A community centre, if you will."

"Cool," said Grace enthusiastically. "Isn't it?" She added suddenly, turning to me.

"Oh, um, yeah," I stammered, caught off guard. "Pretty cool."

"'Pretty cool?!'" Grace exclaimed, throwing up her hands, blueish-greyish eyes widening. "That's all you've got to say? Pretty cool? Not extremely cool?"

"Well, being attacked by a giant six-armed statue dude, getting flung into Long Island Sound and then accidentally drenching your only friend with a tidal wave," I burst out, slightly irritated, "And on top of that being forced to make the acquaintance of two flying horses who talk and an extremely annoying boy, and then finding out that one of your parents is a Greek god and that said best friend is half goat - if you consider that cool, I beg to differ."

Grace blinked, then laughed. "The pegasi talk? Good one."

Oh god, I'm definitely going insane.

"Come," Chiron called. He had made it to the steps of the front porch of the Big House, and was waiting for us.

Grace grabbed my wrist and started pulling me towards him. Startled, I yanked out of her grasp. I immediately felt kind of bad, but she obviously didn't understand the concept of personal space. And I wasn't used to being grabbed. Grace glanced back at me, eyebrows raised.

"Sorry," I muttered, then walked past her, over to Chiron.

We ascended the steps, and I almost died when I saw Mr. Horrific Hawaiian T-shirt sitting on the porch in a beach chair. Briar stood nearby, fidgeting nervously. He gave me a wobbly grin as we approached. "That's Mr. D," he whispered as we passed.