The Unknown God

Peter Plays A Magical Song ~ James ~

I CARRIED LUNA'S BAGS INTO cabin eleven. "JAMES!" Conner Stoll, the cabin counsellor, walked up to me and Luna. "Is this the other new camper?" He asked, pointing at Luna.
"Another demigod came today?" I asked, looking around the cabin for an unfamiliar face.
"Yes. Actually he came earlier today." Conner grinned widely at Luna and stuck his hand out.
"I'm Conner Stoll. The head counsellor for cabin eleven, this'll be your temporary cabin, or maybe your permanent cabin if you're a Hermes kid." Luna looked at Conner's hand, then up at his face, not returning the gesture.
"I'm Luna. Where would I sleep?" Unfazed, Conner pointed at an empty bunk.
"You can sleep there." Luna gazed downwards and heaved a heavy sigh. "Great, right in the middle of the cabin." I couldn't hold back my laughter, I put my hand over my mouth but a laugh escaped past my lips.
"Don't worry Luna, it's only for a few nights," I reassured her. "You'll probably be claimed in no time."
"Oh, thanks for the reassurance Mr. Fanboy."
"I told you I'm not a fanboy."
"We moved on from that conversation so I guess you are a fanboy, Fanboy."
"Stop calling me fanboy." I didn't whine, no matter what Alex would say later.
Conner coughed in his fist. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but Luna,we need to get you a Camp Half-blood shirt." Thankful for a change in subject, I perked up to leave.
"Alright, I guess I should be going." I told Conner, patting his shoulder appreciatively.
"Bye, James." He said, looking curiously at my hand, still patting his shoulder. "Have fun in the middle bunk." I winked at Luna.
"Shut up Fanboy." She complained, dragging her hands down her face. I threw Luna's bag at her and I turned to walk out of the cabin.
I walked past all the cabins and towards the canoe lake. The canoe lake isn't the best spot in the camp, but it's a peaceful place where no one really goes around this time. I walked onto the dock, where I found a camper trying to hide what looked like a canoe.
"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to look around the camper. He had brown hair and golden brown eyes, his skin tanned, dotted with freckles. Must've been the new one Connor mentioned.
"Nothing." the camper said very quickly, almost dropping the canoe.
"Look, if you broke something, or something happened to that canoe, just tell me. I can help." I told the camper. The camper turned around, eyes hopeful.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. Now let me see that canoe." I said, walking up to the camper. He stepped away and pointed to a hole on the side of the canoe.
"I-I was just skipping rocks and then this happened." He stuttered, looking down at his feet.
"Don't worry about it, it's okay." I sat down in front of the canoe and looked at the hole. "Yeah, you will definitely not get in trouble for this. This is a very easy fix." The camper sighed in relief.
"Thanks. That's great."
I laughed. "No problem. I'm James Cohen, by the way." I told him, getting up.
"Peter Smith." he said, his golden brown eyes shining in the sun.
"Nice to meet you, Peter."
Peter looks kind of like an athlete, I guess he was on a sports team at his school. He reminds me of Will, if Will were a brunette.

In the distance, the dinner horn sounded.
"Come on Peter." I got up and made my way towards the mess hall.
"I'll just follow you," he said, walking behind me. The two of us walked to the mess hall, all the campers were sitting with their cabins.
"Peter, you will sit with the Hermes kids." I turned around to tell him, but he was already walking to the kids in the Hermes cabin.
"Hey, Fanboy." Luna waved at me.
"Hey Luna. I see you already have the camp shirt." I pointed out. She laughed, only slightly adorably.
"Yeah, and I see you made another friend." I looked at Luna, noticing a charming necklace that definitely didn't make her look cuter.
"Nice necklace." Luna looked down at the necklace she was wearing.
"Thanks, I stole it from Pandora."
"Wha- Like Pandora as in Pandora's box Pandora?"
"No that's not-"
"I thought she died, like, a few thousand years ago."
"No dummy, Pandora the jewellery store."
"Oh, sorry. Um, we should probably go sit down," I said awkwardly.
"Yeah," Luna replied. That's it, conversation over. I turned on my heel and walked to the Demeter table.
I sat down at the table and looked at everyone there. Miranda Gardiner, the new head counsellor of cabin four after Katie retired, was sitting directly in front of me. Billie Ng, with her vibrant blue hair, sat next to me. Meg McCaffrey, who came back a few weeks ago, was sitting next to Miranda. I had no idea where the demon peach who followed her around was, but I counted it as a win that we didn't have to deal with it.
"Hey James, Meg was just telling me about Aeithales and the Meliai. It's so interesting how ancient yet inexperienced they are in interactions with the modern world." Miranda said, casually sipping her already-summoned orange juice as if she hadn't spouted absolute nonsense.
"Oh yeah, how are Meliai doing?" I asked Meg.
A few months ago, Meg and Lester (aka Apollo), went on a quest to save and restore all the oracles. Meg found the seeds that her dad gave to her (confusing and unspecific, I know), which sprouted the Meliai; they are seven of the very first dryads, older than even Zeus.
"They've been protecting me 'n stuff. I can get them to do my dishes when I don't want to. Oh yeah, Apollo came to visit me last month and finally gave me piano lessons. I can play pretty decently if I say so myself." She told us, bouncing up and down in her seat. I totally did not ignore the fact that she could get piano lessons from a god like no big deal, no siree.
Chiron pounded his hoof on the marble floor, everyone fell silent. "Today, I'd like to personally remind everyone not to go on the lava wall unless you've been rock climbing before, if you're a camper with more than one bead, or if you had a more experienced camper helping you, I'd also like to thank cabin 7 for their united efforts in keeping us healthy and healing us when in need." He gestured towards a very tired-looking Will Solace who smiled weakly. "Without further ado, to the gods!" We all raised our glasses.
"To the gods!"
Wood nymphs came with platters of food. The platters had grapes, strawberries, apples, fresh bread, cheese and barbecue. I loaded my plate with food and looked at my empty cup. "Coke," I said. The glass filled with sparkling liquid.
We all got up and walked towards the fire in the centre of the pavilion. I noticed Luna, looking extremely confused as Alex was telling her about something.
I waited for Meg to drop a portion of her food into the fire. I followed after her.
Dropping some of my brisket into the fire I muttered "Demeter."
I left with the rest of my food in hand. I sat back down and finished my food.
"Did you hear that Alex beat up Erik?" Billie asked, stabbing her brisket with her fork.
Miranda looked across the pavilion at Alex, who was reading a book and eating her dinner. "She did?"
I looked down at my plate, pushing around some grapes so brisket juice doesn't affect them. "He was being rude, besides, Alex barely touched Erik, everyone's overreacting. Can we talk about something else?"
Meg picked at her food, looking distastefully at the strawberries like the psychopath she was. "You were there too?"
"Yes. Now can we talk about something else?"
Billie studied me, I kept my face as neutral as possible. "What happened there? Why did Alex fight Erik?"
I was about to tell her to 'shut up' when Chiron pounded his hoof again to get everyone's attention.
Mr. D sighed and stood up. "Hello to all you campers. Capture the flag will be postponed until next Friday due to the fact that someone in cabin eleven let a bunch of monsters loose in the forest."
The campers grumbled as they looked at the Hermes kids.
"Yes, yes, all terrible news, whatever teenagers care about these days." Mr. D grumbled but continued. " I should mention that there are two new campers today. Peeta Smit, and Linda Roberts." Chiron leaned over and muttered something in his ear. "Er, Peter Smith and Luna Rogers." Mr. D corrected. "Now go run along to your little campfire."
Everyone cheered. We all got up and headed down to the amphitheatre, I brought my plate with me, having barely eaten originally.
"James?" Peter jogged up to me.
"Yes Peter?" I asked.
"Will I ever fit in?"
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone in the Hermes cabin made fun of me because I'm clumsy and people in the Ares cabin have been teasing me since I got here."
"Peter, you'll fit in. Once you get claimed, everything will be so much better. The Ares cabin teases everyone until you get close to them, and never take the word of a Hermes kid, it should be a good thing they're making fun of you, it means they think you're interesting. They're kind most of the time but they're also thieves and tricksters."
Peter smiled. "Thanks James. Also that girl, um, I think her name is Luna? Anyway, she was looking at you for most of dinner."
"Oh, um, well we should go to join the other campers." I said, face heating as I sped-walked towards the amphitheatre.
I walked to the amphitheatre and sat next to Alex. "Was your cabin talking about when I pushed Erik?" She asked, looking at me, her grey eyes glinting in the firelight.
"Yeah, weird how do rumours spread through this camp so quickly, huh? " I said, looking at the campers. Alex laughed.
"Yeah, I think someone saw it happen."
"Hmm, probably."
"Oh, I think Austin is ready to start the singalong." Alex said, watching Austin pull out his saxophone.
The campers went quiet as the rest of cabin seven came with instruments. "Can the new campers come on up?" Kayla asked, beckoning Luna and Peter. They both walked up hesitantly to Kayla.
"Why did you need us?" Peter asked, looking at Kayla.
"I just wanted to ask if you guys want to lead the camp singalong."
Luna looked at Kayla. "What?"
"Sing for the camp. Basically start singing then I join you, then the rest of the camp joins."
"Oh I know what a singalong is. I just don't do singing."
"Come on, just this once?"
"Nope, not happening. I'm going to go sit down and forget that this ever happened, okay?"
"Okay." Kayla said as Luna turned around and walked over to me and Alex. Peter looked around at the campers.
"Do you have a guitar?" Kayla looked surprised.
"Yes, of-of course we do. I'll go get one for you." She stuttered, surprised. She rushed towards cabin 7 and yanked the door open so quickly they feared it would fall off its hinges.
"Is he actually going to sing?" Luna asked, watching Peter stand beside the fire awkwardly.
"I think he might." I said, surprised.
"Weird."
"I mean Luna, if he wants to sing, he can sing." Alex said.
"I know but still. Why would you sing when you can be a background singer, or just lip sync the words?"
"Luna." Alex sighed.
"What?"
"Don't judge people, Luna." Alex told her as Kayla came running back with a guitar.
"Here you go." Peter took the guitar. "Thank you, When should I start?"
"Just one minute, so we can get everything ready." Kayla said, readying the microphone. The rest of cabin seven was picking up their instruments and doing vocal warm ups.
After they got ready, Austin started to play his saxophone. Peter picked up his guitar and started to tap a beat on it. Austin played some more on his saxophone when Peter started to sing. He was singing "This Land is Mino's Land", and his voice was amazing. Every camper momentarily paused their s'mores-making to admire his voice. It wasn't my personal favourite song, but Peter almost changed that. I saw a Hecate girls' s'more catch on fire.
When Peter finished singing, a boom round of applause sprung from every camper in the clearing. Even Kayla and Austin looked impressed. Peter stood in front of the campfire, abashedly looking at his feet. A sudden silence caused him to look back up. The Apollo symbol floated over Peter's head, a glowing yellow lyre.
"What?" He asked, looking at us. "Did I do something?"
"Peter, look up." Kayla pointed above him, smiling proudly. Peter slowly looked up, and saw the symbol.
"Oh. My. Gods."
"What is that?" Luna whispered to me and Alex. "Is this part of the show?"
"Lord Apollo claimed him. It basically means he's a music freak." Alex whispered half-heartedly back, watching Peter gap at the glowing symbol.
"So uh, do I move my stuff to cabin seven, or..." Peter asked nervously, carefully setting the guitar down. Conner jumped up quickly.
"Do you want me to grab it for you?"
"No, don't worry, I can go get it myself." Peter said, pointing awkwardly over his shoulder, then he walked away quickly.
"So that just happened." Luna said, mouthful of s'mores, watching Peter leave.
"Well, now we just need you to get claimed." Alex commented She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. I stared out at Thalia's pine tree.
"Personally, I thought he was going to be a Hermes kid, or a Hephestus kid."
Luna rolled her eyes and shoved me away. "Shut up fanboy. Not everything has to be about Hephestus." Alex snickered into her hand.
"Aww! You guys are so cute together."
"Ew. No way am I ever going to date him." Luna said, as if trying to sound disgusted. I felt slightly hurt, and shot a look at Alex.
"Why would you think that?" I crossed my arms, careful not to get marshmallows on my arms. She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, I guess you guys hate each other then."
"Yeah, now stop shipping us." Luna said.
"Alright, alright." Alex put her hands up before wiping them on her jeans. She stood from her place on the log and set the roasting stick down.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Back to my cabin. I have a book to finish." Alex left us, sitting by the campfire.
Luna sighed.
"Well I guess I should head back to cabin eleven." She tucked a lock of hair behind her light-coloured ear. My eyes trailed after the movement.
"Have fun in your middle bunk." I teased.
"See you later, Fanboy." Luna stuck out her tongue (real mature) and grinned, as her long black hair started to shine in the fire light before running away.
I sat in place, flabbergasted. Before Miranda came up to me and whispered "Oooooo, someone's got a crush!"
I punched her in the arm and left.