☾ The Child of Artemis ☾

7. di Angelo Shares Some Fries from Maccas

          We didn't get there in no time. We arrived a whole week later thanks to di Angelo's horrid "shadow traveling." "This is Camp Jupiter," di Angelo says, "Have fun exploring."

          I ran around Camp Jupiter to check things out. "Hello," a girl says, "welcome to Camp Jupiter. I'm Reyna, daughter of Bellona."

          "I'm Nico McAngelico, son of Artemis."

          Reyna gives me a confused look. "This is a Roman camp," di Angelo explains, "so you have to say the Roman name of your godly parent."

          "I don't know. Roman Artemis?"

          di Angelo sighed. "He's Diana's son."

          "How? How did Diana get a son?" Reyna asked, shocked.

"Long story," I simply said.

          I go exploring even more. Instead of cabins like the Apollo cabin, Artemis cabin, or Poseidon cabin, Camp Jupiter had cohorts. "Are you staying here, by chance?" Reyna asked me.

          "No, I'm just visiting." I replied.

          Camp Jupiter didn't look as lively as Camp Half-Blood. I got bored of exploring and saw di Angelo eating those yellow sticks again. The sticks were in a red box that had a yellow "M" on it. "di Angelo," I started to ask, "what are those yellow sticks?"

          "They are called French fries from McDonald's."

          "Could I have one? Could I have a French fry from Maccas?" I pleaded.

          "No. Also, it's McDonald's not Maccas."

          "People from where I live call it Maccas. What do they taste like? Are they good?"

          "Yes, they are the best, and they are also salty."

           "Please, can I have one?"

          "No!"

          "Come on! I said the 'magic word!'"

         Hunter told me that "please" is the magic word. "Never! You are neither a son of Hecate nor a little child!"

          "Give me one. Just one."

          "I said no. Never."

          "Why?"

          "Your hands are dirty and you are excruciatingly annoying!"

          "Aw." I pouted, then quickly grabbed a huge handful of Maccas French fries.

          "Hey!" di Angelo exclaimed, surprised and angry. "Knock it off! You know what? My fries are filthy thanks to you! I can't eat them anymore! You have them!"

          "Thanks, di Angelo!" I took the fries and ate the rest of them up. "Hey, I really like fries. I must thank you again for sharing 'em." di Angelo glowered at me. "I'm telling Will Solstice on you."

          "His last name is Solace."

          "Okay."

          "I'm heading back!" di Angelo snapped.

          "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

          We shadow traveled back better this time. By the time we arrived back at camp, dinner just started. I ran over to the Apollo table. "Will, di Angelo glared at me today!"

          Will looked at di Angelo. "Is that true, Nico?" he asked.

          "Other Nico stole my French fries while we were at Camp Jupiter! He grabbed my delicious McDonald's fries with his filthy hands and devoured them!" di Angelo shouted, pointing at me.

          Will made di Angelo sit down and put his hand on di Angelo's shoulder. "It isn't very nice to glare at people and point at them," Will comforted. "Nico M., it isn't okay to steal other people's food. You should've asked for his fries first."

          "But I did, Will Solstice, he was being greedy and selfish! di Angelo, I tell you, did not share his fries!"

          "You still shouldn't have stolen the fries," Will told me.

          I had to apologize, maybe, but I only apologized for Will Solstice's sake. "I'm very sorry, Will Solstice."

          "It's Will Solace. And stop calling me di Angelo! I don't call you 'McAngelico!' Call people the name they want to be called!"

          "What am I supposed to call you, then? Other Nico? That's what you called me, di Angelo."

          di Angelo screamed in annoyance. Chiron came over to our table. Good on ya. You got us in trouble, di Angelo. "Nico, why aren't you at your table?" he asked.

          "Um, it's because I wanted to sit with my cousins! This is the Apollo table, and I'm a nephew of Apollo, so I'm hanging out with cousins."

          "Please go back to your table," Chiron directed.

           I did as I was told and went back to my table. After dinner, there was an archery tournament. I won the whole thing. (I'm the son of Artemis! I should!) After archery, we had the dumb campfire sing along. I did not sing. Uncle Apollo tried to get me to sing, "I hear you sing in the jungle while you're hunting! You sing so well! Please! Just one song!"

          "In the jungle," I complained, "I did not sing this gobbledegook."

          Everyone stopped singing and stared at me. Great. I have been stared at every day I've been here. "Hunter taught me the definition of that word!" I announced, "It is not gobbledegook, or nonsense! Look it up in a dictionary."

          "We were just surprised that you have such a huge spectrum of vocabulary," all the Athena kids, except Hunter, answered.

          "Nice one, Nico," Hunter complimented.

         "I bet that 'gobbledegook' is a word you made up," di Angelo demeaned.

          "No, it isn't! Gobbledegook is defined as language that no one understands, gibberish, nonsense! If you think the word gobbledegook is gobbledegook, you are wrong, inaccurate, mistaken!"

         Hunter smiled at me, then I realized that this was the first time I put up an argument on real life facts using cerebral vocabulary. The singalong was over once I made my final argument. I borrowed a dictionary from the Athena cabin with Hunter's permission and yelled, "Gobbledegook: language in which no one can understand!"

          Most of the campers groaned, annoyed with me. Hunter and the other children of Athena praised me and gave me pats on the back. Faith gave me a thumbs up, and so did her brother, Percy. I entered my cabin and jumped on my bed for a while until Hunter scolded, "No, Nico."

          I was really bored anyway, so I went to sleep. I didn't have a dream tonight. I just slept the whole night. I guessed part of the reason was because I had family here. I should give something back to my amazing Uncle Apollo.