The Child of Hecate: The Arising Oracle

Chapter Three: A Goat Man Leads Us To A Camp

HELEN

The goat man skidded backwards a little and raised his hands in surrender. 

"Please," he said, "be quiet! The Kindly Ones?"

I wondered what he was talking about.

"And you smell special, too," he muttered to himself suspiciously, his eyes full of misgiving. He pointed at me. "But you're both definitely half-bloods..."

"Look, please, who-what-are you?" Akari questions. I nod, willing the goat-man to answer her question.

"Um, quick explanation, Grover Underwood, satyr, half man, half goat, as you can see. I'm here to take you to Camp Half-Blood."

"What's Camp Half-Blood?" I ask.

"Look out!" Grover yelped as he scurried out of the way. Akari yelled a cry of warning as she dodged a black shadow with silver fangs and claws that was pouncing on me. I didn't have time to run. The monster raked its gleaming claws across my chest, and I screamed in pain. Blood was soaking my uniform, and you could actually see it through my dark green dress. That wasn't necessarily a good sign.

I scrambled away, stood up heaving as I clutched my injured chest. The hellhound prepared to leap again, and Grover stuck out to of his hands and pulled me and Akari by our clothes. He let go once we had run a good mile, then veered off the road and into a forest on the side.

"Your chest okay?" Grover asked, then bleated. "We need to get to Long Island Sound!"

"That's like, two hundred miles away," I answer, "and I can't run any longer. Those monsters..."

"Yes!" cried Akari indignantly, "you still owe us an explanation! Before you called us... half-bloods? Half what and what? We're human!"

Grover sighed. "No, you're not. You're only half human."

"And?" I prompted, collapsing on the ground. "Other half?"

"And half Greek god," Grover said.

"That's weird," I speculated, the winced. My chest had stopped bleeding, but there were three bloody scratches that were an ugly shade of purple and green. Sharp pain flared occasionally, but I felt okay.

"How are we going to get to Camp... Half-Blood?" Akari asked.

Instead of answering, he said, "You guys are, what? 16? 17? You're supposed to be claimed, but maybe special timing like Piper, Jason, Leo?"

Grover stopped mumbling and shouted something to the wind.

"I just told the air spirits," he said hurriedly, "so our ride should be here soon... they can travel pretty fast with the chariot, and I've told them you are special... claiming and smell and everything... I didn't catch your names?"

"I'm Helen Everly, and this is Akari Yadav," I introduced, and blink as a blinding golden chariot comes sailing towards us. We all back off instinctively.

The chariot landed. It was pulled by white winged horses, and it was white with gold metallic swirly designs, curling into pretty mandalas. There was a scary, fierce-looking blonde girl inside, her grey eyes calculating. she wore plain black leggings and a sleeveless white shirt, and the look she was giving us was terrifying.

"Get in," the blonde said. "I'm followed. By anemoi thuellei and laistrygonians. Hurry!"

I jump in with no hesitation, Akari and Grover behind me. Something told me that this was home territory, so I was more or less than safe.

Then I was jolted out of my thoughts as the chariot sped towards Long Island Sound, faster than any car, train or even plane could ever go. It felt as is my face was peeling off. The flying horses neighed and bolted, trashing all the rules of physics and somehow not crushing me as the temperature dropped below freezing. I shivered in my school uniform, and suddenly the chariot heated up, warming all the air around it. Totally sweet.

"Who are you?" I yell over the wind. "What's Camp Half-Blood?"

"I'm Annabeth!" the girl shouts back. "Camp Half-Blood is the only safe place on Earth for Greek demigods like me!"

"We're half god?" Akari screamed over the rushing wind. The chariot landed with a thud that nearly knocked my teeth out. the wound in my chest no longer mattered, even though it was throbbing: my brain was seeing all it could take in.

We'd landed at the bank of a canoe lake, and a crowd of about a hundred people were rushing over to see us. At the front of the swarm of people was a boy with black hair and green eyes like the sea. "Annabeth!" he called.

I stumbled out of the chariot. This was Camp Half-Blood. There was a dining Ancient Greek pavilion.

Annabeth stood up and gracefully leaped out of the chariot. "Percy!" she called back to the boy who had been saying her name.

"I formally introduce the new campers," Annabeth yelled out to the crowd, who had formed a nervous semicircle around her, "Helen Everly and Akari Yadav!"

Just then a glowing gold symbol of an owl appeared over Akari's head. 

A man in a wheelchair wheeled forward gravely, as if he were announcing someone's death. "Hail, Akari Yadav, daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom, war, strategy, and arts and crafts." And all chaos broke out.