Mira Patil: The Thief of the Gods

Enter Mr. Dark and Brooding

After an awkward 45 minute drive to the middle of nowhere, I am quite sure I have been kidnapped. Annabeth laughs at the look on my face.

"Don't worry, you're safe here. No monsters will hurt you during your time here." 

That isn't what I'm worried about, but I don't say anything. The driver, I think Argus is his name, winks with one of his many eyes. Annabeth told me that he has a hundred eyeballs, but only 45 of them are visible. The thought of where the rest of those blinkers could be makes me shudder. The van stops at the foot of a hill. 

Annabeth smiles at Argus and says, "we'll get off here, so you can go park the van." 

Argus nods and unlocks the van doors. After grabbing my suitcase and backpack, I follow Annabeth up a hill. A large, purple dragon bounds towards her. 

"Hello Peleus," she says, petting his snout. 

Peleus (I assume that's his name) proceeds to look at me and growls. Uh oh, does the dragon know I'm not Greek? Annabeth laughs again. Wow, if I didn't know better, then I would think she had gotten hit on the head pretty hard. Who laughs that much? 

"I'm sorry if Peleus is making you uncomfortable, he is usually well-tamed." 

I laugh nervously. "It's fine," I say. "He probably thinks I'm some foreign invader."

Annabeth smiles, but I see worry flash in her eyes.

"C'mon," she says. "It's just past this tree."

As the valley comes into view, I gasp. The entire valley is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, even with the scars in the earth and remnants of their past battle. One side of the valley is covered with cabins of different sizes and shapes while the other side has fields of strawberries and a huge forest. From where we're standing, I can see some campers doing combat training and others are tending to the fields. I can even see some campers trying to scale a volcano spewing lava.

"Woah," I breathe. Annabeth shifts her cap and smiles even brighter. I can tell this place means a lot to her. 

"Nice home," I say. Annabeth nods in acknowledgment. 

"Let's go!" she exclaims and she leads me towards a big, sky-blue house that stands at the bottom of the hill. Two men are sitting on the porch, playing cards in hand. The man on the right has a chubby face, hair that is so black it's purple, and blood-shot, watery eyes. His gaudy, purple shirt is an eye-sore, which means he is a god. The man on the left is a middle-aged man in a wheelchair with thinning, brown hair and intense eyes. He strokes his beard as he intently looks at his cards. 

"Mr. D! Chiron!" Annabeth calls. The man with the beard looks up while the drunk-looking guy proceeds to ignore her. The man with the beard smiles and waves us over. 

"Thank you for bringing this camper, Annabeth," the man with the beard says.

"Of course, but I need to talk to you about-" Annabeth glances at me and then whispers something in the middle-aged man's ear. 

"We shall discuss this later. Percy was looking for you earlier, so leave Mira with me and I'll see to the...other thing." The man says, shooting her a worried look. Annabeth nods and rushes off. 

Placing his cards on the table, the man says,"Hello, I am Chiron, camp activities
director, and the other man is Mr. D. We've been waiting for you, Mira Patil." 

I look at him blankly. 

"There is something wrong with the girl," the man on the right (Mr. D?) says and takes a sip from a can of Diet Coke. "She looks like we just kidnapped her." Mr. D was clearly not the most considerate god around.