Champion of Olympus

Machitís

Word of the fight spread quickly. As me and Annabeth walked, I could see heads turn while murmuring and pointing at us. I had no idea if it was a good or bad thing, but I'll just ignore them for now.

Annabeth showed me a few more places - The forge, the arts and crafts room, and the climbing wall which apparently spewed lava. Neat. As we walked further Annabeth questioned the fight.

"So, you know how to fight then?" she asked. I wondered how to respond that my dad was a big time UFC fighter, it felt like bragging and I didn't want the attention.

"I dabbled in some MMA stuff before. Just for exercise and helps with my ADHD." I responded. Annabeth didn't look convinced.

"Those movements were not of someone who just "dabbled". But if you don't want to share then that's fine."

Sigh. I guess its fair to tell her since she did help me out since I got here. "My dad is Garric Arrington. He is a UFC fighter. Well was now. He was a champion for a while before he retired. After that he opened up a gym and I was trained by him." I explained.

"UFC champion... well that explains how you're able to move like that." she nodded. "Look, I've got training to do. Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

I nodded and waved goodbye to her. Now what. I looked around lost at what to do. In the end, I wandered around aimlessly just trying to take everything in. I should probably call my dad now that that talk with Annabeth reminded me of him. Maybe I'll ask Grover if I can use a phone here. Damn I should of asked Annabeth while she was here...

I walked along the side of the forest until I heard a voice call out to me.

"Asher!" I turned around and saw Grover trotting over to me.

"Grover! Bro, how'd your meeting with Mr. D go?" I asked. Grover gave a grin.

"Yea, it was actually not that bad. Mr. D said that I did pretty alright since I brought you to camp without too much of an incident. He said if I do one more I'll be able to get my searcher's license!"

"Searcher's license?" I questioned him. Grover went into an explanation about how he wanted to get a searcher's license to find the god Pan. Apparently Pan was thought to be dead when a voice was heard saying that the god Pan died. None of the satyrs thought that so they send satyrs out to look for him.

"My uncle and my dad went to look for Pan but they never came back. But I know that I'll be able to find him." Grover looked at me resolutely. I was a little afraid. I didn't want Grover to be lost as well on his search but I knew it wasn't my place to tell him no.

"Grover, you'll do great. I know you'll be the one to find him." Grover started to tear up a little before grabbing me for a hug. I gave him a reassuring hug back.

"Oh also Asher, here this is yours." he handed me a pair of hand wraps, "I held onto them while your were out." I looked down at the hand wraps.

"Wait these are mine? I thought they were yours."

"Well actually, they are your dads'. But he gave me them to hold onto when you need them since I was your protector." Grover replied. So many mysteries. My dad knew all along that I was a half blood and he was one too apparently. And what did he mean that he was a half blood and now mortal. Is that even possible. I wrapped the hand wraps around my hand as it changed into the familiar bronze gauntlets. Now that I looked it closely I could tell that it was definitely a work of amazing engineering.

The gauntlet was larger than my face and almost looked comical on me. There was small bronze tubes wrapped on the sides of the hand with holes at the end of them. If I had to guess it was probably where the flames spat out from. The fingers had sharp bronze tips on them like eagle talons. I guess they were there when blunt force wasn't feasible. The gauntlet also extended past the hands to the base of my elbow with segmented armor parts like a snake skin and the bronze tubes also extended to each armor piece with their own holes as well. I had no idea why there was a need to have flames coming out from there. Seems like a sure way to get burned.

"Machitis. That's what I was told was the name of those." said Grover.

"Fighter. That's what that means?" I replied, "How did I know that."

"You're a demigod. It's in your blood to know Greek." Grover explained.

Now the problem is how do I get these off. As soon as I thought that, the gauntlet melted back into hand wraps. Huh, that's convenient. I unwrapped the hand wraps and placed them in my pocket. 

Oh yea I have to ask about my dad. "Grover, do you have a phone I can borrow to call my dad?"

"Oh, half bloods are not allowed to make phone calls. It kinda makes it so that you get more noticed. Like sending off a signal flare saying that 'you're there'."

"Oh. Wait so how do I tell dad that I'm ok. He's going to be worried sick." 

"We can do an Iris message instead. I don't have any drachma on my right now. I'll ask Chiron for one at dinner." Grover assured me, "Oh speaking of dinner, It's seven thirty in a few minutes. You should meet up with your Cabin."

"Oh yea. Um thanks bro. And um Grover? Thanks for looking out for me and being my friend." I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck. I wasn't good with emotional talk but I thought with everything Grover did for me, he deserves it.

He gave me a wide smile before giving me another hug. I pulled away and bumped his fist before making my way back to cabin eleven.

Luke caught sight of me and waved me over for dinner. We all came to the mess hall in a relative mess of kids. After finding our way to cabin eleven table Luke sat me next to him. I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D and Annabeth at table six.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the floor and raised his glass. "To the gods!" Everybody else raised their glasses as well and parroted him.

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food. I was wondering where I can get a drink when Luke said "Speak to your glass, whatever you want as long as its nonalcoholic."

I said "Vanilla Coffee shake." The glass filled with a murky light brown slush. I started to load up my plate and take a huge bite when I saw everybody get up bringing their plates to the center.

"Come on," Luke told me.

As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire. 

Luke whispered into my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods, They like the smell." That's crazy but who am I to judge I guess. When it was my turn to sacrifice I tossed in a nice slice of pork before catching a whiff of the smell. It smelled nothing like burning food. There were myriads of food all mixed together in a beautiful cacophony of incense. I could see now why the gods would love this smell.

As I tossed in the food, I made a small prayer - Please tell me who my mom is.

Everyone got back to their seats and ate their dinner. After a while when its seemed like everyone was done, Mr. D got up from his table. With a huge sigh, "According to our activities director, Chiron, the next capture the flag is this Friday. Currently cabin five holds the laurel. Also I should tell you we have a new camper today. Ashton Arton."

Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Asher Arrington," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Amazing and congrats or whatever. Now run along to your silly campfire."

Everybody cheered while we all headed down towards the amphitheater. Apollo's cabin led the singalong while we all ate smores and joked around. I guess I was right, the smores probably are one of the most fun thing here. I smiled finally feeling that I had a home here.

Later in the evening, the conch horn blew again and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I came back into the cabin. Luke came towards me and tossed me a sleeping bag that he said he 'stole'. I couldn't tell if that was true or not. I found my spot on the floor and filled my way into my bag. As soon as I closed my eyes, I immediately felt sleep take over.