𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚

eight

The next few days were probably one of the worst ones of my life. Percy was immediately moved to Cabin Three, Poseidon's cabin. I was happy for him, but I had also never felt so lonely. Sure, I had made friends with some people in Cabin Eleven, but Percy was the only one who truly understood everything: from the crazy Minotaur accident to the fight we had with Clarisse. I hadn't realised how much him being around had actually meant to me.

The fact that most of Cabin Eleven were avoiding me now didn't make things any better. Rumours were going around that I had been the one who summoned the hellhound, since I had managed to control it. I didn't even know what to think: what if I had summoned the hellhound without my own consciousness?

One night I just had enough. I couldn't sleep with all the campers staring at me and whispering to each other. I grabbed some of my stuff and went to the arena. Lately I had been going there a lot, trying to learn more about my power. It turns out that I could move a lot of objects: swords, spears, a piece of bread, a random satyr (he was not happy) and most things. To sum it up, I was pulling some kind of Matilda magic.

I sat at the arena, moving two swords around so that they were fighting each other. Moving two objects at the same time was hard, but I was beginning to master it. I was so focused that I barely heard the footsteps behind me until I heard a voice.

"Gods, Amalthea, what are you doing here?" Luke asked me, sitting down beside me.

I put the swords down gently onto the floor. I didn't want anyone seeing me doing this stuff. It was creepy.

"Couldn't sleep," I answered, "And when I can't sleep, that only leaves me with listening to everyone talking about me. I'd rather not do that."

Luke looked around nervously, before sitting down next to me.

"Lots of weird stuff happens around here," Luke said slowly, "People here... well, you've heard some Greek myths. Gods tend to turn their backs on family to make sense of lies and avoid responsibility. And their kids? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

I stared at him. Luke spoke bitterly, as if he was speaking from experience. I realised that a godly camp probably had more drama than what had happened the past week.

"I want to say it's not true," I mumbled, "I want to say that I am in control of whatever this is, and that I can use it for good. I want to say that I didn't call that hellhound on Percy. But I honestly don't know if that is true."

Luke looked pained for a second, like he wanted to tell me something desperately. He must have decided not to, because he took a deep breath and spoke again.

"Camp Half-Blood will help you control these powers," Luke said, "Over time, people will realise that this power you have: it's amazing. They'll start to see how cool you are and these rumours will stop. Until then, I'll be helping you through everything."

I smiled at him gratefully and nodded.

"Ok," I laughed, "Sounds like a plan."

"Yep," he answered, hopping to his feet, "But we should seriously get back to the cabin. There won't be any plan for the future if we get caught by the harpies."

He held his hand out for me and I got up. When we got to the cabin, most people were in their sleeping bags, whispering and dozing off. Some of them gave me weird looks, but I wasn't as upset now.

"Ok, everyone, lights off now," Luke said, "We already ran over ten minutes so I'm expecting no talking!"

I got into my sleeping bag just as the lights were turned off. I smiled in the darkness and began to slowly doze off.