𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

x ━━ who's going to tell me the truth (when you blew in with the winds fate)

01. chapter ten

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐍 THE SEAT OPPOSITE of chiron at his desk. i was leaning forward in my seat uneasily. i didn't feel like i could relax. my leg bounced anxiously and my heart continued skipping beats.

the office was bronze shielded with a lot of technology. i saw a record player, a television screen, a boombox, and a modern computer. this confused me because i remembered kayla mentioning that demigods couldn't use technology because it would attract monsters.

chiron seemed to read my mind. "the bronze shielding makes it so the mixture of demigods and technology does not alert monsters."

i nodded in response. chiron studied me nervously. "now... camille, i do not mean to alarm you, but we thought you had died over seventy years ago."

i never understood the expression of silence being defaming, but right then the silence in the room was so loud i wanted to press my hands over my ears.

"i was supposed to be dead," i said, melancholy twinging my tone.

chiron waited for me to elaborate on my statement, but i didn't. when he noticed i had no intention of speaking, he cleared his throat. "could you explain what the last seventy years have been like for you?"

i didn't like telling the story, but still i explained everything to chiron. he listened to me with wrapt attention, his expression pensive.

when i told him of the way my feet had sunken into the earth before my whole body was enveloped in the dirt, his expression resembled the one he had given me the first time he saw me. that made me nervous.

after i finished telling my story, i felt vulnerable. "i honestly just want to know what has happened to me. nobody will explain anything and i'm tired of it."

"camille," chiron spoke. "have you ever heard of the labyrinth?"

i paused for a moment, trying to recall the greek myths i had learned in school. the word labyrinth was familiar, but no story came to my mind. i shook my head no.

chiron stroked his beard. "the labyrinth was a elaborate, confusing structure underneath the earth built by the inventor deadalus. it's essentially a self-aware, self-expanding maze with a malevolent consciousness given to it by deadalus. it connects many locations different locations on earth and time can run differently within, making a few minutes in the labyrinth an hour in the outside world. sometimes even a week can be multiple years in the outside words depending on your location. the labyrinth is constantly shifting and attempting to kill whoever enters."

i took in the information. it made perfect sense, everything he said sounded just like my experience. i just didn't understand the reason. the reason why this happened to me. who was responsible?

"but why?" i asked. "why me, sir? and who wanted me to die?"

chiron regarded me sadly. "i cannot be sure as to why, but i fear it is that you are some sort of threat to the force that had pulled you in. now who wanted you to die, i cannot help you in that department. there is no denying bigger forces are at work right now. that is all the information i can provide you with."

i felt frustrated with the lack of information chiron would give me or annabeth. he refused to tell us who was doing this or what exactly was happening.

"sir, do you at least know if this 'bigger force' was the one sending me the monsters to lure me down there and kill me?"

"partially," chiron explained. "i believe this force was the one who sent that giant to you in order to kill you. she must have realized that you were powerful and could hold your own against a giant, so she swallowed you into the earth. however, she could not have been the one to send you monsters in the labyrinth. the monsters you faced down there, the minotaur, the bull creature you faced, they have tormented those who have entered the labyrinth since the beginning of its time. i fear you your encounter with the minotaur was just you being unlucky and the labyrinth being out to get you."

of course i was unlucky. nowadays, i felt like if you asked me any question about my life, the answer would simply be 'i was unlucky' and that would cover it all.

"so some dangerous force thinks i'm a threat?" i said. "so this force wants me dead, it pulled me into the labyrinth, and then let me out after seventy-six years?"

"i don't think this force intended on letting you out," chiron said. "that would defeat the whole point of trying to kill you. there must've been other forces at play too. ones trying to help you."

"do you mean the blue light that guided me?" i asked. "the woman who gave me food?"

"yes, i have my suspicions. the woman you described sounds like the ariadne, goddess of the labyrinth, wife to dionysus, our camp director."

i nearly choked. "a goddess was trying to help me?"

chiron nodded. "yes. it's happened a lot throughout history. a god or goddess protecting a demigod that is not their own child. ariadne is most well-known for helping theseus defeat the minotaur and survive the labyrinth during ancient times. that seems very similar to your story."

it didn't make sense to me that someone as important as a goddess, a wife of an olympian, would waste her time to make sure i survived. it seemed silly and below her in my opinion. don't goddesses have better things to do than care for an emaciated teenager on the edge of death?

the more i spoke to chiron, the more i understood about my past, but the more bizarre it all became. i had always just dwindled down my situation to me being crazy, but now my delusions were being confirmed as the truth. that scared me in an odd way.

it just confirmed how ruthless and cruel the world was. it wasn't just me being pessimistic and unstable, i really was swallowed by the earth. there really are forces out to get me. it was honestly terrifying.

"sir, do you think this has to do anything with the spirit speaking to me in the hermes cabin?"

"i think this has everything to do with that," chiron said with a knowing gaze. "the gods believe you are a force to be reckoned with. whether they appreciate it and want your help or want you dead, that varies. a demigod that can summon spirits is a powerful one indeed."

"but why do spirits find me?" i asked desperately.

"whoever your godly parent is has the same ability and has passed it on to you. demigods get their abilities from their parentage."

i thought about leo, always tinkering, creating new things, being creative. it was no mystery his father would be hephaestus. he was the perfect hephaestus child.

i couldn't imagine any goddess that could be my mother. i had no skills, strengths, or notable weaknesses. maybe no goddess would claim me and i would spend the rest of my life wondering who my parent was. i shivered at the thought.

"so when will i find out who my parent is?" i asked.

"we don't know. it should be very soon, however. most demigods are claimed by their parentage by thirteen, but your circumstances are quite different."

i furrowed my brows. "why is my circumstance different?"

"a satyr protector had found you at your school back in 1929, when you were ten years old. your protector tried to bring you to camp, but your grandparents ensured you would not leave home. they did not believe that you were being targeted by monsters on a daily basis or that spirits followed you like a magnet. unfortunately, if your legal guardians didn't allow you to go to camp, we were unable to bring you here. than, in may of 1933, your protector reported to us that you had disappeared. your hometown believed that you had been kidnapped on the way home from school. we sent out satyrs to seek you out, but there was no trace. we gave up because we believed you had died."

i let that sink in. i didn't even know what to think. i was so, so confused. none of it made any sense, but it made perfect sense at the same time.

"i'm sorry i could not answer all your inquiries," chiron said at last. "but you must get ready for dinner."

i sighed. i knew chiron wouldn't be able to answer all my questions, but i was still disappointed. not knowing who had done this to me was killing me. i just wanted somewhere to direct my anger.

i didn't express that rage however. "thank you, chiron. you've been very helpful."

. ݁₊ 💫 ⋆.