Before I could ask where was the camp and how we were getting to it, I saw three winged horses, a black one, a brown one and a white one. What the heck were these mythological creatures doing in the middle of the street?! First cyclops, now these horses? When had her life turned into a fantasy story? She tried not to freak out but the look on her face must've been giving her away because Charlie and Martha started to laugh.
"Don't be scared, I know everything is really really confusing but we'll explain everything when we're on our way to camp okay?" Said Charlie.
"To make it easier for you Jane, here are some facts: Magic does exist, monsters are real and so people who live to kill those monsters. Unfortunately you are one of those people. But as I said, you are in danger so let's get moving."
I looked at the horses, I had seen them in books, I knew their names.
"These are called-" started Charlie
"Pegasus"I said, I actually knew a bit about Greek mythology because my grandparents were Greek you see, me last name is Kontos.
"Pegasi actually , that's the name of the creature. But you were pretty close" said Charlie. He gave me that kind smile again.
Martha and Charlie climbed on their horses. And only the black one was left. I didn't feel very comfortable, I'd never ridden a horse before and I didn't want the horse to hit me or whatever pegasi did. Besides I had never flown before but the idea excited me, still I wasn't exactly eager to start riding.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Asked Martha.
"What if the horse doesn't like me?" I eyed the horse nervously.
"His name is Blackjack, he's really nice. Percy always rides him but he said we could take him on our quest. So don't be scared, he's a good horse." Charlie assured.
Blackjack whined impatiently and I climbed though I was still nervous.
"So who's this Percy guy?" I asked while trying to find a place to grab Blackjack without hurting him.
"Oh, you'll meet him soon" said Martha. She grinned at me.
"Let's go! It's a long way to Long Island!" Said Charlie. Under the sunlight his golden hair seemed to shine as much as the sun.
The three pegasi took off simultaneously and soon enough we were flying.
Once the worst of the turbulence had passed, Charlie took out of his pack a sort of instrument with copper wires and some kind of little gears, i thought it was some kind of GPS or something but he started to turn the handles and the machine started to play a song. I stared intently at the instrument trying to figure out how it worked, Charlie must've noticed because he immediately told me that it was called a 'Valdezinator'.
"A Valdezinator? I'd never heard of that one before. The music is beautiful though." I said.
"It was actually invented by a boy at camp. He' s called Leo Valdez, that's where the name comes from. He invented it as a trade to my father Apollo so he would give him some information about a cure." Said Charlie while he played the Valdezinator.
"So as I understand, your father is a doctor who instead of asking for money in return of medicine , he asks for makeshift musical instruments? That's weird. Not judging or anything, it's just weird."
Both Martha and Charlie laughed at that comment.
"Well he IS the God of healers so yeah, he's some kind of doctor" he said smiling.
Again with the mythology. I mean I was indeed riding a pegasi but actually believing in the Greek gods was another level. Were they some kind of die hard greek mythology fans? Probably the bead necklace was something all fans wore. And maybe all this was a set up and they were trying to make her join them. Yeah, that sounded logical and maybe the pegasi were some kind of super cool special effects. As if Martha had read her mind, she said:
"In case you're wondering, all of this is real. We're not joking. It's hard to believe but it is what it is." She had a hard look on her face.
" You both keep saying that this is real and it is hard to believe but how can I believe if you haven't even told me what it is?" I said.
They looked at each other as if they were decided something, Martha nodded and Charlie started telling me everything.
It indeed was hard to believe, and the die hard fan version was a lot more logical but this wasn't about logical. So I was the daughter of one of the Gods of Olympus, they still didn't know which one and I would probably be claimed at night. We were headed to a camp called Camp Half Blood were all demigods ( the offspring of a god and a mortal according to Martha) trained and sometimes went on quests. This camp was divided in cabins and you lived with all the other children of your father in a cabin. You could spend only summer at camp or the whole year. There were different activities like archery, sword fighting and even a crafts table. Was I forgetting something?
We were quiet for a while. I was staring ahead trying no to cry. All I knew was a lie, my mother was mad at me because she thought that one of the gods had left her because of me when I'm fact every god apparently meets a mortal, makes them fall in love with them and then leaves them. Now I was told that my life was going to be hard and that only a few demigods made it alive. Plus I was probably never going to see Paul, my stepdad, again. So yeah, I had a lot of reasons to cry. Finally a tear slipped and Charlie saw.
"Come on Jane, don't be sad it's not as bad as it sounds. We've all been in your place and believe me most of the demigods have broken families you're not the only one. You'll meet a lot of wonderful people and we always have a blast at camp." Charlie hesitated but he wiped my tear with his thumb, we both knew it wasn't in a romantic way, we both felt a connection but it wasn't romantic.
"You're doing great Jane, not everyone can yell the way you did at a full grown cyclops"Martha said, that made me smile. Probably it wasn't going to be that bad.
"And you already have two friends" Martha said and she held my hand. That made me feel much better.
" You see, the Valdezinator works by projecting your feelings into a melody. Close your eyes and I'll play a song about the way I feel about Camp Half Blood and you'll see it is a wonderful place."
I closed my eyes, Charlie started playing, and indeed the song was beautiful, it spoke of fun times, also of hard battles and loss of people but in the end they were a large growing family. I fell asleep.
