We walked through the entrance into the camp. the sun hung almost completely over head. All around us there were campers engaged in different activities: horse back riding, archery, and some just sat together in groups having picnics. The one thing they mostly all had in common were their bright orange t-shirts.
"Well?" Macy said stretching out one of her arms towards the camp.
"Pretty amazing huh?" she moved her hands to her hips.
"Kind of intimidating." I corrected her.
She laughed.
"You're not the first to say that. But look on the bright side, you kinda have an upper hand over most of the other newbies, already knowing your godly parent. You usually don't get so lucky."
New questions sprouted in my mind: How come I got to know my mother so early while others didn't? And how did Ronan know who my mother is before me?
I had to push them down for my own sanity.
I still couldn't wrap my head around that fact. my mother was a goddess, an immortal spirit who's been alive for like, ever. It was insane enough to know that the gods existed. Knowing that I'm related to one was a whole other story.
"Um, what now?" I asked.
Ronan spoke up.
"I'll take you to the Big House. Chiron's gonna want to meet you. He'll give you the welcome video and all that superficial stuff."
I didn't really know what anything he had just said meant, so I resorted to nodding.
The Big House was a huge four story building. It reminded me of the vacation home in Nantucket my dad rented for my birthday last year. The walls were a light blue with white trimming.
Then i was met with a sight possibly more shocking than the fire vampire girl. A man with a horse body? Or maybe a horse with a man growing out of it?
"A centaur?" I remembered from my dad.
The centaur beamed.
"Yes, child. I am Chiron, trainer of heroes."
"Cool." I gazed amazedly.
I was too stunned to even be embarrassed over my totally lame response.
"I've been awaiting your arrival, daughter of Athena." he said, turning towards the entrance of the Big House.
"Come."
He gestured for me to follow him inside.
Ronan tapped my shoulder.
"I guess I'll see you after youre settled in." he whispered.
"Actually, Mr. Silverman,"
Ronan jumped, clearly shocked that the centaur could hear him.
"I'd like you to join us inside for obvious reasons."
Obvious reasons?
I shot Ronan a confused look. He just smiled awkwardly in response.
We sat at a huge table meant for way more than three people, well two people and a horse man. Regardless, it just made things more unsettling, as if the giant live leopard head on the wall behind Chiron wasn't weird enough. He caught me staring at the animal head.
"Ah, that is Seymour, Mr. D's cat."
"Oh. got it." I said as if that was a good explanation.
There was awkward silence for a moment until Chiron smiled.
"So, welcome to camp, Miss Prince. As you're already familiar with, your godly parent is Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy."
"So I've heard." I mumbled.
Chiron gave me a challenging look. I quickly realized I'd better not give attitude to this guy. Unlike my school teachers, this dude could seriously roundhouse kick me into the afterlife, or whatever it's called in Greek mythology.
