The Kids Aren't All Right

I Don't Sit At The Popular Table (where the dead girl is sitting)

Silence. Pure silence. Silence so deafening it gives your ear that ringing noise. That's all what happens after Rowan awakes, her fatal stomach wound not bothering her in the slightest. Chiron, obviously, is the first to break the silence.
He steps forward towards Rowan, calling out with a booming voice, "Everyone back up! Savannah, Hadley, help me bring her to the infirmary."
Sav and Hadley immediately follow his order, scooping the blonde girl into their arms and carrying her as fast as possible towards a small building I assume that is the infirmary.
"As for the rest of the campers," Chiron continues, "Capture the flag is dismissed. We will not be having it again anytime soon. You are all to be in your cabins until dinner."
And with that, he gallops away.
I scan through the crowd, attempting to find Callista: my only friend here. I frantically look around and she is nowhere to be seen. Panic arises in me. I don't know if I remember where the Hermes cabin was. Just before I'm about to follow a random and camper and hope for the best, a sweaty hand slips into mine. I immediately turn and there is Callista. I've only seen her look powerful and confident, but today, she looks terrified. She says no words, simply beginning to pull me along as she walks back to our cabin. It's crowded, obviously, we make our way to the corner through the maze of people. I sit down on my flat sleeping bag, leaning my crooked back against the wall as Callista simply stares ahead, sitting next to me. My chest is high with anxiety, I can't stop the words spilling from my mouth as I ask her the question that's been burning in my brain all night.
"Callista.. What just happened?"
She swallows. Her head slowly turns to me, she's shaking it in a no formation.
"I.. I don't know. And it terrifies me I don't know. That wound, Elsa. She should be dead. Hadley took the sword out, even if the wound didn't kill her, the bleeding would. How is she not dead?"
She looks at me as if expecting an answer, I open my mouth to say I don't know before she beats me.
"Something's wrong, Elsa. Very wrong. I can feel it." Callista says solemnly.
I don't know what to say or what to do. I confess the one thing that I wouldn't know I wouldn't be about to admit in the years to come.
"I'm scared." I whisper.
"We are all. Fear makes you human. It took me a long time to learn that."
It stays quiet between us until the dinner bell rings.
Loudness and rowdiness arrive back into the Hermes cabin as the stampede of kids flood into the dining pavilion. Callista and I follow after them. She gasps and runs forward, away from me as we enter. At a small table near Chiron, Rowan sits happily eating and looking way better than someone who died should look. She sits there with Savannah, Aella, a boy I don't recognize, a blonde who I hope is drinking grape juice, a brown haired girl (who's not eating, simply smelling the bushel of flowers someone must as given Rowan) now Callista. I lock gaze with Callista after she's done speaking with Rowan, she pats the sit next to her. I ponder this for a moment, sitting at a group of people I don't know sounds worst than sitting alone. I shake my head, Callista frowns, and I offer a weak smile as I grab a plate. I fill it with some of the first food I see, not wanting to venue into the long line. I make my way to an empty unclaimed table with a plate full of french fries and a bacon burger with extra pickles. I'm eating silently, trying my best not to stick out to anyone and keeping my head down when a figure plops in the chair across from me.
I hesitantly glance up, half expecting it to be Callista, but instead I'm met with a girl with purple circles under her eyes and a frizzy mane of brunette hair. She gives me a cheeky smile before reaching over to pluck a few fries from my plate, shoving them into her mouth and chewing loudly before she finally introduces herself. She extends a greasy hand.
"Name's Wendy. Daughter of Ares."
I slowly shake her hand and act like I know who Ares is.
"Elsa. Daughter of, well, we'll see."
She flashes that same smile, leaning forward in her chair and muttering- just loud enough for me to hear.
"Nobody should sit alone. Plus, I could use some more friends. Don't tell anyone though; I need to uphold my image of stone-cold bitch."
This surprisingly sparks a laugh out of me, it felt like the first time in days. I find myself joking along with her.
"Alright, only if you help me make my image a stone-cold bitch. I much prefer that over some weird loner girl."
"Take loner out of that, I'm sitting with you, aren't I?" Wendy retorts.
I give her a nod and a bright smile, looking around at the room. She takes note of this.
"I know, our tables are all wonky wanky tonight. It's usually you have to sit with your cabin but-" She pauses, looking around as if incase someone may hear her, and drops her voice to a hushed whisper. "I don't think Chiron cares too much tonight. After what happened to Rowan, I'm sure it's the least of his worries."
I know I shouldn't, but I press into the subject.
"Why is everyone so concerned? Isn't this normal? I mean, you'r- we, are the children of the gods. Fucking gods. Can't they bring anyone they like back?"
Wendy immediately shakes her head, responding to me in the same hushed tone.
"No, it's nothing like that. Hades can, but in all the millions of years he's ruled over the underworld, he's brought back a handful of people. There's a system. The Fates decide your fate, your manner of death, and then Thanatos and Hades are the ones who control where you go after death. No God, not even Zeus, even attempts to interfere. You don't mess with Hades, man."
I try to process this information, a few jumbled words slowly coming from my mouth.
"So Rowan not dying is such a big thing because.."
Wendy finishes my sentence, "Because something's wrong with the system. Because Hades is going to mad he didn't get another soul. The Fates will be mad someone- or something- altered what Rowan's death was supposed to be. This is bigger than you think, Elsa. Trust me"
I trust her.
Another bell rings, bringing an onslaught of clattering plates and utensils.
Wendy widens her eyes, looking back to her table with a flip of her brunette hair.
"Dinner's over. I better get back to the Ares cabin. Chiron's going to be much more strict about curfew. Well, actually," She snickers as we both begin to walk to the Ares cabin. "No, you're a newbie, I can't tell you."
"You do realize saying 'I can't tell you.' basically means you're going to have to tell me?" I raise my eyebrows at her until she confesses the secret.
"Alright, alright. A couple Ares and Hermes kids were gonna prank the Athena cabin tonight. You could come. We're meeting outside the Hermes cabin. You're in there, right? Since you're unclaimed? Anyways, Spiders, obviously. It'll be funny as hell. It was planned a few nights ago- we all never saw this coming. But why not continue with it? I mean, this place is about to get a whole lot more stiff, so let's have some fun. I understand if you don't want to though go- you've only been here for a few days."
Before even thinking her offer fully through, the first thing that pops out of my mouth is: "Yes."
Wendy's expression turns to disbelief as we reach the door of the Ares cabin.
"Really?! Great! I'll come get you at midnight."
She winks before walking through the doors, leaving me alone on the porch before I begin to walk back to the Hermes cabin. I carefully creak open the door, slipping inside and silently making my way to me and Callista's little corner. I silently thank god, no gods, that I didn't accidentally trip and cause a scene or something. Callista looks like she was waiting for, immediately chattering as I sit down.
"Where were you?"
"Made a new friend, her name's Wendy. She's a daughter of air-ris, and really nice."
Callista's expression instantly hardens as I mention Wendy's name. Silence.
"What?!" I blurt out.
"Nothing, just, Wendy's gotten in trouble way too many times here. She has a record, you know."
"That actually kind of impresses me."
"Oh, shut up." Callista says jokingly. "Seriously, just please don't get into any trouble with her. Chiron will hate you."
"Don't wanna piss off the horseman, alright."
Callista playfully rolls her eyes. A deep voice from one of the top bunk calls out.
"Alright, everyone, lights out!"
The room floods with darkness and I move into my sleeping bag, Callista doing the same but to her own sleeping bag. Just to clarify your straying minds.

"Goodnight." She mutters, her eyes fluttering closed. She's quickly asleep.
I pull out my phone. The service has been cut, since it apparently is a hotspot for monsters or something. Thankfully, the alarm still works. I set it for 11:30pm and plug earphones into my ears. I curl up against the stiff pillow. This floor is not helping my scoliosis. I finally fall asleep around 10. I get one hour of much needed sleep before I wake on my own at 11. I disable my alarm, knowing I probably won't be able to fall back asleep. Maybe Wendy's up, maybe I could meet her at the Ares cabin. Callista stirs besides me. I hesitantly sit up, she must have been awake because a tired arm flails from her sleeping bag to pull me back down.
She mumbles out, half asleep, "You can't go out. Chiron is strict about campers going out late. Especially at 11."
Good thing I'll be going out at 12, then.