The Child of Hecate

Chapter Five - Cabin 20 is Awesome

"So... this is my curse?" I asked Chiron, my voice cracking, "I'm born into a new life, and then die, and then live again, and then die – "

"It's a cycle, Angela. A cycle you've been living for maybe thousands of years." Or maybe even more, I thought. In my hands was a folder with several notes, myths, and photographs of women. These were the women I used to be, the identities I had for such a limited lifetime.

Chiron told me of the curse Aphrodite placed on my head, she cursed me to die at an unpredictable age not more than 19 years old, and then be born again to just die in a couple of years. How charming. She did this because she thinks I caused the death of her daughter who had tried to kill me when I was Sandra, a nurse in Athens, Greece.

I flipped through the pages, reading the biographies of the past lives I had died in. I was Anne Frank. Holy smokes, I was Anne Frank! No wonder I loved her (I mean my) book so much. After reading the lot, I soon read that the youngest age I've died in was 7 years old and the oldest was 18. I'm 14 now, and I'm still alive.

"It says here that I once died in a fire, in a homicide, massacres... Chiron, I can't stay here!" I said, giving him back the folder, "I might die in a month or maybe less in another fire, and when that happens it might burn out the camp – "

"I sincerely doubt that – "

"I am endangering everyone here!" I screamed, realizing that I was already crying, "A goddess cursed me, not you guys. They don't deserve Aphrodite's anger..." I paused for awhile, knowing what I have to do to save Camp Half-Blood from myself, "I need to clear my head for awhile, Chiron." He nodded, not seeming to make any move to stop me, "All right, come back here if you have any questions or concerns about this."

I nodded, grateful, "I will."

"Angela, wake up." Leo whispered, shaking me back to reality. I opened my eyes and saw that we were in the middle of the lake, the chariot broken into big pieces by the shore, "What happened?" I asked Leo, looking at the distraught faces of Annabeth, Butch, Piper, and Jason. Leo pulled me, helping me get to shore before I could freeze to death, "The storm spirits melted one of the wheels of the chariot. Now here we are, wet and chariot-less."

That seems right.

"Annabeth!" A guy with a bow and quiver on his back pushed through the crowd, "I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!"

"Will, I'm sorry." Annabeth sighed, "I'll get it fixed, I promise." When Leo and I got to shore, I walked to the broken chariot and held one of the pieces. The silver glow came back and it flowed to the chariot, immediately mending the broken pieces and fixing it back. Will's jaw dropped at the sight of me, a dripping demigod who's probably a witch at this point, "Wait – you look familiar." I stood up, "You're Will, right? Will Solace?" His eyes widened upon recognizing me, "Angela Marquez! But – You ran away, why did you run away?" I shrugged, laughing, "I don't remember." Will then looked at Leo, Piper, and Jason, "These are the ones? They are way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

"Claimed?" Leo asked. Before Annabeth could explain, Will asked for any sign of Percy Jackson. Annabeth shook her head, "No." The other campers muttered. I have no idea who Percy Jackson is (yet), but his disappearance seemed to be a big deal. Were they like this when I ran away from camp? Did anyone look for me like they're looking for Percy Jackson?

Another girl stepped forward – tall, Asian, dark hair in tight curls, plenty of jewellery, and perfect makeup. Somehow she managed to make jeans and an orange t-shirt look worthy of a red carpet. She glanced at me and Leo like we were month old tacos sitting in the bottom of a toxic waste bin, and then looked at Jason as if he was a piece of meat and she was a savage dog that hasn't been fed for weeks. She was obviously Aphrodite's daughter, which meant she was born to hate me. I saw the look Piper gave to the girl; she wasn't so fond of her either.