Demigods: The Curse of Zeus

Chapter 1

Being the child of Apollo means waking up almost automatically when the sun has just peeked from the horizon. It almost feels like you were born with an alarm planted inside your skull.

Not that I complain, though.

But sometimes, well, most of the time, it is very unpleasant to have Chiron putting a weight of responsibility of waking up pretty much everyone in the camp on your shoulder. Plus having to knock at Hades' cabin for like another hour until the inhabitants are either waking up reluctantly, or yelling "Fuck off!" from inside the cabin.

So, with that I brush my hair and start marching my way to Cabin 10,

Aphrodite.

I wouldn't be surprised if half of the demigods inside the cabin are already awake. Well, I have been wondering why should they wake up extra early when they don't need to cake makeup on their face and dress up for another hour. It's like they were born with perfect face and undoubtedly even more perfect body. And those closet full of designer clothes.

"Meredith!" There it is, a high pitched squeal. What a nice welcoming. Oh, and a familiar designer perfume. Is that Chanel no. 5?

"Hi, Kylie. Are your model friends awake yet?" Not surprising, I'm always on my polite term. Not really, but at least I tried. "Silly question. It seems like it."

"Most of them are awake," she says as she opens her cabin door even more, revealing pink neat beds with girly decorations on the wall. "See?"

"Uhm, yes, okay." I turn on my heels while trying to hold my breath, or else I'm going to faint from the excessive amount of perfume that enters my nostril.

"Wait! Can you please tell Troy I said hi?" She winks and it doesn't even take a second before water spurts her face, drenching her pastel green dress. "Holy Tartarus!" She let out a scream that makes me try to hold my laugh even harder.

"Eat that. Oh, and I recommend you Urban Decay's setting spray. Your face looks like you ate dirt for breakfast." I turn my head to see Petra blowing a kiss and she walks away with a whistle of triumph. How I love my best friend.

Kylie muffles out and "Ugh." before slamming the door to my face. Believe me, I don't have anything against Aphrodites, but Kylie is an exception.

And now, as I see my half siblings are already trying to wake up Hermes' and Dionysos' children, I don't waste time to walk straight to Hades' cabin. The weather is friendly today, and Kylie's accident earlier was kind of a good way to start my day.

I knocked on Hades' cabin door as loud as possible because the children of the hell surely are deaf in the morning, and pretty lit to invite skeletons to a party at night. Dear Apollo, I am at the edge of giving up right now.

So I barge inside the cabin, only to find Kean drooling with half of her body hanging on the side of the bed. And Troy looking dead inside his bed sheets.

I cry.

"Keandra Lightwood this is the last time I am trying to wake your sleepy head. Or else you're going to speak in Haiku for two weeks." And she is still not moving.

In this kind of time, I kinda wish I inherit photokinesis from my dad. So I can summon a giant lightbulb right in her face.

And Troy is the first to wake up, all hail Apollo.

"Kylie said hi, and now you better bring your sister back to life or I'm going to burn your cabin." I roll my eyes and point at the still not moving Keandra.

And like I need another fact about Hades' realm, she mutters things about Cerberus and Persephone and Isle of the Blest and the whole content of the encyclopedia of the underworld. I give up.

Kean is my best pal. She used to be the Camp's most hated campers caused of her bitterness. Actually it is pretty understandable as her mother kicked her out from the house without any reason. She grew up to be someone strong and tend to say things straight to the point, without any sugarcoating. That's what I like about her. We even have this tradition when nights occur without any light pollution, we always snuck to Poseidon's cabin roof to stargaze for hours with Petra and always end up talking about random things such as Chiron's stinky tail, Kylie sending unrequited love letters to Troy (Petra exploded Cabin 10's toilet the next day after knowing this), Kean shadowtraveling to Peru, and a lot more. They drive me nuts, and I'm grateful I'm not turned insane yet after years of befriending them.

"Meredith?" Troy waves his hand in front of my face with a confused expression. Good, so I was zoning out for God-knows-how-long. "So you're back to earth."

"I was bored waiting for you two to finally wake up after a lifetime of sleeping. I think you should replace Hypnos and Morpheus' place." I place my hands on my hip trying to keep my straight face not look like I emerged from memes.

"And you should be the God of Memes," wait. Did she just read my mind? And she's finally awake. I let out a breath of relieve. I jump to her bed when Troy has already gone from the cabin and start to fill her in what happened this morning.

"So, Ken, Petra threw water to Kylie's face. And that's the funniest thing I've seen in days." I high-five the amused Ken. "Apparently she doesn't know the boundaries of what's hers and what's not."