Camp Half-Blood (A Percy Jackson Fanfic)

Chapter 5: Camp Half-Blood

Walking into the "camp" as Grover called it I could see why you would want it to be top secret.

It wasn't everywhere that you would see kids running around with swords strapped to their belts.

Or a freaking lava climbing wall.

But I didn't start hyperventilating until I saw a centaur. Who Grover immediately pointed out as Chiron. Who was about seven feet tall (added in horse hight), with gray-almost-white hair and a small beard the same color. He kind of looked like a guy who used to work in my building. But that man definitely didn't have horse legs, he was wheelchair-bound.

But he was slowly walking over to me and Grover, to where we still stood by the edge of the forest.

"I wasn't expecting any new campers today" He said kindly to me, "This must all come as a shock to you." He gave a warm smile. And I immediately calmed down.

I tried to smile back, "Yah, it's a bigger change from what I was expecting. This doesn't look very much like a normal summer camp." Looking around the valley really only looked like a summer camp until I saw an armory and a group of green and blue skinned girls playing capture the flag by he lake. And one of the girls turned into a tree.

But all of the kids here looked like they were having a blast. Laughing and talking and sitting around or making some sort of craft. I saw a group of boys carrying a giant canoe into the far end of the forest.

It almost looked like a normal summer camp.

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After a quick introduction ("This is the mess hall, those are the cabins" et cetera), Chiron and Grover brought me to the "big house" as they called it. Which was a giant barn with new paint and window shutters and a wrap-around porch. The light blue and white accents made it look peaceful and island-resort style. Peaceful.

Until I saw a really really big girl with a sword and a shield seated on the front porch, guarding the doors.

It wasn't even that she was larger than the usual person, it was that the largeness came from her almost obscure amount of muscle. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail. And her shield was engraved with the decapitated head of a boar and a spear going through it's head. The intricate carvings around the head were scenes of battle. A man getting his head chopped off was the first thing I saw before I looked away.

The person who carved it must've been insane.

Both Chiron and Grover stopped dead in their tracks and turned to me. "What?" I asked.

Chiron's answer was simple, "Nothing." But he quickly looked at Grover. And then back ahead at the girl guarding the doors, as if nothing had happened.

You can project your thoughts. A voice suddenly mused. It sounded like Chiron's voice and I looked up at him again. I've only met a handful of demigods who could do that.

The girl on the front porch was standing now. I guess she must have heard me too.

"I did!" She called. Whoops.

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Her name was Clarrise. And she introduced herself as a child of Ares, god of war. And I thought she was insane. Until I remembered Grover's hooves and horns. And Chiron's horse-ness.

Sorry, centaur-ness.

Up close she was actually pretty, not like me, but like a girl-next-door kind of pretty.

Clarrise acted differently than the other campers, more serious and mature. A faint aura of red light surrounded her, creating a fierce glow. She smirked, she's heard me again.

I had to learn how to control that.

"Yes you do girly." Clarisse laughed again. Really loudly. Other campers were starting to look over at us. She swung a large arm around me and slapped me on the back. "But you seem alright."

"My name's Melanie, not girly." I lifted her arm off my shoulder. "And I'd like it if you'd call me by my name." I added.

The face I got wasn't a nice one. Her eyes started to glow faintly. "Alright Clarrise. That's enough. No need to scare a new camper." Chiron's voice sounded behind me.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and walked her through the front door. Turning to me he said, "Come in Melanie, I'll make sure she won't bite." He chuckled.

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Walking through the front door was a bit startling, I'd expected the inside to reflect the outside. Countryish farmhouse, camp style, beach style, something of the like. But it wasn't. The inside of the Big House was Grecian and much bigger looking than it should have been. Columns stretched to thirty foot ceilings painted with murals of the Olympians of Greek gods. Great grape vines circled the columns and produced big fatty grapes of all colors. The floor was a sandstone marble with similar carvings to the shield that Clarisse carried.

At the far end of the hall were mini statues carved into the walls. Each held an object made of dark colored glass. A strong bearded man with a trident. A beautiful woman with her arms outstretched, holding two doves on each hand. At the top, another strong man and a lovely looking woman. These two had an oddly parental feel about them. This woman was a little less beautiful than the other one, but was still very beautiful. My gaze turned to the stones dotted in specific patterns from statue to statue. A line of blue from the top man and the top woman to some of the other statues. A red line connecting the top three men together.

I didn't notice the other top man until then. His shoulder-length thick hair and slighter muscles detracted the harsh physical appearance that he had. The statue looked a lot more menacing than the others.

"That's Hades", a girl's voice rang behind me. I turned to find Thalia there. The same way she looked as in my dream. "Trust me, you don't want to meet him. He's a little brute." She smiled.

"Oh. I didn't.....? Um, hi Thalia." I held out my hand. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated, like some sort of battle reflex. I saw her hand reach slightly to her right side, to where a strong silver sword hung stiffly at her hip.

"Oh. Right. The name. I kinda saw you in a dream last night?" I tried to explain.

"Oh." Thalia said, like she didn't want to ask what I saw.

I lowered my voice a little. "I'm sorry about Luke."

"You saw that?!" She put her hands over her mouth. "And I thought no one would have seen the most embarrassing moment of my life!"

I won't mention it to anyone if you want.

Her face dropped in surprise. "How did I just hear your voice in my head? I thought only Chiron could do that!"

"I can.......project my thoughts, as Chiron put it, he said that I was one in a handful of Demi-gods who could do it."

"Cool." She grinned. "I've heard about that, but never seen someone who could do it!"

"But uh," I started to ask, "What's a demi-God?"

"Oh! We'll give you the whole explanation, you probably don't even know where you are! Maybe Chiron'll show you the orientation video, it covers just about everything pretty quickly."

But before I could ask what kind of camp has an orientation video I heard quick clopping behind us. Grover, panting heavily, was running towards us.

"All camp meeting in the Amphitheater right now!"

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So I know that the characters are different from the books, just by a little bit. Yes they are all older than the PJO books, but not by much. I've edited the ages of a few characters too. Just to make them fit the story better.

You'll meet a few more familiar faces next chapter!!

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