I sit up slowly, my back stiff. Jesus, how long have I been sleeping.
"How long have I been out?" I ask wincing.
"Exactly six years."
"Wow, pretty accurate death, what happened?"
"Do you remember anything?"
"Yeah, I was turned to stone, wasn't I supposed to die forever?"
"Well, you're a child of Zeus, and no child of Zeus goes down just like that. Zeus cast a spell on you. You would sleep for six years, awake, and finish what you started. Six because that's the minimum amount of time needed to reverse the spell. Like you said, being turned to stone normally means you stay that way forever."
"I saw her being stabbed, what happened."
"When Euryale turned you to stone, Artemis shot her. Zeus sent out a distress call, she came as fast as she could, but..."
"Yeah, I get it. So it was Euryale that jumped on me? Isn't there always supposed to be three gorgons?"
"Erm, that's the thing. You have to complete your prophecy before the next winter solstice. You have eleven months. Speaking of which happy birthday! You woke up six years after you turned 18. Shame that you are immortal. You don't age. If you don't finish the prophecy, you become the third gorgon."
"Wow. Thanks." I say, falling back on the bed and shutting my eyes. I regret waking up. I hear shuffling feet. They must have gotten the message to get out. I'm startled at a voice.
"Happy birthday." Says Alex.
"I miss you." I say, eyes still closed.
"Me too, its been tough. we belong to the camp now. We train here, learn to kill monsters. You get to pick out your weapon tomorrow."
"Great." I say. He takes my hand again, I finally can squeeze back. I open my eyes, roll my head over and look at him.
"I like your hair." He says cautiously.
"Thanks, what did they do to it, cut it?"
"Um, not necessarily." He says biting his lip.
I reach out and grab a bunch of it and pull it up to look at it. Its silver.
"Mirror. Now." I say. Alex pulls one out from a near by drawer. I snatch it and stair at my reflection.
"Sweet mother of God." I say.
"Gaea." Alex says. I glare at him.
"Sorry, I thought it was funny." He says, a smirk still playing on his lips.
I focus back on my reflection. My eyes are still silvery grey, but my hair is fully silver. My cheek bones are high, and I just look pretty. Its weird, and I don't like it.
"Ew." I say, putting down the mirror, and slumping back on the bed.
"Come on, its nice." Says Alex.
"No, its disgusting."I say. I slowly drift back to sleep.
***
I am awoken faster than I fell asleep.
"Hng?" I moan.
"Breakfast, come on!" Says Alex. I clamber out of the little bed, and look in the mirror again. I don't look sleep deprived what so ever. Why do I look prettier, I died, shouldn't I look, well, dead?
I follow him out of the building which I guess is the infirmary. The camp is pretty dramatic. The stone path, nicely trimmed hedges on either side of the path, grand marble buildings everywhere. A flag hangs from the dining pavilion, its colours were turquoise and Αρτέμη written in silver letters. Over the word were silver stag horns. We walked to the dining pavilion, a grand place, with rows of tables. Some full, others empty or almost empty. Each table had a flag with a different symbol on it which I was guessing was the parent.
There was grape vine for Dionysus, Dove for Aphrodite, a lyre for Apollo, bow for Artemis, trident for Poseidon, a bolt for Zeus, and just a bunch more I couldn't take in, in the first thirty seconds I was staring. Artemis was standing at the front, and gestured for me to come up to the front. I walked up beside her.
"Well child, good to see you are awake and erm, healthy." She said healthy with much dislike.
"You are sure your father is Zeus?" She asked me.
"Yes." I said, staring into her eyes, thunder rumbles above us.
"Alright, alright enough." She says, pointing at the empty Zeus table. I sit down, the room goes silent, people stair at me, but when they catch me, they quickly look away. I'm not Euryale, I was just a victim. Or am I?
