The Charm [discontinued]

The New Girl Almost Drowns Me

I walked outside. Annabeth and Percy were waiting by the door. “What happened? Did you get the prophecy?” asked Percy. I nodded. “What was it?” he asked. I told him.

“Oh, great. That means that none of the HOOs can go, everyone trusts us the most. You will have to find some demigods that aren’t cabin leaders, sorry,” Annabeth said, disappointed. So, I could choose up to two people to come with me that did not include Percy, Thalia, Clarisse, Katie Gardner, Annabeth, Jhonson, Leo, or whoever was the leader for the Hermes cabin. I decided I would take Josh, no questions asked, the other person I would have to see later. I also had only two more days left until I would have to leave, kind of sucked. And yet, I still had to regularly participate in the camp activities, including chores. Being only six in the morning, I trudged off to my cabin, making a detour around the volleyball court.

As soon as I made it to the court, I saw James coming up Half Blood Hill, carrying someone in his arms. “Cristi! Help me!” he screamed. I ran over to him and helped him carry the girl. She had black hair with light blue highlights and sea-green eyes. Her clothes were all ripped up and she had a scratch down the side of her cheek that was oozing out blood. She had another gash around her left forearm. “We need to get her to the infirmary, it’s by the Big House,” James instructed. I picked up the girl and placed her on a bed inside the infirmary. Three Apollo kids came to her aid as soon as they saw her. “All the Kindly Ones were chasing us here, they gave her those gashes with their poisonous claws. I just hope she’s alright,” James sounded worried, as if he had known the girl before recruiting her.

Only one question came to my mind, “Who is she and why does she look like me?”

“Her name is Alysa Kusiak, she’s undetermined. Yah, she does look like you, that is starting to prove my feeling,” he answered.

Chiron walked up to us. “Another feeling?” he asked, also worried. He stepped outside, grabbed a bullhorn, and shouted into it, “All HOOs, we have an emergency meeting right now!” Annabeth, Percy, Leo, Thalia, and Clarisse came rushing to the Big House. I followed them in, hoping I could be of assistance. “We have a new camper, and James has a ‘feeling’ about her,” Chiron announced.

“Who is it?” and “What’s her name?” were the questions everyone was asking at the same time.

“It’s Alysa Kusiak, she looks like… wait, never mind,” I said.

“Tell us what she looks like, now. It could be essential to finding out if James’ feeling is true,” Percy ordered.

“OK, this is going to sound weird, but she looks like me with Percy’s eyes and hair,” I said.

“Great, I think I know, or at least narrowed it down to two or three,” Chiron said.

“What is this ‘feeling’ that James is having?” I asked, again completely confused.

“A satyr can sense demigods. Powerful ones like you, Percy and Leo here have a different, stronger smell. That’s what James means by ‘having a feeling.’ She’s powerful,” Chiron informed.

“Who have you narrowed it down to? I really want a little sister, I’m through with bossing around older sisters,” Leo commented.

“Poseidon, Zeus, and Athena,” Chiron told us.

“We don’t have much more room in the Athena cabin. Either way, I would know if she belongs there,” Annabeth said, giving us two more options.

“If I have nothing to do with this, I’m out,” and with that, Clarisse left.

“Let’s go talk to her, maybe then we’ll see who she might be and why she’s so powerful,” Thalia suggested.

We walked into the infirmary, leaving Mr. D. alone. Lying on one of the beds, her scrapes all wrapped up in bandages, was Alysa. “I just have two questions for you weirdos. Why do I look like you,” she pointed to Percy, “and why are you a horse?” she said, pointing to Chiron. She seemed too calm for a girl my age who had just been ripped apart by ‘the Kindly Ones,’ whoever they were.

“Those are two very good questions. I have an idea of why you look like me and Chiron is a centaur, he’s half-human, half-horse. He’s got some important history that you will learn about,” Percy said.

“Oh, great. I ran away from home three times just to end up in a school?” Alysa seemed to have a similar past to Annabeth.

“Why did you run away from home, and how come three times?” Annabeth asked.

“My mom has been a jerk lately, she married some duffus a month ago. She keeps saying that she got over Dad. I tried running away, but the cops have always caught me. I tried twice and the same thing happened, this time, James found me and brought me here.” Alysa replied.

“Has your mom told you anything about your dad?” Percy asked.

“Just that he loved the beach, they would spend most of their time out at sea,” she replied.

“I knew it, yes!” Percy exclaimed. “Let’s have breakfast first, we’ll then see what happens. He and I walked over to Alysa and helped her up. We all walked over to the dining pavillion. Leo sat at table nine with his siblings, Thalia sat at table eight with the other Hunters, Percy sat alone at table three, I sat with Annabeth and our siblings at table six, and Alysa was welcomed at table eleven with the Hermes kids. As I was going to give my offering to Athena, I heard Percy in front of me whisper, “Dad, please claim her now.” I did the same and thought, ‘Hey, Poseidon, if you even care to listen to me, listen to Percy, he’s right.” It felt odd to talk to Poseidon, I didn’t even know what he looked like, then again, I had never even seen my mom.

As we were eating, Chiron trotted over to the center of the pavillion. “Tonight, after dinner, we will have a capture-the-flag game as is customary every time the Hunters visit…”

“No, it’s fine, Chiron. We are going to leave today anyway. Our job here is done,” Thalia interrupted.

“Well then, capture-the-flag is canceled tonight. Cristi from the Athena cabin still holds the flag,” Chiron announced.

Everyone from table eight got up and walked around, saying their goodbyes. I noticed that nobody went near the boys, except for Thalia. She walked over to Percy, gave him a hug and said, “Bye, Percy, good luck with the new ones. I’m expecting Cristi to come back alive, hear me?” Percy nodded. Thalia and the Hunters ran down Half Blood Hill and out of sight.

From inside the deep crack that ran through the pavillion, water arose. The wall of water grew higher and higher. The water formed an arch right over my head. Alysa and Percy ran in front of me and Percy waved at the wave. Alysa pushed me back and ran through the water. When she came out, the water evaporated within seconds, and she was perfectly dry. Everyone stared at her. Well, they stared at the space above her head, where a glowing blue trident was floating.