The Daughter of Apollo

Chapter Four: Claimed by Campfire Light

Chapter Four-Claimed by Campfire Light

After an entertaining dinner of getting to know the Stoll Brothers a little more, and a food fight that left the Aphrodite table shrieking, crying, and running around trying to fix their hair, clothes, and make-up, everyone headed towards a big bonfire so bright, you couldn't tell what color it was. It had melted the small amount of snow within a 20-yard radius. You couldn't get real close to it without feeling like you were going to melt!

I stopped walking just to stare at it. Just stare at the bright inferno that people were forming a circle around. The flames reflected in my eyes as they danced an intricate dance that only the flame knew. A dance that touched the night sky, blotting out the stars with its beauty.

I would've stood there all night if someone hadn't tugged on my arm and dragged me to a seat.

Momentarily broken from my trance I looked at the person who got me moving again. It was my brother, Drew. I looked to my left to see Meg-and Lana Austin.

Shock, surprise, delight. Those were just few of the many emotions I was feeling. My friend Lana was here now too. My brother Drew was here now, as well. Everything was good. One of the only people that had gotten me to trust them, arrived in a secret camp, along with my older brother, who I loved and cared deeply about (Not that I'd tell him that, and you better not!). Everything was going to be perfect! Two weeks off of school for Winter Break, then go to a new school in NYC while living with my aunt and uncle, and then come back to Camp Half-Blood for summer! Just perfect!

At least you'll have friends.......part of me thought. But they still didn't even know my darkest secret.....I don't trust them that much. But you're going to live with them. You have to tell them sooner or later, right?

NO! I'll never tell them, no matter what. I promised myself I wouldn't.

My mental argument must've been showing through facial expressions-I've been told I do that a lot-because Drew looked at me and said, "You're doing it again," and laughed. What a nice brother, I have. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him.

Meg leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "Your brother is hot!"

I got a disgusted look on my face. How could anyone think Drew was hot? I mean, sure, he's got the movie-star good-looks, I'll admit that, he'd get a cocky smile every now and then that showed off his perfectly straight and white teeth. Maybe if he wasn't my older brother, and he wasn't 4 years older than me, I'd think he was hot. But I highly doubted that. I just wasn't into that.

Lana laughed and Meg blushed. I just rolled my eyes at them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Drew with his phone out, texting away. I rolled my eyes again. Drew was texting his girlfriend from San Francisco. Again. He seemed to be obsessed with it lately, after meeting her by chance, when she was visiting NYC while we were here to visit Uncle Paul and Aunt Sally.

Drew had stormed out that night after having a terrible fight with our parents at 3:00 A.M. He told me he went to a friend's house to stay the night, but in the morning, he wasn't willing to come back so he went out to travel round the city. He eventually landed in Starbucks. He wanted so bad to buy a nice warm hot chocolate, but he had been so mad, he had forgotten his wallet. He told me he then sat down in a chair and put his head on the table when a red-headed girl walked in. She looked cold, Drew had said, all bundled up in winter-wear. She walked in, looked around, and apparently spotted poor, cold, money-less Drew sitting at a table head down and freezing.

Drew told me she went to the counter and bought a hot chocolate. But when her name-Gwen-was called, they handed her two. Gwen then walked over to Drew and handed him one of the hot chocolates. He looked into her eyes, her big, brown, kind eyes, and took the hot cocoa gratefully. Gwen sat down and they talked for hours getting to know each other. Gwen had even given Drew advice to help at home-not that he followed it. But within the day, they were dating and Drew called me over to Central Park to meet her.

We all hung out in Central Park for a while. I didn't mind being the third-wheel. Gwen didn't completely ignore me, and neither did Drew, but most of the time I wasn't there. But that was fine with me. I was busy writing lyrics to songs. Or I was writing a book. And the two definitely kept the entertainment going.

I now wonder when we'll see her again, and if she really wasn't a dream, and Drew and I were both, for some weird reason, dreaming the same dream.            

I turned my head back toward the ever growing higher inferno, where people were making s'mores. I smiled at the thought. My shoulders relaxed, and I stared at the fire. It reminded me of how dangerous beauty is. That was something Lana had told me. When I first met her, I didn't think much of her because she looked like one of the pretty, peppy, popular people (say that ten times fast). Her hair was shoulder length and a dirty-blonde color. But her hair also had light-blonde natural highlights, making it look like there was gold braided in. She had intelligent brown eyes that glinted with humor.

When we were paired for a science experiment, I had said, "Let me guess. You're going to ask me to do all the work so you don't 'break a nail'?" She had glared at me.

"Please, you'll prove too stupid to do anything. Just hand me the stupid rubric!" I figured she was also in a bad mood that day, cause she was continually set off by anything. She even punched a guy for blatantly checking her out. And truth be told, she was pretty much the one leading the project and I was the one sitting back. Lana was a year younger then everyone in the grade but she was also an advanced student, meaning most of our classes were together. Though she proved she was by no means stupid, she was very much the peppy popular girl I first assumed her to be.

The Apollo kids were just about to strike up a tune when everything was bathed in a pink light. People's heads snapped in our direction. Drew glanced up from his phone, eyes widening at what he saw.

My head turned slowly towards the source of light.

Above Lana's head was a dove, surrounded in pink light.

Lana had been claimed.