Penelope Orion: Prophecies

Chapter 7

Jason's P.O.V.

AS SOON AS I SAW THE HOUSE, I knew I was a dead man. I glanced over at Penelope and saw that she was staring the the door, as if she were expecting something to walk out.

"Here we are!" Drew said cheerfully. "The Big House, camp headquarters." It didn't look threatening, just a four story-manor painted baby blue with white trim. The wraparound porch had huge lounge chairs, a card table, and an empty wheelchair. Wind chimes shaped like nymphs turned into trees as they spun. Jason could imagine old people coming here for summer vacation, sitting on the porch and sipping prune juice while they watched the sunset. Still, the windows seemed to glare down at me and Penelope like angry eyes. The wide-open doorway looked ready to swallow me. On the highest gable, a bronze eagle weathervane spun in the wind and pointed straight in our direction, as if telling us to turn around.

Every molecule told me that I was on enemy ground. "We are not supposed to be here." I said. Penelope nodded, squeezing my arm tightly. "It's okay, Penny." I whispered to her.

Drew circled her arm through mine. "Oh, please. You're perfect here, sweetie. Believe me, I've seen a lot of heroes." She smelled like Christmas - a strange combination of pine and nutmeg. I wondered is she always smelled like this, or if it was some kind of special perfume for the holidays. Her pink eyeliner was really distracting. Everytime she blinked, I felt compelled to look at her. Maybe that was the point, to show off her warm brown eyes. She was pretty. No doubt about that. But she made me feel uncomfortable. I slipped my arm away as gently as I could. "Look, I appreciate--"

"Is it that girl?" Drew pouted." "Oh, please, tell me you are not dating the Dumpster Queen."

"You mean Piper? Um..."

I felt Penelope let go of my arm fast and watched as she stared the girl down. "You will not make fun of Piper. She's more beautiful than you are! You look like a freaking clown with all that makeup on your face!" She screamed. "You will never be better than her! Never!"

Drew backed up so fast that she tripped over her feet. As Penelope said that, I began to think. I haven't seen Piper before today and I felt strangely guilty about it. Still... Piper had been holding his hand when he woke up on that bus. She believed that she was my girlfriend. She'd been brave on the skywalk, fighting those venti, and when I had caught her in midair and they held each other face-to-face, I couldn't pretend that I was a little tempted to kiss her. But that wasn't right. I didn't even know my own story. I couldn't play with her emotions like that.

Drew stood up and rolled her eyes, slowly scooting away from the seven year old girl. "Let me help you decide, sweetie. You can do better. A guy with your looks and obvious talent." But she wasn't looking at me, though. She was staring at a spot right above my head.

"You're waiting for a sign," I guessed. "Like what popped over Leo's head."

"What? No! Well... yes. I mean, from what I heard, you're pretty powerful, right? You're going to be important at camp, so I figure your parent will claim you right away. And I'd love to see that. I wanna be with you every step of the way! So is your dad or mom the god? Please don't tell me it's not your mom. I would hate it if you were an Aphrodite kid."

"Why?" Penelope asked.

"Then he'd be my half brother. You can't date somebody from your own cabin. Yuck!"

"But aren't all the gods related?" I asked. "So isn't everyone here your cousin or something?"

"Aren't you cute! Sweetie, the godly side of your family doesn't count except for your parent. So anybody from another cabin - they're fair game. So who's your godly parent - mom or dad?".