The Undead Heroes (The first part of The Reiteration of Olympus)

CHAPTER 7, A demigod alley cat

SILENA

When we stumbled upon two demigods in an alley near Main Street station Charlie and I were a bit surprised. Sure, it wasn't uncommon to find demigods who hadn't made it to camp yet but it still felt like a surprise. They had introduced themselves as Desirée and Dylan and I have to say that they made a bit of an odd pair. Dylan was tall, handsome and powerful, with eyes that reminded me a lot of a guy I used to know. She had box braids pulled up into a bun at the top of her head and she wore simple plain clothes. Desirée on the other hand was a bit more eccentric in her outfit choice. She wore an indigo down jacket and a pair of jeans that ended halfway down her calf. She also wore navy blue sneakers and she had glasses that were too big for her face. Her hair was frizzy and pulled into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. They were really an odd pair.

But I suppose the same could be said for me and Charlie.

"Why do you know about Camp Jupiter?" Dylan asked. It was clear that she didn't trust us at all, and I couldn't blame her. Here we are, two strangers, asking if they're demigods. Maybe we should've thought this through a bit more.

"We're demigods, like you," Charlie said. "We're not from Camp Jupiter though. We're from another camp in Long Island called Camp Half-Blood." When Charlie said that something flashed in Dylan's eyes. She seemed to consider what he said and I think she came to a conclusion.

"Can you take us there?"

I was a bit shocked. One second ago she was about to slash us open and now she wanted our help. I have to say that I preferred this turn of events.

"Wait what?" Desirée said and looked at Dylan. "I thought we were going to Camp Jupiter?" Desirée's face looked like a question mark.

Dylan let out a small sigh and turned to Desirée. There was an emotion I couldn't really understand on her face and I couldn't really tell what it meant. At least not from her face. I could sense her emotion in the moment. She was hopeful, but also scared.

"Look Des," Dylan said. "Camp Jupiter is in San Francisco, which is 40 hours from here. Now if this 'Camp Half-Blood really exists it would only be around 6 hours to get there." Dylan looked at Desirée with a determined look. "And if we're going to get you somewhere safe we're going to do it the quickest way possible."

I noticed that she said 'Get you somewhere safe' and not 'Get us somewhere safe'. I instantly got worried about her. I could be worrying about nothing but I had met a lot of demigods who thought they weren't worthy of being safe. It broke my heart every time I heard someone saying that they shouldn't be at camp. It's not their fault they are demigods! It's the gods' fault. If they weren't so carele-

I hadn't realised how much Luke had influenced me.

Charlie must have sensed that something was wrong because he timidly put his arm around me. Whenever I think that I can't love him more than I already do he proves me wrong.

Des seemed to be evaluating the options. Travel 40 hours to get to a place her friend knew was safe or trust two strangers and travel 6 hours to Long Island.

"Okay," Desirée said. "If you're able to, please take us to Camp Half-Blood." I gave Desirée a smile that I hoped was encouraging. She smiled back at me and we walked out of the valley together.

On the way to the train station Dylan was quiet and on edge whilst Desirée eagerly talked to Charlie and me. She asked a million questions about camp and her excitement and wonder was refreshing.

We eventually got to Main Street station and went to look for tickets. I hadn't noticed that someone was following us but Dylan apparently had.

"Hey!" I heard someone call out behind me. I quickly turned around and it took a while for my brain to process the scene before me.