Unite

003

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “You guys are talking nonsense! I’m not going to a camp. I’m not leaving you.”

      “Kevin, yes, you are. Don’t go against us. This is for your own good, your own protection. Your mother and I will Iris message you all the time, whenever you need us. Please, sweetie, don’t make this hard for us. Chiron will explain. We love you.”

       And just like that, the conversation was over. I was going to a camp, and I was going to talk to a Chiron. I was going to make friends and have a good time. I would leave my parents for god knows how long, and I was not going to a dentist appointment.

      Argus led me off campus, opening doors for me and not saying a word. I had a million questions that couldn’t be answered. Not now, at least.

     We walked to the back of the school to the parking lot, where two winged-freaking-horses were waiting for us. I sniveled a scream. I wanted to run, I wanted to scream for the police. “I am not doing this. Nope, never ever.” Argus reached into his backpack and pulled out a dry erase board and marker.

     ‘Do you know how to ride a horse?’ he wrote. He’d ignored me.

      “ I am not doing this! Did you hear me? Nope, nada.” Argus shook the board. No arguments here. I was going to have to just trust my parents, even if half of what they said was crazy.

       “Sort of…” I answered.

      ‘Riding a Pegasus is the same thing.’

       “Except pegasi fly thousands of feet in the air.” I said.

      ‘I will get a rope to help you, but your Pegasus will just follow min.’ the ‘e’ was cut off due to lack of space. “Why don’t you speak?” I asked. ‘I just don’t. You don’t need to know.’ “Okay.”

       And with that, Argus helped me onto my Pegasus and we were off.

 

      Now, flying through the air thousands of feet above civilization is awesome, with the wind and the sights, but when your family had just sent you off with a million-eyed surfer dude to go to a summer camp, and that blonde surfer guy had loaded you onto a winged-freaking-horse, and surfer guy didn’t speak, you had a lot of thinking to do.

      I wondered what camp would be like. Camp half-Blood. Probably a military camp, with a bunch of military people who I’d never make friends with. I was miles away from home now. I remembered how my dad would talk on and on about swimming teams and the Olympics, where he coached. I remembered his dad smell and his salt-and-pepper hair and his sea green eyes.

      I remembered my mom and helping her at the observatory, and how she always taught me about the planets and stars. Her black hair was always brushing her shoulders, and her loving teal eyes always made me fill with such joy.

     ‘You’re powerful, alright? You’re brave and amazing, and beautiful and wonderful. Kevin, your father and I couldn’t be more proud of you. We love you so much.’ She’d said.

      I didn’t realize I was crying until Argus looked back at me and frowned, tilting his head. “I’m fine.” I said. Argus got out his dry erase board, wrote something down, and threw it back at me. I managed to catch it. ‘Camp is ahead. It’s a happy place.’