The Life of a Demigod

Chapter 13

I've been at camp for a couple weeks now. They had shown me some training drills that they do and I have met some other people who live here.

"Hey!" Ivan called. His short blond hair was messy and a bit windblown. Instead of being a demi-god, he was just a mortal-turned-einherji. The basketball he had been playing with rolled toward my feet. "Can you toss it back?"

I picked it up and tossed it to his chest with a smile. "There you go."

"Thanks!" He went back to playing with his friends. There were three of them against one girl. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and bright brown eyes. Like the other campers, she wore a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Being a daughter of Victoria, Nikki was extremely competitive. As it was, she was still faster than all of them and constantly shooting the ball into the hoop. I watched them dribble the ball up and down the court and try to get the ball from Nikki. From what I'd seen in the short time I'd been here, I doubted that they would succeed in getting the ball back.

"Riley, want to join us?" Lilian, asked. Her short brown hair was barely long enough for it to be pulled into its current ponytail. Her shirt was soaked with sweat and her light blue jeans had holes in them from falling. Being a daughter of Apollo, any shot she made automatically would go in the basket.

I grinned and rolled up my jacket sleeves to my elbows. "Sounds like fun." I walked over to them and stood on the court while Nikki glanced over to me as if she were sizing up a new competitor.

"Be on our team. Nikki is tough to beat." The other girl, Hannah, said with a small laugh. Her red-brown, shaggy hair was pulled back with a few small clips. The t-shirt looked oversized on her, hanging off one shoulder and revealing the white tank top underneath.

"Okay." I stood by the free-throw line as Ivan and Nikki checked the ball to start a new round. As soon as Nikki got the ball she ran past Ivan and to the right. She dribbled right up to the hoop and prepared to shoot the ball. Lilian jumped up to try and block her but the ball got in anyways.

"Come on, give me some competition here." Nikki looked at all of us as if we weren't even trying. She was about to keep talking but stopped when she saw Ryo walking towards us with a group of demigods behind him. Ones that I knew from Camp Half-Blood. I recognized the three campers as Jay, Jess and Jake.

"Riley, these campers have come to take you to Camp Half-Blood." Ryo seemed slightly uncomfortable, though why, I had no idea.

"Oh.. Already? I kind of like it here." I saw that Jess was looking at her feet and Jake seemed to take in a sharp breath when I spoke. Jay was the only one not affected in some way by this camp.

"Will you at least tell us why you left?" Jay looked me in the eye and I couldn't tell what he was thinking in the slightest.

"To be with me of course." Ethan had wandered up to us with a smirk and I looked up at him in shock as he placed an arm around my shoulders. I saw Jake glare at Ethan and start to move forward but was stopped by Jay placing an arm out in front of him.

"That isn't true." I looked at Ethan and hit his arm, which, upon impact, he promptly moved. "While I did leave with him, I was just mad that Chiron wouldn't let me come. I was mad at a few people so I acted out and left." My eyes dropped and I could feel my face heating up with embarrassment.

I saw Ryo glance over to Jess and they both blushed slightly before looking away. Jake was glaring at Ethan with a scowl on his face and Jay was focusing almost solely on me, even though his eyes wandered to look around camp when he thought I wasn't looking.

"Riley. Why would you want to come here? Wasn't Camp Half-Blood enough?" Jake had stopped glaring at Ethan and looked at me solemnly. Almost like he was heartbroken that I'd want to be here instead of there. The hurt was written plainly on his face.