Falling Stars

I Meet A Fat Man Who Loves Leopards And A Centaur Stuck In The Musical Sixties

        The valley was insane. There were volleyball courts, strawberry fields, colored cabins nestled in woods, hills, an ampitheatre, the ocean, an infirmary, a dining pavillion, an arena, and a climbing wall with, was that lava? And then there was the blue mansion. It looked like an old folk's home, with a wrap around porch. As we approached it, I noticed a man in a wheel chair and a fat guy wearing a hawaiian button up shirt. The man in the wheel chair had a blanket over his lap, and wore a vest with a white collarless shirt, and dress shoes. They seemed extremely invested in a game of, what, Pinochle?

        They looked up at us. The man in the wheel chair smiled, while hawaiian shirt guy groaned, as if we were all extremely bothersome. He sighed, clearly bored, then started talking, as if he had done this a thousand times. "I'm Dionysus, Mr. D, if you will, the Head of Camp Half-Blood. This is my collegue, Chiron, the Camp Director. And who, are you?" He jabbed a finger at me, still with a bored look.

        "I'm Jayce Garzin," I said. Chiron was still smiling. That was slightly creepy.

        "Well, Jayce," Chiron said, "I hope you find comfort in our Camp. For now, you'll be staying with Jake and his cabin." Jake stepped up from the back of the group, a wild grin on his face. While he was walking up, he had already stole three watches, two wallets, and four rings. He waved to me. Chiron pulled on headphones, as if this meeting was over, and I heard Frank Sinatra's Fly Me To The Moon.         

        A leopard appeared between Dionysus's legs, purring as if the pudgy man and it were best friends. He patted it's head, giving it sausage. It ate it out of his hands, missing his fingers by less than an inch. I flinched, watching that. I thought the hand was going to be leopard meat. Jake motioned for me to follow, walking back through the crowd demigod/teenager/people/thingies. I followed him. I looked back, watching them disperse. Some went to the volleyball pits, others to the arena, and the last few to the colored cabins. Scary Fireball Lady stayed behind. I decided then I would need to talk to her later. Chiron had turned into a horse man and trotted off.

        Jake led me to the cabins.  They were beautiful, made of so many different materials it was hard to count. We walked past every last one of them, to an old dusty wooden cabin, sitting in the corner. "Welcome to Cabin Eleven. The most packed, dusty, old cabin in the Camp." He opened the door, which creaked, and I walked inside. 

        The cabin was bustling with energy. Kids were stealing what ever they could get their hands on, there were explosions off in a corner, and kids chasing other kids. Jake yelled, "CABIN ELEVEN, FALL IN." They all lined up, in two rows. "This is Jayce. Don't steal from him." While they were all gathered, I noticed they all had the same features. Elf-like faces, pointy ears, trouble making smiles, the kind of kids I enjoyed hanging out with in school. This was going to be fun.

        A horn sounded in the distance. "Food time," Jake said, "PILE OUT." They lined up, walking out single file, towards the pavillion. I hopped into the back of the line, following them. I noticed the other cabins were doing the same. I noticed Scary Fireball Lady walked out of a white marble cabin, sitting at the end of the cluster. A group of singing kids walked out of a cabin with targets all over it. It sounded like We Didn't Start The Fire, and I noticed that a cabin with barbed wire and trenches around it was smoking. Out stormed the big dude and two other scary looking kids. They chased after the acapello group, yelling about how Billy Joel was better off playing Mythomagic than he was playing piano.

        We arrived at the pavillion, and the kids split to different tables. Scary Fireball Girl walked to the front, sitting by Chiron and Dionysus. I pointed to her, looking at Jake. "Who's that?"

        Jake looked up. "Oh, uh, that's Rylie. She's kind of terrifying." He says, then he looked back down. I pondered that for a moment. She could summon fire. Fire is terrifying. But she didn't look terrifying. She was short, kind of cute. Her hair was tawny brown, and her eyes were light blue. Of course, if I told her she was cute, I'd probably find out what a fireball does to a human. She must've noticed me staring, because my plate caught on fire. I leaped back, scrambling away from my Flaming Plate of Death.

        Jake started laughing, then the entire table. The rest of the pavillion followed, including Chiron and Dionysus. Rylie had a smirk on her face. It seemed she was glad she already got to humiliate the new guy. 

        I got up, sighing. I could feel my face burning up, but I sat back down, my plate extinguished. Well. A whole hour here, and the Camp is already laughing at me. That's at least gotta be a record, right? Breaking records on the first day is always good.

        Food was distributed, and the campers got up, scraping some of their food into the fire. I nudged Jake, staring at him quizically. "Burnt offerings to the gods." He responded, walking towards the braizer.

        He scraped some food in the fire, muttering what sounded like Hermes. I followed after him, praying to what ever crazy Greek god was my parent. I'd grown up in an orphanage, with no knowledge of either of my parents. I have no idea which side of my family is a billion years old, but  I hoped to find out soon.

         After that, everyone sat down, eating, laughing, and having a good time. Goblets were magically filling up with all sorts of drinks. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dionysus's wine bottle turn into Diet Coke. He grumbled, taking a sip of it.

        Chiron sighed. He seemed aggravated that he had wine in the presence of so many minors. People started to walk off towards their cabins. Eventually, Cabin Eleven joined them, walking back to the old, musty cabin that always awaited them. I watched everyone as they walked. Were they really all children of Greek gods? The gods must be pretty busy, then. We reached the cabin, and walked inside, spreading out among the sleeping bags.

        I took to one in the corner, laying down. So, this was my new home. It actually feels homey, too. On that thought, I drifted into darkness. My dreams went as usual. And by usual, I mean weird. I saw flashes of light fall from the sky, like shooting stars. I heard rumbling in the distance, like laughter. The world around me was dark.

        I woke to the smell of smoke and yelling. We were ushered out of the cabin by Jake. I heard screaming inside. People trapped. I started to shake. Demigods are supposed to do stupidly heroic stuff, right?

        On that little mental note, I rushed back inside. The fire had started in the middle, and spread out to sleeping bags. There was a hole in the ceiling. The debris from the hole had trapped a few people, the source of the screaming. I grabbed the burned wood, lifting it off the person. I threw it to the side, and picked them up. It was a child, at most ten years old. They cried into my shoulder. That was when I realized just how much smoke I had really inhaled while doing this. 

        Adrenaline must've been keeping me alive while I had gotten in here to start, however, it was gone now. I stumbled towards the door, coughing and wheezing. Just a few more steps.

        I reached the doorway, and collapsed. The last thing I felt was the kid crawl out from under me, and people grabbing me under the armpits.

        Then everything went black.