The New Demigods

Chapter 9: Dinner

As we exited the hallway into the open air, the sponsors looked puzzled. "This can't be right," Muther said turning back to the door and trying the handle. The door was firmly locked and didn't budge even after Theus and Hades took their turns trying to open it.

"Oh great, you're here!" Eleanor squealed coming up from behind us, with Nathaniel following her halfheartedly a few feet behind.

"We're trying to take the kids to dinner, but the doors don't seem to be working," Theus explained.

"Well actually, your team is not going to dinner," Eleanor shifted uncomfortably. "Your recruits will find meals delivered to their houses."

"Hera decided to call off her big dinners?" Hades asked snidely.

"No, actually it was her idea to have your team do their own bonding separate from Olympus's heroes after what happened this morning." Nathanial said plainly, finally catching up to Eleanor. Hades smirk faded and a fire seemed to burn in his eyes.

"Thank you for letting us know," Muther cut in. "Is that all?"

"Also, you are not to spend time with your recruits outside of your arena, so we'll be taking them from here," Nathanial added. Hades and Theus were clearly bothered by this rule and both looked ready to argue when Muther stepped in again.

"Understood, we will return in the morning to meet them," she responded calmly. Muther, Hades, Theus and River said a quick goodbye to us and headed down a path away from the main building and our houses.

"Great! So who is ready to sit quietly in their room for the night!?" Eleanor's enthusiasm visibly irritated all of us, but we had no choice but to follow her back to our houses. At the end of the court we separated and walked up our pathways as Nathanial and Eleanor supervised to ensure we made it inside.

As promised, there was a platter of food waiting for me in my room placed on a table in the corner with only one chair setup to it. The table and chair were beautifully made from vines with thick stems resembling wood. When I approached the table I realized the chair could not be pulled out from its position since, like the table, it was a living plant growing from my moss floor. I slid myself into the chair, and once seated, felt an exhaustion wash over me. Every inch of my body was fatigued from the day's training and I couldn't imagine ever getting up from my seat.

When I was nearly halfway done my meal, I reached for my glass of water with a tired arm and managed to knock it over spilling it onto the ground. I felt lucky that the floor was moss and quickly absorbed the mess, but not so lucky that it had been the only drink provided to me. As I knelt down, with a lot of difficulty, to pick up my glass, the pool of water in my room caught my eye. I hobbled over and dipped my glass into the water trying to refill it, to my disappointment, the glass came out empty. Determined to get a drink, I waded my way into the centre of the pool with the water just above my knees, and tried again. The glass remained empty when I pulled it out of the water and I tossed it to the side of the pool in frustration.

I realized that from my knees down no longer ached with fatigue, I remembered the healing power of the pool and lowered myself into a sitting position that submerged me from the neck down. I sat quietly feeling my muscles relaxed and refreshed.

A slamming on my front door startled me to a standing position. Unsure of who it could be, I hesitantly walked to the door. The pounding continued and I slowly opened the door to see Horace, Piper and Scarlett on the other side holding their meal trays.

"Hey we were just-" Horace stopped mid sentence and pushed past me. "Your place is so cool. How did we get stuck locked in medieval castles and you get an indoor forest?" Scarlett and Piper smiled sheepishly at me before coming in to admire my room as well.

"We were going to do a picnic in the woods behind the houses, but this is way better." Piper admitted placing her tray on the table next to mine.

"No kidding," Horace agreed lowering himself into a cross legged position on the floor with a loud groan.

"Oh, are the rest of you sore from the training today?" I asked realizing they may not have magical healing pools in their rooms.

"Ugh yes," Piper admitted rubbing her shoulder, "didn't you hear us kicking your door? I can't even think about using my arms for anything right now."

"Even this tray feels too heavy," Scarlett agreed slumping to the ground next to Horace.

"Are you not sore, Mr. Star Swordsman?" Horace taunted playfully, shovelling food into his mouth.

"Actually I was," I began to explain walking over to the edge of the pool. "But this water is some sort of magic, that healed my wounds on my first morning and my body aches today."

Horace, Piper and Scarlett all stared blankly at me in disbelief before Piper broke the silence with laughter. "Good one, Gemini," she continued to laugh and the other two joined in.

"I'm serious!" I felt my cheeks heating up in embarrassment. Scarlett was the first to stop laughing and she stood up to walk to the edge of the pool.

"C'mon, Scarlett - don't fall for it," Horace said between laughs.

"What's the harm?" Scarlett shrugged and stepped into the water. She smiled at me looking relieved and submerged her full body under the water. Horace and Piper stopped laughing. Scarlett emerged her head above the water in a sitting position and smiled widely.

"It worked?" Piper asked in shock. Scarlett nodded and Piper joined her in the pool, after a few moments she also smiled with relief.

"Okay okay, you convinced me," Horace said staggering to his feet as he joined them in the pool.

The four of us spent the evening together talking and eating, and Scarlett was even nice enough to share her drink with me.

After what felt like hours passed, we finished all of our food and began to look at each other through heavy eyes, so we said goodnight and they left to their own houses leaving me to sleep alone.