Mathlide and the Heroes

Ch. 6 The Camp

Otto and Mathlide walked out of the infirmary and down the trail and around the camp. There was a big blue farmhouse, a climbing wall, a shooting range, and a bunch of kids playing- was that- volleyball? They passed the cabins and Mathlide wondered which house Otto was in. She was too caught up in the scenery to ask. They circled back around, passing the mess hall, the arena, and the forge. Otto stopped at the armory.

"Hey. We should get you a weapon," he said.

"Uh- oh, okay," Mathlide had never even seen a sword or gun in person until today. She didn't know what she would accomplish by going into an armory and looking at weapons she didn't know how to use.

Otto opened the door and Mathlide stared at all the dangerous things in the room. Swords, crossbows, knives, any weapon you could basically ask for. Otto rumaged through the weapons. He pulled out a gun and handed it to Mathlide.

"A- a shotgun? I don't know how to shoot."

"That's a Mossberg 500. Annabeth almost gave it to Piper when she came, but it was too flashy for Piper. We are never going to get someone to use it. Guns really aren't for demigods," Otto sighed.

"I know about how Annabeth tried to give it to Piper because I read the books. How do you know?" Mathlide asked.

"I was here. The Seven are legends. You hear all about them all the time, like sometimes even stuff like what time they wake up in the morning. So, yeah, I heard about it," Otto said.

"How long have you been here?" Mathlide asked.

"Longer than most," Otto answered, still rumaging through weapons.

Mathlide spotted out of the corner of her eye a set of throwing knives.

"Hey, what about these?" Mathlide picked one up.

"You think you can throw those? I mean, we could give it a shot. They're Imperial Gold."

"Yeah. I think I could try to throw them. But I thought Imperial Gold was rare to Greek demigods?" Mathlide asked.

"It was. But ever since the Greeks and the Romans have been peacefully interacting, Imperial Gold is just as abundant as Celestial Bronze. We collaborate more, we share weapons," Otto clarifed.

They walked to the shooting range with the throwing knives. Otto ushered Mathlide to a wood target and instructed her to throw them. Mathlide held the knife between her first two fingers and her thumb, arced her arm behind her head, then flung her arm straight forward, straightening her elbow. The knife hit its mark dead on. Otto looked surprised and asked her to do it again. She did, and the knife hit even closer to the bullseye.

"I'd say those are right for you, Mathlide," Otto said. Mathlide smiled and looked at the remaining 3 knives in her hand. Suddenly, they levitated in her hand. Otto and the rest of those at the shooting range stared at her. A glowing light emited from above Mathlide's head. It stopped after a moment and the people around her clapped.

Otto anounced, "Mathlide Viola, daughter of Hecate."

"Go on, Mathlide. Throw the rest of the knives," whispered a voice in her head which Mathlide had a funny feeling was her mom.

She kept levitating the knives and made the same motion with her arm. The three knives sailed straight from her hand and hit the target in a straight line.

"My gift to you is leviation," Hecate spoke out loud.

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Otto took Mathlide back to the armory.

"So even though your mom has clearly blessed you with the gift of leviating, you can probably bend the Mist, too, and well as perform other magic," Otto remarked, "And, even though those throwing knives are clearly your element, you should have a sword too, for hand to hand combat."

He rumaged some more and came up with another Imperial Gold weapon- this time a sword. He handed it to Mathlide and she discovered it was the right size.

"Where's my cabin?"

"Number 20 is it. You have an older sister named Lou Ellen," Otto remarked.

"Right, I know. What's your godly parent anyway?"

"I'll tell you some other time. Go check in with your sister."

She returned to the infirmary and picked up her bags. Mathlide found her way to the Hecate cabin, which was made of stones and had a magical feel about it, and knocked on the door. A girl with short, light purple hair and deep green eyes like her own answered.

"Hello, I'm Mathlide. I'm a child of Hecate. This IS the right cabin, isn't it?" Mathlide asked.

"Yup. I'm Lou Ellen, your half sister. Looks like you've already got your weapons. Come on in.Careful about the walls. If the stones fall, they either create a mass explosion or turn everyone to trees within a mile," Lou Ellen remarked casually.

"Oh. Right."

"So you're the fainter, this camp was a huge surprise for you, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, here's your room. How do you spell your name?" Lou Ellen asked.

"M-A-T-H-L-I-D-E. It's kind of a weird one," Mathlide answered.

"Can I can you Matti? I like that." Lou Ellen inquired as she wrote Mathlide's name down on a piece of paper.

"Sure."