Another Son Of Hermes

Chapter 5

Rory stood with his back against the wall of Cabin Eleven, a crowd of his new siblings looking at him suspiciously. He tapped his fingers against the wall nervously, this degree of attention made him anxious.

"He just doesn’t strike me as a Hermes kid.” Travis Stoll said, his eyebrows knitting together.

“You haven’t seen his smile.” Annabeth (who had snuck in to provide moral support) said “It’s got Cabin Eleven written all over it.” Travis shot Annabeth a confused glance.

“There’s no such thing as a ‘Cabin Eleven smile’.” He said. Annabeth only laughed. A girl standing at the back of the crowd suddenly piped up.

“And I suppose there’s that other thi-” Connor elbowed her side before she could say anymore. At risk of Rory finding out why they all looked at him like they did Travis muttered something about going to bed, and coincidently, the rest of the cabin yawned simultaneously.

Rory had just drifted off to sleep when he heard a crash, coming from across the room.

“Guys!” a familiar voice said “I thought I told you to keep the window open wide.”

“BELLA!” Connor whooped as he commando rolled from the bunk above Rory. Rory clambered from his own bed in a less graceful manner to investigate current goings on. Arabella stood at the window, her orange t-shirt creased after her window tumble.

“You wouldn’t believe the trouble I went through to get here.” Arabella said as she took the pillow from Rory’s bed and put it on the floor “I nearly ran into Mr D…twice.” She sat down and a small group joined her. Arabella looked at Rory and beckoned that he sit down next to her. A blonde haired boy with cheeky smile emerged from trap door with a large cardboard box. He tipped the box’s contents into the centre of the small circle of people. There was an array of American sweets Rory didn’t recognise, his curiosity got the better of him and he picked up a packet and read the label.

“What are Milk Duds?” he asked. Arabella almost spat out her watermelon chewing gum. Why was everything watermelon flavoured?

“You’ve never had Milk Duds?” She screeched. Rory shook his head. “Poseidon’s pants, you haven’t lived!”

“Oh really?” Rory said “And tell me, have you ever had Malteasers?” Connor coughed to signal they stop talking.

“So.” He said, clapping his hands together. “We have business to attend to. First off, there’s the newbie.” Connor nodded towards Rory. “There are several leader boards we need to add him to and of course we need to explain to him the current situation. Rory, how many schools have you been expelled from?”

“Emm... four.” He stuttered “Why?” Connor exhaled and shook his head as if he were disappointed. The blonde boy reached under his bed and took out an A2 sized chalkboard, the sound of chalk against the board made Rory cringe. Rory glimpsed his name written worryingly near the bottom.

“So,” Connor continued “I would introduce you but it seems you’ve already met Arabella.” She smiled, sweetly. “You will find she is a regular visitor to Cabin 11”

“We consider her an honorary Hermes kid.” Travis added. Arabella frowned.

“Don’t say that, I love my dad!” She paused for a moment “Then again, your’s is pretty frickin’ cool.” She received several high fives from around the room. After the praise had died down Arabella produced a large piece of rolled up paper and spread it out across the floor. It appeared to be a blue print with several badly drawn, yet intricate diagrams.

“So,” she said, a wide grin spreading across her face “here’s the plan.”