Camp Half-Blood/Camp Jupiter

I Almost Die

    Alright, today has not been going the way I expected. Not at all. I was just walking down the sidewalk when a guy ran up to me, claiming that he was here to help. He had curly black hair and he wore a tool belt on his waist (probably to store weapons that he could easily use on me).
"You need to come with me," he had said.
Of course, I said no. Everyone learned that strangers were bad when they were little; it's just common sense. This guy seemed to think I should just ditch everything I ever learned and go with him to this weird camp.
Now, I stand here in front of him. I still haven't left. I don't know what I'm waiting for; I should definitely run before this guy has a chance to kill me.
He sighs. "If you don't come with me, that group of empousai will catch up to us and we'll both be dead."
I stare at him. I don't even know what the heck those empousai things are! I didn't see anything following me.
"Empousai?" I ask.
The boy rolls his eyes. "They're like vampires," he explains.
"You're lying."
He feigns a gasp, clutching his chest. So over-dramatic. He sighs. "Okay, it may seem like I'm lying, but you really need to come with me."
"I don't even know your name!" Maybe if I can stall for a bit longer, I can figure a way out of this.
"Leo Valdez." He smirks. "You never told me your name."
"Celine," I say, unsure why I'm telling him this. "Don't ask for my last name or I'll kick you."
"Okay," he says. "Any chance you'll just decide to trust me?"
    I shake my head. "Nope," I say, looking around for an escape route.
    "That's really unfortunate for both of us." I raise an eyebrow and he sighs. "You'll find out soon enough."
    Almost on cue, two cheerleaders walk up to us, smiling brightly. Leo's face blanches. I don't know what he's so scared of; they're just some random cheerleaders that seem way too full of themselves. I've dealt with this kind of person before. They're annoyingly, but not deadly.
    "Hello," the blonde one says. "I'm Tammi, and this is Kelli." She gestures at the other girl, who has brown hair. They both wear purple cheerleading uniforms.
    Leo reaches into his tool belt and pulls out a hammer. I take a few steps away from him, but I don't think he plans to use the hammer on me. I think he plans to kill those two cheerleaders. I watch him with wide eyes.
    "What are you doing?" I ask.
    "Those are the Empousai," he says. "Stay behind me."
    Tammi moves closer to Leo, her smile turning into a snarl. Me, being the dumb person I am, don't move at all. I just stand there, waiting for something to happen. "This isn't your business, demigod," she hisses.
    "I'm pretty sure it is," he says. "You expect me to leave her here?" He points at me. Tammi and Kelli both follow his finger, gazing at me. Maybe I can just disappear. That'd be nice. I just want to be out of this situation.
    Kelli grins, hissing. "I say we just kill both of them. More food."
Food? Oh...I suddenly remember what Leo told me earlier: they're vampires. They'll suck my blood. Oh god. If they're like what I've read about, running would be useless. My heart pounds in my chest, and I think I'm going to be sick.
    I force a smile. "Tammi, Kelli," I say, addressing both of them. "You both seem like good people."
    They laugh. "What are you getting at?" Kelli asks. "Flattery won't save you."
"Shut up, demigod," Tammi says. I don't know what she means by 'demigod,' but I don't say another word. I try to speak, but I don't really want to disappoint Tammi. What is going on? I just stand there as Tammi's hair bursts into flames. It's not like it's anything unusual, just someone's hair going up in flames.
She lowers my hand from her hair, and Kelli closes in on me. I'm surrounded. But that's okay. They won't hurt me. I feel myself smiling.
"Good," Kelli says, her red eyes gleaming. Her hair floats around her, also one-hundred percent fire. "Now, sit still. This won't hurt a bit."
She leans closer, and something gleams in her mouth. Fangs. Oh. I don't move as she gets so close that I can feel her breath against my neck. I know that I should run, but for some reason, I don't.
    Before Kelli has the chance to bite me, she turns to dust at my feet. Leo stands where Kelli once was with his hammer. He just killed her!
    I back away from the empousa, my fear finally registering. It's like I've broken from a trance. Leo launches himself at Tammi, hitting her with his hammer. She claws at him, but he ducks out of the way. He must be used to this kind of fighting. I watch in awe as they fight, blocking and parrying. It's truly amazing, but also extremely terrifying.
    Kelli knocks Leo to the ground, his hammer skidding across the pavement. He looks over at it, and I see fear creep into his eyes. It's so easy to lose the advantage in a battle, and it's awful. One moment, you could be standing with your sword pointed at someone's chest. The next, you could be on the ground.
    People on the sidewalk just pass by like nothing's happening. It's like no one notices that people are fighting for their lives.
    "Help!" I shout, but no one answers. They just keep walking. Something tells me that I knew this would happen. No one's going to help us.
    Kelli raises her clawed hand into the air, about to scratch Leo. Without thinking, I leap at Kelli, tackling her to the ground. She hisses and claws at me, trying to get away from me. I need to give Leo enough time to figure out a plan. I look over at him, and Kelli takes my moment of distraction to claw my arm. I cry out, and the empousa pushes me off of her.
    She stands above me, looking down. I scrabble at the ground, trying to get away from her. I'm going to die. I never had a chance of defeating Kelli, and I know that. This is how the battle is going to end, with Kelli sucking my blood, and quite possibly Leo's.
    "Nice try," Kelli says, her lips curling up to show her fangs. A spike of fear shoots through me. This is it. This is the end. I wish I had more time. There were so many things I wanted to do that I won't be able to do now.
    Kelli bursts, her dust landing all over me. I stare at Leo in shock. "You just killed her," I say.
    He grins. "You're welcome." He reaches a hand out to help me up, and I take it. My legs feel like jelly, and my mind won't stop replaying what just happened.
    "Thank you," I say.
    "You could throw in a 'my hero' if you'd like."
    "Don't push it."
    "Fine."
    "Leo?" I say. He looks at me, telling me to go on. "Why did I listen to Tammi earlier? I didn't want to."
    He sighs. "Empousai can be very convincing, sometimes to the point where they kind of put you in a trance. It's tough to explain."
    "I see..."
    Leo nods. Then, his eye catches on something. He grabs my arm gently and inspects it. His gaze lands on my shoulder where Kelli had scratched me. "You're hurt."
    I roll my eyes. "Obviously." My arm starts hurting now that I think of the injury. In battle, I couldn't think about the fact that I was hurt, just that I had to stay alive. I look down at my shoulder, and see blood trickling down it. There are large claw marks where Kellie had scratched me.
    "Why didn't you tell me?"
    I shrug. "I guess I didn't have time to think about it."
    "True," he says. "This must all be a lot to take in."
    "It is," I say, nodding. "She called you something—a demigod, I think. What does it mean?"
    Leo leads me over to a bench and helps me sit down. "Let's take care of your arm first," he says, gently.
    "Right," I say. "How?"
    He smiles and takes something out of his tool belt. He breaks off a piece. It has a yellow color, and it smells kind of good. Leo hands it to me. I take it.
    "What is this?" I ask, turning it around in my hands. I bet it's poison. That would make sense after everything I've seen today.
    "Ambrosia," Leo says, breaking another small piece off of the main square and popping it into his mouth. "It'll heal your cut."
    "And I'm supposed to believe you?"
    He shrugs. "I did just save your life, and I just ate some. I'm not dead."
    "What if you poisoned it?"
    "Why would I do that?"
    I think for a moment, unsure of what to say. He did save me from those empousai. I guess I can trust him. I shrug, and pop the square into my mouth. It tastes like the sponge cake my mom makes in her bakery. I close my eyes, taking in the taste of home; I definitely need that right now.
    The pain in my arm vanishes, and I'm filled with a warm feeling. I close my eyes, enjoying this moment while it lasts. Soon, the taste goes away, and so does the warm feeling. I'm reminded of where I am and what just happened. I look down at my arm. It's healed. The only sign that I was ever hurt is a small scar on my shoulder.
    "That stuff just healed me," I say. It sounds crazy, but after the empousai attack, I'm not surprised. This world is a lot weirder than I ever thought it could be. Monsters are real. Magical healing stuff exists. Wow.
    Leo nods. "It did."
"Okay, you have some explaining to do."
"Right," he says. "The whole demigod thing."
I watch him, expectantly. I'm finally going to figure out what all of this means. Hopefully.
"The gods are real."
He waits for me to react, but I just sit there in silence. The gods are real. The gods. I always thought that gods were a myth; science explains everything that used to be explained by those myths. Now, Leo's telling me that gods really do exist. I think my mind is going to explode.
"So, those gods had children," he continues. "Demigods."
"That's what you are," I say.
He smiles. "You're catching on!"
"Who's your godly parent?"
"Hephaestus," he says, sitting down next to me.
"God of the forge?"
He nods. "Looks like someone's been studying their Greek mythology."
"There was a mythology unit in middle school."
In sixth grade, there was an entire unit about Greek and Roman mythology. We learned about the gods and what they did. It was interesting, but in a learning-about-something-fictional way. Now, I have to learn to accept that gods exist.
"I see." He's silent for a moment. "Do you happen to be really smart?"
What kind of question is that? "I like to think that I'm smart, but I'm not a genius."
"Okay...We should probably get going."
"Where?" I ask. I think I already know his answer. He wants to take me to that camp. But, I'm not a demigod. I can't be. I don't belong at the camp; I belong here in New York with my mom. I can't just leave her behind. She'll worry about me! She'll call the police and search for me!
"Camp Half-Blood," he says, smiling.
So that's what it's called. Sounds suspicious. "I can't go with you," I say, shaking my head.
"You can!"
What does he not understand about this? I'm not a demi-god or whatever he calls it. I'm just a normal human who needs to wake up from this crazy dream. But I know this is all real. I suddenly feel sick. I guess I had just hoped I could explain this all away as a bad dream, but now I can't. It happened, and I can't forget it.
"I don't belong there!" I'm surprised by how loud my voice is. I didn't mean to yell at Leo, especially after how kind he's been to me.
Leo sighs. "You're a half-blood, so yes, you belong there."
"Then, who's my godly parent?" My voice is almost a whisper. I knew that he was going to tell me I'm a half-blood, but it's still a shock to hear. My whole world is flipping upside-down, and I feel like I'm barely holding on.
"I don't know," he says. "But, if you come with me, you'll find out."
"I can't."
It's true. I really can't go with him, no matter how tempting it is. My dad left me before I even met him. I don't have any memories of who he was or anything, just that he left my mother and I to fend for ourselves. I can't leave my mom like my dad did. That would make me no better than him, and I can't accept that. It's always been me and my mom against the world, and it'll stay that way.
"You have to." I open my mouth to speak, but he cuts me off. "If you don't, there will definitely be more monsters coming after you. I won't be here to help you. You'll always be on the run, and I don't think that's what you want."
I think about a life of running from monsters and fighting for my life on my own. It doesn't sound like a very good option. My other option is going with Leo to Camp Half-Blood and learning more about what being a demigod means. I could learn to defend myself. I could learn to protect my mother as well. That seems much better than dying alone in a monster fight.
"Fine," I say. It's a simple word, but I can barely force it out. One word can plunge me into this world of gods, demigods, and monsters. One choice can change everything. I'm afraid I made the wrong one.
Leo smiles. "Just wait until you meet the others!"
"The others?"
"I'll introduce you to them once we get there," he says, excitedly. The others must be his friends, since he seems so happy talking about them. The thought that there might be others like me—whatever that is—feels kind of good. I'm not the only one going through this, and maybe they can help me.
I nod, smiling for the first time since the empousai attack. "Let's get going, then."