Young Writers Society

After practicing with the instructor for so long, Travis's shoulders were aching terrible. But he was a warrior. His father had taught him that. To tell the truth, Marco had been more of a father than Zeus had ever been. All Travis had gotten was a dream that told him to come to camp. Then Coach Hedge had come and dragged Travis away from his parent's burning cabin. Travis sighed and sheathed his sword. He began the long walk back to his cabin.

Aidan- Poseidon

I curled against the tree, my entire body shivering violently. I tried to breathe, but every breath burned with flames ripping through my body. My chest panted, feeling like it would break in half. When I opened my eyes to try and catch my bearings, all I could see was a blur of green and brown. I realized that I was crying, though I couldn't even feel the tears running down my face.

I tried to remember the last clear memory. Ness explained capture the flag, told me to stay with him until I figured it out. He had told me it was a game, but a dangerous one. I meant to stay with him, I meant to follow his instructions. But then, what was it? What had happened to distract me?

Miranda. I'd seen her rush through the trees into the darkness of the forest. And then, after her, the other girl followed. Fire in her eyes, hatred radiating from her. I needed to follow; I needed to protect Miranda. And then, rain.

I remembered the rain falling down my face, drenching every part of me. I felt strengthened by the water, and encouraged somehow. A part of me knew that Ness was the one bringing on the rain, and I didn't mind suffering at his hands. Besides, the water had felt cool and refreshing, not threatening.

But the lightning, the lightning was not refreshing. I must have jumped five feet in the air when the first blast of lightning hit just inches away from me. That's when I panicked; I started running through the woods, branches scratching my face and cutting my arms and legs. I ran into one tree, there was probably blood caked on my face over the sweat, rain, and tears.

I'd seen Miranda, then, crouched down with her weapons raised. I had wanted to run forward and help her, but couldn't figure out how to make my muscles move. And then the other girl had come, and together the two of them had fought.

I thought they were flying the way they lifted and leaped, almost like a sick dance. And then, the blood. Miranda's body, like a piece of cloth being thrown aside carelessly. She was gone, dead. I knew it immediately, even without checking a pulse or listening for a heartbeat. The other girl, the murderer, disappeared into the woods, and I crawled forward to sit with the body.

Fear surrounded me like a monster, and I crawled into the shadows away from all the blood. I thought back to the Mistake. I saw in my mind another body, just like the one in front of me. However, I'd been the murderer.

"No!" I screamed into the darkness, and my whole body drew closer together in panic. I tried to make myself as small as possible, and continued to pull my legs forward and wrap my arms more tightly around my chest. My body jerked in unnatural convulsions, and the world in front of me flashed again and again.

Then the lightning struck again, and I sensed rather than felt that the bolt had made contact with my skin. I forced my eyes to stay open long enough to see an awful mess of black and red and purple taking over my left leg. I tried to breath, but everything continued to fade in and out.

And then, with the images of bodies floating before my eyes and the feeling of water rushing over my body, I let my eyes slide closed and my mind drift off into oblivion.

Ness Derack - Son of Posiedon

It was over, we lost. Two games in a row. They are so not putting you in charge next time. I let all the water I'd been controlling fall to the gravity; The river, my armor, even the reserves I'd kept in the ground just in case. The kid was good, I had to give him that, but he wasn't better than me. I would've beat him if it wasn't for that Rand guy. And if you hadn't tried to show off the whole time .

I walked over to him as he dropped to the floor, probably from exhaustion. Picking him up, and nodding to the girl who'd taken the flag, a Hermes kid, I set off for the camp hospital as the horn sounded to end the game. Ben squirmed in my grip as we walked.

"Don't make me have to throw you in the river."

* * *

I was just about to go back to my cabin when I noticed something was off. Where was Aidan? I didn't have to step in the cabin to know he wasn't there. He couldn't have gotten lost in the forest could he? If he was, that'd mean I'd have to walk all the way back there and go get him. I debated with myself for a moment between trusting him to be okay and thinking realistically.

This time, I am so dumping someone in the river.

* * *

I saw him lying there; bloody, battered, bruised, and alive. I'd like to believe he had fought a worthy battle and this was the result, but he probably just tripped over a rock and didn't feel like getting up. I got closer and noticed his face was contorted into a scowl. Aw, he's having a bad dream.

I reached out to pick him up, but quicker than anything I'd seen him do before, he raised his blade and brought it down beside me, missing the chance to plop my arm off by just an inch.

"Whoa there buddy, it's me, Ness." I said.

He forced an eye open and looked at me. He mumbled something and shut his eye again.

"I gotcha little guy, don't worry." I picked him, trying my hardest not to stress any of his wounds.

It was then I noticed the mark on his leg, a mark I'd seen many times before. He was struck by lighting, and by the looks of it, a very powerful bolt. Dammit Aidan, we're Poseidon kids, you're supposed to know how to protect yourself from lighting.

I was just about to head off to the infirmary when I caught sight of another body, just a bit away. It was a dark haired girl, it actually looked kind of like... Miranda? I looked between Aidan and Miranda, trying to figure out which one was more important. Fighting the silly thought of them ditching the game and having some lovey-dovey time with one another, I made my way to Miranda.

She was still alive, luckily. It would've been a problem if anyone found me out here with a dead camper. Do you know how much explaining that is? I set Aiden down beside her and back up a bit. After a few deep breathes, I raised my hand in front of me. The dirt below them, still moist from the fresh storm, began to rumble as the water rose from beneath it. Soon the two were enveloped in the liquid and I rose my hands higher, their bodies following along. Aw, aren't they so cute together. No, I had to focus. Carrying them in sacs of water, I hurried to the infirmary for the second time today.

* * *

It was morning when I checked on them again. Aidan was still knocked out, but they looked much better than he had the night before. I didn't see Miranda anywhere, adn thought she slipped away during the night. I made my way over to Ben, who also looked like he was doing much better. He was just blinking away sleep when I showed up.

"Ambrosia does wonders, doesn't it?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded.

"I didn't get to tell you this after the game, but good job out there. You're a natural, kid. And that stuff with fire? Awesome."

"Thanks Ne-"

"But remember one thing," I cut him off and pointed my trident at him, "You ever challenge me like that again, I won't hold back."

He looked scared for about a fraction of a second before he started smirking, "Oh yeah?"

I smiled at him and lowered my trident, "Take care, kid."

And after a few pats on the shoulder, we parted ways, me making my way back to the Poseidon cabin for a much needed nap.

Lexi-Ares
After Capture the Flag



I rushed to the infirmary. There was a large gash on my left arm, but that's not why I was there. My brother was being carried there by Rand and Abri. How had I not noticed that he was hurt? Why wasn't I there fighting by his side?

Oh yeah, that's right; I was too busy with my own objective. How selfish of me. I should've just played the game and fought. Maybe then we would've won.

That's the first game of Capture the Flag that I have not been a real factor. I didn't fight anyone at all. Was I going soft? Was this the key to my undoing? Gemini coming back to camp was bad in more ways than one.

I needed to stop being so hung up on this. Gemini was back and I know that no matter what happened, we would never be friends again. And I was fine with that-I think.

They lay Alex on a bed in the infirmary and I rush over. I knelt down next to the bed and looked at my brother. He didn't seem to have too many injuries, but he was still bad off.

"Hey, Alex," I said. "How are you doing?" He blinked his eyes open and squinted in my direction. Groaning, he tried to sit up. But I pushed him back down, forcing him to lie down.

"Not bad. I just got beat up a bit, that's all."

"You'll be fine." I wanted to say more, but nothing came to mind. So I just sat there and watched my brother drift back into sleep.

I sat there until a satyr came by and dragged me to a bed. He started to wrap up my arm and feed me ambrosia. I didn't resist. I wished that I could, but i was just feeling so darn lazy. So I let him fix me up and then I fell into a deep sleep littered with nightmares.

*bangs head on desk* IT'S SO LONG. Grrrr! Sorry guys! :/ Well, I guess I get the "Longest post award". Joy -.-
Hopefully I made it a tad bearable

Daemon : Dionysus : Wednesday morning

:Infirmary:


:Cabin/Breakfast/Beach:


Like I said, long. (Sorry again)

@xXmusicaXx So I left a gap between when Maya wakes up to when they go to Daemon's cabin. You can fill that gap with whatever you want. You can have them talk about whatever, do whatever, I don't really care, but I just wanted to give you the chance to write about their relationship. So yeah, I feel kinda bad about just leaving her in the cabin. I was thinking that maybe Lalia could drop by, cause in Dutiful's earlier post, Daemon told her that she could come see the kittens whenever she wants.
@Sunshine So Maya and Daemon are just really close friends, so Ella doesn't have anything to be worry about (although that would be a fun plot twist. I could totally see her getting jealous of their relationship ;D)

Ben Richard-Apollo-Wednesday Morning

"Take care, kid." Ness smiled and walked away, his trident in hand.

I sighed and leaned back against my pillow, my arms crossed behind my head. Everything ran through my head like a silent black and white movie, then I remembered, dad had visited me. It was the first time in my life I had ever seen him, I smiled and rolled over to look out the window next to me.

The sun had risen in the sky and I was disappointed that I had missed it rise. It was still morning though and I think breakfast was starting soon. I sat up in my bed and using all the will-power I could muster, I stood up and stretched. It felt like I was trying to stretch rusted metal though as my muscles fought against me. I eventually gave up and looked at myself in the mirror beside my cot.

My hair was a brown mess and sticking up in all different directions. I was still wearing my mud-caked clothes from yesterday, they were torn up and looked like rags. I was still bare-foot and I had small cuts all the way up my arms, probably from running through the forest. I smirked at my reflection. Looking good.

Luckily someone had brought some of my clothes from the cabin. I looked around self-consciously for a moment before taking off my rags and replacing them with a blue t-shirt and a pair of tan cargo shorts.

Eclipse was propped up next to my cot and had a new sheath. I smiled as I examined it. It was a simple celestial bronze sheath but when you looked close enough, it had a sun with rays of light spiraling up and around the base like vines engraved into it. I wonder who I had to thank for this? There was even a leather strap attached to it so I could strap it around my shoulder.

After fastening Eclipse to my back, feeling happy about it's new sheath. I put on a pair of sandals and made my way out of the infirmary, I felt a little guilty about not checking out with the nurses but I think the ambrosia had done enough.

I breathed in fresh air and started walking towards the dining hall for breakfast. Hopefully I'm not too late. I passed by the cabins on my way and waved at some fellow campers. I was getting a little more popular from my fight with Ness during capture the flag. I smiled as the sun blinded me and I had shade my eyes. Stop it, dad.

I reached the mess hall and stopped half way through. Where was I supposed to sit? Did I sit with my cabin or can I sit anywhere? I spotted a table of cute Aphrodite girls. Okay, not going near that table. My shyness was starting to kick in as I stood there awkwardly. Man this was just like school when I little.

I suddenly wished I had gone back to my cabin to clean up and fix my hair. People were probably staring, man why did I do this? Maybe if I walked away now, not as many people would notice. I still just stood there debating with myself.

"Hey, Ben!" someone yelled.

Ignore this.

Abri Moreau, daughter of Aphrodite
Wednesday morning

It was after Abri cared for the pegasi with Ella that she overheard someone talk about Gemini's whereabouts.

"She's what?" Abri had asked the kid who seemed shocked that she even approached him. She didn't know who this kid was or his name or godly parents, but it didn't matter. Abri was the queen of gossip in this place, so why didn't anyone tell this to her sooner?

"Gemini's, uh, ermm..." This kid was squirming like he was uncomfortable that Miss Mean Girl Abri was towering above him. "She's, um, in the infirmary?" It was hard to tell whether that was a statement or question.

But the infirmary? Why? What happened? A surge of worry started to spill across her face, and Abri quickly dismissed Ella and the stuttering guy, making her way through the sleepy crowd and into the infirmary.

Although Abri was used to waking up early, others weren't; some people were sleeping, others were just waking up with stretches and yawns, and others looked kind of...well...like they're half-dead. Abri hated blood or medicine or stains or smelly things or stinky people or dead things for that matter, and this infirmary was full of it. People were coughing and wheezing and, yuck, gross! She was so never going to visit this place again, but Gemini was important in her past, and after being gone for so long, she's here again, here in flesh and blood, here in this very camp, and very much alive.

Or...is she? Immediately Abri's captivating and alluring eyes searched the room, looking for a dirty blonde head that belonged to Gemini: that weird Dionysus kid on one bed, that other weird Demeter kid in another, then that weird Hades girl she also didn't care about, some more kids she didn't give a flying harpy about, then there, in the corner, peacefully laid Gemini. Abri immediately made her way over there while the people that were in her way moved out so she could get through, probably thinking in their mind, "What? Is that really Abri visiting this smelly infirmary? No way!"

Gracefully while her perfectly curled dark hair bounced with every move, she swooped by Gemini's bed and carefully peeled her hair out of her face. For a very brief horrifying moment, Abri thought she was dead. With her pale pace and unmoving body, who could blame her for that thought? But after Gemini took a slow deep breath, she sighed in relief that her old friend was, in fact, very much alive—though maybe barely.

"Gem..." Abri said softly, worry laced into her voice. She thought back to her old childhood days with Gem and Lexi and herself as a good bonding trio, developing a strong friendship with each other. She knew that, once upon a time, everything seemed to fall into place and they were great friends, but those times were over and it was time to move on. They grew up. They changed. They just weren't the same anymore.

Though for for whatever reason that Abri just couldn't fathom, she was still limply holding onto that thin, fragile string connecting to Gemini in hopes that maybe, just maybe, something will click and the old days will return. But her words from two days ago still echoed in her mind: I was born to murder the gods, murder Zeus.There are twelve of us, each destined to murder our parent and take their thrones...

Gemini has always been a spiteful one towards her father, but how, even after all these years, did it come to this? And here, right now, beside her, what happened? Were her wounds caused by something she did? Something she said? No. No, it had to be CTF; that was why everyone else was here. So, that was it, right? She just got into a nasty fight with someone? Shivers went down Abri's back. The fight she witnessed between Ness and Ben was pretty bad, but the fight between Gemini and the other mystery person must be so much worse...

Gemini stirred.

"Gem," Abri called. "Can you hear me?"

Gemini paused for a moment, groaned, then slowly opened her eyelids while blinking back the dim light embracing her vision. "Ughh," she moaned.

Abri waited for her to gain consciousness before speaking up again. "What happened?" she asked.

"Abri..?" Gemini said instead while groggily making her way out and into the thick sea of awakening. "I was at Capture the Flag." She suddenly looked in fury around as if she was looking for someone but then stopped. "Never mind that," she assured. "What are you doing here?"

Abri handed her some nectar that was sitting nearby, urging her to drink it. "I heard you were here, so I came to check up." She paused then smiled. "Not rather popular, are you?"

Gemini ignored that last statement by gulping down the nectar, finally nourished and looking a thousand times healthier.

"Gem," Abri began again. "I wanted to know wh—"
"Join me, Abri," she interjected.
Abri blinked a few times, not really getting what she was saying. "Join you in what?"

Gemini propped herself on her bed, getting herself comfortable as if this was going to be a conversation she was going to enjoy. "Remember what you told me when we were younger? You'll always be my side no matter what."

Abri fidgeted, not liking where this was going. "I did, but with the promise that you'd never leave mine. And, Gem, you left. You left Lexi and me alone. It's not exactly the same anymore."

"But I'm back now, aren't I?" She smiled, almost as if she was trying to welcome her and coax her into something. "So join me."

"Join you in what?" Abri repeated.

Gemini looked happy that she asked. "Join me in the fight against the gods. I know you're capable, Abri; I know you are. You'd join me in my plan and destiny, wouldn't you?"

The words from two days echo echoed in her mind again.

I was born to murder the gods, murder Zeus.There are twelve of us, each destined to murder our parent and take their thrones.

Twelve of them... And Gemini was inviting her to be one of them?

No.
No, she couldn't.
Abri would never murder her mother.
She would never...

"Gem..." She said instead.

Gemini patiently waited for her answer, giving her a pressing look to continue on.

"I..." Abri said, "...can't."

Time seemed to hold its breath while waiting for Gemini's next move. A dark, hurt look suddenly shadowed her face while she looked away, quiet, silent, unmoving. She paused for a long time before saying, "No. First Lexi, and now you. You can't do this to me, Abriella."

Abriella. No one ever called her that, and if they did, it was usually on a serious topic that Chiron had to talk to her about. Hearing Gemini say that to her was almost like an insult—like they weren't friends anymore.

"Friends"? Could Abri even call her a friend? She didn't know her anymore. Gemini was different. She was not the same Gemini many years ago. No, she was different—she was someone else.

"Gem, I'm sorry, but I—"
"Get out."
"Excuse me?" Abri scoffed.

Gemini was still looking away from her, her face dark with untold secrets. "You heard what I said: get out. You said so yourself; if you're not going to stand by my side, then I'm not going to stand by yours. So get out."

Abri couldn't believe what she just said to her. Even with their history together, she was going to dismiss her just...like...that? Anger started to bubble to the surface and Abri turned her heels to walk away dismissively as if she didn't need Gemini in her life anymore, but she knew that that wasn't wholly true. Yes, she could let her go, but she worried for her friend; why was she doing this? Her plan was horrible—evil. Abri knew she had to stop her, but didn't know know how. At the same time, her stubborn self was shining; Gemini didn't want her anymore, so fine, for now, she'll gladly return the favor even when, deep inside, it was sad to let someone once beloved to her slip out of her hands.

She wondered if Rand felt this way about her too.

No matter. It didn't matter. Gemini obviously didn't want anything to do with her just because she didn't want to be in her stupid evil plan of hers, and that was that. She knew that eventually they would butt heads again, but for now, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered; she just had to keep going.

What a waste of time, Abri thought, trying to assure herself that Gemini wasn't important in her life anymore. Shaking the thought away, she tried to focus on the now and present: breakfast. The campers were now for the most part awake and moving, most of which heading towards the cafeteria to eat. Before Abri followed the crowd, she quickly made her way to her cabin to check herself out in the mirror. Makeup, perfect. Hair, perfect. Clothes, perfect. In general, perfect and stunning and gorgeous, but Abri already knew that; she just had to look in the mirror again to know that she was Abri Moreau, daughter of Aphrodite, most popular girl on camp, and an old friend in the past was not going to change that.

Satisfied, she sprayed herself with perfume to wash away the smell of dead groggy people before making her way out of her pink cabin and into the wafty mess hall. Immediately she was greeted with people who barely knew the names of.

"Hi, Abri, how are you?"
"Abri, it's good to see you!"
"Mornin', Abri! You look great."

In return, she'd show off her Aphrodite-blessed smile, every so often giving them back a greeting that would melt their little hearts out. Finally, she made herself to the selected clique of Aphrodite where only the most popular girls sit, but someone was awkwardly standing nearby as if he was trying to decide whether he should talk to them or not. Her girls giggled at the table before silently motioning Abri to sit with them to bat eyes at the awkward guy standing there looking at them, but Abri recognized him. Oh, yes, did she know him.

"Hey, Ben!" she said airily, gingerly giving him a hug from behind before pulling back and smiling at him. "You look nice today." Well, okay, not really. He had a couple warrior wounds all bandaged up, though that may have just added onto the charm since she witnessed his fight yesterday against Ness. All the better!

"You were really brave out there yesterday," Abri continued on, still smiling. "So, what do you say about sitting with us for breakfast?"

A few people made "Oooh!" sounds as they overheard their conversation, but Abri merely smiled, then looked back to find a familiar face: Rand. They briefly made eye contact, but then she looked away and guided Ben towards her table, happily setting him down as others watched them.

If someone had told her that, for her eighteenth birthday, she and her incredibly hot friend would be out on the streets, laughing carelessly and running as they succeeding in shoplifting from a store, Juliet would have believed them. In fact, if she hadn't done that, then something would have been wrong with the world, indeed.

"Thanks for my new bracelet." Juliet sang, leaning over to kiss Simon's stubby cheek as they sauntered down the alleyway. On her slender pale wrist was a spiked, clunky bracelet that was sharp as nails.

"Just don't harm yourself, kitten." Simon chuckled, his hands hooked loosely into his blue jeans as he walked beside the woman.

"So, what's for dinner? Cup O' Noodles again?" She grimaced, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Nah, we're gonna go out tonight. McDonalds, cuisine, baby!"

Juliet burst into snorts and they had to stop and clutch the alleyway wall, doubled over in laughter. "S-seriously?" Juliet stammered, literally wiping away a mascara-tinted tear as she gazed up at him, her amber eyes filled with adoration.

"Nah, kitten, wherever you wanna go. Made some extra bucks working overtime last weekend." He said, giving her a coy wink.

"That's what you were doing? You said you were out of town! You lied to me." Juliet straightened up and leveled him with a fierce glare, scowling.

Smirking, he gently cupped her face and pecked her lips, then roughly yanked on her blonde tresses and pushed her down the direction they were walking in. "Your point? I'm feeding your ass, so zip it."

Rolling her eyes, she lightly grasped his arm and continued to walk when she noticed a man at the end of the aleyway, staring at them. Immediately on defense, she tensed and felt Simon's movement as his hand slowly inched towards the pocket knife in his pocket.

The man started to walk towards them, in a weird and unstable fashion, as if he was teethering in platform heels.

"Simon? What the-"

"Shh." Simon hissed as he slid the pocket knife out and started to swing it open.

The man, rather odd looking with baggy jeans and a black beanie on his head, raised his hands in submission as he stopped in front of them. "Whoa, there. No need for such weapons, I'm only here to help you, Juliet Roman and Simon Harrison."

"How do you know our names?" Juliet snapped, her fists clenched as she glared at him.

"My name is Frank and I'm what's called a Seeker, from a place called Camp Half-Blood. Come with me. You've much to learn."

*~*~*

Juliet and Simon were packed in an hour. It didn't take much convincing, once Frank slid off his jeans to reveal his satyr half. He explained to them, as they took a taxi from Illinois to the airport, then to New York, that they were the children of a Greek god, most likely a male since they both were born to mortal women.

Juliet couldn't quite place how or why, but she believed him. She knew she had always been different; but always believed it was because she was a freak. No, she knew now that she never imagined those monsters she saw as a child, but soon forgot as the Mist took over.

Now that they knew, the Mist had been lifted and their eyes were wide open. While that was great in some aspects, it was terrible in others. They were at a higher risk of being in danger, which became inevidable the moment they reached Long Island Sound and was maybe twenty feet aaway from camp.

They were attached. She wasn't sure by what, because something suddenly striked her across the back of herhead and she passed out. When she came to, the satyr was dead and Simon was covered in gashes as he stood the ground before her, protecting her. "RUN!" He yelled as loud as he could, a bronze-looking club in his hands.

Behind him, a mass of shadows swirled around, then formed into the head of a snake. It rised its head to strike, and Juliet ran forward. She felt something change inside her as she grabbed the club from Simon and spun, raising it in a high arch. She seemed to wield the object expertly, roughly slamming it into the head of the snake as it shot forward.

It evaporated, then turned to black dust that settled into the ground and disappeared. Not bothering to think, she spun on her heel and ran to Simon, who had finally lost enough blood to stumble onto the floor, his eyes drooping.

She secured the club under his arm and picked him up, with surprising strength, then ran. Ran as fast as she could, covering distance phenomenally until she passed the tree with a golden coat on it, until she was well within the camp's grounds.

She ran until she found where everyone was, in the Pavillion, eating. The noise was loud, the chatter of demigods excited and hapoy, until she was spotted. Then it was quiet. Juliet ignored the stares, her fierce amber eyes flashing dangerously as she stormed up to the head table, where a centaur sat. This must be Chiron, head of the camp.

"Get me some damn nector and ambrosia. Now!" She snapped, her voice echoing over the entire land as her friend nestled in her arms, dying.

Laila- Hermes
Wednesday Morning.

I jumped as soon as I saw Ben flop down on the bed. I rushed to his side and looked at him, concern etching my face. But his steady breathing calmed me. He must have been so tired. What a friend I was.
I sat back down on my chair and thought about everything he'd just told me. It was weird for sure. But also, simply amazing. I guess I'd underestimated sons of Apollo. I yawned loudly and felt my eyes droop as my head fell forward.
***
I woke to a sharp pain in my neck. It took me a while to realize where I was. I saw Ben stirring. What was I doing here? Then I remembered. I slapped my palm to my forehead. What had I been thinking? Coming in to the infirmary at 3 in the morning. I guess I was that messed up.

I was about to leave when I heard footsteps approaching towards the room. I panicked and looked for a good place to hide. The only place was the curtains, and they were quite long to hide my short little body.

I had just tucked my self behind the curtains when I heard a deep male voice talk to Ben. I was curious to see who it was, so I peered out from behind the curtain. It was the guy who had been guarding the blue flag, son of Poseidon. Ness was it?
As soon as Ness left, Ben got up and left. I waited a few minutes more before I slipped out of my hiding spot and quietly left the place.
I quickly had a shower and went to my cabin to get my dagger. It was when I entered the cabin, I noticed something odd. The cabin felt..empty. I looked to Miria's side of the cabin and found it was empty, showing no trace that a girl named Miria had lived there. I felt panic rise within me. Where was she? Had something happened to her? My mind traveled to the night of the party, when I'd overheard a girl name Gem and someone else talk about killing the Gods. It was two days since I'd thought of that night.

Someone wanted to kill the Gods and now my half sister is missing. I felt sick. I needed a distraction. I didn't want to have breakfast, so I simply stood at the door of my cabin and looked forward, rather sullen. My gaze fell on the Dionysus cabin and I felt happy at the thought of Mr. Puddykin. I decided to drop him a visit. I quickly hurried towards the Mess Hall and asked for two bowls of milk, one for Mr.Puddykin and the other for the other kittens. I skipped happily towards the cabin and knocked, while humming to myself. A rather sullen looking Daemon opened the door and I was surprised at how sour he looked.
"What?" he asked sounding irritated. I was thrown aback by the tone and managed to hold the bowls steady. "I..I.. kitten..Puddy.." I stuttered and gestured tot he tow bowls of fresh milk. He looked at the milk and his gaze softened, albeit a little. A little. he nodded and gestured me to come inside.

Inside, I saw he wasn't alone. There was a girl. And not any girl, but the one who had turned me into a vine mummy. Whom I had knocked out brutally last night. Who also happened to have a pet panther. I was stunned and I almost dropped the milk. I looked at Daemon and then back to the girl and then back to Daemon.
"What are you staring at?" he asked, his tone back to harsh.
I sighed inwardly and looked straight at the girl. Daemon's tone was really starting to get to me.
"Is he always like that?" I asked, jumping with joy on the inside at my new courage to talk to people I didn't know.
The girl chuckled and smiled a brilliant smile at me and said, "Mostly."
"Hey, I'm still in the room here ,Maya," Daemon said, but smiling.
Maya. Wait-what? Had Daemon smiled, actually smiled? I looked at him, my jaw dropping at the sight of his smile.
He saw the look on my face and his face returned the usual sourness. i closed my hanging mouth and turned to the kittens who were playing with Maya and I immediately forgot about everyone in the room. I placed the bowls gently on the ground and called out to the kitties, "Mister Puuddyykinn, come here you cute kitty." Instead another kitten came forward and I squealed, while hugging it to my chest.
"Aren't you a cutie! Come on, lets get you nicely fed up." With my free hand I brought one bowl closer to me and placed the kitten right at the edge of it. It gave a purr and drank half of the container. I pulled it back before it drank the entire bowl and cooed, "Someone's hungry. Leave some for the other cats, you hungry little kitten"
And sure enough, soon the other kittens joined the little breakfast party and were happily drinking their milk. I sighed contentedly and finally looked up and found Daemon shaking his head, while Maya was giggling. I blushed to the roots of my hair and looked around, anywhere but them, clearing my throat while doing so.

That made Maya giggle harder and I suddenly realised I hadn't apologised for knocking her out last night.
I cleared my throat some more and said, "Er, Maya, I'm really sorry about last night, you know, the dagger and.." I motioned my hand hitting my head. Now, Maya started laughing all the more harder. I even saw a ghost of a smile on Daemon's face before it vanished.
"Thats alright. Apology accepted." I smiled tentatively and watched the kittens suck the last drop out of the bowls. I sighed and took the two bowls and got up to leave. Daemon looked a little happy at that and I stuck my tongue out at him and waved to Maya. As I left the cabin, I felt really happy at having done something so normal.

I hummed happily and made my way to Peleus. He huffed a cloud of smoke as I came near him.
"Good to see you too," I said and dropped next to him.
I put my hand on his scales and started rubbing my way up and down. I liked the feel of his scales. I inhaled a great chunk of morning air and said, "If only like were like this everyday."
I started humming to a song I loved very much and soon, started singing, loudly at that. I was just about to finish the song, when I heard footsteps behind me. I blushed and turned to see who it was that had caught me singing so blissfully.

Ben- Apollo- Breakfast

Wait, did Abri just say my name? I looked around a little confused until she walked over to me. "You look nice today." she said, gingerly hugging me before pulling me back and smiling. Okay, major brain malfunction. Maybe Ness hit me harder on the head than I thought. Calm down, Ben, just play it cool.

"Hi, I mean, hello, well, you look very gourg-pretty... you like nice today," smooth.
Luckily for me she just smiled and sat me down next to her at the table. My face was getting a little red and I swear people were staring. I looked over and saw Rand looking at me but he turned his head away when he noticed I was looking at him. Why didn't I sit with him? Was he upset?

Abri sat cheerfully next to me and started talking to the other Aphrodite girls at the table. I think I was the only guy there actually. What a day this is turning out to be. Abri was actually very nice to me and since she was being nice so were the other girls at the table. Though they talked mainly about guys, hair and gossiped. Oh my gods, did they gossip.

I blushed when one of the other girls turned to talk to me. She was so pretty, but I guess thats what happens when you're a daughter of Aphrodite. I was so smooth too, I didn't once spill food on her or get slapped. In my book that is being smooth. But my moment of actually being a guy attractive girls want to talk to ended as I heard yelling.

"Get me some damn nector and ambrosia. Now!" I looked over and gasped. Everything had gone quite as we all looked at a girl holding a dying teen in her arms. I ran forward but stopped when Abri mouthed "don't get involved" to me. But he was dying, and I could help.

A moral war engaged in my mind and different feelings ran through me as I stood there, debating whether to help this guy or be in the Aphrodite cabin's favor. I finally decided to help the guy though, no amount of popularity is worth risking another guys death. The crowd around him parted as the girl started screaming at everyone to get out of the way.

I knelt down next to him and the girl glared at me. "Go away, now."

"But I can help," I tried.

"I said go away!" she yelled at me.

For some reason something inside of me snapped when she yelled at me though and I felt heat surge up my arms. "Do you want him to die! I am going to help him and there is nothing you can do to stop me!" I yelled back at her, she looked surprised then furious but she didn't argue.

It looked like snake bites all the way up his left arm and side. I cringed, he was bleeding quickly, but I didn't know if he had any poison left in his system. I looked around for anyone who could either tell if there was poison or get it out of his system.

Rand came over and knelt next to me. "Is there any venom?" he asked, both of us now in doctor mode. I looked at him "I can't tell, usually there are symptoms associated with venom but I can't find any here." Rand inspected the wounds then looked back at me. "It won't matter if there is venom or not if we don't patch him up now, he his bleeding fast and ambrosia can help with any poison later."

I sighed and thanked Rand, if he hadn't of been there, I wouldn't of known what to do. I started wrapping his wounds with gauze smeared with antibacterial medicine from a first aid kit someone had brought me. I then knotted it tightly and tied a piece of string slightly above his wound to help reduce blood flow and apply pressure.

I sighed and leaned back, Rand still next to me, observing his little brother and giving suggestions here and there. The guy might live, I''m not sure. It all depends on how effective the ambrosia will be if he is poisoned. Rand and I both started lifting him up to take him to the infirmary nearby but we were stopped by the girl who rudely insisted on carrying him herself. She lifted him up in both arms and started moving him to the infirmary. Wow, she was strong.

Lucas Amor- Aphrodite

Diary Journal Entry- Une

Dear diary dang-it, Journal,

Today has to have been the worst day of my once glorious life. *Sigh* maybe even worst than the day I ran out of styling gel for my hair and I had to walk around like an (still extremely god-like) idiot. I will recount my sad, death defying, saga to you, my only friend in this icky camp. Go get a box of tissues now before it's too late. I think I'm tearing up just writing this.

It all started with a pair of pants. I was minding my own business, cruising the New York shops when this big, ugly, smelly, icky man grabbed me by the shoulder. Now, I may or may not of just stolen rescued a pair of three hundred and fifty dollar pants earlier. But that is beside the point, well the man was a cop, but still. I tried explaining to him that I was doing the shop a favor just by being there and drawing in more costumers with my good drop dead amazing looks. But he would have none of it.

I was brutally assaulted and man-handled by this low-life and forced into his car. So, just for your information, I may have already had three ...two encounters with the law in the big apple. But in my defense, that old lady had no right to ruffle my hair and call me cute. Cute! What am I a dog? No, I am a work of art.

But back to the problem at hand. When this man brought me back to the now familiar juvenile detention center, I had to call Nicholas. My father. Ugh, my palms are sweating just remembering it. Gross. So I assumed Nicholas would just slap me on my wrists and bail me out. Like usual. But this time, he seemed mad. Like, unattractively mad, spit was probably flying everywhere and he was foaming at the mouth, kind of mad as he yelled at me from the other end of the phone.

So he bailed me out, after an intense conversation with him. In my genius mind at the time, I thought I was free to live my life as king of everyone. But that is when Nicholas said the words that ruined my life. This is where you want to get those tissues. "You're cut off." After those devastating words, he hung up and left me on my own in the Big Apple.

I felt like a fallen, gorgeous, sexy, chiseled... what was I talking about? Oh right, how great I am. I felt like a misunderstood Angel cast out from Heaven and forced to live among the ugly Earth scum. It was, pardon my language, heck.

So I wandered, and tried to blend in among the commoners. It was hard though, it was like trying to hide a diamond in a pile of rusted pennies. But I eventually got the hang of it and even adopted some street slang. Unfortunately, no hardcore NY gangs were looking for a gorgeous French member. Their loss.

That is when I found, him. I'm not even going to give him the satisfaction of my perfectly formed hand writing out his icky name. He was dressed in these ugly baggy jeans that looked bulky in all the wrong places. And he walked around with a cane. Brya, I mean 'he who shall not be named' told me I needed to get out of NYC.

He told me that I was the son of a god, I snorted. Just son? I would be less surprised if he told me father. I honestly had nowhere to go though so I followed him. And let me tell you, it was... Hades? Sure, it was Hades, whatever that is, I think it means hell heck. After halfway to what he called "camp" he took off his pants.

Those who have trouble with traumatic situations, stop reading now. He slid off his baggy jeans and revealed his big, long... goat legs. I kid you not. Goat legs. So I acted like a normal person and freaked out calmly assessed the situation. First I went through denial, then anger, then acceptance. Of course, I left out a few stages of sexiness but I assume you already knew about this.

So started my life as a demi-god. I knew I was always part god but I never thought it would be announced. Brya 'he who shall not be named' explained to me about other demi-gods and what camp was. Totes normal. Not.

We then arrived at Camp and that is when the real... Hades began. Starting with me gracing an average looking blond with my presence. I may recount to you what happens next but may not have the heart to do it. So for now, I will go and get my beauty sleep.

@Wonder, @Dragonette, and @Dante- this monster is for you guys.

Ella Pond

I stand in front of a cabin that is rather hideous for the sake of being nice.

And I am so tired of being nice.

From what I know, Hermes is the God of Travelers, or something like that. According to my sister Violet (who makes Abri look like an angel) all the 'unclaimed' kids go there before their godly parent "get's arrond to claiming their ugly butts". Lena Tran looks positively uncomfortable standing in front of its mish-mashed form; even I, a perfect newbie, can see that this is not her home.

Violet, who was the first person I could find that wasn't a.) not related to me, b.) clueless, or c.) in the infirmary. She was a bit of a stuck up twit and, having done what I asked her to do, she looked positively bored.

"This is where you'll be staying, sweetie-" she made sweetie sound menancing-"so you better get used to it. Now, I have to get my beauty sleep." She makes a gesture at the setting sun before winking at me. "See you later, sis."

She walks away, twitching her hips in a strutting motion probably meant to show off her butt, but really just made her look like a retarted hippo.

I turn back to Lena. She, too, looks exhausted, but it is friendly across her face. "I got you where you needed to go, like I promised. I'll see you later, kay?"

Lena, lugging her suitcase, is just staring at the cabin. "He's not my Dad, you know. Hermes."

I feel bad for her, but my eyes feel droopy with sleep. It has been such a ridiculously long, not to mention strange, day. I had done my duty, fufilled my promises; and now I was ready to fall over, dead. "Yeah. I can't do much about that, though. Hope you get 'claimed'," I make air quotations, "soon. Lena, I need to sleep before I fall into craziness. Trust me, if you think I'm bad now..."

"Right." Her voice falls. ""I guess I will, then. See you around, I mean."

I'm so tired, that's good enough for me. I walk away from Lena Tran before she even walks into her cabin, finding the way to my own strictly through the strong smell of perfume.

****

Breakfast is every bit the stereotypical mean girl mess I never wanted to eat at.

Nobody eats anything, which is so bad for my self-esteem, thank you. We drag some poor Apollo boy to our table, and Abri flirts with him for the entire breakfast. The girls gossip while flicking straightened or curled hair over their shoulders; I feel awkward in my warm, frizzy mess. I have nothing to say, so I laugh in all the right places, and flick around Ben's hair when Abri winks at me. I avoid eating the pancakes until I have drapped them in Greek yogurt and fruit, and then they taste good enough for me to forget about everybody elses stomach and dive right in.

I stop only when I feel another heartbeat, closer to my own.

It is not someone making moves on me, but the power that Chiron had mentioned Yesterday. I grasp the table, panic crossing every part of my body. I have no clue what is happening to me, but I can see a pulsing light across my eyes. It is fading, like the one that I saw Yesterday, and I know what it means. A storm is coming. The pancakes in my mouth feel dry and tasteless. Nausea causes me to push my plate in the garbage. With every movement I make, the pain gets worse. I am no longer paying attention to Violet's latest conquest, or how cute Ben's hair is. I can feel my muscles ache with the pulse of the heart; it beats less and less as the pain intesifies.

I need to get out of here.

Barely able to see, I find my way out of the Mess Hall as someone pushes by me. The pain gets at its worse for a moment, but then it is so dull, pushed under my own thoughts. What was that? My legs take me to the beach. I do not want to go back to the Mess Hall; something bad is about to happen, and I don't want to be around for it.

I find a small, shady patch of reeds and sit myself down in them. I feel empty without my sister's besides me, or the heart beating faintly in my ear. I reach out to it, but it is no longer there, an empty place where something used to be. I feel crushed, lost. Does this mean that someone died? I don't want to think about that. I'd rather think about anything but that. This place has not been bad to me; I do not want to see it ruined by morbid thoughts and a 'power' I don't even believe in. Perhaps that feeling was just a bad migraine?

I hear a noise behind me, and I jump up, prepared to fight whoever- or whatever- it was off. My shoulders slump from a fighting position in the relief that it is just the skinny boy from the party last night. Totally unthreatening.

"Um, hey."

"Hi." I want to stand there as awkwardly as he is right now, shoulders slumped and hands stuck deeply into his pockets, but I can't. Ella Pond has a semi-famous Daddy and a modeling job that destroyed her self-confidence; she doesn't so awkward. "We met the other night, right?"

"Yeah. I'm, er, Daemon. Don't know if I told you that last night."

I expect him to say, 'And you're Ella Pond, the girl who screamed her name off the edge of a cliff', but he doesn't. He just looked at me blankly. He can't have forgotten! No day could have been busy enough to forget my name, I'm fairly certain. The kid looks like he's been through a hurricane and back, and I can feel the distress coming off of him, even without some stupid 'Power', but that still doesn't give him an excuse.

I give him a once-over, like the one I know he gave me last night. He has wonderful hair, all curls and waves, but he is shorter than me, and automatically less attractive by default. His skinniness is freightening, and he scrawnier than I'd ever seen a guy before, which kinda made me intruiged. Guys, all guys, have a manly men complex; 'me need thick shoulders to attract female species.'

"You're lucky you have hot hair," I mutter.

"What?"

I put on a smile, straightening my white shorts. "Nothing! I'm Ella, in case you've forgotten."

"Right."

He doesn't say if he did or didn't, just trails back into his awkward silence. By now, I've forgotten all about the heartbeat in my head. This boy, here, is the task at hand. "Sit with me?"

Daemon doesn't argue, and I sit back down, leaving a spot for him. He barely fills it, but he sits down.

Neither of us say anything. He seems to think his social duty is fufilled by the mere act of sitting with me, but I am inclined to disagree.

I don't mean to, but his heartbeat feels my ear, and I know I'm doing it again. I push it away, No, let me be normal! I think back to what I saw Yesterday, what I saw in him. I could taste the loneliness, the loss in him. What I saw in him was not black and evil, but a bitter shade of dark green.

"What's your favorite color?" I ask, hoping to bring something out in him with a random comment, a brightening question.

He doesn't so much as blink. "Purple."

"That's a girly color, you know that, right?"

"Do you have a problem with it?" There is a dangerous edge to his voice, one that I do not like.

"No. The world needs more girly men."

To my surprise, he laughs. It is a pleasant laugh, one full of jingling bells. I like it, because it is beautiful. Daemon takes a sip of his monster.

"I don't think I'm particularly girly."

"No?" I look at his waist, but don't mention anything. I'm not that dumb. " Shame. I adore guys with a bit of estrogen in their system."

Daemon seems a bit uncomfortable with my flirting, but its a happy awkward, I'd like to think. He chuckles, and its not as good as the laugh, but close enough. "Yeah, well, you're probably the only one."

"So you're admitting it?"

"Admitting what?"

I tease him, putting my hand over his. "You're girly."

Daemon isn't sure what to say. His face falls, and all the joy I just added to his life is seemingly sucked out of him. "Yeah, well, not eating seems to point in that direction."

His words are dark, muttered things, they send out a red alert in my brain. I remember what I saw again, the loneliness I found myself relating to. No. Freaking. Way.

I scoot closer to him. I can feel his actually heartbeat through his clothes, and I know that if he laughed again, I could feel that vibration too. My hand wraps itself in his. I hope that the loneliness is a little bit less; nobody deserves that much loneliness, that much emptiness in their lives.

I am one step closer to understanding him, so I turn his face towards mine. He doesn’t want to look at mine. “Anorexia, huh? Been there, done that. Bit of an unpleasant experience, darling. You’ll get over it. Feminine is better, remember?” Before I can think about it, by loneliness overcomes me as well. I put a hand his hair and kiss his forehead. I think I feel him pull away, but I don’t pull up. He needs to laugh more, and me laughing more wouldn't exactly be a bad thing.

"You?"

He looks at me, and its not like he's checking me out. His eyes are strictly on my waistline, seeing if I could be- perhaps- as skinny as he is. I'm not, and never was, but I've been close. I've felt the same kind of loneliness, the loss in myself.

"Yeah, well. For once, I look at me feet. "We've all got our problems, right? I'm over it now."

To my suprise, Daemon smiles a little, which earns him another kiss on the forehead. My only thought was ; I need some purple lip gloss.

Rand Aloemir - Breakfast

I was sitting by myself at breakfast an unusual thing for me to be doing to say the least. I saw Ben walk in and was going to call him over to sit down, but Abri had beat me to the punch, I knew she was just trying to spite me. I looked down at my plate of pancakes, but wasn't sure if I was truly hungry, I knew I was tired for sure, aside from checking in on Ben I had been mixing medicine for the infirmary on in to the early hours. Ben seemed uncomfortable surrounded by the Aphrodite's he looked towards me and I looked away as soon as he did, was I jealous of Ben's attention. As I began to become absorbed in my thoughts I noticed someone sit down followed by another. It was Harlow and Abrin, I seldom talked to Abrin I wasn't entirely sure why. I knew he could read lips and I was rather good at sign language. I signed to Abrin, "Good morning you're probably feeling about as worn out as I am huh?" I then spoke to Harlow, "Good morning how are you today?"

Abrin responded first, " tell me about it last night was rough work in the infirmary, we nearly ran out of aloe. I've never seen so many burn wounds."

Harlow signed to him, "I told you my theory as to why I thought it was." She turned to me and spoke and signed simultaneously, "That girl you mentioned a few days back."

"Her name is Gemini." I ran my fingers through my hair, I really needed to wash it soon. "She went here back when I first started coming but mysteriously disappeared a few years back." I sighed, "She was dangerous back then and Chiron kept her separate from the rest of us, well except for two." I looked over at Abri and saw Lexi walking to sit at the Ares table.

"So why do you think she's returned, and why would she want to hurt so many people." Signed Abrin.

I signed back to him, and said to Harlow, "I'm not sure but I can guarantee you it's most certainly not good."

A girl suddenly came busting in to the mess hall demanding nectar and ambrosia. Of course Ben was the first to respond, for a shy nervous guy he had a real hero streak running lately. The girl seemed to be repelling Ben's help, I knew Ben would stand his ground but he was a little green for this sort of thing. I went over there as fast as possible, "Is there any venom?"

Ben looked at me and then back at the guy on the ground before responding. "I can't tell there are usually symptoms associated with venom but I can't find any here."

I inspected the wounds then looked Ben in the eye, "It won't matter either way if we can't get him patched up right now. He's bleeding fast and Ambrosia will deal with any venom." We got him patched up and we're preparing to lift him and take him to the infirmary before the girl that had brought him in had done it for us. I turned to Ben, "Well it's always something isn't it." I shook out my hair, "Look I was just talking to Harlow and Abrin, and well look just tell Abri to talk to Lexi and tell her we're having a meeting between some of the more senior members of camp. You're more than welcome to join Ben I trust you but it's crucial they both be there." Ben nodded and returned to the table to speak with Abri, as she turned to look at me i turned away to spite her.

Cheyenne glanced around at her new cabin. The centaur, chiron, had put her in there. She whirled around at the knock on the door. She whirled around, in a half crouch, dagger drawn. Travis grinned at her." Sheesh Chey. Still as deadly as ever." Cheyenne sheathed her blade and folded her arms." wha'd do ya want Travis. And no, I will never be your girlfriend." Travis grinned. " Na. Chey, I just wanna be friends. Any way, welcome to Camp Half- Blood! Chiron asked me to give you a tour. You know, since I know you the best." Cheyenne brushed a strand of hair from her face and glared. he held his arms up in a helpless gesture." Hey, what can I say? I'm the son of Zeus. I'm a contorl freak."
Cheyenne grimaced. " And I'm a huntress. I don't appreciate boys.' She turned aroung and straitend her armour stand for the fiftieth time. Regular greek breastplate, and her helmet was a regular greek warhelm... except for the pair of stags antlers on the sides. All silver colored. It also glowed in the moonlight. In fact, Cheyennes poweres seemed to increase with the moonlight. She shook her head. No, don't even think about that, she chided herself. With a huff she turned around and faced Travis." Fine, show me your camp." He grinned and walked away. With a sigh, she followed after him.