Pan's Story. Part II

Note to the reader: I had received a package a few days earlier... It was covered in ancient greek runes. It had burns and claw marks on it... and inside was an audio recorder. There was also a note. To whom it may concern: We choose you to write down our fates, as because you would only believe us. I have concluded that the people that gave this to me want information out...Or to warn us. The decision is yours.

Sorry I had to cut off so early, we were being chased by-we'll get to that part later.

Anyway, as I said earlier my life got weirder. I was chased by a dog, but I swear it was as big slug bug. I saw a bum that only had one eye, and once a centaur. You get the idea. I always told Ms. H about the weird things, but she actually believed me. It wasn't until I was twelve Ms. H had disappeared, with a note for my mom. I couldn't get it open, so I gave it to my mom. We were actually invited to New York, Manhattan, to see her! I was so excited, that I didn't ask my mom about what the letter really said, at least, not until later.[ Yeah keep on calling me stupid, it doesn't anything.] When we got there, we did see her, just not as I was expecting.

I was just out walking along the beach,( Long Island, where else would we be?) when I heard a noise. A rustle of leaves, nothing more, but that's how the dog started chasing me. I kept a wary eye on the leaves though, just in case. A few minutes later, a dog came out. The only thing I could do was run. You would to, considering it was as big as an SUV. I ran and heard the dog running besides me, it was only a matter of time before it was in front of me.

When it did get in front of me, I slipped and fell in the dirt. " Nice doggy, nice doggy." I tried to calm it down but it only growled and came closer. Then I heard a whistling sound and from behind me, an arrow stabbed the dog in the chest. With a mournful howl, it dissolved into a pile of dust. I got up and wiped the dirt from my fingers. I turn to leave but I see where the arrow came from.

I saw a girl, no older than eight, with a long bow in her arms. " Halt, demigod." Says a voice behind me. I whip around to see a girl my age approach me. " Put down your bow Brooke, she is unarmed." The girl, Brooke, puts away her bow, but keeps a wary eye on me.

The other girl examines me with her eyes. Despite having jeans on and a hoodie, I feel exposed. "What are you doing in Hunters territory? Unless you come from that camp seeking salvation, I suggest you leave." Hunters? Camp? I think to myself. " Um sure, I leave. Oh and thanks for killing that dog, Brooke." I say. Brooke looks furious. " Dog? Dog?! That was no dog!!" She says in an infuriated voice to me. To the other girl, " She is ignorant my lady, I suggest that we take her in as a Hunter!" Brooke is near shouting.

The other girl considers for a moment." A good suggestion, Brooke, but I think The Fates have something in mind for her. To be able to almost outrun a hellhound is impressive. But not Hunter quality." She answers thoughtfully. " But Artemis-" Brooke starts to argue. " No buts, Brooke." She thinks for a moment."But, we shall escort her to The Camp. Just to make sure she gets there safely." She adds.

Thoughts are racing through my head. Artemis? The goddess from Greek mythology? Why does NONE of this make sense? " C'mon girl." This infuriates me. They're willing to give out their names, but don't bother to learn mine? " It's Ivy, not girl." I say to Brooke. She snorts, " Another nature name, just great. Wait 'til Lily hears about this." She says to herself. She motions with her to get going. We start to run, and I notice that there's more girls with us. They're all wearing the same thing: silver chitins.

We stop in the middle of the forest. Artemis raises her hand. " We found one, and don't pretend that you're not there. It's nearly midnight ." Kids around college age jump from the trees. A girl with white hair comes and meets-no, to nice- confronts us. She raises her head to me. "This her?" She grunts. Artemis nods. "Well, hand her over then!" Artemis gives me a small smile before I'm handed over. " Oh hey, Lily, guess what her name is." Brooke calls out. Lily takes a stab at it. " Ivy?" She answers. Brooke, for her part, looks dejected. "Yes." Artemis sighs impatiently. " Let us go with out starting another war, shall we?" It's more of a command than a request when she says that.

"Hey Ivy," Brooke gets my attention after Lily leaves. I go over to her, making sure to stay on my side. She hands me a six inch dagger." You're going to need it, trust me." With that she runs off with the other Hunters.

I examine the knife closely. The only thing I can tell about it is that it's bronze with a leather hilt. I stuff it in my back pocket, not really sure why Brooke gave it to me.

"Hey, you alright?" I jump and turn around. It's just Lily. I nod. She nods back." Okay then, let's get going." We walk to-whatever where they were going. We walk with a couple of other kids around Lily's age.

I walk with Lily, wishing I could be five and hold her hand and be shy. We get to the edge at dawn. It took five hours to get to this place, and it better be worth it. I was good walker. As we start to exit, I feel as though something was pulling me back. I wanted to go back, but I'm headstrong.[Yeah yeah it also means stubborn]

The kids break into run, leaving me behind to think for a moment. " Ivy! C'mon ya lagger!" Lily calls out to me teasing me. " I'll show you who's a lagger!" I call back. I start to run, passing kids like they're slow. ( Some of them were, but these were college kids, not wanna-be middle schoolers!) I get up to Lily.

We stop, and she laughs and claps me on my shoulder." Ah, I knew that would answer my question!" What is she talking about now? " Huh? What are you talking about, Lily?" I ask, not sure what her answer was going to be. " How you outran the others. They're Hermes kids'!" She says out of breath.

I know that Hermes was the god of travel and merchants, so I wonder if that makes sense. I shrug," I was in track." I say, hoping that my little lie worked.[ yeah, it bit me in the butt later, now you will SHUT UP!?] She motions for me to follow her. The others walk up, looking at me like I was a freak, which eventually they would.

....

We were in a clearing, so it was another five minutes before we got to camp.... except it was something else beside that word. I marveled at what I saw. It was ginormous. To my right was the ocean, which is how they fund their stuff, I guessed. To my left was the rest of the camp.

Lily looks back at me. "Welcome to Camp!" She shouts. I come out of my daze and follow her into Camp. A boy runs up to us. " Lily! What the Hades!? You were supposed to check in an hour-" He stops abruptly, seeing me for the first time." Who's this? I thought that we weren't supposed to have any more for another month!" He says, eyeing me warily.

Lily shoves him." Be nice, Connor. She was dropped off by the Hunters." Connor looks over me. "She doesn't look like Hunter quality. What would they want with her?" He says still being a mean.

Before Lily can react, I punched the guy in the stomach. He really ticked me off. "For your information, I was chased by a hellhound!!" I say, wanting to kick him in every boys weak point. You know what I mean...

" Why would a pipsqueak like you be chased by hellhound? You're nothing special." He retorts. I, in response, punch him a little bit closer to the spot. He is going to get hurt even worse if he doesn't shut up.

Lily puts a hand on my shoulder, and leads me away. " Real nice kids you got here. Real nice." I mutter. "Hey,Connor's tough to every new kid. He wasn't like that to me though." She says soothingly. I snort. "That's because he likes you." Lily falls silent, and I wonder if I have hit a nerve.

She gives me a tour of the place, which is huge. No, I'm tired. She stops at the blacksmith.

"Any weapons, any kind at all, you give them up here." She states. I stare at her... And stare at her. "I'll take that as a no." She shows me to the sleeping area. It's nothing special, just the boys dorm on the left, the girls dorm on the right. I start to yawn, and she shows me to my room with eight other girls, which have left. I fall asleep on my bed, not bothering to change[Yes, forget my statement earlier]

I woke up to whispering voices. " The new girl is an Aries, I just know it!" One girl said. " But, she could be minor, like Nike." Another said. "No no no, she's an Athena, look at her!" Another said. Bad idea. I thought. I got out of bed quietly and was on the other side. " Hey, where did she go?!" I jump up." Boo!" I cry out. They scream and fall out of the bunk. I laugh and get up.

One of the girls gets up and walks over to me." That was rude of you." She states. I smile." Yeah nice ta meet you to." I say. A question pops up in my head. " What exactly where you three talking about? "

The one that talked earlier piped up. " We were talking about which godly parent ya have, since you don't look like anybody." The one on me left speaks up. " You have curly brown hair, brown eyes, and Asian skin. Nobody looks like that." The others nod.

I shake my head. I'm still tired, so I go back to sleep. The next morning Lily checks up on me. " You slept the whole entire day." She says to me. She's eighteen, but she sounds like a mom. I nod. " Missed breakfast, lunch, dinner and campfire... You must be starving." She was right, I was hungry.

" Too bad breakfast doesn't start for another hour." She jokes. My stomach rumbles. I groan. " I'll get you set up with something to do." A girl walks up. "Ah-ha! Here she is. Ivy, meet Heloise, your teacher with the fine art of speaking Ancient Greek." I honestly don't like the looks of Heloise. The one word term for her: Goth. Not saying any more.

She looks at me. I hold out my hand. "Nice to meet you, Heloise." She nods her head. "Follow me," She says. " Oh. Um, about that... I already know how to speak Ancient Greek." She looks at me and shrugs. "Great. Now I can sneak off. You wanna come?" She adds. I shrug. "Sure, could be fun." I follow her through the back ways of camp, avoiding the college kids.

We start heading up a steep trail. We get to the top and what I see... is amazing.

"Wow." I say breathlessly. I sit down next to Heloise and stare at the horizon. Below me is the forest, and a little ways to the right is Camp. But the most stunning thing is the ocean.

Heloise nods. "Yep found this when my teachers ditched me." She digs around in her backpack for a moment. She finds what she's looking for and holds up a bag. "Candy anyone?" She says proudly. "Sweet score!!" I say. We stay up there for what seems like forever, just in our own little word.

Note to the reader: For the love of god, DON'T complain that this is too long.