Trip to Olympus: Chapter 6

I actually got three things right that I wasn't sure would happen for this chapter. 1) The chapter is longer, which was what I wanted. 2) There's actually some action, so it's not just my character talking to people and being really boring. 3) I finished it by the weekend! Anyways, please comment and enjoy!

Chapter 6: The Safest Place in the World Is Not So Safe
When we reached the Big House, I saw a middle-aged man in a wheelchair sitting on the wrap-around porch, staring out at the valley. We approached him.

“Chiron, this, um…,” Austin started to say.

“Kelsey. I’m Kelsey Fisher,” I finished.

“Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Kelsey,” said the man who was apparently named Chiron.

“Yeah, she’s one of the demigods we went to get. The other one is, um…,” he tried to explain.

“The other girl is Sophia Vandalia. She was shoved straight through the floor by a hag,” I told Chiron. I told him all about what had happened today and he just listened, but nothing seemed to surprise him like I was telling him something he had heard a million times before. Then again, he probably had heard stories like this a million times before if he was Chiron from Greek mythology. “Celestina said that she’s not dead, only in the Underworld, but still alive. Is this true?” I asked when I was finished with my story.

“It’s possible, very possible. I know that things like this have happened before,” he told me.

“Is there a way to save her from the Underworld?” I asked.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes, there is, but you would need a quest and you also need to be claimed before that happens,” he said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Claimed? You mean like by a god? You make it sound like I’m their property rather than one of their children,” I told Chiron. Austin was laughing until he saw me glaring at him, then he stopped and stared at the ground.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well done, Kelsey. Most campers, when they first arrive, ask what claiming is or who they are being claimed by. Yes, you must be claimed by your godly parent first,” Chiron said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But what if that takes too long? What if by the time I get there, it’ll be too late to save Sophia? I mean she can’t survive down there forever, can she?” I asked. I had so many questions, and I usually wasn’t the kind of person that had a ton of questions to ask. No, I was usually the one who never had any questions at all about anything. Usually I just sat and listened, but now it was totally different. I had a million questions, but that was probably because my life had never been associated with Greek mythology before today.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You will probably be claimed tonight, seeing as you are older than thirteen,” Chiron said, then he turned towards Austin, “I must go to the archery range. Take Kelsey on a tour of camp.” He began rising out of his wheelchair. I was really surprised by the fact that his bottom half was white stallion.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You’re a centaur,” I said, still in awe.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes, now, go. I can already tell that you are going to be very important to us,” he said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Come on Kelsey, let’s show you camp,” Austin said, turning and running down the porch steps into the valley. Of course, I followed him again. I couldn’t wait to see camp.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">    Austin showed me everything. I saw the stables, the canoe lake, the climbing wall that had lava pouring down it, the dining pavilion, the strawberry fields, the woods, and of course the cabins. Of all the cabins, I liked Poseidon’s the best because it smelled like the ocean. Sadly, I wasn’t allowed to go in it. The last thing he showed me was Half-Blood Hill, which was the entrance to camp. He told me the whole story about Thalia’s tree, which every camper knew. I felt sorry about what happened to the girl at first, but then he told me that she wasn’t a tree anymore, and was with the Hunters of Artemis.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“This is the safest place in the world for demigods, actually it’s the only safe place for demigods,” he told me.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Why has nothing happened to me before today?” I asked.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You’ve never been attacked or nothing weird has happened to you before today?” he asked, sounding surprised by this.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No, well, not really. The only time something weird has happened was when I was in fourth grade, but after that nothing else has happened until today,” I said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Seriously? I’ve been getting attacked by monsters since I was ten, and that’s pretty lucky compared to most. Maybe your parent is a minor god, but even minor demigods get attacked before they know this all exists. I don’t know who your parent could possibly be,” he said still surprised. I could tell that he didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t figure out who my parent was. Then I realized that he was kind of acting the way Sophia was this morning on the bus. I remembered how she hated not knowing the answer to a question. I think I now knew why she had never met her mom before, and better yet, who her mom was.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I think I know who Sophia’s mom is now,” I said.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Who?” he asked.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The same as yours, her mom is Athena.”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“How do you know that?”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well, this morning on the bus I asked her how she was able to remember everything, she had gotten really upset, and I could tell that she didn’t like the fact that she didn’t know the answer. Then, just now I could see that you didn’t like not knowing who my parent is before me or anyone else does. She’s also really smart, and isn’t Athena the goddess of wisdom?”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yes, you’re right. Sophia probably is a daughter of Athena from that description. Who knows, maybe you’re one too. You seem to be pretty smart. You also have blonde hair, which all children of Athena have except me.” He sounded a little disappointed when he said that, though I couldn’t figure out why. I think it would be cool to be different, I kind of already was and I just got here.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Uh huh.” I nodded my head. It was a possibility. I wouldn’t mind either because I thought Athena was pretty cool.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So, where’d you get the sword?” he asked. I’d completely forgotten about it again.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I don’t know. I really don’t.” It was a truthful answer. I didn’t even have a coin that looked like it.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So, you really fought the Furies back at your school?”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yeah, I guess. Those were the Furies?”

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Yeah, they were.” Just then, I heard hissing and bushes rustling. Apparently Austin heard it too because he drew his sword. From behind the bushes, came two women with snake trunks for legs. Austin was shocked. “Dracaenae. How’d they get through the borders?” The safest place in the world was not so safe anymore.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">    The dracaenae attacked me, only me. It was like Austin wasn’t even there. I pulled out my coin, flipped it, caught the sword in my hand, and began to attack the snake woman. One slashed at me and I dodged, but not quickly enough because the attack got my arm and I started bleeding a bit. Then I ran my sword through the snake woman and she disintegrated. I looked for the other dracaena only to find that she had noticed that Austin existed and was fighting him. I ran up behind the snake woman and sliced her in half. She turned to dust like the other one.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I could’ve done that you know,” he said. He was smiling at me again with his perfect smile.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I know, but I didn’t want to stand there and watch and you weren’t quick enough,” I told him jokingly. Just then two girls ran up the hill with their weapons in their hands. The two girls were Celestina and Rose.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What happened up here? What were you two fighting?” Celestina asked.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Two dracaenae came out of the bushes and attacked Kelsey, and only Kelsey. Then, one of them started attacking me when it realized I was there,” Austin explained.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“How’d they get through the borders though?” she asked, and then she looked at me coldly, “It was you, wasn’t it? You summoned them through the borders! You are working for someone that is working to destroy us! You are trying to destroy this camp!” she yelled at me. She started to charge at me like an angry bull, but Austin stepped in front of me and stopped her. “Get out of the way, Austin! Don’t you see that she’s a threat to our camp?” This girl is crazy, I thought. Why would I do something like that?

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Calm down, Celeste. Why would she summon to monsters to attack only her when she wasn’t by herself?” he asked. Just then a conch horn blew in the distance. Rose and Celestina ran down the hill.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s time for dinner. Come on, let’s go tell Chiron what happened and eat,” he said. I took off down the hill towards the dining pavilion with Austin right behind me. I was more than ready to eat.