8Just for anyone who has forgotten the setting, Firissa is currently in the Hermes cabin. It took me super long to write this chapter because somebody threw it around my room. Anyways, I hope you like it.
PREVIOUSLY:
I turned to the door and pleaded to Charlie with my eyes. He stared back as if to say that he hopes I survive to once again see the light of day.
Charlie shut the door and suddenly the other campers made themselves known as if they where a pack of rabid animals about to bite me.
CONTINUATION:
For a few seconds all I remember is other kids pushing me and tossing me and screaming in my ears as they tried to speak to me over the noise, which sent shock through my body. Then I saw a hand shove the others out of the way, and as if it couldn't get any stranger, the body connected to the hand was none other than my best friend Mitchie Crowell. Her presence was like
the warm gentle breeze that makes a sunny day absolutely perfect.
"Would you guys STOP bugging Fire!" Mitchie complained.
"Get lost! ALL OF YOU!" Which sounded EXACTLY like Mitchie, but apparently I looked like I was about to drop and snore any second now because she made me get to sleep before she started asking what I was doing here. Mitchie shoved me onto an empty bed and I drifted off into the world's strangest dream.
I was looking into a dark cave lit by candles in the corners that flickered as the wind whistled by. In the center of the cave was a girl with black hair and green eyes much like mine. She was wearing an oversized shirt, ripped jeans and had a silver circlet woven into the hair atop her head. I looked harder at her as she cried and pulled at something that clinked around noisily. Only then did I realize that she had been captured, locked up and stuck to the floor with a chain that grabbed her ankles and wrists.
"Help!" she cried, "Sister!"
The cave went dark and when I saw light again, I was looking at a boy about my age running through the forest at top speed as he ran from something growling behind him. Suddenly, he turned around and slashed at the monster with a blade that shimmered black. The beast screeched and fell to the ground in a cloud of dust. Then the boy fell against a tree and sat down at one of the roots.
He was dressed much like the girl in the cave. He had olive toned skin that reminded me of caramel and hair that seemed to be painted with midnight. He was amazing. If I had actually been there my brain would have turned to mush and my cheeks would've changed the color of cherries. I might not survive if I meet him in person.
Suddenly, from the corner of my vision there was a bit of golden light and the boy started muttering things like can't look and burn up. And once the light died down, I heard a rustle in the trees and a voice spoke these exact words.
"You…will fail."
I woke up half expecting to be in my old room with all my old things just like what recently happened to me was all a crazy and terrible dream that was the effect of my excitement . Then I remembered that I had no house, no parents and that I was at camp on a different continent. You could call it depressing if you like to put things mildly.
I heard the footsteps of someone eagerly approaching me from behind, and three seconds later I saw Mitchie Crowell, with her wavy bronze hair trailing down to her fingertips and her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she practically pushed me to the ground with a hug. She squealed like I was the medal she would earn at the 2012 Olympic race (which is entirely possible, and if you don't believe me then you should see her criticize Usane Bolt's speed).
"Okay, first things first," Mitchie said, "How the heck did you get here and what do you know about camp?"
Her hazel eyes stared at me with worry until I told the story with every single detail in place. She nodded and gave me an occasional mmmhummm as I spoke but otherwise was silent. I knew that it was strange but she didn't gasp or widen her eyes in shock. She just took the news as if I were explaining why the earth has seasons.
Finally, she had to say something to me or I might have exploded. And I'm still in shock from what she said but there's absolutely no way that she could have made it all up so it has to be true. These were her very words that still haunt my ears.
"Firissa, have you ever heard of the Greek gods?" I nodded.
"Well, they sort of still exist now and the fact that you were taken here means that one of them is your mom or dad."
"WHAT!" I shouted, "but … but I had both of my parents before they were killed."
The information was impossible to understand, but as I thought back to when I was in class, I remember that the gods DID occasionally cave children with humans. Demigods. I was a child of an immortal and a mortal, but which of my parents had been real, and which had married in? I suppose that I had to stop thinking about them eventually, so I distracted myself.
"What is this camp about?"
Mitchie raised an eyebrow and said, "This is camp half-blood. It's where demigods learn to be heroes." And that's when she dragged me out of the cabin and into the sunlight. She explained the cabins and the reason I was in with the Hermes kids, and most importantly, that I would find out who my godly parent was within two weeks, which is when I turn thirteen. That was better than finding out that I had a home.
"When did you get here?" I asked Mitchie, who seemed to have taken to camp as if she'd been here for years.
"Two days ago. I left school early to catch my plane. But two days was also long enough to get my bearings and figure out which campers are the head of the pack. I'll take you on the grand tour and point them out on my way."
So for an hour and a half, I was dragged around and shown the archery range, the mess hall, the climbing wall, the Pegasus stables, and the strangest of all, the sword arena.
I remember stepping in and feeling the heat of battle. And then about three seconds later I remember meeting the biggest dog that I've ever seen and everything was pretty strange from then on. It's hard to say what happened but I think that the giant dog scared me just a tad bit, so I took a couple steps back, then tripped over my own feet and fall backwards onto the nearest swordsman, who let go of his sword, which went into the stomach of the nearest dummy as he toppled over.
Having fallen down so many times before, I was back on my feet before the poor fellow that I had knocked down, but he was up soon too. I looked at the ground and mumbled an apology.
"It's okay Thalia. It happens sometimes." He replied.
I looked up from staring at my feet. "Who's Thalia?"
I shot the bloke a glare that said, something like: if you answer this question wrong, you're dead. It's not too hard to see my emotions when they're on my face.
"Sorry, you just remind me of an old friend." He had answered okay so I stopped glaring and looked at something besides his sea-colored eyes. He looked about seventeen years old, with tan skin and an orange t-shirt showing from under his battle armor, and hair the color of chocolate that had a thick and dominant strand of gray in it as if he had stolen it from an old man or aged faster in that spot.
"I'm Percy, son of Poseidon" he said and offered his hand for me to shake. I took it and yanked it as hard as I could.
"Firissa Jones. Who's Thalia?" I repeated my question that had gone unanswered due to what seemed like Percy's lack of attention.
"She's a huntress, and a daughter of Zeus. You look a lot like her." Which didn't strike a cord until later that day.
"Oh," I said as I turned around and realized that I didn't understand most of what Percy had said to me. I thought a bit. This was a camp for demigods so Thalia's father was most likely a god. Now I remembered that Zeus was the Greek god of the sky. As for the part where he said that she was a huntress, I have no idea. Whether I was feeling emotional or just feeling hunger to find out which god I was related to but something made her sound important, like she was special because she used her father's name in her own title.
Mitchie pulled me aside told me that the bloke I just knocked over was practically the ruler of the camp, and that if he had not fought in a war last year this camp would not exist, and quite possibly neither would we. Oops. I probably could've introduced myself in a nicer way than knocking him over and looking at him like I was just about ready to kill him.
"It's okay Fire, you can't help your clumsiness," she looked down, then a few seconds later she grinned, "But I happen to know that you CAN cure yourself from looking like you just fell off a cliff." And I was being dragged from behind Mitchie to the cabin where Aphrodite's children stayed.
"It's makeover time," Mitchie said and led me into a cabin that looked like it was for stars on the tele to do their hair and makeup. To the left there were beautiful fluffy beds that were fit for royalty, and to the right there were mirrors lining the walls, and each had it's own table that was half-covered with beauty products. I didn't know whether to be shocked, angry, or thankful. Normally, I'd try being them all at once but it was a horrible combination.
Mitchie called over some girls that were on the other end or the room who were making sure their faces still looked perfect, and they looked at me and bugged their eyes as they sat me down in a chair and turned on makeup lights so bright that I had to keep blinking until I could see again.
All of them took turns smudging and brushing and washing and applying until the only thing that they had not changed or considered or complimented was my clothing, which was ripped and slightly burned in spots. They took one look at my outfit and all agreed that it was going in the garbage. All three girls who had introduced themselves as Bri, Tina, and Kate pushed me into their enormous closet where they gave me a super short green and black dress with a pair of blue leggings. I was also put into a pair of converse shoes. I came out of the closet and was deemed officially perfect, and forced to look at myself in the mirror, which I didn't really like doing often because I didn't like my appearance.
Kate and Bri both held my hands down while Tina pushed me to the mirror in the back of the room that went across the entire wall. The only way out was to open my eyes and the girl I saw was beautiful, but a bit different. Her black hair fell down in gentle curls that framed her pale face. Her green eyes widened in amazement as she mouthed the word wow, because there was no way she could speak. She blinked and she realized that she was the girl in the mirror. She was me.
I thanked the girls in a daze and stepped out the door, bumping into a boy with a familiar face, and falling on my bottom. He offered me a hand and helped me up. Standing in front of me was the boy from my dream. I caught my breath, bit my lip, and blushed, as I babbled into a rushed apology.
"It's okay," He smiled, "I'm Nico."
To be continued…
Okay, well I hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter. It proved and interesting challenge to put a description of Firissa smoothly in the story without making it sound completely stupid. So I had a lot of fun writing ways for you to get to know her, and I hope with all my heart that they were just as fun to read. Please review! The next chapter's coming soon!