69A/N: Hey guys! Guess what? Elisabeth is most definitely spelled with an S. I swear. So, if you spell it with a Z, then you be wrong. It's a pet peeve of mine, seeing as though my name is Camille Elisabeth and I've had people spell it "Kamyl Elizbeth." Thanks, sixth graders. So the moral of this story is...spell the name correctly please(:
I do not own PJO.
Hydrophobia
Chapter Three: The Truth
When I came to, for the second time that day, I was back in the white room. The kid from earlier, Percy, was asleep in the chair next to my bed.
I blinked a couple of times and looked around. I realized that this wasn't the room from before, but a different one. This room had paintings of flying horses on the walls and I was reminded of the horse that I saw earlier.
I sat up slowly and tried to get up but I stubbed my toe on the nightstand and yelped. Percy's eyes fluttered open and he smiled.
"Have a nice nap?" I managed.
Percy shrugged and stretched out his back. "I've had better. You've been out for," he paused and glanced at his watch, "four hours."
I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head. "I can't bring myself to believe you," I whispered.
"You saw the pegasus. A horse that has wings isn't normal, Brennan," Percy said softly.
I bit my lip. "Is this really true?" I asked.
Percy nodded slowly and stood up. "I'll go get Brian and he'll show you around camp," he said.
I followed Percy out of the house and down a path. We passed strange buildings, but Percy never told me anything about them. We came to a large collection of odd buildings. Each one was extremely different from the others. Percy told me to wait outside a shining gold one.
Music blared from it. I could hear what sounded like The Clash coming from a stereo within. I heard other music as well; what sounded someone beating on a drum.
I stood awkwardly while people stared at me. I'd never been the new kid at school, so this sensation was new to me. I spotted Elisabeth coming out of a building. It was made entirely out of glass, but it wasn't clear. It was golden glass and it gleamed brightly.
I waved to her and she froze in her tracks. She was a good twenty yards away, but I swear I could clearly see her eyes staring me down. She took a step, but stopped herself.
I waved again and she blinked carefully. Elisabeth turned on her heel and stalked away. I was about to go after her, but Brian and Percy walked out of the gold building. The drumming had stopped, but Brian held a pair of white drumsticks. He was twirling one through his fingers and the other was keeping a steady beat against his leg.
"So, kiddo," Brian began. "I guess I get the privilege of showing you around Camp Half-Blood."
I walked behind him through the entire process, taking everything in carefully. I couldn't decide whether I really and truly believed them, or whether the LSD they probably slipped me was still in affect.
Brian seemed pretty relaxed, but once his confidence slipped and the steady beat he kept faltered. Elisabeth emerged from the woods, holding a bow.
"Brian," she mumbled and strode past us. She made a point of ramming her shoulder roughly into me. I stumbled back a bit and she glared at me. "Watch it newbie," she growled.
Before I could respond, she stalked away. "What's her problem?" I asked Brian.
He shrugged. "She's just an angry person. She's okay once you get to know her I guess."
I raised an eyebrow and Brian laughed. "Okay, so she's a total bitch," he said through his laughter.
"That's what I thought," I mumbled.
Brian finished showing me around the camp and swiftly set about taking me to what he called "the cabins."
I assumed they would be some place I had yet to see, but instead he led me back to the gathering of odd buildings.
Brian attempted to explain what they were used for, but his expanation fell short. From what I gathered, the children of each different god were placed in specific cabins. He failed to inform me of which cabin I'd be staying in.
What sounded strangly like a conch shell was blown and Brian and I walked up to a pavilian. He pointed at a table full of rowdy looking kids and I sat wordlessly.
In the course of dinner, I discovered that I would be staying in the Hermes cabin until I was claimed by my godly parent. I literally had no clue what that meant, but I decided to go with it to avoid looking stupid.
Sleeping was out of the question for me. I was a self proclaimed insomniac to begin with, and being surrounded by ten other snoring kids didn't help.
I tried to sneak out of the cabin, but the floor creaked a couple hundred times before I made it to the door.
I looked around at the cabins and tried to remember some of the Greek gods. I knew Hermes because I was staying in his cabin, but the only other god I could remember was Zeus. I knew Brian said his father was someone who started with an A, but the name wouldn't come to me.
I wanted to scream. I knew next to nothing about Greek myths, yet here I was sitting in a camp full of people who claimed to be the children of the gods. I was one of them, but I was branded as unknown. It was like I had a disease.
I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going when I tripped. I realized I was laying on the ground in the woods. I shuddered and stood, when I heard a growl. I stifled a scream and turned around slowly. A pair of huge red eyes glowed in the shadows. I backed up quickly, only to trip over my own feet and land with a thud on my back.
A huge black dog the size of a dump truck bounded out of the trees and stood over me.
I was going to die. There was literally no way I could survive this. I closed my eyes and waited for it to kill me, when a huge, wet thing covered me. I opened my eyes just as the dog licked me again.
"Ugh! Gross!" I cried and attempted to get up, but the dog continued showering me in slobber.
I struggled for a minute and just when I gave up hope, someone whistled and the dog turned around, giving me the opportunity to scramble to my feet.
The boy from earlier, Percy, walked out of the woods and sighed. "Mrs. O' Leary, sit!" he commanded and the giant dog plopped down. "Sorry about that," he mumbled awkwardly.
"It's okay," I said, though I was still trying to get the dog slobber off my shoe discretely.
"You know sneaking out is against camp rules," Percy said sternly.
"Oh, I didn't actually know. I'll go—" I stumbled through my words and Percy laughed.
"I was just kidding. But seriously, don't let the harpies catch you," he said.
"When did you first come here?" I asked, attempting to be social.
Percy sat on the ground and I followed his lead. "When I was twelve. How old are you, by the way?"
"Fourteen as of a week ago," I answered quietly.
Percy frowned a bit. "You'll be getting claimed soon," was his simple reply. "All kids are claimed at thirteen. But I guess since you haven't really been here, you'll just be claimed soon."
I shrugged. "To be honest, I'm still hoping this is all a dream," I admitted.
Percy smiled and gave me a sideways glance. "Yeah, it's hard to accept at first. But everyone here is like one big family." His smile faded a tiny bit as he quickly added, "One big, complicated family, but a family none the less."
I couldn't help but smile. I never thought I would find a place to fit in, but Percy made it sound so cliché and wonderful, that I couldn't help but wanting to be a part of it.
A/N:
Enough about my boring personal life, and onto the stuff that matters. Brennan isn't a Gary Stu is he? That's a constant fear of mine.
I feel like I got lazy in this chapter. It's really short too, which is bugging me, but writers block sucks.
Also, tell me what you think. I'm facing writers block, and I need reviews to fuel my muse. So help a girl out, and press that lovely button down there. Thanks.
ψcamille elisabethψ