Finding Purpose

Chapter I

-Ann-

To say I was confused was an understatement. I thought I had that tiny bit of control over my life where I knew what what was and how things were working. Guess I didn't. Everything that I had been certain of seemed to have vanished on the spot, leaving nothing but a small bile of smoke behind. And when the wind had cleared the place of the white smoke, it seemed like the certainty I had had, had never existed. Great. Just.. great.

I ducked my head in as I managed to dodge a blow my opponent tried to inflict on me. I got pulled out of my thoughts as the daughter of Ares tried another hit, which I barely managed to avoid. Swordfighting really wasn't my thing. Just as the girl raised her sword for another blow, the horn sounded, signalling the end of the lesson.
The girl lowered her sword and grinned at me. 'Seems like I won.'
'Yeah,' I managed to say. 'Good job.'
'You too,' the girl said.
She turned around and walked away, leaving me heavily panting and just standing there for a while.

How were all of these people able to do this? I thought. But maybe swordfighting just wasn't the thing for me. Maybe I needed to find something else to defend myself with, because a sword was definitely too big for me. I leaned forward, looking at my shoes and wondering why I had ever decided to wear my red converse, when someone approached me.
I stood up, finding Percy Jackson coming over to me, followed by the woman and the short blond girl. I swallowed, not knowing what to do when he was standing only a feet away from me. That guy was my half-brother. What was I supposed to say.
'Hi,' Percy said.
'Uhm.. hi,' was all I managed to get out.
'We haven't properly met,' Percy said as he offered his hand. I shook it shakily. 'I'm Percy Jackson.'
'I'm Ann Blofis,' I said with a smile.
Percy let go of my hand and put his arm around the woman next to him. 'This is..'
'Annabeth Chase,' the woman interrupted, 'although right now I go by the last name of Jackson. I still need to get used to it.'
I smiled nervously, not knowing what else to say.
'And this is my daughter Ayme,' Percy continued as nothing had ever happened. The girl looked me up and down, as if to decide if I could pass her inspection.
'My son Benjamin is at home, so I believe you will meet him another day.'
I was feeling really awkward, like, invading their perfect little family or something.
'Okay..' I said.
'How was swordfighting?' the girl, Ayme, asked me.
'Not my thing,' I answered shakily.
'That's okay. You'll get better,' Annabeth assured me, although I seriously doubted that.
'For now, I can't talk to you anymore Ann, I have an appointment to keep, but..' Percy dragged his hand through his hair. 'Can we talk later this afternoon?'
I swallowed. 'Yeah, sure.'
Percy's face lit up. 'Great! Now, I need to run,' he said, giving Annabeth a quick kiss.
'Otherwise,' he ruffled through Ayme's hair, earning an annoyed face from her, 'I'm going to be late. I'll see you in a few hours. And Ann, I really want to talk to you..' he said, looking at me with a pleading face.
'I'll be there,' I assured him.
Percy smiled and walked away. I was left with Annabeth and Ayme, deciding what to do next when Annabeth already took care of the situation.
'Come on, Ayme. I need to check up on Benjamin, and you, young lady..' she said as she narrowed her eyes, 'have chores to do.'
Ayme rolled her eyes. 'Mom, I'm not a young lady. I'm a hundred and ten, please stop acting like I'm a teenager.' Excuse me? A hundred and ten years old?
Annabeth smiled at that. 'Compared to me you are a young lady, now come on. Those chores aren't going to do themselves.'
Annabeth turned to me. 'It was nice talking to you, Ann. I hope to talk to you another time soon again.'
'Of course,' I answered.
Annabeth started walking but turned around and called for her daughter. 'Come along Ayme.'
Ayme groaned as she followed her mother.
'Fine, I'm coming. See you soon, Ann,' as she run after Annabeth.

I swallowed, looking around as I realized I was now standing alone, no one else to be seen. What was I supposed to do in the Gods names? I had no one familiar living around here except for my half-brother and his family who I barely knew, and I doubt that there were other people I could get to know.
With a big sigh I excited the Arena, or whatever it was where we had been training, and walked around for a while until I sat down against one of the many trees. I had been sitting in the shadows for a while, watching the campers as they continued on living, when I felt something move behind my back.
I shot up and looked to my right, when I shot back immediately as I found a living creature standing next to me.
'Holy..' I managed to say before I hit my head on the tree. I leaned forward as I grabbed my head and groaned, trying to get rid of the pounding headache that had emerged and was now torturing my head.
'Gods, that hurt..' I said.
'I'm sure it did,' the creature said.
I looked up to.. her, I guess it was a her. 'What are you?'
The creature giggled softly. 'I'm a dryad.'
'Okay,' I said, frowning a little.
'You must be new her,' the dryad said.
'Sort of..' I replied.
'Have you seen Chiron yet?' she asked.
'Who?'
The dryad chuckled. 'I'll take that as a no. Chiron is the director of Camp Half-Blood. If you don't know anything about Camp yet, you should go see him.'
'All right. And where do I find him?'
'Chiron has an office in the Big House. It's this baby-blue and white coloured building at the beginning of Camp Half-Blood. When you enter Camp from Half-Blood Hill, you see it immediately on your left hand.'
I let out a small sigh and stood up. 'Than I'll see what Chiron can tell me. Thank you for helping me.'
'No problem,' the dryad said.
I started walking away when I turned around. 'What's your name?' I asked.
'My name is Faye. Yours?'
'I'm Ann.'
'Nice to meet you, Ann. I'll probably see you soon,' Faye said with a smile.
I looked at her questionably, but she winked at me and in the blink of an eye she had morphed back into her tree.
I smiled and turned around again, walking towards the Big House as Faye had instructed me.