Victoria Dia: The Missing God

Chapter 1: I'm Welcomed Back to Camp

I was ten when my mother died. I know, it's a very cliche tragic backstory, a child of a single parent now an orphan. Honestly, the story could have ended there. My mother didn't get a bedside confession of who my father was, for all that was known I could have ended up in foster care. Yet the last thing my mother gave me was a book and a brochure. The book was an old mythology book she used to read me to sleep with, the brochure, a tacky orange and green thing, with the name 'Camp Half-Blood' Sprawled across it.

And that's how I found out I was a demigod, when my awesome social worker, Diane, drove me all the way to Long Island and dropped me off for the summer term in camp. Diane had clear sight, she could see through the mist and was therefore able to understand what my mother was telling her, otherwise, this would probably have been a very different story.

She explained what my mother had explained to her, I was a demigod and here I would be safe until my aunt, who was the next person in line to receive custody of me, arrived in Florida.

Like I said, I wasn't told who my dad was until I arrived in Camp, but it didn't take very long for me to get claimed. It was practically instantaneous now that I think about it. I'd only spent a day in the Hermes cabin before the glowing golden lyre appeared atop my head.

It was also easy to make friends, easier than it was in school at least. Being dyslexic is one thing, having ADHD and Dyslexia, however, well, I wasn't exactly a friend magnet outside of Camp.  In Camp, however, I scored a few.

   One of the first friends I made was Jodie Campos, Daughter of Dionysus. The very stereotypical theater kid. She is kind, though a bit skittish when I first met her. She's a great friend in the end, overbound with energy and a smile.

My closest friend, however, turned out to be an acquired taste. Axel James, son of Athena. I'm going to be completely honest, he can be kind of an asshole sometimes. The type that thinks, no, knows he's always right. The most infuriating part is that he almost always is. It comes with being a brain child I guess.

The first summer I spent in Camp was the best one of my life. I didn't really want to leave, but Diane came to pick me up and drove me back to Florida, where my aunt and cousins were there to welcome me.

I'm not a great fan of my Aunt Florence. She's not a big fan of me. My cousins dislike the fact that they have to share a room and that I have my own. Too bad for them that the house is in my name due to inheritance, and I refuse to be kicked out of my room in my own house. Yet, They're my only remaining living relatives who aren't gods so the options are limited. I could have stayed at camp, but arrangements were already made so I would have the most normal life possible.

Axel stays at camp all year. He often sends me letters or sends me an iris message. My aunt has absolutely no idea that I have friends at camp, I think she only lets me go because she thinks I hate it. I don't, it's the best part of my year. Which leads me to now.

School ended a day ago and I just landed at JFK Airport, in New York, and Diane was driving me to Long Island again.

"Are you excited?" Diane asked from the front seat. 

"Of course," I told her, "I get to see my only friends for two months." 

I could hear Diane rolling her eyes. I looked out the window at the strawberry farms and little houses on the way to camp and asked, "Why can't I stay all year?"

"We've had this conversation every year for the last five years," Diane told me as she looked at me through the rearview mirror. "I can't just tell your aunt you're at an all-year summer camp, she'll look at me like I'm crazy."

"It's not like she would miss me anyway," I muttered under my breath, I didn't intend for Diane to hear me but she did.

"Vic, you should be grateful, many kids don't get the chance to live with family, I'm sure a lot of the kids at camp would love to go home if they could," Diane said. "Like that Axel boy, you told me about," 

"Axel can go home, and he does, he did last year at least, he just doesn't like his step-brothers," I commented, making eye contact through the rearview mirror. 

"Victoria, it was your mother's wish that you would have the most normal life possible for a demigod," Diane said, looking right back at me. 

"Normal and Demigod are two words that do not go together," I told Diane as we pulled up. She put the car in park and then turned to speak with me.

"Well, you could be the first to make them fit together, Vic." She said as she handed me my backpack from the front seat. "Here, now remember the rules?"

"Don't get dismembered, don't break a bone, don't get cursed, don't fight anything or anyone, and don't go on life-ending quests," I repeated the mantra, and Diane smiled, she tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear as I opened the car door.

"I'll see you in two months, Diane," I said my goodbyes as I hauled the backpack over my shoulder. Diane smiled.

"See you in two months, take care Victoria," She said before driving off. I watched her leave before turning around and heading into Camp.

Axel was waiting for me at the big house, where he said he'd be in his last letter. A couple of others waved to me as I ran by, I waved back as I headed to the big house. There was Axel, waiting with an orange Camp Half-Blood hoodie on and his arms crossed. I was out of breath when I reached the worn white steps of the Big House.

"You are seven minutes later than you said you'd be," Axel told me, pushing up his blue glasses, as he headed down the steps to meet me on the grass.

"JFK is famous for delays dude, you can't blame me for being just seven minutes late," I said as I placed my backpack down. Axel hugged me. It's not a regular thing, just happens when I leave or come back to camp.

"Welcome back, Dia, I missed you." He said, "You missed a lot."

"Well, maybe you can get me caught up," I said, picking up my backpack. "Oh, after we stop by Cabin Seven, I told Kayla I would bring her a souvenir from Florida years ago and I kept forgetting,"

"So you brought her something from your hometown?" Axel asked.

"Yes, and by that I mean I found a keychain at my local Publix, and I think that counts," I told him as we headed towards Cabin Seven, otherwise known as my favorite shining eyesore.

Out of nowhere a head of short brown and blue curls, dressed in paint-stained shorts, an orange t-shirt, and purple flannel came rushing up to me and Axel. Suddenly there were arms wrapped around me.

"Friend! Welcome back!" Jodie said, as her arms wrapped around me. I stumbled a bit but managed to keep my balance and not topple over.

"Hey, Jodie, thanks," I said as I hugged her back. "I'm glad to be back."