Children of the Big Three-Book Two-Quest of Centaurs

Chapter 2-Eryn

"What was that thing?" I asked Mom as we drove to the camp.

"That was an empousae," Mom said. "A creature from the underworld."

"This is a dream, right?" I asked. "I mean, we were just attacked by a mythological monster."

Mom sighed. "This isn't a dream, Eryn," she said. "Greek mythology is real."

"What?" I laughed. "You're funny, Mom."

She looked at me, dead serious. "I'm not kidding, Eryn."

I was shocked. "What?"

She sighed again. "All the Greek gods, Greek monsters, places, myths, they're all real," Mom said, staring at the road ahead. "Sometimes, sometimes the Greek gods come down to earth and have children with mortals," she continued. "The children that they have with us 'mortals' are called demigods, half mortal, half god."

"Okay," I said. "And why do I need to know this?" I asked.

"Be-because you're a demigod, Eryn."

I was taken aback. "Wh-what?"

"Your father is a Greek god, Eryn. That's why you've never met him."

"Wait, are you telling me my dad is a mythological person?"

Mom nodded. "The gods have children with other mortals too. That's why I said you might have relatives at this camp." She stared at the road ahead. "This camp is one for demigods," she said. "There will be children from many different gods and goddesses. They train you to defeat monsters and protect yourself there. That's why your father wants you to go there."

I stared at the road ahead.

"Wow," I said.

"You are a daughter of one of the big three," Mom said. "So your demigod scent is extra strong." She paused for a moment. Then she held out her hand. "Give me your phone," she demanded.

"What?"

"Demigods can't have phones," she said. "They attrack monsters."

I unwillingly handed her my phone.

"Sorry, sweetie," she said.

"It's okay," I said. "I just had everything on there."

Mom laughed and put my phone in her purse.

"You'll do fine at camp," Mom said.

We drove for a while in silence. Rain started to beat down on the roof of the car.

"Mom," I asked. "Who's my dad?"

Mom hesitated. "I-I don't know if I can tell you," she said.

"Please," I said. "I need to know. I haven't known for sixteen years."

Mom sighed. "You're father is Posiden," she said. "I don't know if I was supposed to tell you though."

I looked down at my lap as we continued to drive down continuous streets.

We drove until we came to the bottom of a hill.

"Alright," Mom said, parking the car on the side of the road. "We're walking from here."

We got out of the car and headed up the hill.

"This hill is called Half-Blood Hill," Mom explained. "That pine tree at the top," Mom pointed, "that's camp borders."

I nodded as we continued hiking up. Once we reached the top, I looked over the hill. What I saw amazed me. On one side of the valley underneath was a massive strawberry field. On the other side was a baby blue house. Behind that some ways were twenty cabins in two lines. In another direction was a lava wall, and another a dining pavilion with twenty-one tables. Then, there was a large ampitheature large enough to fit at least a thousand people. In the middle of the ampitheature was a firepit. There was a beach behind everything and an awesome shore. Everything looked amazing.

"Mom, look at this place!" I turned around and saw my mom croutched down, writing a letter with a random pen. "What are you doing?" I asked.

She stood up and handed me the letter. "I can't go past the border," she said. "Only demigods and sayters can."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm not going to go into camp with you," she said.

"What?"

"You have to go on your own now," she said. "But don't worry, Chiron will take good care of you."

"Who's Chiron?" I asked.

"You'll see. Now go. Go to the blue house and give them the letter. It explains everything."

I nodded. "Thank you, Mom," I said hugging her goodbye.

"When you learn how, Iris message me," she said.

What the heck is that? I thought.

I nodded. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

I waved goodbye and walked past the huge pine tree. Once I was actually inside of the camp, I started to feel the butterflies in my stomach.

I remembered where the blue house I saw at the top of the hill was and walked in that direction. I walked past a bunch of people wearing orange tee shirts that said Camp Half-Blood in black letters. When I'd walk by, they would start whispering to each other, no dout about me. I just kept walking until I came to the blue house. On the porch stood a man with the top half of a man and the bottom half of a white stallion. He had brown hair and a brown beard.

"Hi," I said. "I'm looking for Chiron."

"That would be me," the centuar said.

"Oh, in that case, hi, I'm Eryn Willemstad. I just got here and I have no idea what the heck I'm doing." I took a breath. "My mother, Ellie Willemstad, wrote this note and told me to give it to you. She said it explains everything."

I handed him the note, and he took it and started reading.

"Daughter of Posiden, huh?" he said when he finished. "Well, at least you already know what cabin you belong in."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"How much do you know?" he asked.

"That Greek mythology is real, my dad is Posiden, this camp is for demigods, and I may have some siblings."

He nodded. "Have you been attacked by any monsters yet?"

"Three empousae," I answered. "Mom killed two, I killed one."

"Do you have a weapon?" he asked.

"No," I said. "Mom happened to have two random swords in the back of our car."

He nodded again. "Okay. I'm going to call a demigod over to show you around. Wait just a minute." He turned around and walked inside the house. After a minute, he walked back out. "Jace should be here any moment to show you around," he reported. "Ah, here he comes now."

I turned around to see an athletic boy about my age with brown hair and light brown eyes running up to us. He wore an orange camp shirt like everyone else with gray basketball shorts and white Nikes.

"Hey, Chiron," he said. "What's up?"

"Eryn, this is Jace, son of Ares," Chiron informed me.

"Hi," I said waving.

"Uh, who's this?" Jace asked.

"Jace, this is Eryn Willemstad, daughter of Posiden," Chiron said. "She's new here and needs someone to show her around. Usually I have Sydney do this kind of stuff, but she hasn't returned from her quest."

Jace nodded. "Great." He turned to me. "I think you'll like it here."