I fell in love with my enemy...............

CHAPTER V

As we marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion I could see some of the other campers walk toward the mess hall as well. The first thing I noticed was that each cabin carried a huge banner with their parents' symbol of power. Cabin six had an owl. Cabin nine was black with a flame in the middle. Our banner was white with a blue caduceus in the middle. When we finally arrived I was impressed by how different the pavilion seemed now from this morning. There were torches blazing around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bath top. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed with purple. Well, that is without counting the one at the end of the pavilion which I had a feeling was cabin 13's since it was black cloth trimmed with red. Up to now, three of the tables were empty, which seemed ironic to me cuz' our table was way overcrowded. I kept looking around and saw Thalia sitting a few tables away from mine all alone in her table. She seemed to be fine with it but I felt a little sorry for her. All of a sudden Chiron appeared and the strangest thing happen. He raised from his wheel chair - which now I realized was fake- and from the waist down he had the body of a horse. I heard kids gasping in our table and then Luke chuckled. " Good evening, children, Before we get started eating dinner I want to make a toast." said Chiron. everyone stood up and glasses full of sparkling soda appeared in front of each one of us. We raised our glasses and Chiron said, " To the Gods!!" We all repeated the same in harmony. Wood nymphs ( some weird creatures who looked like fairies) came forward with platters of food. There was grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and all kinds of other food. I loaded my plate with mostly meet and fruits and i tried to avoid the vegetables as much as possible. I was starving and as if it weren't enough, when I was about to take the first bite Chiron said, " And now, before we get started eating, the offering to the gods." Kids started getting up and forming a line toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. I caught sight of Thalia looking at me. she mouthed, ' get up', and so I did. I noticed everyone was tossing some of their food into the fire and whispering something. Then Luke told me," When you get there just toss something from your plate into the fire and say the name of who you think is your patron ok." I nodded. when my turn came up I didn't know what to say so I just closed my eyes, tossed a big slice of ham and whispered, " Mom." When I sat down in the table again I didn't' wait another second to start eating so I dug in. "half way though dinner, when the last few kids were making their offerings Raven and Alex showed up. " Glad you guys decided to join us, but perhaps you should consider showing up a little earlier next time." said Chiron. Alex and Raven both looked at him with annoyed expressions. " Well, we would've been here earlier but-" Alex started to say but Raven cut him off. " DUDE, WE LIVE IN THE FREAKING WOODS!! WHICH IN CASE YOU ALREADY FORGOT, IS CROWDED WITH MONSTERS AND JUST BECAUSE WE'RE HADES' KIDS IT DOESN'T MEAN THEY LIKE US ANY BETTER THAN THEY LIKE YOU!!! SO IF YOU WANT US TO BE HERE EARLY WHY DON'T YOU USE YOUR THREE-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD HEAD AND LET US BUILD OUR CABIN WITH ALL THE OTHERS, YOU IDIOT!!!" said Raven, obviously pissed off. Everyone stood silent. " You guys know we can't do that. We've talked about this before." said Chiron. Alex was about to fight back but he decided to let it go, for now.they went to their table, picked up their plates and went to load them with food. They both looked at the fire for a moment and then turned toward their table. Everyone stared at them and I even heard some of the Aphrodite kids whisper to each other, " That is so rude. " Raven noticed the stares and slammed her cup hard on the table. Alex looked around and his eyes fixed on me for a moment and then he focused his eyes on Chiron. " No way." he said. " You must. He is your father, and you know the gods don't like humiliation." Raven then stood up violently, obviously out of any temper what-so-ever. " you're gonna talk to me about humiliation? All theese years we've been treated like aliens because of that stupid Corpse Breath and now you wanna tell me about humiliation, let alone the fact that you also want us to offer him some of our food, which just so you know, is NEVER gonna happen." she shouted. Everyone was silent. Alex then stood up and grabbed her shoulders and told her to calm down. She looked at him wanting to complain but right then the ground trembled. Alex looked at the ground and furiously said " Stop being such a cry baby, you're not the only one who's hungry plus you got us into this mess so calm down down Corpse Breath." After that everything pretty much just went back to normal again. After everyone finished their food we all headed toward the amphitheater for the claiming ceremony. I was very nervous and , I don't know why , but I had a bad feeling about this; as if something was gonna go wrong tonight. I was so wrapped around in my own thoughts I nearly jumped when I heard Alex talking to me. He and Raven were walking next to me. " Oh sorry guys, I was just in another world when you spoke to me ." Raven smiled and said "Yeah I know how you feel, it happens to me alot. It's the only way I can feel normal."