klance

Water Meets Fire (VLDxPJO AU)

A/N: Here's a chapter for all of you who have read or watched Percy Jackson. If you haven't ever read/seen Percy Jackson, this chapter might be a little bit confusing, but I hope you like it anyways!

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   It all started with the day my hand caught fire.
Ever since I was a kid, I had incidents with fire. Once, I set my crib on fire when I was a baby. My mother ran in as soon as she smelled smoke. She grabbed me from the crib, which was already engulfed in flames, yet I was left unharmed. By the time the fire trucks came to conquer the raging fire, my room was almost completely gone and the ceiling had collapsed.
The second time I delt with fire was in the second grade. A kid was picking on me by the swings. She shoved me, and right when she was going to shove me again, I raised my arm to defend myself. The second my hang collided with her sleeve was when fire sparked at my finger tip. The fire ran up her sleeve and circled her entire right arm. Lucky for her, she stopped, dropped, and rolled, so the burns weren't so severe. As for me, I wasn't officially punished by the school, but for the rest of my school years I was looked at funny and bullied. They blamed me.
A few more fiery incidents happened through out my years, but you get the gist.
One day in the sixth grade, this boy showed up. He had brown curly hair and walked slow and with a limp. On the first day he got to my school, he only talked to me. For the longest time, I thought he just felt bad for me and thought since both of us were alone we could be friends with each other. His name's Grover.
   As it turns out, he's from a place called Camp Half-Blood, which is where I currently am because I am in danger. I'm a half-blood, and Grover told me once a half-blood reached age 12, they were in danger of being killed by monsters. He told me this when we were running through a forest in Arizona, from a storm spirit. Catching buses, hitch-hiking, and running was all we did for the next week. We came all the way from Arizona to New York. We got to Long Island, and a ghoul picked up my scent and started chasing us. After running for miles, we got to half-blood hill. Half-blood hill. That was a nightmare. Before we could pass over the safe boundaries into camp, the ghoul caught up to us and slashed desperately at Grover. Even though Grover came to get me and befriend me so I could make it to camp, I felt like he was my greatest friend. And he was. I had to defend him.
   I stepped in front of him, trying to fight the nasty creature with a thorned tree branch I found in the woods. It didn't work out how I'd planned. The ghoul slashed my leg, causing me to stumble backward and fall to the ground. It slashed again, this time a worse wound. The giant claws raked against my chest creating a deep trench of blood, shoulder to hip bone. I could only watch the claws raise for the third time; it felt slow motion. Luckily, Grover pulled me from under the beast in a swift motion and lifted me to my feet. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and we started running. Even though it was difficult for me to run, Grover was basically dragging me so I didn't have to move my leg. I feel bad to say so, but I was surprised he was so strong.
   Before we passed over the camp barrier, I blacked out and my body went limp.

   I woke up in a small room on a bed. The sun shined through the windows and blinded me when my eyes flickered open. Sitting up was a bad decision.
   "OW!" I yelled, wincing as the pain shot through my chest like a bolt of lightning. Ignoring the pain, I slid my legs over the bed and gently jumped on to the hard wood with my bare feet. The wound on my leg was basically healed, but then I had no idea how that was possible. Even now, I still don't know how it works.
   "Keith!" a man in a wheel chair came rolling into the room. "You're awake. Please, sit. You are still very weak." I obeyed.
   "My name is Chiron. I'm a centaur, but now's not the time to talk about me. You must be very confused being taken here by Grover and being attacked by monsters while you travel through multiple states by yourselves." I nodded and he continued on.
   "You are half-blood, I'm sure Grover has already explained that to you. Half-bloods are offspring of a god or goddess and a mortal. You see, half-bloods have powers like their godly parent, put with these powers come burdens. Like being hunted by monsters."
   "Who's my godly parent?" I blurted out.
   "That," Chiron wheeled over to a table where he grabbed a bottle. "Is yet to be determined. You will be claimed by your parent soon enough, most likely in the next couple of days." He handed me the bottle. "Now drink up. This is nectar, it helps you heal faster. You stay here and rest until Lance comes to get you and give the tour of Camp Half-Blood. Good bye, Keith." And with that, he left out the screen door.

I had been waiting for about 20 minutes before the boy, Lance, walked in.
"Hi, you're Keith, right?" the boy asked. He was slightly taller than me, had brown hair, medium-dark skin, and bright blue eyes.
"That's me. And I assume you're Lance?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.
"Correct. I'm here to show you around camp." he said. I pulled a hairband off my wrist and pulled my long dark hair into a little pony tail. My mom used to tell me I looked cute that way. I followed Lance through the door of the infirmary and into camp. It was like a whole other world. It was the end of the school year when Grover and I left for here, so now it was full blown summer. The trees flourished and the grass was the greenest green I'd ever seen.
"So," Lance started, widening his arms like he was welcoming me to camp. "This is Camp Half-Blood. You just came out of the infirmary."
"I knew that."
"Right. Right, of course." he fidgeted and grasped his arm. He looked at the ground and I suddenly felt bad for saying that to him. He probably had anxiety or something, we all have different ways of showing it and coping with it.
"I'm sorry, um... Let's continue here." he offered and started walking to an arrangement of cabins not too far away.
   "These are cabins for children of each of the greek gods. Everyone here is a child of a greek god, even if it is a minor god." Lance said. "I haven't gotten claimed yet. Anyone who hasn't gotten claimed stays in the Hermes cabin." He moved along to the next thing.

After he showed me all of Camp Half-Blood. The strawberry fields, the forest, the dining hall, the climbing wall, and more. It was quite extravagant for a camp. During the tour, I don't think I talked one more time after my sarcastic jerk move. I was embarrassed for being so rude to this boy. Even through all this he acted friendly and maybe like he wanted to become friends. Which I did not have many of; in fact, I had only one, Grover.
"We should get going to the fire now." Lance said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Hello everyone!" Chiron said, standing in front of the giant bonfire. "Before we get to the song and marshmallow roasting, you should know the schedule for the week. Tuesday we have the rock wall, wednesday is chariot races, thursday is sword fighting, and friday is all of our favorites, capture the flag!" The group roared and whooped after hearing friday's activity. I even saw Lance, who was sitting right by me, smiling.
"I think now would be an appropriate time to introduce our new demigod friends," Chiron said. "Come on down!"
Lance nudged me and pointed to Chiron. I made my way off the bleachers and down to the dirt patch by the bonfire.
I stood by Chiron along with two other kids. One of them had orange short hair that spiked up in the back, big, round glasses, and a short posture. The other was slightly taller than me, but he was just bigger than me. His dark brown hair was plastered in place with a headband-like bandana.
"These are our new campers, Pidge," Chiron gestured to the orange-haired kid. "Hunk," that was the boy. "And Keith." I looked out at the crowd of campers. Everyone was staring at me. I froze up and stared off into the crowd at the only face I knew.
That was until I saw the red-orange glow. I looked around to see where it was coming from. Above my head is where it came from. The glow showed a picture, a flame and hammer.
"Congratulations, Keith. Son of Hephaestus."