Daughter of Neptune, Book one

VIII

Tori pov

               I woke up to the sound of waves crashing. Then I remembered where I was. There was waves always crashing in Cabin Three.

                Above my bed, the ceiling of my cabin was decorated with a mosaic of the sea. There were different color blues making waves. The fish shifted across the ceiling. Waves crashed through the room, all the different blues flashed like waves.

                The cabin had the basic furniture of a cabin. There were three bunk beds, desk in the corner, night tables next to each bottom bunk. The only uncommon things were a small water fountain by the window and waves carved in the walls.

                I got up and rubbed my neck. My whole body was stiff from bad sleep and summoning a lot of water. That little trick last night wasn't as easy as I let on. It almost made me pass out.

               Next to my bed there were new clothes laid out for me: jeans and an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. I definitely needed a change of clothes, but looking down at my tattered purple shirt, I was reluctant to change. I could tell my brain and heart were disagreeing.

                My brain said: Put the shirt on. It's just an orange shirt.

                My heart said: NO!! Don't put the shirt on! It's not just a shirt! Don't put on! It's wrong!!!

                It felt wrong somehow, putting on the camp shirt. I still couldn't believe I belonged here, despite everything they'd told me.

                I thought about my dream, hoping more memories would come back to me about Lupa, or that ruined house in the redwoods. I knew I'd been there before. The wolf was real. But my head ached when I tried to remember. The marks on my forearm seemed to burn.

                If I could find those ruins, I could find my past. Whatever was growing in that rock spire, I had to stop it.

                I listened to my brain and changed my clothes. I went into the cabin bathroom and looked in the mirror. I definitely didn't look as good as Piper did last night after she'd been suddenly transformed.

                I didn't know how Jason felt about that. He'd kinda acted like an idiot, announcing in front of everyone that she was a knockout. Not like there'd been anything wrong with her before. Sure, she looked great after Aphrodite zapped her, but she didn't look like herself, not comfortable with the attention.

               I felt bad for her. Maybe that was crazy, considering she'd just been claimed by a goddess and turned into the most gorgeous girl at camp. Everyone had started fawning over her, telling her how amazing she was and how obviously she should be the one who went on the quest--but that attention had nothing to do with who she was. New dress, new makeup, glowing pink aura, and boom: suddenly people liked her. I felt like I could relate a little.

                Last night when I summoned the water, the other campers' reactions seemed slightly familiar to me. I was pretty sure I was dealing with that for a long time--people looking at me in awe just because I was the daughter of Poseidon, treating me special, but it didn't have anything to do with me. Nobody cared about me, just my big scary daddy standing behind me with a doomsday trident, as if to say, Respect this kid or drink saltwater!