The Feats of Joel--Discontinued

CHAPTER 2

When I wake up I am in a room made of oak logs, when I sit up I immediately jump out of the bed and get ready to defend myself, for in front of me is a dog the size of a horse. Then the boy comes in, I back up and hope the girl comes in to calm him. I expect him to knock me out, but be talks instead: "Joel, why are you here, instead of at your mom's house?"
"How do you know where I should be right now?" I ask in a rather shocked tone.

"It's simple; I'm your best friend."

"Daniel! You're a demigod?"

"Yeah, I'm a son of Ares. Do you know who your father is?"

"No..." I stop talking because he is focusing on something glowing on my hand; it is a bow over a harp-like thing, a lyre? I think those are the symbols of Apollo, Daniel was obsessed with ancient mythologies and used to rant about them. (A/N I actually do love ancient mythologies)

"Congratulations, you're a child of Apollo." He says.

"But I've never shot a bow or played an instrument." I say.

"I was never able to use a scythe before, but I wanted to so they trained me."

"They?" I ask. He doesn't answer, but just smiles and walks out the door. The dog follows him out of the door and into the sunlight. Daniel walks to a clearing by a forest. From there I see a collection of houses and cabins. There is a diner where I can see kids and satyrs eating food. "What kind of dog do you have?" I ask Daniel because it is so big it's scaring me.

"A hellhound." He says calmly. Before I can say anything more, the girl walks up to us.

"Hey Olivia." Daniel says.

"Hi Daniel." She says in a sweet voice. "Hi Joel. Have you figured out who your parent is?" she asks.

"Apparently my father is Apollo. What's your name?" I ask. "It was hard to catch since I was unconscious." I said while glaring at Daniel who looked like he was going to laugh at my glare.

"Olivia." She replies.

"Hey Daniel, what is your dog's name?" I ask.

"Skylos." He replies.

"Why Skylos? That doesn't sound like an English word."

"It's not an English word. It is a Greek word, the Greek word for dog." (A/N this is factual)

"Do you know Greek?" I ask.

"Not really, I had to learn it."

"Oh." I say. "So when do I begin my training?"

"Right now." Says a voice I don't recognize.

I turn around and see a lean guy holding two bows and two quivers of arrows. He takes me to an archery range, I know it's an archery range because there are people shooting bows at targets, and he teaches me how to handle a bow. He tells me how you never pull back a bowstring all the way and release without an arrow, he calls it a dry arrow. I learn how to judge an arrow and learn that the guy teaching me once shot a warped arrow and hit his friend. I also learn that his name is Peter and is the leader of the Apollo camp. He then shows me where the Apollo camp is and explains how each God has his or her own camp. Then I hear a deep, resonating sound and somehow know that the sound is coming from a hollowed-out goat horn. I ask Peter about how I know where the sound is coming from and he says that it is one of the gifts of Apollo and that in the Cluster (all the camps together), the horn means that it's time for a meal at the diner.

Before I can get there, I see a figure in the woods frantically gesturing for me to come. I tell Peter that I will be back in a minute and go to the woods with my bow in hand and quiver on my back. The person runs deeper into the woods where shadows conceal the forest like a box on a candle. The person turns around and I can see that it is a girl in a dress that seems to be made of forest materials and resembles tree bark, though it moves as a normal dress would. "Who and what are you?" I ask.

"I'm a nymph and I need help" she pleads.

"What do you need help with?" Instead of responding her eyes get big and she squeaks

"Him!" before running away.

I whirl around and instantly duck out of the way of a black blade. I look at my attacker; he is wearing armor exactly like Daniel's except for the fact that it is completely black. Actually, it isn't black it's just darkness. "Who are you?" I ask.

"I am the spawn of darkness, the son of Erebus." Before I could ask any more questions, he attacked with lightning speed. I run; and while I am doing this, I notch an arrow and turn sharply so that I am facing him, and fire my bow. My arrow catches him in the unguarded part of his bicep. While he is distracted by that I shoot at his neck but my aim is off a twinge and I hit him in the jugular spot right above the collarbone and below the neck. I shoot again and hit his neck with my arrow and that kills him. Then I saw what the nymph was worried about, he has a bottle of lighter fluid and a torch in his satchel. I saved the forest. Then I heard a voice in my head: "You can hide with your friends, but I will find you and I will destroy you."