Mortals meet demigods

Chloe Gardiner-Stoll

"Chloe! Hurry up, we're going in 10 minutes!" my mom yelled. My mom is Katie Gardiner-Stoll. Apparently today we're going to some camp today. I don't remember, I'm only 8, but I'll be 9 in a month. Getting excited, I threw some random games and coloring books and pencil crayons into a bag and clumsily put on my purple glasses. I tucked my long, brown hair behind my ears. I am short and have green eyes, from my mom, and elfish features or something, from my dad. My dad is Travis Stoll and my parents kiss a lot. It's gross. I grabbed a unicorn sweater and raced downstairs.

"Ready!" I yelled, jumping down the last few steps. I got my parent's ADHD. After waiting for what seemed like forever for my dad to finish, we finally got into the car and started driving.

Around lunch, we got there. We passed a dragon and a cool towel and a glowing tree and walked through a big arch. My mom told me it said Camp Half-Blood. I can read, but that was weird.

We were greeted by a couple that looked like the same age as my parents and they talked for a bit. The guy had black hair and green eyes. He was twirling around a pen and had his arm around the girl. The girl had blond hair in a ponytail and grey hairs. Her hand was sitting on the handle of a... Bone sword? Another guy came up and waved. That's Uncle Connor, I realized. One time he stole my clock. For a week.

He said a few words with my parents and then held out his hand to me.

"C'mon, Chloe. Let's go get you a sword or a dagger or-" He started listing all of the types of weapons he could think of. We passed by a large area where kids were fighting each other. As we had just about walked the length of the area, I saw the 2 people from earlier and my parents enter the area holding swords. "Oh, yeah. That's Percy and Annabeth Jackson." My uncle butted in. I watched another person, a little girl around my age, run up to them. "And that's Zoë Jackson, she turned 9 last week. She stays here most of the time. I should introduce you, I bet you guys will be great friends!" 

I shrugged. Quickly, we walked up to a large shed. Uncle Connor pulled me inside and told me the basics for picking a weapon. Your style, fits your hand, not too heavy. The first 2 weapons he gave me were a sword and a spear. They were both too heavy. He finally came across a smaller sword near the back. "Ooh. Enchanted. That should work." He passed it over to me and I gripped it. I glowed green on the hilt and gold closer to the tip. It started to grow until it was the perfect weight for me. I slowly eased 1 hand off the handle and saw a little design there. I smiled and nodded my head, it was my sword now. "I love it. But the symbols? What are they supposed to mean? Eat cereal and go to the doctor's to deliver my victims!? " 

"Ha! That's actually a husk of grain that crossed over a caduceus. Because your dad is a son of Hermes and your mom is a daughter of Demeter. Maybe we should get you some seeds also, cuz otherwise Katie may kill me." Uncle Connor explained as he moved my finger to press the design. It shrunk down into a little pendant. Uncle Connor picked up a necklace chain that had been sitting near the sword and put it on me. He took the pendant and it magnetically attached. He smiled at me so I smiled back before he dragged me out of the shed. "What type of flower seeds should we get you first?"

I glanced at some flower beds for inspiration, "Roses would be nice. Maybe colored seeds that are mixed up so the color of the roses are a surprise each time! I could have purple, and turquoise, and blue, and green, and lavender, and teal, and red, and gold!" I started jumping up and down, getting really excited.

Later that day, after getting my colorful seeds, we headed back to the arena. It was just as Zoë was leaving. "Hi! I'm Chloe Gardiner-Stoll. Zoë, right?" she nodded. "Wanna hang out? I'm bored and Uncle Connor had to go," I said, making a point. Uncle Connor laughed and walked past us to do something.

Zoë started jumping up and down, "Do you have a sword yet? I want to show you my sword. Your parents are Travis and Katie right? Do you have any powers? Can you control plants like Katie, or pick locks like Travis?" He can pick locks?

"I think so. I mean, I have seeds tha-" I was cut off as she pulled me to an open part of the arena farther away from others.

"Show me."