The Dracanae was gaining on me. I couldn't keep running for much longer. Cross country did nothing to prepare me for running from monsters twenty-four seven.
"C'mon, August!" Oakland shouted. "We have to make it across the border!"
Easy for him to say. He had hooves. He was climbing up the hill, which he had called Half-Blood Hill, with no trouble at all.
I heard a hissing behind me. As I scrambled up the hill, the dracanae followed, but seemed to have trouble slithering up the hill. Thank goodness. I was so tired and scratched up, I needed a warm shower and a nap. I certainly did not think that this was what being a half-blood entailed.
A rock slipped under my foot and I shrieked as I slid closer to the snake-woman.
"No!" Oakland shouted. He whipped out his pan pipes and began to play a song. I'd learned by traveling with Oak that he was fast, and he was an excellent musician, but he was a terrible warrior. I mean, couldn't even throw a punch. This time, his vines worked. They wound around the trunk of the dracanae and pulled her back, but I knew that she would be able to kill them with her venom easily.
I scrambled up the grassy slope and finally crested the hill. Oakland pulled my arm to help me up. Together, we stumbled across the border to Camp Half-Blood.
It didn't take long for us to be noticed. Oakland told me that a lot of half-bloods came into camp the first time totally bloodied and injured, so I knew I was in pretty good shape. Nevertheless, a few campers looked up from a volleyball court nearby. One shouted, "Guys, it's Oakland! He's got a half-blood!" One started to run towards a baby-blue farmhouse in the distance. Another two, including the one who had yelled, ran up to us.
"Oakland!" the first guy exclaimed, and pulled him into a hug. The other, a girl, waved at me nervously. Both were African-American. The boy had his hair in cornrows or dreads- I didn't really know the difference. The girl looked a little mischievous. It irritated me; she looked like she was about to do something that I knew absolutely nothing about. I hated feeling stupid.
When Oak and the guy had finished hugging, the guy turned to me and offered his hand. I shook it. "I'm Austin Lake," he said.
"August," I replied.
"This is Lou Ellen," Austin added. He looked at Lou Ellen and narrowed his eyes. "You better watch out for her, she's no doubt planning something."
Lou Ellen glared at Austin, and then turned to me and winked. I smiled at her a little. Maybe she wasn't so bad.
"You should talk to Chiron," Lou Ellen told me. "He'll want to see you. Get you all settled in and whatever."
Austin nodded. "Didn't Will go to get him?"
Oakland nodded in the direction of the farmhouse. "Yup." Sure enough, a horse and a blonde haired guy were respectively trotting and jogging towards us. No, wait, it wasn't a horse. It was a centaur.
They slowed and we met near a huge statue of a woman that was sitting on the hill. "So, it is true. Another half-blood," the centaur said.
"Um," I responded intelligently, "Yeah."
The centaur looked at Oak. "Is her parentage known?"
"Their," I corrected him. The centaur, Austin, Lou Ellen and Will all looked at me. I looked back.
Oakland saved the day. "Their pronouns are they and them. They're non-binary."
"Woah," Austin said, "That is so cool."
"Shut up, Austin," Lou Ellen muttered, "That's probably offensive or something."
"It's fine," I sighed. "Can someone please just tell me what's going on? And where I can take a nap?"
Will smiled, "You should probably get to the infirmary. I can take you."
So Will and I walk towards the big farmhouse. Will walks with such happiness that it looks like he's skipping. His blonde hair looks perfect, and his arms are so tan I just can't understand. I don't even feel that tan, and my skin is dark chocolate brown. "So, where are you from?" Will asks me.
I blush. He's the prettiest guy I've ever met. It's a perfectly normal question to ask anyone, but of course I'm thinking about him in that way already, because I'm a hopeless romantic. "I'm from the City," I reply quietly. I notice another guy with dark hair and black clothes running up the hill towards us.
"Nice!" Will responds. We are only a few yards from the farmhouse when the other guy catches us.
"Hey, Will," he says, "Who's this guy?"
"I'm not a guy," I mutter, and kick at the ground. I know I look like a guy, which is strange because I was born female. But my hair is pretty short, and I dress very masculine, even though I wear makeup sometimes.
"Their pronouns are they and them," Will announces with a flourish. The dark-clothes boy looks at me a little oddly, so I give him my best dark look. I don't need this guy judging me. I get judged enough already.
"Non-binary?" the guy asks. I'm a little surprised he knows the term. I nod. He still doesn't smile. We walk up on the porch of the farmhouse. "I'm Nico," he says.
"August," I answer.
"You came with Oak?" Nico asks. I nod again. Nico must know Oak, because generally only people he's pretty used to shorten his name.
Will opens the door to the farmhouse and we all walk inside. I follow him down a hall and we end up in a large room with about twenty beds along the north and south walls. Will goes over to a cabinet to grab some medical stuff, and Nico follows, whispering something in his ear. Will just nods. He comes back and starts fixing up the scratches on my arms and legs. I let him, and I continue to glare daggers at Nico. Something about him just makes me feel off. Will is entirely different. His vibe is sunny and warm.
"Nico's making you feel weird, right?" Will questions without looking at me.
I scowl at my feet. "Yeah," I mumble.
"He makes most people feel a little weird," Will continues. "He's a son of Hades. He kind of feels... like death."
I look at Nico. He rolls his eyes at Will, and I smile a little. Now I notice how edgy he looks with his black jeans and leather jacket. Will finishes bandaging me up and returns his stuff to the cabinet. "Who's your godly parent?" I ask him.
"Apollo," he answers. That makes sense to me. I'm pretty sure Apollo is the god of sunshine.
"So... my mom is a goddess?" I say, looking at each of them. It's a little hard to imagine— my dad, the edgy, tough motorcyclist, falling in love with some pretty Greek goddess.
"If that's the parent that you don't know, then probably," Nico says. Suddenly, a purple glow lights up the room. Will looks over from the medicine cabinet and gasps. Nico nods like he knew this was coming. I look above my head and see a symbol glowing in purple.
"Well, August," Nico says, "It appears that you're a child of Nemesis."
———
Hope you guys like this, I wanted to create a non-binary original character and it's much easier to do in writing than in drawing:)
El
