Hera's Idea

Tia Callida Ruins My Life. Yet Again

Tia Callida Ruins My Life. Yet Again.

Uhg.

I woke up in the grass, lying on my back. I just assumed that I had fallen off my skateboard, again, and didn't move. After a minute, I opened my eyes, and gasped as I took in my surroundings. I was at Camp Half-Blood, in the forest. Why was I there? Memories flew into my head. I didn't skateboard today, I did yesterday, and the last thing I remembered was being in my room in Waystation. How did I get from Indianapolis to Long Island?

I shot up, and looked around frantically. The only person in sight I saw was my one-year-old sister, Emilia, sleeping curled up in a ball next to me, unaware of what was happening. I bit my lip, not seeing my brother, Aidan anywhere. Not wanting to wake Emmy, knowing that would be disastrous, I picked her up gently, and rested her head on my shoulder, rocking her slightly to make sure she stayed asleep.

"Papà? Mom? Aidan?" I whispered to the air, walking around. "¿Dónde estàs?" I contemplated going to Bunker 9, but realized that since Emmy was asleep, going near all Papà's tools isn't the smartest. I decided to go to see Chiron, seeing as he could help me.

"¿Qué está pasando?" I muttered, moving as fast as I could while holding my sister.

I reached the edge of the forest, and glanced around. There was a girl who looked strangely like a younger version of my Aunt Nyssa. "Why did you come from the forest?"

I gulped, and did the only thing I knew to do when I had no idea what the Hades was going on. I pretended I didn't speak English.

"No tengo idea de lo que estás hablando, Senorita."

Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute." She turned and shouted, "LEO!" over her shoulder.

Leo, who looked exactly like my father, name at all, ran over, fiddling with a tool belt that looked EXACTLY like my father's. Only difference between this Leo, and mi padre, Leo, is that mi padre is older than this Leo is. He only looks about a year or two older than me.

Nyssa informed him that I didn't speak English (Ha! Mi mentira era bastante convincente!) and that she thought I was speaking Spanish.

Leo gave me a lopsided smirk. "Hola! Me llamo Leo Valdez."

I stared at him, my mouth slightly agape. Can you blame me though? I'm actually convinced this is a younger version of mi padre. Only question is; How did I get here?

"Soy Madalena. Este es mi hermanita, Emilia. ¿Puedes llevarnos a Chiron? Somos legados." I didn't bother to get specific with anything. I was confused as is.

Leo nodded, and told me to follow him. No one spoke the entire time, which had me on edge. I hate silence, and I was practically itching for a conversation. Leo was fiddling with some pipe cleaners, so that was keeping him occupied.

"So, Leo," I said after I couldn't handle it any longer, "Do you know what's today's date?"

Leo looked up, "Nyssa said you didn't speak English?"

"Well, I lied," I said. "I'm multilingual. I live in Indianapolis. Back to my question, though?"

"June 24th."

"Year?"

"Have you lost your mind?"

"You'd be surprised."

"2011."

"Holy Hephaestus," I muttered under my breath, along with a string of curses, Greek, Spanish, English, and even Ancient Minoan.

"Woah," said Leo, "Slow down there, Senorita."

"Sorry," I apologized. I had an awful pot mouth, which surprised most people who met me. Most notably, when my mother was 9 months pregnant with Emilia, she had to get called into the office because I cursed out a teacher on the first day of class. I get reminded of this constantly, because Mom was on her way to get induced, and her and Papà had to talk to my principle. Papà was impressed, Mom was not. "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah, we are here."

Leo walked in first, and I followed suit.

"Madalena! How nice to see you again." I bit my tongue not to curse out the lady in front of me. There stood Hera, in all her 'greatness' (notice the quotes) next to Chiron.

"Tia Callida," I growled, and next to me, Leo's eyes widened.

"As lovely as ever, Ms. Valdez," she retorted. "I would expect more from my great-granddaughter."

"Well, you have unrealistically high standards, then. What did you do this time? He says it's 2011, and I swear of -" I was interrupted by a crash, and turned to see the Solace- Di Angelo triplets, lying on the floor.

"Naomi! What did you do?"

"Me? I did nothing, Bianca! It was you!"

"Be quiet! Both of you!" Maria stood up, and looked around the room. "Hera? Lena? Chiron? Perché siamo qui?"

"I was getting to that, Maria." Hera said. "I brought fifteen children back in time. These five included."

"YOU DID WHAT?" I screamed, waking up Emmy. She started to cry, and I rocked her slightly, but she was wide awake now. "Cálmate por favor." I whispered in her ear.

"¡Abajo!" She shouted, and I put her on the floor next to me.

"Come here, Emmy," called Maria, and Emmy waddled over to her.

"Back to what I was saying. YOU DID WHAT?"

"What is done is done, Valdez, no need to get upset." Hera chided. "The others, I assume you know who I am talking about, will wake up at different parts of the camp. You'll be here for three weeks, and the same amount of time will pass in your year. That does mean you'll celebrate your birthday here. I think that's it."

"WHERE'S AIDAN!" I shouted again, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BROTHER?"

"He's here," she said, and with that. She disappeared.