Chapter 32: Welcome to camp

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Rhea POV

My dreams are really weird. I'm dreaming that I'm dancing with a bull, its horns are the size of its body, and when it was twirling me, I spun away from him, falling face first on wet grass.

With a gasp I try to sit up on a bed, where am I?

When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"

I managed to croak out, "What?"

She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."

Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.

The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.

A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes— at least a dozen of them—on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.

When I finally woke up again, I was greeted by a Satyr named Grover Underwood. Great! Things aren't so different from my counterpart's timeline.

"How did you know where the camp was?" he asked me and I frown, what kind of a question is that? Oh that's right, the Satyrs usually bring the demi-gods to camp.

"What? Oh, um, my mom told me where to find the camp," I say weakly. He must have interpreted it wrong, thinking my mom was a goddess, which she is, cause she's amazing.

He gave me some nectar, and gosh, did it taste amazing. Like ice-cream and mom's cookies mixed together in one. Dad didn't let me have nectar often. Killjoy!

"What did it taste like?" he asks curiously.

"Did you want a taste?" I ask him.

"No, it tastes different for everybody, just curious," he replies.

"Ice-cream and cookies." I reply, feeling so much better. Dad probably freaked out with the whole fighting thing. He can't do anything about it now.

We were at the big house dad told me about.

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who fed me pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.

The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of cherubs. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather any day.

"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And that is Chiron, camp activities director."

"Chiron, Mr. D, this is Rhea Jackson," Grover said, introducing me.

"Ah, it's good to see that you're finally awake Rhea," Chiron said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because of the warnings my family gave me.


"Annabeth?" Chiron called to the blond girl.

She came forward and Chiron introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Rhea's bunk? We'll be putting her in cabin eleven for now."

I frown at the thought, didn't Triton say he was going to claim me?

Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."

She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling grey, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analysing the best way to take me down in a fight.

She looked at me and said, "You drool when you sleep."

Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.

"So," I said, anxious to change the subject.

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, looking very afraid of the god sitting here.

"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.

"Just a little bit. I haven't played in a while." I said, I didn't have the time to play.

"Please," I said, "what is this place exactly? My mom said I'd be safe here."
Mr. D snorted and dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.

"Rhea," Chiron said. "What did your mother say to you exactly?"


"She said that this is the safest place for me. There was a hellhound at my university a few months back, and I killed it. My first time. And then she said I have to come here."

Mr. D narrowed his eyes and said. "A few months back? University?"

"Yes?" I asked confused.

"What Mr. D means is that you're still so young and you said you went to university. How old are you?" Chiron explained.

"I'm twelve, I went to the university of Colombia. I got my Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy. And am currently doing online classes for Psychology," I explain, "On another note, do you have wifi here, I have to complete an assignment and send it to one of my professors?"

They looked at a loss for words. "If not, I can just connect my phone to my laptop. No problem," I said.

"Rhea, do you know who your godly parent is?" Chiron asks. Mr. D probably knows about me due to the fact that I was a topic of discussion in their council meetings.

"Yes, my father is Triton, sea messenger god," I state proudly, and not a moment later, there was a glowing symbol above my head, Triton's symbol.

"Well, there we have it," Chiron said, "Unfortunately Triton does not have a cabin here, so you'll have to stay in the Hermes cabin fo-"

And before he could finish his sentence, Poseidon's symbol glowed above my head. Mr D's eyes were narrowed. Lightning struck a tree close to the house. Clearly Zeus is angry.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. D asks, eyes blazing.

"I don't...I don't know," I said, deathly scared of Mr. D.

"Why would Poseidon claim you too?" he demands.

"I...I,I" stuttering, struggling to speak, Grover wasn't fairing too good either. He looked ready to pee himself.

Lightning and thunder were rolling in waves in the sky, everyone around me looked like they were about to pee themselves too. I could hear the waves crashing from the lake. It's a lake, waves aren't supposed to crash in a lake.

"Speak up girl," Mr. D demands.

"He's my grandfather. We were speaking about cabins, and maybe he wants me to...to, stay in his cabin," I said, feeling proud of myself for finishing the sentence. Poseidon's symbol shone brighter above my head at my statement.

"Fine, but my father won't like this one bit. You can't be claimed twice. It doesn't work like that," Mr. D said.

"It's unusual Mr. D but the god of the seas has spoken. We must allow her to stay in his cabin," Chiron says, trying to calm the raging god in front of me.

It's different being in dad and Triton's presence, even Amphitrite. I know they won't hurt me, but this is different.

Dad, please don't let him kill me, I pray, knowing myfather will listen.



A/N:

I've been updating like crazy the past few days. I've had some time to write and had a wifi connection for a week. I won't be updating so much anymore due to the fact that I don't have wifi right now and am using my phone's data. And data in my country is expensive.

Thank you for the comments.

Onto another note: My story facts aren't the best right now. I read the books years ago and have to reread them again as I write the story to make sure that I get them right. Gosh, getting all the facts together is time consuming. I have to search through my own story to make sure I haven't written about things before, and double-check myself. I love writing, but the research...

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