Chapter 2

To go to Long Island, we had to take the subway from the city.  We didn’t have a lot of money to be able to rent our own car or anything.  At this hour, the subway was considered a safe place.  Quinn said we wouldn’t be attacked on the subway at the time because it was rush hour, and there would be too many witnesses.  We had to walk from the station though.  We couldn’t afford a taxi between the two of us.  Quinn didn’t have any money because he had been searching a long time for Pan, and I was 11 years old.  What?  Did you think I’d have lots of money on me as a kid in foster care?  If you did, maybe you’re not as smart as you think you are.

The walk to the camp was way longer than two hours.  “It’ll only take two hours,” he said.  “The walk over will be fun,” he said.  Maybe an adventurer of the wilds like Quinn was cool walking everywhere, but I was a city boy.  I really don’t like walking through…*shudders*…nature…

               “Why were you here anyways?”  It was a little suspicious that this guy just happened to be in the area to save me.

               “I was on my search for our great and merciful Pan!  I thought I got a whiff of a strong nature scent where you were at, but it ended up being a dead end.  It was probably the Kallikantzaros.”

               “Those things smell like nature?”  I was pretty skeptical that something that ugly could smell like a god.

               “It’s not them that smells like nature, but rather the World Tree.  Every year they try to chop it down, only for them to get distracted, and the tree ends of up healing.  Then they start all over.  The powerful nature scent came from the World Tree.  Misled again.”  Quinn sighed.

               “Damn, that sucks.  For you, I mean.  For me, it was amazingly convenient.  Anyways, who is Pan?”

               “Who is Pan?  WHO IS PAN???  How could you not know who Pan is??”  I thought he was really offended before, but I guess I was wrong.  Before, it was like he was mildly miffed at my accusations, but this time, he was looking at me like I had insulted his manhood, family, friends, and beliefs all in one breath.  He started ranting incomprehensible words, which could probably be summed up as “that stupid kid”.

He eventually calmed down.  “Well…never mind…most humans have forgotten who Pan is.  He’s only the greatest guy ever!  Pan is the god of the wild.  He used to protect all of us, but one day, he just disappeared.  He shouted out some emo crap like “The Great Pan is dead!” and then ran away somewhere.  I plan on finding him, and giving him a good thrashing.  Acting like a little emo bitch…”  Woah, you’re going to beat up a god?  Yeah right, like that would happen.  Anyways, I feel like your personality changed when you started talking about Pan…

“Humans have been recklessly destroying nature for their own benefit and profit, and thus have forgotten the mighty Pan quickly over the years.  But we satyrs have always remembered him, and we will continue our search until he found!  Only that stupid Pansy can rally us all forth so we can protect nature!”  Wait, do you respect him or not?  Choose one damn it!  Wait a second, did l hear that correctly?

                “I hope you guys find him, but I thought I heard something weird.  Did you just say Satyr?  It’s like you’re implying that you aren’t human…”

               “I’m not human.  Haven’t you noticed yet?”  Now he was looking at me weirdly, like I was being purposefully stupid.

               That’s when I truly took in his appearance for the first time.  At that moment, I felt like a small part of my world just shifted, and I saw clearly for the first time.  Quinn only had the upper body of a man.  I didn’t notice before, but there was a huge amount of hair sticking out from the bottom of his pants, and, were those horse feet?   His face was somewhat normal, but he had a pair of tiny horns sticking out of his hair.  I wouldn’t have ever noticed either.  His ears pointed too, more than you would expect from a normal person for sure.  I guess I had been more focused on the sword, and I was probably distracted by the imminent picture of doom.  Jeez, I thought I was better than that.

               “Um…you have horse feet.  That’s different.”  That response sounded lame even to myself.

               “Technically, its Goat feet,” He said dryly.  “Satyrs appear to be a mix between humans and goats.  The term for my “feet” are hooves.  I do have great hooves, if I say so myself.”

               “Uh huh…sure.” My mind just blanked from the shock.

               “Normally, Satyrs wear some fake feet and hats as keepers, but I’m a searcher now, so I don’t generally carry those around anymore because I never need to go to civilization to search for Pan.  I used the mist to obscure my body.   The Mist hides our features and you’re mind fills in the gaps with whatever you want to believe.  That’s why you didn’t notice before.  Your demigod powers are kicking in though, and now you can see through my disguise.  I guess you really didn’t want to believe in the existence of another world hidden in the mortal world.  That’s why you were actively ignoring it until I pointed it out.  The mind and Mist is a fearsome thing indeed…”

               “Uh huh...”  I guess that makes sense, but the change that just happened and my brain hurts now.

               “Normally, satyrs work as keepers to locate and escort demigods back to the camp.  It’s unlikely that a demigod would ever find it easily on their own the first time, and the borders of the camp tend to be crawling with monsters because they can smell the demigods inside.  They lay in wait for the chance to eat up a demigod that goes too stray from the borders.”

“Uh huh…”  It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even know how to respond to the things he says.  I need time to process.  “So are you guys like that Goblin thing?”

“NO!  Satyrs are nothing like them!  We are nature spirits, and do not promote destruction.  Those things are monsters from Tartarus.  They will attempt to kill any demigod that they see or smell.  Run or kill on sight.”

“Yeah, right.  Got it.”  Too many things to know and remember.

               We made it to the camp with a fairly low number of incidents.  Mr. O’Riley was a veteran, so we were able to sneak across the island without alerting monsters.  I don’t know how he did it, but somehow, he was able to determine their position without seeing them and take us on a detour to avoid them.  When I asked him about it, he told me it was a combination of nature magic along, experiences, with his other senses.  I decided to pretend like I knew what he was talking about.

We descended into a valley where we could see a farmhouse in the distance.  We walked on over.  There was only one way to describe this place.  It was beautiful.  Even though I prefer the city, it had a peaceful feel, like all your worries would be washed away, just living here.  It seemed…happy.  Strange, I haven’t ever been anywhere that actually exuded a safe and happy feeling.  I’m not sure I really even belong in a place like this. 

“Let me go meet up with Chiron.  He needs to register you as a new camper.”  Quinn walked off and left me alone.  “Wait here.”

I only waited a few minutes, before Quinn came back with a guy in a wheelchair.

“You know, you didn’t have to bring him over here.  I could have walked over there.  Making someone in a wheelchair come all the way out here is pretty rude you know.”  Some people just don’t have any common curtesy.

“Ha-ha!  Did you hear that Chiron!  He thinks your disabled!  Ain’t that the joke of the century?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.  This is just a disguise I’ll be using to infiltrate another area with a demigod.  Hold on one minute.”

His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn’t move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt.  He kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man.  It was the front of an animal—a horse to be exact, with large muscles greatly defined under coarse white fur.  It turned out that the wheelchair wasn’t exactly a wheelchair.  It was more like an enormous box on wheels.  Somehow it held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof, and then the rest of him followed.

“Holy crap!  You’re a…what’s it called…I know this…centaur!  You’re a centaur!”

“I’m sorry Chiron, he has a tendency to point out the obvious.” 

“Screw you Quinn!  This is unreal!”

“Hello, my name is Chiron.  I am the activities director at Camp Half-Blood.  It’s nice to meet you.”  He had a kind smile, and I instinctively felt like he was someone I could trust.

“Hi, my name is Krishna Khanna.  Nice to meet you too.”

“I’m sure you have questions.” Yes, Chiron.  Of course I have questions!

“You have no idea,” I said laughing.  “But I don’t think we have the time to go through all of them, so I’ll ask you the most important one.  It’s probably the only one that really matters.”

“Go ahead”, he said kindly.

“Do you know who my parents are?”                      

There was silence after I asked that question, and some pity in his eyes.  In that instant, I knew that he didn’t have a clue.

“I’m sorry Krishna.  I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that.  However, what you said concerns me.  Do you not know your mortal parent?”

“No, I have no idea.  According to my social worker, I was found abandoned as a newborn baby.  Whoever my parents were, neither of my parents wanted me enough to keep me or find me.”  Yes, I am bitter about that.  So sue me.  You would be too.  “The only reason why they even knew my name was because of this bracelet I wear that had my name on it.  At least, they all assumed that it was my name.  It was suspected that it might be my father’s name, but no one with that name was found in the area.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that Krishna.  How about you give me a general idea of what your life has been like.”

“Nothing much to tell really.  I was raised in foster care all my life.  No one ever wanted to adopt a kid with both ADHD and dyslexia like me.  The doctors had also diagnosed me with possibly having Schizo-something because I would talk about seeing things that weren’t there.”

Chiron looked startled.  “Schizophrenia?  How old were you when that happened?”

“I dunno, like four or five years old?  The social workers recorded it in my file, and since then I was unadoptable.”

“That’s surprising to hear young man.  I’ll have to get someone to look into your files if that is true.  It possible that you might have started manifesting your powers very early on in life.  Your scent was probably masked by moving place to place.  Did you ever do anything that hinted at the fact that you might have demigod abilities?”

“Maybe, I don’t know.  Apparently, weird things would happen around me when I was little.  I don’t really remember because I was too young, but apparently, there have been strange incidents where things would randomly change colors, or objects would float.  As a little kid, I figured out eventually that these things that happened freaked out all of the adults.  Those people would look at me like I was a monster, but they would forget everything shortly like it never happened.  It was weird.”

Chiron hesitated but then spoke.  “I haven’t really seen any demigod that has been able to do all the things you say, especially at such a young age.  I’m getting more and more curious.  Perhaps the Mist was protecting you by making people forget.  Perhaps, you were being protected by being shuffled through homes…”

I snorted.  “I doubt that.  How could leaving me in the foster system be good for me?  Let’s pretend that maybe it was done to protect me.  That was a really dumb way to protect me.  Instead of ditching me there, why not leave me at this camp?  I definitely would have been safer here if I could have been raised here.”

“That…I don’t know.”  Chiron was crestfallen at the knowledge that I had given him.

“At least you’re admitting it Chiron.  In your heart, you probably already understand.  Neither of my parents really cared about me.  Not even enough to put me somewhere safe!  I was left on a street corner!”

No one had anything to say to me.  There was nothing to say.  I was abandoned as a newborn baby.  No one ever could change what has already happened in my life.

“I learned to take care of myself and taught myself how to read, even when people told me I wouldn’t be able to do it.  I learned to keep myself out of trouble the best I could.  Weird things would still happen around me, but I would play dumb, and people would quickly forget that it happened.  Even with that weirdness in my life, today was just a completely new level of weird.  Gods and monsters?  It’s like I’ve entered a whole new world that’s completely different from my own.”

“It’s probably best if you think of it that way.  This world you’ve entered has some of the beautiful and most terrible existences that you will ever hear about.  They aren’t mutually exclusive either, as you will find out.”  Chiron said to me softly.

I was silent for a moment.  “Do you know anyone who might be able to tell me?  Even if you don’t know the answer, I’m sure someone would know, wouldn’t they?”

 “No, I’m afraid not.  The Gods have more children with humans than you would expect.  Sometimes, they even forget who their children are because there have so many.  Generally, the camp has to find the demigods on our own through our own network that we have built up over the years.  The Gods rarely help identify their children and work with a hands-off approach a majority of the time.”

Of course the gods would have a hands-off policy in regards to their children.  I guess I shouldn’t have expected the Gods to be better than humans.  Actually, from the sound of it, their parenting behavior is probably just like living in foster care.  At the end of the day, I have to depend on myself.  Well, I guess at least there’s nothing new there that I’ll have to get used to.

“We should go meet the camp director.  He is…eccentric.  Be very polite.  If something happens to you because you aren’t…well…let’s just say that you should be as polite as physically possible, not matter how he might act...” 

Oh jeez, it’s one of those kind of people isn’t it?  The kind that expect respect without giving it in return?  That’s such a freaking pain. 

“Got it.  I know how to act.  Just keep my head down and everything will be fine, right?”

“…Probably?  He hasn’t been in a good mood in a while, so don’t say anything stupid.  Just behave and it’ll be fine.”  Wow, way to inspire confidence Chiron.

We went to a house with a nice porch.  There was someone just chilling there, waiting for us.  He was small, but porky, and wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt.  He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly purplish-black hair. He looked like a cherub.  You know, exactly like those baby angels that you would see in paintings. Except he looked like a cherub who’d grown up, turned into middle-aged man, lost his job and turned to alcohol to forget his worries.  I’d also been in enough homes to know that this guy was going through some serious withdrawal.  This was not going to be pretty.

“This is our camp director, Mr. D.  You should introduce yourself.” 

“Hi, I’m Krishna Khanna.  It’s nice to meet you.”  Once again, being polite never hurt anybody.

Chiron offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. “Oh, I guess I have to say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Happy Chiron?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Umm…thanks?”  I’m not sure if I didn’t something to make him irritated, or if that’s just his normal attitude.  “So, it’s Mr. D.  Does that stand for something?”

Everyone around me, with the exception of Mr. D, flinched.  I guess small talk was a bad idea.

“Young man, names are powerful things. You don’t just go around using them for no reason.”  Mr. D looked at me like I was someone especially stupid.

“Oh. I’m sorry.  I’m kind of new to all of this.”

“You meant to say, ‘I’m sorry, sir’.”  Oh jeez, this guy was going to be a bit of a hard-ass.  Well, it could be worse.  Well, I guess it’s not really a big deal to call him sir.  Since he is the head of this camp—a camp that will effectively be keeping me alive—showing some respect is the least I could do.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

Mr. D turned to Quinn.  “This is the first time you’ve brought us another demigod in a long time.  Did you change your mind?”

“No sir.  It’s just the first time I’ve encountered a new demigod while I’ve been on my search.  Seeing demigods in the wild is rare after all.”

“I suppose you’re right…how goes your search?” 

“If I was allowed to search outside of the United States, I’m sure I would have more luck…”  Quinn looked really frustrated.  Why couldn’t he search outside of the United States?  “Speaking of which, I found Krishna in the presence of a pair of kallikantzaros.”

“What?  That can’t be right.  Kallikantzaros only appear on the surface for about 2 weeks after Christmas, and then they have to go back.  You must have seen wrong.”  Mr. D was dismissive.

“I’m sorry, sir, but they were definitely kallikantzaros.  You know as well as I do that they have a very distinctive appearance.  There’s no way I was mistaken.”

“Sir, one of them said their name was Kenny”, I added helpfully.  I decided to put in my random two cents.  Maybe it would be useful.  Then again, he just told me that names have power, so maybe he wouldn’t appreciate that.

“I see…”  He gave me a look.  Yep, he’s annoyed with me.  I don’t know if it’s because I interrupted, or because of the name thing.  It’s probably both.  I can be pretty annoying when I put my mind to it.

“You know I wouldn’t have said anything at all if I wasn’t sure.”  Quinn looked serious and Mr. D just sighed.

“Yes, I suppose I know you well enough…”

Chiron looked worried. “The only way the kallikantzaros could reach the surface when it’s outside of that time is if they had some help.  This isn’t the first time something strange like this has happened recently“

“Just the latest in a bunch of incidents.  I suppose you want me to mention this upstairs?”

“I am just reporting it to you, sir.  Whatever you think is best.”  Quinn shrugged.  “Once I’ve reported this, it’s not really my problem.  I already reduced the ones I found to dust.”

“Always more work…”  Mr. D grumbled.  “I’ll let them know, but it won’t change anything.”

He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, completely out of nowhere. The goblet filled itself with red wine.  It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.  I’m sure my jaw dropped, but Chiron and Quinn hardly looked up.

“Mr. D,” he warned, “your restrictions.”

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.

Mr. D Sighed.  He looked at the sky and yelled, “Old habits! Sorry!”  Who the heck is he talking to?

Thunder rumbled in the sky, and I could have sworn I saw some lightning flash in the sky, even though there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky.  Did…did someone just answer him back???  Did that just really happen?

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He just gazed at it unhappily.  Why are you so unhappy?  You can make stuff magically appear whenever you want!

Chiron winked at me. “Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits.”

“Sure,” I repeated.

“Yes,” Mr. D confessed irritably. “Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Worst ten years of my life! The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn’t stay away.  He sent me here, as punishment to Half-Blood Hill, a summer camp for brats like you for a hundred years. ‘Be a better influence,’ he told me. ‘Work with youths rather than tearing them down.’  Ha!  Waste of time I say.”

Mr. D sounded about six years old, pouting like a little kid.

Wait, Prohibition?  What was that?”  So many questions and things I don’t understand.  It’s like I showed up to a conversation a few hours after it started, and so I have no idea what they are talking about.

“Prohibition was the nationwide ban of the sale of alcohol that lasted from 1920 to 1933 in the United States.  I was an interesting time…” Chiron reminisced.

“Okay…so you’re telling me that his father caused the country to stop selling booze just because you went after a girl.  Like a long time ago.  Was he like president or something?”

“Not exactly…Krishna, how much do you know about Greek Gods?”  Chiron asked carefully.

“Not much.  It’s hard to know stuff when you spend more time learning to read than actually learning.  But I guess I’ve heard of a couple.”  I sighed at the obvious route this conversation was going.  I just going to rip off the Band-Aid.  “Alright I see where this is going.  Which god is your dad?”  I was already resigned to something like this.  I’m not stupid.  If I’m a demigod, other people can be demigods too, especially in a camp that was made for demigods.  Clearly I was going to meet many others here.

 “My father is Zeus, King of the Gods, of course.” Mr. D said. “I thought everyone knew the basics.”

“That must be cool.  Your dad being the king of gods and all.” 

“It has its moments.” Mr. D smirked.

“So you chased the same person twice?  Was it worth it?”

It got still and silent again.  I really should learn to keep my curiosity in check.

Mr. D thought for a moment and for the first time, I saw a small genuine smile.  “Yes, I believe it was.”

I smiled back.  “That’s good because you’re stuck with me now.  I hope I don’t cause you too much trouble.”

He just scoffed.  “I just know you’re going to cause me a lot of trouble.  All demigods do nothing but cause trouble.  Anyways, let’s play a game.  Do you know how to play pinochle?”

“No sir, I don’t.”  What the heck is pinochle?

“Well, it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules.”  I wanted to roll my eyes at Mr. D, but that seemed really disrespectful.  Pac-Man?  Really?  Maybe someone needs to look into upgrading their gaming consoles.

He quickly explained the rules to me, but I didn’t really understand everything.  Oh well, I guess I’ll learn by playing?  Mr. D dealt cards out to all four of us.

“So, Prohibition happened like almost a century ago.  Do all demigods live as long as you?”  I think it’d be cool to be able to live forever.  I bet I’d have the best “back in my day” jokes.

“Krishna…Mr. D isn’t a demigod”, Chiron stated slowly.  “Mr. D is a god.”

Oh crap.  I looked at Quinn and nodded back to me in confirmation.  I looked at Mr. D too and he just sighed and nodded in irritation too.

It was all too much.  I did what any normal person would do.  I passed out.

I woke up a minute later to Chiron splashing water in my face.

“I’ve never had anyone faint on me before like that after discovering my status.  That was both irritating and refreshing at the same time.”  Mr. D sounded smugger than I would have thought he could.

“The kid has had a lot of shocks today.  I was wondering if he would break.”  Dude, not cool Quinn!

“Well, that was embarrassing.  A heads up would have been nice, Chiron!”  Chiron just laughed at me.  “So, you are a god huh…okay, cool.  I can go with that.”

“Hmph.  That was fast, especially for a fainter.  What made you believe so quickly?”

“Chiron and Quinn both said so, plus that thing with the wine and coke.  You have got to teach me that trick!”  Magic!  I wanna do magic!  Then, the next time I get chased my monsters or bullies, I can be all like “bring it on!” and throw lots of large destructive fireballs at them.  Bow down to my might peons!  MY TERROR SHALL REIGN FOREVER!!!  MWHAHAHAHAHA!

As I was enjoying my own crazy delusions, Chiron decided to burst my bubble.  “Depending on your talent, you will have a certain degree of control over the Mist.  Mr. D’s…”trick”, on the other hand, cannot be performed by a normal mortal.  Very few people are capable of doing magic like that.”

“Chiron, don’t crush all my hopes and dreams!  It’s all I ever wanted!” 

“Well, I suppose we all need impossible dreams to aspire to.” E’tu Mr. D?

“Hey!  That’s mean!”  Mr. D just smirked at me.  “Wait!  Hold up!  This doesn’t make any sense!  So, if you’re also a god, how come your dad gets to punish you?  Aren’t you too old to be punished by your dad?”

“He is the King of the Gods, and one of his titles is the God of Justice,” Chiron explained.  “It is one of the privileges he has over the other Gods.”

“Enough of this.  No amount of discussion over this will change my punishment.  Chiron, perhaps you need to start teaching this child some tact before he gets blasted into smithereens.”

“Then perhaps we should have Krishna settle in.  Shall we?”  Good call, Chiron.  Let’s totally get away from this place.  Of course, when I say this place, I really mean we should get away from that guy, but I’ll just keep all of these thoughts to myself.  No need to outright alienate a god.  Only a total idiot would do such a thing. 

“Cabin Eleven, Chiron.  Place him with the others.”  Cabin Eleven?  Why that one?  Why not any of the other cabin?  Why’d you have to say it so ominously?  Place him with the others.  Who are the others?  Not cool, Mr. D, not cool at all.

We walked away from the house, which I just learned was called the Big House.  It was kind of big and easy to spot.  Really though, I assume it’s called the Big House because Mr. D stays there.  We were walking around and I noticed a lot of satyrs wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, but no pants.  Just their bare shaggy hindquarters.  It’s super awkward. 

We walked past a volleyball pit where other campers were playing and saw a farmhouse.  That farmhouse was really creepy.  It had a haunted house sort of vibe.  Yup, it’s decided.  I’m never going in there.  I’ve seen a bunch of slasher movies.  I know it never turns out well for the foreign-looking guy.

“What’s up with the super creepy place in middle of this camp?”

“What are you talking about?”  Please Chiron, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

“I mean that huge, super creepy looking house right there.  Right in front of us.  There.  You can’t miss it.”  I make a huge show of pointing at it.

He looks at me weird.  “There’s nothing there but open space, Krishna…are you okay?”

My eyes bugged out.  There was a house that only I could see?  Ohmygodohmygod, I’m going to die!  This is the beginning of a supernatural horror movie!  Oh crap, I AM SO DEAD!!

After a couple of moments into my internal freak out, Chiron started laughing.  “I’m just messing with you.  You should see your face.  That was priceless.  I wish I had a camera.” 

“Not cool, Chiron.  Not cool.”  I was embarrassed to have fallen for something like that so easily.  I’m also sure that the relief showed on my face.

“You are safe here, Krishna.  I know it will take some time with your background, but you are as safe as you can possibly be as a demigod here.  Just relax.  Try to wind down.  You’re too tense and it feels like you’re always about to bolt.”

Maybe that was true.  So what?  I trust my instincts.  If they tell me to run at any point, I know what I’ll be doing.

“So about that house?”  I think focusing the conversation in a more productive manner is important.

Chiron understood that I didn’t want to talk about it and decided to answer.  “We keep a bunch of random weapons and artifacts in there.  Some are more valuable than others.  Also…that is where the Oracle of Delphi stays.”

“Who is that?”  I know that there’s a lot that I don’t know, but it’s annoying to discover that there is also more to learn and more to know.  Who knows, maybe it’ll never stop happening to me.

“Someone who is able to give us a prophecy of the future.  It’s usually happens during times of turmoil or great danger.”  Chiron sighed.   “Krishna, I’m asking you to never go into that building unless told to.  It’s dangerous, and well, some things are best left alone.” 

“Yeah, I think I can respect that,” I said dryly.  So you’re telling me not to go into a big creepy house that holds some dangerous woman in it.  Yeah, I’m totally going to need more convincing to stay away.  Not.  With my luck, it’s probably someone that would end up eating me. 

We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking the berries while a satyr played a tune on his reed pipe.  Chiron told me the camp grew them to sell to New York City restaurants and Mount Olympus. “It pays our expenses,” he explained. “And the strawberries barely take any effort.”

He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants.  They just went crazy when he was around. Apparently, it worked even better with wine grapes, but Mr. D wasn’t allowed to grow those because of his punishment, so they grew strawberries instead.

I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction.  I just stared at the marvelous little scene.  I didn’t know they even would do a satyr’s bidding.  I bet they all have their own bug minions.  Note to self: Don’t get on the bad side of any of those satyrs.  I wouldn’t want to wake up one day covered in all kinds of creepy crawlies.  I bet it would take forever to get rid of all those bugs too.  If I stay on their good side, maybe they would teach me how to do that too.

We passed a huge forest on our way to our destination.  “This is where we play capture the flag every Friday.  Do you have your own sword and shield?”

I gave him an “Are you an idiot?” look.

“…Ahem, yes I suppose you don’t have any.  Hmm, you look to be a size 8.  You should visit the armory later.  Also, you need to lose some serious weight Krishna.  You should be about a size 3 to be normal.  I guess it’s a good thing that you’re here now.” 

Okay, so I’m a bit porky.  So sue me.  The foster care diet doesn’t exactly tend to provide for top notch healthy gourmet food.

“This isn’t just a safe haven Krishna.  We teach demigods how to survive here.  Part of surviving is being healthy and fit.  Thankfully, you shouldn’t have any problems losing that weight.  You are a demigod after all.  If you put in even a little bit of effort, the pounds should just melt off.”

“That sounds…amazing.”  I guess there are some perks to being a demigod.  I was beginning to think it was all just going to be bad news.  I guess no more “hey fatty” comments for me.  I definitely won’t miss that.  “Wait…why would I need a sword and shield for capture the flag?”

“It’s to defend yourself, of course.  You can’t expect yourself to go in to battle without some sort of protection.”  Chiron explained this to me like this should be completely obvious.

“Since when does capture the flag involve weapons?  Or battle?”  I may not have had the opportunity to play it much in the past (because I didn’t have any friends, thanks for reminding me again btw), but I know it wasn’t played with swords.  Even though it sounded cool.  Dangerous, but super cool.

“This is capture the flag, demigod edition.”  Chiron grinned.  “Much more useful to train all you demigods.”

“That sounds super cool, and yet terrifying at the same time.”  I don’t think I’m going to like this game.

“That’s the point.”  Chiron smiled.  He was way too happy about this dangerous game he cooked up, where he gives little kids lots of pointy and sharp weapons and then releases us and is all like “have fun!  Try not to maim each other to death too badly!”

We saw the archery range, a lake where people were canoeing, stables, stables, a javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, the arena where Chiron said they held fights between campers, and the “Mess Hall.”  Why didn’t they call it the cafeteria, eating space, picnic area, or just about anything else.  Mess Hall just sounds so…dumb.  Yes, I’m being whiny.  It’s been a really long day.

Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, settled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U-formation, with two at the base and five in a row on either side.  There was only one way to describe all of these buildings—strange.  Don’t get me wrong, each of the buildings on its own wasn’t weird.  In fact they were beautiful, or at least downright interesting.  No, the strangeness came from having them all next to each other.  It just gives that feeling of “what the heck” the first time you see them.  It was like being in Las Vegas that one time with one of my foster families and walking down that strip with all the different casinos.  That foster mom had a bit of gambling problem, and lost all her money there.  As a result, I was moved to another foster home.  I was really sad about that at the time.  Except for her gambling problem, she was a great mom.  She used to go out of her way to make us delicious little desserts and made me feel safe.

None of the buildings looked anything like the others.  Each had a large brass number above their doors, with odd-numbered buildings on the left, and even-numbered buildings on the right.  Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.  Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.  They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops.

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit.  Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered.  A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.

I decided that I would check out the rest of the cabins tomorrow in more detail.  It was getting late, and I was tired. 

“Cabin eleven,” Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. “Make yourself at home.”

Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin.  It looked really old, but let’s be honest, I’ve lived in worse.  The entrance was worn down, the brown paint peeling.  Over the doorway was one of those doctor’s symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it.  I heard later that it is called a caduceus.

Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

Chiron didn’t go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.

“Well, then,” Chiron said. “Good luck, Krishna. I’ll see you at dinner.” He galloped away toward the archery range.

I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren’t bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I’d gone through it at enough schools and homes.

“Hey, my name is Krishna Khanna.  So…what now?”

 “Regular or undetermined?” somebody asked.

I didn’t know what to say.  “I have no idea what that means.”

“Undetermined then.”  Someone randomly piped up.

Everybody groaned.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.  “You’re undetermined.  The camp leaders don’t know what cabin to put you in, so you’re here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers and all visitors. Naturally, it’s because Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers.  Since you’re undetermined, you get to stay here until you are claimed.”

“How long will I be here?” I asked.

“Good question.  Until you’re determined.”

“How long will that take?”

The campers all laughed.  It was a hollow laugh though.  The kind where you were helpless and they only thing you could do was laugh.  I didn’t like that sound at all.

Oh my god, it can’t be true.  Could it be that all of these kids were unclaimed like me?  What are our parents doing?  Don’t they care about us at all?  We are right here, together in one place, in a camp made for people like us.  We even have a god taking care of us.  I don’t understand why gods would be like this.  Or maybe I do.  I was abandoned by my own parents.  Why should I expect the other gods to be any different?  I guess the only thing that truly separates them from mortals is their godly powers. 

“Now, now, everyone. He’s new, and we have to show him the ropes.  That’s what we’re here for.  Welcome to cabin eleven, Krishna. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there.  My name is Luke and I’m the leader of this cabin.”

The guy was about eighteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing that messed up his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw.  Huh, I wonder what caused that.

“Hey Luke, why did everyone just laugh when I asked when I’d be claimed.”  I needed to know.

“…Look Krishna, you look like a good kid, so I don’t want to hurt you when I tell you this…”  Luke looked away.

“Just tell me.”

“Look, the gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don’t always...well, sometimes they don’t care about us. They ignore us.  In rare cases, sometimes they don’t even love their own children.”

I was aghast.  Was that going to happen to me?

Luke continued.  “Some of those kids have been waiting for years to be claimed.  Being unclaimed is the same as your parent saying that they don’t care about you.  Actually, it’s worse than that.  Their parents are actively denying their existence.  The worst part is that none of us can do anything about it.  Anyways, enough of this depressing stuff.  Why don’t you take a chance to settle in, and then I’ll show you some of the ropes.

I looked at the tiny section of floor they’d given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own.  I heard that Hermes was also the god of thieves.  Joke’s on them though.  I don’t have anything to steal.  Ditched it all on the way here.  My life was more important than some school books.

I looked around at the campers’ faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, and some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.  Oh yeah, this cabin was going to be so great.  *sigh* Welcome to Camp Half-Blood indeed.