Finding Purpose

Prologue

-Ann-

I had been on the run for years now, trying to escape all of those nasty creatures trying to kill me. I was so tired of it. My mom used to tell me about the Greek mythology, about the first man she had a child with, and my brother. The brother I never knew. But I never expected those monsters to chase after me. I sighed as I kept on running, not daring to look back. The last five hundred years had been hard for me. I came to the conclusion that I don't age, not since my sixteenth birthday anymore, and since then I've been to all over the world. I couldn't stay too long in a place, knowing people would get suspicious. So instead, I would live somewhere for two or three years, get a job and a life, and before everyone started learning about the real me, I had moved somewhere else again, with a whole new identity, job and everything that came with it. Until a few weeks ago.

I was pulled away from my thoughts when a hellhound appeared in front of me.
'Gods,' I shouted, and turned the other way.
Soon enough, I was surrounded by three of them, and I couldn't do a thing. I had no weapon, I had never had any training and I had no idea what was going to happen next. Although what did happen, I would never have thought of.

A tall man, who seemed to have the age of around twenty-five, appeared from out of nowhere, killing the monsters with only one hit. I guess it had taken him exactly five seconds. Gods, if he was going to start bragging about it, I would seriously consider knocking him down.

'Hi,' the guy said.
'Ehm.., hi,' I replied.
'Who are you?'
My eyes narrowed. 'I could ask the same thing about you.'
The man let out a small laugh. 'Lady's first,' he said with a grin.
I had been living these past centuries with so many names, I lost count, but somehow, I felt like he was someone who could tell exactly when I was lying. I blew out a breath. 'Gods, fine. I'm Ann. Ann Blofis.'
A big grin appeared on the man's face and he held out his hand. 'Nice to meet you, Ann. I'm Phi.'
I shook it. 'No last name?' I asked.
'No last name,' he confirmed. 'Shall we go?'
I crossed my arms. 'Where to?'
'How about we talk about it on the way there?'

We were walking fast. To me it seemed like we were going faster then when I had been running away from those hellhounds, but something in the back of my mind told me it couldn't be true. So instead of wondering about our walking pace, the guy or where we were going, I simply listened to what he was telling me.

'From the beginning of humankind, the Gods have been around. I believe you have heard about the Gods from the Greek mythology, like Zeus and Poseidon. The mythology stories are real, although a lot of people think they're myths. People who believe them to be true, and to see the hellhounds, like you, aren't mortals. You're either a demigod, the child of a god, or you have the power to see through the Mist.'
'What's the Mist?' I asked.
'The Mist is some sort of fog who clouds the mortal brains. Like when we would see the actual hellhound, they would be seeing something really different. I don't know, maybe some kind of large dog, but still. The place where we're going, is a camp where demigods get training, so they will be able to live in the mortal world.'
'But I'm not a demigod,' I replied. I already knew this. My mom and dad had been ordinary people, although my mother was one of those people who could see through.., what did he just call it, ah yes, the Mist.
'I know.' Phi said. 'But you can still see through the Mist. Any human being who can do this must be prepared to fight one of those monsters. So you'll get the right training, and when you ever cross a path with a monster again, like today, you will know what to do and how to survive.'
'I knew what I was doing,' I said, a little hurt by his words.
Phi turned his head to me, his eyes sparkling a little. 'Ah yes, I could see. You had it sorted.'
Now I was starting to get angry. 'You don't know what I've been doing these last..' centuries, 'years.'
Phi nodded and to my surprise, he had a sad, distant look in his eyes. 'You're right, I don't. But it doesn't want to make me not wanting to help you. You could still use some training, and after that, you'll be free to leave camp.'
'Seriously?' I asked.
'Seriously.' He said
I was really considering going to that camp of his. I could get training, have a place to sleep and after a while I could even be able to live my life like I used to. And maybe, just maybe, I would be able to get some answers on the questions that had been haunting me for years.
'Then let's go,' I said, when we came to a sudden halt.
'We're already here,' Phi answered.

---

I was standing in the crowd, waiting for the lesson to begin. I had walked around a while, noticing Phi had disappeared on me when we had entered this place and I didn't know what else to do, so I took a quick look at camp. I didn't really know what to think of it, actually. For all I had seen yet, there were a lot of cabins, each one having a different look, and there were so many other kids who looked a lot like each other. I frowned, remembering I had already seen about twenty kids with blond hair and grey eyes. What was it with them? It would be impossible to be one big family and have so many siblings, right? I was so lost in thought I didn't notice a boy appearing next to me. He turned his head to look at me, his darkbrown eyes scanning my face.

'Who are you?' he asked me.
I bit my lip. If I was going to stay here, I decided I would at least do it under my real name to get some things cleared up.
'Ann. Ann Blofis,' I answered.
The boy held out his hand, as it seemed like he had no clue about who I was. 'I'm Eve. Eve de la Roij.'
'Nice to meet you,' I said. 'Are you a demigod?'
Eve shook his head. 'No, but my parents are. My mom is a daughter of Nemesis, which makes Nemesis my grandmother, I guess.'
The boy had a grim look on his face.
'You don't look to happy about it.'
'I'm not. My uncle did some pretty nasty things to this camp, therefore turning a lot of the campers against me too. And having the goddess of revenge as your grandmother isn't something I'm particularly proud of either.'
'I'm sorry,' I said, not knowing what else to say.
Eve looked at me. 'It's okay. Someday the campers will get over it. Just not yet. The wounds are still to fresh for that.'
I nodded.

We stood there for a while, listening to the other people softly chatting when Eve nudged my arm with his elbow.
'Look,' he said, pointing somewhere. 'There the ones training us today.'
I turned to have a look at the spot he had pointed at, and I saw Phi standing at the front with a beautiful woman by his side. On his other side stood a short girl with blond hair and sea green eyes, who didn't look much older than fourteen. Something looked familiar about the man, but I didn't know what.

'All right everyone, listen up!' he shouted.
The crowd around us went silent, everybody focusing on the people in front of us.
'My name is Percy Jackson, and for today I will be the one teaching you the basics of sword fighting.'
I gasped, feeling like the shock had blasted me right of my feet. That man standing there, was the son of my mother. After five hundred years, I finally met the brother I had never had. I had heard the stories about him, not only being told by my mom, but also by the myths that had been going around. Could they be true?
Eve looked at me with in confusion. 'What's wrong?' he asked.
'That.. that man.' I said.
'What? Are you surprised to see him?'
'Yes..,' I stuttered.
'He's one of the best teachers at Camp. He's been around here for a pretty long time, so I've heard.'
I shook my head, not being able to form full sentences. 'You don't understand,' I said.
'What do you mean?' Eve asked me.
'That's my half-brother,' I whispered.