Children of the Big Three-Book One-Quest for Truth

Chapter 3-Zaylor

"Sydney, who is this?" A man in a wheelchair with his legs covered under a blanket suddenly came out of the Big House.

"Chiron, this is Zaylor Maximo," Sydney said. "You assigned me to her when we found out she was powerful."

"Ah, yes, I remember now." Chiron stood up out of his wheelchair and I almost fell over from shock. Out of the blanket his legs where horse legs. His torso was that of a mans, but other than that this guy was a horse.

"What the heck?" I said. "You're a horse?!"

"What, you've never seen a centaur before?" he asked.

"I'm having a dream," I said. "I'm actually still on the bus to Mom's house. I'm just having a strange dream."

"Tell me," Chiron said. "Is your mother just a dream?"

"No."

"Then how do you know this isn't a dream?"

I got in his face, or as close to his face as I could. "Because centaurs are myths."

He took a couple steps back.

"Very well," he said. "But tell me, was the Minotaur real? Is Sydney real? Is your father real?"

"What about my mom? Where is she?" I asked.

"Sydney, take her to the Hermes cabin until she is claimed." Chiron said, completely ignoring me.

"Yes, Sir," Sydney said. "Come on, Zaylor. Let me introduce you to the camp."

•••

Sydney led me to one of the cabins that was decorated so anyone could guess it was Hermes'. Inside was the most horrible thing I had ever seen. Everywhere were campers off all ages. Some were as young as twelve, others we're as old as maybe twenty. Some looked happy, some depressed, but most stressed and cramped.

"This is Hermes' cabin," Sydney said. "Home to Hermes' children and children who haven't been claimed yet."

"Are you telling me some demigods never get claimed?" I asked.

"Well, I wouldn't say 'never get claimed,' more like don't get noticed by their godly parents."

"Oh, that makes me feel better."

We walked past a lot of kids (I had to duck many times) until we reached a blonde teen, maybe seventeen, sitting on his bunk. He was trying to read a comic, but I wasn't sure if he really was because of how loud it was.

"Tyler," Sydney said. "Tyler!" she yelled is time.

He looked up. "Um, yeah? Oh, hey, Sydney. What's up?"

"This is Zaylor Maximo." She made an arm gesture to me. "She's new but she hasn't been claimed yet, so she's with you."

"Cool," he said. He stood up from his bed and held his hand out for me to shake. "I'm Tyler Johansen, son of Hermes, cabin director, I guess you could call it."

"Cool," I said, shaking his hand.

He sat back down on his bunk. "Well, if you need anything, this is my bunk." Then he picked his comic up again and started reading.

"Uh-hum," Sydney said.

"Huh? Yeah? Oh, it's still you. What do you need?"

"You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled under my breath.

"Aren't you going to show her to her temporary bunk?" Sydney asked, clearly annoyed.

"Huh?" he said, his eyes slowly coming away from the book. "Sure, yeah. Just let me..." His eyes furiously flipped through multiple pages of his comic as he quickly read.