The Nature of a Demigod

Lunch with a Runaway

It had finally gotten to the point where I had to speak to Chiron about it again. I couldn't keep pretending this was manageable, so back in December, right after my first semester of real school, which by the way, I hadn't been doing too poorly in.

I actually wasn't failing anything, and with Annabeth and Percy's help throughout the year, I was able to land an A in one of my classes.

Now, the problem was, I had set the bar too high, so my friend from the Athena cabin, as well as the centaur who raised me, had higher expectations. So, that's fantastic.

This second semester had gone alright, but not as well, seeing as... I'm getting off track.

I had spoken with Chiron and Mr. D about this initially last summer before I started class. And then again last winter, and they had given me suggestions and some help. But first, the idea was thrown out that I should take this to Olympus. In the end, we decided not to. I didn't really want to go back there for the second time in as many years.

Twice was enough. Mr. D and Chiron did their best to help, with the head of camp continuously denying that he actually wanted to help.

But I overheard him saying once, "The boy has been here so long, I've grown-"

"Fond of him, perhaps?" Chiron asked.

"Oh Zeus no. He's just become more tolerable than the other children here. Though I'll never tell him that."

Anyway, eventually, they had gone to the campers that were good with magic, so I ended up with Lou Ellen Blackstone twice a week while she tested all the magic she could on me.

Lou Ellen was a daughter of Hecate, so I had no real choice but to trust her. Still didn't mean I was comfortable with the idea of becoming a magical Guinea Pig. And honestly, she could probably turn me into a real Guinea pig if she wanted. That was what worried me.

So, that and school had been my day to day since December. Once the semester started back up, I was still attending a decent middle school in Long Island. Surprisingly, I hadn't been attacked by anything yet.

As it turns out, I think that my scent gets covered up by my... well, my parentage. Artemis' whole thing was nature and the forest. I'm not sure what I looked like to monsters, because I had seen them. But they never seemed to see me.

I tested this a few times. Most memorably, when I walked right by a giant scorpion in the woods, but it just kept moving past me. I wish I had known this before, because in the past, I just charged in, figuring I was gonna die if I didn't. But, apparently I wouldn't. Not if I didn't make a noise. Then I was safe.

I finally felt the pain of my head's impact into mirror. I screamed, struggling to pull some of he shards out of my cheeks. My body started shaking again, but I was still in control. I grabbed my head and knelt on the floor in pain.

"One day, boy. One day soon. You'll be nothing but a passenger. Prepare for an eternity of silence." Then it faded away.

I collapsed onto the floor, hit tears flowing from my eyes. "Just..." I choked out. "Just leave me alone... please..."

My chest was heaving, lungs pumping, ribs aching. Eventually, I calmed down a bit, but I knew I couldn't go back to sleep again tonight. I don't need to sleep a whole lot, but whenever it was needed, I was out like a light.

Instead, tonight I decided to take a stroll under the moonlight. This was always when I felt the most comfortable anyway.

I strolled around, evading some of the dormant monsters around the borders and eventually strayed back near Zeus' fist. I continued walking around until the sun came up.