War's Little Princess

The New Girl

[Hi guys, this is my second update. :) I hope you actually like this. The picture attached is what Kayla looks like. If you're here, thanks for reading! <3]

~Kai

I frowned and rubbed my eyes as I awoke, struggling to sit up. My jaws gaped in an enormous yawn, and I stretched my aching muscles, eyes still closed tight against the light.

"Hiii!!" trilled a loud, obnoxious voice. "I am soo glad you're up, oh my gods. I was afraid you wouldn't make it, stomach wounds like that can be pretty deadly, you know; but then again, a bit of ambrosia and a nice hymn almost always tend to do the trick. Oh, do you want some nectar? I guess you wouldn't know what that is, hehe. It tastes sooo good, you're gonna LOVE it! It's like, this really great stuff that..." I tuned out the rest of the relentless chatter, scornfully examining the girl it was coming from without cease.

She had long golden-brown hair and some kind of weird laurel thing around her head, an eager expression adorning her positively radiant, though slightly pimply, face. She wore an oversized orange t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, tiny little shorts covered in Sharpied-on lyrics, an insane amount of bracelets, and strange Jesus sandals. I hated her the moment I saw her. She was sitting beside the bed I'd woken in, in a large well-lit room that smelled like hospital and cookies. 

"My name is Kayla, I'm an Apollo kid and I got here like, five months ago or something," she informed me, beaming. "I just love healing, but fighting's fun too! I never actually thought archery would be my kind of thing because I'd never tried it, but as soon as I got to camp, it was like 'HOLY HESTIA, I love this!' Archery, wow." She looked so pleased with herself.

"That's nice," I mumbled, too exhausted to make her go away. I pulled the pillow out from under my head and covered my face.

"You're not going to sleep again now, silly!" Kayla giggled. "You just woke up! I think you're well enough for a tour of Camp Half-Blood, maybe I could even do the honors!" 

"Fabulous, do I get to meet all the other 10-year old nut cases?" I responded groggily, pillow still covering my face. Not my best retort, but I was exhausted and I didn't know where I was or how I'd gotten there. All I wanted was to sleep it all off, maybe it was just some stupid dream. 

The girl wasn't the least bit fazed. "If you want," she said with a shrug. "I was more thinking of showing you the pegasi."

Huh, I hadn't known she actually WAS a nut case. 

"I could show you everything," she went on. "We have so much here. In case you hadn't noticed, this isn't an ordinary camp. This is where the children of the gods come to live without being bothered by monsters and train to fight them."

I sat up suddenly, pillow forgotten. "What the hell have you been smoking, and where can I get some?" I demanded.

Kayla looked taken aback. "Oh no, miss... um, what was your name? I'm actually being like, totally serious. Surely you realize I'm telling the truth, I never lie to anyone. Scout's honor." She crossed her fingers. Somehow I don't think that's what scout's honor means...

I raised an eyebrow. "Children of the gods, you said?"

She nodded. "I already told you I'm an Apollo kid. That means I'm a demigod, the half-blood child of a human and a Greek god. My dad, Apollo, had a short thing with my mom and she got pregnant with me. He didn't tell her that he was a god until after she found out she was pregnant, and sheesh!! --did she get angry, I think she thought he was raving mad. She told him never to speak to her again and they had this huge fight, and when I was born, she raised me alone. Every time I displayed even a trace of demigod power, she said something was wrong with me, that I was possessed or something. It made things really tense between us. One day my dad came calling and told my mom I'd be safe here, so she drove me here without an explanation and dumped me. We haven't spoken since." She looked really crestfallen, and a tear almost formed in her eye. I almost felt sympathetic, but I didn't want to look like I was just as much of a wimp as her. It wasn't my fault she'd randomly launched into an entire life story.