A Daughter of Poseidon (EDITED)

Chapter Three: Exercise - My Worst Nightmare

C H A P T E R    T H R E E : Exercise - My Worst Nightmare

"So let me get this straight," Dawn began after we had explained what went down on the bus, "You're a satyr, you're a tree nymph, we're demigods, and that was a mother-effing minotaur; which, let me remind you, tried to kill Nahla!"

She had gotten a black eye from the whole being kicked in the face by me thing when the minotaur tossed me into the aisle, and I was starting to think she might be having a mental breakdown. Completely unrelated to the black eye, of course, but I was pretty sure her therapist was going to have a hard time helping her through this one.

"That pretty much sums it up," Grover smiled, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening. "We just have to get you back to Camp Half-Blood because that's what we were sent out here to do."

"You and Juniper were sent to upstate New York to retrieve two teenagers slash demigods?" I ask slowly, still having a hard time processing the camp part of this already insane scenario. The minotaur was starting to feel real, finally, but the idea that these two random creatures - that may I just say, are supposed to be made-up - were shipped over here to pick us up is just not sticking right for me. "Do you know how suspicious that sounds? Especially after the whole 'Ah yes this is a good demigod for our leader' thing that minotaur said to me."

"Wait, what?" Juniper broke her silence and took a step towards me. "The Minotaur said something to you?"

"Yea he said something about bringing me back to his leader, like something you'd hear out of an alien movie." I shrugged it off, but judging by the nymph and satyr's faces, it was an important detail.

"That means he was working for someone." Grover clarified to the three of us, as if we didn't already understand it. "We have to get you to camp right away now."

I look to Dawn, trying to silently ask her if we should trust them or not. I mean, they were basically part of the category I classified as fictional not two hours ago. Dawn only shrugs, as if to say give it a chance .

I silently curse myself as I say it but, with way more enthusiasm than I intended, say, "Dawn has a car. Is there anyway we could drive there?"

Dawn smacks my shoulder after I volunteer her baby, but the other two look thrilled to have a mode of transportation. There was just one problem:

"I can't believe we have to walk five miles back to your house." I groan as we had barely hit the half mile mark. "At this rate I'll be seventy-five when we get to this camp."

"Only four and a half miles to go," Grover calls from in front of us. I don't know if it's his goat legs or the fact that he's been doing this sort of thing for a while, but he was still chipper after walking for so long.

"That should be a piece of cake," I return sarcastically, wishing there were some way to get places faster. Oh! I know how about a bus or a car that isn't attacked by minotaurs! 

"Cheer up, kid." Dawn grins at me. She had been on the track team for years and had yet to break a sweat. I would say I was jealous of her athletic capabilities, but I knew that it had been a result of waking up early and lots of cardio; not really my cup of tea. "We could always jog, that would get us there faster."

I grimace at the idea of having to physically exert myself. Dawn sees the look on my face and turns back around laughing, keeping pace with Grover. That leaves Juniper and I in the back, walking slowly. I don't know either of them well, and Juniper seems shy enough as it is, so I take the time of silence to recall everything I can about Greek Mythology.

I know that Demigods typically have - to be frank - shitty lives. Out of most the stories I've read they've either died horrible deaths at young ages, or gone to hell and back... literally. They also have to preform near impossible tasks in order to appease the gods, which sounds way too tedious for me, to be honest. To make things worse, these tasks include an excessive amount of exercise - my worst nightmare.

Then there's the gods. I can't name many, but I know a few: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, Athena, Hera, and then others that I couldn't possibly remember. There were so many that had different purposes that I hadn't had a reason to learn about them all. Until now I guess.

It took me a moment, but I realized something. If Dawn and I were demigods does that mean-

"Hey uh Juniper," I say to her since she's the closest. "Do you know who my dad is?" He had to be a god, right? I mean, that is the definition of being a demigod - Half human, half god.

"We don't know who he is specifically, but apparently he's pretty powerful." She spoke quietly, and I could barely hear her over the shuffling of our feet.

"Does that mean he didn't want to leave?" I ask. It was a petty thing to fret over, especially now, but it was as if all my childhood dreams suddenly came true. Sure he was no prince, but he was a god that had responsibilities. He must've had a good reason to leave, godly duties and whatnot.

"I don't know - he could've." And then my heart - which was swollen with happiness - deflated. Of course, he's a god and he has no reason to raise a mortal family. Juniper must've seen my disappointment because she quickly added, "Well, it depends who he is! Sometimes they didn't want to leave... uh yeah."

Well at least she tried.

"It's okay, you don't have to lie." I shot her a half-hearted smile, "I'm just curious because my mom never got over him." It felt awkward to say, especially since I still had no clue who him was specifically.

The rest of the walk went in silence. Grover and Dawn were still ahead by a few yards when we got to the house. Her rusted Jeep Wrangler was waiting for us in the driveway - I never knew I would be so relieved to see that rust-bucket.

"I technically can't drive yet." I hear Dawn admit sheepishly as I approach. We were both only fifteen and while she had her permit, she could only drive with someone over the age of eighteen in the passenger seat. Stupid laws.

"That's okay, I'll do it." Grover says, a little too eagerly, "Green means go and red means stop. Easy as that."

"Grover..." I said very slowly, every bone in my body telling me not to let this guy drive. "Have... Have you ever driven before?" I was expecting him to say no, or even just a 'oh once and it went well', but no. I'm not that lucky.

"Yea I drove a truck once, I kind of crashed it into a lake. I blame Percy though!" Juniper was glaring at him as if this was a situation that still had yet to be resolved. "He was trying to teach me how to drive one summer."

"Okay." I gulp as Grover hops into the front seat without another word. Juniper takes shot-gun and I glance over at Dawn, her face pale and mine was probably just as bad if not worse.

This was going to be interesting.