The Afterlife (HoO Fanfiction)

Family Meetings

~Adelaide~

In the face of the looming horror, Delilah, Killian, James, and I decided to leave the adults together. They knew the place and the fighting tactics best. Anyway, we really had to sleep since our bus trip hadn't been the most relaxing one. I left my three companions and we set off to look out for our new cabins.

I had a lot of difficulties getting used to the presence of the other demigods, in the beginning. I even had resentment towards Delilah, who appeared to me like an unreachable ideal.

Still, I had learned to know these people who had become... friends? I didn't know if they qualified as friends, I knew I still made them uneasy. However, our trip around the world and our last battle had proved that we could have each other's back. I glanced shyly at Delilah, who was already leaving with a camper who had the same blond hair.

I was left face to face with a young boy with brown hair and freckles. Enodia sniffed him minutely, then licked his hand, seemingly trusting him. The boy smiled at me, not entirely reassured, and lead me to the cabin.

"Sooo, how long have you known that you're a daughter of Hecate?" he asked me awkwardly.

"I... Actually I met her a few weeks ago when I was still in Europe," I remembered the strange apparition of my mother in a dark alleyway.

"You met her? So you might be the very last person who saw her before the gods stopped giving us news. How is she?"

"She's weird and a little scary." I realized that I maybe was luckier than I had expected. My half-brother never met our mother. I didn't tell him that I was even given Enodia, who was in sorts my guardian, also sent by Hecate. The boy continued.

"It's the first time that I meet a demigod born in Europe! We have known for some time that a few demigods are born outside the United States, but since there's never a quest to get to them, they never come here!" I wondered how this kid, despite having the same mother as me, didn't seem to possess the same aura of despair that always stuck to me. Maybe Hecate's magic didn't have any effect on me.

We finally arrived at the cabin, which was composed of four modules, back to back. It was built using stones engraved with magical scriptures. Inside, a dozen campers, aged 10 to 30, all had various items collected on their beds. The place had a strange vibe to it.

A young woman came to greet me. "Hi, I'm Lou Ellen, former head counsellor, and here's Jack. The new head counsellor should be arriving shortly, she's working around the clock to find Luke and Silena. You can settle in, we were listening to one of Adrian's lesson. He had a trip to Greece last year and he found a book with lots of new spells!"

I thanked her and put my few belongings on an empty bed with Enodia. I decided that this time I was going to try and be kind to the others. Learning new spells sounded like something quite fun and I thought that if people could get me, it was definitely going to be these guys.

~Killian~

I was walking with James, not knowing exactly where we were going. I hope that my friend was going to be allowed to stay in a cabin with me even if he wasn't a demigod. After all that we went through, I really didn't see him alone in a spooky room, or in a cabin with people he didn't have anything in common.

"Are you sure we're on the right path?" James asked. "It looks like you're walking in a straight line just for the thrill of it."

"You're right, let's ask someone."

I had to admit that I was shy to ask for directions. All the demigods passing us looked set on an objective. Most of them were still rushing from a cabin to the other with jugs and platters of unknown substances or with medical supplies. Some of them were carrying injured campers and looked in a hurry. Thankfully, I saw two teenagers, hand in hand, taking what looked like a leisurely stroll across the field. They were talking to each other and laughing.