Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter III: I Meet my New Family

As soon as the sun dimmed down enough to where we could open our eyes again, I was ushered into a different cabin: cabin seven. The outside was made of solid gold, reflecting the sunlight so powerfully I figured you could go blind from staring at it too long without sunglasses.

The inside of the building was much more inviting. Especially when compared to the inside of cabin eleven. The interior of cabin seven looked far more modest than the exterior. The white plaster walls were bare except for a few shelves with some books, there were bunk beds to the side and a large cot in the center, along with a small work table over at the end.

There were several kids there, most of them looking pretty relaxed, as if having a random girl shoved into the building wasn't an alarming occurrence. One of them stood up and walked over to me. He had sandy blond hair, much like my own, and a relaxed smile. He had fairly tanned skin, as if he walked around in the sun quite regularly.

"So, you're our new sister?" he asked me.

I frowned.

"How did you..."

"I looked out the window. It was pretty hard to miss." he said before holding his hand out.
"My name's Lee Fletcher. I'm the counselor of cabin seven."

"I'm Penny. Penny Ranger." I replied, shaking his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Penny. You can take that bunk over there. Don't worry about clothes or toiletries. We'll take care of that for you. And remember to be here when the horn sounds so we can all go to dinner together." he instructed.

"Thanks." I said with a smile.

Lee gave a slight chuckle and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"No problem. You're part of the family now."

The rest of the day went by like a blur, where I was barely aware of what was going on around me. I vaguely remember going to the amphitheater for dinner. I threw a piece of my food in to a brazier they had there, apparently an offering to my dad, before sitting down with my new siblings. I barely acknowledged Mr. D welcoming me to Camp. After that I followed the rest of the campers to the amphitheater. I was a bit nervous when I realized my cabin was supposed to lead the singalongs, but Lee made sure I wasn't forced to do anything I didn't want to.

When we got back to the cabin I simply went to my bed and collapsed. I probably should have showered or maybe changed clothes, but I was too tired and happy to care.

*

That night I had a very strange dream. I was in a sort of beach. The sky was grey, menacing storm clouds gathering overhead, and the sea was churning. Lights flashed as lightning arched across the sky, the following thunder almost deafened by the roar of the waves crashing on the shore. Further up the beach I could see a white horse and an eagle. They were fighting, the eagle swooping down several times in an attempt to claw the horse's eyes off. In response, the horse constantly reared back, standing on his hind legs in an effort to hit the eagle. It seemed that every time they came close to landing a hit the waves roared with more intensity and more lightning lit up the sky.

I didn't understand why, but I felt as if I had to stop them. I couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad would happen if I didn't.

I began running towards them, yelling as loud as I could for them to stop. But no matter how hard I yelled, they seemed not to listen. That's when I noticed that despite my running, I was stuck in place.

Suddenly, I began to sink through the sand. I began clawing at the ground, trying to find anything I could grab onto to pull myself up. But there was nothing. I was forced to watch the fight I couldn't stop as the ground swallowed me. The last thing I heard before my vision went dark was a bone chilling laughter. Whatever it was, I was certain that it wasn't human.

*

I woke up with a jolt and covered in sweat. I had had nightmares before, but they were rarely this bad. Looking out the window, I noticed the sun had already risen. With a sigh I got out of bed and went to put on some clothes. I was surprised to find a pair of jeans and the orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt at the foot of my bed.

"Come on, Penny. We don't wanna be late for breakfast." Lee called out.

I looked at him for a few seconds.

"Uhm... thanks for the clothes."

Yeah, I didn't really know what to say.

"You should be thanking Michael." Lee said, pointing to one of the other kids.

Michael Yew, I recalled.

"No problem. Can't have our sister going around in the same old rags, right?" the black haired boy said with a smile.

I smiled back before quickly going to the bathroom to change. Afterwards I followed the rest of my cabin to breakfast. As I ate, Lee scooted over to me.

"Alright, after this we're going to see what it is you can do. Every demigod has a talent, we just gotta find yours." he explained.

"I'm not so sure. I've never been particularly talented at anything." I said dejectedly.

"Nonsense! Everyone has a talent. Now, your first stop is the arena. Annabeth asked to set up your first lesson."

I was confused.

"Why?"

Lee shrugged.

"No clue. But hey, make sure you stay on her good side. She's a really good friend, but also a very scary enemy."

I nodded, thankful for the advice. I then got up and put my plate away. It was time for training.