~ ☼ ~
I woke up with a head-pounding jolt.
I was in some type of makeshift hospital, lying in a surprisingly comfortable cot, my head propped up on a stack of feather pillows. Immediately, my mind went to the worst possibility - I was dead, and this was heaven. So I lifted my arms, curled and uncurled my fingers, and felt my pulse - all showing that I was very much alive and kicking.
Okay, maybe not kicking. My head hurt a little too much for any martial arts. That being said, I was stable enough to wonder where in the world I was.
There were a few other people in the place - whatever it was. A girl wearing a hijab was getting her ankle wrapped by a boy my age across the aisle from me, and a few cots down from her an indiscernible lump of a person was sleeping under what had to be a million covers.
Who were they? And if I wasn't in heaven, where was I? Kidnapped? What was I doing here, anyway?
Then, I remembered everything. My strange dream. And before that... me burning my hand, finding a sword, attacking some mutant monster, and blacking out in front of the entrance to a summer camp. Maybe that's where I was.
Surely it was just a normal summer camp, and this was its first aid tent, and everything I'd seen yesterday was just some dehydration-induced fever dream.
But what kind of summer camp found an unconscious girl and didn't take her to the police?
Before I could think about it more, the boy-medic-guy across from me turned. When he saw me, his eyes lit up and he immediately came to my side.
"You're awake," he said, almost breathlessly. He ran a hand through his hair, a short golden brown. "I thought you'd never wake up!"
My lips parted. How long had I been out? And why did this stranger care?
"Where am I?" I asked, my voice raspy.
Instead of giving me an answer, the boy pursed his lips and looked around, seemingly worried.
"Where am I?" I repeated, trying to be firmer this time. But my dry mouth failed me, and I ended up coughing - once, twice, thrice.
"Woah, easy does it." He went over to a bedside table and started shuffling through the items on top. "You're coming out of a concussion. You need to stay calm."
"A concussion?!" I exclaimed, which only made my head ache more. "How long have I been out?"
"3 days, more or less."
If I drinking something, I would've done a spit take.
"What?!" I sighed, shaking my head. "My parents, oh my god..."
"Gods," the boy murmured.
I ignored him. I didn't have time for semantic nonsense right now. My parents, oh god, they were probably all over the place, besides themselves, looking everywhere for me...
"Where. Am. I." I said again, hoping it would be the last time.
I must've been intimidating enough - though that's unlikely, he was probably just tired of holding the secret - because he finally gave in. "You're at a summer camp called Camp Half-Blood. We found you unconscious in the woods, so we took you in."
"Why didn't you take me to the police?!" I spluttered. "Normally, if you find a person laying on the ground, you tell authorities."
The boy frowned. "Normally, we don't do that... People don't tend to stumble upon Camp Half-Blood."
I narrowed my eyes. "Your camp being hidden away doesn't give you an excuse to kidnap me."
"That's not what I meant..." He trailed off and turned towards me, holding a bowl of some type of mush in one hand. "Have some ambrosia. You need to eat something."
"I don't even know your name. Why would I eat something from you?"
The boy chuckled and sat down on the cot next to me. A summer breeze swept through the windows in the room, blowing my hair to the side. For a second, a ray of sun shined directly on the boy's hair, making him glow as he said, "My name's Alec. And if you really want us to get to know each other, we can spend all day talking. But your headache won't get any better."
I frowned. I wanted to feel better, sure, but how was colorless mush - ambrosia - going to help me?
"How about this," Alec said, giving the bowl to me and crossing his tan arms. "You eat the ambrosia, I'll take you to the camp director, and he'll explain everything."
The camp director. I wondered who that was. He had to be crazy if he condoned kidnapping unconscious 15 year old girls.
Or maybe I wasn't at a summer camp at all! Maybe this place was a front for a human trafficking ring...
I started to feel woozy again. I was thinking too hard. My head started pounding and my face flushed.
"Oh..." Alec said, but I couldn't see straight to analyze his expression. "You're going unconscious again. At least tell me your name."
I tried to think past the ringing in my ears. "AJ," I said breathlessly. "My name is AJ Hood."
With that, I collapsed against the pillows. As my eyes fluttered shut, I vaguely registered Alec feeding me ambrosia. The last thing I felt was the warm taste of German chocolate cake flooding through my mouth, gently lulling me down into a dark and restless sleep.
---
The sun was low in the sky by the time I woke up again. The tent was empty. This time, I didn't waste any moment thinking about where I was.
I have to get out of here, I thought to myself.
I was feeling much better, and this time, I was successful in my attempt to sit up. I leaned up against the wall, my pillow squishing behind me. The boy was gone, the place empty. It was the perfect opportunity to escape. So slowly at first, I got up, and walked over to the doorway. I came out on a long, wrap around porch. It showed a perfect view of the center of the valley I had previously seen on the hillside. The boy from earlier - Alec - was talking to a man at the far end. He moved, leaning against the peeling wooden railing of the porch, and then I got a better glimpse of the man. He had sandy blonde hair, a t shirt, and cargo shorts. But he also had, like, a hundred different eyes, all over his body. I blinked twice, to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but it was real. Swearing to myself, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. This place was not normal. I had to escape - I had to find my parents, tell them I was okay, get back to security.
Neither the man nor Alec were looking in my direction, so I crept out of the doorway slowly. The hill was right there, only a few yards away... if I ran, I could easily make it up there in a short amount of time. Not because I'm athletic, but because I was terrified and my adrenaline was pumping hard.
Okay, A.J., I thought to myself. Run in 3, 2, 1...
Pushing through the remnants of my headache, I launched myself across the porch, vaulting over the railing and setting off in a sprint. And then, I was practically flying across the field, getting closer and closer to the exit-
"Hey!" I heard Alec yell behind me. "Hey, wait, stop it!"
Like hell I was going to stop. I kept running, but then I felt a weight hit me from behind. Somebody had tackled me, and I was falling to the ground.
Within a moment, I was lying in the grass, my head hurting once again. Above me was Alec, his golden brown eyes glowing with frustration.
"What the hell?!" I exclaimed, trying to push him off of me. He surrendered, sitting up, but not letting go of the clamp he had on my wrist. "Let me go!"
"Calm down!" he hissed. "You're lucky its almost dinner right now, or else people would be out here staring and you'd be creating a scene."
I scowled. "I am not creating a scene," I snapped, though he was probably right. "I was trying to escape. You people must be drugging me, because I've been seeing some weird stuff."
"Like what?"
"Like that guy you were talking to! With all the eyes!" I half-heartedly gestured in the direction of the porch.
"Argus?" Alec said, narrowing his eyes. He stared at me for a moment, the setting sun glinting off of his hair, then just, inexplicably, chuckled. "You're gonna be a skeptic, aren't you?" He shook his head. "I should've known. I'm sorry for tackling you, but I have to take you to see the camp director."
Alec stood up, bringing me with. I was about an inch taller than him, so I tried to stare him down, but he just rolled his eyes dramatically. "C'mon, escapee. I promise, everything will make more sense once you talk to Mr. D."
And then, he was dragging me back towards the porch. There was no point in fighting with him now - he was obviously stronger than me - and besides, again my head was hurting too much to argue.
We crossed the field, then made our way to the end of the porch, where two men I hadn't noticed before were just sitting down.
"Mr. D." Alec bowed to the one man, who was a bit round and looked like he hadn't bothered to shave. "Tantalus." He said to the other man, who looked sick as he sat in an orange prison jumpsuit (I was weirded out by this... prisoners were at this camp? What in God's name?!).
"Hello, Alex," the first man - Mr. D - said flatly, to which Alec grimaced. "What do you want?"
Alec pressed his lips together and gestured at me. "This is AJ Hood. Border patrol found her unconscious on Half-Blood Hill 3 days ago, and-" he paused and turned towards me. "Why were you unconscious?"
I furrowed my brows. Anybody normal would not believe the truth, but the people here seemed crazy enough. "There was this lady... with snake tails for legs... she kept chasing after me, muttering about titans."
Alec's mouth parted in surprise. Mr. D and the other man - Tantalus - just scowled.
"Dracanae," Mr. D said. "Okay, that's great, whatever, she's a camper. Go give her a tour or something." With that, he picked up a can of coke I hadn't noticed before and started chugging.
"But-" Alec started to say, to no avail. He pursed his lips, then turned to me. "I guess I'll explain, then. Um, follow me."
He left the porch, and I quickly followed, not feeling comfortable with the two men. Tantalus was glaring at me as I left. If my theory that this was a trafficking ring was true, I certainly wouldn't be surprised. These men were suspicious.
I followed Alec until he stopped out of earshot of the men. He turned towards me then, and said, "I'm sorry. I thought they would explain."
"Explain what?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Why you're here. Why you're seeing the things you're seeing." I raised my eyebrows, and he continued. "Look, this is gonna sound crazy, I know. But you gotta believe me." He took a deep breath. "The Greek gods are real. All of them. They're all real, and they've moved with Western civilization."
If I was drinking something, I again would've done a spit take. "You have to be joking."
Alec chuckled once again. He sure did chuckle a lot. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of annoying. "I'm not. What you fought out there was a Scythian dracaena, an ancient Greek monster. And this camp... we're a training camp for demigods. That is, the children of humans and gods."
I started backing away. He was crazy, wasn't he? This wasn't a human trafficking ring. This was a cult!
"Please don't run again," he said. "I know how crazy it sounds. I didn't believe it at first either. But just think about it. Think about Argus and the dracaena. Those things were real. They're from Greek mythology."
I narrowed my eyes. "Even if you're telling the truth, it doesn't matter. I'm not some demigod. I'm not the daughter of anyone or anything but-"
I paused. What had the serpent woman called me? Daughter of Sun.
Swearing softly to myself, I avoided Alec's gaze. Maybe he was right. Maybe-
No! I thought to myself. This can't be real. There's no way.
"AJ?" he asked. "Is there any way I can make you believe me?"
I looked him straight in the eyes. "Let me talk to my parents."
He bit his lip, then shrugged. "Okay. Okay, I can do that. Follow me."
Alec went in the opposite direction of the hill where I'd entered. I looked back at the hill longingly, then hesitantly followed him. He led me to a beach looking out on the Long Island Sound. Across the water, I could see the shimmering skyline of New York City, including Rockefeller Center. Immediately reminded of my dream, I shivered.
We stopped in the sand, and Alec turned to me, grabbing my hand and putting something in it. It was a golden coin, covered in Greek scrawl. I looked back up at him, my expression blank. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Throw it into the water and say, 'Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me' and then whatever your parents' names are."
I raised my eyebrows. He just stuck his hands in his pockets and backed away into the treeline.
I shook my head, but did as he said. In a couple moments, a misty cloud appeared above the surf... and then, in that mist, a live picture of my mom. She was in the lobby of a bathroom, but I didn't know where.
Stumbling backwards, I gaped at the thing. Alec chuckled from behind me, but I just ignored him.
"Mom?" I asked, my mouth parting in surprise. "How..."
"AJ!" She exclaimed. "Where are you?!"
"I'm... I'm at this camp. And they're claiming that the Greek gods are real! I need you to come get me, I think they're all psychopaths-"
"Oh, Artemis," my mother said, avoiding my eyes. I stilled at her use of my real name. "They're not psychopaths."
My mouth parted even further. "What?" I said breathlessly.
"I knew this day would come, but I didn't realize it would be so soon," she replied, looking back at me. "AJ, honey, the gods are real. And your father... he's not your real father. Your real father is a god. You're where you belong."
Oh. My. God.
She had to be kidding me. This had to be a giant prank or something. But my mother's eyes were shining with honesty - honesty and sadness.
"Mom," I said. "Please tell me you're lying."
But she said exactly what I knew she would say. "I'm not. I'm sorry for never telling you. Please stay safe, and-"
I didn't get to hear her final words. The picture fizzled out and the cloud dissipated .
The world seemed to be spinning around me. This couldn't be possible. But it was.
I turned to Alec, who looked at me with concern in his eyes. "So? Do you believe me now?"
Biting my lip, I lowered my brows. "Yes. I believe you now."
~ ☼ ~
A/N: Thanks so much for reading! What would you say if you were told you were a demigod? Personally I'd be shocked (I mean, I know both my parents, so...) but at the same time I'd jump right into the life of a half-blood!
Please vote, comment, and continue reading!