Y/N POV
I entered to see what was in this cabin. Seeing as the cabin had upwards of 20 kids I wasn't amazingly surprised to see absolute chaos in the cabin.
"What's your name?" The man asked
"Y/N. What about you?" I returned the question.
"Luke and your unclaimed right?" He said
"What is that?" I asked
"Ok, so you are." He said as he tapped his chin. Where to put you." He started thinking to himself.
"Ahah, right over here."
He said going to the far corner of the room avoiding all of the kids messing around.
"You're lucky, we only got two beds left. He stated as he showed me to a bunk bed with two spots left on it.
"Thank you," I replied
"Don't worry about it, hopefully, you'll be claimed soon." And with that, he left to do other matters.
During this time I just stared out the window contemplating what has happened today. This was a single day. There was just so much to unpack. I was just thinking about who could be my godly parent. I didn't purely think it was a female because even though I have a dad, gods can transform and could have been female. That would be an awkward conversation.
I just stared out the window and thought about it through the night until another kid came over and slept on the bunk above me.
Right before he climbed up I asked him
"How are you doing?" I asked
"Confused." He replied
"Same here."
"What's your name?"
"Y/N. You?"
"Percy."
We talked a lot about what had happened to each of us and I found out that this kid just killed a Minotaur. I would kill to do that. Literally. I know, right, I'm so funny.
We kept talking until Luke came down.
"Lights out, we got archery tomorrow and we are not letting Athena beat us." He stated as most of the cabin erupted into a bunch of boos.
"We never beat them." One camper said.
"They literally use geometry to beat us what do you want us to do," Another said.
"Come on everyone lights out," Luke stated firmer this time. "Fine" rang out through the room and everyone went to sleep. Before I went to sleep I took my necklace off and looked at it. Has the engraving changed? How? I read and translated it to, " good work today." Huh? So this thing gives pep talks now I thought as I put it on the nightstand near my bed
I stood up in a clearing. It looked familiar. I looked all around and found the same 12-year-old from a previous dream. She's reaching out for me but not menacingly. It was as if she was reaching to pet me. I looked into her eyes and got a better look at them than last time. I saw what looked a lot like Annabeth's eyes but with a tint of green. It was as if you took silver and dipped it in moss.
Her hand eventually made contact with me and I felt safe. It made me feel like this is where I was meant to be. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bush move. I turned to face the bush and... growled? Do my dreams get any weirder?
What jumped out of the bush was just a rabbit.
I turned back to the girl but instead, I found a 10-foot woman.
"Y/N, don't worry you're alright."
Y/N, Y/N,Y/N,Y/N. The voice slowly transformed into Percy's.
"Y/N, wake up we got to go to archery today."
"Five more minutes," I said groggily.
"No, get up." That was Luke's voice and that's how I knew I had to get up.
I got up, grabbed my necklace, and made my way out of the cabin to the archery range where I saw Annabeth and the rest of the Athena cabin eyeing up the Hermes cabin. I've been told that the Athena cabin is typically nice to the Hermes cabin but I guess when there's a challenge Athena doesn't care who is challenging them they will try their hardest to win.
Our teacher today happens to be Chiron. I couldn't see the bottom of his body but I could see that he was standing taller than everyone else. How could he be doing that? Last I saw he was in a wheelchair.
"Does everyone have their bow?" He said moving in front of the group
"No, sir. I don't" Me and Percy said as we moved our way through the group. At this point, I could see Chiron's lower half. Was that-wait-what?
"Can anyone give Y/N and Percy, here a bow?"
"I'll go grab a few," Luke told everyone
Everyone was creating small talk while Luke was gathering bows for us. I walked up to Chiron and asked.
"You're a centaur?"
"Yes, Y/N"
"So, are you the original Chiron like the trainer of heroes one?" I asked
"Yes, Y/N" He confirmed. Well, that's something you don't hear every day.
"No offense but uh... aren't you supposed to be thousands of years old?"
"Yes" He confirmed again
"So uhh... aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"Ahh... that's where you were going. The gods have granted me immortality as long as there are heroes to be taught." Chiron explained
"Oh... makes sense," I responded
With that, I make my way back to the group still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am training with the original Chiron.
"How do you think you'll do?" Percy asked me, pulling me out of my thoughts
"Probably terrible. I've never even touched a bow in my life." I responded honestly
"Same here," Percy said
Luke got back with the bows and I just chose a random one and so did Percy.
"Now that that's in order we will practice starting from 10 yards. Grab some arrows and we will do some free shots all at your own pace. You have 5 minutes."
I grabbed about 15 arrows and set them on the ground in front of me because I didn't have a quiver. I notched the arrow and pulled the string back and relaxed.
"Put your elbow further up" I heard a feminine voice in my head. I did so and released... a perfect bullseye.
I turned around to find the voice but no one was there. I notched another arrow and tried to put my elbow further up this time.
"Too high this time." The voice said again and I followed her advice and released. It found its mark right next to the other one.
"Stop!" Chiron yelled above the crowd. "Now that that is done let me see each of your forms."
It started at the end closest to me and I was second. On the right of me was Luke who pulled back and I instantly (for some reason) knew that his form was wrong. He released and hit the third ring from the bullseye.
"Steady your breathing and put your elbow more in line with your target," Chiron stated
Luke nodded
Chiron then turned to me.
I notched the arrow and pulled back putting my elbow right between where the voice said before.
"Perfect." I let go
It split one of the arrows sending the shards of wood out of the arrow's way.
"Spectacular," Chiron said in astonishment. "I haven't seen a camper do that in many years. Especially on his first day." He turned towards the notepad he was carrying.
Next was Percy but for his reputation, I won't put what happened then but it involved an arrow and a helmeted camper.
The only other person I wanted to see shoot was Annabeth.
She pulled back her bow and her form was almost perfect. Her only mistake was her rapid breathing. She shot and hit the second ring from the bullseye.
"Calm your breathing if you did that then your form would be perfect."
Once he was done checking all of our forms he made us back up to around 25 yards and told us to take a few practice shots before the competition.
I grabbed the rest of my arrows and backed up to the line that he made.
I notched the arrow and pulled back exactly how I did earlier.
"You're at a further target. Aim higher."
I was slowly starting to recognize the voice but couldn't quite place where from.
I did so and got a bullseye but it was on the line between the second ring and the bullseye. I was wondering what I did wrong until I felt the slightest bit of wind blow through the area.
In my next shot, I accounted for the wind aiming slightly to the left and got a bullseye. When did I get good at this?
I got the feeling that I was being watched as I turned around and saw Chiron having a puzzled look on his face. He was looking at me but it was almost as if he zoned out in the middle of his "stroking my beard" process.
I gave him a shrug and returned to shooting.
"Stop!" Chiron yelled once more, "Pick 2 people from your house and send them up for the challenge. The targets will be 50 yards away."
My cabin quickly agreed that I and Luke would be the contender. We walked up to the line that Chiron had drawn and told him that we were the contenders. The Athena group took a little longer to decide their choice but decided on Annabeth and another boy that I didn't know the name of.
"Which cabin will go first?" Chiron asked us.
"Ladies first," Luke said making Annabeth blush
"Fine." She said using her hand to try to hide her face from us.
She was breathing rather rapidly when she went for the shot and got the third ring from the bullseye. The boy from the Athena cabin went next. He had a pretty good form but the hand holding his bow was too low. He landed the second ring from the bullseye. He was just down from it.
"You got next or do you want me to go?" Luke asked
"You can go, I do better under pressure," I told him
He went and set up. He notched the arrow and pulled back the string. His front foot was too much to the left which was where he shot hitting the third ring. Now I have to hit a bullseye.
"Sorry, man," Luke said as he walked up to me
"Don't worry about it. I hit a bullseye and we go to dinner happy" I said as I walked up for my turn.
I notched and pulled back. Waiting for the breeze to die down.
"The breeze will stay like this. Account for it. Remember the elbow stays up." The voice said. I recognized it. That's the same voice from my dream. I accounted for the wind and made sure my elbow stayed up.
"Stop stalling!" One of the kids from Athena yelled.
Annabeth shushed him quickly and scorned him but that wasn't enough. I wanted to humiliate this kid.
I stared at him... and let go of the arrow.
I kept my stare until I heard the arrow hit the target. I looked back and saw that I hit a bullseye.
The entire Hermes cabin rushed up to me and hoisted me onto their shoulders making me laugh. They set me down as I looked at my necklace. Nice shot
This felt like home. I liked being here.
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Criticism is welcome