" My heart, my heart
wants to hold you but
I know, I know, I know
the rules blue light, dark
room, the white of your
teeth as you smile at my
trembling shoulders but
your skin, did you notice
your skin? it cries a soft
weep like mine "
PERSEPHONE JACKSON COULDN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HELL, and reality.
Her brother had passed out after killing a Minotaur, then she got swarmed by people sometime during her zoning out process.
After she was 'welcomed' by a human-horse, she followed her brother to the infirmary, but eventually, she had to leave it. Though it was not under her will.
"It's been a day, he should be waking up soon. I need to be here for him." Persephone shook her head at the human-horse.
"I get that, child, I do—"
"I think I stopped being a child the moment I saw my mother get cremated by a Minotaur." Persephone sassily snapped, smiling sarcastically.
"Right..." the man cleared his throat, "You will be the first person notified when your brother awakes, but in the meantime, I highly suggest you get out, get some fresh air, meet your fellow campers—"
"You suggest." Persephone interrupted. "So, that's not an order."
"I can make it one." The man deadpanned.
"Look, horse guy—"
"Chiron. And I know you've had a hard time, but I suggest you watch your tone."
"And I suggest you invest in some lotion."
The horse guy, Chiron, looked down to his hands with a blank face. The ashen surface caused him to clear his throat.
"I will have one of our best tour guides come to collect you in five minutes, Persephone. You may use that time to tell your brother you'll see him shortly."
Chiron walked out of the room.
"'You may use that time blah blah blah, I'm an asshole with a horse ass and I work in a summer camp!'" Persephone mimicked his voice with a high pitch, shaking her head as she rolled her eyes. "Fucking dick."
With a sigh, Persephone stood from her seat beside Percy's hospital like bed and she looked out the window. From her perch, she saw a strawberry field, a volleyball court, a lake, and some hills that led down. She assumed it was bigger. Or, she hoped.
She found her eyes drifting over to the side, a forest was what she saw. She wondered if it was the same forest that was near them when they entered camp. Persephone pursed her lips and crossed her arms as she thought of the forest as a possible exit.
"You must be Persephone." A voice spoke behind her.
Persephone didn't jump, nor flinch, she just slowly turned around with furrowed eyebrows and slit eyes. "Who the fuck are you?" She asked.
The boy had curly black hair, tan skin, and glistening brown eyes. His curves were sharp and planned as if he were ancient architecture. He had a scar running down his face near his eye, but it looked as though it was placed by the gods. In the simplest words Persephone could put it in, the boy was ethereal. It almost made Persephone drop to her knees and curse at whatever being above why she couldn't be blessed to be so beautiful.
The boy in front of her seemed stunned. She didn't know wether he was gaping at her looks, her clothes, her attitude, or what — but the boy had a look on his face of absolutely disbelief, a bright glimmer in his eyes.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked, blinking profusely.
"Obviously not," Persephone deadpanned. "If I did know you I wouldn't be asking who the fuck you were."
Even with his gracious looks, the blonde couldn't stop the sarcasm and attitude from pouring out.
"Right... right I'm Luke, from cabin eleven. I'm your your guide for Camp Half-Blood." The boy, Luke, grinned with pearly white teeth. Apparently, whatever daze he was in beforehand was shaken off.
Persephone tilted her head, "Horse guy said I had five minutes."
"H-... horse guy?" Like stammered, and badly hid a chuckle at that. "Chiron, I think you meant. And yeah, but I was close by so I just decided to come now. That's one of the things you'll learn here at camp — time is relative."
"Did you just... quote Albert Einstein at me?" Persephone said with disbelief, "God, I'm surrounded by a bunch of weirdos."
Luke blinked, probably having been told that for the first time. Then he held his arms up for his defense. "I think we got off on the wrong foot." He shook his head.
"You think?" Persephone replied sarcastically, her folded arms coming down to her side.
Like stuck out his hand, "I'm Luke Castellan, and I'm your tour guide, and unofficial official cabin leader. At least — until you get claimed."
"Claimed?" The blonde furrowed her eyebrows, "What kind of kinky shit-"
"Oh, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah." Like quickly stammered out, "Not... not like that."
He then squinted his eyes at her, a confused look on his face.
"What all do you know?" He asked.
Persephone thought for a moment, "I know my dads a... Greek god, monsters are after me and my brother, and monsters wear underpants."
"Well, looks like you know everything." Luke joked with a grin, but Persephone simply deadpanned at him. "Anyways... follow me, I'll give you the greatest tour you'll ever get in your entire life."
"Exiting." Persephone nodded, following after the curly haired boy.
They exited a house, and went down the steps that showcased the view Persephone had seen earlier, just more clearly.
"What you were in was the big house, Mr. D and Chiron usually play card games in there, and it's also where the infirmary is. Most kids hate it in there, says it makes their nose stuffy... besides Apollo kids, of course. Those natural healers are basically in their habitat when there in the infirmary."
Persephone nodded, and glided her finger alongside a tree branch as they past it. She did not want to be there, and it was noticeable.
"If you ask me," Luke whispered as he got closer to Persephone, "They like being in there alone so they can smoke some of the goods the Demeter kids grew for them... if you know what I mean."
Persephone looked over with a blank face, "What do you mean they grew it?"
Luke stopped, and he paused with a few blinks, "Yeah that's my bad, let me start from the beginning, okay?" Luke led her over to a stranded picnic table, and the two took a seat opposite of each other. "For the last millennium, the Greek gods have been procreating with humans. The result from that is us, Demigods. But, we like the term Half-Bloods. And depending on your godly parent, you can have abilities that correlate to what that god was the god of. So, children of Demeter can grow just about anything. Aphrodite, sweet talk — they can make anyone to anything just by saying it. Apollo kids are good with a bow and arrow, and are healers. Hephaestus kids can withstand heat to a torturous level, and are the best will smiths around. Those are just a few, really, it's easy to figure out. Just like everything here."
"Yeah. So easy." Persephone murmured, taking in a deep breath as she collected everything the boy had just told her.
"Look, I know this is a hard transition—"
"You just told me some kids here can sprout carrots out of their ass."
Luke stifled a laugh at her words, then cleared his throat. "I know this is a hard transition, but really, when you get the hang of this, it's simple — easy. You just need the right people surrounding you to make it that way."
"Like the kids who sprout carrots out of their ass."
Luke finally let a chuckle out, and he shook his head.
"Look," Persephone held her head in her hands, "I really... really just want to get the fuck out of here."
"Well, that might get worse when I show you your cabin." Luke joked, then realized Persephone clearly didn't find it amusing. "Kidding, of course. Cabin eleven can be a bit... noisy, but it's welcoming. We treat everyone like family."
"Am I?" Persephone was quick to ask.
"Are you... what? My family?" Luke asked, and Persephone gave him a nod. "No, no, no."
Luke stood, and Persephone soon followed him, confused. "Then why am I staying in your cabin?"
"Hermes cabin takes in all the undetermined campers, which, is what you are. Undetermined, unclaimed, that sort."
"Your dad is Hermes?" Persephone questioned, "Or are you just unclaimed?"
Luke tensed a bit, but shook it off quickly. "My dad."
Persephone may have been dreading her existence and considering dropping the nearest boulder atop her head, but she could sense the tension, and it made her wince with awkwardness.
In a hurry to change the subject, Persephone cleared her throat, "So what's next, wing boy?"
Luke tilted his head at the nickname, but ignored it. "Well, princess, there's a lot next. But, I'll take it one at a time." He changed the course towards a path that looked like it led to a bunch of houses from afar, "Don't 'wanna overload that pretty head."
"How charming." Persephone scoffed, and Luke seemed almost offended she wasn't affected by his flirtatious remarks.
The two soon came upon the cabins a few minutes of walking later.
"These are the Cabins. One through twelve Olympians." Luke smiled, "One, Zeus. Two, Hera. Three, Poseidon. Four, Demeter. Five, Ares. Six, Athena. Seven, Apollo. Eight, Artemis. Nine, Hephaestus. Ten, Aphrodite. Eleven, Hermes. And twelve — Dionysus."
"Huh." Persephone hummed. "Why are some of them empty? I thought the gods loved procreating... or something."
Luke laughed at that, "Some of the gods don't have children. Zeus and Poseidon don't have kids because they swore it off, they're children were too powerful and caused too much destruction."
Luke seemed to have a hard time speaking about Zeus.
"And the others?" Persephone asked.
"Artemis is a maiden, which means—"
"Eternal virgin." Persephone finished for him, "Honestly, don't blame her."
She missed the way Luke's eyes seemed to dim at her words, because it was back a second later.
"Yeah, right." Luke nodded, and cleared his throat. "Anyways, this way is Hermes cabin. Now, it might be a little loud, but they all mean well, seriously." Luke advised as they soon approached the cabin.
"You say it like they're going to bite me when I turn my back." Persephone furrowed her eyebrows.
"No... they might pickpocket you, though." Luke tilted his head, then opened the door before Persephone had a chance to say anything.
"Oh!" Persephone blinked at the information, hesitant to stepping in after him.
He was right, that was for sure.
The cabin was loud, smelly, and hectic. A swarm of what had to be over thirty kids surrounded the large cabin, all in orange shirts and pants.
"Guys." Luke said, and it all came to a stop, as if he were a god or something. "This is Persephone, she's a new camper."
"Unclaimed or Hermes?" A kid from the crowd asked.
"Unclaimed." Luke said, and he winced, as he knew the reaction coming wouldn't be welcoming.
All the kids groaned, and went back to what they were doing before.
"Okay, fuck you all too." She rolled her eyes. "Can we go now? It stinks."
Just as she spoke, a voice came up behind them.
"And here we are folks, Mr. Luke Castellan actually talking to a pretty girl and not stuttering and making a fool of himself." The voice beamed as if they were talking to an audience. "What does he have to say about such things?"
"Okay, really Greek—" Luke spoke.
"'Mkay. It's not funny anymore. Wasn't even really the first time." The boy instantly dropped the act.
Turning, Persephone got a good look at him.
He was pale, skinny, and tall. His black hair was barely longer than an inch atop his head and it stuck up. A few moles were scattered across his face, and his thin lips perfectly orchestrated his smile.
"Yeah, sure." Luke chuckled as the boy became agitated.
"Hello, Ms. Persephone." The boy smiled. "I'm Roman. Love the name, by the way. Named after a Goddess' daughter when your the daughter of a god. Funny, huh."
"Ignore Greek here," Luke advised, pushing him out of the way. "He's just annoying."
"That's no way to speak to your friend." The boy, Roman, shook his head disappointedly. "Think of what the little campers would say if they heard you."
"Yeah, Luke." Persephone egged on, "You're setting a terrible example." She scoffed and shook her head.
"Yeah, I like you already." The skinny boy declared as he interlinked his and Persephone's elbows. "Stealing her from you, bye!"
"Bye, Luke!" Persephone waved with a chuckle.
The two walked out the door with a laugh.
Like followed in suit, frowning.
"Yeah, very funny. I have to finish the tour, Smartass." Luke sighed, his eyes lingering on their touching skin a moment to long.
"Language, Luke!" Persephone gasped, her and Roman sharing alike reactions. "That is foul—"
Like fought off a smile as he grabbed Roman and lightly moved him, staring at him with a certain expression. "I'll find you later. Bye, Roman."
"Awe. Bye, Persephone!" Roman frowned with a wave.
"Bye best friend!" Persephone joked, offering him a wave.
The two shared smiles, and she sarcastically wiped a tear to show her 'sadness' to leaving him.
"So your best buddies with him, the guy who I've seen trip over thin air, and not me — the person whose single handily giving you the best tour ever."
"I 'dunno," Persephone smirked, "He's fun to talk to."
"And I'm not?" Luke tilted his head. "I'm very fun to be around. I'm great." Luke shrugged, blinking vigorously.
"Maybe I just don't want to talk to you. You aren't real charming when your actively getting your scholarship at 'Yapping Academy', ever consider that?"
Luke slowly looked over to her, wide eyes and a practically dropped jaw. "Wow. That was nice."
Persephone broke out into a giggle.
Luke's lips began twitching into a smile.
AFTER A HALF HOUR OF WALKING AND MORE TOURS, the two soon came upon a field, and it held more than one section.
The first section was a volleyball area, which Persephone could already tell she loved.
The second was some type of court with large nets along the side, and kids were in there playing some sort of Basketball game, but with flying shoes, balls, and nets.
The third seemed to be a rock wall from hell.
"We call this the 'activity field', and as you can see, it has some fun things to do." Luke walked towards the first section, "This is the volleyball court. Personally, I'm not too good at it, so I'm never over there. Mostly, the Apollo kids play it, but I've seen a few Athena kids wind down with it."
Luke then waved at a boy who did so to him, and they moved to the second section with the weird basketball game.
"This is where we play Flyball. Basically, it's Basketball, but with wings on everything." Luke shrugged, "It was made a couple years ago by some bored Hermes campers. The wings come from a special... ability some of the Hermes kids have, to cast a sort of 'spell' on any object and give it wings. They did it to the ball, the hoop, and their shoes. It's actually not bad... just dangerous."
"You couldn't pay me money to play that." Persephone deadpanned with crossed arms.
"Oh, c'mon princess," Luke smirked, turning to her, "It's not that bad."
"Call me princess again and I'll show you bad when I'm shoving a can of olives up your ass." The girl rolled her eyes and walked toward the next section, where she assumed they were going next.
"What, you don't like olives or something?" Like chuckled, following after her.
"Ew. Absolutely not." Persephone grimaced, shaking her head.
"That's blasphemous. They're delicious-" Luke gasped.
"Did you just say the word 'blasphemous' un-ironically?"
"Yeah? So what."
"So, that's actually crazy." Persephone stuck her head out, "Only psychologically fucked up people say shit like that." She then looked the boy up and down.
Luke playfully scoffed, "Anyways. This is our Rock wall. It's a little further from the rest of the sections for... obvious reasons..."
Persephone stared at the rock wall, that oozed lava. It stood at a great height, and she pursed her lips as she shook her head.
Spinning on her feet, Persephone walked back they way they came. "Yeah, no."
Luke chuckled and followed after her, again.
"What, you against rock walls or something?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm against rock walls that spit out lava and that stand bigger than my will to live. I'm good on that one, really." Persephone shook her head.
"You're something..." Luke murmured to himself, shaking his head as he had to jog to keep up with her pace.
Eventually, he got back into the lead and starting leading the two again.
Persephone let him though, as she realized she had no idea where she was going.
"This," Luke said a few minutes later as they approached three more sections. "Is our training area."
It spread out wider than the other area they were at, and she understood why.
Section one was an archery range.
Section two was a sword fighting arena.
Section three was a hut with a missing front wall, inside were campers hitting red metal with a hammer of some sorts.
"This, is our 'Training grounds', and as you can see, you can practice Archery, Swordsmanship, and Black-smithing."
"Huh." Persephone hummed.
Nearby, she saw a sign with arrows pointing around. She blinked in surprise at the fact she could actually read it.
Luke seemed to notice, and he smirked. "Yeah, bet you thought you were Dyslexic, huh? Thought you had ADHD, too?"
"Okay, Mr. Mind reader, tell me more about myself then." Persephone sarcastically replied, turning to look at him with pursed lips and crossed arms.
"You got in trouble a lot, probably for not being able to sit still, or causing to many fights. You couldn't read, so you didn't get very far in learning." Luke spoke confidently, as if he was so sure. "That inability to sit still, ADHD? That's your Half-Blood instincts to fight, to stay on guard. Your Dyslexia? Your brain is just hardwired to read Greek, not English."
Persephone blinked, and her jaw threatened to drop in absolute shock. "Okay, buddy. Nice to know I've got a stalker..?"
Luke chuckled, and shook his head. "I know because it happened to me, and everyone else at camp. It's just... Half-Blood things."
"Yeah, I think I'll just... tap out then. Log off. Take a little break." Persephone nodded.
Luke genuinely seemed to enjoy this comment, "Trust me, I wish you could. All of us wish the same thing. But, unfortunately-"
"We're fucked." Persephone deadpanned. "We're waist deep in shit and being fucked in the ass."
"Sure... that's a way to put it." Luke nodded enthusiastically.
Persephone rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. "Anyways, what now?"
"Now," Luke seemed to brighten up at this, "we try to figure out who your godly parent is."
"And we do that... how?" Persephone furrowed her eyebrows, "Do we get on our knees and say 'pretty please'?"
Luke let out a genuine laugh, and shook his head. "You just... try things out. Archery's to see if your an Apollo kid, Sword training for Ares or Athena, Black-smithing for Hephaestus—"
"What about Aphrodite, Demeter, Dionysus, and Hermes?" Persephone cut him off.
Honestly, she was proud of herself for remembering their names.
"Well, usually Aphrodite kids just kind of unleash it by commanding someone. Demeter kids grow something. Dionysus kids are really the same as Demeter's, just with vines. Hermes kids usually get claimed when they steal something, though." Luke shrugged.
"What'd you steal to get claimed?" Persephone joked.
"I was claimed before I got to camp." Luke explained, once again tense.
Dropping it, Persephone sighed. "Well, it can only be gods, not goddesses. My mom was... mortal."
"You seem like an Apollo kid." Luke pondered.
"You calling me a ball of sunshine?"
"I don't know, sunshine, you feel shiny?"
"Fuck kind of question is that?"
"I don't know... just 'kinda came out..."
"Never let it happen again."
"Rodger that, ma'am."
A bell ringing made everyone yell for dinner, and the two bickering teens soon joined the children for the dining pavilion.
★🌊𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓭 𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓼🪽★
• well aren't they cuties!!!
• I was so nervous to write this tbh
• anyways my boy Roman showed up!!!! I actually love him sm
• I stayed up past my bedtime on a school night to finish this so praise me!😋