Chapter Text
Virgil felt his eyes begin to droop and his head slip from where it rested in his hand. The agonisingly slow tic tic tic of the kitchen clock slowing down time to what seemed like an unreasonable pace. Lazily, his eyes drifted back and forth along the page, trying to make sense of the book in front of him.
Joining the tics of the clock were the heavy footsteps of Alice Carter. He repressed a shiver as she passed behind him.
CRACK
Virgil jumped as the wooden ruler hit the table, inches away from hitting his hand.
"Why are you disobeying me?" The sharp voice of Alice wormed its way into his ear.
It took all of Virgil's willpower not to snark back at her, he really wasn't in the mood for a fight today.
"How am I disobeying you?"
She clicked her tongue the way she always did when she grew frustrated with him, "I told you to read and you're just sat here doing nothing!"
"I am reading!" He tried and failed to stay calm.
The ruler hit the table again.
"I've been watching you and you haven't turned the page in over ten minutes. Don't argue with me!"
Virgil tried to suppress a growl, "I'm trying! The words just keep moving!"
"Don't try that pathetic excuse on me. I know it worked on your teachers but I know the truth. You useless kids just make it up to get attention and an excuse to get out of work." She sneered at him with a look of disgust, "Now READ!"
"I CAN'T"
The ruler came down a again with a thwack. This time it came crashing down on Virgil's knuckles.
He cried out in pain as he stood up, chair scrapping horribly on the tiles, clutching his injured hand.
"Sit down now and hold out your hands or you can expect an even worse punishment!"
A moment of silence passed between them as they both refused to break eye contact and submit. Eventually, Virgil's self preservation kicked in. He sat down forcefully, slamming his hands outstretched on the table, knuckles bare and defenceless.
A smug smile crossed Alice's face as she got her ruler into place. Virgil looked away, hiding his watery eyes, as the the ruler came down.
***
Virgil shot up, immediately regretting it as his body burned in pain.
"Oh hey! You're awake!"
As he looked up to the source of the voice, Virgil winced, eyes protesting the bright light. Two hands landed on his shoulders, gently pushing him back to a lying position.
"Whoa, hold on. You need to take it easy for a bit,"
Once his eyes had recovered enough, Virgil once again squinted in the direction of the voice.
"Hey!" The boy seemed around his age with a wide, almost manic, grin and a look of crazy in his green eyes. His skin was tan and covered in freckles, as if he spent his whole life in the sun. A bush of light brown hair sat in a mess in top of his head, parts of the fringe bleached messily and what looked like leaves and twigs stuck in it.
"Uh… hi," Virgil replied weakly.
"What's your name?"
"Virgil,"
"Virgil," the boy repeated, seeming to test it out, seeing how it felt on his tongue, "Cool name!" He eventually concluded, "I'm Remus."
"Cool," Virgil nodded, still a bit disorientated, "uh, Remus, where am I?"
"You're in the Apollo healing cabin,"
"The what?"
"It's where we take sick and injured campers,"
That really didn't help, "What do you mean by campers?"
Remus tilted his head and barked out a laugh, "You don't know much, do you?"
Virgil frowned, "Well I'm sorry if I don't know what the 'Apollo healing cabin' is after walking up god-knows-where covered in injuries I know nothing about!"
Remus frowned a little, though his smile never left his face, "What's the last thing you remember?"
Virgil sighed and closed his eyes, "Well… first I ran away… then I ended up at a supermarket where I then got chased by two… two old ladies and I climbed a hill, then…"
"Then?"
"Then I blacked out,"
"Well, first of all, those weren't just old ladies. Second, you didn't just blackout- well actually you did but something else happened first…"
"What happened?"
He opened his mouth to answer but first his eyes widened and he gasped, "Oh shit! I was supposed to tell Chiron when you woke up!"
"Who's Chiron?"
Remus leapt up and ran out the room, "Bye Virgin!"
Virgil sighed and slumped back in his bed. It had to have been a dream, right? There no way he was chased by gorgons. Or that a strange man on the side of the road gave him a coin that turned into a sword. Whatever he'd eaten from that Bargain Mart must have been drugged. He'd probably passed out on the side of the road, found and taken to… whatever this place is.
That's another good question; what is this place?
It looks almost like a hospital but different. Not the typical blinding white room you'd expect, more like what Virgil imagined a battle field hospital to look like. The whole room had a faint, metallic scent, like someone had tried to cover it up with bleach but it still clung to every piece of furniture. He was lying on a bed, it wasn't exactly comfortable but better than the bed he had back at the Carter's.
At the foot of his bed sat his backpack and his jacket folded on top. Sighing in relief upon seeing it, Virgil leaned forwards despite the pain and grabbed it, quickly putting it on to feel a bit safer. He knew it was stupid- it's just a jacket after all- but it really did provide comfort in this unfamiliar place. Upon stuffing his hand into the pocket, he found the coin from before. He shook his head, 'it's just a normal coin' he tried to convince himself, 'nothing magical about it." Unfortunately, he was unable to convince himself so instead, he threw the coin across the room, hearing it land with a faint clink.
Just then, the door opened and Remus came back in, this time pushing a man in a wheel chair into the room. He parked the man's chair next to Virgil's bed then sat in the corner playing with… something squishy in a metal bowl.
"Remus told me your name is Virgil?" The man wore a weary smile like someone with hundreds of responsibilities but he was happy to carry them out. With his salt and pepper beard, intelligent eyes and tweed jacket with elbow patches, he was the perfect image of a caring, college professor. A worn, patchwork blanket covered his legs, only his slippers peeking out form the bottom.
"Yeah,"
"Well then, it's nice to meet you, Virgil. I'm Chiron,"
He wanted to say 'that's the most ridiculous name I've ever heard' but then realised his own name is Virgil.
"I'm assuming you have a lot of questions?"
He snorted, "That's an understatement."
Chiron smiled, "Let's start with this; how much do you know about the Greek myths?"
"Not much. I mean… I know, like, some of the gods and stuff but…" he shrugged. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Oh it relates to everything, Virgil."
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Because all of it is real,"
He said it with such seriousness that Virgil couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Chiron frowned, "I'm being serious, Virgil."
Virgil stopped laughing, "You really expect me to believe that?"
"Let me ask you this, Virgil. Growing up did you ever see anything strange, something you couldn't explain that others didn't see?"
"No."
"Really?" He frowned, "how odd…"
Remus' head shot up from his bowl, "Show him the thing!"
Chiron seemed confused for a moment before realisation crossed his face, "Ah, yes."
Slowly, he began to stand.
Virgil's jaw dropped. From the torso up, he saw the same kind professor from before. But below…
Below was the body of a large, grand stallion.
"Great, a horse-man… I'm hallucinating, aren't I?"
"I prefer 'centaur' and I can assure you I am real,"
"Exactly what a hallucination would say,"
"Virgil I-"
"No!" He screwed his eyes shut, " I…I must've gotten heatstroke… or-or I'm starving or… or something…"
Chiron sighed, "Well, I can tell I'm not going to be able to convince you." He looked over to Remus, "Is Virgil well enough to get up?"
Remus looked up from his bowl of… Something, "Yeah, should be."
"Excellent," he turned back to Virgil, "Would you like to take a walk with me?"
***
Golden light stretched across the valley before them. Children of various ages, all in bright orange t-shirts hung out in groups, sitting and enjoying the sun or walking around. Buildings that looked like they came straight from ancient Greece were dotted around, far grander than anything Virgil had seen before. The lake filled with canoes, the archery range, the horse stables and the cluster of cabins near the woods created the perfect image of what Virgil imagined summer camp to be.
Between his dyslexia, ADHD and anxiety disorder, Virgil didn't have much to thank his brain for but, apparently, it was good at hallucinating scenery so beautiful he dreaded waking up.
As they walked, Chiron led Virgil to the cluster of cabins by the woods. There were twelve in total, all arranged in a U shape with a brass number above the door. Each had a unique design, one had plants growing up the wall while another had a large boar head on the front.
Chiron took him to the one numbered eleven. Of all the cabins, this looked the most stereotypically 'summer camp', exactly how Virgil and imagined them growing up. The door creaked open to reveal a space which, despite seemingly being large felt extremely cramped. Bunk beds were pressed tightly against the wall with very little space between them. The space which wasn't taken up by the beds was covered in sleeping bags, so densely packed you couldn't tell what colour the floor was.
There were only three people inside. Two girls quietly chatting in the corner and one boy closer to them reclined on a sleeping bag reading a book. The girls didn't seemed to notice them entering but the boy did as he buried his head further into the book to avoid them.
Chiron seemingly didn't take the hint (or purposely ignored it) as he smiled and looked directly at the boy, "Ah, Janus!"
The boy (Janus apparently) heaved a deep sigh before looking up from his book wearing the most fake smile he'd ever seen, "Yes, Chiron?"
"I have a new camper with me and I was wondering if you could show him around and explain some things to him?"
"I assume that I have no choice?"
"You would be correct."
He sighed again and closed his book then stood and walked to stand opposite Virgil.
"Thank you, Janus," Chiron smiled and walked away, leaving the two boys staring at each other.
Something Virgil prided himself in was his ability to not back down. Sure he hated eye contact but he found that if he looked at a person's forehead he could stare for minutes without backing down. However, it seemed as though Janus possessed this talent too.
He stood about an inch shorter than Virgil and was probably just as skinny. The hair falling into his eyes was that strange shade of caramel where people were unsure whether to call it brown or blonde. His right eye was a warm, chocolate brown but the left was a bright hazel-green.
Fortunately, Virgil seemed to win this staring contest as Janus sighed and looked away, crossing his arms, "So… what's your name?"
There wasn't much point keeping up his walls if this was all in his head so he replied, "Virgil. And you're Janus?"
"No." Janus(?) replied before walking past Virgil, "Come on, I'll give you the tour."
Virgil had already seen most of the camp in his walk from the healing cabin to cabin eleven but Janus took him on a walk around the perimeter, pointing out various features as they went.
"That's the arena," he pointed to the large open air building they were passing.
"Arena?"
"For sword practise, obviously,"
"What kind of summer camp needs a place for sword practise?!"
"The kind that wants its campers to be prepared,"
Virgil sighed, "I'm seriously worried for the stare of my brain if it's conjuring up this stuff…"
It was Janus' turn to be confused, "What do you mean?"
"He thinks he's hallucinating,"
"SHIT!" Virgil nearly jumped a foot in the air.
Janus rolled his eyes fondly, "Remus, I told you not to sneak up on people like that."
Virgil looked around but he couldn't see Remus.
"Aw but it's so fun!" Remus' disembodied voice whined.
Janus rolled his eyes again then shifted his attention to Virgil, "So Remus says you think you're hallucinating?"
"Yeah, and bodiless voices are really helping me with that belief!"
Janus chuckled, "Come out, Remus."
"I'm gay,"
"You know what I mean,"
Virgil once again jumped when Remus appeared out of nowhere.
"What the HELL is going on!"
Remus held up a blue New York Yankees cap, "A gift. Help me get around without being seen, really useful for pranks and sneaking around at night!"
Virgil took a deep breath, "I'm… I'm just gonna go along with all this 'till I wake up."
"You aren't dreaming or hallucinating, Virgil,"
"For some reason I don't believe you,"
Remus punched him in the arm.
"OW! What the hell!" He held his arm and glared at Remus.
"Can't feel pain in a dream!"
Virgil was about to punch him back but Janus stepped between them, "I know what it's like to be suddenly told about this strange new world with magic and Gods and whatever but I promise on Remus' life, it's all real."
"Magic and gods?"
"How much do you know about Greek Mythology?"
"Like I told Chiron, not much. I think I watched the Disney Hercules movie a few years ago,"
Janus pinched the bridge of his nose, "With all the inaccuracies in that movie we may as well start at square one."
"Basically the Gods are real and you're the child of one of them!"
"Remus! I was going to ease him into it!"
"There's no point, he wasn't gonna believe us either way!"
"He's right, I wouldn't have,"
Janus sighed, "Essentially, Remus is right. The Greek Gods (such as Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite etc) are all real. And here- Camp Half-blood- is a safe place for demigods like us to live and train to fight monsters."
"… you know, I gotta hand it to my brain. That's a pretty interesting story concept. Could make a bestselling five book series… or at least one pretty decent fan fiction."
Janus huffed, "For Gods' sake, Virgil! Stop pretending this is a dream and just accept it!"
"Do you want me to just dive into my brain and re-write everything I thought I knew?"
"We all had to, why can't you?!"
"What would it take to convince you?" Remus asked.
Virgil thought, "…I don't know. Maybe waking up tomorrow and this is all still here?"
Janus sighed, glad they finally reached something, "Well, in the mean time I'll teach you more about the Gods."
Janus spent the next hour giving Virgil a basic rundown of the twelve Olympians.
"Okay, to recap, there's twelve Gods," Virgil began.
"Well…"
"And all they all have children who live here at camp,"
"Not every God has children,"
"Like who?"
"Artemis is a virgin Goddess and Hera is Goddess of marriage so she wouldn't cheat on Zeus to have a child with a mortal so neither of them have children," Janus explained
Remus chimed in, "And there's the big three."
"The big three?"
"Zeus, Poseidon and Hades," Janus clarified, "They all agreed that their children were too powerful so they made an agreement to not have any more."
"Then why do they still have Cabins?"
"Out of respect,"
"Oh. But the other cabins house the children of those Gods?"
"Correct, like how Remus lives in Cabin seven because he's a son of Apollo,"
"And since you're in cabin eleven that means you're a son of Hermes?"
Janus smiled, "No."
"No?"
"Hermes is God of travellers so children who haven't been claimed by their parent yet stay in there, that's why it's so crowded. It's where you'll be staying,"
"So you haven't been claimed yet?"
Janus' smiled grew strained, "Also no."
"Then what-?"
"My mother is not one of the twelve Olympians, so she, and many other Gods don't have a cabin of their own."
"Who's your mother, then?"
"Apate, the Goddess of deceit,"
Virgil frowned, "Then how do I know you've been telling the truth this whole time?"
He rolled his eyes, "I don't only speak in lies!"
"You told me your name isn't Janus when we first spoke,"
He inspected his nails, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Virgil huffed out a laugh.
"UGH! I'm bored. I'm gonna go torture some of the dryads. Byeeeee!!!"
"Remus! You know that's-" but Remus had already put on his cap and disappeared, "Remus!" He turned back to Virgil with a polite smile, "Excuse me for a moment. REMUS!" He ran in the direction of the woods.
For a while Virgil just enjoyed the silence and took a minute to breathe. He hadn't had that since the incident with the gorgons. Scratch that, he probably hadn't had that since he moved in with the Carters. Maybe not even since his mom died. He let the warm, afternoon sun wash over him, bathing his face in golden light.
Putting his hands in his pockets, he found that the coin was there once again. That was weird. He could've sworn he threw it away. With a sigh, he decided to leave it there. He was trying to embrace all the weirdness happening around him, and that included the coin. He was beginning to grow a bit stuffy with his jacket on but he didn't want to take it off. In this quiet, eye of the storm that apparently was his new life, he needed all the familiar comfort he could get.
Unfortunately, his peace didn't last long as he heard footsteps quickly approaching him. Stood over him, blocking his sunlight was a boy in the same t-shirts everyone wore. He had a round face covered in freckles and split in half with a wide grin. His eyes were bright blue and surrounded by round, silver frames. His brown curls glowed in the sunlight and he practically vibrated where he stood.
"Hey Kiddo! I just wanna say hi and welcome you to camp. I'm Patton!"