Chapter Text
I gazed down the wide, vast, field below. The misty mint-yellow shade of sunlight reflected against the newly lawned grass and bounced onto my face. I tried to make a run downwards and almost tripped due to the hill being a bit steep. I squinted into the horizon. Just like my sister said, a what looked like, a farmhouse was in rear view. It was a long way to the building and I hated walking that far. With bag one shoulder, filled with things I would ever need to survive for an entire summer. Toothbrush, toiletries, all of that stuff. The sun was bright, but at the same time it seemed like it was about to rain, when a couple drops of water fell on my shoulder while I was walking mid-way. It was nice, but I also hated it.
I didn’t like nice things at all that much, perhaps that was due to me simply rotting in my room all day and not spending outside like what mortal snakes usually do
My half-brother always said I was a shut in, and he's right.
I've been sort of a hikkikomori since forever, watching anime sitting on my computer chair all day and shit posting on tumblr. Although I did spend little time with my siblings but all they would do is simply pick on me, plus mother always says- “Joseph, help around the store! or- Joseph, you are a disgrace compared to your sister and brothers!” And I hate her for that. They’re actually my half-siblings. All of our biological fathers were mortals. And now, me out of all 4 of Medusa's children, here I am, being sent to some stupid demigod kids camp as a spy like in those black and white movies.
Mother thinks its a good idea for me to go outside and do something productive for once.. and that this will be a huge impact as the family's revenge. She never really talks about the story of what happened, all I know is something happened with her ex boyfriend which made Athena really pissed so she cursed her, that’s how she got her snake hair and gaze that turns people who looks at her into stone. Yadda yadda yadda ...
My legs were starting to get tired, but the farmhouse was just a few meters away, I kept on walking until the building structure was soon very clear to me, here goes nothing..
As a son of Medusa, I’m not really sure if I am considered a demigod Or not, nonetheless, but once I entered the property, I felt an un-comfy tingle on my skin.. Like if teeny atoms chipped their way out of my body
I got myself up and felt to a bright blue sign. CAMP HALF BLOOD. This must be it. I looked around some more, and wow, it was like any camp I have never seen before, kids and teens all over the place sword fighting, some of them were holding bow and arrows, some were canoeing, and some were even harvesting strawberries. I was tempted to ask one of them for one, but I needed to get settled in first before doing anything. Another section of the forest were a bunch of satyrs playing funky sounding pieces on what looked likes flutes, one of them was dancing a little funny which made me giggle a bit. Despite the cool view and things to sight-see, I tried to focus on why I was here.
I turned to my left to ask the nearest person for directions but ended up crashing into two girls who were running my way, and before I knew it I was on the damp forest floor with my bag half open, nearly scattering some of the contents. "MOVE." One of them taunted, shoving her hand into my chest which pushed me against a tree, strong enough to the point where the branches shook a little, before she disappeared in the forest.
I turned to the commotion they were sprinting towards, it felt odd squeezing through taller kids when all of them wore bright orange T-Shirts with the camp logo on it, and I was wearing My Chemical Romance jacket. Mother says I should be provided the things I needed when I got to camp, But honestly, I panicked a little.
As soon as I pushed through the big and scary campers, I saw what everyone was looking at
There i saw, some poor blonde kid, just a year younger than me, standing feet deep in the lake, with an illuminating trident just right above him. Everyone was staring in awe.. i was just confused. What the hell is going on? And who the..
"..Earthshaker, Storm bringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God!!” I heard a centaur declare, then everyone around me started going on their knees and bowing down. When i saw the first person doing it, i thought they were proposing or something. Not sure if that’s ever happened around here before.. maybe not.
I see now. This is the boy Mother said was the target. Poseidon. Something stirring in me making me feel something was wrong about this. Anyhow, I bowed down as well. Though i felt weird since i didn’t know what i was doing it for, i figured i should blend in as much as possible. The boy was soon escorted by the centaur and followed by a black girl.. who had a necklace with had a few cute colorful beads on it.
All the kids were whispering to each other, I heard someone call from behind me.
“Psst.”
I flinched a bit, then I stopped. Thinking maybe it was one of the campers tryna gossip..
”Jo. Joey. Turn around.”
That’s when my heart DROPPED. No one has ever mentioned my name— let alone the worst nickname ever given to me —since I’ve been to camp.. which was like. a couple mintues ago. I turned my head slowly.. held onto my backpack incase I got jumped.. Then WHAM! Someone grabs me from the back and the next thing you know, I was being pulled into some more trees, shrubs and plants. I reach my face for my glasses to make sure they wouldn’t fall off.. even worse, they’d break. And by then I’d be blind for the rest of the mission.
“Jeez dude. You’re gonna shatter my glasses..“ I muttered, Wiping the lens with my shirt, trying to maintain looking down so at least the person that shoved me wouldn’t turn into a stone statue, “What are you doing here!? And what is that emo shit you’re wearing.” The mystery person grabbed me by the collar of my jacket as soon as I put my glasses back on and looked up, ah, Luke Castellan. He was a tall and pale Asian guy with dark curly hair, about college-aged, with an intimidating scar across his eye and down his face.. I’ve known him for a while,
”Its a jacket. And its not emo.” I corrected him as I lowered the volume of my voice to match his,”also.. why are we whispering??” He shoved me deeper into the plants and his face got darker. “If you don’t change now, once someone sees you, you’re gonna stand out and get spotted.” “Hah, strangely enough, I’ve actually been ignored by the other campers the whole time I was here!” I tried to make it sound like a flex. Luke facepalms, then turns to me and sighs. "Whatever. Stick to the plan, because we need to hurry. I need to get you in a cabin ASAP." He then went on blabbering something about ooo dark lord Kronos, but I kind of zoned out. What I REALLY wanted was to go home, so I simply nodded at whatever he said. But before you know it, his fingers snapped in front of my face.
"PAY. ATTENTION." he "yelled" at me with his voice down.
“Alright, alright!” I put my hands up in surrender. What the hell was his deal? “Could we talk this out in a civilized, non-threatening way?—“ “Fuck that.” He spat, somehow no longer whispering “it seems you need to be reminded, that this is something you shouldn’t take lightly. I don’t think you understand that.” “Oh i do. I just don’t wanna do it.” I shrugged, then he glowered at me.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Gods— what am i going to do with you? I don’t care if you don’t wanna do it or not. If you don’t wanna get me, and yourself, banished for eternity, I suggest you do your job.” He was about to turn around when I interrupted "Wha- Hey! Er.." I panicked and lowered my tone "What am I supposed do.. again..?" Luke sighed. I knew he was already done with me the moment we had this conversation. "Cabin 11. Hermes. I dunno, just, try and blend in. And if you get a chance, you should befriend a kid by the name of 'Percy Jackson' and get me as much intel as you can. Now GET OUT THERE." whispering on that last part. Then I felt him shove me into big, scary camp.
And with that, he walked away from the bushes to gods know where.
First of all, he was right. I needed to do this whether I liked it or not. What will I be to my mother if i don’t? And.. who is Percy? I raised my hand half-way to ask more questions but he was already gone.. Wooww Luke, didn't even bother to give me a tour or anything. So I decided it was best to simply figure the rest of it all out on my own.