Chapter Text
. Chapter 1:
I sing Riptide by Vance Joy with the god of music
How is any of this real? It’s not even possible and doesn’t make much sense. That was my first thought when I found out that demigods are real. My second thought was HOLY COW I’M A DEMIGOD! But let me explain how I figured this out, by the way I’m Maria, pleased to meet you. And yes, I do live in Manhattan.
I woke up at 2am, but strangely I didn’t feel tired at all, so I decided to get up and make my bed, and I headed to the kitchen. As I made my way down the stairs, I saw a blond dude in the kitchen and I screamed, “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOME?” Great reaction, I know.
He shifted his body so he was facing me, woah this boy is handsome! , and for some reason, he was smiling at me, “Hello! I am Apollo!” He said. Is that his name or what? If that’s the real Apollo then, wait WHAT? I tried to gather my composure, but failed miserably, “ARE YOU THE REAL APOLLO AS IN THE GREEK GOD?!” I exclaimed. “Yes I’m pretty sure that’s me, son of Zeus, God of the Sun, Poetry, Music and many other things.”
HEPHAESTUS HAND GRENADES! I was quite shocked if you couldn’t already tell, “Wait how are you real..?” I questioned him.
“I’m just as real as any other god, say Hera, Ares, Poseidon, Athena, the whole pantheon,” though I don’t like Hera so much, he mouthed. Does that mean demigods are real? Wait is Percy Jackson real? WAIT IS PERCY JACKSON REAL?
“Is the whole world of Percy Jackson real? If so is he real?” I asked, “Yes, Rick Riordan actually spends his summers, sometimes even the whole year at Camp Half-Blood, that includes Magnus Chase, Kane Chronicles, Trials of Apollo, tough times, and all of his Greek mythology books!”
At this point I was about to combust from the inside out, because, well my dreams aren’t just dreams anymore. I’ve always wanted this to be real, and now I just found out that it is Holy Hera, that means that everyone is real too! “Apollo, that would mean that Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Will, Meg, Magnus, Alex Fierro, Sadie Kane, Carter Kane and all the others are REAL???!!!!! I’M ABOUT TO BURST FROM SHOCK, HAPPINESS AND ALL THE EMOTIONS I’M FEELING RIGHT NOW WHAT!” I finished screaming after that, and I was pretty sure I had just woken up my mother.
Apollo just nodded at me, and I also realised that, the guy standing in front of me is freaking Apollo and that I’m just trusting that what he’s saying is, in fact, true, so naturally I had to question him again, “I’m so sorry and I don’t mean to be rude, but how do I know that what you’re telling me is true?” I gently asked, because I was not about to incinerated for being rude. “Well I could change into Lester Papadoupolous, maybe that’d also make you feel more comfortable around me, sorry,” he replied. I closed my eyes because I did not want to know how he changes his form.
“You can open your eyes now, and also what is your name?” He asked. I slowly opened my eyes, woah! He looks just like how I pictured Lester! “You look exactly like how I imagined Lester!” I quietly exclaimed. Then I remembered that he had asked me a question, “Right, my name is Maria!” It felt good telling THE Apollo my name, and I had a feeling he would remember it.
“Anyways,” he said, “I’m here to take you to camp! How did I know you were a demigod? Well last night I sort of had a dream that a monster sensed you and you basically died,” Yay, Apollo came to rescue me because I was going to be killed. That was sarcasm, but I was in fact grateful, “Oh. Well thank you for rescuing me!” I tried to be cheerful but I’m sure I sounded desperate.
Then I realised he said that he would be taking me to camp, “WAIT YOU’RE TAKING ME TO CAMP HALF-BLOOD, AS IN THE CAMP WITH THE CABINS AND EVERYONE?!” I was screaming of joy, and no I did not currently care if my mother would come scold me for screaming at 2am.
He told me to dress appropriately, but he was sure that I would know just what to wear. I knew what type of clothes I should wear, but how do you even choose clothes to go to CHB. I settled for some Jean shorts, normal length shorts, not those short shorts. And yes, I did have a CHB T-shirt, because it’s basically merch, but I would NOT be wearing that, so I just grabbed a black short sleeve shirt and a blue hoodie, and one of my pairs of trainers.
After I got dressed I went back downstairs and Apollo asked me if I was already done packing, “Oh I’m packing? It’s not the summer, do I have to stay there year-round?” I asked, and suddenly I was worried about leaving my family, “Well let’s see who’s your godly parent, and we’ll see if you must stay,” Apollo said. Okay. Wow. Huh. Overwhelmed.
So, I decided not to pack, and if I did have to I figured I could just come back, “Apollo, how will you be taking us to camp?” I wondered out loud, “Well I could teleport us there, or we could go by car, you choose though,” He answered. I wanted to get the experience of the drive there, so I said I’d rather drive.
I led Apollo to the door and he opened it for me, such a gentleman, I thought. As I stepped outside I saw the average Toyota Prius, thank god, at least I can go in an average car, I did NOT want to draw any attention thank you very much. I climbed into the front seat and Apollo sat at the wheel.
I was asking Apollo about music and if modern music is better than old Beethoven type music, “I mean, depends on the artist really, but I do love instruments and voices together, but I’m not a huge fan of say, Brazilian funk music,” that was his take on music, and those were wise words, “Hey I’m Brazilian!” I joked, “I’m not a fan of funk music either, so I’m not judging you for not liking it,” he laughed, dam I’m funny, dam with the letter m, I thought and yes, that was a reference to book three which did in fact happen.
As we were making our way towards Long Island, Riptide by Vance Joy started to play on the radio, “Did you make them play this song?!” I happily questioned him, “Thought you might like it,” he said, grinning widely, “I do find it appropriate for our current situation, yes,” I laughed and so did Apollo.
Apollo told me that we were nearing CHB, and that’s when the nerves started to kick in. What if no one likes me? What if they think I’m weird? What if the camp just doesn’t like me? Lots of “What if’s”, and he must’ve realised I was nervous because he told me, “Hey, you don’t need to worry, it’ll be fine! They’ll welcome you like any other camper!” Should I pretend to not know them? I could take a page out of Nico’s book, gaslight, “Apollo, do they know that stories are written about them?” I wondered, “Chiron knows, and so does Rachel, but no the campers don’t,” he replied.
I was trying to come up with a way to not give away my knowledge to others, when Apollo basically read my mind, “You could say you studied Greek mythology, but you can memorise every one so easily, or you could eventually tell them, but you might have to ask Chiron about that, and we arrived!” He finished. Not such a bad idea, huh.