Chapter 7

Today was the day I was going back to camp, my excitement was through the roof as I thought of what new memories I would make this summer

I couldn't wait to see the rest of my siblings and regularly attend campfires, It was going to be so much fun. After testing was over, Terra, Connor, and Travis came over. We all decided it would be easier for Argus to pick us all up at once, instead of making multiple stops.

On the car ride home, Terra was bombarding us with question like, Is it fun being a demigod? Are you guys all related? Do monsters ever actually eat you? or even how long are you a demigod for? The last one made us laugh.

Connor turned to her and said " We're demigods until we die, hell we're still demigods when we're dead ." I rolled my eyes and explained to Terra, "Being a demigod is something you just are. To put it best, its like being a race, you don't pick you just are."

She nodded her head and stopped talking. We were almost home when she asked us a question that caught us off guard, big time.

" So are greek gods the only ones out there?"

I had an uneasy look on my face that matched Travis and Connor. 

" Well, we don't really know yet. We use to think it was just us but there is this one kid Jason who just came to our camp recently. We don't know what he is but we know he is not greek. I don't really know what to think of it. " I said.

She noticed the uneasy looks we had on our faces and  she asked " Is there something wrong with him? Or do people not like him for a reason?"

I was about to answer when Connor spoke up. " Well, It's not that we don't like him.. It's just that we weren't really excepting him , so little bit of a let down". 

Terra, who seemed even more confused than before, was about to ask another question when   Travis, who was chewing on sour gummy worms piped in to further explain.

"There was this camper, Percy Jackson, he went missing last year.. and he's like a big deal. Big deal as in could've been a god but chose not to be. Anyways he helped us win this huge war we had last summer and he went missing like a couple months after. His girl Annabeth has been breaking her back trying to find him, it's sad really. But yeah like a couple months ago she went out to find him and came back with three new campers. One of them being that Jason guy, he's super powerful and has these weird Latin tattoos, rumors been going around that the Roman counterparts of the gods are still alive."

Terra raised an eyebrow and said, " Alive? How could they ever die? It doesn't make sense."

Travis threw a worm up in air catching it in his mouth. He pumped a fist in the air and continued on to Terra. " Well you see Terra, we just figured that once Rome fell, the gods did too. Survival of the gods depends on relevancy, once they are forgotten they die out. However, those lucky bastards have two parts to them so we figured they just transitioned over to their greek side, but if this Jason kid is actually roman like everyone thinks, then we have all been so very wrong."

" Well seems like a lot, glad I'm not apart of it." Terra shrugged her shoulders and the excitement of the days events seem to wear off. She stopped asking questions and went back to being browsing her phone.

We finally arrived home, and I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and  left the car. I took out my keyring and rummaged through the keys trying to find the right one. I heard footsteps behind me and then a loud thud on the ground. I turned around to see Travis and my backpack on the ground beside him.

" Ok, just because we're dating does not mean I get to carry your stuff around. " He said in annoyance.

I  rolled my eyes and faced back towards the door. Picking out the right key, I opened the door and said to Travis, " Just because we're fake dating does not mean you can just dump my stuff on the ground."

" If I knew that dating you was gonna be this hard, I wouldn't had signed up " he huffed.

" Yeah.. By the way, why did you say yes?" I curiously asked. 

His eyes nervously  darted from side to side and he  seemed to be making up what he said as he spoke." Umm.. you know, like I- uh said, to make your life a living hell, and stuff. You know it's getting hot out here Katie, we better go inside ". He quickly picked up my stuff and skittered inside.

I stood outside the door in confusion, what was that about?  

A little voice in my head said "Maybe it's because what Connor said.."

 No No No! I refuse to believe him! Even if he did there is no way this will end well. Relationships at this age rarely ever last whats the point!

"Well  the point is he's cute, really cute."

I guess my inner monologue had taken too long because Terra came out after a while and pulled me inside. I started packing my things and before I knew it, Argus had shown up with a few other demigods. The other demigods who were joining us were Shane, son of Hephaestus, Malcolm son of Athena, and Kayla daughter of Apollo.

Terra, my dad, and Laura had come down stairs to tell us goodbye. Malcolm help rearrange the our luggage and we were soon off.

Halfway through the ride, the car had broken down and we all had to get out. We had to all shuffle out and stand on the side of the road, the temperature in the car was well over 100 degrees, and in a New York summer, it had us all sweating in seconds.

Luckily we had Shane, and in no time we were back on the road. We were almost there when I heard a shuffling noise in the back of the car.

I turned to Malcolm, the son of Athena, and asked " Did you hear that?"

" Hear what?" he asked.

" I thought I heard something.. Never mind ". A few minutes later, I heard it again. I ignored it hoping it would go away. After it started again Malcolm turned to me and said " Katie, I think you're right , maybe we should check the back." Shane, Travis, Connor, and Kayla  all agreed and we made Argus stop the car. Kayla got out of the car and opened the trunk, she then called out " Umm guys I think you might wanna see this ". We went to the trunk to see Terra lying in the back of the trunk on her phone.

I felt my blood pressure rise and my face heat up. What in all gods name did she have any reason for coming. I tried to calm myself so I wouldn't make a scene, it didn't work out too well. "Terra. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!"

She nervously fiddled her phone in between her hands and tried to avoid eye contact as she said " Funny story.. You see I was on my wa--"

I cut her off and snapped " Terra you never should've come here in the first place. It's so selfish of you to even do this! Do you not realize that technology literally makes monsters more attracted to us?! Theres already 6 of us and our scent is strong enough! But you didn't know that did you? Of course you didn't! Because you're just  going to have some excuse that I really doubt is going to make any type of sense. Just oh my gods I can't believe this right now!"

Travis let out a long low whistle and everyone around us seemed to be interested in the cloudless skies. Even Argus was able to avoid all eyes.

Cowards

Terras cheeks glowed a dark shade of red and lowered her head sighing," Fine I'll call my mom so she can pick me up, I was having doubts anyways".

 I felt a little guilty for going off on her but did I have a choice?  Trying to ease the tension I had created, I asked her, " How did you get in the back anyway?"

She got out of the trunk and started to stretch out her legs. In a mid forward fold she said " I just picked the lock, it wasn't hard. Especially since these idiots", she  pointed to the Shane and Kayla who were in the midst of playing ninja ,"weren't paying attention ".

I rubbed my forehead and sighed, " You can stay with us just for now, just call your mom before the end of the night." She started squealing like a little girl and we all got back in the car. Except for Terra, she stayed in the trunk. Punishment fits the crime. After what seemed like forever, I started to see the hill that over looked Camp Half-Blood. The previous troubles of the day washed away as the thought of attending to the strawberry fields and other camp activities filled me with glee.

Argus pulled up tp the bottom of the hill and we all filed out. We  got our bags and started walking towards the hill.

We were all walking in silence when Connor asked, " Terra, how did you pick the lock?"

"Oh I found this key on the floor and I took a wild guess and it worked " she said dangling a key. Connor wacked Travis in the head and said "I told you to hide that!".

Travis rubbed the back of his head where Connor hit him and said " OUCH! Calm down, it must've slipped out of my pocket!". He then snatched the key out of Terra's hand quicker than she could realize and slipped it in his pocket.

" Why did you guys have an extra key for the car? First off why do you even have a key?" I asked. Travis and Connor exchanged glances and said in unison " No reason ".

I rolled my eyes to see Argus doing the same, except he was rolling all his eyes. Not just two. We reached the top of the hill were Peleus the purple dragon was guarding Thalia's tree.

I heard Terra whimper behind me, she had thrown herself onto Connors arm and whispered, "What the hell is that?" She pointed to Peleus who was snoring. So much for a guard dragon.

"You can see that?" I was taken aback, had anyone lifted the mist from her?

Terra rolled her eyes in frustration and whisper yelled, " Yes I can see that, I'm not blind you idiot! Now is it going to kill us or not?!".

Travis and I exchanged glances, and I could tell he was on the same page as I. "No Terra, he's just there to protect us from monsters, we'll be fine."

She let out a sigh of relief but still held on to Connor like her life depended on it. He didn't seem to mind.

We were about ten feet from the entrance when Terra let go of Connor and half ran half walked right into the entrance. Instead of passing through like a demigod should, she was lightly electrocuted and flew backwards.

She sat up groggily rubbing her head and asked, " What was that?"

" Magical boundaries " I answered. " You should wait till we can tell you when you can go ".

I turned to the entrance and said " Terra, I allow you to pass through camp borders ". She stood up and carefully and awkwardly sauntered into camp making sure she wasn't going to be hit by an invisible force. I excitedly walked into camp and saw the bonfire glowing from far away. I smiled thinking of all the memories I had here, and turned to Terra's awed face. 

" Well, Terra, welcome to Camp Half-Blood ".