Chiron looked at me for a minute. I couldn't read his face at all, which was somehow more scary than being yelled at. Daisy bit her nails.
"Come again?" he said stiffly.
"My mother is an Empousa. I'm a she-devil." I said quietly.
He paused again. I felt like I was talking to my dad. Like he'd snap at any moment. Do Demi-gods kill monsters with fire and pitchforks? God, I hope not.
"And... how do you know?"
"My dad told me," I swallowed hard. "And the goddess Hecate... told me so."
He let out a dry laugh.
"Well, my goodness. How did you get in?"
"I let her in," Daisy said with a shaky voice. "I'm sorry Chiron but I don't want anyone to hurt her!"
"No, no," he said. "No, that's quite alright, Daisy. This is going to be a rather tricky situation though."
"Who's there, Chiron?" Someone said.
The room filled with the sickly smell of wine as a round guy with a weird Hawaiian shirt walked in. I wrinkled my nose at the smell.
"Ah, Mr. D! Please do come in."
Mr. D sat down on the chair beside Chiron and chugged a can of diet coke. Which was weird, because he definitely smelled like wine.
He sighed. "I suppose you are a new camper?"
"Um..."438Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI06r9pkpBM
"Well then, welcome," he said very unwelcomingly. I could tell that this guy was probably the supreme leader or something. Chiron seemed nice enough, but this guy...
"Ever since that blasted Perry Jacobs-"
"Percy Jackson, Mr. D." Chiron smiled. Mr. D scoffed.
"Whatever he is, he brings more and more useless campers. He's nothing but a bother!"
"That's for sure," I didn't mean to mumble under my breath.
Mr. D looked at me for a minute. I braced.
"You know what, I think I might like this one." he finished the last of his coke and tossed the can aside. "What is your name?"
"Bella Cooper, sir," I said, once I was sure he wasn't going to snap at me or something.
"Yes, yes. Well, see you at the sing-a-long. I'm having a nap."
We sat in silence as he left, then Chiron laughed.
"That's no small feat," he smiled at me. "Getting on the good side of Mr. D is a very hard thing to do,"
"Yeah, I would know," I looked to see Percy and Annabeth standing on the stairs to the porch.
"Hi, Bella," Annabeth smiled. "I know your dog tried to eat me and all, but I still wanted to say bye."
"Actually, Annabeth, we'll need to delay the quest for a few hours," Chiron said, getting up.
"Wait, why?" Percy said, frowning.
"Because Daisy has found our third member."
We sat at a pinochle table. I knew that because my dad used to play all the time when my mom invited company. There were no cards to play, but the room was so tense and weird you probably didn't want any.
"So where are they?" Percy asked. "Where's the third member?"
I sat down, so did Daisy and Chiron, and then Annabeth's eyes grew wide.
"Well?" Percy repeated. This kid was brain dead.
"It's Bella, Seaweed Brain!"
"Um, it says very clearly that she needs to be a she-devil-"
"That's why you didn't want to come to camp!" Annabeth completely ignored Percy, stood up, and stared me straight in the eyes.
"And why you have a fox which is probably a wolf or dog under the mist, and why you have a pentagram and why-"
"Yes, yes Annabeth, we know." Chiron smiled kindly. "Take a seat."
Annabeth sat down slowly, her cold eyes never leaving mine. She didn't hate me now, did she?
"Okay, will someone please explain-" Annabeth opened her mouth, but Percy put up a finger to silence her. "-in ENGLISH- what's going on?"
Annabeth narrowed her eyes and muttered something about 'incompetence'.
Daisy hic-upped and I kept my mouth shut.
"Well, it seems as though Daisy has mixed up Bella with a Half-blood. Bella, your mother is an empousa, yes?"
"Um, yeah."
Percy stared at me weirdly for a few minutes. "Um, okay," he muttered.
Obviously, empousai are not loved creatures around here, I thought.
Annabeth stood up. "Okay, well shouldn't we debrief her? We need to get going."
"Yes, yes of course. Annabeth, I'll let you handle that while I get some backpacks prepared for you three."
Annabeth basically yanked me out of my chair and dragged me out of the house.
"Hey, don't I get to help debrief?" Percy yelled at us.
"Not right now!"
"Um, what's happening?" I tried to stay on my feet. She was way stronger than I thought.
"We need to talk."
She pulled me into a cabin, but it looked more like a library. There were bookshelves full to the brim of books and binders, and tons of desks with papers and rulers all over them. Oddly, the beds were shoved up against the wall, as if they weren't important.
"Okay, so basically, we're going to stop a titan from destroying America, got it?" she started pulling things from underneath a bed I assumed was hers.
"Um, no, not really. Don't you have a plan?"
"Not a concrete one, but things usually fall into place. Anyway, that's not what I want to talk to you about."438Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdROTlp82g
"Uh, okay. What is it?" What could be more important than coming up with a plan?
She got up from the floor and huffed, blowing some blonde hair out of her face.
"You've only ever been to all-girls' schools, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"So that means you've never really talked to boys your age, right?"
Was I about to get the 'talk' from another girl my age? "Um, look, wherever this is going-"
"Just wait. Part of being an empousa means you look really... pretty," she said quietly.
"Do you honestly think that?"
"Well- it doesn't matter if I think that, it matters because... Percy might."
I looked at her for a moment, and then I realized it. "Oooh, and you like him."
She turned red, even though she basically told me herself.
"Y-yes."
She turned back around and fumbled with some stuff on a shelf.
"I wouldn't do that, Annabeth. Besides, I'm not really a fan of people who sneak into my house." I muttered. And you scare the crap out of me.
"He did what?!"
"Uh, wait- it wasn't like that! He was with Daisy. And I don't like boys."
"You... like girls?"
"What? No! I mean, I like girls, but not like that!"438Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvqtTfKcg3x
"Right, I knew that!"
Man, this is awkward.
"Look," I sighed. "You and Daisy are pretty much my first actual friends, and I'd like to keep it that way."
She gave a small smile. "I like you too. It's just... you know."
"Actually, I don't. Percy bugs me, so you can rest assured I won't try anything."
"And you won't tell him," she said it more like a command than a request.
"Of course."
We sat in silence for a bit.
"This is weird," I said.
"Yeah. Let's pretend this never happened."
"Works for me."
After that, Annabeth took me to their camp 'store' of sorts for some toiletries 'n' stuff.
"We need two overnight bags," she handed me one, and I tried not to make eye contact with the boy behind the store counter because he was definitely staring at me. Did I look that weird? Was it the necklace? Whatever it was, I felt weird.
"It might be a little unpleasant, but we work with what we have." she handed me some more stuff, so I tried to look busy. Despite my prayers, he decided to talk to me.
"So are you a new child of aphrodite?" he smiled.
"Um, no." Was that the pretty one? If she is, I do not want to know what this guy is implying.
"Oh," he said stupidly, still looking directly at me. "...Then who?"
The second-hand embarrassment was almost too much to bear.
When she saw it, all Annabeth had to do was glare at him, and he quickly looked away.
Those are so mad superpowers she has... I thought.
"Do you have to deal with that every time you go somewhere public?" she whispered as she pushed me out of the store.
"Um, I've never really been in public by myself. Strict private school stuff."
"Really? I mean, I know private schools are strict and all, but..."
"Boarding school," I sighed.
"Oh. That makes sense."
I wouldn't have to deal with this all the time, right?
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