Demigod of Prophecy

“So, are you really considering becoming a Hunter?” Will asked as we walked towards the archery range.

“I don’t know. Right now I don’t know anything. My mom, who I’ve always been close to, just kicked me out saying it would be safer for me. My dad may or may not claim me while I’m here. I’ve been chased by some nasty things, saved by the Hunters and Artemis, and now they’ve told me I need to choose between them and here. I just don’t know. The only familiar thing in my life has told me to go away.”

“Harsh. I get how that can be confusing. There are lots of campers here who are here because their families couldn’t stand what happens when you’ve got monsters chasing a demigod in the family. They mostly stay here year-round. Some campers are lucky, and as they’ve learned to protect themselves, they’ve been able to go back to their families during the school year and have almost normal lives.”

“Like Percy.”

“Yeah, like Percy. Nobody was sure what to make of him. Everyone thought that he would have to be a year-rounder because his dad was Poseidon. Demigods of the Big Three are bigger targets than the rest of us. It’s not safe for them to be out there most of the time, but Percy has proven it can be done. If he can do it, any of us can if we try. At least, if our parents still want us.”

“What about you? Which group do you fall into? Do you go home?”

“Most of the children of Apollo can go home but we’ve come to realize, especially now, that we’re needed here more. The camp needs to be guarded and campers need to be healed. Yeah everyone is trained in these things to an extent, but we can do them in different ways. We can defend from distances which means fewer of us are at risk for injury or death. And our father is a god of healing. We can heal things that even some of the others here can’t. So we’ve told our parents we’re gonna be staying longer. I’m one of them. I’ll be staying year-round until things calm down a bit.”

“You mean the prophecy with Percy that should take place next year?”

“You know about that? Yeah, that. So, I’ll be here for at least another fourteen months.”

“How does your family feel?”

“They wish I would come home, but my mom understands why I do it. She loves my dad for all the good he could do for people. I don’t think she’d ask me to turn my back on that part of me.”

By this point, we’d hit the archery range and I almost gagged. I had never smelled so much perfume in my life. Standing around the range were seventeen of the most trendy looking teenagers I’d ever seen in my life. I didn’t think any of them had ever lifted their fingers to do anything but fix their hair and make-up. Even as they were standing there, unaware that Will and I were watching them, they were fussing over their outfits and complaining about having to do archery.

“Alright, Silena, it’s time to get your siblings in line for their lesson,” Will said taking charge.

A tall, slim girl with black hair and striking blue eyes looked up at him. She did not have the same look of annoyance as the rest of the group. After calling them to order, she sat them down on the benches that were to the side of the range itself.

“And who is your new friend, Will?” she asked with a smile.

“Silena, this is Selene Adams. She’s new here and I’ve been asked to show her around.”

“Who is your godly parent, Selene?” asked one of her siblings, a tall girl with black hair and brown eyes.

“I haven’t been claimed yet,” I said, not wanting to say anything that Thalia hadn’t already told Will.

“Another lost one for cabin eleven,” she said.

“Drew, be nice. I’m sure you remember your days before our mother claimed you. It’s not easy to be new around here,” Silena defended me. “Ignore my sister. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Maybe I’ll see you around the pegasus stables. I tend to teach the new campers how to ride.”

“Maybe. But it depends on what Thalia and Percy say.”

“Thalia Grace? The Hunter of Artemis? Are the Hunters of Artemis at camp?” she asked, anger just below her calm expression.

“Not all of them. Just Thalia. Artemis asked her and Percy to keep an eye on me until I learned more about all of this. The Hunters rescued me from Kronos’ army yesterday and offered to take me in. I told them I need time to think. That’s why Thalia is here. Artemis just wants her to stay with me for the week, and after that, if I decide to go with her, I will join the Hunt, if not, I will stay here.”

“You can’t join them! They don’t believe in love, they think it is for fools! Don’t you want to have a life, grow old and have a family someday?” said Silena.

Her siblings seemed to share her dislike of the Hunters, and based on her outburst, I came to the realization, they’d had it out with them before. I didn’t like that Thalia hadn’t warned me about this. I felt like I was being thrown to the wolves.

“I don’t know what I want right now. I’m confused about a lot of things, so I just want to see what the camp is like. I’m not making any decisions right now and she knows it.”

“Alright, that’s enough!” exclaimed Will. “I want all of you to line up in front of targets one through five. Six is to be left empty, because I will be testing Selene. All of you are still at the fifteen yard marks from the target. Each team gets a color, I have already chosen who will be at what target and what color your arrows will be. No changing because you don’t like the color. I don’t want any complaining about it today. After you finish shooting your three shots, I want you to write down your honest scores. Remember, I know what all of you are capable of and will still be watching you, so don’t try to fool me.”

He walked over to a bulletin board that was next to the benches and pinned a list to the board, after he changed a few names. Obviously, he had to rearrange some things because I was here.

“Now, go, get your arrows and line up. After I get her started I will come around to check on you. Silena, you’re in charge of keeping your siblings in line.”

I wish I could say things went smoothly after that, but I’d be a liar. Maybe he thought it was funny, but some of the sons of Aphrodite wound up at targets that had pink arrows and threw a fit. Some of the girls wound up with orange arrows and started complaining that the arrows clashed with their outfits. Silena was trying to enforce the rules that Will had set up, but ultimately, he had to step in. Even still, there was still plenty of complaining and groaning once they started shooting.

Will walked over to me and sat next to me on the bench.

“Have you ever shot with a bow and arrow before?”

“No, but I’ve shot with a rifle. Does that count?”

“A rifle? Do you hunt?”

“No, I spent the last two months in military school.”

“Okay, so you know the basics on aiming at a target. The difference is, with a bow, you knock the arrow and you have to pull the bowstring back as tight as you can. It works best when you keep your shoulders level and anchor your hand close to your cheek. When you do that and have your target in sight, it’s just learning to adjust to wind and pulling back on the bowstring far enough to get the distance you need. Today, you’ll be at the same distance as the Aphrodite kids.”

“Fine. But if you give me pink, purple or orange arrows, you’re not gonna like where they go.”

He smiled and laughed.

“I didn’t think you’d like those. Here, I don’t typically do this, but you can use some of my arrows. They’re basic arrows, but they are golden, not like the ones the camp uses for the campers.”

I looked at them and was shocked he trusted me. He’d known me twenty minutes. Some of the Aphrodite kids looked up then and there were mixed reactions among them. Some were just smirking in our direction. Others looked mad.

“Why does she get the golden arrows? We’re prettier!” Drew exclaimed from near target number three.

“I lent them to her because I felt like it and they are mine to lend. You have done nothing to earn something like that. Now, back to your shooting,” Will said to her.

Drew pulled the bowstring back and I realized her arrows were black. No wonder she was pissed off. I didn’t see any of the Aphrodite kids wearing anything black except their shoes.

“What, did you put her in that line to give her the arrows that matched her soul?”

Will laughed. “That’s mean.”

“She’s a mean girl. Girls like her live to make everyone else miserable.”

“I will reserve judgment.”

We got up and went to the line. Will stood behind me, setting me up in the correct shooting pose, which wasn’t really different from shooting with a rifle, and guiding my arms into the correct position with the bow and arrow. He kept his arms around me until I released my first arrow. It barely missed the bull’s eye. I cursed.

“Why are you upset? That was an excellent shot,” Will said encouragingly.

“Sergeant Jenkins wouldn’t think so. He’d say that I was distracted.”

“You’re instructor? He sounds strict.”

“He is. But he made me better at things.”

“Do you wanna try again by yourself?”

“Yes,” I said as I grabbed another arrow and knocked it.

Will stood back a few feet and I repositioned myself. I tuned everyone and everything out because I could feel the children of Aphrodite staring at me. They had stopped to see what happened with me. Focusing on the target and where I wanted the arrow to go, I pulled the bowstring back and let it go. This time, it went not only dead center of the target, but through the target.

“Wow! Are you sure you’ve never done this before?” Will asked me.

“Not before today.”

“I wanna move you back to the thirty yard mark, if you don’t mind. You obviously have power behind you, so I wanna test how much.”

“Sure.”

Before we did, Will taught me the right way to remove an arrow out of a target without damaging it, so I could remove the arrows between shots. Then he walked me back to the line and waited as I prepared to shoot again. My shot had the same accuracy, but didn’t go through the target the way my last shot had, so Will decided to leave me there to shoot as he went to check on the Aphrodite campers.

As I took a minute to breathe and look around, I realized he had his hands full. Some of the girls were mocking their brothers who had pink and purple arrows. The campers were teasing each other about how the arrows clashed with their clothes, the fact that they were starting to sweat, and as a result, their make-up was smearing. Fewer and fewer of the campers were actually shooting like they were supposed to. By the time the hour was up, it looked like Will was thanking his father for it ending without bloodshed.

Notes