Making Decisions

I was dancing all around with DJ headphones on and the music blasting. My long midnight blue hair was pulled into a pony tail and my large hazel eyes where shut. I was wearing the gift my older brother, Tyler, gave me for my eighth birthday; a light purple knee length ballet dress with a silver ribbon around the waist and silver leggings. I had my(A.K.A Tyler's but I took it over most of the time and had a lot of the songs I liked on it) mp3 player clipped to a ribbon and was listening to Dark Horse, making up dance moves to it as I listened. I usually did this as I waited for Tyler to come and pick me up. While I was dancing, I couldn't help but feel grateful it was Friday and I didn't have to wait until it was Tuesday to come back.

I've been coming to Artist Academy since November and the school has tried to get me to become a permanent student since then too. It wasn't until three month ago did Tyler finally tell them that we didn't have the money to send me here, and that the only reason I could come was because of the free classes twice a week. That was when I got the scholarship and I've been coming here as a regular third grader since March. I was all into my dance when I felt the head phones get pulled off my head. I opened my eyes to see Tyler in his camp shirt and jeans smiling down at me. He had short shaggy midnight blue hair and round hazel eyes like mines.

"Hey! I was in the mood!" I protested friendly.

"Well I hate to disrupt your 'mood' but it's time to go," he replied.

Tyler smiled at me and I knew that there was no point in arguing. He handed my ballet bag and I went to the changing room's bathroom. I changed into my Camp Half-Blood shirt, light blue jeans and some sneakers. I left my hair in a pony tail and I slung my bag on my back. It was actually my bow and arrow quiver. I found out that if I said allagí, change, my quiver would turn into a bag of my choice. I walked into the studio, to see my dance/English teacher prepping for her next class. Ms. Payton had shoulder length blonde hair with gray eyes and cheek freckles. If she wasn't wearing her black leotard and white leggings with black ballet slippers, she was wearing jeans with paint stains on them and a tee shirt that said things like "Be happy," or "Smile Through the War." She turned around and gave me a big smile, she was wearing her jeans and a tee shirt that said "Laugh to Keep from Crying."

"Well, are you leaving so soon?" she asked.

"Yeah. My brother is outside waiting for me," I responded.

"Do you think you could spare a minuet?" she asked.

"I guess. Is something wrong?" Instead of answering me, she just picked up a piece of paper and gave it to me. Thanks to my dyslexia, it took me a minuet to make out that it was my test paper. Oh, no. I hung my head down, I knew that the score was bad.

"Did you look at your score, Fiona?"

"No, Ms. Payton."

"Check," she said. I did, and managed to make out a seventy two in large red print on the top.

"This, my child, is the highest you've scored on my test. Is there something we need to talk about?"

"I'm dyslexic." Like most demigods I wanted to add.

"I have something for you," she reached behind her and pulled out a small book. I could read the title with ease and it said Rapunzel.

"I thought you may like it. It's your favorite story right?" she asked.

"It is! It's also in Greek so I can read it without....oh dear gods," I said it as I recognized it. I remember Ms. Payton saying something about how she over came her dyslexia, which is why she is my favorite teacher. I looked at her shirt, and realized for the first time that her shirt was in Greek too. Then, all of the students talks about the weird symbols on Ms. Payton's shirt made since. They couldn't read Ancient Greek. They were mortals unlike me and Ms. Payton. Oh dear gods.

"Yes, Fiona Henderson, I am a demigod. Just like you and your brother. I realized it when you told me you could read my shirts. I've been keeping an eye on you since then," she said this while smiling.

"So, you went to camp too?" I asked, thinking that I sounded stupid.

"Yes, I was pretty young too. I think I was fourteen when I came to camp," she said it as if she was remembering a sweet memory.

"Um, Ms. Payton, if I may ask, um, did you-"

"Know my godly parent? I am a daughter of Athena. Unlike most of my siblings, I chose to be a teacher and was a bit more free spirited. And yes, I know all about the past two wars. I still IM Chiron when I can."

"My teacher is a demigod? I have the best luck of all," I mumbled. This caused Ms. Payton to laugh. Her stormy gray eyes were twinkling and her freckles where jumping.

"Yeah, you do. My AP teacher tried to turn me into a Suzie-on-a-stick. Well, I think you should go before your brother assumes that I tried to kill you. Work on your homework and your routine for the recital. See you tomorrow," she said as she went to the dressing room.

I just walked out to the front of the school and saw a scene that made my smile fade. Tyler was at the base of the steps and looked like he was arguing, again, with his girlfriend Lilly Tristan Airagald. She was a daughter of Demeter. She had her long hair in two pony tails and had them rest on each of her shoulders, she was wearing a camp short and a pair of capris. Her dark brown eyes were narrowed at my brother and she looked upset. Both of them we're trying to keep their voices low, but I could still hear some of what they were saying. Something along the lines of time, ridiculous, and something about a new thing. Lilly's country accent was ringing and almost piercing.

They were earning a few glances from passing mortals, but nothing more. I climbed down the stairs and gave Tyler's shirt a tug, causing them to go silent. I gave Lilly a hug too, but she kept giving Tyler a glare. We walked to the nearest café in silence, which made me want to toss Lilly to the ground and pray to Hades to take her. She has been arguing with Tyler for the past two weeks, and I wanted to know what was going on. We sat a table and waited for a cab to come by so we could get back to camp. It wasn't until we settled down did Lilly want to talk, but she only talked to me. Just the regular: "How was school?", "How's dancing?", "Was I excited about my recital?", "Would I practice hard for the next month?", and "Was I happy?" That last question always confused me a little bit, but I didn't think about it much.

Finally, we hailed a cab and took it to camp's hill. The taxi driver looked a little confused, but he just took our money and dropped us off. We climbed the hill and was greeted by Peleus, the camp's dragon. We went down the hill and Lilly said she would catch us later, then left before we could say bye. It was three thirty so Tyler and I had archery practice. I was about to talk to Tyler when I noticed something in his eyes. He looked like he was debating over something and was almost too distracted to walk. He stopped by our cabin, Apollo's, to go and get his bow and quiver. I told my bag to change, causing my bag to shimmer. After a moment, my quiver, holding my bow, appeared. I would of taken out my test and told Tyler about Ms. Payton, but I figured that now wasn't the best time. He came out and we walked down to the shooting range. As soon as we enter the range, a sliver arrow almost hit my brother.

I shot an arrow and stopped the silver one in mid air. I shot another one and readied another one, shouting some unpleasant Italian things. I heard some gasping and saw that everyone's eyes were flying from me to some girl. She had on a silver wind barker with a bunch of buttons on it and black jeans. She had shot black punk hair and electric blue eyes with freckles across her nose. She was holding my arrow about an inch from her face and looked shocked. Another girl shot an arrow and I deflected it again. Another charged me with a knife and I side stepped and whacked her with my quiver. I readied an arrow at her face. She looked a little bit older than me, but seemed to have something in her eyes that told me she was suppose to be older.

"Fall back Hunters," the blue eyed girl said. The other girls, there was about seven of them, walked to her and shot me some nasty looks. I kept my bow steadied at the blue eyed girl.

"Who are you?" blue eyes asked me.

"Fiona Henderson, daughter of Apollo," I said.

"You look like your seven," she said.

"Eight. I turned eight in November." Blue eyes laughed and tossed my arrow on the ground.

"I'm Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. Nice to meet ya," she responded. I lowered my bow and looked at her. Thalia Grace? Jason's sister? I felt Tyler put his hand on my shoulder and some of the Hunters shot him a look. I returned the favor.

"For a little girl," Thalia said, "you have some skills. Not to many people can fight the Hunters, like you."

"Thank you?" was all I could say.

"I thought all of Apollo kids were blonde," one of the Hunters said. I was not in the mood to explain to them how Artemis liked my mom and gave her children a blessing which allowed our hair to be midnight blue. I just shrugged.

"We'll see you later, Fiona. Hunters, fall out," with that the group of girls left the range. However, not without giving every boy in their line of sight a nasty look.

Notes

The sequel is here! Thank You for reading I hope you enjoyed it!