Renegade

Emily's POV

Trying to get all seven of us to pile into one taxi cab was such an arduous task that it made me want to bust out laughing. We had to wait on the corner of 26th and 5th until a van big enough to get us all there in one trip arrived. The driver looked a bit confused when Griff told him the address, and I raised my eyebrows as well when the driver set off, but he looked at me and his eyes said,

Don’t worry about it, I know what I’m doing.

So, we took the drive. The cab took us out of Manhattan, and into the countryside of Long Island. I have to admit, it was beautiful. Growing up in Cali, I never really thought that a Greek camp could be in a place more beautiful than where New Rome was, but Camp Jupiter’s landscape was getting a run for its money.

When we got there, or, at least when Griff said we had arrived, he paid the driver a huge roll of cash and told him to keep the change. The driver shrugged when Griff tossed him the roll, and he sped away. I could feel the guy smiling for the next five minutes. Hey, those guys don’t get tipped like that everyday.

As we climbed a hill that Percy called Half-Blood Hill, passing a pine that Percy said belonged to a friend of theirs, I started to realize how different this place was. For one, campers were separated by godly parent. Two, everything was so informal. Or at least, they seemed informal to a Roman girl.

“Ah, the old Camp,” Xavier sighed, and then added, “I hated the place when I was a kid, you know.”

Percy, Annabeth and Griff laughed, and my parents kept pointing out different parts of the Camp. The stables, the Big House, the Amphitheater, cut into the hills in the distance. The Camp was definitely pretty, and it made me think of both Camp Jupiter, and about other things. Like settling down. Like the boys I had had crushes on at Camp Jupiter. Like one other boy.

But I pushed those thoughts aside as my mind gravitated to what Xavier had just said.

I hated the place, he had said. I had hoped that he was being sarcastic, but something inside of me shivered when I replayed those words in my head. An irrational fear that kept itching away at me. Why did I think that Xavier still hated this place?

But, we kept moving along. Eventually, we met up with a centaur, who they called Chiron. I recognized him from the stories I had been taught as a little girl, and my dad smiled when he said that Chiron was the best teacher he knew.

“Chiron welcomed me into Camp in the strangest way possible,” my dad, Jason, laughed, “he told me that I should have been dead!”

Percy laughed at that and said, “Well, it’s a good thing you weren’t, man. I honestly don’t think I could have restrained myself from killing Octavian without you.”

“Why thank you very much,” my dad responded, bowing theatrically low to Percy. They all smiled again, laughing and talking about all the great moments they had had when they were heroes.
They didn’t even care to hear our story.

Then, Griff’s voice shook me back into the present. I realized that I had been staring blankly at our parents, and he offered, with a smile,

“Hey, you wanna take a walk? You know, to see the Camp and all?”

Even though that seemed a bit boring, and I was exhausted from the flight, I couldn’t say no to his smile.

“Sure,” I responded, smiling, “prove that this Camp is cooler than Camp Jupiter.”

“Oh, it is,” Griff grinned maniacally, “it definitely is.”

So we ran off, leaving our parents in the dust. I felt like a little kid again, running around with a good friend. Griff showed me around the Camp, and after about an hour, we found ourselves holding hands again. The sun was setting, and we both realized how quickly the day had gone by. But this time, when we both looked down at our hands together, neither of us were blushing.

“Hey,” Griff said, stopping and looking into my eyes, “I just wanted to say, I mean, after all we’ve been through, I just, well, I just wanted to thank you.”

Even in the pink light of the sunset, I could see his cheeks flushing. He was nervous. A part of me grinned, but then part of me paled as I realized,

Wait, why would he be nervous? Does he LIKE you?

“Thank me for what?” I asked slowly.

“Well,” He started, but then looked at me and saw that I was smiling at him, “hey! You’re laughing at me!”

“Am not!” I laughed in reply.

“You so are! I wanted to thank you for being there for me, for not letting me go crazy, for—”

“Well,” I said, interrupting him, “maybe a little crazy.”

“Well, yeah,” He admitted, “but I just wanted to thank you for everything, really.”

“Well, That’s very sweet of you,” I said, “but the job didn’t really mean anything. Nico took the backpack, remember? We didn’t really accomplish anything.”

“I know,” Griff said, smiling, “But we had fun, didn’t we?”

“Shut up, Griff,” I replied, punching his arm playfully, “please don’t call getting clubbed by Periphetes and getting stabbed by one of his poison spikes fun, okay? That seriously hurt, and I almost died!”

Then, Griff did the unthinkable. He said,

“Of course it was fun! I mean, Hades, I got to take off your shirt!”

“GRIFFIN JACKSON!” I screamed, as he laughed like crazy and ran away from me. I was about ready to draw my daggers, but then a sound came spilling out from the Big House. A beautiful, singular clear note, like a low trumpet horn.

“Ah, dinner!” Griff exclaimed as we sprinted for the Dining Pavilion, “you haven’t lived until you’ve had nymph barbecue!”

After dinner, I realized one last problem, perhaps the only real issue I had with this camp. It had no place for the children of demigods.

“Griff, where do you sleep?” I asked as he handed his plate to a harpy on the cleaning staff.

“Oh, right! Forgot about that. Well, I sleep in the Big House, seeing as Leo Valdez and my mom are currently working on a new wing that Mr. D approved for the children of the demigods that used to go here.”

“Leo Valdez?” I asked, “Mr. D”

“Your dad never told you about Leo?” Griff asked, truly appalled.

Then, a name popped into my mind, matched with a face I had been described millions of times.

“Wait, you don’t mean Crazy Admiral Leo? The guy who navigated the Argo II?”

“That’s the one!” Griff laughed in response.

“No way!” I said, astonished and smiling, “I’ve always wanted to meet that guy!”

“Yeah, and the Mr. D guy is Dionysus, who is the Camp Director. Long story short he only has 34 years left in his punishment of being the aforementioned Camp Director.”

“Aforementioned?” I asked, grinning.

“I’m a grandson of Athena, Emily,” He pointed out, and I nodded.

“Big House, then?” I asked, trying to get back to the original topic.

“Right, I’ll talk to Chiron. He’ll find something for you,” He replied, showing off that beautiful smile once more.

A voice in my head told me that I had dealt with guys this attractive before, and I hadn’t given them a second glance, but Griff was different. Griff actually had a personality, for one. The voice also told me that if Griff was so different, I should kiss the guy. But I shuddered in nervousness, embarrassment, and fear at that thought. No one could know I felt like that about him.

It took about five minutes, but after that, Chiron informed me that since Xavier would only be staying a few days, he would be sleeping in the Big House as well. He showed me to a back room where a few sets of bunk beds had been laid out. Xavier and Griff had taken bottom bunks, and I did the same on a third bunk bed, out of habit and instinct.

“I’ve taught you well,” Xavier murmured into the quiet room as Griff and I tried to slip into the room without waking him.

“What do you mean?” Griff asked.

“You both took bottom bunks. That means that you’ll be ready the quickest if someone tries to attack you. I trained you well.”

Griff looked at me and we both shrugged, slipping into pajamas and getting into bed.

Long day, I thought as I closed my eyes, Such a long day.

Notes

Enjoy! I haven't written on this one for a while, so I hope you like it!

-Grafon