LUCKY

Rain poured down over Dexter, making him all wet and cold. His hair laid flat on his head and followed the shape of his skull. His expired breath turned to fog and his sunglasses misted over, making it hard for him to see through them. But those glowing red eyes burned through the glass and the mist. They stared at him full of anger and hatred, and Dexter knew that he was dead already, he knew that. Those eyes told him that he wouldn’t get away alive.

The owner of the eyes poked his head up a big hole of a warehouse it had been sleeping in before Dexter woke him up. The head was the shape of a bull, a really huge bull, which roared so loud that Dexter’s ears popped and he felt something warm start dripping out of them. Ray and Ban, who had been standing right behind him, shrieked and ran away, but Dexter stood frozen and stared with fear at the big black bull that just slammed through the wall of the warehouse and spat out a huge wave of fire up the air. The bull had shiny hoofs, like they were made of some sort of metal. It was as big as the now ruined warehouse and had horns with the width of three meters. Dexter stared at the animal, paralyzed by its glowing death stare. The bull lowered his head and launched towards Dexter, who would have been ripped to pieces by the horns, if it wasn’t for his two friends. When they had realized that Dexter wasn’t with them while running, they had hurried back and found him staring at the big monster. They kicked his legs, so he fell face-down on the ground, avoiding the bull’s horns. Ray slapped Dexter roughly in the face, making his sunglasses bounce away. Ban tried to get the bull’s attention from Dexter and Ray by throwing rocks at it and making annoying noises. The stones didn’t seem to bother the animal, but the bleating and shrieking noises had him snort out of irritation. The bull tried to kick and stomp Ban into a pancake, but Ban rolled aside and avoided the kicks without any problem.

”Come on!” Ray said to Dexter and helped him up on his feet ”Run, we can take care of him!”

Dexter wanted to protest and say that he couldn’t just leave them, but what could he do? It was an enormous, fire breathing bull, he wouldn’t stand a chance. He turned around and sprinted away, hoping the bull wouldn’t follow. But unfortunately, Dexter seemed more interesting than the two furry-legged boys. As soon the bull noticed Dexter running away, it started off after him roaring and spitting fire. Ray and Ban tried their best to get the bull’s attention, but it only got him more annoyed and angry than before.

Zigzagging between factories and warehouses, Dexter tried to shake the bull off him and hide, but it seemed impossible. The big black beef animal probably didn’t need to see him to know where he was, because it always found him. Dexter started to get tired, his legs felt heavy and his trachea felt as thin as a straw pipe. The rain whipped him in the face, and the wind bit his cheek and fingers until they got all numb.

Then, Dexter heard a scream behind him. He stopped and turned around to see Ban falling to the asphaltic ground. Somehow, he and Ray had managed to climb up on the bull’s back and tried to stop it by kicking and boxing it. Ray screamed Ban’s name, and with a single shake, the bull also sent him falling to the ground.

”NO!” Dexter screamed. The wild livestock looked at him with hungry red eyes. ”You…Bastard!”

Dexter clenched his fists and tried to blink away his tears. He felt his anger bubbling up inside him. Why him? He had woken up without memories to a world full of madness. He had met a crazy Madame, a vampire that tried to eat him and now a fire-spitting bull and he had met two new friends. Dexter stomped on the ground; he was tired of all that crap. Why couldn’t he just get his memories back? If there was a God up in the sky, why did he mess so much with him? What had he done wrong?

The bull snorted and scratched the ground with its metallic hoof and raced towards Dexter, who stood his ground and glared at the male-cow. He stared deep into the burning eyes, reflecting the animal’s anger. He thought about how much he hated it and imagined it hanging on a meat hook, getting sliced up into big and nice slices of meat. Dexter bared his teeth, he wanted to see the bull dead. He wanted to hit it with a hammer, again and again.

“Screw you!” he screamed as the bull came closer.

Then, suddenly, it stopped just a few meters away from him. It snorted and backed up a few steps, giving Dexter a nervous look. Dexter felt how all his energy got sucked out, like what an electronic device does with a battery. He fell to his knees, breathed heavily and blinked several times. His head felt heavy and all he wanted was to lay down on the ground and sleep. His vision went blurry and he could hear the blood buzzing in his ears. Dexter blinked. He felt dizzy and tried to hold his head up straight, but it was hard. He saw how the bull shook his head and snorted. It glared angrily at him and scratched with his hoof on the ground. Dexter just couldn’t react, he just sat there and watched as the bull swung his horns against him, but right before the horns would hit Dexter, the bull seemed to explode and transformed to glittering dust.

Dexter scowled and looked distantly at the golden sand that now covered the asphalt. What was that? Confetti? He slowly lifted his head and looked around. He saw everything double, which gave him nausea and forced him to close his eyes.

He heard numb voices, like someone was talking on the other side of a thick wall. He felt how someone gripped his shoulders and held him up in a sitting position while pouring something in his mouth.

Dexter’s nausea slowly faded and his vision became clear and normal. He heard a crackling sound and pain pulsed somewhere inside his ears. But the pain disappeared quickly and Dexter felt like normal again. He managed to sit up by himself and saw a guy kneeling next to him. It must be the one who helped me, Dexter guessed and looked up at the guy. He looked several years older than Dexter and had pure black hair covering the right side of his face. His skin was pale and he wore a black hoodie over a red shirt. His face had a serious expression, almost angry. Dexter looked at his eyes. They had a deep purple color, like the stains of blueberry. The guy glared deep into Dexter’s eyes, filling him with guilt and saying it all was his fault. Dexter bared his teeth and narrowed his eyes, why did the guy blame him? He had done nothing! After a short stare-contest the guy finally widened his eyes of fear and shock. He sat frozen and looked surprised at Dexter, then, all of a sudden, he lifted his hand and slapped Dexter in the face. Dexter blinked, what happened? He got so surprised by the guy’s sudden action that he couldn’t do anything but stare out in the empty air. He blinked again and forced himself to break out of the shock.

”What the heck…” he started and turned towards the guy, but the guy grabbed Dexter by his hair and pressed his face against the wet ground.

“Don’t you try doing that again, brat!” the guy growled with a raspy voice.

”Hey! Let me go!” Dexter yelled and waved with his arms, trying to hit the guy.

”Yeah, keep on dreaming!” they guy snorted and easily locked Dexter’s arms ‘shut up and keep your eyes on the ground!”

Dexter tried to break free from the guy’s grip, but he held him to hard. Dexter was completely stuck. He sighed and forced himself to calm down, even if he really wanted to hit the guy.

“Dude, I don’t know what happened, the bull just attacked and my friends…” Dexter froze, Ray and Ban. Where were they? Were they still…alive?

”Your friends?” the guy asked.

Then another voice called. Dexter couldn’t see who it was, but he must been standing around the spot where Ray and Ban had fallen.

”Hey, bud! There are two satyrs over here!” it said.

”Are the gingers your friends?” the first guy asked Dexter.

”Yes! Are they okay?” Dexter answered and swallowed.

“They will be” the guy answered coldly “Afons is great at healing”

“Afons?”

”A real pain in the ass” the guy muttered ”You can have him too, if you want. You seem to like satyrs…”

Dexter was about to snap that the guy was a pain in the ass but got interrupted by two familiar voices shouting his name. He could hear the trotting sound of Ray and Ban’s hooves against the asphalt and the threatening words they threw at the guy who was holding him down.

”Is that how you thank the one who just saved your friends ass?” the guy called and let go of Dexter, who quickly rolled away from him. He tried to stand up, but the whole world started spinning around and Dexter fell down on his butt again, feeling the nausea coming back.

“Dexter!” Ray and Ban ran to him, checking if he was okay.

Dexter had to ensure them several times that he just was a little dizzy, before they finally calmed down. They looked at the guy, who gave them an annoyed look.

”Where’s the bull?” Ban asked and looked around

”You’re not the bull, are you?” Ray looked superstitious at the guy.

”No, I”m not a bull” the guy growled and rolled his eyes ”I”m Faine, I killed the bull, saving your asses”
‘reeally?!” Ray and Ban said with one mouth and their doubting faces got replaces by amazement. ”How?”
Faine rolled his eyes again and turned towards Dexter, but this time he made sure he didn’t meet Dexter’s gaze.

”Hey, kid! Dexter, right?” he asked coldly, but he didn’t wait for an answer. ”How old are you”

”Fourteen” Dexter answered between gritted teeth.

”No way a loser like you would survive that long” Faine snorted. Dexter had no idea of what he meant by ‘survive that long”, but he didn’t like to be called “loser”.

”Listen, you little-…”

”Just shut up and answer my questions!” Faine snapped ”Are you aware of what your eyes can do?”

Dexter crossed his arms and looked at another way, why would he answer his stupid questions? Then Ban shoved his elbow on Dexter’s ribs, giving him a “Just do it”-look. Was Ban on stupid Faine’s side? ”Fine!” Dexter said and sighed ”All I know is that everyone that looks into them freaks out”

He had actually never thought about it that much. The first time it happened, he never realized it was him, thinking that Chuck was joking with him or at least being too crazy when the nerd told him about his Mutant-idea. Next victim had been Mormo, and then he had been too busy to not getting eaten and after the bull-incident Dexter just haven’t had time to think.

”For how long has it been like that?”

”I don’t know…” Dexter said and scratched his head.

”You don’t know?” Faine crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, he really didn’t believe him. Dexter clenched his fist ”Why you care anyway-…”

“Dexter has amnesia!” Ban cut him off

”Yeah, he hit his head” Ray filled in

Dexter looked at them. They acted nervous, like they didn’t want to upset Faine. Why on earth would they be scared of him?

”Amnesia, then…” Faine said and mumbled something. Dexter didn’t know if it was it was in another language or if it just was a funny accent, however, he couldn’t make out words of it.

Faine was about to say something, but got cut off by someone calling his name.

A guy came towards them and smiled widely. Dexter recognized his voice as the one that Faine had talked to earlier. He had a forest green hunting hat with ear flaps and a blue shirt with red and yellow details, like some sort of national dress. Blond hair stuck out under the hat, framing an oval-shaped face with slight sunburnt. His legs were shaped in the same weird way as Ray and Ban, but instead of milky white his was brown. The guy smiled at Dexter, exposing two big rabbit-teeth and a brace. He seemed like being in the same age as Dexter, but his smile told that he looked at Dexter like a cute little kid. The guy covered his eyes with his hand before their gazes met and looked at Faine.

”Hehe, he had weird eye-powers?” he asked and smiled nervously at Faine. ”I think I heard you guys talk about something like that”

”I don’t know” Faine lied “Try and see if you die”

”Hey, no one has died!” Dexter snorted

”Haha, really funny!” the guy laughed and dig his hands ”But I think I got something for you, they stink of you!”

He held up a pair of sunglasses right before Dexter’s nose. It was his Ray-Ban’s, without scratches!

“T-thanks” Dexter said and put on his glasses. He felt naked without them, and it was annoying getting reminded of his weird eye powers. ”But do I really smell that much?”

”Your kind always does” the guy uncovered his eyes and sighed out of relief.

Your kind? What did the guy mean by that? Dexter scratched his head, but the guy continued talking before he had the chance to ask.

”I”m Afons, by the way” the guy said and smiled at Dexter ”Faine’s awesome buddy and a fantastic keeper!”

“Afons?” Ray laughed “Such weird name!”

Dexter scratched his head and pointed at Afons’s legs “You’re also half animal?”

“Half goat, actually” Afons nodded “I’m a satyr”

Half goat? He guessed that was the reason to the weird legs, but how could that be possible? “You have a goat as a parent?”

Afons rolled his eyes “No, my dad is also a satyr and my mum is a nymph”

”Ooh!” Ban widened his eyes, like he just realized something and looked at Ray, pointing at his chest “S-satyr…”

”I recognize that!” Ray said and they looked at each other with big eyes “Satyr…!”

”You guys are weird” Afons smiled and laughed ”You didn’t know that?”

The boys shook their heads and Afons made a thinking face.

”Why’s that?” he asked

”We don’t know” Ban asked

”We have never know anything” Ray filled in

”Hmm” Afons scratched his chin ”What about we take you guys to camp too?”

”What camp?”

“The camp I’ll take långeman to” Afons pointed at Dexter “There’s others like you there!”

“Reeally?” Ray and Ban asked ”Is there more of us?”

”Are you gonna take me to a goat-camp?” Dexter burst out

”First, we’re satyrs! Not goats only” Afons said and put his hands to his thighs ”And second, the camps are for guys like you, but there are satyrs there too!”

”And what exactly is a guy like me?” Dexter asked. He was getting tired of all the weird things happening. Why could he never get any straight answers? He felt how a headache started growing from all the confusion. It was bad enough losing his memories; meeting all the unnatural was about to break him.

”Bah, enough talking” Faine said ”You’ll get explanations later, let’s just take you to camp”

”Heck no!” Dexter said and rose to his feet. The dizziness came back and he felt the nausea up to his throat, but he refused to fall down on the ground again. ”I don’t want to go to your stupid camp”

”I never asked you what you wanted” Faine asked coldly and narrowed his eyes. ”But to make it easier for you, you’d better cooperate”

Dexter snorted; he really didn’t feel like to cooperate with them. Backing up away a few unstable steps and he almost fell over. To play it off, he held up his fists like he was ready for a fight. He wasn’t. He just wanted to run away. Faine scared him with all his confidence and if he really killed the bull, then Dexter really didn’t want to mess with him.

Faine shook his head.

”I’d really want to beat you up” he said ”But Chiron has made clear that he wants living campers, and also, I think you may be of use one day…”

”What do you mean?” Dexter asked. ”Who’s Chiron”

”You’ll meet him” Faine answered ”And he’ll explain everything for you, it’s not my job. Now, you need a ride”

He started digging in his pockets and brought out a golden coin of some sort that Dexter never seen before. Faine mumbled something on another language and dropped the coin. But instead of bouncing on the wet asphalt, it sank into the ground and disappeared. Dexter widened his eyes, what the heck? Then he started to hear a low, humming sound. First he thought it was thunder, then it grew louder and it sounded more like an old engine. Then suddenly, a big cloud of gray smoke roared up from the ground and stopped with a whining sound. Dexter coughed and looked at the cloud. It formed the shape of a car with a glowing taxi-sign and black windows. Not until Afons opened the door to the backseat, Dexter realized that the smoke actually was the car. Dexter didn’t even care to get surprised, nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

”Come on, jump in” Afons said and waved at Dexter, Ray and Ban. Dexter couldn’t see any other choice than jumping in, but Ray and Ban had quickly climbed in the car and waved at him to follow. They seemed excited; getting told that there are many other goat-legged guys at the place, they had their reasons. Dexter thought, Afons had said there were people like him there too, but he just couldn’t figure what he meant by that. He didn’t even know who he was, so who were the people like him? Were they also amnesiac teenagers with strange eyes?

”Ok, then” he sighed and entered the car. Afons looked at him with a troubled face and scratched his head.

‘there’s no room for me…” He said and looked at Faine ”Hey, write one of these letters again!”

”Oh, please!” Faine sighed, but didn’t argue. He brought out a piece of paper and a pencil and quickly scratched something down. He folded the letter and handed it to Dexter.

”Give this to the camp director” he said shortly

Afons pressed through him and stuck his head inside the car.

‘to Halfblood-Hill” he shouted and then slammed the door shut.

”Alright, next, Camp Half-Blood!” a shaky voice said from the driver’s seat

”Hit the gas, Tempest!” another one said

The car shot away so fast that Dexter his head on the backseat.

”Aah, easy!” he groaned and tried to hold his head up.

Dexter looked at the one sitting in the front seat, what sort of craziness was the driver? He saw the back of three heads hustling in the driver’s seat.

”Uh, you’re three?” he asked and all the heads turned towards him. Dexter gave up another one of his extremely high-pitched screams. All three of them looked like old, ladies that would have been buried long ago. They were both tooth and eye-less except for one that had one tooth and one creepy green eye.

”Oh boy, don’t scream like that!” one of them said, spitting in Dexter face while talking.

”My ears hurt!” the eyed one said

”Keep the eye on the road, Wasp!” the third one shouted

The eyed one turned around in right time to shout at the one holding the wheel to steer left, avoiding crashing into a big factory-building. The car rocked to left and right constantly and Dexter had to hold on to whatever he could not to fly around in the backseat.

”Oh, god” he moaned and closed his eyes, feeling the nausea coming back. ”Please, make this be over soon!”

Notes

If you missed it, I'd just like to say that I moved account due to log in via google seems not to be available anymore.