The Life of Zander Hamilton

After we finished celebrating Cody’s being claimed, I decide to go sit on the dock to the lake and play by guitar. Something I used to do on a regular basis. Now I do it just for the fun of it.

I sat there playing random tunes thinking about how my life was going lately. I made a weapon to protect myself from bullies. I had ran the flag across the creek line, winning capture the flag. Then I had been claimed as a son of Hephaestus, then just earlier today, I had won the chariot race. I had accomplished more in the last two weeks then I had in the last five years. My life was pretty good right now; I hoped I wouldn’t screw it up and lose everything I had done to get where I was. It was starting to get dark when my thoughts were interrupted.

“That’s a beautiful song you’re playing.” I heard behind me. I turned to see a girl standing there. How she had walked up behind me and I not noticed I don’t know. She had long blonde hair with subtle pink highlights; she also had dark green eyes. I had seen her around camp for a couple years but never bothered to talk to here or even learn her name, all I knew about her was she was a daughter of Aphrodite.

“Thanks.” I said standing up.

“I was just walking by and heard you playing that song and thought I’d come over and listen for a while, if you don’t mind. I’m Hilary by the way.” She said in a small voice. “Hilary Kaplan.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Zander. And, no, I don’t mind.” I said gesturing for her to sit down.

After I sat down I continued to play the same tune I was playing before. “So how long have you been playing?” she asked

“Oh, a couples years, I started when I was twelve.” I said.

“How old are you now?”

“17.”

“That’s more than a few.”
We talked for maybe thirty minutes before one of my brothers came walking up the dock.

“Zander, Chiron wants to talk to you in the big house as soon as possible.” He said before walking away.

“Okay, well I’ll see you later?” Hilary asked awkwardly.

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” I replied with equal awkwardness. With that, I walked to the big house with my guitar to see what Chiron needed.

I walked through the big house doors and saw Percy and Cody were sitting at a table playing what looked like Go Fish. Chiron was sitting next to them in his wheelchair reading a book. He looked over the top edge. “Zander, please come and sit down.” He said putting a bookmark in his book and closing it.

I set my guitar down on the couch. “What’s up guys?” I said as I sat down at the table.

“Well, one of our satyrs, Grover, has found three half-bloods in a summer school in Buda, Texas. But there are also at least two suspected monsters plus hellhounds”

At that the moment he said hellhounds, my eyes widened with fear. A few years ago I was recovering some artifact that would end up in the big house attic when I encountered the biggest hellhound I had ever seen, about the size of a lifted 4x4 truck.It had scraped my back pretty bad, but I guess that at that point I looked like a chew toy. It picked me up in its’ mouth by my right shoulder and shook it’s head as hard as it could and let go sending through at least two trees. Luckily the hunters of Artemis had been hunting the monster for a while and showed up just in time to kill it and bring me back to camp before I died. Fortunately we have the food of the gods, nectar and ambrosia, that have super healing powers for demigods. I ended up with over forty broken bones and fifty nasty scars on my back, shoulder, and chest. Thus creating my extreme fear of hellhounds.

“So, what, are you sending the three of us to Texas? That would mean six demigods in one place.” Cody said

Percy was the one who spoke up. “Oh no, I’m just here because I’m the one Grover contacted and the one came and told Chiron. He decided that this would be a great mission for you two.”

“Okay, when do we leave?” I asked looking between

“You will depart at first light tomorrow.” Chiron replied

I looked over at Cody and spoke with my best Texan accent, “Well partner, ready for and adventure.”

Notes

Greetings Readers

I hope you enjoy this chapter and enjoyed the introduction of Hilary Kaplan and the start of a new quest. I Know the story is kind of getting a little slow but I promise that the next chapter will have some action in it, just please be patient with me.