Icy Heart: An Alex Greyson Story

I was awakened by the sounds of my other cabin mates getting ready in the morning. I went about my usual morning business; brush teeth, getting dressed, etc. “So what are we doing to today?” I asked during breakfast.
Jake slid onto the table right next to me. “On Saturdays, each cabin gets to do what they want to. Hermes usually pulls their major prank on Saturdays but you don’t have to go with them. As you’re still unclaimed, you can go with whichever cabin you like.”
“Awesome,” I said. “I can go where I want. You want to do something together?”
“Sorry buddy. I need to do satyr stuff. Super important.”
“Ok then. I’ll see you around.”
I got up from my table a little dejected and went to the offering pyres. I scraped the last of my steak and eggs into the flames and watched them burn to ash. I decided to ask around to see what all the other cabins were up to. Apparently, Ares was having a mud wrestling competition, Athena had silent reading in their cabin, and Aphrodite was just sitting around gossiping. On the other hand, Demeter was still gardening, Dionysus was hosting a party, and Hypnos was taking a nap. Everywhere I went, the other campers seemed to be doing something that just really wasn’t my jive. Then I had the greatest idea in the history of ideas. Ok maybe that’s a little over the top. I remembered how annoying it was the day before to fight in my borrowed breast plate. It was one size too big and it clanked whenever I walked. I had been trying my hand at metalworking earlier that week and I was hoping that some of the Hephaestus kids could help me make a new one in the forge. I scanned the horizon for the telltale smoke of the red brick building and found it rising over the cabins behind me. I was whistling as I headed over there.
I swung open the main door and was greeted by the sight that continues to amaze me. The entire Hephaestus cabin was scattered around the dark furnaces, each with a pile of bronze litter and aluminum garbage strewn about around them. “Hey Alex!,” One of them yelled.
It was Marty, my metalworking class teacher. Marty isn’t too much older than I am but his arms are ripped. He’s about an inch shorter than I am which always amuses me a little. From a distance he looks like a big triangle, with his huge arms and pectoral muscles and his comparatively tiny legs and feet. He brushed his greasy black hair out of his eyes and waved me to where he was standing. He was talking to another girl in an orange camp shirt and gesturing to the unlit furnace he was standing next to. I walked up in the middle of their heated conversation. Get it. “Heated”. Cuz’ it’s about a furnace. Nevermind. “... You’re the only one other than Leo who can control fire and he’s... well he’s gone. Come on Grace, we need your help,” Marty was saying.
“I’m sorry Martin but I don’t know the first thing about your precious furnace. The fire of Hephaestus is just a tool to you and your father. I can’t help you because that fire is not of the hearth and the home.” The girl replied.
Dropping the conversation, Marty turned to me. “Alex! Nice to see ya. Let me introduce you two. This is Grace Parsons. She’s trying to help us get this furnace going again.”
I wiped my sweaty hand on my shorts before putting it out for a handshake. Marty made a very Vanna White gesture towards me. “Grace, meet Alex Greyson. He’s the new guy in my metalworking class.”
She shook my hand. “Nice to meet you Alex. You’re the kid who was trailed by the wolves right?”
“ Yeah, that’s kinda me.”
“So who’s your divine parent?”
“I dunno yet. I staying in Hermes cabin for now. What about you? What cabin are you in?”
“A little hard to explain. Just stop by cabin 21 whenever you get the chance.”She started walking past me towards the door. “Sorry about the furnace problems Marty”
“I’ll see you around Grace.”I said.
“See ya.” She said and waved at me, still walking out the door.
Now I wish I could say that I kept it classy. But I was frozen watching her walk out the door. Her brunette pony tail bounced with her stride. She walked confidently and purposefully, each step hitting the concrete with a soft thump. She was wearing comfy tennis shoes without socks. My eyes traced up from her gorgeous legs to her khaki shorts with a hole in the right back pocket to her orange Camp Half-Blood shirt which was a size too big for her. As she stepped outside, I caught another glimpse of her face, with her soft bangs that hung just to her kind brown eyes and her smiling lips and her cute nose with a smattering of freckles on it. I was brought back to reality by a hard punch in the arm from Marty. “I can’t tell if that was cute or creepy”
“Huh?” I replied.
“You were totally checking her out dude.”
“Umm maybe I was.”
“You definitely were.”
I changed the subject. “What’s the deal with the furnace?”
“I’m not really sure. The machine is fine but it can’t seem to keep a flame. Leo, one of the Seven, would know how to fix it but he died saving us all from Gaia.”
“Why did you think Grace could help?”
“She’s a daughter of Hestia, goddess of the hearth. She has some fire powers too, but not like Leo’s were. What did you come in here for again?”
“I never actually told you that did I? I stopped by to try and make myself a custom breastplate, hopefully with your help.”
Marty and I spent the next few hours pounding a flat sheet of bronze into a work of art. My breastplate was beautiful, and nearly finished by the time lunch had rolled around. I held it up in the glow of the furnaces and admired our handiwork. The front had striking flourishes with hard angles, and in the center of the chest, an emblem of a polar bear snarled back at me. “Why a polar bear?” Marty had asked me earlier.
“One of my earliest memories, is of my mother brining me a little stuffed polar bear from her trip to the North Pole. That memory stuck with me, and the polar bear has become kinda like my animal.”
Marty took the breastplate back from me. “Here we need to let this soak in an acid bath for a day or two, then it’ll be ready for you.”
He took the bronze away and started walking in the direction of Bunker 9. I yelled thanks and started walking to lunch.

Notes

I know I know. I broke a cardinal sin. Sue me. Yes Hestia is a virgin goddess, I'll explain later.