Sparks in the Flame

Grace shoved her hands in the pockets of the sweatshirt as she trudged back to the mess hall. Campers rubbed their eyes and stretched as they walked out of their cabins, looking around and blinking at the bright sunlight.
“Hey flame hair, whatcha doing?” Nathan came jogging up behind her and tugged a strand of her hair.
Grace couldn’t help staring at his dark hair that shone in the sun and his yellow-hazel eyes that sparkled as he grinned mischievously, flashing white teeth. She shook her head. What was she thinking?
“Uh, just walking to breakfast.” She could see the mess hall ahead of them, its marble pillars gleaming with dew in the early morning sunlight. Campers bustled around, talking with friends, eating food, and making sacrifices to their godly parents through the large fire in the center of the hall.
“Can I join you?” He asked hopefully. Grace shook her head, hoping to get some alone time. Nathan looked down and frowned. “Oh, uh…okay. Well see you later. You have sand in your hair by the way.” He sulked away.
Grace raised her hand to find a layer of sand on her head. She frowned and shook it off. She didn’t mean to hurt his feelings, she just wanted to be alone.
“Hey, that was a little harsh, don’t you think?” Percy walked up behind her and touched her shoulder. She shrugged his hand off and glared at him.
“I don’t think I asked for your opinion, Aqua Man.” She snapped. He glared right back, which surprised her. No one had ever glared back before. She sighed. “I’m sorry Percy, I just didn’t sleep well last night.”
“It’s fine. But you shouldn’t take it out on other people, you know. You should try sleeping in the Hermes cabin, I bet you’ll like it much better.” He gave Grace a pointed look. “Anyways, let’s eat, I’m starving. He steered her in the direction of the mess hall, where smells were wafting towards her.
She didn’t realize her mouth was watering until Percy handed her a napkin. “You’ll catch flies if you don’t close your mouth is what my mom, the lovely Mrs. Sally Jackson always said.” She flushed and took it, muttering a thanks. Grace found an empty table and sat down, doing what Hazel had told her and imagining her favorite breakfast: Pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. A plate suddenly appeared with exactly what she had thought of.
She had just picked up the fork and started to eat when she noticed that all of the other campers were sacrificing some of their food to their godly parent. Grace, after a brief argument with herself, decided not to give any of her food to a parent who she didn’t even know, and started eating. She looked around at all of the campers.
The other boy who arrived yesterday, Reed, was sitting in between two Aphrodite girls, whose arms were linked with his. He had the classic bad boy look, with his dirty blond hair, brown eyes that melt the heart, and his leather jacket and combat boots. The ladies were attracted to him like moths to a light. He caught her eye and winked. Grace almost threw up her pancakes. She’d dealt with those types of guys, and she didn’t want to deal with them again.
“Hey. Mind if I sit?” Grace shook her head warily as Piper appeared over her shoulder and sat down. The worn wooden bench creaked under the weight of another person, but stayed intact nevertheless. Piper closed her eyes and a plate of waffles appeared in front of her. She grabbed a fork and dug in, speaking between mouthfuls. “So, do you like Camp Half-Blood?”
“Yeah—“ Grace started.
“I mean, who wouldn’t, this place is pretty cool. You’ve got archery, sword fights, arts and crafts, food, Pegasus riding, rock climbing, and a ton of other stuff too.” Piper interrupted. Grace wondered how she could talk so fast with her mouth so full of food. Her mother would disapprove. Even though she was stuffing her mouth, she still looked pretty. Her light brown hair smelled like a log cabin and her harpy feather was bright blue, which intensified her multicolored eyes. “I mean, just ask Jason, his favorite thing to do is sword fighting. You should take him on sometime.”
“Who wants to take me on?” Jason put his hand on Piper’s shoulder as he towered over them. His glasses gave off a glare in the sunlight and the small scar on his lip shone white. Grace wondered how he got it. It was probably something heroic and mysterious.
He noticed her looking and grinned. “Oh, this? I tried to eat a stapler once.” He said casually, turning back to Piper. “So, who’s the newbie?” He cocked his head in Grace’s direction. “Jason, Grace. Grace, Jason.” Piper said to each of them. Jason looked at Grace and smiled warmly. She shook his hand, and even though he was only a year older than her, his hand was much, much larger. “Very nice to meet you, Grace. That’s actually my last name. Grace, I mean.” He laughed.
“Oh, that’s funny. So, Piper’s your girlfriend then?” Grace asked him. They both smiled and he nodded.
“Yeah she’s—“ Jason was cut off by a girl with curly red hair and marker doodles all over her jeans and shoes.
“Hey there newbie! Don’t let those two bore you with their old stories. I’m Rachel Elizabeth Dare. And you are…?” She raised her eyebrow and looked pointedly at Grace, while swinging a blue plastic hairbrush around one of her fingers.
“Oh, uh I’m Grace Everson, nice to meet you.” Rachel stuck out her hand and Grace took it. As she did, Rachel’s grip got rock solid and turned as cold as ice. Her mouth opened and started spewing green smoke, which coiled around her head like snakes. “Somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Grace cried as Rachel dropped to her knees, pulling Grace off of her chair.
Jason jumped to his feet. “I’ll go get the others. Piper, stay here!” He ran off, calling for Percy, then Chiron, then Annabeth.
Rachel reached out and grabbed Grace by the shoulder with a crushing force. Piper rushed over and knelt next to them, desperately trying to pry Rachel off of her. “Piper help me!” Grace cried.
"She won’t budge! But it’s just another prophecy, don’t worry, you should be fine.” Piper said. Meanwhile, the smoke around her got thicker by the second, forcing Piper to back away from them, coughing and hacking.
“Everybody make room!” Chiron galloped up to them. Campers nervously edged away from the scene, but still stayed within sight. Percy stood behind Grace, and Annabeth stood behind Rachel. They pulled. Rachel still wouldn’t budge.
“It’s not working Chiron! What do we do?” Annabeth cried.
“We'll just have to let Rachel speak.” Chiron said gravely. Grace’s vision started to get fuzzy and black spots danced before her eyes. Rachel opened her mouth and a sound like a giant snake slithering over rocks filled the air. She spoke.
“The darkness of fire shall decide your fate.
One other you will become to hate.
The shadowed hand swipes the brethren of flame.
The dance of darkness the fire shall tame”
As she finished, the green smoke cleared and Rachel’s eyes went back to normal.
“Hey guys, what did I miss? You guys should really see your faces, you look like you’ve seen a ghost, it’s hilarious!” She smiled for a second, then frowned. “Oh. I did it again didn’t I?” Grace’s eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.

Notes

Hey guys! I hope you like this newest chapter! I'm trying to crank out a chapter a week, let's see how that goes... ;)