What I Once Was

It was the time of day when the campers would all come and wait for news. It had been a week and we had heard nothing. The only people who knew anything were the Apollo kids and some of Demeter. Oh yes, and Dionysos.
One of the Apollo kids, Vitere, came out. He was a mess. It looked like they were performing some type of surgery of a sort because he was covered in the gold ichor of the gods. Some of the blood had faded away to a light brown. You could tell that he hadn't slept in days, as to the giant eye bags under his eyes. He seemed to have to force his body to stand up. He moved his hand to straighten his back and opened his mouth to speak. "He is awake," Vitere drowsily groaned.
The camp started to bustle with talk."Can we see him?" a boy asked from the back of the crowd.

"No. He wanted to see," he looked down to his hand, "Dawn…” Vitere squinted at his hand and then put it behind his back. ".... Lilac.”

A gasp seemed to take over the crowd. Whispers took started to swirl around me. Dawn Lilac? That was my name. Why on the virgin of Artemis would he want to see me?
Bismark pushed me forward. I glanced back at them. Asphe gave me a reassuring look that seemed to say, Go ahead. We'll be waiting.
I stepped forward. "That's me."

"Congratulations. You're officially important," Vitere scoffed.

He gave me a fake smile that was followed by a wonderful glare. Vitere opened the door and I walked in.
There sat Chiron in bed. He smiled when I entered, and I tried to smile back, but when I saw his condition I couldn't return it. "Holy Hera! Chiron are you okay?"

Chiron was in a special bed, created for his horse body, however, the mist was shading out his horse underside. His ribs clearly had been cracked and he had several bandages on his arms and face. His nose was all swelled up and it was so big, I was wondering if they could even fit a bandage on top of the mountain. "Bahhh. I'm fine," Chiron clucked, "just a little strain on the body. I'll be completely healed by the end of the month."

I wasn't really sure of that, but being immortal had its perks. "You asked to see me?"

Chiron coughed and a few kids came up to him. He shooed them off and cleared his throat. "Yes, I would like to thank you for giving us preparation," he said, "without your dream, the attack would have been disastrous."

My heart slightly sunk, I was hoping for something more. I had almost forgotten about that. I smiled, "No problem, sir."

"With that said, Hestia has felt something odd. She has made we aware about this, and I was wondering if you could check this out."

"You mean check it out... like a quest?"

"Yes, like a quest.”

My heart almost popped with happiness. I had never even left the camp. A quest, well that was unheard of for me. “Thank you sir!”

“Well it’s the least I could do. You were here almost as long as Dionysos!”

Dionysos? That’s when I saw it. In the corner Dionysos sat it the corner. His eyes were bulged red and he was hunched over. His eyes were open, but they didn’t move. You could tell that he was sitting there for awhile, he probably didn’t even have anything to eat. All I could get out was, “Wow.”

“Yes, looked like I finally cracked him!”

You could say cracked. More like broken. I looked back to Chiron. “Thank you so much!”

I was about to hug Chiron, bu then remembered the condition he was in and refrained myself from doing it. “No problem. Just don’t die! I will get the information to you soon. Or someone else will. No matter!”

“Thank you!” I squealed.

“Oh, by the way tell the campers that I’m alright. Tell them that they need to get back to their activities. I will have Vitere prepare visits!”

“Wait,” Vitere stamped, “I have to do it?”

I didn’t get to see what happened after that because I headed back to outside. My smile faded as I saw the sad, curious faces of the campers. “So?” a girl asked.

“He said that he is fine. He wants everyone to return to their activities. Oh! And make sure to talk to Vitere about visiting. He is the coordinator.”
It was perfect timing, for right at that moment Vitere walked out the door. Millions of campers sprinted over to him. Screaming for time with Chiron. Only Asphe and Bis stood where the rest of the campers were. “Anything else,” Bis asked.

“Well he thanked me for the warning. And something else. Oh yes, MY FIRST QUEST!”

Asphe and I squealed. Bismark just stood there looking repulsed. He hated it so much when did that. “So what are you doing?”

“Me? You mean us?”
Bismark’s eyes widened. “He said that we could come along!?”

“No, but I can’t really go on a quest alone.”

“So really what are we doing,” Ashpe smiled.

“Well, I don’t know but Chiron said that there was some sort of disturbance.”

“Like, in the force,” Bis asked.

“Yes, in the force. Bis, I wasn’t even in there and I know that you are wrong.”

“I don’t know what the disturbance is. He just said that there was one.”

“Well where are we going?”

“He said that he would get back to me on that.”

“Great, we know nothing,” Bis remarked.

“Who cares,” Ashpe yelled, “we are going on our first quest!”

“Also,” I said, “I’m extremely hungry. Can we go get some food?”

“Yes, food!” Asphe cheered.

Bismark unfolded his wings and soared up into the sky while Asphe started to glide along vines that she made in the ground. She was amazing and definitely the most powerful Demeter child in the camp. Actually all of us were probably the most powerful of our houses. I was about to run off with them, but a scream made my head turn. I jumped into position, but it was only Vitere. He had almost managed to escape, but someone pulled him back into the crowd. I laughed and then used my wind powers to guide me faster.

We eventually reached the site of the mesh hall. That must have been a sight. Three demigods, sprinting as fast as they could with the enchantment of powers. I bet that they were used to it by now. Especially at night because the faster everyone ate, the faster we could get to the campfire.

We ran inside to the snack bin. They always had one because you do not want to see an hungry demigod who can’t wait for lunch. I picked up three apples, one for each of us.

We all sat down and sat munching on them. “Wwai? Wwhh er you gos ser”hungrey?” I asked with a mouth full of apple.

Asphe swallowed before answering. I probably should have done that too. “Why are you guys so hungry?” I nodded. “Three words. We. Are. Teenagers. We eat. It’s what we are best at.”

Bis nodded in agreement.

We finished up eating and threw our trash away. “What now,” Bismark wondered.

“I guess we can train?”

“Sure.”

Bis flew up into the air and landed on a pole connected to another tree. He smirked and pulled out a long sword. It was a spatha. A roman greek sword. I didn’t even know that he had one. They were incredibly rare. Asphe didn’t seem fazed just angry. However she also pulled out something. A harpe sword. That was even rarer. It was long and had a curved blade. The celestial gold shined with the silver used for the harpe. “Where on the mighty olympus to the dreadful tartrus are you getting the swords?!” I asked.

“Oh did we not mention that we found a crate of three swords. Hestia gave them to us. We were really confused, but when you started talking about the quest it made more sense. She gave us something to give you too!”

She pulled out another sword. I almost fainted. The sword of Peleus. “Are… are these real?”

Bismark and Asphe started cracking up. “No,” Bis laughed, “of course not. We just wanted to see your face when you saw them.”

“These are plastic.”

“I hate both of you so much.”

Silence. “So,” Asphe started, “want to have a plastic sword fight?”

I smiled, “Sure.”

Asphe climbed up the ladder to where Bis was standing and I flew up after her. Bismark struck at Asphe and the “war” started.

It was late at night when I heard a knocking at my door. Beaoca, another girl from Apollo stood quietly on the porch. “Chiron,” she quietly said, “would like to see you.”

She then started walking off. I wasn’t really sure if I should follow her, but I did anyways. I quickly slipped on my shoes and chased after Beaoca.

We got to the nursery and Beaoca opened the door and walked in. I followed. Chiron sat there reading, his regular form showing. “Thank you Bea,” he delivered.

“The details?” I asked as Beaoca walked out.

“Yes, the disturbance started in Florida and seems to be working its way up north on the east cost. We are not exactly sure what it is, all we know is something wrong. It is currently in Northern Virginia. Not sure where, but search around. You- and I’m assuming your friends, will go off in the morning. If it is something small kill it. If it is something bad, come back and report”

Virginia. That was a while away. “Thank you sir!”

“Oh, and Fawn.”

“Yes sir?”

“Be careful.”

I nodded and walked out the door, wondering if the morning would ever come.

Notes