Demeter's Destiny

"Wait wait. Camp Half-Blood? Your safe place is a camp?" I asked. Rowan gave me a weak smile.

"Ok ok, let me start at the beginning. It's easier. You know that stuff we've been studying in English?" She asked me. I nodded slowly.

"The Greek stuff? Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?" I asked confused. This didn't seem like to time to be talking about class.

"Well the stuff about the Gods, it's true. All of it." Rowan said excitedly.

"What like Zeus and Hera?"

"Yup. All of them. And the best part is that you're the daughter of one of them!"

"No. No your not telling me this. Does this mean that my dad is not my dad?" I asked distraught. That couldn't be true. My dad was all that I had.

"Oh no no no! He is your dad. You're mom is a goddess. I'm pretty sure I know which one but if I tell you before she can I'll be toast. We can't know for sure until she claims you as her daughter at camp."

I didn't know what to say so I asked, "Why are you green?"

"I'm a dryad. A tree nymph. I'm connected with a rowan tree back at camp. There are only a few of us who go out as protectors because it can be dangerous for us to leave our plants. Usually satyrs are the ones who go out and find demigods and bring them back to camp, but us girls didn't think they should have all the fun," Rowan said like that explained everything.

"Ok, so what exactly happened today?"

"A demigod, which is what you are, gives off something that attracts monsters. The older a demigod gets the worse it is. You're very very very lucky you made it to 16 without ever meeting a monster. Mr. Smith is a Gegenees. When you cut his leg he was sent back to Tartarus. That is where all of the monsters are kept. They regenerate there."

"A Gegenees?"

"A six armed giant. Jason and the Argonauts fought them."

I rested my elbows on my knees and dropped my head in my hands. This was too much to take in. I always knew I was a little different, but this was ridiculous. " So what is Camp Half-Blood?"

"It's a safe place for Greek demigods to go. Kinda like summer camp. Only instead of bracelets you'll be learning how to sword fight," Rowan said, patting my back.

"Where is it?" I asked. It couldn't be too far right?

"It's in New York," She replied and winced under my glare.

"New York! We're in South Dakota! What about my dad? I can't just leave him! He needs me!" I shouted.

"Your dad knew this was going to happen. That's the chance you take having a demigod child. Someone from camp will tell him where you've gone and will get your things for you. It is Argus and my job to make sure you make it to camp safely."

"Who's Argus?" I asked, wondering what I had missed. Rowan leaned forward and knocked on the window. It rolled down.

"Argus I'd like you to meet Aubrie." A hand popped into view and it took everything I had not to shout in surprise. The hand was covered in eyeballs.

"Aubrie this is Argus, the Thousand Eyed One. He's the driver for camp." I smiled weakly and gave him a small wave. Argus grunted in response and put his hand back down. The window rolled back up and I gave a sigh of relief. I was feeling way overwhelmed and Rowan must have noticed. "Why don't you lay back and relax. Maybe take a nap. It's going to be a long drive." Rowan bent down and grabbed a pillow form underneath the seat. I didn't know how she expected me to sleep after everything that had just happened, but I took the pillow anyways and laid my head on it. And as much as my mind was buzzing I fell asleep quickly.

Later Rowan shook me awake. I got up bleary eyed and looked outside. It was dark and we were parked outside of a gas station. I yawned and stretched a bit.

"We're about halfway. Somewhere in Indiana. If you need to use the bathroom or a midnight snack then do it because I don't think Argus will stop again. This car is designed to go forever without gassing up so we can make as few stops as possible," Rowan explained to me. I yawned again and hopped out of the car. I walked around inside the station a bit to stretch my legs. I did my business and met Rowan at the front of the store with a couple of snacks. She had her gloves back on and the hood up on her sweatshirt. She had a couple bottles of water. She paid for everything and as she was grabbing it from the counter the guy behind it grabbed her arm and took a loud sniff of the air. His eyes started glowing.

"Now there's something I haven't smelled in a while. Mmm... a demigod and a dryad. What an interesting combination. I wonder what that mixture would taste like," he sneered as he licked his lips. Rowan grabbed her dagger out of her hoodie pocket and aimed it at the clerk. He let go of her arm and slowly lifted his hands in the air, grinning all the while. "No harm done leaf girl. Haven't had much to eat lately. Maybe you should tell Mr. D that we got to eat too." Rowan gave him a disgusted look as she snatched up our snacks and stomped back to the car.

"What was that?" I asked after the car took off again.

"That was another monster. After the war with Gaea some switched to our side. If they leave things alone and behave like good little monsters we don't send them back to Tartarus," she explained while munching on something green that didn't really look edible. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what she meant, so I ate my own food in silence. Eventually I fell back asleep, hoping I'd stay that way until we reached camp.

Notes

I hope this new format will make it easier to read. I'm going to post new chapters as much as possible, but there has been some family emergencys that make it difficult to focus on writing. But please keep reading and commenting!