Worlds Collide

Chapter Four

Welcome to Camp Half-Blood

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I felt like I plummet to a black hole after I step inside the portal. My stomach was still churning even after we arrived at Central Park, where Percy and I were supposed to meet.

Note to self: Travelling through a portal was not my thing. Same goes for riding boats for some ironic reason despite being a daughter of Poseidon.

A hand held my forearm to steady me on my feet. “Never use a portal before?” It was Jace, sounding a bit amused at my predicament.

I nodded my head, which only make me feel worst. “And not planning to step into one anytime soon again.”

“My first time going through a portal didn’t felt nice either.” Clary told me sympathetically.

In the distance, loud cries of mortals were heard as they run away from the danger of a battle going on in the park. We all looked at each other before stared running towards the opposite direction where the mortals were heading. Even still far away I can now clearly distinguish where my brother was as he slashed through the giant man monsters with Riptide. . There were more than a dozen of them, attacking Percy and although he was a great fighter, it was obvious he was overwhelmed not just by the number of the enemy but also their size and strength. He looked tire, his clothes were torn, and he might be injured as well.

“Forsakens.” I heard Isabelle called the giant man monsters.

I wanted to ask if they were demons called forsaken but didn’t get the chance as the giant man monsters called, forsaken noticed us approaching them. At least were able to divert their focus on killing my brother.

I tugged my necklace and will it to take form as a bronze sword. I advance to the nearest forsaken and sliced it through its chest, it crumbled down to the ground. I saw the Isabelle wrapped her whip around the neck of a forsaken then with a flicker of her wrist the monster’s head rolled off of its body.

Clary was doing well too, hitting her dagger in an arch to the forsaken’s chest, but it only stagger backwards. The creature’s knife blindingly sliced through the air but she quickly dodged the attack and pierced her dagger on the nape of the forsaken, killing it.

“Cassy!” Percy called out my name when he saw me as he jumped back away from the forsaken he was engaged with in a fight. He had a cut on his shoulder and too much blood was running down his arm.

“I’m sorry.” I can’t meet his eyes worried and guilt washed over me. Maybe if I listened to him and my mom about avoiding Jace he will not have to fight these forsakens. He will not be injured. We’ll be both playing in the arcade or eating pizza while laughing at his stories and jokes. But thinking about those maybes will not do any of us good.

“There are too many of them.” He pointed out, breathing heavily from the exhaustion of the fight and possibly because of his shoulder injury. “We can hail the Gray Sisters’ taxi but we won’t all fit.”

“I can open a portal.” Clary volunteered again.

“Can you open a portal in Long Island?” I asked her. I sounded like I was pleading but I don’t care. “Percy’s badly hurt, he need to be treated quickly.” I added.

“You can’t bring them to Camp.” Percy objected, unstable on his feet now. I grabbed his arm, which was not connected to his injured shoulder to steady him. His face was pale and twisted in pain.

“They help us and your wound needs to be treated.” I argued back.

“I don’t trust them.”

“It’s not a matter of trust. They are our only way to get out of here alive.”

“As you get older and experienced a lot of hardship in life, you’ll soon find it hard to trust perfect strangers, Cassy.”

I didn’t respond to him. Percy rarely talked about his experience in a serious tone and I know that there were more storied about his adventures that he was not telling me.

“Clary, please open a portal to our Camp.” I said quietly.

“I have to know where exactly to open a portal in Long Island. Describe to me the place as best as you could and I might know where it is.” Clary said. I told her about the Delphi Strawberry Service, the cover up name of the Camp and thank the gods she knows the place. Clary started to work on drawing a rune to open a new portal that will lead us to Camp. Isabelle and Jace continued to fight the forsakens, I want to hep but I don’t want to leave Percy’s side either.

Clary finished opening the portal, motioning for Percy and I to go ahead first as she called for Isabelle and Jace to follow us immediately. Percy and I stumbled unceremoniously on the top of the Half-Blood Hill, the entrance of the camp, it was because my stomach turned again and my brother’s deadweight on me.

Jace eased Percy off of me and wrapped my brother’s uninjured arm around his to half-carry him. We walked down the hill pass the pine tree, entering the Camp.

“Is that what I think it is?” Isabelle asked, pointing to the Golden Fleece and its guardian dragon Peleus.

“Yes, it is.” I answered.

We were halfway down the hill when I saw Connor Stoll and called him to for Chiron and medics. Moments later, two medics from the Apollo cabin took Percy away from Jace and a few other medics lead the four of us to the infirmary of the big house to treat our own injuries. There were a lot of campers milling around, intrigued by the situation.

I was sitting on the bed while a medic handed over the ambrosia and nectar to me for the injuries I got from fighting with the forsaken. I didn’t even notice the cut on my forehead or the wound on my knees when Percy and I stumbled on the top of the hill after we went through the portal. All I could think of was my brother lying down on the bed next to me, being fed of ambrosia and nectar as well.

One of the medics was about to leave but I grabbed his arm. “How is he?” I asked.

“He’s asleep now due to exhaustion.” He answered and I let him go.

Jace and the two girls were also assisted by the medics but they told them that they can take care of their wounds. Clary pulled out a pen like thing and started to draw something on Jace’s forearm.

“What’s that?” I asked to divert my attention from Percy.

“It’s a stele.” Clary answered. “We use it to create runes and this rune is iratze, a healing rune.” She explained to me as Jace took the stele from her to draw the same rune to her arm.

“Thanks for thinking about my welfare.” Isabelle grumbled, tracing an iratze on her own arm to heal herself.

“You’re already a big girl; you can take care of yourself.” Jace shoot back not unkindly.

The door of the infirmary opened and Annabeth pushed through the medics, crowding around Percy’s bed, Chiron wheeled inside behind her.

“Percy!” she shouted out my brother’s name worriedly.

Chiron stopped in front of my bed. “Are you okay, child?” He asked me.

“Yes, I’m okay. Percy is the only one who seriously got hurt.”

He looked at Jace, Clary and Isabelle, studying them thoughtfully with his ancient intelligent brown eyes. “It’s been a long time since I last met a shadowhunter.” He told them. “Welcome to Camp Half-Blood.”

“Thank you.” Jace replied politely.

“You do know about the existence of shadowhunters?” I stated a bit accusingly.

“Of course, being alive for thousands of years, you get to meet a lot of different human race and creatures you never thought exist.” He answered. “But the two worlds are always been apart from each other because of their different beliefs.”

“If so, why did Percy and I meet Jace?”

Chiron glanced at Percy’s bed. It was only Annabeth sitting beside my brother’s bed, holding his hand. He was sound asleep, probably from tiredness after battling almost a dozen forsaken alone. “We’ll talk about it when Percy wakes up.” He turned back to our direction and told us.

“Of course.” I responded, hopping off of the bed to walk toward Percy’s bed as Chiron carry on a conversation with the shadowhunters. I placed my hand on Annabeth’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t listen to him and now his hurt.” I told her quietly.

Annabeth reached for my hand to clasp it between hers. “It’s not your fault. Trouble simply hugs your stupid brother like an old friend. I’m sure he’ll survive.” She said not without affection.

“That didn’t sound so comforting.” I muttered then introduced Annabeth to Jace, Clary and Isabelle. She thanked them for helping my brother and I to get here in the Camp.

“Cassy,” Chiron called me. “Why don’t you let them barrow some clothes to change in.”

“Right.” I agreed. “Annabeth, I’ll come back later.”

“Go ahead. I’ll stay here.” Annabeth assured me with a small smile.

Chiron moved to Percy’s bed across from Annabeth and started talking to each other. I went back to Jace, Clary and Isabelle. “Come on.” I cocked my head to the side where the door of the infirmary was.

The front of the big house was not crowded anymore like earlier. Most of the camp activities were back to normal, except for my best friend Leo, who was sitting on the deck waiting for us with a goofy grin on his face. Usually the sight makes me smile back but I’m too drained to put on a smile.

Leo was the first person I befriend in camp, I guess it was because were both lonely; me being the new kid on the block while he was left by his friends Piper and Jason, who moved to Camp Jupiter last summer. He was also the first person that didn’t call me Percy’s baby sister but called me Cassy instead.

“Hey, Cassy!” His grin faded when I didn’t smile back at him. “Percy’s fine, right?” He asked worried as well for my brother.

I shook my head and answered. “He’s fine, asleep now though.”

Leo’s gazed move to my new friends next to me, or to be more precisely he was staring at Isabelle. His grin was back on his face as he strode towards her. I rolled my eyes, his obsession with girls that was either out of his league or had a boyfriend or both was acting up again.

“Hi! I’m Leo Valdez –” he started to introduce himself to her.

“Camp’s repair boy.” I snickered.

“Camp’s repair boy.” He repeated what I said without a thought then whipped his head to my direction when he realized what he just said, glaring at me. The nickname came from Piper and stick to Leo till now.

“What?”

I shrugged, beaming at him innocently.

“I’m son of Hephaestus.” He continued, turning his gaze back to Isabelle, who look bored and wanted to get away from him. Yeah, definitely Leo’s type of girl.

“He’s my best friend.” I told them. “Leo, this is my new friends Isabelle, Clary and Jace.” I introduced them to each other.

“Are they also half-blood?” He asked.

“Nope.” I answered. “It’s a long story. Come along with us, I’ll tell you the story on the way.” I directed them to the shower area and along the way I’ve explained to Leo what Jace and the two girls were with their help. The campers stared at us as we walked but no one approached or talked to us. I asked Leo to bring Jace to the male shower area while the girls and I went to the female area. I told them to wait up for me as I quickly grabbed change of clothes to our cabin.

After we changed to fresh clean clothes, Jace into Percy’s while Clary and Isabelle into mine. Clary and I were close to each other’s size but to Isabelle my clothes were a size smaller than her actual size that her belly was showing on my camp shirt I let her borrow. And if Leo was not yet drooling at Isabelle earlier, he surely does now.

I don’t whether should I sympathize my best friend because Isabelle didn’t even spear him a glance or should I laugh at how pathetic he look like following around and trying to impress her.

“You do know that you’re setting yourself up to disappointment, right?” I asked my best friend quietly as we walked back to the big house.

He sighed before answering my question. “I know.” He admitted, looking down on his feet.

Isabelle spoke to him for the first time. “If I don’t have a boyfriend right now I will surely take your advances and flirt back to let you believe that there is hope for us before I’ll crush your heart with the heels of my stilettoes.”

“That’s blunt.” I commented then looked at Leo to see if he was hurt by her statement, but he was in fact smiling at her.

“And that’s Isabelle.” Jace responded.

“Thanks.” He said, ignoring what Jace said. “It’s just that everyone seems to be in a relationship except for me.”

“Being in a relationship isn’t a trend, man. It’s okay to be on your own.” I told him.

Leo didn’t answer and we continued to walk silently back to the big house.

“I’ll go see my brother. Would you like to come or stay here?” I asked them.

“I’ll go with you.” Leo offered.

“We’ll just stay here.” Jace answered.

“Okay.” Leo and I went inside the big house then went to the infirmary.

Notes