45 Chapter 45

Her voice was smooth, but she noticeably tried to make it sound harsh. Her intense green eyes furrowed like they were beaming into Alex's soul. But as Dad would say, first impressions were everything, so he stood his ground... or at least did his best to.

"Alexander Sinclair," he mustered. Talking to older girls was hard. "I'm new here—"

"Well, that's obvious."

She wasn't really that intimidating, either because she was pretty or maybe because of how similar to Luke she was; and Alex was used to the glares of his blond friend. 

"Yeah, welp, my mom doesn't want anything to do with me so as far as I know, this is where I'm supposed to be."

She continued to just glare at him like she was attempting to break through his skin with her gaze. Alex remained standing tall and upright. Luke didn't say a word and just looked elsewhere like he knew why this was happening. And honestly? It wasn't that hard to figure out.

Finally, she sighed. "Whatever. One more isn't gonna kill us." She managed to smile and extended her hand to Alex. "Valentina Vargas. Bit of a mouthful, blah de blah, so just call me Val. Half-sister of your buddy Luke here, and head counsellor for the Hermes Cabin."

Alex took her hand and shook it, although still a bit sceptical. Honestly, if every unclaimed demigod was to sleep here, the cabin would be understandably bursting with people. 

"Though you were going to hit him for a second," Luke muttered. 

Val laughed before draping her arm around Alex's shoulders and leading him inside.

"Don't worry, bro," she said, looking at Luke. "I guess I should be grateful. Having the kid that fought the Kindly Ones alone and lived for the next Capture the Flag... let's just say it won't be fair."

Alex had no idea what Capture the Flag was, but the name kind of explained itself. 

"Does everyone know about that?" he asked.

"Yep," Luke replied from behind.

"It's the most recent buzz we've had since a Demeter kid and a Aphrodite kid were caught sneaking around at night," Valentina added on.

"I'm sorry— what?"

Alex could see Luke nod from the corner of his eyes like he already knew everything about camp— except he had only been here for a little more than a day. 

"So... what was it like?"

"Huh? Oh— uh..."

"Were they using those whips of hers? Or did they try to do you in with some good ol' clawing?"

"I mean—"

"Did they fly around a lot? I suppose they did."

"I have wings—"

"What about the hellhounds? Though I guess you wouldn't be here if they actually did something..."

Alex just stopped talking. This girl was speaking so fast that it was hard to keep up. When she noticed his silence, she quickly grew a little red and stopped herself. 

"Sorry," she scratched her head. "I tend to do that sometimes."

"Sometimes?" A kid by the bunk bed closest to the door snorted.

"Shut up."

"It's alright," Alex said to her. "Not the worst tendency to have if you ask me."

He thought back to all his outbursts.

"Sweet," she nodded. "Anyways... this is where you'll be sleeping."

Valentina phrased it like it was a royal-sized bed, but it was just a sleeping bag in between two bunk beds. Alex recognized Luke's sword on the top bunk of the left, so at least there was that. 

Still, being either a royal bastard or a regular bastard sure had its differences. Luckily, the cabin wouldn't be that crowded for the next few weeks, or at least he thought so.

He couldn't help but notice that there were at least ten kids there when Chiron clearly told him only around thirty stayed at camp year-round. That meant that the Hermes cabin by itself covered a third of those kids. 

Luke's father was a busy man. 

"Well, that's about it. Luke; see ya at dinner. Greg," — she looked at the kid from before," fuck off. Alex; have fun."

She listed it off like she was reading out of a grocery list in such a quick succession Alex almost didn't catch it. Immediately, in a very abrupt way, she took off without saying another word and with no explanation as to where she was going or what she was doing. Strange, how her walking pace looked like most people's jogging pace. She stormed out like she was on a mission. 

Luke was a bit surprised but the other boy shrugged like it was a common occurrence. 

Alex traded a few pleasantries with him — apparently, his name was Gregory, but one could understand why people called him Greg. 

"So, what'd you think?"

"About her? Well, she seemed nice and all—"

"About the camp, dumbass." Luke rolled his eyes. 

Alex thought about it for a moment. He took the time to look around the cabin. It was the oldest and most worn-looking of the cabins, and it was packed with beds. 

There seemed to be a room at the back of it, but apart from that, everyone slept in the same place. Every bed had a wooden nightstand between them and a trunk at the end of it, with shoes and clothes hanging from hooks, and a few desks and chairs sprawling around. There were curtains on the windows for privacy, with posters of cars, movies, singers and actors on the walls, neighbours to a few pictures of friends and families.

The occasional dusty weapon was also there, and there was a map of the camp beside a calendar that someone had carefully marked the past days with a red marker.

"Pretty cool. And everyone seems nice, so..."

"Oh, that they are. Though, I'd be careful with some of the Ares' kids. They tried to shove Thalia's head in the boggers, but she shocked them pretty good."

"What? Some sort of rite of passage or are they just bullies?" Alex asked, feeling a tinge of that burning sensation in his chest. 

"Bit of both... I think?" Luke admitted. "Well, they didn't try anything with Annabeth because her cabin's got her back. Same with me. But you, being unclaimed and all..."

Alex snorted. "Let them try," The stupid little voice at the back of his head hoped they did because then he'd show them what happened to the last kid who tried to mess with him. 

Shut up, Alex thought. Stupid thoughts.

Luke let out a low chuckle before he climbed to his bed. His legs dangled from the edge as he stuck his arm between the mattress and the frame. He brought out the same orange t-shirt everyone was wearing. He gave it to Alex.

"Chiron told me to give you this after you settled in."

He changed into the camp shirt, wearing it beneath the Yankees jacket, and it was surprisingly a nice fit, though it was a bit tight in the biceps. The words 'Camp Half-Blood' were bolded on the front.

"Pretty nice, huh?" Luke grinned. 

Damn right it was. The fabric was so soft and smooth that Alex wouldn't have been surprised if a god had made it. If only his other clothes were like this... then something surfaced from his mind, and his face paled. He looked at Luke with wide eyes. 

"My pickup! All our stuff is there!"

"Uh? Oh, don't worry about that," Luke waved his hand for Alex to relax. "Grover and I took care of that last night. We sneaked out sometime after dinner and brought everything back."

A huge, and he meant a HUGE sigh of relief left his mouth. Luke dropped down from his bed, sneakers hitting the wound ground with only a soft thud— a perk of being a son of the God of Thieves. 

"Where did you hide it?" Alex asked. "I mean... I doubt Chiron would let us keep some of the stuff there, and storing it in this cabin doesn't seem like a smart idea."

"What makes you say that?" Luke frowned, but Alex knew better than to take him seriously. 

"If your siblings are as good at stealing as you are..." Alex said with a shrug. "And don't pretend I don't know how good you are at sneaking around, Twinkle Toes."

Luke chortled at that. "Fair enough," When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. "We hid the truck in the forest just after the hill, and our stuff in Thalia's cabin. She accepted it, but..."

"But what?"

"Only on the condition that half of your t-shirts were now hers."

"WHAT?!" Alex yelled in a mix of surprise and fury. 

"Shut up! I'm trying to take a nap here," someone shouted back from another bed. 

"Sorry," Alex said, but his brows were knitted in a frown. He looked at Luke again. "Condition refused! Who does she think she is? She has no idea how long it took me to..."

He continued to ramble on, and Luke listened like the good friend he was, only nodding occasionally to agree to whatever Alex said. When stopped, he was out of breath from talking so much, but as much upset as the beginning. 

"I understand your point, I really do," Luke said, folding his arms. "But I think she only said that to spite you. She was really mad, you know." 

"Tell me about it," Alex huffed. 

After that, the two spent the afternoon aimlessly roaming, and soon enough, they were all called for dinner. Just like Chiron had said, they were about thirty campers, with much more to come in the summer, a few dozen satyrs including Grover (who was waving at him excitedly) but excluding Hedge (maybe he was out in a mission?), and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads. 

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Three of the tables were empty— Hera, Poseidon, and Artemis— while Thalia sat alone at Zeus', though she didn't seem to notice how much staring she was doing at Alex. Whenever he caught her, she'd just turn to look elsewhere like nothing happened. 

Something similar happened with Annabeth, but that was only because she was eager to leave her table to talk to him. Her eyes had shone with happiness when she'd seen Alex, though they were quickly replaced by irritation when one of her sisters told her she couldn't eat at other tables.

Cabin eleven, compared to the others, was way overcrowded, even if there were only ten (now eleven) of them. Alex could imagine that in the summer, he would've to squeeze in the bench.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody but Alex raised their glasses and repeated. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and barbecue. Alex's glass was empty, but spying the kids around, he saw them asking the glass what they wanted.

"Sparkling water?" he said, uncertain. But like magic, the glass filled itself. 

He loaded his plate and was about to take a big bite out of his brisket when he noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates towards the fire in the centre of the pavilion. 

Confused, he rose to follow them, and when he got closer, he saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire; the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of brisket, the warmest, most buttery roll. 

Alex couldn't help but wonder why they were all doing that. 

"It's an offering. They like the smell of burnt food," Luke said. He didn't seem as confused as Alex was, but was probably thinking what he was: why would immortal, all-powerful beings like the smell as if they couldn't eat?

He heard some of the campers mutter the names of the gods, and he guessed he had to do the same. He wished he knew what name to say, but after a second spent wondering, Alex tossed a quarter of his food into the fire and whispered:

"To whoever you are, Mom. I suppose I gotta thank you for saving my ass from the Drakons and for the cabin," he paused before muttering with distaste. "Still hate you for doing nothing when Dad died..."

It was the first time he'd said his innermost thoughts out loud, and would probably be the last, so he seriously hoped she had listened. 

When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his foot again for their attention. 

A small but porky man beside him stood up. If there was one person every drunkard was based on, he was it. He looked like a cherub— a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He let out a sigh.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all of you. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next Capture the Flag is on the twenty-second of June when more of you brats come. Cabin Five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of enthusiastic cheering rose from the Ares cabin. Good for them, Alex thought.

"Personally," whom Alex supposed was Mr D. continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that for the second day in a row for some reason, we have a new camper. Ashton something."

Chiron shook his head and stomped his hoof irritably. "Alexander Sinclair."

Alex noticed a few odd looks coming his way.

The fat man nodded like he didn't say Alex's name wrong on purpose. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now, run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Chiron coughed to his hand and Mr D. grumbled.

"Fine, fine," he said before turning to look at Alex with an impassive gaze. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

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A/N: Don't forget to leave some comments and reviews! The feedback helps a lot and I enjoy hearing your opinions.

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