7 Chapter 6

It's currently 7:00 AM, the morning after my parents told me they're sending me away to a summer camp for demigods. In hindsight I should've kept the shadow to myself and made up some excuse, but they were bound to realize sooner or later.

I had only slept about an hour last night. I was up texting Leah and trying to figure out a way to communicate over the summer. Of course we could just text each other, but phones and summer camps don't mix that well. Hopefully I'll be able to smuggle mine in, but who knows if they'll catch me or not.

Obviously I didn't tell Leah about the "demigod summer camp" and just phrased it as a camp to help with some "issues" I'd been having. She questioned what issues, obviously, but I avoided the subject the best I could.

After making plans "A" "B" and "C" with Leah about my phone, we talked for a bit over text. We couldn't call or anything since her parents were rather strict about her staying up and she was also rather scared of them. After a couple of hours of texting she said she was too tired to stay up any longer and fell asleep.

I was paranoid for the next day so I packed a bag with my clothes in it and basic essentials around 4:00 AM. After that I researched and watched videos about different types of weapons. My father mentioned something about fighting so I wanted to be prepared. Perhaps they help you fight monsters so you can live normally? It'd be a bit of a hassle, but as long as I trained hard I'd probably be out of there in a year or so.

I decided that if they do have us fight, I'd try to get my hands on a pair of firearms. Handguns seemed easy and portable, plus they'd be much easier to fire than any other type of ranged weapon. Using things like swords seemed inefficient since I'm not too physically active and they're easier to lose since they're larger and heavier.

Hopefully the camp adjusted to more modern technology, though I'm not too sure how they'd hunt monsters with swords in this day and age.

Anyways back to the present, 7:00 AM.

I got out of bed feeling half awake and trudged to the bathroom across the hall. I splashed some water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was almost to my shoulders, it was a tawny, brown color. It was messy but also rather fluffy. I brushed it so I appeared atleast a bit presentable and put it up with a hair tie.

I had heavy bags under my eyes. My eyes themselves were a deep honey brown that looked almost black in the dim lighting. I washed my face and tried to use more water to make myself atleast appear more awake.

After that it was just a matter of brushing my teeth and putting on new clothes. I'd probably be in the car driving most of the day, though I'm not sure how long. Neither my mother nor my father seemed to know the location of the camp. If they had they hadn't told me.

I think I'll be able to atleast take my phone in the car to listen to music or something. Perhaps that'd make the ride more bearable. I definitely am not excited to be in the car with a stranger though. My parents plan to have me drive there with a counselor or something. I assume a counselor, though I'm not too sure, they didn't elaborate on it last night and I was in too much of a shock to ask.

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I absentmindedly went downstairs to the kitchen with my bag and tossed it on the floor by the kitchen table. After that I started frying sausages and hash browns and then made a scrambled egg on a piece of toast. I also made myself a cup of coffee. My father told me not to drink a lot of coffee but I think this time was an exception. Speaking of my parents, they probably wouldn't be up for a couple of hours unless my mother got an emergency call for work. She sometimes does but it's a rather rare occasion.

I sat down at the table and ate. The toast was buttery and the added flavor of the eggs made it even better. The momentary feeling of heaven from tasting my breakfast brought me out of the delirium that one gets from only sleeping one hour.

I saw the sun rise from the kitchen window as I ate and thought to myself, "Perhaps this won't be that bad."

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The instructor who came from this camp arrived at 11:00, thus I was able to get an extra two hours of sleep before my parents woke me up and briefed me for an hour. The camp was called "Camp Half-Blood" and the people coming to pick me up were "searchers". Atleast my parents thought that's who would pick me up. However they also informed me that there may be a counselor coming with them.

The "searcher" who came in was overly cheery and immediately grinned when he saw me. I probably looked unsettled, to say the least because he quickly stopped his overly enthusiastic smile. Although he then marched over, and talked to me. "Hello there! You must be Charlie! I'm Grim, Grim Blackwood!"

"I'm sorry- what?" I must have been rather shocked to actually say that aloud but I immediately corrected myself. Well kind of.

"Ah, uh, it's a pleasure to meet you sir." I said while stuttering slightly.

"Likewise!" He chortled "We'd better get going if we want to be at camp by tonight! It's an eleven hour drive there!"

How the hell is he so happy about this? Nonetheless, I grabbed my bag and turned to my parents. "So, I'll call you when I get there?"

Grim quickly interjected, "My apologies, we don't allow any type of electronic devices at Camp Half-Blood. Demigod voices attract a lot of monsters, you see." He said this like he was talking to a five-year-old. "You can use Iris-messaging though! Very helpful system, I'll show you how to use it when we get to camp!"

I quickly made sure my phone and charger were shoved as far down in my bag as possible. I'll have to figure out a way to prevent it from attracting monsters later.

"I guess I'll 'Iris message' you then." I said awkwardly. My mother and father also seemed to feel awkward about this whole arrangement but they said nothing besides nodding and hugging me goodbye.

"Off to Camp Half-Blood we go then!" Grim said while skipping down the stairs. He practically lept toward a van parked in our driveway that had the words "Delphi's Strawberry Service" on them. I opened the door on the back side of the van and shoved my bag in between the seats. The passenger seat had someone else in it, presumably sleeping while the in the seat next to me was a young girl, probably about my age.

I was too tired to care to introduce myself so I took out my pillow from my bag and fell asleep against the window almost immediately.

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I woke up sometime later, the sun had almost set in the distance. Grim was now asleep in the passenger seat while the other "searcher" had started driving. The girl next to me had also fallen asleep. I tried to also appear still asleep and slowly reached my hand into my bag where my phone was.

It was probably a miracle that we hadn't run into any monsters, or perhaps the "searchers" had some kind of anti-monster repellent? Perhaps the demigod next to me wasn't that powerful so her scent was in turn, also weak.

Either way, I was able to touch my phone and had an idea. I attempted to activate a part of the power from the ring I took off when I was three. That way I'd be able to also activate a sliver of my aura and transfer it to the phone. I probably should've done this before we left but I didn't think it would be an issue.

I sighed softly, hoping the driver would simply mistake it for a deep breath.

I focused my aura to activate and I could suddenly see the auras of everyone around me. I think they're too weak to notice mine since it covers the entire van and then some. I tried to make it as non threatening as possible and simply tried to transfer part of the core of the aura down my hand to my phone.

After that I deactivated my aura but I could still faintly feel the aura coming from my phone. It felt slightly intimidating and scary now that I had turned my own aura off.

Though I could still feel the auras of everyone around me. It seems I only needed to use it once for this vision skill to activate permanently.

I slowly took my hand out of my bag and let out a sigh of relief. I opened my eyes and looked out the window. The sun was setting in brilliant shades of red, blue and purple. The sight was peaceful and made me feel at ease. I watched for an hour as the sun fully set and then gazed at the stars that appeared.

After awhile we passed a sign on the side of the road saying "Delphi's Strawberry Services". We drove up a bit and then stopped. The driver turned around quietly to us and said softly, "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

I turned only to realize that the girl who had been asleep an hour ago was now wide awake. I waved, gave a soft smile, and then turned to get my bag from in between the seats.

All that was left to do was to get out of the van.

I stared ahead into the darkness, wondering what would await me.