Chapter 03

I had trouble opening my eyes for the second time in one day. But it wasn't any familiar face that looked at me this time. She was roughly my age, maybe 16, 17 years old. Smooth features, straight, dark hair and a curious gaze out of the equally dark, but intelligent eyes.

"Who- For how long-", I managed to say. My tongue felt numb in my mouth and the few thoughts I had moved through my head like an insect through resin.

"Jessica Yang's the name", the girl introduced herself. "Daughter of Hecate. And you've not even been gone for a minute, I just happened to arrive at the perfect time to get you back up again."

"It was pure luck that Jessica arrived when she did. A concussion can be a dangerous injury, but she used her ability to heal you a bit." Now, Chiron's face moved into my field of vision as well, it was a weird sight to look up at the chest of both horse and man at the same time. "I have to admit, I was a bit worried when Clarisse offered herself as the partner for your trials, but she is one of the best fighters in the camp, and certainly the most honest when it comes to judging one's fighting capabilities."

My heart sank as I heard that. There would be no way that I passed this trial. Who could become a demigod after being knocked out?

"The kid has spirit", the familiar, rough voice shattered my thoughts. "If not much skill, at least that. And a bit of wit as well. Reminds me of someone, actually."

"What do you mean, reminds you of someone? Are you saying I have no skill?" The Ares daughter must've given Percy a side glance while giving her review to spark this kind of reply.

"So... Does that mean I pass?"

"Again, Jacob. Passing or not passing is not the relevant question as long as you haven't done all the trials. Maybe there is no passing in the first place. We are merely evaluating, and you do the best you can."

"Isn't that what passing or failing is?" The new girl gave Chiron a skeptical look.

"Jessica, why are you here again?", the centaur asked without answering her question. "Don't you have some sort of experiment to attend to?"

"When we have a Mortal stupid enough to enlist in CHB? That's way more interesting than any experiment my cabin is currently running." With that, she turned her eyes back to me, looking me over like a carpenter would a piece of wood. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Jacob. You wouldn't mind if I interviewed you a bit during your time here, right? I would love to see how the magic of this camp reacts to someone so ordinary as you are."

"Uh- Thank you? But yes, I wouldn't mind that.", I replied, a bit overwhelmed by her bluntness.

"Well then, we have at least a tour guide for the Nullblood, then", Clarisse injected. "Can't have elders running around babysitting him all the time. We have other jobs after all."

"Like what? Beating up new recruits? Scheming for Capture the Flag?"

"Scheming? That's rich coming from you Athena brat", the Ares daughter shot back. I had almost forgotten that Malcolm was present as well.

This teasing exchange was interrupted by a growling coming from my stomach area, something that reminded me of not having eaten something for far too long. "Good call, Jacob", Percy took the chance. "We should get you some food, and ourselves as well."

"Speaking of which, do we even know whether or not the food summoning will work for Jacob?"

"We don't", agreed Chiron to Jessica's question. "But I already sent out Connor to get some food from outside, just in case. Not the best, of course, but we'll manage until we find a solution." He stretched his hand out towards me. I gripped it and was promptly pulled on my feet with such power that it almost felt like my arm would be ripped from my shoulder.

Leaving the Arena, we went past the square of cabins and headed to the North East, towards the marble structure that served as the dining pavilion. Chiron left us halfway there, saying he still had business to attend to in the big house. I had been wondering already if they could really spend that much time on a single new kid.

Stepping over the darkened crack in the marble floor made me finally fully understand what the books had been trying to convey. It felt like the floor around the crack, even the air was colder, and just for a second it seemed like the sun shined less brightly. Looking around, it seemed like the others felt it too. Percy, who did his best to hide it, had an especially strong change in his expression. But the sensation was gone just as fast as it had come and the warmth of the sacrificial fire and the looks of the dining tables in front of me washed any sign of anguish away. This place was so clearly magical that my skin almost began to itch.

"Took you long enough!", Connor's voice came over to us from the Hermes table. "How have the trials been going?"

"He's doing pretty good", answered Percy before I could take the chance. "Way better than one would expect from a mortal, actually."

As we approached the table, I noticed a brown paper bag sitting on it, next to Connor. The Hermes kid seemed to catch my gaze and grinned. "Just the best fast food for our new hero. Sorry that I couldn't get anything better that quickly, but we weren't sure whether or not the summoning would work for you."

"That's already more than enough, thank you", I answered, in part to suppress another growl of my stomach. It had picked up on the scent of fried food from inside the bag.

"Well, I still have a climbing class to direct, and Percy it's time for your fencing lecture, right? We can't just all slack off because we have a new kid." With these words, Connor jumped up from his seat and began walking towards the border of the open dining pavilion. I couldn't help but notice that he avoided the official entrance.

"Unfortunately, he is right", Percy sighed. "But", he continued with a smirk towards Jessica, "We already have the perfect candidate to show you around further, right, Jess?"

"Completely fine with me. I planned on sticking with him for a bit more anyway."

Percy looked somewhat disappointed by her agreeing so quickly, he probably wanted to get around whatever duty was waiting for him, but he too left the dining pavilion together with Will. They chose the official entrance, despite the uncomfortable shudder that could be seen from across the room.

"So... You healed me?", I asked Jess after moments of silence. I just remembered what Chiron had said back in the arena. "I thought ambrosia and nectar wouldn't work on mortals?"

"Correct", she smiled. "Good thing I didn't use either. As a daughter of Hecate, I can use a bit of magic, and with this", she pulled out a necklace from under her shirt, "I can even use it quickly." The pendant looked a bit like a snowflake but the details were hard to notice past the bright red cross that was put right in the center of it as if someone had coloured the metal afterwards.

"So you can use healing magic?"

"Pretty cool, right? Not as effective as the traditional stuff, of course but as it turns out, it works on mortals. The red cross is my addiction. Makes me remember what spells I bind to which necklace more easily."

"That is pretty amaz- Wait, what do you mean 'as it turns out'? You didn't know whether or not it would work?"

"Why did you think was I in such a hurry as soon as I found out that Clarisse would be your tutor? I knew you wouldn't get out of there unharmed, and you were the perfect opportunity to test this!" Her smile practically radiated delight. "Now, do you want to eat? Because I will be. Skipped breakfast to catch your duel."

Before I could say anything, she gave the plate in front of her a look, mumbled something and a typical English breakfast appeared, safe for the beans. Toast, egg and bacon. As well as a glass full of what seemed to be orange juice. Almost mechanically, as if it had become part of her muscle memory long ago, she stood up and carried her plate over to the bronze brazier in the middle. Following her idea on instinct, I took my meal as well and followed her. The brazier was big enough for us to stand next to each other. I heard her mumble something while throwing in the best strip of bacon she had on her plate before realizing that it was probably impolite to listen in on other people's prayers, she was probably messaging her mother. I on the other hand had nobody in particular to talk to. After a few moments of silence - Jess had already finished her ritual - I decided on Hermes. He was my host, after all:

"Hello, uh- Lord Hermes. I'm not even sure if this works, but I wanted to offer you my thanks for letting me stay in your cabin. Your children were very kind to me and – uhm. Well. I hope I can prove myself worthy of your hospitality." I chose the best looking piece of my burger, cut it off with a knife and offered it to the fire. Despite having read how it would smell, it was entirely different to experience something that smelled not at all like what your brain was expecting. Instead of burnt meat and bread, it smelled like a freshly fried meal, and just the best of the best at that. Returning to my place, I noticed that Jessica was intently watching me.

"It just felt like the right thing to do", I shrugged and sat down. Following another idea, I spoke to the empty cup in front of me. "Orange juice!". And as much to my surprise as to my joy, a second later, the cup filled itself with yellow-orange liquid.

"Interesting. Did you know it would work?", the Hecate daughter asked me.

"Not at all. I tried it, I suppose?" There was a question swinging in my answer, I didn't really understand it myself. "Sacrificing part of my food made me feel like it might work."

"You might be onto something there. Maybe the gods gave you special privileges for your sacrifice. I wish I could try out Ambrosia on you next." There was no joking in her voice, or any emotion except curiosity, really. But remembering the descriptions of steaming skin of demigods who overdosed on the divine food let me shudder.

"I'll have to decline that experiment", I answered. "Do you specialize in exploring the differences between demigods and mortals? Does that relate to Hecate's magic in any way?" Part of my motivation was smalltalk, but I was admittedly curious about what she did as a child of the goddess of magic. There weren't any in the books so I had little idea what they did.

"Oh! Yes!" The joy-radiating smile was back on her face as she started to explain. "So far, I'm the only Hecate child in the Camp so I don't really know if I'm standard or an exception. But I always liked to research and gather new knowledge. First about the natural world, when I wasn't picked up by my protector, but then about the unnatural world as well. And the link between the two is just such an interesting topic, right? How do mortal genetics link with divine ones? How does the mist work, exactly? Or just personal things like the specific magic I am capable of wielding and how much of reality I can alter with it."

I couldn't help but get a bit excited over her explanation as well. The way she spoke about it, a bright smile on her lips and that glow of excitement in her eyes, seeing her talk about her passion was downright mesmerizing. "What kind of magic can you use? How does that work? Is it like Percy's water-bending?"

Jess suppressed a chuckle: "No, no. It takes way longer. I could probably do something like water-bending but my spells need quite some time to prepare. That's why I bind them to objects to make it a bit faster. The Hephaistos kids are always a great help with these necklaces." She pulled up two more necklaces under her shirt, resting below the 3 clay-beads marking the years she had spent here. "But what about you? I heard you were pretty decent in fighting Percy, and even Clarisse complimented you. Are you sure you're not secretly a demigod as well?"

"Dead-certain", I nodded. "I just happened to do some fencing back at home, so I know a thing or two about dueling someone with a sword. Doubt it will help much against monsters though."

"I wouldn't be too worried about that", she replied. "There's not many quests, and you'd need to have pretty bad luck for you to get a prophecy."

"Well, so far I was pretty lucky. Getting into the camp and such. That alone was enough for me."

"You certainly managed to be lucky enough to be the talk of the camp!", a new voice announced itself across the pavilion. Turning around, I spotted another young adult, maybe a few years younger than Percy, a bit older than me. His blonde hair seemed to downright glow in the sun. "The name's Will Solace", the counselor of Apollo's cabin introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, Jacob." He gave Jess a nod, something striking me as a bit too neutral a greeting for the usually extroverted Apollo kids.

"Is it time for the next exam already? I thought I just finished Clarisse's"

Looking up to the sky, Will grinned. "You spent quite some time with your breakfast, Jacob. It's already well past noon. The things good company and a lack of watches do to you", he continued in response to my surprised face. "Anyway, I'm here to take you to the archery field. Chiron is currently finishing up his class there."

Hastily, I sprang up from my seat, not wanting to let another demigod wait.

"I'll leave you two to it", Jess commented. "Got some stuff to take care of."

"All right. See you later, then", I said goodbye to the daughter of Hecate, following Will out of the pavilion.

"So, how do you like the camp and its people so far, Jacob? Everything as expected?"

"Even better than expected", I admitted. "I still can't believe I actually made it here and that - well – that you guys actually exist."

"Yeah, there was quite some pushback to Percy's idea. Although nobody really believed publishing those books in the mortal world would attract mortals that could actually break through the fleece-powered mist around the Camp. But you did it regardless. I wonder if Camp Jupiter has similar developments. Their entry requirements aren't quite as strict as ours after all."

We made our way down along the forest border to the strawberry fields where the archery targets were placed. I made out Chiron from quite some distance away, he was hard to miss after all. And to my horror, I also spotted some of the targets, big round straw disks. They would fit in perfectly at any archery sight, if some of them weren't floating over the fields like extremely slow bumblebees.

"Ah, Jacob! Welcome to the third trial. How was your breakfast?", the centaur greeted me.

"Pretty good. We found out that the food summoning works on me as well. So there's no need to get me any more food."

"Is that so?", Chiron answered with something that probably counted as a raised eyebrow on his face. "I'll make sure to forward that information, then. But for now, are you ready for the archery test?"

I rotated my arms a bit, both to loosen up my shoulders and to disperse some of the nervous excitement I started feeling again. "As ready as can be. The moving targets won't be part of the course, I assume?"

For an answer, Chiron simply smiled and handed me a bow, a slender recurved piece of wood, and arrows. "We'll start with the targets with the red marks on top first", he continued, pointing at the marked straw mats in the distance. The only difference in the otherwise perfectly copied rings on them was a bright red X at the top of the target. "Try and hit the middle ring as consistently as possible. You get three arrows per target."

Taking a deep breath, I took the bow from the centaur. Plucking the string produced a low humming sound, and told me that this bow was about as heavy to draw as the practice bows I got to shoot back in Boston. If you want to enter the camp for demigods, you better train a bit first. Surprisingly, the arrows were made from carbon fiber, similar to the ones I had used. Even the fletching was plastic. I had expected something more akin to traditional wooden arrows with feathers for fletching. Just the sharp looking broadhead tip gleaming in the sunlight with the shimmer of bronze reminded of where this arrow belonged. Taking a deep breath, I nocked the arrow and raised the bow till my right arm was fully stretched out. I didn't expect the first arrow to hit, so I just pulled the string back as calmly as possible until I felt the tingle of the fletching on my cheek. Another moment passed, holding my breath, before I let go of the string. The arrow got catapulted forward with a sharp hissing sound and lodged itself deeply within the straw mat that formed the target. It wasn't the center ring, but not the outermost one either. Chiron gave me an appreciative nod and gestured for me to continue. Two more, I thought. My teacher always said that archery is doing the exact same thing over and over again while adjusting ever so slightly. The next arrow landed a bit closer to the middle ring, and the last one came another bit closer. Sometimes I got a bit closer than on my first attempt, sometimes I started a bit further away from the middle. After five more targets, 15 arrows in total, Chiron interrupted me. "You are doing pretty well. It seems the advantage of being mortal is that you are neither inherently good at something nor inherently unfit to do anything. But", he continued with a smile. "Monsters will rarely sit still, will they?"

And everything went downhill from there. My tactic of adjusting my shots didn't work anymore as soon as the targets started moving. One arrow went wild, then a second one. The nervosity kicked in. More arrows went even further astray, until Chiron finally released me from my suffering:

"Don't worry too much, Jacob. I've trained demigods who were used to stationary targets before, and most of them got used to the moving ones. It will just take a bit of time."

I nodded slowly. So far, there has been no trial that I did really well at. Of course, everyone had told me that it wasn't about passing or failing, but it still felt like it. It still felt like I wasn't fit for the job. Still, I didn't ask Chiron whether or not I had passed this test, I knew he wouldn't give me any other answers.

"Didn't go too well?", Jessica asked me after I came back to the pavilion. Apparently, she had waited there through my trial, finishing her meal. "Don't worry about it. It's probably just Mr D trying to demotivate you enough that you leave on your own so he doesn't have to think about what to do with you. Not that he would regardless."

"Thank you." I managed a tired smile. "Chiron told me the last test will happen tomorrow morning, so there's nothing much to do until the evening", I changed the topic. "What do you do normally, when there's no urgent activities? The books never talk about that."

"Right, I always forget that these books are your perspective of the camp", Jess laughed. "Which ones have you read, by the way?"

"Just the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series. I never got much into the other 'mythologies'." I pulled my hands up to form air quotes around the word.

"Ah, I see. That made the choice certainly easier. And as for your question, we usually have projects to keep ourselves busy. Solo training, craftsmanship, or the science projects of the Hecate kids."

"Are there any other children of Hecate in the Camp?"

It was barely noticeable, but still I caught Jess hesitating for the blink of an eye before answering: "Not really, no. I'm alone in the cabin. Mom never was someone with many affairs."

"Ah, I see." The sudden mood shift got me off guard, and I didn't know what to reply from there. Awkward silence filled a couple of moments before the daughter of Hecate broke it again:

"Anyways, I should really go. There's still some projects waiting for me, and I can't afford not documenting it properly. Can I leave you alone till the evening?"

"Of course", I hurried to say. "I'll just take a walk across the campside, looking for differences between the books and reality."

Jess nodded and got up from the bench.

"Thanks for showing me around so far!", I called out to her while she was already leaving, right over the barely visible crack at the main entrance. She raised her hand to wave at me, but didn't reply otherwise.

Taking a deep breath, I was alone again. Maybe for the first time since I took that quick shower yesterday evening. Slowly, I got up as well. I wasn't used to that much company from my week on the road, but having shared a house with a dozen other kids before, it wasn't all that unusual for me to live in a camp. Before I really noticed, I found myself walking across the campside towards the woods. Something in the back of my head told me that I shouldn't go too deeply into the forest, so I found a nice place to sit near the brook flowing making its path through the trees. I still had trouble making sense of myself actually managing to find this camp. Part of myself did have trouble believing it even after I started seeing through the mist. Even after dodging whatever it was that was making these sounds, like bird screams but from a much, much bigger creature, part of me still thought this wouldn't be real.

"Yet here I am anyways", I mumbled to myself.

"Trouble coming to terms with a world full of monsters?", a voice behind me asked. I spun around, my heart beating faster and my head instantly being filled by all the humanoid monsters I had heard of, but it wasn't a monster that interrupted my thoughts. A red-haired girl, dressed in jeans and a shirt covered in paints and little doodles, at least from what I was able to make out in the dim light that got through the tree crowns. Weirdly, she was barefoot. If I didn't already know who she was, I might have guessed she was a dryad. "Hi, I'm Rachel. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. But you probably guessed as much if you read the books.", she smiled. "You are Jacob Cooper, right?"

"Yep, that's me", I answered the Oracle's question. "You're taking a walk too?"

"Something like that, yeah. Being around nature always helps me calm my nerves, especially when a new prophecy is coming up."

"A new prophecy? I thought you lost that gift?", I remembered reading about that out loud, just barely too fast for me to realize that people might not like it if they're constantly reminded that they are book characters.

"Oh yeah, that totally happened. But It returned pretty quickly after I started studying these scrolls, the Sibylline books."

By now, Rachel had sat down next to me, and both of us stared into the water.

"What was it like?", I asked her. "Being a mortal among all these demigods, I mean."

The oracle pulled a felt pen out of her pockets and began doodling on one of the empty spots on her jeans. "They live in a different world. Sure, clear sight made it simple for me. Being able to see everything they are seeing, more even. But I couldn't imagine what their parent issues look like. Especially for those who were here before the second titan war." She paused for a second before continuing: "But – at the end of the day – they are just normal kids as well. Some of them might be pretty good at special things, most of them have a screwed family situation, but that can be true for mortals as well. You for example. You managed to get all the way here, and I can't imagine you having an all too perfect family if you wanted to be here in the first place."

I swallowed hard. "Right on the money. I grew up in an orphanage. Wasn't too bad, all things considered. But still-"

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean", Rachel replied. A few seconds of running water being the only sound piercing the silence before the oracle clapped her hands together and got up. "Don't beat yourself over for being mortal too much, yes? We're all just people here after all."

A slight smile snuck up on my face, I couldn't help but be infected by the young woman's positive energy. "Thank you. I'll try my best."

"That's the spirit!", she smiled. "I'll continue my walk now, it shouldn't be too long anymore till it's dinner time."

I only realized now that the already dim light of the forest area had darkened significantly during our chat. Something about the woods suddenly felt alien, as if I stumbled into a different world. Suddenly, I felt as if there were dozens of eyes staring directly at me from the depths of the bushes. "You're right", I said, trying to hide the nervosity in my voice. "We should get going."

A knowing smile broadened on Rachel's face as she nodded in agreement. I couldn't make out any fear whatsoever in her movements, maybe she was just used to the forest of monsters.

Burning torches were fixed to the columns of the pavilion when we arrived. I was pretty sure they hadn't been there when I ate lunch, but maybe I had just missed them. The tables were already filled with demigods of the different cabins. I managed to spot Jess at the Athena table, at least judging by all the blonde kids sitting at it, while I was making my way to my seat.

Connor spotted me and waved his free arm, the other was holding a chicken leg that looked beyond tasty. Only now I realized how hungry I actually was. After a few seconds of thinking, I settled on fried fish with potatoes for my dinner, as well as some soda. The dishes appeared as soon as I spoke the words to my plate, looking better than anything I had ever eaten in the mortal world. After I had offered the best piece of fish as well as the most tasty looking potato to the brass brazier, I only stopped eating to answer the questions Hermes kids had for me. Some of the more curious even came over from other tables to inspect the mortal crazy enough to enter their camp. I answered their questions: Yes, I was from Boston, and yes I had been hiking the entire way here. I had also done some fencing and archery before coming here, that's why I managed to hit anything at all. No, I was certain that I was pure mortal. I remembered both of my parents well and there was never any hint that I might have been adopted or that one wasn't my biological parent. Also yes, I had developed the ability to see through the mist after I had read the books. I assured them that I had been as shocked as they were now.

Eventually, the questions stopped and the dinner came to a close. Most of the demigods went over to the amphitheater, but I suddenly felt extremely tired. I managed to wave to Jess and wish Connor a good night before separating from the group and strolling back to the Hermes cabin. I managed to find my bed, and was asleep as soon as my head touched the pillows.