Welcome to Wonderland: We Die Here

It was all water under the bridge, as mom would say. I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling. For once, I'm grateful that I don't have to be around Daisy. Daisy used to be my best friend ever since we were little. But now, I don't know If I even want to hear her name be used. Everyone is telling me Daisy was the one who started those nasty rumors at school about me. I sit up and open my laptop to write her an email.

Dear Daisy,

I stop writing because I'm not sure why I should talk to her or what to say. I decide to be straightforward and just ask her even though I know the answer. I guess that's not straightforward.

Is it true that you're the one who started those rumors? I really don't want to believe it was you so tell me I'm wrong. Please.

I hit send and close my laptop. I don't want to hear what she has to say right now. I get up and leave my bedroom. "You okay Selene?" mom asks,I glance over and study the familiar black hair that she normally dyes but is naturally blonde, the rimless bifocals and shocking blue eyes "Yeah, I'm fine," even though I'm very clearly not. She doesn't press me for an answer which I'm grateful for. She just nods slowly and goes back to watching TV. I wander into the pantry having no idea what I want to eat. "Are we out of fruit snacks?" I call from the pantry. "Yeah I think so, but we have those Nutri-Grain bars you like," mom offers, " 'Kay," I reply. I get two just in case I get hungry later. I walk back to my room mildly excited since today I get to go to my favorite camp for demigod training, lava rock climbing walls, canoe lakes, and the Stoll brothers pranks. I almost forgot, haha let me explain who I am because you probably think I'm crazy.

My name is Selene Solace, sister of Will Solace, Son of Apollo, I am Daughter of The Titaness Leto, and adopted by Naomi Solace when my dad left. I'm from New York and I attend a Demigod Training Camp called Camp Half-Blood just off of Long Island Sound. Wow, I have a crazy life.

I'm just finishing packing my bags as Will knocks on the door. "Come in," I say, and he peeks his head in the door, "Mom said we have 10 minutes before we go," he says. "Well, I'm done packing now," I laugh. I notice Will has his bow over his shoulder and his duffle bag on his other arm. I reach into my closet and get my bow, a gift from my mom. Well, my birth mom. As soon as I touch it turns into an all-black fedora so I put it on.

The bow's a silvery color but it's still made of wood. It's engraved with swirls and an ancient Greek word; Σεληνόφωτο that I completely forgot to ask Chiron what it means. I feel like it says Moonlight but I'm not sure. Mom asks us a gazillion times if we have all of our stuff. I want to tell her she's smothering me but I know she's just worried so I don't say anything. After the gazillionth and first time she asks, we get into the car and mom starts asking us about our friends at camp. I tell her again about my friends Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, My best friend Leo Valdez son of Hephaestus, Calypso Daughter of Atlas, Piper Mclean daughter of Aphrodite, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Kayla, and Austin children of Apollo, Hazel Levesque daughter of Pluto, Frank Zhang son of Mars and one of the praetors of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, Nico Di Angelo son of Hades and Reyna Ramirez Arellano daughter of Bellona and praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, my friend in the Hunters of Artemis, Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus.

Mom sounds happy to hear that I have a semi-large friend group. When we finally get to Camp Half-Blood, I hug mom and tell her that we'll be back at the end of the summer. We say our goodbyes and she drives off. Will and I make our way down Half-Blood hill and walk to our cabins in the commons area. I could stay in the Artemis cabin or the Apollo cabin but nobody else is really ever in the Artemis cabin besides the Hunters when they stop by ever so rarely, so I stay with Will, Austin, and Kayla, and my other cabin mates.

I headed down to the Hephaestus cabin to go and see Leo. I found him with his shirt burning and him smelting a piece of bronze. You see, Leo's dad is Hephaestus, God of Fire, and Blacksmiths. But unlike any of his brethren, he can summon fire. Lots of my friends can do abnormal things. Percy has control over water, Thalia can summon lightning, Jason can summon lightning and control the winds, Piper can charmspeak which is like brainwashing but kinder because she's kind about it. Hazel can bend the Mist which is this magic veil that distorts mortal vision so they don't notice the monsters and gods and stuff and she can summon riches like gold and gems. Frank can command roman soldiers and he can change into animals, Reyna can lend people her strength, Calypso has magic, Will is a healer, Kayla is a top-of-the-chart archer, and Austin is an amazing musician. And Nico can sense when people are going to die and he can summon zombies. Awesome.

Anyways, Leo is immune to fire so he wasn't panicked, he just went to his bunk to get a new shirt. When he got back he smiled, "Hey!" his enthusiasm was so intoxicating I had to smile too, "Hey how's Calypso?" I ask him," She's alright. She said she was going to the Aphrodite cabin to talk to Piper but she won't tell me why though" he frowned "I can go check for you," I offer. His grin returns "Yes, thank you!" he says. I smirk and walk to my cabin and put my bag on my bunk.

I walk out and head next door to the Aphrodite cabin. "Pipes? Cal?" I call, and as I walk into the cabin I get a huge whiff of designer perfume in my face and try not to gag. I hate perfume. Piper perks up when she hears her name and perks up, even more, when she sees it's me "Selene!" she says excitedly and runs over to give me a hug. Piper is wearing her regular Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and shorts and her knife, Katropis, is strapped to her belt. Today she did her braid with traditional Cherokee beads and white harpy feathers, her kaleidoscope eyes glittering excitedly as she smiles out of the side of her mouth.

"How have you been? It's been too long," she pouts, "Didn't Leo give you your phone?" she asks and I roll my eyes, "Piper, you know I can't use one of those without alerting every monster within 100 miles of my location, same for you too," I say, but just she grins "But Leo made these phones and Calypso enchanted them with heavy magic so no monsters are alerted." She then pulls a phone from her back pocket and turns it on. "See? Looks just like a regular phone," she says excitedly, "And props to Hazel for this but hold on..." she presses the screen a few times and I figure she's typing in the password, "It has Mist activation! Say, I wanted to bend the Mist, I could just type in the command and in like, three seconds what I type will appear, just watch," she types in a few words, and just as she said after a short few seconds a pizza box appeared on her bed "Okay, that's incredible," I admit and Piper smiles, "I know right! You need to go see Leo right now! Plus these are made of celestial bronze and imperial gold so they turn into your weapon of choice! They only work on monsters though, so don't try to attack a tree," she laughs and puts her phone back in her pocket. "Go! I'm tending to Cal's injuries right now," she says walking to a sickbed in the corner

"Injuries?" I ask, following her, "Is she alright?" I ask. Piper turns to me with that worried expression that makes her chin dimples stand out "She was asking me to help her get back her charmspeak," she says quietly, "I think she magically overextended herself," I walk over to Calypso my expression no doubt, matching Pipers. I place my hand on Cal's forehead, checking for a fever. I gently pick up her wrist and take her pulse, " She seems to be fine right now, she just needs rest," I say then I put my hand on Calypso's shoulder and send out my senses to search for any internal or external injuries, "She broke two ribs and fractured her ankle," I said, "She needs rest and I'll get her some ambrosia and nectar when she wakes up," I say, and Piper's worried expression melts, "How do you do that?" she marvels, "If Leto is your mom, then how do you have Healer-of-Apollo qualities?" she asks, "Honestly, I don't know," I grumble "All I know is one day I'm really going to need them." I didn't know why I felt that way but I somehow knew it was true. "Well, I'm going to go check on Percy and Annabeth, see how they're doing," I tell Piper, " I'll stop by after I get that phone from Leo so I can add your number," I say. "Alright well, see you around." she says "See ya." I leave the Aphrodite cabin and head to the amphitheater, knowing Percy and Annabeth would be there hanging out and/or watching the ocean. As I walk in, Annabeth sees me immediately, and with one hand beckons me over to where she is sitting. As I walk toward her she smiles, "Hey!" she grins "Hey yourself WiseGirl, how are you?" I ask just as Percy comes over with two boxes of pizza. "Hey MoonMush," he says, and I guess I should explain the nicknames.

So when I met Percy and Annabeth, I'd come up with the nicknames for them, and since Annabeth's mom is Athena, I call her WiseGirl, and since Percy's dad is Poseidon, I call him SeaweedBrain. And so does Annabeth. Piper's BeautyQueen, Will is Sunny, Leo's Commander ToolBelt, Jason is Sparky, Nico is DeathBoy or just Nico since he'll gladly summon an army of zombies to trample anyone and everyone who calls him that.

I grin at Percy, "SeaweedBrain," I acknowledge him, "How've you guys been? Seriously? I have news and news and more news, none of it good but I wanted to catch you guys up." I say "And I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours." I say, sitting down on the wooden bench, "Yeah right," He laughs "I may have just battled everything in greek mythology," he says, but luckily, I've been all over so I've fought more things than him. "You can add roman mythology to my list of completed battles," I say. Annabeth is just watching this with those intense gray eyes. "I'm going to put my money on Selene," she says and I smile at her "What are we betting on?" a voice from behind us asks, and I turn to see Chiron behind us and I run to our teacher and give him a big hug, "Chiron!" I exclaim , excited to see the old centaur. I'm wasting too much time explaining all this stuff to you, dear reader, but I will explain anyway.

A Centaur is a half man half horse, and Chiron is the most legendary centaur, teacher of Achilles, Hercules, and a bunch of other famous heroes that I don't care about. Chiron chuckles and says hello. "It has been quite a while since I've seen you, dear Selene," he tells me, " I hear," he says looking at Annabeth, "That the Athena cabin has a birthday present for you," he says, and Annabeth glares at him, "And it was a surprise present not a tell Selene that we have something planned so she suspects our cabin surprise." Annabeth mumbles. I pretend to be too busy inhaling all the pizza in the box that Percy bought. I'm pretty good at intentionally forgetting things so I focus on my pizza and within 10 seconds I've forgotten all about my birthday next week. "So, Chiron, when is the building going to stop? Because the noise is giving me a headache," I complain and he justs laughs, "My dear, the building will stop when all the gods have cabins," he smiles "So it may take a while," I mutter a few unkind things in ancient greek one being; "erre es korraks" it literally just means "Go to the crows" but he frowns, "I could have the building stop…" he ventures but he knows I've been wanting my own cabin even though I never told him. I've never told anyone if I'm being honest. "Annabeth, what does your cabin have planned? I heard the Apollo cabin and Camp Jupiter are in on it." Percy says. Annabeth glances pointedly at me but I pretend not to see or hear. I grab a napkin and wipe my hands and face because I had gotten a bit of the pizza sauce on my chin. "Well, nice chat," "Thanks," I say as I stand up to throw my plate away, "I've got to go see Leo about these so-called 'Demigod Phones'." I flash Annabeth a quick smile and walk out of the amphitheater, throwing away my plate at the trash bin on the way out.