CHAPTER 6 Έξι

"Um, um..." Gema kept looking back and forth, she gave Tori a thousand help-me expressions, but there was nothing she could do at that moment, especially with the fact that the teacher had her eyes on full duty. 

"We have to do something." I whispered to Tori who didn't even reply, I guess she was lost in her own thoughts of developing a good plan. 

"Tell me cutie, what did you sssee in the band room yesterday?" 

"Uhm... I saw werewolves?" Gema replied finicky, she was making it too obvious that she was lying. 

All of a sudden, I could witness a creepy smile creasing on Ms Ella's face. "Are you sure?" 

"..." Gema gave us another pitiful look. "Y.. Yes, I'm sure."

"Ok dear, you're free to go."

The last thing I saw before leaving the class was the teacher's smirk, and it gave me the shrugs. Maybe having to earn detention wasn't a good idea afterall. 

"What are we going to do?" 

Tori and I were back in class, after we had escorted Gema to hers. I rested my head on my locker, fatigued of the chances we had to risk earlier. 

"Do about what?" I asked Tori. 

"The little girl, Gema. She's in more danger than before, and so are we." She explained what I had already understood. If Ms Ella was really a monster, that means she must have already been planning to attack us (monsters couldn't resist the scent of half-bloods no matter how hard they tried). 

"There's nothing we can do, especially for the girl that we don't personally know."

"We do know that she's a half blood, and that counts."

I finally rose up and glared at her, she was taking this half-blood thing too seriously, but I wasn't in the mood for another argument. "Alright then, what are we supposed to do now?" 

She played her fingers on her chin. "I might have a plan."

LATER IN THE DINING HALL...

"Tori, are you seriously kidding me right now?" I followed her with my food tray, I really didn't expect that I would do that. 

"No." She plainly replied, certainty clear in her blue sapphire eyes. 

"What? You can't just take a young girl to some camp, that's kidnap!" 

Suddenly, she abruptly stopped. "It's not just any camp, it's CAMP HALF BLOOD. And besides I'm going to have to convince her parents to let me take her, I mean, why the hell would I kidnap her?" she began walking again. 

"How would you ever convince Gema's parents? They don't even know you!" 

"Not yet."

Tori dropped her meal on one of tables, which happened to be the one that Gema was sitting on. "Hey, you don't mind if we sit with you, right?"

Gema looked up at us and shifted her tray towards herself, I noticed that she was sitting all by herself. "Usually, I do, but... I suppose you could."

No sooner we had sat than Tori went straight to the point. "So Gema, about what happened in the band room yesterday, do you know what kind of monsters attacked you?"

"No, I've never come across them before." Gema replied and threw a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. I couldn't help but wonder about comfortable she was, at the threat of monsters, she could still eat food.

"But can you tell me exactly what you saw?" Tori persisted.

"What I saw? Didn't you see them too?"

Tori looked at me with an expression I did not understand, but I only shrugged.

"Look, I'm sure you know that werewolves are lurking around every corner, that is to tell you that, this is not an unordinary world, and that you're not an ordinary person."

Gema didn't even react, it seemed like she was expecting Tori to lay more emphasis on the unordinary topic. "Look, what Tori is trying to say is that you are a half--" 

Tori's boot hit my leg hard, coercing me to keep mute. "Hey!" I throbbed my leg in pain "What was that for?" 

"She'll only be exposed to more threat if we tell her." Tori whispered, in a way that Gema couldn't eavesdrop. 

I understood what she was talking about, I never even knew myself that I was a half blood until my mom told me when I was 4. I had always read about godly characters like Zeus and Hermes in my comic strips, but learning that I was the son of a Greek god only made me wild. Sometimes I would point my hands at a pond and try to levitate it. Other than that, I was either trying to incinerate fire without physical contact or attempting to cause an earthquake. But none of these ever worked.

"Gema, what I was really trying to say was that, you're in big danger."

As expected, Gema dropped her fork and startlingly breathed. "But I thought you guys had already fought off the fire headed girls." 

I was right, Gema was really a half-blood. 

"No, you see, Lauren and Sandra are not gone forever, they would still return to Tyl'l, and by then, their plan to kill you would be full-proof." Tori explained, but I didn't expect her to say the word 'kill' because I could practically hear Gema's heart thumping like a beast would when it was hunting so desperately for its game.

"Stop, you're scaring me." Gema wasn't lying, because Tori spoke like she was telling a spooky tale to some little children at a night fire.

"Gema, have you ever heard of a place called CAMP HALF-BLOOD?" 

Gema eyes widened in shock at first, but afterwards, she just turned sad. "My dad used to tell me stories about that place everytime, an extraordinary camp, guarded by a young dragon. He said it was restricted from humans, but I know it doesn't exist."

There was sudden silence for a while, but I didn't want to say anything so I didn't get kicked in the limbs again. Tori was just starting pitifully at Gema, who was by then, anxiously stabbing her apple fruit and waiting for a supposed consolation. 

"It depends on your focus Gema," Tori yanked her spoon from its tray and it was then I realized that I hadn't started eating. "I guess it was your dream to find the camp, but you didn't because you thought it was invisible to humans, so instead, you're using it's inexistence as an excuse, right?" 

"N.. No."

I couldn't help but smile at the way Gema cutely denied her fault, but Tori could only sigh. "Would it enough to encourage you if I told you that it does exist?"

Gema didn't even seem fazed. "Yeah--sure."

Tori stared deep into her expression. "I'll be going to CAMP HALF-BLOOD next week, if you'd survive till then, would you love to come with me?"

"What the hell are you talking about right now?" She suddenly scowled at Tori. 

. 

. 

.

  The blazing sun scorched fiercely on the earth, and the leaves fell to the ground as it got dry and crumpled. There was hardly any breeze, so nothing made up for this intense sunshine, all I wanted to do at that second was to embrace the comfort under my rooftop, but sadly, I was still 4 miles away from home.

"...Going to CAMP Half-Blood next week... Come with me?"

Even before she figured out that I was a son of Hades, Tori had once asked me to come with her to some camp where half-bloods live without fear, but I bluntly refused, because I didn't trust her, and right at that moment, I still didn't think that I could trust her. Why does she keep trying to drag everyone with to a camp, was she a spy? Or a monster (would be pretty much far-fetched especially after I saw her use lightning). How was she expecting Gema to believe that an extraordinary camp really did existed? And without any evidence, Tori still went further still, asking if the girl would love to accompany her, it sounded more like a trap to me.

What if turns took place, and Gema actually accepted to go with Tori, what was the probability that she'll come back alive? All my life, I learnt that there's not a safe place in the world, so if Tori was promising one, it meant she was lying. 

"Hey mom, I'm home." I shut the door behind me. 

My mom walked out of the kitchen with a blue napkin in her hands, there was also an apron tied to her waist, and she couldn't seem more pretty. Her green hair stood out in a beautifully permed style, and it matched perfectly with her round, spotless face that enrolled a pair of brown eyeballs. She was not a busty kind-of-person, but she stood out with her curves and her flawless, glowing skin. She was brave, always standing her ground as long as she knew that she was right, and it didn't matter whosoever challenged her, she wouldn't let the charisma/importance of a person overrule her point. She had courage, a trait I didn't inherit from her. 

"Tophy, I was just making dinner."

Honestly, I knew she had thought about getting re-engaged, and even if I wasn't really cool with me, I could still cope. She told me some months back that she had been dating some new guy I've never met before, and she asked if I was cool with it. As awkward as that must've felt, I still told her that it was okay, at least, she was telling me the truth. 

At least, all my whole life, she hadn't been lying to me about who I truly was. 

"Great, I'm starving!!" 

She chuckled in response and I then began making my way up the stairs. Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind. "Mom, do you know a place named CAMP HALF-BLOOD?" 

"Camp Half-blood? Of course. Your dad wanted to take you there to spend the summer back when you were just age 4, but you refused."

I gazed at her with a baffled look, so that place really did existed. "B... But, I don't remember."

"Oh, you were so young, 13 years back, you definitely can't remember."

"Do you know why I refused to go?" I asked. 

"That'll be because you hadn't met your dad at that time, but I remember when I told you that there are flying horses in the camp, but suddenly you began making a fuse, claiming that pegasus' are dangerous." She paused. "It must have been an idea you picked from one of your comic strips."

I couldn't grasp one memory of any of these incidents, it was like as if it had never happened before. 

"Why do you ask now? Do you want to go there?" 

There was no point, and I didn't need a magical camp to protect me, that place sounded like fiction, and fiction was the last thing I would prefer for myself. "No, I was just curious."