2/26/2014

Here's the next instalment of Second Generation Demigods.
Enjoy!

    Dinner at Camp Half-Blood was different than dinner at home. It was noisier, more crowded and the food tasted much better. Not that Annabeth was a bad cook; it was just that whoever did the cooking here was much better. Mallory sat at the Athena table with her half-siblings and watched for Hannah and Helen. She spotted them sitting at the head table with Ben, Mr. D, Chiron and some satyrs. Hannah spotted her and waved.
   When Mallory waved back Lucy caught her arm. “Who are you waving to?” she asked.
“A new camper.” Answered Mallory.
   Lucy nodded, “We keep getting more and more campers every year. Lots of Legacy’s too.”
They silenced as Chiron pounded a hoof on the stone floor.
   “We would like to welcome all our new campers today.” He said, causing a burst of cheering from the crowd. “We also welcome back our returning campers; we’re glad you survived the school year.”
   “School’s hard enough as it is!” shouted someone from the Hermes table.
Chiron chuckled. “I know you’re all hungry but Mr. D thinks we should go over the regular camp rules. Most of you know them but no doubt your memories could use refreshing.”
  Mr. D stood, “Yes, welcome back campers, blah, blah, blah. I’ll be glad when I’m rid of this miserable place. Anyway Chiron has deemed it fit that we should go over some general rules. The gods know you all need them.” He pointed a chubby finger at a few people in the crowd. “No purposely maiming or injuring other campers, no archery on the canoe lake, no boy/girl couples alone in the cabins. The usual stuff set in place to keep you all from dying. As usual curfew will be strictly enforced and any campers out past curfew run the risk of being eaten by the harpies. Any camper leaving the grounds without express permission from either Chiron or I, will be severely punished. Any cabin caught forcing new members through any sort if ‘initiation’ loses their desert for a month and is on KP for two weeks. And as always, go in the woods armed or unarmed at your own risk. Now, let’s all eat.” He sat down as Nymphs began passing around platters of food.
  Once everyone’s plates were full they sat down and Chiron stood one more time.
He raised his glass, “To the gods!” he shouted.
  The campers did the same. “To the gods!”
Mallory stood and got in line to sacrifice some of her food to the gods. It was customary. The gods liked the smell of the burnt offerings. And according to her parents, the food sacrificed here ended up at a shrine in the depths of Tarturus. That was kinda cool. 
    You were supposed to offer the best food, the juiciest meat, the ripest berries or the most buttery piece of bread. Once one of the Apollo campers only offered a moldy strawberry and kept the good food for himself. The god Apollo refused to let the sun set until it was put right and his son apologized. That story was used as an example when new campers asked what the point of the offerings was.
    Mallory watched to see if Hannah, Helen or maybe even Ben would be claimed. All children of the gods had to be claimed, that was the rule. Legacies were the exception, since they aren’t directly descended from the gods the gods weren’t oath bound to claim them, so most don’t get claimed. But instead they just announced their bloodline during the campfire.  Normal demigods who weren’t Legacies got claimed either at dinner or at the campfire.
    No glowing holographs appeared so it seemed like they were probably going to be claimed at the campfire.
   As if reading Mallory’s mind Lucy said, “I remember when I was claimed.”
  “Were you claimed at dinner or campfire?” asked Mallory.
“At the campfire, five years ago. I was twelve and totally scared but my half-siblings welcomed me right away.”
  Mallory nodded, most campers were welcoming to their new siblings. Although sometimes they were bullied or had to go through a secret, not allowed by camp rules, initiation. Ares campers had to win a few fights against their older siblings and other new campers. Hermes campers had to steal something. Most cabins didn’t have initiations since they were against camp rules.
    Cassandra’s mom had once told Mallory, Charles, Cassandra and Shawn about the old Aphrodite initiation that she had refused to do. New campers had to match up then break up a couple. If you didn’t do it, if you told, if you ever broke a rule or disobeyed orders from a senior camper then you were forced to wear the ‘shoes of shame’. The shoes of shame were white nurse’s shoes that, according to any Aphrodite camper Mallory had ever talked to, didn’t go with anything.
   They were still displayed in the cabin, bedazzled and glittered, not because they were used as punishment but as a reminder that Aphrodite takes ugly things and makes them beautiful.
  It had been Cassandra’s mom’s idea and it had been carried on by the following generation of campers.