The New Arrival

Her eyes widened at the sight of the cabin. She couldn't believe her eyes. It looked amazing! The building seemed to shimmer, but that was probably because of the sunlight.

"Th-that one?" she mumbled. Her grip on her suitcase loosened and she almost dropped it, but she caught the handle before it could fall to the ground. She turned to Morgan once again. "How many half-siblings do I have?"

"A bunch, to be honest," I told her, still squinting. "You can recognize them fairly easily, they all have cool hair and hang out."

I led her over to the cabin and knocked on the door. A couple of seconds later, it opened to reveal a tall handsome guy in an orange camp shirt just like mine. He had bermuda shorts, sandals, and his blonde curls were flipped to the side.

"Hey Will, I found one of your new half-sisters," I smiled and made way for Mara. "Mara, this is Will Solace, your cabin counselor."

"Pleasure," Will smiled and extended his hand at her.

OOC:

Mara took in the appearance of her half-brother. He was quite attractive, admittedly, and he towered over her. But she shook that thought off since she's, sadly, related to him. She took his hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you," she told Will, giving him a small smile.

She looked over Will's shoulder to see the inside of the cabin. It was just as huge inside than it was on the outside! Everything looked quite fancy. A feeling of excitement rushed through her and her smile widened. Something told her that she'd enjoy her time here very much.

OOC: Solangelo > the universe

BIC: "I'll leave you here then," I told Mara, "I need to get this horse back to his stable, should I pick you up in a bit to take you to Chiron?" I looked at Will: "I'm free today, I have nothing else to do this afternoon."

He smiled and nodded. "Works for me, I have to go back to the infirmary soon anyway."

"Will is our best healer," I told Mara before waving. "See ya later!"

And I climbed back onto my horse and kicked his side, trotting over to the stables.

Mara nodded as an answer to Morgan's question and she waved at her as she left. Will then guided her inside, gave her a small "tour" of the cabin and helped her get settled in. Needless to say, Will was a really nice guy. He explained the "rules" in this cabin, which she could barely call rules.

She unpacked for a bit, took a shower and changed into a pair of skinny jeans and the Camp Half Blood shirt Will handed her just a few minutes ago. She dug through her satchel and got her mp3 player. Lying in bed, she inserted her white earphones in her ears and closed her eyes.

Realizing they had walked off he tried to find them but he decided to leave.

It took me some time to put the horse back, since I had to groom him again, feed him and clean saddle and mouthpiece. After that, I walked back to the cabins' courtyard, checking my watch. I was meeting up with Alex at 3pm, which left me plenty of time to make sure Mara was having a good start here at camp. I just briefly hopped back into my cabin to leave my spear and jacket there before coming back to knock at the door of cabin 7. About fifteen to twenty minutes had passed since I had left Mara here.

"Hey, you ready?" I asked, popping my head in. Wow... I had never really been in the Apollo cabin, but it was pretty impressive from the inside. Everything was sleek and cool and stylish like in a deco magazine. Speakers were built in the walls and I heard Psycho by Muse was playing. Well, at least it was playing that for me, one of my friends had told me their speakers play whatever music the listener wants to hear.
There was an arrangement of comfortable white couches near the bunk beds, a medical cabinet at the back and of course, statues of Apollo. A big skylight let a stream of sunshine pour into the room, but I only realized now that it was probably enchanted because last time I had been here, it had been on the opposite side of the roof. Could it somehow shift with the sun's movement..? Hades, that was wicked. Damn you Apollo kids.

Shawne walked down to the cabins. He went to the Apollo one because he figured Mar might be there. Dylan was recently turned into a squirrel and killed mysteriously. He walked to the Apollo cabin and heard music playing. It was Blank Space by Taylor Swift. He loved Taylor Swift. He walked to see Morgan right there. "There you are I have been looking for yall."

Mara's eyes snapped open and she sat up upon hearing Morgan's voice. She removed the earphones from her ears and realised Na Na Na by My Chemical Romance was playing full blast on the speakers.

Odd, she thought. That was what she was just listening to.

Mara walked over to Morgan and saw Shawne beside her. "Hey there! Ready as I'll ever be."

"Where are yall going? Can I come?" He waved at Mara as she came up.

"I guess. We're off to see Chiron," she replied, shrugging lightly. She smoothed her hair out and stepped out of the cabin.

"Oh well I'll come along if that's okay with you Morgan." He turned to look at her and smiled.

"Sure! Mara's new here, but Dylan probably already told you. I'm going to the Big House, introduce her to Chiron and Mr D and stuff."

Giving both a smile, I went out of the warm and summer-y Apollo cabin and walked up towards the big blue farm house, located further up the hill. An eagle weather vane turned atop its roof with the wind.

Re-doing my ponytail, I looked at Mara. "Where do you come from if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm from Boston. It's my first time out of the state and New York is so big but it's also crowded," she rambled on. She had a habit of doing that at times.

She abruptly stopped talking when she realised what she was doing and let out a soft laugh. "Sorry, I do that a lot."

"It's okay?" I smiled. She didn't give me the impression to ramble. "I was just asking cause most demigods come at around 13 here. You look older though, you're what, fifteen? Sixteen?"

The gods now had to claim their children when they hit their thirteenth birthday, I had been told. Part of an agreement and stuff. I liked it, I couldn't possibly believe what'd happen if I had to spend my whole life trying to figure out who my godly parent could be. Dude, I would go literally crazy.

"I turned 15 not too long ago," she shrugged again, "How old were you when you first got here?"

Mara had to leap over a few puddles and some other stuff to prevent her high cut Chuck Taylors from getting all muddy. A small wind blew, the cool breeze hitting her face and messing her hair up ever-so slightly. The weather was not that hot, which seemed a bit unusual since summertime was just around the corner. Mara liked that. She quite liked the camp too, so far.

"Fifteen too," I told her. "I arrived here around New Year."

My mother had kept me out of the way because according to her I hadn't been ready for the Titan War. So she had sent an undercover empousa to guard me until the war was over, after which the she-demon had taken me to Camp Half-Blood. And then, well... the Quest with Zack and Thaddeus, the Python, Alex and Salem...preparations for the war against Gaea... That had eaten up quite some time.

"Are you going to stay year round or summer round?"

"Year round, I guess. Other monsters must be aware I'm a demigod and so my mom agreed to my decision in staying here for more than just the summer. Just to be safe," she explained.

Her journey to Camp Half Blood wasn't all that pleasant and she thought that it was better not to go through that every summer.

"Oh good," I said with a smile. "I'm here most of the year too... my adoptive mortal family doesn't know, you see. I was brought to camp by an empousa, a servant of Hecate, and she created a Mistform of me, back home. Basically a talking illusion who acts like me but isn't really me. It's safer. I don't want them to get in trouble."

My mortal family wasn't as messed up as my godly family but it was still a mouthful to swallow. My dad had been obsessed with the Mist ever since he realized he could not only see through it, but also manipulate it. So when Hecate had left him (without telling him she was pregnant, thanks Mom) he had worked even harder to get more and more knowledge with the Mist. And when the books and scrolls he could find didn't suffice anymore, he had sought out Circe's lair. The rest falls into place: he got turned into a Guinea pig and my mother placed me into a mortal family far away from the USA, changing their memories to make them believe I was their child. I had found my real father again only a few months ago and was still trying not to freak out.

"Here we are," I told Mara with a smile as we arrived at the Big House and I went up on the patio, knocking at the door. Some moments went by, then the door opened to reveal a tall middle-aged centaur with the body of a white stallion and a bow on his shoulder. His green shirt read Centaur #1.

"Hey Chiron," I smiled and made way for the daughter of Apollo. "We got a new camper, she's called Mara."

Chiron's face lit up and he stepped forward to greet the half-goddess. "Did you have a safe trip?" he asked. "No wounds, no injuries?"

Mara took a few small steps towards the centaur. She was quite amazed at the sight of him. All along, she thought stuff like this wasn't real but... wow!

She read the saying on the green shirt and suppressed a smile. All this was so cool!

"I had a few scratches here and there but nothing too severe. My name's Amaranthe Mason. Pleased to meet you, Chiron," she told the centaur, extending her hand for him to shake. She didn't know why she was being so formal but she kind of felt like the need to. She gave the centaur a smile as he took her hand and shook it.

Chiron shook her hand with a kind smile. "Come in, come in. Have you been claimed already?"

I looked over at Shawne and smiled before walking in myself behind the two. The Big House was nice and smelled of fresh lime juice; we crossed several rooms before arriving in one whose walls were almost eaten by vines and grapes. Theater masks hung on it and a large stuffed leopard head was placed over a window.

"Hey Seymour," I said to the leopard head, who growled and flicked an ear.

Chiron poured us all some lime juice and invited us to sit on the patio, where a rather fat man in Hawaiian shirt and leopard-print shorts was playing cards with three trembling satyrs.

"Meet our camp director, Mr D," Chiron said, and Mr D glanced up, giving her a look.

"Great. Another annoyance."

"Yeah, I guess I am," Mara replied to Chiron's question. They all followed the centaur inside.

Mara started to feel unnerved as Mr. D spoke those words. She shuffled forward and extended her hand. "Amaranthe Mason, sir," she told the god, who merely sneered. She lowered her hand and walked back to where she originally was. Just then, the god started to rant about Apollo.

She inched a bit closer to Morgan and whispered, "Is he normally like that?"

"Uh, he's in rather good mood right now," I whispered back, then froze as Mr D turned to look at me.

"Are you talking behind my back, Megan Larry?" he asked, and I swallowed.

"That will be all," Chiron quickly interjected. "Amaranthe, Morgan, come with me to my office."

Exchanging a glance with Mara, I followed the centaur past the corridors, finishing my glass of lime juice. Walking up a staircase, we went left, then right again, before arriving in Chiron's office. It was a bit of a mess but what I loved was looking at the walls. Everywhere, there were pictures of demigods, the most recent in vibrant colors, others more faded, and a couple in black and white showing kids dressed in the 1940s style, holding swords in their hands. I could see the famous Seven of the Prophecy, but I also saw a couple of kids that I knew, like Will the son of Apollo, Benjamin the son of Hades, Miranda and Katie from cabin 4, and there was even a small picture of Salem and me sitting in front of the Hecate pavilion.

"I take it you have been to your cabin already," Chiron said, pacing behind his desk and gently pushing a wheelchair out of the way. "You seem familiar with the idea of being a demigod, so I don't need to show you the introduction movie. Have you been around camp though, seen our different activities?"

Mara followed the rest, taking large and hurried steps in order for her to keep up. After a few minutes of turning corners and going up staircases, they arrived in what seemed to be an office. They went in and Mara couldn't help but look at the photographs.

They must be the different demigods that have been here, she thought to herself. The sight of the photos made her heart warm. Why it did so, she had no idea but she couldn't help but smile. Her eyes landed on a photo of Morgan. She looked quite happy in the photo and her smile widened.

Mara stood near Chiron's desk as he paced back and forth. "Yes, I have got myself settle in the cabin. I haven't explored the place yet, though," she answered. She was still examining the photos when her eyes landed on a part of the office with 7 photos that were a bit larger than the others. She was curious as to why those 7 were bigger than all the others.

"If I may ask, who are those?" she asked, gesturing to those photos.

"They are the seven demigods of the latest Big Prophecy," Chiron replied with a warm smile. "Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Jason, Piper, Hazel and Frank."

"You'll see most of them around, Percy is the son of Poseidon. Annabeth is Athena's daughter, Piper is Aphrodite's and Leo is a son of Hephaestus. Jason's here a lot too, but he's the son of Jupiter."

Chiron smiled again, he had crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. "Yes. Well Morgan, you've brought her this far, you can show her around since you know your way by now."

"Sure thing. Granted you're okay with it Mara."