An update (Amara Shine)

"Crap! It's been more than a week!" I shouted to Chiron, "You can't poison a camp and disappear!"

"I quite agree," Eleos said, she was a minor goddess who likes to help out at Camp Unspeakable, "Lucas and Isa have been under the radar, our scouts are unable to find them..."

Camp Unspeakable was a safe haven for demi-gods and lesser demi-gods from bounty hunters. Zeus sends bounty hunters to kill people like me, and since the gods are stupid. Shrines are the only thing that protects us from monsters. There's a difference between monsters and bounty hunters. Bounty hunters are sent by the gods themselves but aren't allowed to go near the camp. Orders from the council themselves, Camp Unspeakable is off-limits. But monsters don't take orders and will kill anything they can get on. So that's why we have fourteen shrines for all the twelve Olympians (plus Hestia and Hades) so that monsters can't get in.

In case, you don't know what I'm rambling on about further on that, I'm Amara Shine. I recently got kidnapped by Eleos, my new grade 6th teacher(I'm supposed to be in 5th grade but the teachers thought I was smart enough to be bumped up to the next grade. And Eleos is actually nice enough, and she is also who I thought to be Miss. M...it's a long story), and I found out I'm a child of Apollo. He's my dad and a god, he mated with my mom, Ella Shine, for some time...till he dumped her. That left my mom unstable and weak, I was like the depressed babysitter for her.

I'm actually quite extraordinary for a kid of Apollo, I have rarer powers than the rest. I can absorb light, allowing me to teleport anywhere that there is light. (Including daytime and nighttime) I also can send sickness to people by just simply glaring or touching them. I can heal, I can not sing, and I can tell the future. Yep, I can. The other Apollo kids can't but I can, I have visions in my sleep.

So that's been cool. But to my surprise, my half-siblings haven't been thrilled that Apollo claimed me as their own.

Now that I'm claimed, Chiron sent me to help out at the nurse's office from time to time. But the Apollo children hate me for some reason. If I tried doing extra work, they'd yell at me and do it themselves. If I don't do anything, they'd say a bunch of crude stuff. "Oh, Amara!" they would say, "stop slacking and get your butt out there!"

I don't understand why they don't have a reason to hate me...and it kind of makes me annoyed. Sure I helped keep Marcus Jones away from them but Marcus was the one who wanted to stay hidden. How's it my fault?

"Amara!" Chiron shouted, I blinked.

"Sorry, Chiron, what were you saying?"

"I was saying that Lucas and Isa must be at several locations are a time," the centaur explained, "we've been finding their belongings scattered across the forest."

"Oh right," I mumbled, chuckling. Chiron was a centaur who is now the leader of Camp Unspeakable, he was supposed to die but the gods brought him back alive from the stars...But we all know that Chiron just wants to see his family again.

"You look distant, Shine," Eleos remarked, "how about you take a rest and go back to Cabin #11? We know we've been boring you with these updates,"

"Oh...sure," I said, sighing.

I felt tired, I've been training more often with Chiron and Elizabeth (my friends, granddaughter of Athena, ex-hunter of Artemis...it's also a long story), and it's been taking a toll on my strength. Plus it's been a little awkward since we were the only three in Chiron's dusty office. I packed up my items and opened the door.

"Amara," Chiron blurted suddenly, I looked back.

"Yeah?"

"I understand that you and Apollo talked a while back...Did he ask you anything?" he asked, my heart skipped a beat.

"No, sir," I replied, lying straight to his face, "it was just a typical chat about life. Nothing happened,"

Chiron glanced at Eleos before looking at me.

"I see, if Apollo did, would you tell me right away?"

"Oh...of course, sir!" I squeaked quickly, rushing off. I ran out of his office, running towards the cabins.

I burst through the open doors of Cabin #11, where I found all my friends sitting in a circle.

"HI! I—"

"Amara, lower your voice!" Elizabeth hissed, I quickly sat down. Elizabeth was a granddaughter of Athena, so she's a know-it-all. She's immortal since she used to be a hunter of Artemis, but she got kicked out. All I can say is that it all happened with an entitled centaur named Robin. She had chestnut blond hair, tied in a braided ponytail, and a belt of assorted weapons. She's deathly scary.

"What are we playing?" I asked timidly.

"Who's most likely," Leah Smith replied, her dyed blond hair shining. Dark skin, grey turtleneck, and pink jacket with stylish buttons. She's a child of Aphrodite and is part of a group called Girls of Aphrodite. She and Elizabeth have some history but they're good friends now.

"Okay," Elizabeth said, rubbing her hands together, "who's most likely to drop out of school?"

Everyone's eyes darted to Hailey, she gave us a disgusted and sarcastic look.

"Excuse me?!" she gasped sarcastically, and Cora just laughed. Hailey Agustine is a new friend, her twin and she arrived at camp three days ago. She's really spunky and has a bit of a rebellious side. Hailey is a child of Dionysus, the god of wine, so she can chug three bottles of whiskey, underage, and not get drunk. Cora Anderson-Chang is best friends with her but is a complete angel. She is a daughter of Poseidon but doesn't, if rarely, ever use her powers. She has raven black bangs, soft dirty brown eyes, and a sea-shell necklace with tassels.

"I would kill you if you did," Justin said, rolling his eyes. That's Hailey's twin brother, Justin Agustine, and it's actually weird if you call them twins. They look alike, same brown hair, dark brown eyes, and blotches on their arms, but it's Justin who is older. By two years in fact, but they look the same so they're fine with being referred to as twins.

"Okay, who's most likely to plant a bomb in an abandoned house just for fun?" Jarvis asked, smirking. Jarvis Reins, a son of Ares, and Leah are dating him. He has dark skin, usually wears t-shirts or long-sleeve, and has brownish-black hair.

"Thomas, duh!" Hannah giggled, her laughs echoing. Hannah Hayes is a child of Hermes, so she's the real deal. She has terribly messy brown hair and wears a black leather jacket. She was the one who taught me how to use a bow and arrow.

"Tartarus yeah!" Thomas snorted, beaming with excitement, "I wonder if I can install bombs in Samuel..."

"NO!" Elizabeth yelled, keeping Thomas on his toes. Samuel was a van transport for demi-gods, it's still in the works, but it's pretty cool.

Thomas helped built it, he's pretty good at this stuff since he's a son of Hephaestus. He's a simple gal and just wears orange shirts and jeans. We all know that he has a crush on Elizabeth and keeps on flirting with her. But Elizabeth hates most guys. Whew! I think I covered most of my friends, that was hefty. Also, all my friends are like 2-5 years older than me so I'm the runt of the group.

"Who's most likely to get jealous incredibly fast?" Cora asked and everyone awkwardly looked at me. I blinked.

"What? But how?!" I cried, Thomas rubbed his head, trying not to sound rude.

"You're sort of nosy and you're—well, a child of Apollo. They've been toxic lately," he explained, I rolled my eyes. I looked out of a dusty window, staring at a tree while the others kept playing. My thoughts were somewhere else. I started to remember that night, and if you don't know what I'm talking away, let me explain.

"Amara," my dad said to me, "do you know how a job works?"

"Duh," I snorted, knowing Apollo is still trying to sugar-coat this, "I'm not five,"

"Well, let's just say you're the worker, and I'm the manager," he explained lightly, "and that—"

"Stop acting like I'm not mature enough to hold this," I shouted hastily, he rolled his eyes.

"Okay, okay!" he muttered, "You're so much like Artemis, so serious and all!"

"Yeah, but being serious gets the job done doesn't it?" I snapped back.

"I...er—okay, so I was going to ask if you could do certain 'tasks' for me," he said, trying to say as low-key as possible. My heart faltered, my eyes widening. Elizabeth was right, and I was wrong. "You're a pawn to the gods, Apollo alike," those were her words and they are true. My dad didn't just come back for me out of pride but so I could do a deed for him.

But what was I even thinking? Apollo, who has been missing out on my life for a decade, just wants to come back? Not without a price. But then I remembered he was my dad and...well, a god, he could kill me if I refused.

"May I ask, what do you want me to do for you?" I asked, my voice shaking. Apollo's eyes swiped up and grinned broadly at me.

"I knew you would do it, Mags—Amara!" he exclaimed, looking smug and proud, "It's quite simple actually, Quests of Summer will be coming up in a few months so that's that. But if there's very a side quest or big quest, don't feel shy to sign up,"

I gulped. I can barely talk clearly in front of my class—how do you expect me to volunteer for quests?!

"And," he continued, "you could always grab your allies—er, friends. You know even the game,"

I squirmed around weirdly. I didn't feel comfortable placing my friends—allies' lives on the line. Wait, why am I doing this? Even if Apollo could kill me, why play into his little game? He couldn't kill me if he chose me for a reason.

"I-I'm not sure if this actually, uhm," I stuttered, and Apollo gave me a look. It was a look of pleading, hatred, jealousy, tragedy, and insecurity. He looked at me with such despair that looked as if all the joy in the world had been sucked out. I knew he was insecure about something, and I started feeling pitiful. I suddenly remembered his life in Greek Mythology. His lovers were doomed from the start, he wasn't favored by Zeus when he clearly liked his sister better and was probably blamed for mishaps.

Maybe I should help him out. Only this once, and don't you want some action? And mom always said that family was forever...and Apollo is my father, whether I like it or not. But with such little info, what could I be getting myself into? But tripping myself with guilt, I agreed.

"Fine," I said at last, with an unstable breath, "I'll do it."

"Thanks, Amara!" Apollo smiled, "And of course, if you managed to score something big, well...you'll get rewarded handsomely..."