Henry

Everyone had eaten breakfast, and the game of Capture the Flag was postponed until Chiron came back from wherever he left to.

So far, no one had come up to her and demanded to know why she'd left Hermes Cabin in the middle of the night. Even better, no one said they saw anyone leave their cabins at night.

Well, Piper and Nico were looking for someone who tried to scare the Aphrodite campers last night. It must have happened while I was in Bunker 9, since I hadn't heard the screams. I'd only gone back to bed an hour before Piper and Nico woke me back up.

It didn't matter much to me though. I didn't get much sleep on most nights. So I was used to running on less than an hour of sleep. That's how most people function, right?

Anyway, I was excited for the rest of the camp to go back to sleep again. I was eager to find what the crow told me was hiding in the forests for me. And from the way she'd glared at Roofus, I guessed she hadn't meant for me to find him.

I could feel something familiar about this place. Somehow, I was slowly remembering the exact layout of the camp. Like I knew this place.

What irked me was how Chiron stared at me while he was here. The same way Dionysus did.

They were scared. I could see it on their eyes. They could sense something about me. Something I don't know, as it would seem.

I did some reading in my book, and found a passage about Chiron. He was the centaur that trained Achilles, and was one of the more respectable centaurs in Greek history.

I found even more on Dionysus. God of Wine, partying, and MADNESS - which was underlined and in bold in my book. The book warned about his followers - crazed psychopaths that would kill without a second thought. I made a mental note to never make Dionysus angry at me. I have enough madness to deal with as it is.

My thoughts dwelled on the one thing I thought was wrong about this camp. I got how new arrivals stayed in Hermes cabin. I understood that Chiron ran the camp and trained demigod to be new heroes. I could grasp that powerful demigods went on dangerous quests that could get them killed.

But why was Dionysus cabin empty?

For some reason, I couldn't get a handle on that. Of all the cabins, why was that one empty? Shouldn't there have been at least one kid in that cabin? Just to keep it in order or something?

Why was that cabin empty?

I tried to ignore how much the fact bugged me. It felt so wrong, and I kept arriving back to the train of thought that I couldn't answer. The wondering that asking questions for could end with me getting turned into a grapevine.

I decided I needed something else to keep me occupied. I closed my book and shoved it back into my bag. I tucked it into the corner of the rafters and jumped down from the beam to the floor.

Yes, I feel most comfortable in high places with narrow platforms. Hence me living in a tree in the middle of an abandoned library.

I cracked the door open to the cabin and peeked out the side. Demigods were walking around with their friends, chatting the day away. I felt a creeping shyness emurge. Talking to people seemed ... difficult.

Sorry if my "people skills" are "rusty" - if you could even call them that. But may I plead homeless person and curse that kills people? Because that's what I've been living with since yesterday.

I would have loved to hang out with Roofus, but in the daylight, a demigod could see him and mistake him for a monster. The last thing I wanted for my new buddy was disintegration. Going to see him in the forest in the middle of the day was off the table.

I didn't have any good friends here yet, so making small talk like the other demigods was off the table. The only other thing I could think of was ... practicing skills of heritage.

Apollo campers practiced archery, Athena campers drew architectural structures and battle plans, Aphrodite campers tested flirtatious acts and charming people, Hermes campers set up elaborate pranks and tried to steal your wallet (Connor tried to get one from me, then realized I don't have one and was punched).

Long story short, everyone here had some kind of talent they received from their godly parent. And being the only person here who hadn't been "claimed", I had no idea what I was good at.

Yet, thinking back to last night, I remembered being able to follow some directions and repair an enchanted dog collar. A task I performed without any knowledge of the collar itself or the tools used to fix it.

Maybe I could try my hand at metal work ... again!

I took a deep breath, and repeated to myself the same sentence I'd used to assure myself that I could go to sleep in the same room as a dozen other kids.

My curse was removed and I cannot harm people around me.

My curse was removed and I cannot harm people around me.

My curse was removed and I cannot harm people around me.

With another deep breath, I carefully pulled the door of the cabin inward and stepped out into the sunlight. It would be noon in an hour or so, leaving little time for me to find Leo and ask him to let me use tools to make something.

Hopefully, I wouldn't set the camp on fire.

........................

I found Leo, which had been easier than I'd expected. He was hanging out with Piper and Nico by the Big House. As I got closer, I heard them talking about some dark figure ... and someone else.

"I'm telling you," Leo retorted. "If the person who tried to scare your cabin didn't have a dog with them, they're not the same person that broke into Bunker 9. Because there were the intruder's footprints and a dog's footprints. Not one without the other."

Oh, cacamas, I thought. He's talking about you and Roofus!

I remained calm, which was good for not getting caught. Rather than turn tail and wait for a better time to come back, I continued my path towards Leo.

Nico saw me first, and smiled at me. Another thing I couldn't place about this camp was Nico. He was a son of Hades, and his boyfriend was the son of Apollo. Opposite ends of the spectrum. Yet, they acted together in harmony.

A peaceful and delightful concept.

But not exactly a realistic one.

I shrugged it off and kept walking. Something would happen, for better or for worse. It wasn't up to me. What I could help was how Nico kept looking at me the same way he looked at his sister - Hazel. It's not like we were siblings, so I'd have to make that stop eventually.

I stopped a few feet from Leo and waited for him to finish his sentence. He did, sort of, and turned away from his friends to me.

"Can I help you, señorita?" he asked. I noticed that I wasn't shorter than him anymore.

"Um, I was wondering if you could show me forging ... to make objects?" I tried not to sound like I had no idea what I was talking about. Mainly because lying was hard for me, and I had to make an effort at it.

He gave me a quizzical expression, as did Nico. "Why?" he shot back.

"I- ... I want to figure out who my godly parent is. So, I thought if I tried out some of the skills demigods get from their parents, it might help."

That fib came out of nowhere. It was a smart, well planned lie that fit my current situation perfectly. The truth was, I was bored and wanted to do anything to keep myself from dwelling on weird stuff.

But the line about wanting to figure out my godly heritage for a good reason, that sounded much better.

Surprisingly, Leo was cool as a cucumber with the idea. "Why not. It would be cool to have some new blood in the forges. And I have to go down there anyway."

Nico shook his head. "Leo, do you really think it's a good idea to let her handle tools that she could hurt herself with?"

Besides the obvious condescending tone in his voice, I didn't like Nico's thinking that it was his decision to make.

Apparently, neither did Leo.

"You're just jealous because she doesn't want to help you organize a graveyard in alphabetical order," he remarked. Nico rolled his eyes, but thankfully dropped the subject. Leo grinned to me and waved for me to follow him away from the Big House.

"I hope you like hot places with lots of burning coals," he said. "Because that's what the forges are."

Somehow, that still seemed preferable to the boredom and downward spiral of deep and dark thoughts I'd been getting into in Hermes cabin.

.....................

I heard the forges before I saw them. The scraping and pounding of metal was unmistakable and piercing. As we got closer, I could smell the smoke surging from breaches in the exterior lining of the building.

Leo opened the door, and revealed the dozen or so demigods hard at work inside. Some were crafting swords and other weapons. Others had traps and snares in their hands. One had a sludgehammer the size of me in one hand, ready to slam it down on what looked like a cannonball.

"GUYS!" the scrawny Hephaestus camper shouted, catching the attention of his siblings. "EMERGENCY MEETING!"

With a renowned sigh, the campers put down their tools and crafts. In a not-so-neat line, they filed out of the forges and back towards the way Leo and I came from.

Leo grinned at me and said, "Do whatever you want to. But please don't mess with the stuff the other campers are making."

"Wait, Leo I don't-"

He shut the door behind him, cutting me off.

I nearly groaned. "I don't know how to use this stuff."

I checked the place out for myself, and found that it was a death trap. Molten metal was in every corner of the room. Sharp blades were sticking out of every surface. There was a machine that resembled a guillotine by someone's workbench.

All of the sudden, I got a disturbing chill up my spine, and spun around. I hoped Leo wasn't playing a joke on me. Or that the creature Piper saw last night wasn't planning on using me for a midday snack.

Instead, I found thick sheets of a dark metal leaning against the wall behind me. Maybe it was my imagination, but I hadn't noticed them before when I walked in.

The glint of light off the window had me fixated on the material. Suddenly, in my mind, I saw a blueprint of my own.

And I knew exactly what to do to make it come to life.