18 MAY;
Welcome back, girls! Settle into your cabins and then make your way to dinner at the mess hall where Circe will formally welcome everyone back. Afterwards, Xanthe's throwing a little welcome-back party of her own at the caves. It can be a dangerous hike out there and back to the main shore at night {especially if you're not quite sober}. Take care and go in pairs, as Keto would say!
-Ψ-
"Silent as a mouse I swear, and I was being nice and everything," I remarked, linking my arm with my cabin mate/half-sister, Verona, as we made our way up to Xanthe's party. I had the pleasure of sharing a hammock with our new cabin mate at dinner tonight. Verona laughed at my comment.
"Since when is asking someone 'Are you going to finish that salad?' nice?" she asked as we rounded the corner. A brightly lit cave came into sight and the smell of spicy rum assaulted our noses. It was a familiar scene. I've been coming to Camp Circe since I was ten years old and over the years the excitement of coming back the first night never lessened or lost its appeal. This was my family like it or not. Before Verona and I could even enter the cave, a figure darkened by backlight jumped off the lip of the cave opening and gracefully landed on the ground in front of us. To the amusement of the figure, the movement startled me causing me to involuntarily jerk back.
“Dammit Tanner!” I seethed at the daughter of Hermes. I wasn’t going to hear the end of this. Everyone in the camp relished any opportunity to poke fun at the ‘fearless’ Queen Taia. They just loved reminding me of my so called fluke feat of heroism I demonstrated when I was thirteen…even my sisters liked to join in.
“Don’t get your royal panties in a twist, brah,” Tanner snickered before lifting one of her signature super soakers to take aim at my hair. I huffed and crossed my arms as if daring her to squeeze the trigger, but before anything could happen Verona reached out and pushed the water gun down.
“I don’t know about you two, but I didn’t come to stand outside the party,” she said grinning, grabbing Tanner’s hand, pulling her into the chaos. I hesitated before choosing not to follow them. I could only take Tanner in small doses and everyone always say that I cling onto Verona like a lost puppy. This summer was going to be different; I was going to come into my own so to speak. This was going to be the summer where I make everyone eat their words.
“Hey Queenie,” a voice said snapping me out of my reverie. It was an Aphrodite chick named Maui, “Are you coming or what?” she asked before ducking into the cave. I followed her and was greeted by bouncy music. I scrunched my nose. The only reason why I came to these parties was to dance and it seemed that some demidork newbie got a hold of the playlist. I don’t like to drink very often, only if nagged to the point of complete annoyance. Alcohol dehydrates me quickly and it feels like my body is being drained of its life force. Nope, I did not enjoy drinking.
“Shitty music huh?” Aleka, daughter of the one and only Zeus, shouted over the pounding stereo pushing her way through a group of demidorks. “Freaking Tanner thought it would be hilarious to switch iPods with Xanthe.” I looked out onto the dance floor where Tanner was living it up. I was fed up.
“I’m over it!” I shouted towards Aleka, only to be responded with a ‘WHAT?’ “I SAID I’M OVER IT,” I repeated louder and jammed my thumb towards the cave opening. She seemed to get the message and made her way back to the throng of people awkwardly trying to dance to the Macarena. I inhaled the salty night air as I stumbled out of the cave.
“Intense party, one of Xanthe’s best you think?” I turned to see Neptune, yet another one of my half-sisters, leaning against the cave wall with a Red Bull in her hand. “Needed to get some air too?” she asked. I shook my head.
“Nah, I’m outie,” I replied. Neptune frowned. “Why the frown?” I asked.
“Oh it’s nothing, I just thought you might be more of a team player this summer and are you going to make the trek back by yourself because Keto said-“
“Keto says a lot of things. I’m a big girl, I’m pretty sure I can handle getting myself back to my cabin in one piece,” I snapped slightly, “and I don’t think doing the Chicken Dance will help me become popular.” Neptune’s frown turned into a look of annoyance and she shrugged.
“Whatever, do what you want Queen Taia.”
-Ψ-
It was really late when Verona stumbled back into Cabin Four and into the bed below mine. I heard her clumsily change out of her party clothes and into pajamas.
“Hey Verona,” I whispered down towards her.
“What?” she whispered back, settling into her bed.
“I think I might ask Tyrien to help train me,” I said looking at the wooden beam where we both carved our name when we were thirteen. It seemed like a different lifetime ago.
“Oh that will be a ball,” Verona snorted. I rolled my eyes, I knew it was going to take some time convincing my half-sister to help me with my fighting skills. Tyrien was very aloof and serious, and even if I did convince her, I’d probably be half dead by the time she was done training me. It would all be worth it though, in the end. I would no longer be the camp joke. I could finally live up to my father’s gifts.
