Here's Chapter Nine (Don't know why I couldn't get it formatted right.)
Ω
CHAPTER NINE
Cadence
I don’t know what I had been expecting. Maybe a falling-off-the-post wooden sign saying “Welcome to Camp Whatever” or something like that, but definitely not a camp like this. With the sun just barely poking over the tops of the trees to the east, the tops of buildings were lit up with ribbons of sunlight. From my post on top of the hill, I could see the entire camp.
“See that over there?” Jordyn said, pointing to a U-shaped cluster of buildings.
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Your new home-away-from-home.” Then she scampered down the side of the hill like a mountain goat.
The very first building we came across was an antique. Besides the fact that it was humongous and painted sky blue, it looked like it belonged in a museum. The modern wrap-around porch only made it look more out of place, like a caveman in a star-trek movie.
“That’s the big house.” Jordyn clarified.
Oh, really.” I answered, sarcastically, leaning to see around the corner.
Jordyn walked swiftly through the door, and, not wanting to be left alone, I followed her in.
“Infirmary, rec room, restrooms, basement...” Jordyn pointed at doors and hallways as we passed them, like a tour guide. I stopped in front of a staircase Jordyn had not labeled.
“What’s this?”
Jordyn doubled back, jogging slightly. She saw the staircase and said “Oh. That’s the attic. You don’t ever want to go up there.” and hurried on with her tour.
Eventually, we stopped at what seemed to be an ordinary door, identical to every other we had passed on our tour. Jordyn knocked three times, then turned back to me with a sly smile, her head cocked, like she was wondering what I would do next. Before I could wonder too much on what that meant, the door opened behind her and out stepped man, no, not a man, a half-man. The rest was half-horse.
“Wha... you’re...” I stammered.
“Chiron.” the half man, half horse guy said,, finishing my sentence. “Hello. And you are...?”
“Cadence, Cadence Allegory.” I answered, still shocked.
“Wonderful.” He turned to Jordyn, who was trying not to laugh, and gave her a look that said, very clearly, “You better have a really good reason for this.” Jordyn straightened out almost instantly,
“Cadence is a new demigod.” she said quickly.
“That is obvious.”
“I thought I should bring her to you.” she said in a rush, She seemed like a little kid trying to justify why she had lost her sneaker.
Chiron (I had finally accepted that he was real.) seemed to be slightly satisfied with this answer and turned back to me. “Once upon a time we had an orientation film for new campers, until someone destroyed it.” He looked again at Jordyn. “But i’m sure that Miss. Pallas would be more than happy to show you around the camp, as well as be your mentor for your first few days at camp.”
As soon as we had left the big house, I immediately had a million questions.
“What was that?”
“The big house.” she answered, starting to walk away.
“No, Chiron.”
“Oh, he’s our activities director.”
“What is he?”
“A centaur, obviously. Can I call you Cay-cay?”
“No.”
“Alright, let’s go, Cay-Cay” I sighed. This was going to be a long day.