User blog:Joeaikman/Wiki Half-Blood Chapter 3 - Matthew

I walk down the beach of Wiki a Half-Blood, my thoughts all mixing into one. I feel so lost here, so out of place. I wasn't like everyone else here, i was different, I can feel it in my body, the tingling feeling that I had since childhood. I didn't have the dyslexia that helped the others read Ancient Greek. I didn't have refined battle senses due to ADHD. I have nothing. An unclaimed loser from the Hermes cabin.

I fall down onto the sand and sigh, watching the waves roll up onto the beach. This was a good place to be alone, to think. Recently my dreams have been full of dark memories. Mostly of the time before I reached the Wiki. Sometimes there was a voice and a light, it almost blinded me. The voice told me that only I could stop the movement of the sun. That i had a great destiny.

Despite only having been at the wiki a couple of months I know all its stories and heroes. The legends of Percy Jackson and Jason Grace. But the one I look up to most was the Story of Phineas Flynn. I have never heard the whole thing, people seemed scared to talk about it. From what I can gather Phineas had been a son of Zeus. He had gone on a dangerous quest and never come back. No one was sure why as Phineas had been the greatest swordsman the wiki had ever known. It was a mystery.

I shiver at the thought of a demigod vanishing like that. I now feel cold and alone, lying on the rough sand of the beach, the waves slowly pulling closer towards me, calling me, inching closer to me.

"Hey Matthew!" The familiar voice rang across the beach. I look up to see Greg standing at the top of a sand dune. Greg was an unusual character. Head councillor of the Aphrodite Cabin, he had been at camp non-stop for 6 years, since he was 11. He was a laid back guy with a warm face. What was unusual was how he dressed. He was a more violent child of Aphrodite, one born of her lust for war, and as such always carried his military belt, a gift from his mother, and scabbard. He wore this over a classy, black suit that made him instantly stand out. I know numerous girls and spirits harboured secret crushes on him.

"What you doing all the way out here, man?" Greg laughed, making his way down the sand dune. "Just needed some time to think" I smile to my left as he lies down next to me, on his side so he can study my face "I hope I'm not interrupting anything" he smirked "I just wanted to tell you how much I'm looking forward to thrashing you and the Ares cabin tonight" his laugh was soft and delicate, it was hard to fit to his image.

"Is Capture the Flag tonight?" I am surprised, it doesn't feel like that long since we last played. "It's a special one, to mark the anniversary of Phineas...you know" he looks at the sand sadly. "Not coming back?" I try gently and he nods "I'm sorry, Greg" I reach out to hold him comfortingly best pull back. Things are still weird.

"It's not your fault, Matthew" Greg holds my arm gently "come on, let's get back to camp, I can try and help you with your javelin" he smirked at me slightly. This was a running joke based on a long story. I stumble. I feel faint. I fall to the floor, my eyes closed.

I see dark shadows, the trees, flashing by as I run past. Tiger is running in front of me, much stronger and more athletic than I am. I can hear the lion behind us, chasing its prey "Not much longer!" I hear Tiger call as he bounds through a gap in the trees.

There's a hill just in front of me. I see a shimmering as Tiger reaches the top. This must be the safe area he was talking about. I start to run but the ground is wet. I slip on some leaves. As I land on my back I see what has been following us. A giant, golden lion, it's fur rippling and shimmering despite the darkness around us "Matthew!" I hear Tiger call.

The lion jumps at me, I wince and wait for the pain and the end. Instead I hear a noise as if something flew over my head. Next I hear the third of something calling to the floor. I open my eyes.

The lion is lying there, slowly disintegrating, a javelin protrudes from its mouth. I feel a hand grab mine and pull me to my feet. A guy in a suit with a warm face greets me with a smile "You're lucky I was here. My names Gregory"

I wake up a few hours later in the infirmary. Greg is stood over me, Jasper is stood next to him. Jasper is a child of Apollo, one of the best healers at camp. He's excellent with 'medicinal' herbs. "He's awake" I hear Jasper whisper to Greg "but he won't be able to partake in Capture the Flag tonight" I hear Greg sigh "that's fine Jasper, the important thing is that he's alive and will be ok".

I feel Greg stroking my arm, like he always did when he wanted to comfort me "Well I'll leave you to look after him, Greg. It's probably wise he doesn't sleep with the Hermes Cabin for a couple of nights" I watch Greg nod and Jasper walk away. I see Greg pull the curtains shut around my bed and sit gently on the end

"I know you're awake, Matt" he smiled down at me "you really scared me at the beach. You hardly ever act that weird" his hand is at the top of my arm now "Gregory..." I look up at him and he smiles, pulling his arm away "I'll miss you at Capture the Flag" he patted my shoulder and left me alone.

I owe Greg more than I can possibly ever pay back. He saved my life from the Nemean Lion that followed me and massively helped me settle in at camp. I tried to be active and get involved in all the activities but there's no department i excel at.

Suddenly two more people come to my bedside, the curtain is thrown open and I spy the cheeky faces of two of my 'brothers' from the Hermes Cabin, Jorn and Barry. They were brothers and also a mischief. Jorn was head councillor for our Cabin and was meant to represent us at the weekly councillors meetings. He hardly ever attended, he was usually somewhere else playing a prank with his brother, be that damaging the boss of the Apollo Cabin so when they tried to fire them the string hit them in the face or stealing makeup from the Aphrodite Cabin. They were certainly a handful.

Jorn was larger than Barry, more stocky whilst Barry was quite lithe. Both had similar hair and the eyes and ears of children of Hermes. "What's up, Matty?" Jorn sat on my bed "We hear you had an accident on the beach and can't help us thrash Ares and Dionysus Cabin's backsides tonight" Barry was smirking at the thought, they both knew I was near to useless on the battlefield "Well, I've been thinking. I know you like to try stuff, so I volunteered you to help Phil with our tactics and plan of attack tonight" his face had gone from joking to serious. I hadn't expected this at all. "So" he patted my shoulder "you in?" I looked at him "your have to ask Jasper..." Jorn rolled his eyes "Square, just come on, Phil needs you now."

I tentatively get to my feet and walk out with Jorn and Barry, trying not to get noticed by the various Apollo healers on duty. I knew these two, there was a game afoot. They weren't bad guys, it was just really difficult to spend time with them without wanting to stab them. Knowing me, though, I would probably miss.

As we approach the Athena cabin I can see Phil sat outside, stretched out on a deck chair. There are two guys next to him, it looks like they are arguing "looks like Mini and Shaun are arguing again" Barry smirked. "quiet Barry" Jorn was suddenly looking serious and ran over to Phil. I heard Jorn tell Mini to calm down and back off. Shaun shouted something inaudible at Jorn, turned and stormed back into the cabin.

Phil stood and sighed "Thanks Jorn, all this arguing and shouting can be really hard to deal with. I've talked to Chiron about it but apparently Mini and Shaun are too volatile to deal with." Jorn looked at him and patted him comfortingly "You're doing fine, dude. You are the rightful head councillor of Athena."

Phil was a new Head Councillor, he had only just been appointed when I arrived "if it makes you feel any better, Phil, the arguing is really funny" Barry piped up "I told you to be quiet Barry. These arguments are serious stuff" Jorn glared at his younger brother. Barry cowered under the look. Having experienced an angry Jorn before I felt really sorry for Barry.

"Hi Matthew" Phil tried to smile at me but failed. He looked really depressed and tired, I guess he was just sad that he had to put up with me for the next couple of hours. "Nice to see you two hitting it off" Jorn sniggered "Anyway, if you need us we will be at the Demeter cabin. Billy is really easy to get on the nerves of if you set fire to their wheat and grain decorations"

After the two ran off like excitable puppies there was a minute of awkward silence. I wasn't entirely sure what to say. I didn't really know Phil that well. I just saw him around the camp and sometimes attended his additional Ancient Greek lessons. I knew, like me, Phil wasn't dyslexic. He was just naturally really clever.

"Jorn tells me that you're a good tactician" Phil breaks the awkward silence. He's looking at me in a funny way, as if he is studying me, reading me like a book. "Erm, I don't know why he'd say that" I said awkwardly. I wasn't really aware that I was good at anything.

"He says you organise some of the Hermes Cabin's pranks and expeditions" Phil looks down. There's suddenly a chess board in between us "Care to show me your moves?" He smirked at me.

I was about to sit down when suddenly there's a raucous noise from the edge of the woods. Phil immediately stands "come on!" He tosses me a sword from the rack next to the cabin and we run off after the source of the noise.

When we reach the woods we see a bizarre sight. A demigod is standing over a satyr that appears to have collapsed, lying asleep on the floor. Phil rushes to the demigods side.

"What happened, Gordon?" Phil looks anxious. I vaguely recognise the satyr as being one of the Council of Cloven Elders. I know Gordon better. He's head councillor of the Hypnos cabin and hardly ever leaves unless something important is going down.

"I don't know, Phil. I was asleep and then suddenly my dad appeared. He told me that something dark was stirring, something that really scared him. He told me to come here and see what we were facing" Gordon yawned about four times during this explanation so by the end of it the satyr was starting to stir.

"Is it Morpheus?" Phil asked, looking more stressed than ever "he has the power to put any living creature to sleep"

"It isn't Morpheus" Gordon said simply "His powers wouldn't work is well within the boundaries of camp. Besides, my dad was genuinely terrified. It's something far darker beginning to wake"

At that moment the satyrs eyes snapped open and he screamed "darkness! Everywhere! Lamia! Tiger needs help! Two demigods! Danger! DANGER!"