Virgil's POV

I stepped down from the last step and looked around in the room they led to.

It was a living room with two couches across from each other in front of an empty fireplace. Above the mantel was a mounted and stuffed leopard head.

There was a wooden door halfway open that led outside. I had nowhere else to go, so I pushed it open the rest of the way and emerged from the house on to a sunny porch.

Three people sat around a table playing a card game. A man in an obnoxiously bright Hawaiian shirt with designs of purple grapes and black greasy hair, Chiron in centaur form, and Joan. Joan stood up eagerly the moment they saw me.

"Virge!" They exclaimed and rushed over to tackle me in a hug. "You're awake!"

I flinched a bit, but laughed and hugged them back

"I am." I replied. "How long was I out?"

"Only a day." They answered, pulling away. "Patton was really surprised. He was sure that it would take a few days at least!"

"Well my body obviously didn't feel like following the rules-" I trailed off as my eyes drifted down to Joans lower half.

Instead of normal human legs, there were two shaggy goat legs completed with a pair of cloven hooves. This would've sent me into another freak-out, but,

You know those days when you're like 'this might as well happen'?

Through half snake people trying to kill me that I stabbed to death with a pocket knife, an oddly nice centaur, and finding out that my deadbeat asshole of a dad was actually an immortal being, my best friend being half goat? I shouldn't have been too surprised.

"Riiiiiight." Is all I said about that.

"Mr August," Chiron said politely, motioning towards an empty chair. "Please, take a seat."

So I sat next to him across from the man in the Hawaiian shirt.

"So, you're the one causing me such a headache." The man 'greeted' with barely a glance away from his cards.

"Um, what?" I asked, confused.

"Your little spat with the dracaena last night have stirred up all sorts of problems that I now have to deal with." He responded. "I can already tell you'll be nothing but trouble here."

"Well sorry," I scoffed. "But it wasn't exactly my idea to be maimed by some medusa wannabes." 

Joan, from behind the man, was motioning at me to stop talking, like I was supposed to be afraid of him.

The man laid his cards down on the table, and looked at me in the eyes.

"I'd watch my attitude if I were you." He said, his eyes flashing purple threateningly.

I raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"If you were trying to intimidate me, you shouldn't have gone with purple." I responded, pointing to my own eyes. "Literally any other colour would've been better."

Joan face palmed as the man glared at me.

"Virgil, this is the camp director." Chiron told me, amusement flickering in his eyes. "Mr D."

"Mr D?" I asked, trying not to make a joke that i'm sure wouldn't be appreciated. "What's that short for?"

"Names are powerful things, Mr Ahglast." He responded.

"It's August, actually-"

"But since you're such a smart aleck, why don't you take a guess?"

I thought for a moment, but the answer was pretty obvious to me. A leopard head, a flash of purple eyes, the grapes on his shirt. With the camp being a place for the children of gods, one of those gods had to be around here, right?

"Dionysus." I answered.

"You're not as dumb as you look, then." Mr D replied, sitting back in his chair. "But while you're here you will only address me as Mr D. Got it?"

"Yes."

"Yes, sir"

Those two small words flashed my mind back to what had happened the night before, before I ran away. Any confidence I might've had, drained out of me. Joan looked at me concerned. I had told them what happened, so they knew what I was thinking.

I swallowed thickly.

"Yes, sir."

"Well then," Chiron began, sensing the mood shift. "Come along now Virgil. I'll show you the cabins."

He led me away, and I didn't glance back.

Chiron walked me around to look at all cabins, which were all decorated differently. One of them looked like a real-life dollhouse while another one was built with cinder blocks covered in ancient writing. I fidgeted with my hands as we walked, growing more and more anxious of what my life would be like from now on.

Soon, Chiron had stopped us in front of one of the cabins. This was the most ordinary looking one, and the oldest. The brown paint was peeling, but above the doorway hung a design of a winged staff with two snakes encircling it. Chiron couldn't quite fit in the door, but he nudged me inside.

There were about a dozen or so kids inside, and they all went quiet as I stepped in clutching my bag. The campers began whispering among themselves, as if they've heard about me already. All of them stood up straighter once they saw Chiron.

"Hermes cabin," Chiron spoke. "This is Mr August. I trust that you'll make him feel welcomed here."

"Regular or undetermined?" One of the campers asked.

"Undetermined."

All the campers groaned. Well, I'm feeling welcomed.

"Now, now, everyone." A girls voice said. "That's no way to greet a guest."

She stepped forward so I could see her. She had long brown hair swept back into a ponytail and was wearing the orange camp shirt like everyone else. The girl offered her hand.

"Aly Christia." She introduced herself with a smile. "I'm the head counselor of the Hermes cabin."

"I'm Virgil August." I responded, slowly taking her hand and shaking it. 

"You'll stay with the Hermes cabin until your father claims you." Chiron said, turning to leave. "I do hope you'll enjoy your stay."

And just like that, he was gone.

I turned back to Aly and all the campers behind her, who were all staring at me expectantly.

This was going to be a long night.

********

Roman's POV

Thunk!

That noise came from the target as I hit the perfect bulls eye with my throwing knife.

I looked around to see that there were only two people from my cabin actually training. Me, and my twin brother Remus, who was practicing on training dummies with his mace.

I shook my head and went to go retrieve my throwing knifes from the target. I slid them into the sheath on my leg and walked over to where my siblings were sitting in a group.

"Why aren't you guys training?" I asked them sternly.

"We just redid our nails yesterday, Ro!" My sister, Serena, whined. "We don't want to mess them up so soon."

I rolled my eyes, but just picked up my red Letterman jacket and pulled her to her feet, careful of her nails.

"Well luckily for you," I said as all my other siblings began to stand up as well. "Our training time is over anyway. Go back to the cabin to wait until dinner."

They all nodded and left the arena, giggling about something.

I sighed, but turned to clean up the targets I had used and hang up my sheath. Remus had moved the backroom to put the remains of the training dummy back in it's place. He and I looked pretty similar, except he had green eyes instead of red, had a streak of white through his brown hair, and was in the process of growing a mustache. 

"Rem," I called. He turned towards me. "Catch."

I threw him his green Letterman jacket and waited for him to join me by the door.

"Thanks." Remus said. "So they still weren't training, huh? What was their excuse this time?"

We left the arena and began to walk towards our cabin.

"They said they just got their nails done." I rolled my eyes again. "They're demigods! At some point they'll have to prioritize their lives over nail polish."

"What a hypocrite." Remus elbowed me. "You love makeup and manicures just as much as they do."

"And I never said I don't." I replied, cracking a smile. "A prince has got to slay."

Now it was Remus' turn to roll his eyes.

"Ah, yes." He began sarcastically. "Roman Garcia, the prince of Camp Half-Blood. How could I forget."

I laughed and pushed his arms away, which were doing a very dramatic pose.

Before we knew it, we were in front of cabin 10. I swung the door open and we stepped in.

I let Remus have a shower first since his weapon needs a lot more physical effort than mine, so I threw my jacket on my bed and sat down next to it. I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation my siblings were having until one of my sisters, Leena burst through the door.

"Oh. My. Gods." She breathed out as she hurried over to the gossip group.

"Woah, what happened?" I asked, sitting with the group as well.

"So you guys know the boy that showed up last night and had to be in the infirmary all day that Valerie told us about?" She asked. We all nodded. Valerie had come knocking on our cabin door that morning to tell us the new info.

"Well he woke up! And he's staying in the Hermes cabin!" She continued.

"Okay?" Serena said. "What's interesting about that?"

"I was getting to that!" Leena snapped. "Apparently the reason he was there in the first place, was because he took on two huge dracaena with only a pocket knife!"

A chorus of "woah"s and gasps filled the circle.

"An untrained demigod took on two dracaena alone, and lived?" I questioned in amazement.

"Yep! And that's not even the best part!" Leena squealed

"What is it?"

"He's mega hot!" She giggled. I smiled as all of my siblings collapsed in high-pitched laughter.

Remus exited the bathroom, looking very confused at what he just walked in on.

"Good luck with them." I said as I passed him the doorway.

I took a quick shower to wash off the sweat I had made from training. I jumped out, dried off my hair, and got dressed in a red sweater with a yellow crown on it and blue jeans.

I heard the conch horn blow, signaling us to go to the dining pavilion.

I walked out of the bathroom, pulled on socks and my converse, and stood by the cabin door.

"Alright guys," I called, getting my siblings attention. "Let's go."

I was at the front of the line since I was the head counselor, and they all followed me in a line as I led them to the pavilion.

We sat down at our cabin's table and waited for the other cabins to file in. Everyone, not even just our table, perked up when the Hermes cabin entered, trying to get a look at the newcomer. He was in the very back of the line. 

"There he is!" Leena sighed quietly.

She wasn't lying when she said the boy was mega hot. He was gorgeous. He had purple hair that was slightly ruffled and he had black eye shadow under his violet eyes. He wore a black hoodie with purple plaid patches sewn on and a thundercloud design on one side unzipped over his Camp Half-Blood shirt.

"What did you say his name was?" I whispered to Leena.

"Virgil August." She answered.

Virgil...

AN- All comments are read and appreciated <3