--Chapter Three: Painkilling Energy Drinks and The Tour Of Death--

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Alexia couldn't find a word to describe what she felt after the orientation given to her.

Confused?Shocked?Dumbfounded? Weirded out?

Those could work.

It was just really hard to take in. Greek and Roman mythology, monsters,camp, demigods and goat-human hybrids.

It wasn't everyday you learned that it was real and that it still existed.

It was hard to believe this wasn't a dream or a prank. But the orientation made it clear to her that it was real. Still, she was a bit doubtful.

But what made it even harder to believe, was that she the clumsy and boring average girl was part of all this.....insanity.

And the boy that accompanied her wasn't exactly helpful. Whenever she asked him a question, the answer was always 'You'll get used to it' or 'You'll understand in a minute'.

Gee, she'd surely understand that she was half-god and half-mortal.And she'd surely get used to being hunted by every single monster roaming this world.

Yup.She could get used to it (note sarcasm).

"This way",the boy --Drake-- said, gesturing to the door.They had stopped in front of a wide open doorway, and from here, Alexia could smell the strawberries, she had the sudden urge to eat some, but she didn't make an attempt to exit the house or whatever building they we're in.

"Where are we going exactly?",she questioned,getting slightly suspicious.

Noticing her doubtful expression, Drake laughed, shaking his head, his tufts of unruly dark hair sticking up rebelliously.

"Whats so funny?",she asked,golden eyes narrowed.

The dark haired boy smirked, "It's just that you remind me of the time when I first came into camp"

She scoffed, scornfully. "And what's that suppose to mean?",she demanded,eyeing him, sharply.

He smiled sheepishly but didn't reply, instead, he went out of the door, gesturing for her to follow him out.

Cautiously, Alexia followed him out the wide open doorway, only to be greeted by a beautiful view.

They we're in a beautiful homey wrap-around porch. Situated in the porch was lounge chairs, an abandoned card table, a empty can of Diet Coke and an empty wheelchair.

But that wasn't the part that made her stare, it was the view. The camp was beautiful from this angle. She got a wonderful view of the weird, yet uniquely designed set of buildings (she assumed we're cabins) situated near a grand looking arena.

With the sun shining brightly and blanketing the camp with a warm golden light, it was some what hard to look at one particular cabin, so she decided to avert her gaze.

She did her best to memorize the camp, but it was hard, considering the fact that most of the buildings she saw, she had no idea what they we're.

For instance, there was a building that had grass growing from the roof, a building that looked suspiciously like a dollhouse, and bright red building that had barbed wires on it's roof, while a sign that said 'land mines' was situated in front of it.

If they weren't qualified as 'weird', then she was a monkey.

"Hello, you must be our new camper", a warm, comforting voice spoke beside her.

Alexia nearly screamed as she saw the man. Well....half-man, considering that from the waist down he didn't have a human body, instead he had the body white stallion.

Geez, what kind of crazy magician would cut a man and horse in half and patch them up together?

Wait....

Alexia racked her brain to remember the movies she used to watch, and tried to remember this particular creature. Then she remembered the orientation, and the word formed in her head.

Wide-eyed, Alexia pointed a finger at him.  "ARE YOU A CENTAUR?!",she blurted out, louder than she intended it to be .

The brown-haired horse-man smiled, "Yes my dear, I am a centaur. My name would be Chiron, the camp activities director"

He adjusted the orange shirt he was wearing and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Alexia examined him, trying to guess his age.

Unfortunately, this wasn't exactly a talent of hers. And it was harder since his eyed held a calm yet timeless look in them.

She wondered how long centaurs lived.

Drake nudged her, preventing her from spacing out.

"What?", she asked him, curiously.

Drake rolled his eyes, "Chiron asked what your name is"

"Oh, Um...Alexia. My name's Alexia",she stuttered out, slightly frightened. Well, who wouldn't be? When there's a man-horse hybrid towering over you, a bow slung on his shoulders and a quiver full of arrows to go with it. Alexia had never actually been afraid of horses, but standing right in front of one...... one with weapons..... and a human intellect...... she was very scared.

Noticing her uneasiness, Chiron chuckled. "No need to be afraid of me, Alexia. I do not intend to hurt you"

"Oh", was all she could say, not all that convinced.

Drake coughed into his fist,causing them to turn to him. "So I'm just going to go now.....", he made a move to leave, when Chiron spoke.

"Where do you think you're going Drake?", he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um.....to the climbing wall?", he said, uneasily.

"I'm afraid your activity will have to be postponed for a while, our camp director  intends to have a little chat with you", he said, giving Drake a look.

Alexia felt Drake stiffen beside her, uneasiness and a hint of fear displayed across his face. She noticed him gulp in fear, as a bead of sweat trailed down his forehead.

"Y-yes sir", he stammered. Alexia heard the fear that laced his voice, she felt a pang of sympathy for him.

Chiron averted his gaze from his face to Alexia, a soft look in his eyes. "I assume that Drake has already showed you the demigod orientation?"

She nodded in reply, afraid that she might say the wrong word and Chiron would whip out his bow and arrow and shoot her in the forehead.

Fortunately, he didn't.

Unfortunately, the song 'Watch me whip' started to play in her head.

'Watch me whip!My bow and arrows! Now watch me whip! Whip! My bow and arrows!'

But she had to admit, it would funny if Chiron did that and she posted it in YouTube, she meant the song, of course.  Not the 'Imma-whip-out-my-weapons-and-make-you-look-like-you-have-a-horn-on-your-head' situation she had in her head.

To be honest, she didn't want an arrow on her forehead and being called 'a unicorn' because of it.

Chiron nodded, "Now that you know about being a half-blood, do you have any questions in mind?", he asked.

'If only you knew about the thousands of questions I have in mind', she thought.

"Ummm.....what does that have to do with training half-bloods?", she asked, reffering to the forty-feet tall statue on top of the hill, standing proudly beside the pine tree.

Chiron smiled as he gazed at the very detailed statue, as if recalling something memorable.

"That my dear, is the Athena Parethenos", he replied.

"Athena? Like the wisdom goddess and Parathenos.... Do you mean the Parathenon? The temple in Athens?", she asked, recalling the orientation and all the Greek mythology-based movies she had watched.

"Yes, this is the statue that was once situated in the center of the Parathenon"

Alexia raised an eyebrow, "What's it doing here?"

Chiron smiled softly, "Let's just say that it saved the camps and the universe"

The brunnete frowned, confused. "How can a forty-feet tall statue save the camp and the universe? Does it shoot lasers from it's eyes or something?"

She heard Drake choke on the can of Diet Coke he was drinking, he nearly dropped the can and started coughing like he had something stuck in his throat.

Chiron and Alexia waited for him to finish coughing. When he did, he flashed them a sly smile.  "Sorry, please go on. Ignore me"

Chiron shook his head, "No, Alexia. It does not shoot lasers from it's eyes"

"Then what----"

She was cut-short when a blonde girl suddenly came and whispered something to Chiron, who bent down to here what she had to say.

Once she was done, Chiron's gaze darted to me, "Alexia, this is the head-counselor of the Athena cabin. Lucille, this is Alexia"

"Hi",Lucille greeted, smiling. "You can call me Lu, everybody does"

"What are you doing here?", Drake asked her, coldly.

Lucille grinned at him. "You smell like fish"

"Well you we're the one who betted me to catch the Stolls!", he snapped.

"Well you we're the one who was stupid enough to try", she retorted, smirking slightly.

Drake opened his mouth, but he probably couldn't think of a good comeback, so he shut it back with a roll of his eyes.

Lucille flashed him a smirk.

Chiron watched them, frowning.

But probably guessing it wasn't exactly important, Chiron turned to Alexia. "I must go now, Alexia. I am needed in the archery range"

Drake sighed in relief.

Noticing his action, Chiron spoke. "You, Drake, shall show her the camp"

Alexia resisted the urge to scream. 'DRAKE YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE'.

Drake looked surprised, "Me? Why me?"

The centaur raised an eyebrow. "So you would rather stay here and wait for Mr.D to arrive from Olympus?"

"On second thought.....I'd rather go with Alexandria here",Drake said, taking back his words.

"My names Alexia",she corrected him. But he ignored her.

Lu smirked at what he said and Chiron just shook his head, smiling. Before the two walked --or galloped-- away to the archery range, poor Chiron had to duck his head so that the roof didn't slam into his skull.

The two demigods watched them go. And when they we're out of sight. Silence dawned on the two.

"So.....what now?", Alexia asked.

Drake sighed, "Now the tour begins"

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All Alexia had to say ....... was that Drake was a horrible tour guide.

He nearly got them killed more than once.  Once by accidentally leading her to the woods, where they met with a giant scorpion,  which tail nearly stabbed her in the stomach. Thankfully, Drake was very skilled with his sword.

And another near death experience was when he brought her to the canoe lake, where a few kids we're battling some kind of sea serpent thing.

Let's just say, Alexia took an unexpected swim.

"I said I was sorry!", Drake said, shaking his head, causing droplets from his hair to splatter her shirt.

Alexia scowled and smacked him with the towel she was using to dry her hair. They we're currently in the dining pavilion, over looking Long Island sound.

Alexia had changed into an orange camp-shirt and a pair of jeans, which was given by a camper. She missed her other shirt, but sadly it was soaked, along with her favorite jacket. And it was all Drake's fault.

"Sorry doesn't cut it",she snapped, firing a glare at Drake.

Drake rolled his eyes. "Well how was I suppose to know that the serpent would drag you to the bottom of the lake!"

"You could have at least warned me that there we're monsters in the camp!", she retorted.

"Didn't the orientation tell you that?"

"No. It only said that there was a barrier that kept the monsters out. It didn't say anything about monsters inside the camp!"

"Oh.....well that's the orientation's fault"

Alexia smacked him again with the towel.

They stayed there in silence, and Alexia gripped her leg, which was throbbing a bit painfully.

Her leg had been hurting for a while know, she remembered waking up in the infirmary and trying to stand, causing her to let out an agonized scream. Though that didnt stop het from having a panic attack.

The poor Ares kid that watched over her got hit with a chair.

Thankfully,  the girl gave had given her a strange liquid that tasted like hot chocolate -despite the fact that it had ice in it.

Never less, it somehow manages to make her regain her strength, lessen the pain in her leg and heal the wound on the on the girl's head, where she got hit by a chair.

Alexia assumed it was a new kind of pain killing energy drink (she didn't know if that existed, but she decided to call it that).

"Earth to Alexia!", Drake said, waving a hand in front of her face.

Alexia blinked. "Sorry, I kinda spaced out"

Drake smiled, "That's okay. I don't mind you daydreaming about me", he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. "Please. I'd rather date the sea serpent"

He pretended he was hurt by dramatically placing a hand over his chest. "You chose the sea serpent over me? You must be blind"

"And you must be an narcissistic dork who would marry himself in the blink of an eye"

He gasped,wide-eyed. "How did you know?!"

Alexia rolled her eyes at him, a small smile on her face.

Suddenly Drake stood up, smiling."Come on, I forgot to show you the cabins"

Alexia raised an eyebrow, "You do realize that I nearly died twice during this tour"

"Yeah.So?",he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She sighed, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face. "Never mind"

A grin stretched across Drake's face. "It's called being a half-blood. You'll get used to it"

"Yeah right",she muttered, sarcastically.

Drake chuckled. "Come on. Let's continue the tour!"

"More like the tour of death",she muttered under her breath. Neverless, she stood up and followed him towards the cabins, hoping that her schedule with Hades would be rearranged.

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A/N: I hope you liked the chapter.

This chapter is dedicated to:  stephr1231 who was the first one to audition. To EmilyRolland18 who encouraged me to update and to Chilea for being such an awesome and funny person.

Anyway, I'm going to update soon.

Sorry for the long wait. I kinda had a lot to do (in school obviously)

Anyway, I hoped you like the chapter.  And also, the audition is still open.

I hope you liked it. And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to buy myself some Painkilling energy drinks.

;)

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