"Don't challenge the Queen."

The car ride to the "camp" was quiet, too quiet for Ashley.

Her friend had gone into shocked silence not too long after they had left, and it left Ashley and Silena in quiet as they allowed her to process what had just happened.

Ashley fiddled with her knife that could expand into a sword, Ο δολοφόνος του πεπρωμένου was it's official name Luke had told her before she had left, but Ashley just called it Destiny for short. Apparently a Titan had forged it long ago, but Ashley wasn't sure about that.

Anyway, Ashley had caught herself staring at her friend several times, still wondering how they had ended up meeting each other. Was it the Fates playing with their lives? Or was something else at play?

"You two alright?" Silena's voice was quiet and soft despite the fact that she had basically just whipped a Manticore's ass.

Ashley watched Charlie flinch at the sudden voice and sighed, "I'm alright, but Charlie just needs a little bit more time."

Charlie gave her a thankful look, and Ashley smiled.

Selina nodded, glancing at them from the rear-view mirror before focusing back on the road that they were on, "Alright. Just letting you know that we'll be there soon."

"Thanks, Selina," Ashley smiled, and the conversation dropped.

As much as Ashley wanted to get her phone out to keep reading the fanfic she had discovered on Archive of Our Own (Ao3), she didn't know if her phone being on, in close proximity to Selina would set off "warning signals" to any monsters nearby.

Ashley mourned the loss of her Finding Dory bag as she pulled out her thankfully unharmed books and candy. She reorganised her books and candy into her almost dead bag, and figured that she'd be able to find another bag at this "camp".

Ashley glanced out the window of the (colour)(type of car: feel free to choose) and ended up shuddering as they passed through some sort of thin electrical-magik barrier, "What was that?" Ashley just had to ask the older demigoddess.

"The camp borders," Selina answered, her posture relaxing once they had gone through the electrical-magik barrier, "They're designed to keep mortals, monsters, and most bad weather out of the camp."

"Cool," A thought came to Ashley, "Does it protect Demigods who use technology? Like, on a daily basis."

Selina glanced at her, "It's not recommended to use technology in camp, usually only in emergencies, or you can use the computer at the Big House to face-call home. But other than that, demigods do not generally use technology at all. Especially the more powerful ones."

""More powerful ones"?" Ashley quoted, "What do you mean by that?"

"Like the children of the Big Three," Selina explained, "Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. Although they hadn't had children for a long time, since WW2."

"Hadn't?" Ashley asked.

"There's only one child of the Big Three currently-" Selina raised an eyebrow at Ashley who gave her a sheepish grin, "-at camp. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."

That's gonna change, Ashley sighed, "How come?"

"Well," Selina looked a little awkward to be the one telling her this, "After WW2, the Big Three swore on the Styx to not have children again, they were just too powerful, and there was a prophecy that one of their kids would have the power to destroy, or save Olympus once they reached sixteen."

Ashley blinked, internally panicking because she was turning sixteen in only a few weeks! And she only just entered this crazy world, she didn't want to have the ability to destroy it already!

"Scary," Ashley said, and she wasn't kidding.

"Yeah," Selina agreed as she pulled the car to halt next to a whole bunch of other cars.

"We're here," Selina didn't need to announce, but she did so anyway.

Ashley slowly touched Charlie's shoulder not to scare her friend, "Hey, Charlie, we're here."

She makes a sound of acknowledgement but otherwise remains silent, chewing on her lip in thought.

They got out of the car, Selina waited until they had shut their doors and she locked the car with the remote - the car's lights flashing twice to prove that she had locked it - and she gestured for the two younger girls to follow her.

Ashley held onto her Finding Dory bag to make sure that none of the contents fell out of it as Charlie followed beside her. Selina led them into a big blue farm style two-story house. Ashley managed to glimpse the camp further before they entered, and her eyes widened as she realized she recognized some of it from on the cruise ship.

But Luke had said that the camp had been destroyed-

The hairs on Ashley's arms were pickling with energy, and she had to pause for a moment. The very air around them crackled with energy, and Ashley didn't know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing.

Selina led them into a game room filled with old games that you would find in an arcade, and a bunch of couches and chairs that surrounded a beautifully carved wooden table.

"Wait here," Selina's kind voice said to the pair, "I'll go get Chiron."

Ashley and Charlie shared a look before sitting down on one of the couches.

It only took Selina a few minutes to come back, an oldish looking man in a wheelchair following her into the room.

"Ashley, Charlie, this is Chiron," Selina introduced the man in the wheelchair as a rather tubby man entered the room with a can of diet coke, "And that's Mr. D, over there."

Ashley was confused. Mr. 'D'? What kind of name was that?

Chiron smiled at the pair of friends, "Welcome to Camp Half-blood, Ashley and Charlie. I'm afraid that there had been some sort of mix up when you arrived, Ms. Ally, one of our campers were sent to pick you up, but came back saying that you had already been picked up by someone else?"

Ashley grew even more confused. Had Luke been lying to her? No way, he wouldn't lie. Something must've changed. That's it. She opened her mouth to tell him just that, when she caught Selina shaking her head the slightest, Ashley changed what she was doing to say in an instant, "Sorry for the change of plans, Mr. Chiron-" the man's cheeks turned red the very slightest, "-I encountered a friend at the airport, and we ended up chatting for a while, and when it came apparent that no one had come to pick me up my friend offered me a place to stay."

Chiron gave her a soft grandfatherly smile, "Well, as long as you were alright, Ms. Ally. However I do ask you to text either myself or one of the Camp leaders once you learn who they are, next time you visit your friend."

Ashley smiled, "Of course, Mr. Chiron, I promise!"

Selina gave her a smile and Ashley knew that the daughter of Aphrodite was pleased with her response to the man in the wheelchair.

"What's happening?" Charlie asks in a quiet voice, going almost unheard, "Why am I here?"

Mr. D rolled his eyes as he sipped on his coke, and Chiron sighed at the god, "Dear, what do you know of the Greek pantheon?"

"A-a little," Charlie scowls at herself. "The basics, I should think."

Chiron nods, "Good. Then you'll understand that the reason you are standing here is because you are a child of one of these gods."

Charlie blinks, visibly flinching as the idea is thrown at her. Her features contort in confusion and disbelief, giving her the appearance of someone who just watched a seagull eat their ice cream, "...What?"

Ashley probably would've laughed if the situation wasn't so serious.

"You wouldn't have been able to cross the borders if you weren't, insolent child," Mr. D rolled his eyes at her.

Again, Charlie frowns, shaking her head as her hands raise to press against her skull, "But... no, no, no... That's not... What?"

Mr. D scoffed, as Chiron rolled his eyes at the god, before smiling kindly at her, "Ms. Charlie, I'm afraid that it's true. One of your parents is a Greek god or goddess."

Charlie doesn't seem to be really listening at this point, her fingers having found the cross necklace around her neck. Her thumb traces it as her eyes lose focus, growing dull in shade, "But my parents have always... that would mean... No, no, no, no, no, no."

"Ms. Charlie?" Chiron asked her, his voice soft, "Are you alright-"

"She's not alright, fool," Mr. D sneered at the centaur, "Her mind is obviously in the stupid turmoil that all of them have once finding out that their world is not overlooked by just one god."

Surely, if Charlie Whitehouse happened to be the child of Zeus, lightning bolts would be shooting from her eyes, given the glare she sends Mr. D. "I have believed and grown up in an entirely different world to whatever this is. I am not thick, I am scared."

Mr. D looked stunned, while Chiron smiled.

"That's my friend," Ashley mouthed proudly to Selina who smiled at the pair of them.

"My entire world has essentially just collapsed and every single thing I have ever had the mind to linger on was a lie," Charlie continues, voice rising as her mind grapples for a single emotion to hold on to. "Am I expected to drop everything my life has ever been just for this?"

Awkward looks around the room from Chiron, Selina and Ashley. Ashley because she had kinda dropped everything for something "fantasy" in her life. For something different. Because she wanted to be different, because she wanted to know the thing that made her different from everyone else back in her hometown.

"I-I-I don't have anything else," Charlie stumbles over her words, tears beginning to glisten in the corner of her eyes. "You think I had much more than my 'stupid' beliefs? I didn't. And I don't particularly care what world this is but I will not be bullied for my religion."

"Puh-lease," Mr. D waved his coke in the air, "Your "beliefs" only focus on being "pure" and anything "evil" is considered bad. Humans deserve to have a bit of fun and release themselves whenever they want."

There's a sharp hissing like the sound of hot coals being doused in water and the bold anger in Charlie's eyes is alarming, "No. It is about love and forgiveness. Don't think for one second that we all think we're above others for the mere fact that we repent. You would be an idiot to think so."

Mr. D narrowed his eyes at her, "Just let me call up Astraea for you. You're going to need her after I'm through with turning you into a goldfish."

Ashley leaned over to Charlie, "I hope you know that he's the Dionysus. You know, the Greek God of wine, insanity, e.t.c?"

Charlie's eyes widen, but only enough that it's clear that she's not entirely in her right state of mind, "You've got to be joking."

"Soon-to-be-Dolphin-girl is right," Mr. D said, rolling his eyes irritably from behind his sunglasses, 'cause of course he'd have sunglasses on inside, "I can snap my fingers in a second and you both would be the creatures you should be for being brats."

"I'm not a brat!" Ashley argued, "If I'm a brat, then you're an asshole."

Charlie gives him a vacant look, lost of all curiosity, "Do it, then."

Mr. D stared at her, his eyes narrowing on her, "Fine," he snapped, moving his fingers to snap together-

"I'm not a brat," Ashley grumbled, making Mr. D stop and stare at her for a few moments, "What? I may suck at school, have an overly active mind, prefer reading instead of talking to people, love horses because they're way less complex than stupid humans, but I'm not a brat."

"See? You're never going to actually do it, Dionysus," Charlie states as fact, numbly tucking her necklace back into her shirt. "There's always going to be something that stops you last second and you won't do it."

Mr. D snapped his fingers and a can of coke appeared in his hand, "Stupid demigoddess," he grumbled, sipping on his new can of coke.

"Mr. D is actually unable to harm a demigod," Selina said, smiling at the pair's guts, already seeing that both Charlie and Ashley were going to be a great team, "He always threatens, but he can never harm a demigod directly."

Ashley mutters under her breath, "That's a major loophole right there."

Charlie elbows her lightly, hands shaking as she holds them in tight fists. It's more than clear that she's not quite recovering from the discovery of her heritage.

Ashley gives her friend a soft smile, "Hey, Charlie, it's gonna be alright."

Her friend shakes her head slightly, gnawing on her lip as her shoulders begin to tremble. But she doesn't start crying again, and she counts that as some sort of win.

I swear, this chapter makes me feel so powerful but so incredibly uncomfortable too.