"The air crackles around her, as though restraining itself from choking the life from her eyes."

The flight was boring to say the least. Ashley was dying to get out of the steel contraption. It wasn't that she disliked being in the air, or the plane, it was just that whenever she looked out the window of the plane, she could swear that the air itself wanted to kill her.

It wasn't a comfortable feeling, which only made the flight's duration only drag on longer to her. The 19+ hour flight to New York only made it longer for the girl who urged to do something other than sit there.

The airport in wellington had been quiet when she left, something she had been relieved for when saying goodbye to her father who waved her off as she boarded the plane to Auckland. The Auckland airport was rather busy, even for it only being four thirty in the morning.

Ashley had found it difficult to find her way through the masses, but somehow she had managed to find her way to the plane leaving for New York with five minutes to spare for the 19+ flight.

And she found herself confused when they arrived in New York. Confused as to where she was supposed to go, and confused in general. The small slip of paper that held her instructions as to where she was supposed to go had gotten lost at some point in Ashley's journey, and now her forgetful head had already forgotten where and when she was supposed to be somewhere for her "caretaker" during his trip.

What was his name? Cherry? Chariot? Carey? No, she was sure that his name was similar to that trainer from the greek myths. She just couldn't remember the name for the life of herself.

"Hey, kid," Ashley looked up to see a guy, cuz there was no way in hell this male was a man, but he was most definitely not a boy by the looks of the scar on his face that went from the bottom of his eye all the way to his chin. His blue eyes were frosty as he stared at her with a kind smile, "You wouldn't happen to be Ashley Ally, would you?"

Ashley gave him her charming innocent smile that worked on almost everyone, "That's me," she said, "Are you the person who's taking care of me?"

The guy laughed, "Nah," he shoved his hands into his pockets of his jeans, "I'm just the guy who's taking you to camp."

"Camp?" Ashley echoed, raising an eyebrow.

HIs grin was almost too cocky, "I'm Luke," he held his hand out for her to shake.

Ashley shook his hand, "Well, you already know who I am," she smiled.

"We should probably head off now," Luke told her, "Kronos is waiting."

Ashley paused, "I thought his name was like one from the greek myths, who trained all those heroes?" She asked Luke.

"Common mispronunciation," Luke shrugged, car keys jingling in his hand, "Chiron, Kronos. See?"

She didn't hear how they were similar, but shrugged figuring that she had made a mistake, and followed the blond guy, "So where's this "camp"," she asked him, her suitcase dragging behind them.

Luke's face grimaced, "Well, it's not a camp, per say-"

Ashley's mouth dropped as she stared at the massive cruise ship. This was what Luke had meant by "camp"? Wtf was wrong with the blond scarred guy??

She voiced her thoughts, "This is not a "camp"."

Luke snorts, "No," he agrees, "No it's not."

"So, what did you mean by "camp"?" Ashley asked him as they walked onto the cruise ship, her eyes wide as she took in the aesthetic of the ship.

She didn't notice how his eyes panicked for a moment, "We have a level of the ship that is set to look like an outdoor camp that most of us used to live in," Luke's voice was casual, yet tense, and the readers were screaming at Ashley, "It was destroyed when I was younger."

"Oh," Ashley frowned, looking at his directly this time, "I'm, uh, sorry?"

"Don't be," Luke reassured her, "It was an accident that it happened."

It was awkward between them as they walked through the ship, Ashley kept awing at the magnificent design of the ship.

"In here," Luke said, opening a door to his right, and he entered the room with Ashley following close behind, until she got a good look at the "room".

"Holy shish kebab," Ashley gaped, standing still as she took in the room. It was just like Luke said, an entire floor of the ship had been used to create a "forest" on one side of the ship, "You weren't kidding when you said it was a "camp"."

It was a traditional "get your kids out of the house for the whole summer holidays" styled camp. Wooden cabins, forest, Ashley could hear the river that went through the forest, and there even was a lake! How funny, a lake inside a boat!?! Isn't the whole point of having a boat, to keep the water out?

"So, Ashley," Luke turned to face the starstruck girl, "What do you know of the Greek Gods?"

Ashley's face shifted immediately, her emotions easy for even the most oblivious person to see, "Not much," she admitted, "I've never really had to consider them before, we don't go over the Greek Gods and Goddesses in school in New Zealand."

It was an annoying subject for Ashley, who had felt that she could've had so many opptuines in life if her stupid primary school had offered more electives for them to choose from, other than Te Reo Maori or Samoan. Honestly, her primary school sucked. Her college - High school - wasn't that much better. And she was still pissed at how many times both schools had gone over the Treaty of Waitangi and the ANZAC battle when they could've been teaching students about thing that they would actually need for their futures.

Honestly? What the hell was Ashley going to use 'y = x²' for in the real world, when she wasn't even going to be an architect, or a mathematician. She didn't even know what job she wanted to have when she was older, but she was one hundred percent sure that she didn't want either of those jobs.

Luke looked concerned as he looked at her, "They didn't teach you anything? Nothing about the Greek Gods?"

"I know more about the Maori Gods than the Greek Gods," Ashley said in the most even voice that she had spoken to him. Even though fury burned inside of her.

To her, it looked like Luke wanted to vomit, but swallowed instead, "What do you know of the Greek Gods?" he managed to ask her.

Ashley's face scrunched up as she thought about it, "I know that there's Zoozes-" Luke snorted at the tortured name, "-the asshole king of the sky, then there's his brothers, Hades, and Poseidon-" she scrunched up her nose, "-I think I remember something about how crazy Hairdresser could be when Zoozes keeps knocking up other women."

Luke was laughing hysterically by the time she finished, and she could see a few other people looking out of the cabins to see what the dying bird was.

Ashley was just confused, surely she got some of it right, "Was it something I said?"

Luke collected himself up, still chuckling, looking like fifty years had been lifted from himself, his eyes twinkling with mirth, "It's Zeus," he correct the firs name, "And where on Gaia, did you get "Hairdresser" from?"

Ashley shrugged, "That's not her name?" Luke shook his head to her, "Oh, well," she sighed, "I thought that was her name. Sorry. I had been wondering why her name was "Hairdresser"."

Luke snorted, "Her name is Hera."

"Oh, okay," Ashley shrugged, "So what do the Greek Gods have to do with this ship?"

Luke settled down easily enough when she mentioned the ship, his crystal blue eyes clear of any mirth, "They have everything to do with this ship."

Ashley raised an eyebrow, "How so?" she asked.

He gave her a look over, "Have you ever felt different? Had anything strange happen around you?"

Ashley gave him a weird look, "Of course I feel different, there's no one out there that's exactly like me."

Luke sighed, shaking his head, "That's not what I mean," he looks into her eyes, "Have you ever felt connected to a certain aspect of life? Felt drawn to the water? The sky? The earth?"

Ashley frowned, thinking it over. Feeling drawn to something? Well, there was always the swimming thing that she did for quite a few years in a club before giving it up for horse riding.

"I've always liked horses," Ashley shrugs, "I don't know if that checks anything on your list, but I've always liked horses."

A thoughtful look appeared on Luke's face, "Horses, huh?"

"So what's me liking horses got to do with Greek Gods?" She asked him, still waiting for the answer.

Luke gave her a smile, "I want you to meet someone," he says, walking again.

"Who?" Ashely had the jog slightly to keep up with his fast pace.

"You'll see."