Goddess Of Emotions

Escape To Camp

         
My name is Sherry. I have no last name, at least as far as the caretakers know, and my birthday is September 13, Friday. I’m an orphan that has no knowledge of either of my parents, and am currently 8 years old. I don’t talk to anyone and they don’t talk to me, unless they have to. No one had wanted to adopt me until today.
         Jerry and his daughter Dominique McCormic were looking to adopt a girl to be Dominique’s sister. Dominique’s mother was Athena, Greek Goddess of wisdom and battle. They didn’t get to see each other that much, only twice in Dominique’s life so far. Dominique stood by the door of the orphanage, right near where I was sitting, while her father went to talk to the owner of the orphanage. When I said I didn’t talk to people, I mean not a word has been spoken to anyone so they don’t even know if I could talk.
         But, for the first time in 8 years, I did talk to Dominique. I asked her quietly what she was doing here at the orphanage.
         “My father thinks I should have a sister to be with,” Dominique replied. I nodded and asked her if she wanted to go with him to pick someone. She said yes and I lead her to the front desk on the other side of the room. There her father Jerry was talking to Ms. Pronus, the owner of the orphanage.
         “I’m sorry, but the only girl who is 8 years old is Sherry and you don’t want her,” Ms. Pronus said, her northern accent clearly heard and making her words barely understandable. “Ah, here she is now. I’ll warn you, she doesn’t speak,” Ms. Pronus said, pointing at me.
         “You don’t’ talk,” Dominique whispered to me in confusion, just as Jerry said “I’m sure you wouldn’t mind talking to me, would you child,” in a patient voice. I turned to Dominique and whispered something in her ear.
         “Sherry says that it is true she doesn’t speak to most people, but she does speak at times,” Dominique said, repeating what I had told her. Jerry looked confused and Ms. Pronus’ eyes widened.
         “She spoke to that girl. You must have one special daughter, Mr. McCormic,” Ms. Pronus said, slightly stunned. Jerry turned to Ms. Pronus and said that as soon as my things were ready, they would pay and go. All my things were packed in a matter of minutes and the three of us were out the door and in Jerry’s car. I smiled at Dominique as we rode to my new home.
         She smiled back.
                   *                                        *                              *
         Two weeks after I had been adopted by the McCormic family, Jerry was dropping off Dominique and me at the front of the school for our first day of 3rd grade. Our second class was with Mr. Sloan in literature. When he came in, he looked like he was maybe six and a half feet tall. Upon looking at him closer, I saw that he was even taller than that. He was a Cyclops looking for food, not a teacher looking for money.
         As soon as he walked in and felt me staring, he looked at me hungrily as if I was going to be his next meal. 30 minutes later during recess, I told Dominique about Mr. Sloan.
          “We have to go, now,” Dominique said, instantly taking charge because she knew more of the dangers monsters like Cyclops could pose. I saw Mr. Sloan walking toward us and pointed him out to Dominique. We both ran, jumping over the chain-link fence and racing down the street as fast as we could. The first and only time I looked back, I saw Mr. Sloan following in his fast pace. I made us take random twists and turns in an effort to shake Mr. Sloan off.
         We were going to the camp Dominique had told me about, Camp Half-Blood. When we couldn’t run anymore, we took a bus out of town and toward the island that was hidden to full-mortal eyes that had Camp Half-Blood was on. There was a bridge leading to the island, but the bus didn’t go that far, so we had to walk across the more-than-a-mile-long bridge. The bus hadn’t left yet. It let one more passenger off at the stop.
         Mr. Sloan got off the bus and started toward us. We ran to the hill that Camp Half-Blood was on as fast as we could, but Mr. Sloan was gaining on us. Unable to run anymore, we turned to face Mr. Sloan at the base of the hill. Dominique, knowing more about monsters than I did, attacked the Cyclops first. He knocked her in the side of the head as she came at him.
         She flew into the air and hit a tree, knocking her unconscious. I searched the ground for a weapon and found a thin, black, 6 in long pointed rock. Jumping on Mr. Sloan, I used my rock to stab him in his one huge eye. He roared in pain and fell to the ground. I continued to stab him until he dissolved, as all monsters do.
         Once he had completely dissolved, I put the rock in my pocket and started to drag the unconscious Dominique up the hill. When I had gotten most of the way, I saw the form of a centaur and immediately knew it was Chiron, the one Dominique had told me about. I knew we would be safe as I saw him coming towards us. Knowing that, I did what any 8 year old who had just single-handedly destroyed a fully grown Cyclops would do. I passed out.
         I fell into a crumpled heap beside Dominique, hearing and seeing no more.

Given a Goddess

         I woke up in one of those hospital-type rooms. Everything was white, even the clothes someone had put me in while I had been unconscious. Then I saw Chiron in his wheel chair form.
         “Are you all right Sherry,” he asked. I nodded and waited for him to continue, also looking around for Dominique. Chiron seemed to notice me looking around, and to know what, or in this case, who I was looking for.
         “Dominique isn’t here. She woke up a few hours ago, so I sent her to Athena cabin. Now, I’m hoping you can tell me what happened yesterday,” he said all this calmly, but I could tell he thought it important to know. I just shook my head.
         “Dominique told me you wouldn’t talk to me, but I had hoped you would. Well, if nothing else can be done about that, I guess I’ll show you around Camp,” Chiron said, getting out of his wheel chair and once again showing his centaur form. I stood and immediately stumbled, falling back onto the bed. Seeing that I wasn’t steady yet, Chiron allowed me to ride him. As I sat on his horse back, I couldn’t keep myself from stroking his side.
         “I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t do that,” Chiron said, slightly annoyed. I giggled. I had always like horses, but had never been near one before. I could tell that, when I had stroked him, his “horse half” had liked it. I kept myself from petting him as we rode through the Camp.
         Chiron showed me the amphitheater, the forges, the dining area, the campfire pit, the sword fighting arena, and lastly the cabins. Each cabin represented a different God or Goddess. Each God or Goddess’ cabin was the house of their half-God and Goddess children.
         “You have not been claimed, so you will have to stay in Hermes cabin,” Chiron said as he went down to it. I got down, finally able to hold myself upright, and knocked on the door of the cabin. A teenager of about 17 by the name of Christopher Thomas answered. Chiron told him I was unclaimed and that I didn’t speak to people often. Christopher gave me the corner close to the door and gave me a sleeping bag and some bathroom supplies.
         I put my hands in my pockets and looked around. After a moment, I realized something was jabbing into my right hand. I took whatever it was out and realized it was the rock I had used to defeat the Cyclops. But it had changed. It was still pointed and thin, but now it was smooth and shiny, like a dagger.
         I went out of the cabin and retraced my steps back to the forges. I found a boy of about 12 there. He looked up at me as I came and smiled.
         “Hey, I’m Beckendorf. Can I help you,” he asked, sounding as if he had already said this a good many times. I pointed at my little dagger and then at the hilt of the sword he had just stopped making.
         “You want a hilt,” he said. It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway.
         “Come back in a half hour. I’ll have you a hilt and a holder to put around your waist,” he said, taking my dagger and starting to examine it. I nodded again and left, making my way back to the cabin.
                             *                              *                              *
         A half hour later, I came back to the forges. But I couldn’t find Beckendorf. A girl of 15 came up to me.
         “You’re the one who asked Beckendorf to make the hilt and holder,” the girl asked. Without waiting for an answer, she left. She came back with my dagger and a holder. Giving them to me, she said I should get going. I looked at the new hilt and saw that it was made out of wood, with an almost unnoticeable layer of metal to keep the wood from rotting.
         Then I looked at the holder before putting it around my waist. It was leather, with one side having a blue, a yellow, and a green gem of even spacing. On the other side were a red, a yellow, and an orange gem, also evenly spaced. I strapped it around my waist and walked back to the cabin, feeling proud of my weapon. When I got back, everyone wanted to know where I had gotten the dagger.
         I said nothing, going to my corner and sitting down. A few people tried to take the dagger from me, but I kept them from it by staring them down every time they tried. A short time later, Christopher announced it was time to go to the sword fighting arena. We all filed out of the cabin and to the arena. Chiron, the teacher, was waiting for us when we got there.
         “We are going to be practicing sword-to-sword combat. That means no shields,” Chiron announced, taking out his foot-long sword. Everyone paired up, leaving me alone. Chiron joined me in combat.
         “Do you have a sword,” Chiron asked. I shook my head and showed him my dagger. He thought for a moment and then told me it would do. I unsheathed my dagger and it grew into a 2-foot sword. I stared at it in wonder.
         “How did you get it to do that,” Chiron asked. I shrugged in reply and he started us fighting. I met Chiron’s attempts to attack me with defensive moves so elaborate that I almost scared myself. For a moment Chiron’s technique faltered and I took my chance, knocking his sword from his hand. At the sound of the clattering sword, the whole cabin turned, giving a collective gasp because of what they saw.
         I had my sword trained on Chiron’s chest. He was breathing heavily, where as I hadn’t even broken a sweat. I calmly walked to Chiron’s sword and gave it back. He, and a good amount of others, was looking at me in bewilderment. I put my sword back into my holder, it turning back into a dagger as I did so.
         Chiron got the others to start practicing again, and stood by me as I watched the others work. When practice had finally ended, it was time for lunch. We all said our prayers to the Gods and Goddess’ and sat down to eat. When the others in my cabin complained about the lack of room, I sat on the hard ground to give them more room. We finished lunch and spent a half hour waiting to start archery.
         Chiron was also teaching archery. After explaining how to use a bow and arrow for my benefit, he called people up to try and shoot the target. He called me up third.
         “Don’t worry if you don’t make the bull’s eye at the first try. Most people don’t,” Chiron said as he handed me a bow and 3 arrows. I notched the arrow and let it fly. It hit the bull’s eye with a soft thump. The 2nd and 3rd landed in the same place, slicing through the arrow that came before it.
         I looked at Chiron for a reaction. He muttered something I didn’t catch and shook his head. I moved beside him as he called the next person up. By the time everyone had gone around once, it was time for dinner. We had dinner, Chiron announcing we would have capture the flag tomorrow afternoon, and then went to bed.
         After a few uncomfortable hours of sleep on the floor, it was time to go to the morning classes. When I passed by Beckendorf on my way to canoeing, he asked me how my hilt and holder were doing. I smiled and gave him a thumbs-up to show I was satisfied with them. Then came lunch and after that capture the flag. It was Apollo cabin, Athena cabin, and Hermes cabin against everyone else.
         Some people from Apollo cabin, as well as all the new people from Hermes and Athena cabin, were guarding our flag. A group of 10 came at us but we knocked back all but 2. The 2 we couldn’t get took the flag and started back. I knew all I had to do was keep them from getting back to their side before our people came. I used my sword, now a foot and a half long, to fend them off at the same time.
         No one saw it, but my eyes changed from brown to the stormy grey of the children of Athena. As water from the nearby river splashed on the 2 from the other team, Dominique noticed my eyes turn the sea blue of children of Poseidon. The 2 slipped and fell just as the team of 15 that had set out to get the flag came out of the forest into our little clearing. I cheered along with the others. We had won capture the flag.
         My eyes had settled back to the color brown, but something above my head was attracting people’s attention. I looked above myself to see a trident, the symbol of Poseidon, with an owl, the symbol of Athena, flying around it. Chiron had arrived out of the woods in time to see the symbols before they faded.
         “The symbols of Poseidon and Athena together can only mean on thing. I give you Sherry, daughter of Athena and Poseidon, making her a Greek Goddess of Olympus,” Chiron said, bowing down. One by one, everyone else bowed to me respectfully. That was when it really hit me. I was a Goddess.

Family Reunion

         “We must arrange for you to go to Olympus,” Chiron said for the fifth time as he paced in the living room of the Big House. By this time I was only half listening. Dominique, Argus, and I were the only ones here because everyone else had been instructed to go back to their cabins. I leaned over to Dominique and whispered in her ear.
         “Sherry says we should just go. She thinks the Gods won’t mind,” Dominique told Chiron for me. Chiron stopped pacing and thought about this for a few minutes.
         “I guess that would be fine. You can go tomorrow, Sherry,” Chiron said. I whispered in Dominique’s ear again.
         “Sherry won’t go without me,” Dominique said, barely concealing the pride in her voice. Chiron turned to me.
         “You have to go alone. The Gods won’t appreciate you bringing someone to Olympus who is not allowed,” Chiron said all this as if I should know it already. I shook my head and linked my arm with Dominique’s. Chiron sighed.
         “Fine, Dominique can go with you. Argus will drive you to the Empire State Building tomorrow, so wake up early to pack,” Chiron left the Big House to go get the others to start their regular activities.
                             *                              *                              *
         I woke up at 5a.m. and went to Athena cabin to wake Dominique. I was told I would still be in Hermes cabin until I got back from my visit with the Gods. Dominique and I only had a few pairs of clothes, my dagger and a bow and arrow each. We also had the mandatory ambrosia and nectar, the food and drink of the Gods that heals half-bloods and give them more strength and energy. By 6 a.m., we were all ready to go.
         Chiron gave us a quick breakfast and then told us to meet Argus at the base of the hill. We had our ambrosia, nectar, and one pair of clothes in a backpack. I had my dagger, bow, and quiver of arrows, Dominique had her bow and quiver as well as her newly made celestial bronze sword of 2 feet. We got in the van with Argus at the base of the hill and drove to the Empire State Building. It was about a half hour ride, and Dominique and I spent that time discussing what we would do when we had to talk to the Gods.
         I hadn’t bothered to whisper to Dominique because Argus wouldn’t say anything about it. When I started talking, he raised one of his many eyebrows but let it go. As we got out of the van, Argus gave me a thumbs up, as if to say everything was fine. We walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building and straight to the front desk.
“How can I help you,” the man asked, not looking up at us. When Dominique said we were going to Mount Olympus, the man looked at us suspiciously and told us there was no such thing. I whispered in Dominique’s ear and then smiled at the man.
         “This is my half-sister, Sherry. She thinks that it would help you to remember if she gave you a little demonstration,” Dominique said, stepping back from the lobby desk. The man looked at me with wide eyes. I held up one finger, my eyes turning sea blue. A miniature whirlpool appeared on my finger, spraying salt water on the wide-eyed man’s face.
         “You’re the one I got a message about,” the man whispered, leaning so close to me that I could smell his tuna fish breath. I nodded. He ducked under the desk and gave me a gold card, telling me all the Gods had one to activate the elevator. We went in the elevator and I put the card in it’s slot. We started toward the 600th floor, some 60’s song playing as elevator music.
         That was when I allowed myself to laugh.
         “Did you see his face,” Dominique asked, laughing with me. I nodded as tears streaked down my face from laughing so hard. By the time we made it to the 600th floor, we had controlled our laughter and were facing door as we waited anxiously for it to open. As it opened, we stepped into a circular room with tall thrones covering half the circular wall. Feeling as if I were on trial, I stepped into the middle of the room with Dominique, right in front of Zeus.
         Everyone seemed to be there, but even then there was a throne with no one sitting in it. I wondered who it was, but before I could do anything, there was a loud noise behind me. I turned to see to female figures, one smaller than the other.
         “Sorry we’re late, Viola had a little trouble with the air travel,” the taller one said breathlessly. She hugged Zeus, kissed Poseidon, and then sat in the empty throne while the smaller one, Viola, sat at Hades’ feet after hugging him. I didn’t know who she was, or this Viola. I had thought I knew all the Gods, but these 2 baffled me. Looking at Dominique, I saw plainly on her face that she knew them about as well as I did.
         I bowed to Zeus, then Poseidon, then Athena. After that I bowed to all the other Gods in order, visibly pausing in front of the Goddess that I didn’t know the name of. Then I waited for someone to say something. 
         “Chiron told us you are not one to talk, so I shall do all the talking for now,” Zeus said. He was about to go on, but I interrupted.
         “I can talk, thank you. I just chose not to. It does not have to be a one-way conversation,” I informed him calmly, though I was extremely nervous. He seemed a bit offended that I interrupted him, but he blew it off and continued. While he talked, I looked at Dominique. She seemed surprised but not angry, like I had thought she might be.
         “. . . we are celebrating 2 birthdays today,” Zeus was saying. Who else was having a birthday, I thought, as the Goddess Viola stood and walked up to me
looking bored but suspicious.
She looked me up and down, as if judging from my looks whether I was worthy of being in her presence. She seemed to be satisfied by what she saw, because she smiled beautifully at me and hugged me. Then she stood on my left side, causing Dominique to move out of her way and away from me.
“You don’t need to be with her now that you have me. You need to be with the better crowd, not the stupid half-gods,” she said, not even bothering to whisper out of respect for the others in the room. I was really not liking this girl right now. I took a step away from her, disgusted.
“That ‘stupid half-god’ is my sister. If you Gods treat others like this, I’m not sure I want to be one of you,” I said, going to stand by Dominique and taking her hand. Dominique looked proud, Viola offended, and the other Gods looked amused. Viola held out her hand and a big glass cup appeared in it. She threw it at me, but I was ready for it.
It stopped inches from my face. Being transparent, I saw that Viola had turned her back on me and was looking at the other Gods. With a cruel smile, I hurled the glass back at her. It hit the back of her head with a satisfying, and probably painful, shattering sound. Viola growled impressively as she spun around to face me, glass in her spiked black hair.
Then, as I stared her down and she tried to threaten me with her growls, someone laughed. We both looked up at the Gods to see the unknown Goddess laughing her head off. The laughter brought a smile to the surface of my mouth, so I stood there smiling at the unknown Goddess as I waited for her to stop laughing. Eventually she wiped her eyes and looked at the 2 of us.
“Some way to greet each other after spending the first day of your life together,” she said as she got off her throne. She stood beside Viola and, after hugging her, noticed that I was looking at her in confusion.
“Oh yeah, you don’t know me. I’m Ren, daughter of Zeus, mother of Viola, wife of Poseidon, Goddess of Time,” she said, holding her hand out hesitantly for me to shake. I laughed, taking her hand.
“Long description. Relax, I won’t kill you or anything,” I told her as I let go of her hand. She did relax; her shoulders loosened, her smile was more natural, she seemed more confident. Dominique, who had been watching on the sidelines from the time that the fights started, tapped my shoulder. I turned and she whispered in my ear, for the sake of privacy.
“Your eyes are violet,” she told me. I looked at her for a moment, and then decided to get a second opinion. I turned back to Ren.
“Ren, Dominique says my eyes are violet colored. Is that true,” I asked. She looked into my eyes for a moment, and then nodded. I glanced at Dominique over my shoulder and saw we seemed to be thinking the same thing: what does that mean? Ren had gone back to her throne and Viola had gone back to sitting at Hades’ feet.
“Now, shall we get started on the presents,” Poseidon asked, clapping his hands together. A large white Pegasus appeared in front of me, one bigger than any I had ever seen before.
“He is for you daughter, and will need to be named. He will be housed in the stables, but you will be the only one allowed to ride him unless you say otherwise,” Poseidon said, clapping his hands once more. The Pegasus disappeared, probably to the stables at camp. Next, I was given 4 golden fire arrows from Apollo, 4 silver freezing arrows from Artemis, and 2 heart shaped love arrows from Aphrodite. Hephaestus made my quiver able to refill automatically, Hades gave me a jar filled with water from Lith, the river that made you forget, Zeus gave me a lightning-charged spear, Ren gave me a compact mirror that allowed me to see the past of whoever I say the first and last name of, and a pager from Hermes.
Viola got a miniature sun from Apollo, a miniature moon from Artemis, the promise of love from Aphrodite, a fanny-pack of weapons from Ares and Hephaestus, a dinosaur named Steve from Ren, A lightning-charged spear from Zeus, a skeleton servant from Hades, a pony from Poseidon, and a pager from Hermes. A voice suddenly came into my head as I watched Viola play with her moon and sun. My gift to you, daughter, is knowledge. You shall play a role in the balance of the Gods; you shall make us learn new things and forget what we had learned before. I looked at Athena; her face was expressionless and she stared straight forward, but she nodded slightly as I looked at her, confirming that she had spoken to me with her thoughts.
“Now, if I am right, we must find out what powers you have,” Zeus said. All the Gods straightened up in their thrones; everyone was excited to see what I could do. Ren stepped in front of me. I gave her a questioning look.
“I train all the new ones. It’s kinda my job,” Ren told me as she took my dagger and holder and my bow and quiver of arrows. I looked at them sadly like old friends as she gave them to Viola, who then sat down at the foot of Ren’s throne.
“First, we will see what you got from Poseidon,” she told me with a smile. She told me to make a whirlpool, so I did. Then she had me talk to a horse after summoning it and then had me do the same with an underwater creature. I started to get bored and made it rain over Ren’s head for the fun of it. Ren looked mad, but Poseidon hugged me while he laughed.
“Ok, I think we’ve got enough of that. Let’s move on to Athena,” she said as she wrung out her hair. I levitated thrones with people in them, used my thoughts for communication, and made myself fly by using levitation on myself. Then I was given back my dagger and allowed to fight Ares as a test of strategy. I kept my dagger a short 8 inches, got in close, then allowed my dagger to grow into a 2-foot sword and caused it to hit Ares in the gut.

He laughed as I took the sword out and put it in my holder, a dagger once more. Ares went back to his seat after telling me we would fight again and that he would win. Ren came back down from her throne to me.
         “Now I believe we should try to find out what powers of your own you have,” she said.
         “Is there anything you have found you’re good at that no one else can do,” Ren asked.
         “I can tell how you feel right now. You’re happy, but also nervous, probably because of me,” I told her. Her eyes widened slightly in shock and she looked at the Gods to see their reactions. Some looked shocked like Ren, others interested. I looked at Dominique to see her smiling at me. Ren turned back to me with a tight smile.
         “Well, Goddess of Emotions, let’s see what you got,” Ren said.

What Gods Do