Post by Areelah Gregorie on Feb 26, 2011 11:13:56 GMT -5
Areelah Gregorie: My Life as a Demigod
Chapter 1: This is Just the Beginning
Areelah Gregorie was never a normal kid--that much she knew for sure. Seriously, who's had straight A's since kindergarten, and a bunch of other weird stuff, and is considered normal? So, it began one abnormally weird day (even for her, abnormally weird). Areelah was getting ready to get off the at the bus stop when two really skinny, almost see-through guys stood up and blocked her path. The first one was wearing way out of style Elvis Presley pants with a tie-dye shirt that said "life is for morons" and the other one could have walked straight out of the Civil War. He had the look of a starving wolf and had a wild beard that came down to his chest and was wearing a gray uniform with a dark stained hole in the chest. The first guy said "come with us if you value your life" Areelah thought, "yeah, says the guy with a 'life is for morons' shirt."
Then the civil war dude pulled out an ancient but still deadly hand grenade. So she decided this was a bit too weird and made a break for the door at the back of the bus. But there was a Nazi dude there, blocking the door. She was trapped. Then the Elvis guy said "come with us, and we won't murder you instantaneously." Ok, pretty obvious surrender was the only option unless............she somehow managed to climb out through a window. There was an open window two rows in front of where the two weirdos were facing Areelah. But she would never get there unless they were caught off guard. "OMG!!!!" she shouted "there's a guy with a gun out there!!" She said, pointing toward the front window. That sent all the kids in the bus into chaos. She managed to fight her way through the mass of screaming kids to the window. It was a tight squeeze, but she made it through. Then she ran and ran till she was hopelessly lost, because she figured "What's the point of going home? They probably have someone at the house by now, whoever those freaks are. Plus, she really didn't want to stay here with them running around, period.
Chapter 2: I Meet a One-of-a-Kind Stowaway
When Areelah finally stopped running she realized she's taken too many wrong turns and had ended up in North Charleston. "Aw, great." she muttered, "i'm in North Charleston and it's almost dark." So she kept walking until she got to the airport. The next day she figured she might as well go to New York; that's where Dad said he met Mom. Maybe she was still there? Just one problem--she had zero cash. Ok, so she couldn't pay to get on the plane--she'd just travel as someone else's luggage. She grinned at herself. ;D This was going to be interesting.
She checked the flight times for the next one to New York; next plane was at midnight. She snooped around till she found the terminal where the airplane would stay parked till the next take-off and waited out of sight. Finally an American Airlines plane taxied in off the runway, stopped and let all it's passengers and luggage off. There was an empty luggage trolley some careless person had left near the luggage compartment. The workers left the luggage compartment doors open as they lounged around on the other side of the terminal while they waited for the luggage for the next flight. Areelah saw her chance and climbed on top of the luggage trolley and jumped. She barely got her arms over the sides and now she was stuck. Her mind was spinning--if they found her it was all over. Suddenly someone inside the luggage compartment grabbed her wrists, pulled her up and clamped one hand down on her mouth to stifle the scream rising in her throat. "Don't scream and i'll let you go." he whispered. She couldn't make any noise so she nodded her head yes. He let go and she warily turned around to get a look at the guy behind her. He had long in-his-face brown hair and bright green, mischievous eyes. "Sorry if i freaked you out" he said, grinning "my name is Jack. Jack Porche."
"Sure, no problem." she answered, then thought, "Who the heck is this guy? He can't be older than me!" Then she realized he was staring at her. "What?" she demanded. "You haven't told me who you are or what you're doing on my airplane." he said. "Ok, Mr. Lord of the Sky, my name's Areelah Gregorie." she whispered back. Thunder rumbled in the distance. "and what do you mean by 'your plane?' I thought this was owned by American Airlines." "It is, but it's still my plane." "Ok, dude explain." she said. "Well you see, it's kind of a long story................." "We've got the whole flight, spill it!" "Fine! Cool it, i'll tell you after they get the rest of the luggage on!" Then she asked "Hey wait, what are we gonna do when the worker people get on to load the luggage? They'll see us!" "Easy, we in the very back, where they never go, lie flat on the floor and they'll never see us." "You sound like you've done this alot before, Jack." "After they load the luggage, i'll tell you i promise, but you're gonna have to elaborate a little on why you're here too!" he hissed. "Quick! I hear them coming!" she whispered. "Get in the back--quietly!!"he said.
As they lay in the back she started thinking a bit. This guy--she felt like she should trust him, but with those mischievous eyes, it was kind of hard.
The luggage guys finally left the plane and Jack pulled out a flashlight.
"Ok, I'll tell you what you want to know once you tell me who you are, why you're here, etc." he said.
Areelah decided to be as sketchy and vague as she could--she still didn't completely trust him.
"Alright" she said, " you know my name is Areelah Gregorie. My Dad teaches at the C of C and i'm running away. An interesting ah........situation came up."
"How old are you?" he asked.
"Fourteen. And you?"
"Same. Continue."
"There really isn't that much more to tell." She could tell he wanted to ask what that "situation" was but had decided not to ask yet. She looked at him expectantly.
"Ok, i'm Jack Porche and I'm from Athens, GA. I started getting attacked by hellhounds about a year ago. I didn't know where to go, so I started hiding out in the luggage compartment of this airplane. I've been surviving off of stolen food from the airport lobby. And I've gotten some really cool stuff from some suitcases in here. Until you decided to hop on board I've been living as a shadow with no one to talk too."
"Aren't hellhounds monsters from greek mythology?"
"Yeah, have you ever met your mom?"
"No. I don't even know her name."
"Ok, brace yourself. Your mom is a greek goddess. My dad's Hermes, the messager of the gods."
Hhhmmmm."
"That situation you mentioned. I'm gonna guess it had something do with a freak of nature thing threatening your life."
"Yeah, I was on the bus and three see-through freaks told me to come with them and I would be instantaneously killed. One was an Elvis dude, the other a genuine civil war dead guy, and the other was a Nazi with a machine gun."
"Interesting, looks like Hades has it out for you."
Suddenly the airplane lurched. Wind howled and luggage was threatening to come loose and crush them.
"I don't know what you did to make Zeus mad, but he sure is angry!!" Jack shouted.
"What are we going to do?" Areelah screamed.
"I don't know you tell me!"
"Fine. See those parachutes coming out of the green suitcase? You grab one & I'll grab the other. Head for the door up ahead,the one on the floor. Swing it open and we'll jump through, but make sure you do it on my count--we have to do it in mid swing so we don't get killed by the jet turbines!"
"You're going to get us both killed." Jack muttered, but he did what she asked. Areelah opened the door and waited for the plane to swing to the left and as it was falling back to it's normal position she yelled "Go!" and pushed Jack through into the nightmare beyond. Then she immediately followed suit. She counted to thirty before letting her parachute billow out behind her.
Chapter 3: My Life Just Gets Weirder and Weirder
She was whipped around in the wind like a rag doll and was soon knocked unconscious by the sudden jerking of the parachute.
Areelah woke up in a place so strange it could have been out of a fairy book. She was in a bed in a room with a view of a large forest with smoke rising out of a section.........that didn't look so good. She tried to sit up but immediately felt light-headed, fell back onto her pillow and let out a low groan. "Chiron, she's awake." Jack said as he emerged into her view from the left. He had a bandage going around the side of his head. "Where am I?" she asked. "Ah, yes welcome to Camp Half Blood Areelah. I am Chiron, camp activities director." said a middle aged guy in a wheelchair to her right. He had sad eyes and a brown beard. "What happened? The last thing I remember was free falling through a storm."
"Fortunately you both landed here at camp. The bad part is you managed to nearly drown landing in the lake and Jack got stuck unconcious in a tree with a big gash on the side of the head. A couple of campers found him and the water nymphs brought you to the shore."
Areelah just stared at him taking all this information in. "Jack told me the Greek gods are real. Who's my mom? And why hasn't she ever contacted me? And where is this place?" she asked.
"We won't know who your mom is, but hopefully we will soon. Until then you will be in the Hermes cabin with Jack if you feel well enough to leave the Big House. Camp Half Blood is on the tip of Long Island, New York. Oh, and drink some nectar, you'll feel better." She drank the stuff from the cup he gave him. It tasted great, like her grandma's oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies. She immediately started feeling better and drank the whole thing.
"I'll leave you to get some more rest. When you're ready you and Jack can go ahead to the Hermes cabin, you're stuff is already there." Chiron said. Then he left.
"Are you OK?"she asked Jack.
"Just a little scratch, I'll be fine." he looked kind of awkward. "Thanks for that quick thinking um, back there. I was starting to panic."
She felt kind of awkward too. "No prob. I um, was about to panic too, till I saw the parachutes." Then Jack chuckled. "What's so funny?" she demanded. "It's hard to imagine you being panicked."
Areelah grinned. "Yeah, I guess it kind of is." then the awkwardness kind of evaporated. "We should probably get down to the cabin. Hermes is the god of thieves too." he grinned, "Let's see if we can salvage what we can." Areelah smiled too, got up and put her shoes on and said "Let's go."
At the campfire that night Chiron went through his list of announcements. "As you can all see, we have two new campers who joined us the other night." some one from the Ares cabin snickered. Areelah thought she might as well have drowned in the lake. "That's quite enough, thank you Clarisse." Chiron said. The girl snickering threw him a 'I'm gonna kill you, you stupid old horse' kinda look. "Jack and Areelah would you please stand up." Chiron commanded, "it's about time your parents claimed you."
Jack coughed into his hand. "Something you'd like to say, Jack?" asked Chiron. "Oh, um I kind of already figured out my dad is Hermes."
"Okay then, Areelah we just need to figure out who your mom is." he said. There was suddenly a blinding light and an owl swooped out of the sky. When the light faded, Areelah was dressed out for battle with the owl on her shoulder. Chiron was smiling. "Well, your mother is obviously Athena. Please go join your cabin." Everyone started clapping but Areelah felt anything but happy. At least she knew Jack when she was in the Hermes cabin. And now she was going to be in a cabin full of strangers who where apparently her half-siblings. And that stupid owl wouldn't leave her alone. "Fine." she told it, "I'll just call you Pest." It just looked at her with it's big brown eyes. "OK, I guess you are a kinda cute barn owl." she muttered. "Hoo Hoo?"
"Aw, shut up you stupid bird." she said, "Yes, you."
Chapter 1: This is Just the Beginning
Areelah Gregorie was never a normal kid--that much she knew for sure. Seriously, who's had straight A's since kindergarten, and a bunch of other weird stuff, and is considered normal? So, it began one abnormally weird day (even for her, abnormally weird). Areelah was getting ready to get off the at the bus stop when two really skinny, almost see-through guys stood up and blocked her path. The first one was wearing way out of style Elvis Presley pants with a tie-dye shirt that said "life is for morons" and the other one could have walked straight out of the Civil War. He had the look of a starving wolf and had a wild beard that came down to his chest and was wearing a gray uniform with a dark stained hole in the chest. The first guy said "come with us if you value your life" Areelah thought, "yeah, says the guy with a 'life is for morons' shirt."
Then the civil war dude pulled out an ancient but still deadly hand grenade. So she decided this was a bit too weird and made a break for the door at the back of the bus. But there was a Nazi dude there, blocking the door. She was trapped. Then the Elvis guy said "come with us, and we won't murder you instantaneously." Ok, pretty obvious surrender was the only option unless............she somehow managed to climb out through a window. There was an open window two rows in front of where the two weirdos were facing Areelah. But she would never get there unless they were caught off guard. "OMG!!!!" she shouted "there's a guy with a gun out there!!" She said, pointing toward the front window. That sent all the kids in the bus into chaos. She managed to fight her way through the mass of screaming kids to the window. It was a tight squeeze, but she made it through. Then she ran and ran till she was hopelessly lost, because she figured "What's the point of going home? They probably have someone at the house by now, whoever those freaks are. Plus, she really didn't want to stay here with them running around, period.
Chapter 2: I Meet a One-of-a-Kind Stowaway
When Areelah finally stopped running she realized she's taken too many wrong turns and had ended up in North Charleston. "Aw, great." she muttered, "i'm in North Charleston and it's almost dark." So she kept walking until she got to the airport. The next day she figured she might as well go to New York; that's where Dad said he met Mom. Maybe she was still there? Just one problem--she had zero cash. Ok, so she couldn't pay to get on the plane--she'd just travel as someone else's luggage. She grinned at herself. ;D This was going to be interesting.
She checked the flight times for the next one to New York; next plane was at midnight. She snooped around till she found the terminal where the airplane would stay parked till the next take-off and waited out of sight. Finally an American Airlines plane taxied in off the runway, stopped and let all it's passengers and luggage off. There was an empty luggage trolley some careless person had left near the luggage compartment. The workers left the luggage compartment doors open as they lounged around on the other side of the terminal while they waited for the luggage for the next flight. Areelah saw her chance and climbed on top of the luggage trolley and jumped. She barely got her arms over the sides and now she was stuck. Her mind was spinning--if they found her it was all over. Suddenly someone inside the luggage compartment grabbed her wrists, pulled her up and clamped one hand down on her mouth to stifle the scream rising in her throat. "Don't scream and i'll let you go." he whispered. She couldn't make any noise so she nodded her head yes. He let go and she warily turned around to get a look at the guy behind her. He had long in-his-face brown hair and bright green, mischievous eyes. "Sorry if i freaked you out" he said, grinning "my name is Jack. Jack Porche."
"Sure, no problem." she answered, then thought, "Who the heck is this guy? He can't be older than me!" Then she realized he was staring at her. "What?" she demanded. "You haven't told me who you are or what you're doing on my airplane." he said. "Ok, Mr. Lord of the Sky, my name's Areelah Gregorie." she whispered back. Thunder rumbled in the distance. "and what do you mean by 'your plane?' I thought this was owned by American Airlines." "It is, but it's still my plane." "Ok, dude explain." she said. "Well you see, it's kind of a long story................." "We've got the whole flight, spill it!" "Fine! Cool it, i'll tell you after they get the rest of the luggage on!" Then she asked "Hey wait, what are we gonna do when the worker people get on to load the luggage? They'll see us!" "Easy, we in the very back, where they never go, lie flat on the floor and they'll never see us." "You sound like you've done this alot before, Jack." "After they load the luggage, i'll tell you i promise, but you're gonna have to elaborate a little on why you're here too!" he hissed. "Quick! I hear them coming!" she whispered. "Get in the back--quietly!!"he said.
As they lay in the back she started thinking a bit. This guy--she felt like she should trust him, but with those mischievous eyes, it was kind of hard.
The luggage guys finally left the plane and Jack pulled out a flashlight.
"Ok, I'll tell you what you want to know once you tell me who you are, why you're here, etc." he said.
Areelah decided to be as sketchy and vague as she could--she still didn't completely trust him.
"Alright" she said, " you know my name is Areelah Gregorie. My Dad teaches at the C of C and i'm running away. An interesting ah........situation came up."
"How old are you?" he asked.
"Fourteen. And you?"
"Same. Continue."
"There really isn't that much more to tell." She could tell he wanted to ask what that "situation" was but had decided not to ask yet. She looked at him expectantly.
"Ok, i'm Jack Porche and I'm from Athens, GA. I started getting attacked by hellhounds about a year ago. I didn't know where to go, so I started hiding out in the luggage compartment of this airplane. I've been surviving off of stolen food from the airport lobby. And I've gotten some really cool stuff from some suitcases in here. Until you decided to hop on board I've been living as a shadow with no one to talk too."
"Aren't hellhounds monsters from greek mythology?"
"Yeah, have you ever met your mom?"
"No. I don't even know her name."
"Ok, brace yourself. Your mom is a greek goddess. My dad's Hermes, the messager of the gods."
Hhhmmmm."
"That situation you mentioned. I'm gonna guess it had something do with a freak of nature thing threatening your life."
"Yeah, I was on the bus and three see-through freaks told me to come with them and I would be instantaneously killed. One was an Elvis dude, the other a genuine civil war dead guy, and the other was a Nazi with a machine gun."
"Interesting, looks like Hades has it out for you."
Suddenly the airplane lurched. Wind howled and luggage was threatening to come loose and crush them.
"I don't know what you did to make Zeus mad, but he sure is angry!!" Jack shouted.
"What are we going to do?" Areelah screamed.
"I don't know you tell me!"
"Fine. See those parachutes coming out of the green suitcase? You grab one & I'll grab the other. Head for the door up ahead,the one on the floor. Swing it open and we'll jump through, but make sure you do it on my count--we have to do it in mid swing so we don't get killed by the jet turbines!"
"You're going to get us both killed." Jack muttered, but he did what she asked. Areelah opened the door and waited for the plane to swing to the left and as it was falling back to it's normal position she yelled "Go!" and pushed Jack through into the nightmare beyond. Then she immediately followed suit. She counted to thirty before letting her parachute billow out behind her.
Chapter 3: My Life Just Gets Weirder and Weirder
She was whipped around in the wind like a rag doll and was soon knocked unconscious by the sudden jerking of the parachute.
Areelah woke up in a place so strange it could have been out of a fairy book. She was in a bed in a room with a view of a large forest with smoke rising out of a section.........that didn't look so good. She tried to sit up but immediately felt light-headed, fell back onto her pillow and let out a low groan. "Chiron, she's awake." Jack said as he emerged into her view from the left. He had a bandage going around the side of his head. "Where am I?" she asked. "Ah, yes welcome to Camp Half Blood Areelah. I am Chiron, camp activities director." said a middle aged guy in a wheelchair to her right. He had sad eyes and a brown beard. "What happened? The last thing I remember was free falling through a storm."
"Fortunately you both landed here at camp. The bad part is you managed to nearly drown landing in the lake and Jack got stuck unconcious in a tree with a big gash on the side of the head. A couple of campers found him and the water nymphs brought you to the shore."
Areelah just stared at him taking all this information in. "Jack told me the Greek gods are real. Who's my mom? And why hasn't she ever contacted me? And where is this place?" she asked.
"We won't know who your mom is, but hopefully we will soon. Until then you will be in the Hermes cabin with Jack if you feel well enough to leave the Big House. Camp Half Blood is on the tip of Long Island, New York. Oh, and drink some nectar, you'll feel better." She drank the stuff from the cup he gave him. It tasted great, like her grandma's oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies. She immediately started feeling better and drank the whole thing.
"I'll leave you to get some more rest. When you're ready you and Jack can go ahead to the Hermes cabin, you're stuff is already there." Chiron said. Then he left.
"Are you OK?"she asked Jack.
"Just a little scratch, I'll be fine." he looked kind of awkward. "Thanks for that quick thinking um, back there. I was starting to panic."
She felt kind of awkward too. "No prob. I um, was about to panic too, till I saw the parachutes." Then Jack chuckled. "What's so funny?" she demanded. "It's hard to imagine you being panicked."
Areelah grinned. "Yeah, I guess it kind of is." then the awkwardness kind of evaporated. "We should probably get down to the cabin. Hermes is the god of thieves too." he grinned, "Let's see if we can salvage what we can." Areelah smiled too, got up and put her shoes on and said "Let's go."
At the campfire that night Chiron went through his list of announcements. "As you can all see, we have two new campers who joined us the other night." some one from the Ares cabin snickered. Areelah thought she might as well have drowned in the lake. "That's quite enough, thank you Clarisse." Chiron said. The girl snickering threw him a 'I'm gonna kill you, you stupid old horse' kinda look. "Jack and Areelah would you please stand up." Chiron commanded, "it's about time your parents claimed you."
Jack coughed into his hand. "Something you'd like to say, Jack?" asked Chiron. "Oh, um I kind of already figured out my dad is Hermes."
"Okay then, Areelah we just need to figure out who your mom is." he said. There was suddenly a blinding light and an owl swooped out of the sky. When the light faded, Areelah was dressed out for battle with the owl on her shoulder. Chiron was smiling. "Well, your mother is obviously Athena. Please go join your cabin." Everyone started clapping but Areelah felt anything but happy. At least she knew Jack when she was in the Hermes cabin. And now she was going to be in a cabin full of strangers who where apparently her half-siblings. And that stupid owl wouldn't leave her alone. "Fine." she told it, "I'll just call you Pest." It just looked at her with it's big brown eyes. "OK, I guess you are a kinda cute barn owl." she muttered. "Hoo Hoo?"
"Aw, shut up you stupid bird." she said, "Yes, you."