I woke up startled. I looked at the alarm clock, and read 11:30 pm. I had slept for thirteen hours straight. I walked to the kitchen where I saw my mother preparing some coffee for herself.
“Mom, I have to talk to you,” I said.
“What is it, honey?” she answered, in a voice that made me want to crawl into her arms and smell her jasmine perfume, feel her arms around me and her hair in my nose.
A thirteen year old can still want to feel like a six year old, right?
“What happened to dad?” I asked. That was a question that would always make her cry, but not this time. She sat down, took a shaky breath and started talking.
So it began, my mother told me how she had found my dad. She had told me me that he had died in the war but it turned out that he had actually met my mother in my uncle’s funeral. He had seen her and came to give her his condolences and it was love at first site. They were not actually married but my grandparents didn’t mind, and so I was born.
She said that it had been a blessing and he was very proud of me, he said that I was meant to do great things. He visited from time to time and then, with no warning, he just disappeared. Mom was devastated.
“Honey, you live in a world of gods, like the myths. Your father was a god, you’d better go pack, your ride will be here shortly.”
Suddenly, a knock at the door, I checked through the peep hole on the door. A woman was there, dressed in an executive dress. As I let her in, I smelled a fragrance of pines, dew and fresh air.
“Hello Alex, are you ready to go to ‘Camp Demigod’?” said the woman, “Go get your stuff; I need to talk to your mother.”
“Wait, what?” Gods, Camps, and who was this woman?
I looked at my Mom, extremely confused and she nodded.
I had so much to pack that I had to choose with judgment. I would obviously take my phone, my camera to take pictures, my album to put the pictures and my MP3. Gods like in ancient times, like the myths, even if they were not myths.
When I got back to the living room, my backpack on my back I saw my mother crying and Lupa was comforting her, saying nice words and saying that it was not her fault.
“What is going on?” I ask confused, I have only seen my mom cry when she is watching Mrs. Bennet despises Mr. Darcy, and then only because she had her eyes open too long. “Mom, why are you crying?” Since she is still sobbing, I turn to Lupe. I screamed at her saying, “What have you done to her?”
I feel some energy going through my body and dark spheres formed on the palms of my hands, I made the attempt of shoving her, but the balls left my hands and hit Lupe in the chest, she looked at herself and crumbled to the floor.
“Alex! What have you done?” yelled my mother.
“I don’t know,” I answered, looking at my hands; what just happened?
“Its fine,” says Lupe, who was on the floor and now was standing, placing a hand on her chest. “Since I’m a goddess you did not hurt me too much but, if I had been a regular mortal, I would be dead.”
“What do you mean dead?”
“It simply means that you would have sucked my life energy and killed me.”
I stared at my hands; I could have killed her that easily? Cool. I mean scary, but cool.
“Yes Alex, you could have. But luckily, we always use Gods for these jobs. Now, shall we get going? The portal will close soon. Oh, by the way, what god is your father?”
“Thanatos” I blurted out. And her expression was of pure surprise.
“But, Thanatos never had children.”
Now it was my mother’s turn to talk.
“He never had children until he met me.” And she told the goddess the story she had just told me.
“Well then, we have to leave and the portal is about to close,” responded Lupe, quite flusteredj. “Say your goodbyes Alex. Ma’am, He will come back at the end of school year”
‘Does that mean no school?! Sweet, I’m going to love it at camp’ I thought.
As if reading my mind, Lupe blew my dreams saying:
“No Alex, it is not going to be like that.”
I left my house and followed Lupe to the train station. She had just begun to cross the rails when the bell clanged and a train claxon blared in the distance.
“Umm, Miss Lupe, shouldn’t we, I don’t know, wait until the train passes?”
But Lupe was nowhere to be seen.
‘The portal’, Lupe's words echoed in my head. I looked at the rail road.
“Oohhhh, craaappp!” I screamed as I jumped in the railroad. Through the railroad, under the railroad and I landed in the hearth of a camp fire. Screaming my lungs out, I rolled over the grass and I heard the voice of Lupe saying:
“Alex, don’t act like that.” Lupa’s voice raised above the laughter as water splashed all over me, soaking me wet.
Behind her stood almost a hundred boys and girls that where laughing and falling to the ground.
“What is so funny?” I asked, slapping my pants to extinguish the fire that was consuming my pant legs.
“You screamed like a girl,” snickered a girl.
“And you are the manliest being of camp?” I replied.
“Watch it, funny boy; I am the leader of the Ares tent,” Replied the girl.
Oh. Crap.
“My name is Margaret, and I have decided that I will not tolerate you. I challenge you to a duel,” she said.
“You and me, to the knock out.”