Fire in the Woods

Chapter Twenty-Six

Maree POV

From Last Chapter: "Let's get this party started!" I clap my hands and give the room a smile.

The room stares back at me.

"Never mind, let's get on with the introductions, shall we?" I tug Clarisse's hand, making her stumble.

"Everybody, this is Clarisse. Clarisse, this is everybody. No, I'm just kidding. Now, Clarisse, try to keep up with me, because I'll be speaking fast. From the left, we have the Pack: Seth, Jacob, Leah, Paul, Sam, Emily-who's kind of not in the Pack, Jared, Embry and Quil. To the right, are the Cullens: Carlisle, Esmé, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rosalie and unfortunately, my brother Edward and his girlfriend, Bella Swan. I don't know many of the demigods here, since many are new. Clarisse, would you mind introducing the demigods?" she nods and smirks at the demigods.

"All right, you little suckers. Step forward when I call your name so they can see who you are," the demigods line up at her request and she smirks, looking at me.

"I still terrify them," Nico and I roll our eyes and she starts her introductions.

"Tyson Jackson, son of Poseidon," Tyson steps forward and brandishes his club proudly.

"Travis and Connor Stoll, sons of Hermes," they step forward and clap their hand. Clarisse eyes them and faces the others.

"Watch your valuables around them."

"Claire Raynor, daughter of Aphrodite," Clarisse introduces a new demigod and she steps shyly forward, her black hair covering her face like a curtain. She looks slowly up, her light green eyes meet mine and I give her a friendly smile. She steps back quickly.

"Kiara and Skye Anderson, daughters of Demeter," the girls step forward and wave at me. I wave back, recognising them as the last two demigods I brought to the camp before going to Forks.

"Daniel Waters, son of Athena," a bronze-tanned boy proudly steps forward and surveys the area.

"Idina Randall, daughter of Hecate," a Goth-looking girl steps forward and sneers at us.

"Don't worry about her. She's just annoyed because her mom didn't choose her for another quest," Clarisse gives a crooked smile to Idina who snarls and clenches her fists.

"Wren Matthews, son of Hephaestus," a burly dark-skinned teen tips his baseball cap.

"Lee Arnolds, son of Iris," a scrawny boy who couldn't be more than eleven stumbles forward and pushes his glasses up. He breaks out into a goofy smile and Clarisse jokingly pushes him back. I must say, it's good to see Clarisse joke about like that, compared to her surly manner in the years before.

"Milah Brewster, daughter of Persephone," Clarisse gently pulls a small light-blonde haired girl forward.

"Uriah Queen, son of Ananke," Clarisse announces as a brown-haired demigod steps forward.

"Ananke, as in the goddess of fate?" I ask and he nods.

"I didn't think there were any sons or daughters of Ananke anymore," he tilts his head down and replies shyly.

"She was quite, silent for a few hundred years, and then she met my father."

"This is Katharina Fisher, daughter of Dionysus," Clarisse points to a red-haired girl who wiggles her fingers at the Pack.

"Teegan Adams, daughter of Apollo," was next. I smile brightly at my new half-sister, who smiles back as she recognizes another child of Apollo.

"Keegan Mallark, son of Poseidon," she points to a black-haired boy who takes a small step forward.

"When he heard his half-brother saved the world a couple of times, he was too shy to show the camp what he could do. Turns out, he's kind of more powerful than Percy," Clarisse tells me. I look at Keegan, who blushes, obviously not used to people praising him.

"Joshua Yates, son of Morpheus," a ginger-haired boy steps forward and waves his hand.

"Isn't Morpheus the god who makes people sleep?" I hear Emmett ask Jasper.

"Nah, that's Hypnos. Morpheus is the god of dreams, Hypnos, the god of sleep," the last demigod answers. Clarisse rolls her eyes at me and announces the demigod.

"This is Andy Pike, daughter of Hypnos," a green-haired girl with dark brown eyes winks at Seth, who shares a glance with me.

"I didn't want to come on this quest in the first place, but now I see the eye candy, I'm extremely glad I came," I finger my thumb ring and Seth lays a hand on my arm.

"Why don't we share what we can do? Or will we do that tomorrow?" Clarisse begins to open her mouth, but Andy beats her to it.

"Nah, let's do it tonight. I can't wait to see the boys in action," again, she winks at Seth and he has to hold me back.

"Yes, let's," I sneer at her. Clarisse turns to the demigods.

"All right, quickly unpack and then we'll have challenges. Maree, Thalia, Nico, Daniel, one or two members from the wolf and vampire side, stay so we can set up challenges to test our powers.

The rest of the demigods choose their rooms and most of the Pack stayed with them and chatted. The Cullens stay close by me, as they weren't too fond of the Pack, which I was okay with. Jasper and Emmett were helping us set up the challenges, as Jasper was a military officer in his human days and Emmett was the brawn of the family. Paul and Sam offer their advice, but they mainly kept quiet, as they were unsure of what to offer.

"All right, so we can add a lava pit, because lava pits are essential in any training camp," Clarisse says, drawing a circle on the page.

"Except for the fact that lava can only be found in volcanoes and I don't see anyone offering to explore one," Emmett crosses his arms as Clarisse glares at him.

"Just because it's a lava pit doesn't mean that lava has to fill the pit. Maree could use her light magic to fill the pit with fire. Just as effective as lava," Clarisse crosses her arms and smirks at Emmett, who rolls his eyes at me.

"Monkey bars are a must," I draw another circle north of the lava pit.

"How can monkey bars be a challenge? I spent my childhood swinging off them," Paul chuckles at Sam, whose sides of his mouth turn up slightly.

"Anything can be made a challenge if you make it hard enough," Nico turns to look at Paul, who shifts and takes a small step back.

"Monkey bars can be made difficult how, exactly?" Sam asks the room. Clarisse taps her pen against her lips.

"We could always put something slippery on it, so you wouldn't be able to hold on it for too long," she looks over at me, wanting my opinion.

"Something slippery? Doesn't seem like anything interesting," the daughter of Ares sighs.

"Well, then, what do you suggest, Maree?"

"Maybe make some of bars twisted, so they'll have to bend their hands. Some of the bars short, some bars missing, so they'll have to take a huge gap," I shrug, "I never really like monkey bars. Army nets are my favourite."

"Army nets?" Jasper asks.

"Yeah. One section, you have to crawl on your hands and knees. Sometimes worms, or other creepy crawly creatures are involved. Otherwise, you have to crawl on the net, that's a few inches from the ground and flames licking at you from the floor," Jasper's eyes widen and Clarisse and I laugh. She looks over at Daniel, son of Athena.

"What do you have to offer, Waters?" she asks him. He walks over and rests his hands on the table.

"Well, since we have werewolves, vampires and demigods, I say we add challenges focusing on them, along with the normal challenges we always have."

"Care to elaborate on that?" Daniel takes a step back as Emmett moves closer to him.

"Well, for the demigods-different challenges to test their abilities. For instance, the Demeter kids have to grow vines while fighting against for instance, Maree with her light magic. The vampires could fight against the Ares kids, or learn sword skills from the Hermes kids. The werewolves could join the vampires with fighting," Paul and Sam share a look and Daniel chews on his lip.

"Or, if you don't like that, you could always practice with Idina," Daniel points to the daughter of Hecate.

"What's her power?" Sam asks.

"Oh, just the ability to wield magic. Yes, like Harry Potter, just without the wand," Sam visibly swallows.

"I guess we can learn to get along with the bloodsuckers," Paul frowns at Sam, who shoots a look at him.

"Gather your respective, uhm, species and meet outside. We'll finish the plans and join you so we can build the challenges," Thalia tells us. Emmett and Jasper nod and walk off while Sam whistles and the two leave. The rest of us crowd over the paper, grabbing the pencil from each other.