The Lost Crown

~Samantha~ 8

The tour was amazing!  All of the buildings, the people here.  The activities, though they looked very dangerous, actually looked pretty cool.  

That Richard kid seemed nice enough, even though I felt like when I was near him some of my things would disappear from my pockets.  He got me a camp shirt, which was so florescent I wasn't sure how anyone could 'fit in' with a color this orange.  It seemed to work though.  No one paid me much attention.   

I liked it that way.

The sun started to set and it got colder.  I shivered a bit, but Richard didn't seem to notice.  He led me back around to somewhere I had seen before; the dining pavilion.  

"Good news,"  He smiled at me, "You get to sit with me.  You haven't been claimed yet, so you get to hang out at the Hermes table.  Stay close though.  Not everyone is as nice as me."  That didn't help my confidence.  Still, what choice did I have?  I followed him and sat next to him at one of the loudest tables out there.  He introduced me to everyone, but I couldn't even remember one name.  I was bad with names.  

I didn't eat anything, despite Richard's pleading.  He seemed overprotective of me, which was a little strange.  I think he hoped I was a Hermes kid, but I doubted it.  I could hardly get away with passing notes in class, let alone a master thievery.

I thought my ears would pop, with the shouting of the crowds and the laughter on the air, all backed up by the magical roaring fire that apparently changed color with the majority mood.  It was huge and glowing yellow.  I wondered if it was happy that we had fed it.  All of that food people had thrown into it must've made it happy, right?

Richard explained how the food was burned offerings to the gods.  I found it weird that they would destroy their food just because of some crazy fictional gods.

I noticed another girl at the Hermes table looking lost, so I gave her a smile.  I turned to Richard, "Who's she?"  I nodded in her direction.  Richard examined her for a second, and shrugged.

"I dunno.  Probably a new-bee as well."  He went back to his food, as if that explained everything.  For some reason I was curious about this girl.  She looked around my age, maybe a bit older, with long, straight brown hair.  Her big green eyes were full of happiness, like she was completely fine with being surrounded by a group of thieving teenagers.  My curiosity got the best of me, again, and I made eye contact with her, mouthing the question of her name so she could read it.

She opened her mouth to respond, but stopped and almost dropped her fork.  The entire camp seemed to go quiet and stare at me.  

"What?"  I asked, then realized there was a light coming from above my head.  I looked up and saw... I don't know what I saw.  My eyelids grew heavy like I had never known before and sleepiness overwhelmed me.  I couldn't keep my head up anymore, and my eyes decided to shut.  The sounds around me faded into echoes as my body went limp, and I thought I heard Richard say something about... Hypnos?

I lost consciousness.