William Madden was a editor for, "Manly Vogue" Magazine. He was very handsome. He was also a demigod, child of, Boreas actually. He lived in a one room apartment. He didn't really have a good life, as he was pretty poor, but was always thankful for what he had. He had to eat beans from a can and cooked them from hot tap water he cooked up with a badly-working stove. He should hate life, but yet he was a peaceful person. He always looked at the GOOD side of things. He was never interested in offers from woman to go out. He didn't have many friends because he was so poor and too stressed out to go out with his co-workers. Some say he was too much of a loser, others say he was just too up with drugs. But, that wasn't true.
One day, he was finishing writing an article about a manly tanning spray, (which was actually giving acne and hurting people.) when he got up and met Mary (Hebe), the new girl doing the love column, for men who are a bit "bad in le romance". They talked for a while and after a few weeks, they did it. It was unlike William to do it, but he was in love. Soon, they were happy in love. Mary then disappeared to Canada on a mission and, after 4 month, she didn't come back. He went along with his life, sad and lonely. He missed her so much and even reported her missing.
Little did he know that she left because she was having a baby.
But then outside his 1 room apartment was a baby and a note. He was confused. When did he have a child? She was crying and had red rosy cheeks. She was in a basket and has a light pink blanket covering her. When he took her out of the basket, he saw a note, various milk bottles and pink socks. The note read:
Dear William,
I have duties on Mt. Olympus. I know it's hard to understand, but I am the goddess, Hebe. Most known as Mary to you. Soon, Hazel (I named her) will have to go to camp. A camp for people who are demigods. Read Greek mythology to understand what is a demigod. You might meet a satyr on the way. Take care of her please. Enclosed is a ring but, it's also a sword once you click the button on it, it's on the right side. Please don't let her use it until she's on the journey to camp/she's 16.
Love,
Hebe (Mary)
After reading, William was happy that at least Mary/Hebe was still alive and not killed by someone. He was also happy for his own little baby girl. He felt bad also since she would be have a life that was dreadful and never have a lot of money. He decided that he wanted to name her Gretchen, as that was his dead sister who got killed by harpies was named. He wanted a little bit of Mary/Hebe in her life though, so he made her middle name Hazel, as a memory of Mary/Hebe.
Gretchen lived a pretty good life despite not having a ton of money. She went to a public school and wore a lot of the basic clothing she found. She went to a lot of flee markets for clothing. She had a lot of friends but she was not popular. She got small mini jobs and babysat children for at least $16.00. Everyone thought she was sweet and LOVED her. She was grateful for everything she had. She had one friend that she knew since she was 10 named Shannon who moved in with her step mother in Virginia, but always came back to Visit Gretchen.
One day, when she was 13 years old, a photographer came up to her and asked if she could be a model for Gap kids. She offered her $500 a hour. William agreed and signed the contract for her since she was not yet 18. She was so excited. Modeling was one of her dreams, besides going on a reality television show. When they got to the shoot area, there were snacks and various types of clothing which the stylists help pick out for her. The photographer was taking wonderful pictures. The next thing she knew, she saw a empousa. She screamed and cried. It was trying to attack her and William! She tried running away but it was no use since it was gaining on her. William then got on top of it, wrestled it with all his might, and then stabbed a sword (which was a blue watch that didn't even work) into its heart. It grumbled as it burst into golden sparkles. Gretchen was so horrified, she had to be carried home. After she could finally speak she asked questions like what was going on, what the heck was that, and dad, why was she a monster. He answered them all with, "you must have had a real bad and sad dream. I don't know what your talking about." She shrugged it off giving up asking him knowing he would tell her the same thing.
At 14, she was out walking with her dad, going to see if they had anything good that was around $20 at Walmart. She then saw a hellhound. Her dad then went over and clicked something on the watch. It was a sword again and he jumped back, staying far away from it. As the hellhound got closer he pointed his sword at it. He then took a risk by jumping on top of it and sticking the sword everywhere he could while being on top of the hellhound. It then died slowly, it grumbling and annoyed. She was pretty freaked out again, but didn't say anything. They just walked away from Walmart and went to go eat disgusting pasta with no sauce. When she went to sleep, she dreamed and thought of what type of explanation would explain these monsters.
At age 15, they were walking down Jones beach after William finally got a run down car. They thought they saw a seagull, but they actually saw a flock of Stymphalian Birds. One of them flew to Gretchen and it was close to pecking her skin out, until she screamed and William started banging on a nearby drummer's drums that was left behind. They all started flying fast and tried to escape. She then yelled. This was seriously becoming traumatizing. She asked him what was going on and all he answered was with, "You will soon find out when you are 16." She begged and begged and bothered him, but he was not giving up with his rule.
He was going to tell her at 15, but he felt like she was so young--he felt like he would forever ruin her childhood.
When she turned 16, she had the party of her life. She was not rich, but she was allowed to let her best friend Shannon hang out in her bedroom, which was super small. They were listening to music on Shannon's radio and painting each other's nails. When Shannon went into the bathroom to freshen up, she asked her dad again. A promise was a promise. He spilled that she was a demigod and that she had to go to camp. He explained everything he knew. Even that he was one too! She was scared at first and didn't believe him. But, he kept pushing her to believe him. She finally believed him when Shannon were getting her pj's on. She then said, "Who wants ice cream cake!?" They all then ran into the kitchen for cake and orange sodas. They bounced off the walls (It's an expression) basically from all that sugar. Shannon and her then went to McDonalds for fries and burgers. As they were giggling outside after finishing their meal, they saw a empousa. Shannon and her were terrified. Shannon then took out her sword while her dad heard the commotion and started shooting it with his bow and arrow. As it died, her father, and Shannon and her were getting into her dad's broken down car.
All of a sudden, she was in the car driving through strawberry fields. "Where are we going", she muttered over and over again. Shannon told her she was a demigod too and that's why she only came in the summertime to visit her dad. She turns out, was a child of Hebe too! William then got them out of the car and to the entrance. Before they got through, they saw a hellhound. Her father kept yelling to Gretchen, "Go Go Go!!" Gretchen ran and screamed, "Dad! Shannon!" as they were trying to defeat the hellhound. Once it poofed into golden sparkles, Shannon came running after her. As they walked through the entrance, she remembered all the monsters. She fainted remembering the horror.
She woke up in the infirmary surrounded by something that looked like soup but tasted AMAZING and people around her, like Shannon. "Where am I?" she kept saying. She then realized she was at the camp. Alexander the great told her she was a daughter of Hebe and this was camp half blood. She thought a while. She then shrugged and the rest is history....