Chapter 2

Andrew walked briskly towards the woods of Camp Half Blood, a safe haven for demigods (half mortal half immortal) like himself, where they were shelter from any unwanted weather, cruel monsters, and offered training for each demigod in order to turn each demigod into something like the great heroes of old, Heracles, Achilles, Perseus, Theseus, the list went on and on. Andrew couldn’t help thinking about his own parents, Annabeth and Percy Jackson. Both were Greek demigods, his mother was one of the greatest daughters of Athena, goddess of wisdom, war strategy and clever crafts, and his father was a son of one of the big three gods: Poseidon, god over the seas, father of horses, and creator of earthquakes. These two demigods were the some of the greatest of their time. Not only had they actually survived into adulthood, which was impressive for any demigod who fought the omnipresent threat of monsters wanting to kill them, Andrew’s parents had been heroes in the great Titan War, succeeded on many quests, followed through a great prophesy, and had worked with the gods themselves to win a glorious victory in the Giant War.

Andrew wished he could live up to his parents’ legacy some day. Everyone else sure seemed to think him capable of such. Chiron, his teacher in all things “hero”, always pushed him harder than many others, even extended favoritism at some points. During the capture the flag games all demigods participated in most Friday evenings, most people expected him to pull out a great victory for their team, assuming he had inherited all the heroic traits of his parents. It was almost crushing sometimes- living up to all these expectations. His parents had always offered comfort, his father would sometimes tell him of the times on their quests when they had felt similar. Andrew loved hearing these stories of his parent’s adventures. They showed him a real life example of enduring through an apparent fatal prophesy, like the one today.

“When the two halves become one whole

Through wisdom shall they prevent a magical goal

She who is three shall take they who gave birth

A second darkness shall engulf the earth

Save you prevail, and complete a circle round the turf.”

Andrew shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. This was the reason he had come out here. A walk through the woods and some fresh air often helped him clear his mind of the tormenting nightmares.

Andrew was at the edge of the woods now; a stream trickling towards the lake was off to his side. He continued to make his way through the woods, following the side of the stream.  Lightning flashed in the distance, where dark clouds were culminating over the misty long island shore. Not a drop of rain landed on Andrew, not with the weather control system at Camp Half-Blood, but the lightening made his grey eyes seem to flash like a silver coin glinting in the sunlight.

Andrew mulled over his disturbing dreams, hands in his jacket pocket, slowly strolling through the forest alone. He could vividly remember the images, the threats, that voice.

Something bright scarlet caught his eye. Andrew looked over curiously. A trail of blood gleamed in the grey light of the early stormy morning on top of a moss covered rock. All the hairs on the back of Andrew’s neck stood straight up. He looked closer, his curiosity getting the better of himself. He examined the trail on the rock, then spotted a smear on a tree further down the way. Andrew stepped closer to find out more, when he saw something in the corner of his eye and seemed to turn to ice: frozen and pale as anything.

A girl, probably fifteen or sixteen, lay sprawled on the ground, wet scarlet blood trickling from a cut in her forehead, joining into the pool of blood pouring from a gash in her shoulder. Her blonde hair was dirty and tangled, spattered with specks of dirt, twigs, blood, and lay sprawled out around her, a complete mess. She was barely more than a skeleton, her emaciated limbs sprawled out. Something gold glinted in her hair. At first, Andrew hadn’t noticed it at first as it blended well with her hair color. He looked closer, and realized it was monster dust. All the pieces rushed together in Andrew’s head. This girl was most definitely a demigod. She had probably been on the run for a long time, being chased by one monster and another, until being severely wounded by one, which had lost more blood than she could afford. She had probably tried to run, and had entered the boundaries of Camp Half Blood and into the forest before collapsing from loss of blood. Andrew’s mind raced as it always did when confronted with any piece of information- a very helpful trait he had inherited from his godly grandmother, Athena, goddess of wisdom.

Andrew bent down next to the girl, and tried to remember what the Apollo campers had taught him about what to do in this kind of situation. His eyes darted around for something he could use to stem the flow of blood. After a few seconds of frantic search, he resigned to ripping off a strip of the bottom of his jeans, and then did his best to tie a tourniquet around her shoulder. Next, he moved on to the gash in her forehead. He ripped off the bottom of his other jean leg and circled it around her head, covering the gash and stanching the blood flow there as well. He just hoped he’d done this all correctly. He pushed back the thoughts nagging at his brain, reminding him of the consequences of first aid done wrong.

As he finished applying the tourniquets, he wondered about the demigod herself. How could a demigod survive for this long on their own? How had she found Camp Half-Blood? What had done this to her? How long had she been on the run? Questions pestered him, racing around his mind. He stepped back for a second to admire his handiwork, then chided himself for doing so. This girl could very well be a few minutes from dying. He needed someone who knew what they were doing. Perhaps an Apollo camper, or even better, Chiron. He had seen it all. Surely he would be able to help this girl, maybe even find the answers to Andrew’s questions.

Andrew scooped the girl up in his arms. She was surprisingly light, which wasn’t really much of a good thing. Careful to avoid brushing against any tree branches of rocks, Andrew raced back through the woods, back to the path given by the stream, then straight towards the cabins where, he prayed, someone would be awake and able to help this poor girl. A ways away, the sun peeked through the dense storm clouds, and white light danced across the storm churned waters on long island sound. No more thunder or lightening sounded. The air was silent except for the timid chirping of a few birds and the pounding of feet across the ground.

Chapter 1 : One stormy Night

Chapter 1: One stormy night

Lightning flashed from a distance off, momentarily lighting up a small cabin room where a boy lay, tossing and turning in a bunk bed. The grey blue covers were twisted and crumpled, and the boy’s dark black hair was untidy, some of it sticking to the pillow from static. He let out a muffled yell and sat bolt upright in bed, his face pale and his breathing rapid. His grey eyes lacked their normal humorous sparkle, one of the reasons he had gained such a positive reputation with the Aphrodite campers.

The boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen, pulled off the covers and stepped onto the cool wooden floor of his cabin. The moonlight pouring in from the windows made his skin appear white against the dark wooden floor. He paced around the cabin, pausing at a desk in the corner and picked up a framed photograph of a family of four.

A woman with curly blonde hair and dazzling grey eyes held a baby girl gently in her sun tanned arms. The little girl had bright happy sea green eyes and golden curls glinting in the light. She was enveloped in a cream colored blanket embroidered with sea blue writing spelling the letter ‘E. Next to the young mother was a man with dark black hair and kind sea green eyes. He was tall, lean and impressive looking, like a soldier, and held a little boy in his lap, maybe three years old, with the same black hair as his father and eyes a mire image of his mother’s on the left. They all looked so delighted to be with one another, everyone together and united.

The boy gazed down on the photo wistfully, his eyes resting longingly on the faces of his parents and little sister. He set the frame gently and turned to a door on his left, and pushed it open gently.

Inside was an exact replica of his own room, except for the furniture arrangement. Instead of a bunk bed, there lay a larger bed meant for two, placed in the middle of the room towards the back, while shelves of books surrounded most of the wall space available. These shelves were packed with books written in both English and Ancient Greek, including a fair few about architecture, history, and mathematics, as well as a few used high-school text books with the name ‘Andrew Jackson’ printed neatly in the top right hand corner. A window separated the shelves on the side of the room, with a desk underneath it, illuminated by the moonlight streaming from the window above. Photos were plastered all over the wall above the desk, making use of every inch of exposed wall.  Some showed Andrew and his parents, others were photos of his parents when they were younger. A photograph lay against the wall, framed with wood from an olive tree, with the initials A.C. + P.J. carved above, encircled with a heart, which were positioned directly centered above the photograph of a young man, with dark black hair nearly blocking his kind sea green eyes, with his strong arms around a young women in a beautiful white gown, which highlighted her slim athletic figure, and a string of grey pearls, the exact match of her eyes, hanging around her neck except one in the center which seemed to almost glow with milky white light. Her curly blonde hair was up in an elegant bun, and her make-up was perfect. Andrew gazed at the picture, and allowed a sad smile to spread across his face.  He turned his gaze to photograph of his mother and two other girls, all arm in arm. One of the other girls was much younger than his mother, a little younger than Andrew himself, a silvery bow strung over her shoulder and sky blue eyes which seemed even brighter when compared to her dark spiky black hair. Andrew’s mother stood in the middle, her grey eyes as dazzling as ever against her long curly blonde hair. Her arm was around another woman about her same age, with chocolate brown hair braided down one side and eyes that looked like a shattered prism, not exactly blue or green or brown or hazel, but instead sparkled with an indistinct color of their very own. Her skin was a dark tan color, and hair, as well as her makeup, were done with an expert hand, no doubt her own.

Andrew lay the photographs down again and looked around the empty room sadly. He checked the little digital clock nestled in a corner of the desk. It was 4:30 am. Andrew headed back out of the room, closing the door softly. He made his bed in a few minutes, smoothing out the ruffled blankets and then snatched a jacket from the bunk bed post, and headed out the door, into the grey misty morning. Lightning flashed from a distance away, illuminating the room in white light, and Andrew was gone, walking north towards the woods looming in the distance.

Tell me what you think!!

Ha! I did it!

Recently, some boys at my bus stop were pulling an "invisible rope" prank on passing cars. I told them that that is mean, and they didn't believe me. So then I decided to write an essay (5 paragraph style) to show them I know business. so Ha! I did it!

Imagine this: Two boys, one of which with a bad school troublemaker record, the other a skate border, both in a lunged position for holding a rope. One is on the left side of the street, the other on the right. A car drives up the road. Now, this driver is a sophisticated, kind person, and slows down cautiously to avoid hitting or damaging these rambuncious boys. The two boys are laughing at the car, laughing about the “invisible rope prank” they just pulled. These two, rebellious, mischievous, gossiping, prankful boys have no idea what they are doing. They are worsening the economy. One little act at a time, can make a big difference. This is for three reasons, jobs in the economy, money in the economy, and the prevention of a civilized, stable economy.

As I said before, one of the reasons is because the boys are worsening the economy by the jobs in the economy. You see, this kind of behavior affects how much time a person has to get to their destination. For example, about 40% of Americans are late for something at least ¼ times. Why? Mainly traffic, lost items, and kid trouble. This behavior of the boys is an act of traffic by which they are stalling the cars for a period of time. This can make them more late, frustrated, and even more confused that could result in firring, and mis-used directions. If you can’t make the connection, you may need to re-due 3rd grade. (Seriously! I asked 7 3rd graders October 4th, 2011 and they all made the correct connection!) Also, the jobs in the economy are worsened by this behavior because there is a current 20% of high School students are drop outs, and 85% of high School students are common prankers. You have a 95% that the drop outs are pranksters, and countless articles, websites, and general opinions/testimonies say that the 2nd most common reason for high school drop outs is prank-attitudes. The most common is teen relationships (I don’t want to get too inappropriate here...) High-School drops outs, in a survey at http://howtoedu.org/college-facts/how-much-more-money-do-college-grads-make/ they say that high school drop outs get a majority of “$18,734” throughout adulthood. If they live to be about 40, they will get about $851.56 per year versus college graduated earning $2327.56 per year, in the same time range as before. That is a $1476 difference! If you do not think that is enough evidence, go to http://www.kimmerko.blogspot.com/.
Secondly, the prank of “Invisible rope” hurts our current economy because of the money in the economy. One reason is because of, as before, the high school drop out levels are incredibly high. In case you did not make the connection, the more money you make, the better job you have. As you can see, since the high school drop outs make less money than the college students, so the college students have a better job that does more good for the economy then the high school students.

Thirdly, this prank worsens the economy because it prevents a stable economy. This is because of the attitude of these boys. While they were laughing about the prank, the brain is sending positive electrons towards the long-term memory part of the brain in the cerebrum that enofrces that the mean behavior is good, and they should do it more often. If these boys are noticed, or talk (which i sure hope they are.....) that sence of fun will be spreaded and the new generation of college studentsd will be greatly diluted, and therefore prevent a stable economy.

As you can see, there are many reasons why we should not do this invisible rope prank. On October 5th, 2011, at 7:26am Mrs.Rafrez, one of the prank’s victoms expressed her opinion. She stated, “That was such a men thing. I thought they were playing chicken with the cars, and I didn’t want to run over them.” With this topping the investigation, I sure hope that these boys, and perhaps others influenced by this prank will never have to go through it again.

Check it out!

Here's something you Have to read about!
As you know, I love seeing the cool things on this computer. And I just struck gold! It is called www.sydneyfoote.com! It is part of a kids movement, it i a website by kids, and for everyone! It is just beginning to start thriving, but soon you will find posts, stories and games for a variety of ages! It is totally family fantastic, and as a new feature, there will soon be weather posts so you are always prepared. From simple, relaxing book reports to crazy arts and crafts, soon, it will have it ALL!
Plus, if you comment on a certain post, that I will later point out, you will earn a kimmer and ko prize. Sadly, it is not physical! It will be on one of your choice- my blog- or KSL!
So get on your smile and head over to sydney foote dot com!
( KSL is not fully completed in posting so it would be advised to check it every week or so.)

Nauvoo trip

Recently, I have been traveling. My grandparents took my cousins and I on a church history tour. Here is the basic summery:
1st we went to Las Vegas to get on the airplane and flew over to Kansas city ( which is actually in MO!) Then we drove to Independence and checked into our hotel and settled ourselves The next day was Sunday and we went to a ward that was half from the islands. Then, we headed to have a walk and see some sights along with seeing a parade. On Monday we visited different churches and a temple from the church of Christ then did some more sights. Everyday we saw more and more sights and one day we went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman and a dedicated temple SIGHT-no temple built yet. Then we drove to Nauvoo and saw pagents every night, shopped for souvenirs and went from historic house to historic house.Then, after attending a HUGE ward on Sunday, we drove to the airport and flew back to Las Vagas at 8. we drove to my grandparents house and slept like sleeping beauties.

In order to let you in on our my details, during the trip, I kept a journal to record the events, so I will try to post when I can about each day, one post at a time.
Enjoy your summer while it lasts!