A Special Welcome Message for Demigods of Cabin Six:
Profound wisdom. A keen, strategic mind. Preternatural control of all forms of weaponry. Striking gray eyes. A slightly abrasive yet charming Type A personality. A brilliant vocabulary.
These are but a few of the gifts that the goddess Athena has passed down to her demigod children. Unfortunately, not every inheritance from Olympus is a blessing. You see, the progeny of Athena are afflicted with the same curse suffered by all children of the major gods: after a certain age, their lives on earth are in near-constant peril.
Naturally, Athena’s children are more than capable of outmaneuvering any opponent foolish enough to confront them on the battlefield . . . but alas, the same cannot be said for all demigods. Especially not the offspring of a few of the more prosaic and witless gods on Mount Olympus.
If you are a child of Athena and disconcerted by the discovery that you have to spend the entire summer in close proximity to those very same small-minded and short-sighted demigods, you have our complete sympathy.
You must understand, however, that the primary reason children of Athena are brought to Camp Half-Blood is to set an example for their less enlightened peers. The senior staff will vehemently deny this basic truth, but only to spare the feelings of the other campers.
So stop sulking, get out there, and remind us all why you deserve to represent the most glorious of all the deities. Now, join us as we prepare for our extended stay at Cabin Six!
What’s Inside Cabin Six:
Why, anything a child of the goddess of wisdom could ever require for a productive and gratifying summer of rigorous mental activity! But more specifically:
-A state-of-the-art workshop
-A library filled with thousands of books, ancient scrolls, and other reference material
-Conference tables
-A SMART board (Currently on layaway after the last one was destroyed by a few of the more brutish and imbecilic members of Cabin Five.)
-Keys to the camp armory (Please return after use!)
What You Should Pack:
-PC or laptop
-Graphing calculator
-Blueprint paper
-T-Square rulers
-Research papers for your pre-thesis/dissertation
-Super glue
-Night light Sorry, nighttime reading light. (Of course.)
-Teddy bear Sorry, ironic ursine plush companion (Real convincing.)
-Energy drinks
-Spider repellent (ESSENTIAL!)
Meet Your Head Counselor, Malcom Pace:
“Oh, uh, hi! Apologies, I didn’t realize that this was happening right now. Uh, we’re kind of in the middle of something . . .
“Actually, you might find this interesting! We’re revising our strategies for handling emergencies resulting from Total Mist Collapse. You see, we received new information from the head counselors of Cabins Seven and Thirteen, as well as some of our friends from Camp Jupiter. A very troubling recent event . . . but a lot of exciting new data to collate!
“But never mind that for now. Let me be the first to give you a warm welcome to Cabin Six! Feel free to make yourself at home. But uh, no sleeping next to the workstation. Or the arts and crafts table. Those are kind of in use 24/7. And please don’t touch the Athena Parthenos replica. It’s in a critical stage of development.
“It might seem like we have a lot going on at Cabin Six. Maybe too much. But it’s in our nature to always be building, innovating, and improving things around camp. Look out the window. You see those bright, shiny new modular cabins over there? Those babies were actually designed by a very accomplished child of Athena, our former head counselor: Annabeth Chase. Unfortunately, she’s off at college right now, and she left me with the biggest shoes in the world to fill . . .
“My point is, the members of Cabin Six are crucial to the maintenance and advancement of Camp Half-Blood’s facilities. Just between you and me, I think this place would fall apart within a few hours if we weren’t around to make sure everything is running smoothly.”
“I know that sounds a bit conceited. But in case no one has told you yet, our signature fatal flaw is hubris. It can be inconvenient at times, but at least we are open and honest about it. In fact, we are the only demigods at Half-Blood with the self-awareness required to admit to their shortcomings . . .
“Okay, I recognize that sounds a bit conceited too. I promise you, we will work on addressing the arrogance issue in our cabin. Just as soon as we put the finishing touches on this program, which will transfer an approximation of Athena’s brainwaves into the Parthenos replica. We’re very close to a breakthrough, I can just tell!
“You don’t think she’ll find that blasphemous, do you?
“Oh well. Hey, while you’re here, do you mind taking a quick look over these partial differential equations we just drew up? You do know how to analyze multivariable functions in electromagnetism with vector calculus, right? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you do!
“And then the grand tour of the cabin. I swear.”
Are you a child of Athena? If so, you’re probably already completely prepared for Camp Half-Blood—this summer and the next several following!
What’s in your personal packing list? Be sure to let us know!