I Meet My New Brothers and Sisters

**I Meet My New Brothers and Sisters** is the twenty-fourth chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on September 23, 2016.

## Chapter

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**Annabeth's POV**
I spent one last night in the Hermes cabin before moving into the Athena’s cabin permanently.
“I don’t want to go,” I told Luke just before we went to sleep.
He was lying on his sleeping bag and I was sitting on him. Jasmine was sitting next to us with Toothless on her shoulder. We decided to put our sleeping bags together so that we had more room to sleep.
“I know,” Luke said. “I don’t want you to go either, but you have to. Don’t you want to be with your brothers and sisters?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “But I don’t know any of them.”
“You will. But you need to be brave about it and not show weakness. Can you do that for me?”
“I’ll try.”
Luke gave me a kiss on my forehead. “That’s my little girl. Now, let’s get some sleep.”
“Ok.”

The next morning, I got all of the stuff I had and took it to my new cabin. Jasmine did the same. (Erik told her she couldn’t stay in cabin six with me, but she wouldn’t listen.) Luke went with us to make sure that I would be ok.
When we got to cabin six, I noticed the symbol of an owl above the door that appeared above my head last night. But it wasn’t burning bright like it was, which I liked.
My brothers and sisters were waiting for me inside. I knocked on the door, and one of my sisters opened it.
She kneeled down to equal the same height as me. “Hello. I’m Cassandra, the senior counselor for cabin six. And you’re Annabeth.”
She looked a lot like me, but older, about Luke’s age. Her hair and eyes were the same color as mine. How come I didn’t see her until now?
“Hi,” I said.
“And these are your friends?” Cassandra asked me.
“I’m Luke,” Luke said.
“Yes. A new son of Hermes. And you’re Jasmine?”
She nodded. “I’m Annabeth’s best friend. And this is Toothless. He’s my pet dragon.”
“I can see that,” Cassandra said. Then she turned back to me. “Well, Annabeth, I got your bed ready for you. Come on in and meet the rest of our siblings.”
I did, and I noticed that cabin six looked nothing like cabin eleven. It was cleaner.
There were seven other boys and girls standing next to their beds, who looked slightly younger than Cassandra, the youngest, a girl, looking to be about thirteen, and Cassandra introduced me to all of them. Then she showed me my bed, and I put my stuff on it.
“Which one is my bed?” Jasmine asked.
Cassandra stared at her, confused. “What?”
“Which one is my bed?”
“Uh, you’re not a demigod. You can’t stay in any other cabin other then cabin eleven.”
“I’m staying wherever Annabeth is staying, because she is my best friend, and best friends stay together.”
“You’re very persistent, aren’t you?”
“Yes, she is,” Luke agreed.
“Can I please stay here with Annabeth?” Jasmine asked.
“Well, you see, Jasmine, it’s not exactly my choice,” Cassandra said. “If you want to stay in this cabin with Annabeth, you have to ask Chiron and Mr. D first. And I highly doubt they’ll give you permission to.”
“I think they will.”
“Then go prove it.”
“Ok.”
Jasmine left the cabin and ran to the Big House with Toothless hanging on to her neck.
“I think I should go with her,” Luke said.
“I think you should too,” Cassandra agreed.
He ran after Jasmine.
That was the first time that they’ve left me alone since we came to camp.
“Ok,” Cassandra said. “Annabeth, I’m going to teach you everything and how to be a proper daughter of Athena. You ready to get started?”
“Can I wait for Jasmine?” I asked.
“Umm, if you want. But she won’t be allowed to stay in our cabin with you.”
“Why?”
“Because she doesn’t belong here. And I don’t just mean in this cabin. She’s not a demigod.”
“That’s not her fault.”
“No. But she’s lucky she’s not. Our lives are dangerous. Her life will be too if she stays near us.”
“She’s not going to leave me.”
“I can tell she won’t. She seems like she’s going to be a very good friend to you.”
“She is.”
I told her about our pact with our bracelets; how Jasmine shared her birthday with me and how we share our birthdays together; when she helped me learn how to read again with dyslexia; and when she helped when I was sick.
“Wow,” Cassandra said when I was done. “That’s impressive for someone her age. Let’s see how she handles not staying in the same cabin with you.”

Cassandra was wrong. She was right at first, but she became wrong.
Chiron and Mr. D did say no to Jasmine staying in Athena’s cabin with me, but she bugged them for a really long time, saying “Please. Please. Please. Please”, mostly to Mr. D since he didn’t move so much, until they said yes.
Jasmine cheered, Luke laughed, and Cassandra just stared at her in surprise.
“Unbelievable,” she said. “That was incredibly brave, Jasmine. Especially doing that to a god.”
“A god?” I asked.
“Yes. Mr. D.”
“He’s a god?” Luke asked.
“Yes. He’s Dionysus, the god of wine.”
“Why is he here?”
“He offended his father, Zeus, last year by hitting on a wood nymph who was off-limits. And as a result of that, he was punished here as our camp director for a hundred years, and as you probably already know, he doesn’t like any of us. I’ll never get to enjoy camp as much before he came here again. And, unfortunately, neither will you guys. But we can try to make the best of it.”
“His father is Zeus?” Jasmine asked.
Cassandra nodded. “Yes.”
“So he’s Thalia’s brother?”
“Yes. And I want to give you guys my sympathies for the lost of your friend.”
The four of us became sad.
“And I’m sorry for Grover too. This is probably hitting him hard, but that’s what he gets for not doing his job.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” Jasmine said.
“I’d say it is. He was the one that was suppose to get you all safely to camp and any monsters that attacked along the way he should’ve fought to protect you guys, not your friend Thalia. That’s what the satyr that brought me to camp did, and that’s what Grover failed to do. Now, I understand that it’s probably hard for you guys to hear this, but it’s true.”
“No, we get it,” Luke said. “Right, girls?”
Jasmine and I didn’t answer.
I don’t think we wanted to blame Grover for Thalia dying, but maybe it was his fault.
“I think that’s enough for today,” Cassandra decided. “And good job, Jasmine, for getting Chiron and Mr. D to let you stay in our cabin with us. We’ll start our lessons tomorrow.” She looked at Luke. “They didn’t say that *you* could stay in the cabin too. So get out.”
I thought that was mean, but Luke just smiled. “Ok, ok.
Jasmine and I gave him a hug, and he gave us each a kiss on our foreheads.
“Enough,” Cassandra said. “Go. Now.”
“Ok,” Luke replied with a smirk. “I’ll see you girls later.”
“Bye,” Jasmine and I both told him.
Luke left our cabin and Cassandra closed the door behind him.
She shook her head for some reason. Then she noticed us all staring at her.
“What?” she asked us.
“Nothing.”

Now you guys have met Cassandra! She's not too likeable at first, but you'll get to know her for a while. What do you think of her?
Also, was it ever mentioned exactly when and how long Dionysus was at Camp Half-Blood before Percy arrived? I don't remember anything regarding it, so I just made it about a year before they arrived at camp.
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## Character Appearances

### Main Characters

* Annabeth Chase
* Jasmine Saturday

### Minor Characters

* Luke Castellan
* Cassandra
* Grover Underwood (mentioned)
* Chiron (mentioned)
* Dionysus (mentioned)
* Erik (mentioned)
* Thalia (mentioned)