It's a funny world we live in. One minute you're sitting around a camp fire singing songs about Jupiter and his lightning sword with your best friends, and the next you're fighting for your life against the very same people. And yes, I mean my world. The world I live in. The world of the most amazing experiences and adventures you could ever wish for… but also the world of the most dangerous and darkest quests. It's a world of happiness and love, but also of pain and hurt. A lot of hurt.

I look over at Dom. We smile at each other and he mouths "1,2…3!" and we run! We've done this a million and one times but it never gets old. We charge onto the Fields of Mars and are instantly joined by an army of incredibly enthusiastic twelve year olds. I look up and see Abigail and Alex running towards us from the opposite side of the field with an equally enthusiastic bunch. Our two groups meet and the children instantly begin sparring and wrestling. I go over to Alex and point my sword at his chest. "You not gonna fight me" I laugh.

"In front of all these kids, I don't think your little friends could take seeing their amazing tutor impaled into the field. Would probably affect the confidence their parents have in their learning"

"Is that so" I raise my eye brows. He lunges. Of course, I dodge. His lunge was slow and poorly aimed but it looked impressive. That's the game. Make the children think it's real, set a good example, but don't get carried away, which is easier said than done. We are natural rivals, a son of Zeus against a daughter of Neptune, a Greek against a Roman.

The children continue to fight around us as we pretend to have a very dramatic and very intense duel. Then a young boy from Alex's team, I think his name is Henry, comes up behind me. I pretend not to notice him. Then I feel a jab in back from his blunt sword we use in training. "Arrrgghhh" I scream and pretend to fall to the floor. "We have won" Alex shouts holding his sword up to the sky. A chorus of cheers erupts from Alex and Abigail's group. At this moment Dom comes running up the field with my little army and the children collectively throw themselves into Alex, pushing him to the floor. "Not so soon!" one shouts.

After practice, Me and Dom wander down to the river. Dom doesn't usually teach the younger children. Usually me and Abigail run the Field of Mars training for the under 13's, but since Alex was visiting from Camp Half Blood, and insisted on being on the opposing team to me, Dom had stepped in to make things even. "So" He says "Alex?"

"Alex?" I reply, puzzled.

"You and him, I could see the looks he was giving you when you were sparring earlier"

"Oh yeah" I reply with sarcasm in my voice. "I feel like they were looks of vengeance and "why can't I fight this Roman properly""

"They we're definitely not fighting looks" He continues. "I've seen the 'I wish this Roman would fight me properly' look, and that was not it"

"Well" I sigh "I guess you'll just have to be jealous then"

"Jealous!" He says mockingly horrified. "Jealous of perfect Alexander Thomas, with his prefect blonde hair and tanned muscular arms…" He stares of into the distance. I push him laughing. "You're highly annoying you know Dominic Edward Clarke"

He mocks my weak British accent "You're highly annoying you know Elzena Carter". I give him my death stare and he stops. We keep walking towards to river in comfortable silence. I do feel comfortable around Dom. We've known each other since forever. Well that's how it feels, life before camp doesn't feel like it really happened. This life I all I've really known. I arrived here when I was 7. My Mum brought me saying she couldn't do it anymore and wanted nothing more to do with me. It turns out she had no idea who my Dad really was and after a drunken night of… well you know what, she ended up falling pregnant with the child of a Roman god. Of course, being the god his is, he had to tell her the truth before I was born. There was no way a child of Neptune would go un-noticed by the monsters for long, especially so soon after the attempted rise of Gaia. Then, rather that telling either of the camps about me, he decided to send my Mum to the UK where I was born, hence where my accent came from. I don't remember much about living in England. I don't remember even being attacked by monsters, you don't really get them in England, which is why I was sent there. There must have been enough to scare my Mum off me though. No one knows how, but by the time I was 7 she had tracked down Camp Jupiter and she turned up one day, told them who my father was and then left. There was a huge uproar. First, Zeus had a child right before the end of the war with Gaia and managed to hide him, now Neptune had had another right after the war.

Anyway, so that's how I met Dom. I was a scared seven year old in this huge new world. The other kids knew who I was, everyone did. Some kids thought it was really cool! Other weren't so welcoming. Dom was different. Dom is a son of Mercury and is pretty much the most standard Roman demi-god ever. His abides by all the rules and is an incredible fighter. I remember that even then, aged 10, he had the same big brown eyes and curly light brown hair. He took me under his wing and taught me how to fit in. 12 years later, we no longer serve the legion as warriors, but as teachers, guards and ambassadors.

We reach the river bank and sit on the grass. It's a warm summer's day and camp is in full swing. Most of our campers stay year round but we have a lot of Greek demi-gods who visit us on exchange throughout the summer months so things are a little more hectic than usual. Especially since the Greeks are soooo much more unorganised then we are.

"Do you ever see more than camp?" Dom asks

I sigh, I know what conversation is about to happen. "Outside huh?" I ask him

"Yeah, the mortal world" He stares of into the rolling hills that surround the camp. "Imagine a life where you could go to college, find someone, fall in love, have kids… normal kids" he stops speaking.

We sit in silence for a few minutes. "I recon I could you know"

I look at him "what?"

"Live in the mortal world. You did and your Dad's Neptune! I'm sure a child of Mercury could easily go un-noticed. Especially if I moved to another country… maybe Australia"

"I was really young Dom, I mean, you probably could, kids from Camp Half blood do during the school year."

"Would you miss me?" He asks looking back at me.

I smile "Of course I would, you've been like a brother to me these last twelve years"

"You could come too?" He suggests quietly. He already knows the answer.

"There's no life for me out there. Living in England when I was 7 was clearly too much. I'm happy here anyway, I love teaching and I'm close to Percy"

We sit and watch the sun set in the distance.