Hey guys! If you're familiar with me, then you probably won't want to read this unless you have an odd like of SVTFOE and Percy Jackson (like me). If you're not familiar with me, then hello and welcome to my Percabeth fic! I always respond to reviews on the next chapter (that's kind of a routine of mine). We obviously don't have any reviews, so there won't be any on this chapter. Now that we're all caught up, let's start the story!

Note: Please excuse any OoC moments (especially the firstf ew paragraphs of this chapter). It's been at least three years since I read the books, and I don't have them readily available. The wiki and my memory are my best assets at this point! So... try to bear with me. :)

There was silence during the whole first half of the trip. I mean, it made sense; something really awkward had just happened. My mom, Sally Jackson, had just gotten me up at five in the morning and rushed me into the car. The only explanation she had given was that she was sending me away to a summer camp. I wasn't happy with that. My mother and I had a very close bond, and I wanted to stay home with her over the summer (and play video games and live in relative peace.) Eventually, my thoughts started to turn to what I thought the camp would be like. Since I already hated it, my imagination thought up torturous activities: lava rock walls, capture-the-flag to the death. But that was all fantasy. The real torture would be the people.

See, there was something interesting about me. I had no idea why, but I was never accepted by peers, always blamed by adults, and never loved by anyone but my mother. Yes, that was the truth. My father deserted me, and my stepfather hated me. And a girlfriend-ha! That was unimaginable. Sure, I've crushed on a few girls-what sophomore hasn't? But the thought that any girl would actually like me back was laughable.

I know what you're thinking when I say this: man, this guy is just done!

Well, yeah. I am! I don't fit in anywhere-I'm too nice for the tough kids, my dyslexia and ADHD disqualify me from the smart kids, I'm not cool for obvious reasons, I can't play music, I can't play sports, I can't follow social etiquette without messing up, I can't attract girls, I can't, I can't, I can't. Seems like a pretty good description of my life. Life just kinda… sucks. I'm a stupid, clumsy, ADHD kid: perfect for laughingstock.

And yet there's one place where I'm welcome, one person who truly accepts and cares for me. My mom, of course. And I was being stripped of a whole summer of being home with her as she makes me tons of blue food and we watch movies together at night after Gabe had passed out from the alcohol and….

All right, that might be a bit overexaggerated, but my point is, I REALLY don't want to go to this camp, where there's a bunch of completely new people to laugh when I trip over my feet. Fun.

But I know what my mom would say: A new beginning. New people to start over with. So fine. Maybe this time would be different. Maybe I'd find someone like Grover (he had been my friend back in middle school, but I was expelled and never saw him again). But I doubted it.

Finally, I managed out: "Mom, why are you making me leave?" Dang, I felt like I was ten again, saying that. But like I said, my mom never judges.

"You'll understand when you get there, but… it's too dangerous for you to stay at home any longer. I should have taken you here years ago, but I wanted to keep you as long as I could. But the situation is getting bad now, and this is the only place you'll be safe."

"I'm going to hate it there."

"Try to give it a chance."

"The kids won't let me."

There was a short silence as my mom gathered her thoughts. "These kids aren't like the ones from any of your schools. They're like you. They all have the same troubles you do."

"Great, so we can all just throw a big pity party together."

"Percy, the people you meet here will be your friends for life. Trust me."

That left me with nothing to say.

Finally, the last moments with my mom dwindled away as the car came to a stop. In the middle of the forest.

"On my side," my mom instructed.

I got out of the car and came around to her side.

"Go past the pine tree there," she continued.

"Why don't I see anything like, oh, I don't know, a camp?"

"You'll understand everything soon."

Why did she keep saying that? Was she hiding something from me? I pushed that down and grudgingly confirmed, "So I just walk past it and a camp suddenly appears?"

"Yes."

I'll admit, some part of my brain considered asking her to come with me, but the rest of my brain was against it. A sixteen-year-old walking into camp afraid to leave his mom-I'd be the laughingstock of the year. Not that I wouldn't be anyway.

I was just about to say goodbye when my mom beat me to it. "I love you, Percy," she said. I've only ever heard those words spoken to me by one voice: hers. She hugged me, an embrace I returned and fully enjoyed.

We eventually pulled away, as all good things eventually come to an end.

"You'll be alright," my mom assured me. She cupped her hands on my cheeks and kissed me on the forehead.

In spite of myself, I smiled. "Thanks, mom."

My mom smiled. "My handsome boy."

Yeah, right. If I had a dollar for every time someone has insulted my face, I'd be filthy rich. My expression turned dark at that thought, but, seeing my mom's worried eyes, managed to give her a halfhearted smile.

"All right, goodbye," I said.

"Goodbye," my mom echoed.

I walked downhill to the pine tree and and took a few steps past it. Then I turned back. As I watched my mom disappear into the car and drive away, all the false confidence I'd built up in the last few minutes vanished.

I turned back around, my knees becoming weak. In front of me was a large house. Behind it was a line of cabins-no, not a line, the shape of… a Greek omega, I think. Or was that an upside-down horseshoe? Or a Colts logo? The last two were the same thing, weren't they? Ugh. All the while, my knees became weaker and weaker.

A sound from behind me caused me to turn around. Suddenly, a monster leaped at my face. My knees gave out from the fright, landing me on the butt. I screamed. I felt a harsh impact on my head.

As I calmed down, I recognized the monster as half-man, half-bull-a Minotaur.

But that was impossible, wasn't it?

As I kicked myself away from the beast, my hand landed in a puddle of water. Not so, my son. A voice said.

"Who said that?" I demanded. But there was no one in sight except the faraway campers who were just blurs. My attention once again diverted to the Minotaur, which I finally realized it was restrained by… something. Like some sort of force field. Hey, if I'm believing in Minotaurs and water ghosts claiming me as their child at this point, I'm not sure believing in force fields could hurt.

All of a sudden, strong arms come under my armpits and pick me up. The person then proceeded to drag me across the grass toward the house, muttering, "Stupid newbie."

Then I got a mouthful of long blond hair and realized that this was a girl. Yup, I was getting dragged across a field by a girl. There goes another hit on my track record.

The position we were in didn't allow me to turn around to see her face, so I instead checked her arms. She didn't seem particularly ripped. She was fit and well-muscled, which is something I couldn't say about myself. But could I really help it? The only physical activity I didn't suck at was swimming, and I refused to stand in front of an audience wearing a Speedo. Plus, physical activity often required the presence of other people-typically cocky kids that had every right to feel overconfident around me. It also required getting off the couch. Yeah, that, too.

My conclusion was that she was just a normal amount of strong and I was just scrawny.

Needless to say, I regarded the girl dragging me across the ground with some contempt. I groaned, at this point unable to speak coherently. My vision was growing black at the edges-and, no, that wasn't my hair.

Suddenly, the girl dropped me into the grass. Her hair disappeared from my vision. I saw a large multi-story house. Then again, there was no telling whether I could trust my vision at this point. I grew more and more faint as the seconds passed.

The last thing I remember seeing before losing consciousness was the girl with the long blond hair, now returned. Her features and jawline were sharply defined. She wore an orange T-shirt and a beaded necklace. It appeared that her hair had once been in a ponytail, but it had fallen out and now the hair band clung to a small lock of hair on the left side of her head. She seemed to be concentrated as she consoled me, "Hey, hey, it's all right. I'm just gonna have you drink

something and you should be fine. All right?" Not getting a reaction, she continued, "I promise, you'll be fine. Just give it a minute." The words were strangely comforting, even though they all blended together in my muddle head into incoherency. I smiled.

But something else took dominance over all my senses. My eyes locked on her stunning gray eyes. Focused. Stubborn. Contemplative. Tender. Concerned, even? To be honest, it reminded me of my mother. And… wait, did I taste her blue chocolate-chip cookies that I love?

"He's awake."

I suppose I should have expected to hear that immediately after I came to. I painstakingly turned my head to face the speaker. He was a tall boy of about my age. He had blond hair that was combed to the left and slightly tanned skin. He wore identical clothing to the Blond Girl: Orange T-shirt-which I now notices had the initials "CHB" surrounded by an intricate design on it in black ink-in addition to the beaded necklace and blue jeans scuffed from use (not those pre-torn ones you can buy).

My next genius observation was that Blond Girl stood in the room with Blond Guy, just a bit farther back.

"Who…?" I croaked out. My voice didn't want to work.

Somehow, Blond Guy heard me. "I'm Will Solace. And here, behind me, is the girl who rescued you, Annabeth Chase.

Blond Girl-I mean, Annabeth scoffed. "Rescuing? More like dragging."

"Trust me," Will countered, "your arrival is by far not the most embarrassing."

"True. At least he didn't end up like good 'ol Thal-"

"You can shut up now, Athena Girl."

"All right, Solace."

Just as she turned away to leave, I caught a last glimpse of her stormy eyes. Despite the mocking, I could see something else behind them. Concern. Caring. And that, well, I can hardly ever remember experiencing. Except by my mom. Why did Annabeth keep reminding me of her?

Of course, it took all of this long to register what Will had called her. "Athena?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. (Which probably didn't have the same effect while lying sideways with one's face mashed into the cot mattress.)

"You've got a lot to learn, bud. And for all your questions, I will turn you over to Chiron. Meanwhile, take some more of this. You should be able to take more at this point without your blood turning to lava."

"Excuse me?"

"Drink it. Doctor's orders."

"I bet you don't even have your driver's license yet. Why should I trust you?"

"Let's just say, I'm the son of the greatest healer in the world."

"All right, what the heck."

Will held a canteen toward my mouth, but I took it. "I can feed myself, Solace."

With an annoyed expression, Will glanced around the corner, shouting at Annabeth, who sat there, "Look what you taught him!"

I was honestly concerned with how well of a job Solace was doing. Half the time, he wasn't paying attention to me.

After staring at him skeptically, Will told be to drain it.

Immediately, the chocolate-chip cookie taste pervades my mouth again. It felt a bit weird consuming cookies in liquid form, but it was good nonetheless. I instantly started feeling better and even a little… I don't know, lighter. Like I had more energy. Honestly, I saw more canteens and would have drunk from them if not for the threat of lava-blood, which I could imagine wouldn't be pleasant. But I really was curious about the stuff. "What is this?" I asked Will.

"Well, it's nectar. Just the fact that you're still alive means that you're not entirely human, which we'll get to later."

"I'm not human." I asked flatly.

"I told you, leave it for Chiron. Anyway, it heals you-that is, if it doesn't kill you. It magically tastes like your favorite food or taste. Mine is frozen lemonade. Yours?"

"Chocolate chip cookies."

"Nice."

From the adjacent room, Annabeth called, "Hurry it up already, I gotta get to archery. Can he walk?"

Yeah, no problem. Of course I could walk. I slipped my legs off the raised platform and slid into the ground, cringing at the jarring impact. I regained my balance then stepped forward. I promptly twisted my ankle and fell on my face.

"Nope! Not ready," Will exclaimed, helping me up.

Annabeth was now in the doorway. "Or maybe that's how he always walks." She smirked.

For some reason, I wasn't offended. There was something… missing. Some malicious edge. Almost like she was laughing with me instead of at me. In fact, I actually started to smirk as I sat up. I don't know, it just felt… different from when the high schoolers made fun of me. Like a friendly kind of teasing, if that was a thing. "Yeah, real funny." I retorted sarcastically although, if I was being honest, it was kind of funny.

Then Will spoke again. "Annabeth, before you go, did you observe anything important?"

"Oh yeah, he got claimed by Poseidon."

"Poseidon?" Will repeated incredulously.

"I'm sure of it. He stuck his arm in a puddle of water and heard someone say something to him. What did he say, Water Boy?"

So I'm Water Boy. Great. I assume that had to do with the fact that Poseidon had something to do with water. (What? Did you think I actually pay attention in history class?)

"Well, uh…"

"Spit it out, Water Boy."

"Well, I saw a Minotaur, but I knew that was impossible. Then I heard a voice say, 'Not so, my son.' It was definitely masculine. Which is weird, because I don't have a dad."

"Everyone has a dad, Water Boy, even if he lives on Mount Olympus."

"You know, I have a name."

"I know that, Water Boy, but I'm just going to call you Water Boy."

The name irritated me, but again I felt myself almost smiling about it.

Will glared at Annabeth, inserting himself back into the conversation. "What is your name?" he asked, showing genuine interest.

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

Annabeth frowned. "I prefer Water Boy."

I moaned.

"All right, Annabeth, run off to your archery and stop torturing poor Percy."

Annabeth left, and I was almost sort of… wistful, perhaps? I don't know. Almost like when Mom drove away.

Again with Mom! Why?

Anyway, Will finally got me to walk. We arrived in a cozy room with armchairs, a couch, a burning fireplace-but wasn't it summer? It also had a… a jaguar head high on the wall. A wheelchaired man who looked to be about forty sat next to the couch.

"Who are you?" I asked him, sitting in an armchair.

"My name is Chiron. I'm the camp's activities director." Chiron didn't waste any more time on small talk. "There are some things I am about to tell you that you won't believe. Let this be your proof." He gripped the sides of his wheelchair and pulled himself up onto his legs, which were becoming covered with brown hair. His shoe transformed to a hoof. His wheelchair unfolded behind him, turning into horse legs as well.

When it all ended, I was staring at an eight-foot-tall centaur. Now, believe me, I was skeptical. I blinked a few times. I stared in disbelief. But you know what? Mom said this would be different, and it was. I needed different. So even if I didn't fully believe it yet, I accepted it.

"To put it simply, the gods are real," Chiron stated.

"Like, the Greek gods," Will interjected. "The ones you learned about but weren't paying attention to."

"Don't get any ideas, though, because they don't pay attention to you, either. Especially if you're their kid, which you are. (A/N: Yeah, the gods are real and they have kids and those kids have issues! Issues!)

Here's the rundown: you're a demigod, also known as a half-blood. You're half-mortal half-god, so one of your parents is a god. Since I've been in contact with your mother, your father must be your godly parent. Unfortunately, you're still mortal and able to be killed. However, you may have some skills associated with your godly parent. Those will either come in time or are already present. For example, a child of Hades can shadow-travel and raise the undead, which are skills learned over time, while children of Athena are just born exceptionally smart.

"Wait, so you're saying that I'm the son of a-that my dad is Poseidon?'!"

"Well, it could be any male go. Or, you know… well, that's the Norse gods, so I wouldn't worry."

I raised an eyebrow, but Will spoke before I could. "We think he's already been claimed. He heard a voice in the water. It called him its… its son." Will said the last part quietly.

"Naiads."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Naiads. Water spirits. They could've been messing with you," Will said, coming to the same conclusion as Chiron.

"Besides the fact, no one should be alone on their first week of camp."

"Wait, alone?" I asked. "You know, you guys are really bad at explaining things!"

"I'm sorry," Chiron apologized. "We're usually better. It's just… Poseidon… even the possibility of it is just so surprising."

"Why?" I demanded.

"Well, to put it shortly, all children of Poseidon are… prohibited from being born. You would be the only one. So we'll hope that you're NOT a son of Poseidon because if you are… let's just say it might get messy."

Oh, great. Not only am I an outcast, but my own birth was a crime. Welcome to my life.

"Anyway," Chiron continued, "we're putting you in the Hermes cabin for now; they take all the unclaimed ones. Luke is the camp counselor for 'll get to know him soon."

Oh boy would I get to know him soon. And not in a good way.

A/N: So there we are so far! A few hints at Percabeth there, if you payed attention. ;) I like to develop relationships and not have them be rushed, so we'll only be seeing very mild Percabeth for a bit, but I promise I'm building up to it! Meanwhile, we get to watch Percy go through the Hades of finding out you're a demigod all over again. :)

I usually leave the title of the next chapter in the end comments so here it is: "The Hermes Cabin"

Another little teaser: Nico will appear in this story despite The Titan's Curse not happening yet. An OC son of Ares will also appear, just because I had a cool idea for a demigod and wanted to use it.

This story is currently on low priority since it's not in the fandom I'm known for, but any support (reviews, PM's, follows, faves, etc.) will boost the update speed. Until chapter 2!

Update like 6 hours later: I forgot to mention, there are two references to Riordan books or adaptations of them in here. See if you can get them! :)