To all of those who are commenting and pointing out my mistakes, thank you all so much! I means a lot to me that you're all reading my work, and I look forward to more of your comments, critiques or no.

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The speed was exhilarating. Wind tore at my hair and clothes, stinging my face. My eyes were watering and the air seemed to be sucked out of my lungs. I could barely breathe or see, but it was the best I have ever felt in my life.

I began to laugh as the world below me became a blur. My shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair flapped in the wind, and tears were leaking out of my dark grey eyes.

"Feels good, doesn't it" Silena asked me.

I nodded, unable to speak.

Poor Grover could barely hold on, his face pale green and his pupils were rectangular again. "N—No!" he moaned. "Doesn't—feel—good!" He leaned over the side and vomited, and a part of me vaguely wondered where his barf would land.

Eventually my ecstasy melted into curiosity and impatience.

"Where are you taking me?" I shouted over the wind, hoping Silena could hear me over the din.

"Camp Half-Blood," she responded loudly.

"Yeah, I got that! But what is exactly?"

"A safe haven for people like us."

"Okay, but…what are 'us?'"

Silena threw me a sympathetic look as if she had been through my exact experience, demonic teacher and all.

"I shouldn't be the one to explain," she said. "There's someone at camp who would explain much better than I could do. Just wait, we're almost there."

I froze. "Wait. How far away is Camp Half-Blood from Utah?"

Silena thought about this. "Well, camp is located at Long Island, but it's hidden from mortals, so I don't know the exact distance apart."

I choked. "And you say that we're almost there?"

Silena nodded, as if this was obvious. Then again, we were traveling practically traveling at the speed of sound, so it pretty much was obvious. I mentally reminded myself to keep an open mind for everything in general.

I looked over the edge of the side of the chariot, and I could see entire cities passing below us in seconds. Grover heaved again.

Suddenly Silena shouted, "Hang on!"

"To what?" Grover and I yelped, scrabbling and tussling for a hold on the smooth wood.

Silena's warning came too late. The chariot skidded to a halt and Grover and I were thrown overboard. We crashed onto the ground with hollow thumps and we both groaned.

Thankfully the ground consisted of surprisingly soft grass and dotted with wildflowers. With a grunt, I sat up and gaped at my surroundings.

Lime-green grass spread all around and met with a distant field of some small bushes dotted with scarlet berries. Maybe strawberries? A cool breeze whisked by and confirmed my answer.

A path lead to a clearing which contained around a dozen labeled cabins, none of them the same. One was solid gold that was almost impossible to look at directly, while another was sloppily painted with blood-red paint while being surrounded by barbed wire. The only similarity between the 12 cabins were size, and obviously they contained campers.

But there was a building bigger than the others. It reminded me of a brown and blue farm, but judging from what I could see in the windows, its contents were much more modern.

There was a nearby lake with its surface glittering like diamonds, and a forest was close, and I could see some girls skipping out of the forest, wearing forest-colored slips.

I was surrounded by people—probably the campers—all wearing orange T-Shirts that said in black print CAMP HALF-BLOOD with a black silhouette of a Pegasus below. They were doing all kinds of activities, like using forges, sword practice, archery, and climbing what appeared to be a wall that spewed lava.

I was so infatuated at staring at my surroundings that I almost didn't notice Silena holding out a helping hand toward me. I accepted it and as I stood up I stated the obvious: "So I take it that this is Camp Half-Blood."

"Yes," Silena said with a relieved smile, looking relieved as I am that we got out of the situation alive. "This is the safest place in the world for demigods."

I just stared at her. "Let me guess: you all think I'm a demigod."

Silena nodded. "You are. Want proof?"

Deciding to humor her, I nodded.

To my confusion, Silena handed me a canteen and said, "Take a sip. But not too much, okay?"

Frowning, I accepted the canteen and tentatively sipped it. The flavor of peach lemonade spread across my mouth. My mind immediately went back to me in the theatres watching Marvel movies with my dad. Back before he wasn't a complete drunk, we would always watch the Marvel movies together. When one was in theatres, we could go to a fancy one with reclining seats and snack from a jumbo-sized bucket of popcorn and drink peach lemonade.

"Hey, only a sip!" Silena warned. I realized just in time that I was taking more than a sip. I felt hot and fevery, feeling slightly dizzy.

I shook my head to clear it and said, "Was that proof, or poison?"

Silena took the canteen back and said, "Kind of both. It was nectar, but not the stuff from flowers. It's a drink of the gods, and it tastes like our happiest memories."

I licked my lips, desperate for another sip. "And how is it poison exactly?"

"If you drink too much of it, your body turns into ashes." Silena said nonchalantly.

"Oh," I said in the same tone. "Fantastic."

Grover seemed to have finally gotten himself together because he stood up and said, "Yeah, I'm never flying again. 'Bye, Silena." And he turned and sprinted to the forest, calling, "Juniper! Hey, Juniper!"

"Juniper?" I asked.

"Grover's girlfriend," Silena replied.

My jaw dropped open. "Wait—he has a girlfriend?"

Silena laughed. "You should see them together. They make a cute couple."

"Hey, Silena!" a vaguely familiar voice called. I turned to see the girl from the rainbow vision jog up. Her curly blond hair was pulled back into a camouflage bandana and her cloudy grey eyes were intense.

Annabeth, I remembered.

"Chiron's on his way," she said to Silena.

Silena nodded. "Good," she said. "I have some pegasi to take care of." She took off Blackjack and Porkpie's reins off and led them away.

I took a breath. I was starting to feel overwhelmed. And being an ADD bipolar teenager, which was saying a lot.

"Don't worry," Annabeth said, as if she read my thoughts. "Things will get better here, I promise."

I just sighed with a small shrug. "Silena said that there's someone here who could explain things better than she can."

Annabeth nodded. "That would be Chiron."

"The guy who's almost here."

Annabeth smirked as if I had just made a massive understatement.

"Chiron's much more than a 'guy,' trust me."

I raised an eyebrow. "So…what is he?"

"I believe that I am the 'guy' with the answers," said an amused voice. A man on a horse trotted up. No, he wasn't on a horse. He was part of the horse. Where his waist was, was the front of a horse where the neck would be. He also was wearing a camp T-shirt. His brown hair was slightly ragged and he had brown ageless eyes. He had a neatly trimmed beard and a wrinkles from smiling.

Oh hey, the blonde voice inside me said. He's a centaur!

"You're Chiron," I guessed.

The centaur nodded. "And I indeed am the one with all of the answers."