DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS, HEROS OF OLYMPUS, OR THE KANE CHRONICLES

Chapter 1 ~ I Forget to Put in My RSVP

Adjusting my bag on my shoulder again, I allowed myself one more glance behind me. There was dad, waving so hard that a dove popped out of his sleeve. I shook my head and smiled before I turned and walked through the magical barrier surrounding Camp Half Blood.

I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself though. My name is Amber Radke. I am a 18 year old teenage girl, with dark brown hair and dark green eyes. Oh, I am also a Greek demigod.

My father is Julian Radke, a world-famous magician, who is possibly the coolest dad ever, and can see through the mist. (The mist is the veil that hides monsters and all of that stuff from regular mortal's eyes.) However, that's the NORMAL side of my family. The other side includes my mother, Hecate. For those of you who don't know, Hecate is the Greek goddess of sorcery and magic.

Ya, sure, I know what you're thinking. Gee, wouldn't it be all fun and games to have a god as a parent? Well, the answer to that question is no. Not really. Being a demigod means that you radiate a stench - miles wide, I might add - that only monsters who would love to eat you, can smell. Using cell phones or other electronic devices just amplify it. So basically, you can kiss whatever little dreams you have of a normal life goodbye.

Being a demigod isn't all that bad, though. Most demigods inherit some cool abilities from their godly parents. Also we can come to a special summer camp just for demigods.

That camp, is Camp Half Blood, and things are about to get a little crazy.

If I had any clue what was going to happen once I walked through that barrier when I crawled out of bed this morning, I probably would have dived back under my covers and refused to leave for a year.

But I didn't, and now here I am, smack dab in the middle of the largest, craziest, and presumably most dangerous game of capture the flag I have ever witnessed.

It was a like mad house. There were people sword fighting, archers shooting odd-looking arrows that trapped people in a jiggly green block (I later found out that they were made of jello), a guy surrounded in a water tornado taking people down left and right, Pegasus swooping down trying to scare the other team, and a dude that was literally on fire. And that wasn't even most of it.

By this time, I was seriously rethinking my decision to come here. Just as I turned around to go back home, everything suddenly got quiet. Groaning inwardly, I turned around slowly. Sure enough, they were all staring at me.

One glance above my head told me why. There glowed the purple sign of Hecate. My mother had chosen right then to claim me, again in front of the whole camp. See, because of the new policy, my mother had already claimed me when I turned thirteen. Why she decided to do it again, I have no clue. But seeing as she did, I would have to make the best of it. Yippee.

Or... I could just disappear.

Deciding the first choice was probably better, I squared my shoulders and looked straight at the centaur walking towards me.

"Hello, I'm Chiron the activities director here at Camp Half Blood. Now, I'm going to need to know how much you know about being a demigod and why you are just now coming to camp. That way I can fill you in on whatever else you are missing." The kind-looking centaur requested with a comforting smile.

I took a deep breath, and started into my story.

"You see, I have always known that I was a demigod. My dad, being a famous magician himself, has never really believed in lying. All he does on the stage, is present people with amazing illusions that they can choose to believe if they want. So, I pretty much know all there is to know about being a demigod. The only reason that I have not come to camp yet, is because I didn't need too. The monsters weren't really a problem because we moved around so much. Also, my mother didn't want me to come for a time, because I wouldn't have had a cabin. After all of that changed, she said it was my choice. Now, my dad just accepted a job as a college professor on ancient magic, and I decided to try this whole camp thing. If I had known I was going to interrupt, I would have come at a different time," I explained the best I could, sort of apologizing at the end.

In the silence that followed as everyone processed what I said, I was seriously rethinking the whole disappearing thing.

Finally, Chiron cleared his throat. "Very well. Welcome to camp, uh?" He started, before realizing I never said my name. I quickly supplied it, slightly embarrassed that I had forgotten that important detail. After nodding, the centaur continued, "Welcome to camp Amber. I suppose if you would like, you could join the game, seeing as you don't need the regular explanation. Or-"

I nodded immediately, not waiting for the second option. The last thing I wanted to do was make somebody miss the game just to show me around camp.

At the mention of the game, the other campers seemed to remember that they had been in the middle of it. With this realization, came a long debate over what they were going to do about it.

It was finally decided that I would join my sibling's team and the game would restart, giving me a chance to learn the rules.

The teams were Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Hades, Hermes, and about half of the minor gods, including Hecate, on the blue team, and Zeus, Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, Ares, Hephaestus, and the other half of the minor gods on the red team.

The blue team had placed the flag on a mound of rocks that everybody kept referring to as Zeus's Fist. I could already tell that this was no ordinary game of Capture the Flag. This was war... Not really, but it probably was used as training for actually fighting in a war.

A girl with blonde hair and grey eyes, who I later found out was Annabeth, quickly explained the rules to me, and assigned me to defense with my new cabin. I was soon redirected to the guy in charge of the defensive. He had long dark hair, deep, sea green eyes, and appeared to be about my age.

He introduced himself to me, then told my cabin to create distractions, and help out on the offensive front if things go badly for Annabeth.

Percy assigned the archers from Apollo to surround the perimeter of the clearing, and had the Hermes kids and everyone else hide in the woods around the clearing, ready to ambush anyone who dared to enter.

I followed my siblings (there were only five of us all together) quietly, winding through the forest until we reached the edge of the red team's clearing.

We waited silently in the trees, watching the empty clearing intently. (Which was rather impressive for five ADD demigods) The only thing that we could see was the flag, blowing in the wind, in the middle.

Then almost instantly, things started happening. There was a large net on the ground, that was camouflaged so well that you could barely see where it started and the ground ended, that suddenly sprang up capturing an unseen victim.

There was a short pause, before the captive took off a baseball hat, cursing in Greek. The red team exploded from the trees, all chatting excitedly at once. They had caught Annabeth! The flag was as good as theirs now!

I exchanged glances with my new siblings, then I ran straight out into the clearing.


AN: Ooh, a cliffhanger! I have always wanted to write one of those... Well, there it is, the beginning of my first story! I hope you all enjoyed it. It's not very long at the moment, but I'm just setting up the story line a bit. The next few chapters should hopefully be a little more exciting once I start my actual plot, but it has to start somewhere! If you liked it, or have any criticism or ways I can improve my writing, please share!