A/N: Hi everyone! This is a Christmas gift for my friend, LightThemUp. Check out her work because it's excellent. This will probably be a few chapters, but I'm not sure how many. It takes place after HoO. Also, Mercer is supposed to act kind of like Annabeth and Thalia, only a bit more interested in hair. I hope I kept her in character because she's technically LightThemUp's character, but I got permission to use her. I also want to specify that this is NOT a romance between Mercer and Manny. I'm planning on introducing Mercer's future boyfriend in the next chapter. As always, reviews and constructive criticism are highly appreciated. Also, please read my other PJO fanfic, Holiday Week. I am in dire need of suggestions for Halloween costumes. Happy Holidays! Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, HoO, or all of these OC's (some of them belong to LightThemUp). I can't say I fully own the idea because I'm fulfilling a request from her. Still, I DO own the way I choose to right this, though.

Mercer Fulmens was a very imaginative girl, but that did not mean she was gullible. Still, she had no choice but to follow as Manny Erubief dragged her through the thick underbrush that filled the back pocket of her small, ramshackle school campus.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to me?!" she yelped as a tree branch snapped into her face. Her soft waves of toffee colored hair were now tangled from being slapped and screwed into twigs, and she was certain that the silvery bow her mother had given her for her fifteenth birthday had fallen somewhere outside the cafeteria shortly after her deranged homeroom member had grabbed her. Yes, homeroom member. Mercer didn't consider Manny a friend, and he wasn't intelligent enough to be in any of her classes. The only times they'd actually interacted were when he would run around the cafeteria stealing bits of her lunch to throw at cheerleaders. She would often spot him doing ridiculous things such as kissing trees and eating paper bags along with his lunch, most likely to attract attention. She found his shenanigans amusing at times; however, she definitely didn't want to be a part of them.

"I'm taking you to Camp!" he bleated. For some reason, his long, dark ponytail of dreadlocks, definitely longer than Oriole High School's student handbook allowed, seemed immune to the trees' abuse.

"Camping?!" yelled Mercer. "Not in the middle of school!"

"I mean a summer camp!"

"But it isn't summer!" said Mercer. In fact, it was the middle of November. What kind of a summer camp would be open in the middle of the school year? And why was Manny abducting her? Despite his immaturity, he didn't seem like the criminal type. Unlike her. Despite her good grades, she kept getting kicked out of school since second grade for reasons she didn't understand. Like in third grade when she punched a bully in the face who ended up in the hospital for his heart stopping. Or when there was a school wide power out last year, when she was in 8th grade, right when she was taking her final exam for Algebra II on a school computer. Math was one of the few subjects that caused Mercer difficulty.

"Camp's open year round!" said Manny. "And can't you run a little quieter?"

"I shouldn't be quiet when I'm GETTING KIDNAPPED!" She attempted to punch Manny in the face, but he somehow managed to dodge.

"We're trying to escape from the empousa," he said. "They're jealous of you because the guys in our school think you're prettier than them. Plus, they might want to eat you, too."

"Empousa?" asked Mercer. The term sounded familiar, but she couldn't recall where she heard it other than that it was probably from a book she read. Was it Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings?

"They're the demon cheerleaders," he said. Mercer looked behind her, and to her surprise, the meanest cheerleaders in her school were chasing them. Their makeup was smeared, and their eyes glowed red like headlights on a car. Mercer would have found it amusing in other circumstances, but not when she was running to who knows where with the most annoying kid in her grade. And that the cheerleaders' legs looked different. Each had one gleaming metallic and the other dark and shaggy. She thought she must have been hallucinating, but she laughed anyway. Unlike Manny's, their hair was also tangled with leaves and other forest debris. Her laughter ceased when their hair burst into flames.

"I really wish I decided to station myself at Yellowstone instead of some high school in the middle of nowhere," sighed Manny ruefully.

"What do you mean by station yourself?" asked Mercer, continuing to look at the empousa, who were gaining on them. "Didn't your parents choose this school for you?"

"Nope!" answered Manny cheerfully. "I chose this place because I didn't expect any Half-Bloods to be here since most of them don't get good enough grades. I could keep getting held back each year claiming to be waiting for some to show up while in reality, I could relax and party with these shapely trees without having to worry about monsters. Unfortunately, my dreams of peace and safety crashed when you showed up. Now, I have to drag you all the way to New York saving you from these bitches."

"You seriously can't be taking me to New York. Did you drug me?"

"Nope. You're becoming undrugged. You're seeing through the Mist, and Camp's in New York."

Mercer couldn't see any mist, unless if she counted the smoke crawling off the cheerleaders' locks of flame. She took her hazel eyes off the empousa for a moment to glare at Manny.

"What mist?" she asked. "I only see the smoke from the cheerleaders and the fog from our breath, and I don't think you're referring to either."

"The Mist is a magical force that distorts the vision of mortals because they can't handle looking at monsters, but it sometimes works on demigods like you, too."

"I'M NOT A DEMIGOD!" said Mercer, now realizing that Manny was calling her one. "I've read mythology books, and it's obvious that I'm not Hercules or Theseus."

"You're right about that," said Manny. "But you look identical to Helen of Troy."

"Stop flirting with me," said Mercer angrily, not expecting Manny to be the type interested in Greek mythology. She wished she brought her pocketknife so she could get Manny to explain what was going on. Sadly, all she had when Manny grabbed her was her cell phone in the pocket of her black leather jacket. Instead of explaining what the hell he was doing, Manny was telling her a bunch of lies about her being a child of an Olympian. Her mom was certainly human, and her dad had been struck by a lightning bolt before she was born.

"I'm not flirting with you," said Manny. "I'd rather date a weed. It's just that we have portraits of Helen at camp, and she looks just like you. AAAAAAAH!"

Mercer turned around, and the empousa were right behind them. She wished she had a weapon.

"How dare you steal our guys!" hissed the one named Jamie. "We will eat you!" She bared her fangs.

"I'm not dating anyone!" said Mercer as she continued to run after Manny, who had pulled something out of his pocket. She prayed to whoever was up there that it would kill the empousa.

"Hold on!" said Manny. He shoved the object against his lips and blew, issuing a light, lifting melody. Mercer felt something wrap around her, and she looked down to find a huge branch coiled around her waist. Manny was wrapped in one, too. The branches began lifting them up as Manny's tune quickened. Mercer looked down and saw the empousa doing some cheerleading move in an attempt to reach them. Just as Jamie's manicured claws were about to wrap around her ankle, she felt a jolt. Suddenly, the empousa were gone. The air had gotten colder. Mercer and Manny were sitting in front of a huge pine tree that somehow managed to retain its thick, green needles despite the cool autumn weather.

Manny smiled at her. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."