Hello, mates! So this is a story that I wrote about a year ago, before the Lost Hero came out. And when I was re-reading it I realized a lot of mistakes both plotine and grammatical, so I'm reposting this. It's the same story but just better edited. I hope.

The Exchange Program

The Letter

"Ya got any eights?"

"Nope. Go fish," Nico replied, studying the king of hearts he was holding and wondering what one did to end up on a playing card.

"Alright!" cried Loki, throwing down his cards. "The next person to say 'go fish' will find themselves in a vat of boiling tar in the middle of the night!"

"But that's the name of the game!" Seraphina argued, taking a card from the pile.

Nico calmly raised his hand and a five foot circled wall of obsidian rock surrounded the deck. He turned to Loki and asked, "how about 'go deep-sea diving'?"

Loki frowned, "Ha, ha, ha, very clever, but we all know I'm not the only one here who'd like to strangle the guy who invented Go Fish."

Nico had to agree, but Seraphina was less than willingly to simply agree with an idea that was not her own (no, she wasn't a child of Ares of Hermes; why do you ask?) the thirteen year old turned the whole conversation around to mock Loki, whom everyone knew was probably the worst son Hermes in the last three thousand years. Nico tuned out his best friends' argument and gazed out at the rest of the camp from his seat on Halfblood Hill. He wished that he could go back to his Underworld casino nights, but his father, Hades, said that it caused too much trouble and had to limit it to the Elysian Fields. That and he was a good seven years underage.

He and his friends made an interesting group: Nico, son of one the Big Three, had a big reputation that was mostly rumors. So he looked sort of goth, with black clothes, black hair, pale skin, skull ring, and his ever present stygian sword. I'm pretty sure that there were a lot more goths at camp thanks to all the lesser gods (but only he carried the stygian sword, mind you.)

Loki was skinny, freckled, had a thatch of red hair, and above all was hesitant when doing things. That alone should have kicked him out of the Hermes cabin (which was full of pranksters and evil masterminds), but his dad claimed him soon after his first failed prank (ok, his fiftieth first prank, but who was counting.)

Seraphina was especially odd. She looked sort of like Nico, with shaggy black hair, black eyes, and a crooked smile. Actually in truth she was almost recruited for the titan's army, but that's a different story. She enjoyed a variety of things like painting and guitar and torturing people, but she did not like those with big heads, so to speak (she couldn't stand Percy even though they've only spoken once to each other).

And finally there was Hermione whom, as I am describing this, was racing over to where her friends were sitting. A daughter of Aphrodite, she was she was less outspoken than the others, yet she retained a reputation of a quite beauty. She had long dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. Unlike the others, this was first her summer at Camp Halfblood (Nico knew about it since he was ten, it was Seraphina's fourth summer, and Loki had arrived last summer before the war)

"Hey guys! I have mail!" There was something sarcastic Hermione's voice as she reached them.

"You can't say that! I copyrighted that phrase."

"Since when did you copyright 'I have mail', Loki?"

"Just now! In my head! Keep up, Nico!"

"Does happen to be a 'KIll ME NOW" package from Zeus by any chance?" Seraphina asked, looking pleadingly towards the sky.

"if you clowns will cut it out, I'll read it to you." Hermione settled herself next to Seraphina and took the letter out of the envelope, "It's from Chiron and it's to all four of us." She cleared her throat and began reading (Chiron always make sure to use a font that is easy to read for the campers), "Dear, Mr. di Angelo, Ms. Mone, Mr. Fen, and Ms. Zentry. It has come to my attention that there has been some disturbances in camp that might possibly be linked to your being."

"Yeah right," scoffed Nico, "someone squealed on us."

"Whether the rumors of your connection are true or not, I feel that it would be my responsibility to make clear the camp's stand on certain activates that have happened.

⁃ Narnia is not part of the geography lesson and it would be useless to teach otherwise because it does not exist. This also includes Avalon, Wonderland, Fablehaven, and the Hundred Acre Woods

⁃ Furthermore, teaching a geography lesson to a group of ADHD/dyslexic teenagers in the summer is considered rather cruel. With or without the switch.

"What are we supposed to do with all the fake maps we made?" Seraphina interrupted.

"I know a few guys who might be interested," Loki answered trying to sound aloof, but they all knew that he just meant the Stoll brothers.

⁃ This camp does not have a kill list. It has quests. But threatening either one is futile since it is the oracle who decides who goes on the kill, er, quest.

⁃ Decorating the Athena cabin (or any other cabin) with Sesame Street has caused some very serious brain damage, along with humiliating photos. Please leave the decorating to the cabinmates

"I wonder if anyone would mind Teletubbies," Loki mused.

⁃ There have been many requests for all the random endangered species to stop being imported into the forest.

⁃ This includes Mary, the panda

Nico threw his hands in the air, "No one cares about the environment these days, and Percy won't let Mary move into my cabin."

⁃ Constant chatter of other worlds and other mythological gods is considered offensive to the gods themselves.

"Humph! When Chuck Norris brings the sun crashing down, everyone will be sorry they didn't listen to me," Loki snapped.

⁃ And for the last time, Camp Halfblood is not the sister camp to Camp Green Lake. No matter how many times you try to prove it.

"I distinctly remember being forced to dig a hole; this is definitely the sister camp."

"Sera, we promised to never to speak of that again."

I hope that your time at camp is thoroughly enjoyable, yet I wish to impress upon you that scaring other campers with odd thoughts is not accepted. Please find something more productive to do with your time. Sincerely, Chiron, director of camp activities.

P.S. Chuck Norris is not a god, so please do not confuse newcomers by saying so.

"And therefore we are stuck with greeting new kids duty," Seraphina grumbled turning around so she was lying on her back. As if on cue, a faint-looking satyr and a ten-year old boy, dressed in a recently-torn Saints jersey and jeans, stumbled across the border. They gazed around for a moment before spotting the four friends.

"The Big House is that away," Hermione gestured in a vague direction. "Make sure you don't upset Mr. D and don't faint when you see Chiron in horse form."

"Avoid the big scary looking kids and try not to step on the sleeping teen. Also if you see a girl by the hearth, stop and talk," Loki added, remembering what Nico had told him about Hestia.

"If you haven't figured it out by now: all the Greek myths are real. And a lot of them are moody, especially Chuck Norris." Nico said.

"And most importantly don't get run through with Riptide." Seraphina said, "cause it hurts. a lot."

They gave friendly waves as the satyr put an arm around at his confused charge (while glaring at the thirteen year olds) and lead him wearily towards the Big House.

After they were gone Seraphina cried, "SEE! Boring! Same old same old confused children,"

"Well, it would be interesting if one of them turned out to be a child of the Big Three," Loki amended hesitantly.

"Ugh," she replied, moving so she was sitting Indian-styled. "Who wants another Percy Jackson? Big Three kids are all SO self-centered. I mean I couldn't stand it if one of them had another…" she finally caught Nico glaring menacingly at her, and smiled sheepishly. "I love you, Nico." She held out her arms for a hug.

"Oh, don't give me that. I'm a son of Hades. We don't do all that mushy stuff." He said matter-of-factly and waving her off.

I guess I should explain something here. Nico and Seraphina have a 'like' relationship. As in Nico doesn't 'like' her, but he 'likes' being Loki's friend, so he has to pretend he 'likes' being with Seraphina. Seraphina 'likes' to annoy him, and he 'likes' to chase her with his dead minions. She 'likes' to mock his god side and he 'likes' to threaten her. She 'likes' to give him hugs (she believes a child of Hades is cuddly) and he 'likes' to dream about her punishments in the Underworld.

Therefore if they are 'like' friends and Loki has no friends other than them and Hermione is new to the camp, the four create a unique group that's only purpose is to drive away boredom. That and terrorize Camp Halfblood.