Hey! I'm back! And I'm rewriting this whole thing. Don't fret! The writing is better, the chapters are longer, and I still don't have any guarantee that I will finish this story! yay... Sorry, guys I just an feeling the urge to rewrite this... It is two in the morning though... (And Sam is now Ken for complicated personal reasons.)

Chapter 1

We Talk on a Roof

The Hermes cabin is a lot to get used to. There's pranking, stealing, laughing, and, most annoyingly, crowding. I could deal with everything else except the crowding. My sleeping bag is in between Haley Dalton, an undetermined girl, like me, and Jessica Soho, a daughter of Hermes. They're nice most of the time, except when Haley snuggles up next to me and snores, or Jessica hits me in the face when she sleep-flails.

Honestly, the best thing about the Hermes cabin is Ethan, best friend, also undetermined, and crush. No one tell anyone or I'll hit you over the head with a hammer. (Speaking of hitting people with hammers, my name is Kendra Harrison, but call me Ken, or I'll hit you over the head with a hammer, get it?) Anyway, Ethan Nakamura and I hang out all the time. We're together during Capture the Flag, we do chores together (unless we have to clean out the stalls), and we fall off the edge of the dining table together. I do like him romantically, but I don't really want to ruin the mood of friendship between us. Do you understand how it is? Meh, I'm not good at… people, so I don't really talk to many other people, except when I have to borrow toothpaste or something from Haley or Jessica.

I was just about to lay down for some sleep when I heard Ethan whisper, "Hey, Ken."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Let's go up," he winked.

Going up means climbing up to the roof of the Hermes cabin. If you ever visit Camp Half-Blood look for two dents on the Hermes cabin roof, that's where both of our butts have been sitting for the past few months. We figured out the harpies don't notice us up there, so it's the perfect hang out spot, especially for September nights like this.

I arrived at Camp Half-Blood the January before Percy Jackson came; I was thirteen. Now I was fifteen, and still waiting to be claimed. Ethan had been here longer, though. He has at least two more beads than I. Of course, I only have two.

We made it to the top of the roof, and sat in our dents, looking up at the stars.

"Have you gotten anything from your mom?" Ethan asked. He always asked me about my family first when we get up here, since his dad was dead, and his mom wouldn't acknowledge he was alive. He wanted to know what everyone else was doing.

"I got a letter a couple days ago," I replied. "Ben just started his junior year of high school." Ben was my older step-brother. He was my step-dad's, Fred, son. We weren't that close, since I spent most of my time at Camp Half-Blood, but he was cool. I'd say I have it luckier than most demigods when it comes to step-relatives. "Fred upgraded his dollar store again. And mom sent me something she made. It was a little wind-up toy, but I think Jessica stole it."

"So nothing that new, huh?"

"Nope," I sighed. We sat in silence for the longest time. "Let's play who's your parent."

"Ugh," Ethan sighed. He hated this game because it only got his hopes up. While I loved this game for the same reason. I happen to like hope. "Fine, go."

"Demeter."

"No," he replied. "I kill plants on purpose."

"Okay, flower-child," I said sarcastically. "Aphrodite," I tried to sound as flirty as possible.

"Hmm…" he pretended to think about it. "how many relationships have I had since I got to camp?"

"Zero," I answered.

"Zero," he confirmed. "Next."

"Athena!"

"I don't think so –"

"I do!"

"Well then you're obviously not a daughter of Athena," he replied.

"Don't be snarky," I said, teasingly. "You totally could be a child of Athena."

"I don't have blonde hair."

"So? Athena doesn't have blonde hair. You could be the first one to have black hair."

"How does that even work?" Ethan started thinking. "She doesn't have blonde hair, yet all her kids have blonde hair. It doesn't make sense!"

"Maybe she just… thinks them all blonde," I suggested. "Like, ha, take my stereotype-breaking, smart, blonde children, world!"

"You're so weird," he told me.

"I know."

"I don't even know why I hang out with you."

"I don't either," I replied. "I'm just to cool."

"Pffft," Ethan laughed. "Okay, your turn. Apollo."

"One: I sing like a dying cat, and two: I can't shoot an arrow for the life of me," I replied.

"Dionysus."

"Oh, gods, please, no!"

Ethan laughed. Gods, I loved it when he laughed. "Hermes! Why don't you stay in here forever?"

"Ha ha, no. I've tried stealing and going along with their pranks, and that's a big no."

"Ares."

"Possibility."

"Possibility?"

"Yeah, how many times have I threatened you with punches and hammer beatings?"

"True, but I really think you're Hephaestus."

"Maybe."

"Your mom sent you a wind-up toy that she made. You don't threaten my life with swords or spears, you threaten my life with hammers. C'mon, Ken."

"Maybe," I said again. I thought the same things, but… remember what I said about hope? I love it, but it disappoints me sometimes, as well. "Well, I'm getting sleepy. I think I'll go to bed."

"Wait," Ethan caught my arm before I could leave. "I wanted to tell you something."

My heart raced. It's that hope thing acting up again. "What?"

"Um… I've been having dreams… and, well," he lowered his voice, "Kronos is recruiting demigods for his army. I kind of wanted to go together."

At first I was appalled. Kronos?! Why would Ethan want to go to Kronos?! Then the word together hit me… Maybe…

No. We could be together here.

"Why would you even think that?" I asked, probably too harshly.

"I just…" he hesitated. "Maybe not. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Okay," I was hesitant to leave him. Maybe he needed talking to more.

"Let's get to bed," he said.

"Okay," I replied.

We went to bed, and I hoped he didn't dream of Kronos again.