-flashback-

I'm running. I don't remember where I'm going, or what I'm running from. All I know is that my mother is dead and I need to get away. She was killed. By... her. Gaea. I shudder violently, not wanting to think about it. The next thing I know, I am surrounded by fire. I remember my mother's dying words... "Go to camp. You will be safe there- go see your father. Tell him i am sorry. I have failed you and him both" The smoke engulfs me, and the world fades to darkness... -end of flashback-

I come to in a bed with a curtain on one side, like a nurse's office. My throat is dry and hoarse, and my legs feel like jelly. My long dirty blonde hair is matted and tangled. A boy who looks about fifteen, with curly black hair, dark wild brown eyes, pointy ears, a cheerful face, and a mischievous smile is standing over me. Wow. He is really cute. I jerk upward with a start. What... where... who... I think as a million questions fill my head. His voice awakens me from my thoughts: "Gods, she has got to be a daughter of Aphrodite"

"Excuse me?" I manage to say.

"Ummm... I said hi, my name's Leo Valdez?" he says, and I swear, I have never in my life seen someone turn that red. I start to stutter out the million questions that came to my mind, then break out into an unconsolable coughing fit. Leo's face turns to a softer expression, and he gently pats my back as violent coughs wrack my body. Eventually, they cease. I sit up in the infirmary bed, still shaken. Then, a girl who looks like she could be of Cherokee descent enters. She has dark skin, and chocolate brown hair that is cut choppy and uneven with thin strands braided on either side enters.

"Leo, what are you doing? We've been looking for you for an hour!" Then she notices me, and a smile crosses her face. "So you heard the rumors about the new girl, and came down to see for yourself, huh?"

"Piper, what are you doing here?" Leo looks surprised. "I thought you and Jason were going down to the lake."

"What rumors?" I whisper.

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff about demigods having special powers." Piper said matter-of-factly. "We found out that you already knew your godly parent, which is unusual for a thirteen-year-old outside of camp."

"How?" I am confused now.

"You talk in your sleep."

"Oh. So what were the rumors?"

Piper looks uncomfortable. "Well, people are saying that you can, sort of like charm-speaking, charm-sing. You can put people to sleep, talk people into things, almost hypnotize them. Like my charm-speaking."

Well, she hit the nail on the head with that one. "Yeah, I can. My parent is Apollo. And I'm also a decent shot with a bow and arrow. So?"

Then Leo just like bolted upright and ran out of the infirmary. "I take it he does this a lot...?" I asked Piper.

"It's the ADHD" she sighed. I think we could both hear him yelling his head off at some girl named Ari to come to the big house.

"Apparently, he thinks you're worth getting Ari for. He must really like you" Piper