SHADOW'S REBELLION

CHAPTER 1: I HAVE A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

ELENI

Thursday, June 23rd, 2033

Today had been the last day of testing for the end of my sophomore year. It was also my sixteenth birthday. After I got out from my last test, my mom and I were going to go out to a restaurant to celebrate. Mom even said my dad, who I hadn't seen since my last birthday, just like every year, was going to meet us there.

So it was an understatement to say I was relieved when I left Goode High School. I would have to catch the bus to ride home, seeing as the school buses weren't running and my mom wrecked her car in a mysterious accident last month and the insurance didn't pay to replace it. We barely had enough money as it was, so my mom wasn't able to buy a new one.

The air was hot and humid as I stepped outside, and glancing up at the sky, I saw that heavy storm clouds had gathered over the course of the few hours I had been inside. Great… they looked like thunderstorm clouds. I hated lightning so much… Thunder I could handle, but lightning? I just hoped I could get home before it started raining.

Shivering a little despite the humidity, I adjusted my purse over my shoulder and started walking. The sidewalk was surprisingly empty, though I guessed it was because of everyone heading inside because of the incoming storm. In a few minutes, I reached the bus stop. There was already someone waiting there. Trying to avoid eye contact, I hastily moved to the other side of the stop.

It would have been less awkward if it wasn't a boy who looked around my age. But he wasn't familiar—not someone from Goode. He was tall, probably only a couple inches shy from six foot. But he was kind of gangly, having that look that said I just had a growth spurt. His jet black hair was shaggy and sort of messy, and his eyes were bright electric blue. He was wearing a black shirt under a short sleeved white button up shirt, jeans, and black and blue sneakers. A bronze chain with a lightning bolt hung around his neck.

I tried to avoid eye contact, but looking at him when he happened to look at me was not helping. Ugh, bus please come faster! This was awkward. At least he wasn't trying to talk to me.

Thunder boomed in the distance, but closer than I expected. For some reason, the boy let out an exasperated sigh, looking up towards the sky. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "Of all days to throw a fit, Dad..."

I had to have misheard him. There was no way his father had anything to do with the weather.

I wondered if Mom would even want to go out now… She never took me out when it was thunderstorming. I always figured it was because of my fear.

Then I spotted someone else walking down the sidewalk. It was another boy, but I vaguely recognized him from school. He had been in one of my tests today, but I couldn't remember his name for the life of me. But then, for some reason, the strange boy with me stiffened, his hand darting up to finger his necklace. I frowned, wondering what the problem was. Did they know each other?

The other boy tilted his head, a sinister smirk forming on his lips. Um… that was weird-

"Get down!" the dark-haired boy shouted right as a bolt of electricity blasted from the other boy's finger.

I barely had time to duck down as the lightning bolt struck the back of the bus stop, ripping it right off the pavement and sending it flying right into the street. There was screeching from tires behind me as vehicles tried to swerve to avoid hitting it.

Oh my god—I was frozen, my hands clamped over the sides of my head from when I ducked. What… What was that thing?! There was no longer a human boy standing a few yards away, but some kind of… creature. It was shaped like a boy, with smoky wings coming out of its back and eyes sparking with voltage.

"An Anemoi Thuellai..." The black-haired boy was suddenly in front of me, now holding a bronze spear in his hand. "What are you doing here? Who put you up to this?"

"She should not exist," the monster, the Anemone-whatever, hissed.

"Well, you know what? You shouldn't exist either."

He then hurled his spear at the monster. The weapon pierced right through it, and the next thing I knew, it screeched in pain and dissolved into dust. The spear hit the sidewalk once it was gone. That.. That was… fast…

"Are you all right?"

I glanced up to see that the boy had turned back around to face me. I stared at him for a moment, still very confused and frightened by what just happened.

"...I'm fine."

He let out a sigh of relief, a smile forming on his lips. "Good! Here, let me help you up."

He held out his hand, and I accepted it after a moment, letting him pull me up onto my feet. I looked around, seeing all the aftermath clear as day. The street was in chaos, and sirens were wailing. People were shouting at each other, saying something about a teenager with a gun. That made no sense. No one had any guns!

But before I could say anything, he looked back at me. "We have to get out of here. The Mist is covering everything up, but the cops may think we're the criminals. And I don't need my mom bailing me out again."

"...Wait, what? I have no idea what's going on!" I took a step back, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. "Who even are you?!"

His eyes widened. "Oh crap, I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Lee. I'm, uh… a demigod. And if that Anemoi Thuellai was after you, you're probably a demigod too."

"Are you crazy?!" I demanded incredulously. "You expect me to actually believe that? Okay, Mr. Demigod, which god is your parent?"

He grimaced, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. "...Zeus."

As soon as he said that, thunder boomed and a wicked bolt of lightning zigzagged through the sky. I jumped nervously, whipping around towards where it came from, accidentally taking a step back again and nearly bumping into Lee.

"My dad is angry for some reason," he said as I quickly moved away again. "I… have a bad feeling about this. If that Anemoi Thuellai—er, storm spirit—tried to kill you, your family may be in danger."

My eyes widened. "My mom—she's home alone, waiting for me to get back! We were supposed to go out and meet with my dad… to celebrate my birthday."

His eyes widened too. "It's your birthday? Well, happy birthday… uh..."

"Eleni," I sighed. "My name is Eleni."

"Right. Eleni." He frowned. "You're supposed to meet your dad? Gods, this could be why Zeus is angry. We need to get to your mom ASAP-"

He was cut off by familiar barking. Turning around, I saw none other than my black German Shepherd, Misty, tearing towards us. We got her as a puppy for my sixth birthday—a gift from my dad. He wanted us to have a guard dog to protect us. Growing up, I never understood why my dad couldn't just marry my mom. He still took care of us and visited every year, but… I felt cheated. But if my dad was a god… it suddenly made sense.

"Misty!" I gasped, a million questions running through my head.

Why was she here? Was something wrong at home? How did she even find me? Oh no… did something happen to Mom?!

"Wh-Whoa!" Lee exclaimed as Misty jumped up on me and I began to pet her. "Where did you get that?!"

"What are you talking about?" I looked over at him after scratching my dog's ear. "This is Misty, my dog."

"You… You have a pet hellhound?"

I gave him a weird look. "She's a German Shepherd. My dad gave her to me for my sixth birthday."

"Uh… I hate to break it to you..." Lee said slowly. "But that's not a German Shepherd."

Frowning in confusion, I looked back down at Misty. Her appearance seemed to ripple, and suddenly, standing before me was no longer the German Shepherd I knew and loved. She was now a mastiff the size of a grizzly bear, with thick, shaggy black fur and glowing red eyes. Somehow, the pink collar around her neck still fit, with the silver heart-shaped tags hanging from it.

Everything Lee had told me… had to be true. I covered my mouth with my hands. Oh my god… I mean gods… Why did this all have to happen today of all days?!

"M-Misty… is something wrong?" I asked. "Did Mom send you to find me?"

The hellhound barked, and it was so loud the ground shook. She turned around and started heading back down the sidewalk, before pausing and looking back at us.

"We need to hurry," Lee said, and I noticed his necklace was back around his neck, and the spear he had had disappeared. "Lead the way to your place, Eleni."

I don't think I ever ran as fast as I did while following Misty to our apartment. By the time we got there, I was sweating and breathing heavily. I wasn't used to exerting myself. Our apartment was actually part of row of townhouses owned by the same land lord. They were near the hospital my mom worked at as a nurse. Ours was the first on the right side of the row. As soon as I saw that the front door was wide open, I was stricken with panic.

Misty and Lee followed me as I scaled the front steps and rushed in. I was sort of questioning how she fit in here, but Misty went ahead of me, so I went after her. I was guessing she would take me to Mom. She led me to the kitchen, and there she was, tending to what looked like a gash on her upper arm.

"Mom!" I exclaimed, a wave of relief rushing through me.

My mom was still fairly young for having a teenage daughter. She, after all, was only a college student when she had me. Her name was Korina Spiros, and she was the daughter of Greek immigrants. Because of this, she look very Greek—a trait I had inherited from her. She had thick, curly dark brown hair she usually wore in a bun, light brown skin, and dark brown eyes flecked with green that you could only notice up close. She was all dressed to go out, wearing that pretty black dress she bought about a week ago with the late birthday money her parents sent her. She was beautiful, which brought her more trouble than good. I admired my mom so much for everything she did.

Mom looked over at the sound of me calling to her. "Eleni! Thank the gods you found her, Misty!" Her voice had a clear Greek accent, despite being born and raised in America. It was from growing up in Astoria, Queens, which some call New York's Little Greece. "Oh, you're… Wait… You're a demigod, aren't you?"

Lee's eyes widened as he realized she was addressing him. "Y-Yes, ma'am! I killed the storm spirit that attacked Eleni. I'm Lee."

Mom sighed, but finished wrapping the bandage around her arm before continuing. "I was afraid this would happen… Thank you Lee, for saving my daughter."

"Mom… what happened?" I asked.

She winced. "I was attacked by a storm spirit was well. The apartment took some damage, but I am fine, thanks to Misty. Just a scratch from the spirit knocking a vase into me."

Misty let out another booming bark, wagging her tail.

"Ma'am… I think Eleni needs to go to camp," Lee said reluctantly. "If you have a hellhound and I'm guessing who her father is correctly… it's far too dangerous for her to be out here all year. I would know. My father is Zeus."

Thunder shook the apartment. I flinched. Mom said nothing at first, looking down at the counter. I wondered what was going on in her head.

"...I was going to tell her father that today."

My eyes widened. "M-Mom… what are you talking about?"

She moved away from the counter, walking over to me. She took my hands into hers, and looked me right in the eyes.

"Eleni. Listen to me." Her voice was soft and quiet. "Our family has been blessed with supernatural abilities for generations—a connection to the world of spirits. But my abilities were… stronger than my father's. I… the simplest way to put it… can use magic. For years, I used this to manipulate the Mist to protect you. We moved around so much to avoid the monsters that came after you. And your father… he didn't want you to go to the camp. His children aren't always treated well there. He felt you would be happier staying with me. And I agreed with this. But now… it's just too dangerous. You need to go to Camp Half-Blood. There you'll be safe."

I… didn't know what to say. All of this was just… insane. I still didn't even know what the Mist was. And the last thing I wanted to do was leave my mom behind.

It had always just been the two of us. Dad visited every year on my birthday, but I never really considered that as him being there. There was even one point in time, when I was five, that my mom tried moving on from him. But a lot of men were put off by her already having a child. My mom started dating this one guy, and they were together for half a year before he… hit her. I saw, and when my dad visited on my birthday, I accidentally let it slip. Mom had broken up with the man, but he ended up… dying under mysterious circumstances the day after my birthday.

But we moved around a lot. I struggled in school because of my ADHD and dyslexia. I had zero social skills and it was extremely difficult for me to make friends. I also sort of… scared people, I guess. I'd been told I had resting bitch face. It also didn't help that I had inherited my mom's ability to see the dead. I had lost a lot of friends when I was young because I thought it was normal and told everyone about it.

"M-Mom-" I started to say.

"I know what you're going to say," she interrupted, before giving me a reassuring smile and squeezing my hands. "It's not like we'll never see each other again, dear. But… there's another reason I need you to go to camp." She paused, closing her eyes for a moment. "As you know, your father and I have been together for a long time… and we're expecting again. I was going to tell him today."

...Oh.

I… wasn't expecting that. I never even considered that I would ever get a sibling. So it was really weird thinking about it now. Gods… why couldn't I be younger when this happened?

"But—But my birthday dinner..."

I knew it was selfish of me. But I was so used to things going wrong in my life, I wished for once, something would go right. But I guess today was just not meant to be one of those days.

"I know," Mom sighed. "I'm so sorry, Eleni… I will make it up to you, I promise. But right now you need to go to Camp Half-Blood."

She was right, of course… So I just nodded. There was no point in trying to fight about this. She was doing this to protect me… and my unborn sibling.

"Okay, Mom," I muttered. "I'll go to this Camp Half-Blood."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, dear… Why don't you go upstairs and pack some things to bring with you?"

I nodded in agreement again. If I was going to live there indefinitely, I would need to bring some belongings with me. I decided to head upstairs and throw some things together. I tried not to think too much about this being the last time I'd be in my bedroom for a while. I grabbed my messenger bag from the last school year and opened up my closet to find some clothes to take.

A few shirts and jeans would be good… and of course my favorite sweater. It was black, super soft, and a bit oversized, but I loved it. I guess it was sort of a security blanket for me. I carefully folded it up before putting it into my bag. After making sure I had other necessities, such as toiletries and undergarments, I zipped it closed and flipped the flap shut, clipping it in place.

When I went back downstairs, Lee was nowhere to be seen. Misty was still there, however, sitting next to Mom and panting happily. I glanced around, feeling a bit confused.

"He went outside to wait for you," Mom explained. "Did you get everything you need?"

I nodded. "Yes..."

Mom smiled sadly, stepping up to me to pull me into a hug. "Everything will be okay, Eleni. We'll work something out, I promise."

I squeezed her tightly, pressing my face into her shoulder, wishing I didn't have to let go. "I'm gonna miss you..."

"I'm going to miss you too," she sighed, pulling back to look down at me. "But this is what you're meant to do. Stay safe and remember I love you."

"I love you too, Mom," I mumbled, stepping away. "Bye."

"Goodbye, dear."

I forced myself to leave then, turning around and heading for the front door. Misty followed after me. Stepping outside, I found Lee standing at the bottom of the stairs. I headed down them to reach him. He must have heard me, because he looked up.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked as I stepped down onto the sidewalk.

I nodded. "Yeah. How do we get to this camp?"

Lee winced. "Well, I need to stay here to make sure there are no other monsters around. Otherwise your mom might get hurt again… or worse. But the hellhound—er, Misty can shadow travel and take you there."

...Great. I would have to go there by myself. What if the campers tried to attack Misty? She was a monster, after all…

"But I have to give her permission to enter," he sighed. "I, Achilles Dalca, give you permission to enter Camp Half-Blood."

My eyes widened. "Your name is Achilles? Like the hero in the Trojan War?"

He grimaced. "That's why I go by Lee. Everyone has to mention that."

"Oh. I'm sorry." I winced. "That would be pretty annoying..."

"You have no idea," he muttered. "But anyways, Misty can take you now. I'll be back as soon as I can. If anyone questions who let you in, use my full name. They'll believe you. I only use Achilles if I absolutely have to."

"O-Okay..." I looked over at the huge hellhound and then back at him. "What do I do? Just climb onto her back?"

Lee nodded. "Yeah, and tell her where you want to go. She should listen. I'll stay until you're successful."

Well, that was more reassuring. Adjusting my bag's strap on my shoulder, I walked over to Misty. I reached out to give her a scratch behind her ear before climbing up onto her back. I grabbed onto as much of her fur as I could. All right… well, here goes nothing.

"Misty, take us to Camp Half-Blood."

She let out another loud bark, and lunged forward, heading for the shady area under a tree. As soon as we went under the tree, we plunged into pitch darkness. It was cold and empty, despite it feeling like wind was whipping through my hair as we went faster and faster. And then suddenly it was light again, sunny and warm, as Misty came to a halt in some kind of forest. I was met with the smell of pine, but looking around I saw that there were some deciduous trees as well.

I carefully slid off Misty's back, landing on the ground. Ugh… I hoped we didn't have to walk far to get out of here. I wasn't good with the cardinal directions. Being outdoors was nice, but I got lost so easily.

"Let's go, Misty," I sighed.

The hellhound followed after me as I started walking, just going straight. I had to find the end of this forest eventually. It couldn't go on forever. And thankfully, maybe five minutes later, I found myself stepping out of it. There was a creek nearby, going back into the woods. But in the distance, I saw a group of buildings. I decided to head towards there.

A few minutes later, I reached the group of buildings. They were actually cabins, arranged in a half oval. I wasn't quite sure how many there were, but there were a lot. No one seemed to be around. My heart started beating faster with anxiety. Gods, why couldn't Lee have come with me?

"...but then he got hit in the head with the ball. Classic distraction by the Aphrodite girls. It was hilarious."

We walked around one of the cabins, and came across two teenagers, a boy and a girl, standing in front of an average looking cabin. But then a ray of sunlight struck it, and it lit up, gleaming like gold. I could barely look at them until the light faded away.

"Um, excuse me," I started to say.

"WHOA!"

The next thing I knew they had both drawn weapons. The girl had a bronze bow, but the arrow appeared out of nowhere, gleaming like sunlight. The guy had some kind of bronze sword—a xiphos, by the looks of it. I immediately raised my hands to show I meant no harm, trying not to panic. Misty tensed, letting out a low growl as her hackles raised.

"W-Wait! We're not going to hurt anyone! Achilles sent us here! Achilles Dalca!"

Almost immediately they lowered their weapons, recognition flickering in their eyes as they exchanged glances. Misty remained tense, but stopped growling.

The guy gave a shrug. "Lee must have found a new demigod when going to see his mom."

"But..." The girl frowned. "She's kinda old to be a new demigod. The gods are supposed to claim us by the time we're thirteen."

She was around my age, and clearly African American. Standing a few inches taller than me, she had thick, wavy dark brown hair that fell down to her shoulders, dark brown skin, and striking amber eyes. She was wearing an orange t-shirt that I think said Camp Half-Blood on it, blue jeans, and a pair of purple sneakers. She was definitely built like an athlete, and if she was an archer, she definitely had to be one.

The guy shrugged again. "I'm not an expert on a deal made over fifteen years ago. We can ask Chiron about it."

He was also around my age by the looks of it. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a lean, muscular build that announced he was also an athlete. His wavy, ash brown hair was a bit tousled, his skin lightly tanned, and his gray eyes reminded of storm clouds. He was also wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of sneakers.

The girl let out an exasperated sigh but nodded. "Yeah, Chiron will know what to do." The two of them put away their weapons, and I noticed that hers turned into a cute bronze hair clip that she returned to her hair. "Sorry about that. My name's Cassie Harper, and this is Ray Wise. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

"Oh, um, I'm Eleni Spiros," I replied, still feeling very nervous. "Nice to meet you."

Ray flashed a brilliant smile. "And it's nice to meet you! You said Lee sent you? Well, that explains how the hellhound got in here."

"Yes, um, he saved me from… an anemone—er, a storm spirit," I said. "Misty—my hellhound—protected my mom from one too."

Expressions of shock both crossed their faces. I guess that wasn't what they had expected.

"And lemme guess," Ray said, "Lee stayed behind to make sure there were no more coming?"

I winced, nodding. "Yes..."

"That such a Lee thing to do," he groaned, shaking his head. "Gods, if he comes back with even a scratch on him, I'm gonna kick his ass."

Well… I guess he was very protective of his friend…

"So, um… you're demigods too?" I asked.

"Oh, right," Ray said, nodding. "My mom is Athena, the goddess of war strategy and wisdom, among other things."

"And my dad is Apollo," Cassie said, crossing her arms over her chest. "The god of the sun, light, healing, music, poetry, archery, reason and prophecy. I'm not too lazy to list it all."

"Okay, okay, Athena is the goddess of war strategy, wisdom, handicrafts, and useful arts," Ray said in exasperation. "There. You happy now?"

"You… didn't have to tell me all of that," I said with a laugh. "I'm Greek—er, well Greek American. I'm familiar with the gods and goddesses."

"Huh, well that makes things easier," Cassie said. "You do have the look. Have you ever been to Greece before?"

"No, but I wish," I sighed. "I have family in Athens."

Ray grinned. "Athena's city. A good place to be."

"Of course you'd say that," Cassie snorted. "Well, come on, we should find Chiron. I think he's at the novice archery class right now."

Ray made a face. "Paris helps with that class too."

"Don't remind me," she grumbled.

"Paris?" I echoed, a bit surprised. "Why would someone name their son after Paris? He's not even a hero."

Ray shrugged. "Who knows? But there's barely anyone here that doesn't like Paris."

"Yeah, well, not everyone likes him," Cassie said. "Come on, let's go."

Misty and I followed the two of them through the camp grounds. Every camper we passed did a double take at Misty, but none of them drew weapons like Cassie and Ray had. But… there was a lot of staring. I guess seeing a friendly hellhound would do that. At least they weren't staring at me… or at least that's what I hoped.

The archery range, thankfully, was not too far from the cabins. As we got closer, I spotted a centaur, who I guessed was Chiron. Standing nearby him aiming a magnificent bronze bow, was a teenage boy who towered over the other campers, who looked like young children—maybe eight at the youngest.

"Chiron!" Ray called out. "Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but Lee sent a new demigod our way."

Of course, then, everyone's attention turned to us. And that immediately made me freeze up. Misty sat down next to me, panting happily, completely unfazed. I instinctively reached out to scratch her on the neck—except her neck was a lot harder to reach now.

"Relax," I heard Cassie say quietly as the centaur walked over to us. "Chiron's cool."

I wasn't sure I would even be able to speak. It was finally sinking in that all the myths that my mom had told me over the years were true—including the absolutely insane ones. And that was honestly terrifying. I never even realized my mom believed all of this.

The centaur stopped in front of us, towering above us, yet not intimidating. Even with thinning, slightly gray brown hair and a scruffy beard kept short, he didn't seem as scary as I thought he'd be. The horse part of him was snow white, and he was wearing a purple tweed jacket over a tunic, which was a… very interesting fashion sense.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," he said, smiling warmly. "I am Chiron, as you already know. You were sent here by Lee?"

I nodded. "Yes… he saved me from storm spirits. I'm Eleni Spiros."

"Lee stayed behind to make sure there were no other monsters around," Ray said in exasperation.

"Will Lee be okay?" I asked nervously.

"He'll be fine," Cassie said, waving me off. "Ray's just a worry wart. Storm spirits can't really hurt Lee anyways."

"Of course I'm worried!" Ray huffed. "You'd be worried too if your boyfriend kept on running off to play hero!"

...Oh. Well, he had a point.

Chiron cleared his throat. "Children, please."

But then the other guy who had been over with the campers showing them how to use a bow—who I guessed was Paris—walked over to us. "What are you screaming about now, Ray?"

My eyes widened as I got a good look at him. He looked about seventeen or so, standing at at least six feet tall, with an even more muscular build. Everything about him was… attractive. He had golden blond hair styled so that his bangs were spiked up, lightly tanned skin, and the same striking electric blue eyes that Lee had—very handsome. He was wearing the orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers that seemed to be the standard attire here. He was still carrying his bow.

Ray immediately scowled. "I'm not screaming. Why don't you mind your own business, Paris?"

Paris rolled his eyes. "Please. If there's a new camper, I need to be here to help."

Cassie seemed to want to say something, but stopped herself because Chiron spoke again.

"Children, behave yourselves," he said sternly. "You're not providing Eleni with a good example of what we expect of our campers."

"My apologies, Chiron," Paris said. "I meant no harm. Let me introduce myself. I'm Paris Leroy, the counselor of Cabin One—Zeus's cabin."

So he was Lee's brother? Well, probably half brother since they didn't really share any features other than eye color. I wasn't quite so sure why Cassie and Ray didn't like him. He seemed polite and charming. Was I missing something?

"No harm done, Paris," Chiron chuckled. "But we should get you settled in, Eleni. Cassie, please give her a tour of the camp grounds and take her to the armory to choose a weapon. Ray, inform Sam that there is a new camper who needs temporary quarters in Cabin Eleven."

"All right," Cassie said. "But I have a question real quick—did Will and Nico leave already?"

"Ah, yes, I believe they have," Chiron answered. "They finished their investigation rather quickly."

"What investigation?" I asked curiously.

The centaur winced, shifting on his hooves. "For the past month… every week, a camper has been found dead. The cause of death has been unknown. Due to Nico being the son of Hades, we asked him to look around camp to see if he could find any clues. Will, his husband, decided to come along to help."

My eyes widened with horror, chills running through me. Oh my gods… there were murders happening?! That… that was horrible!

"So far, all the victims have been girls," Paris said grimly. "A couple were even Roman, from the exchange program we do with Camp Jupiter."

"There's a Roman camp?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah, which I would get to explaining if I got the chance," Cassie said with exasperation. "Let's go. It's too bad they already left, but oh well."

"O-Okay," I said, following after he as she walked away.

Cassie proceeded to show me around the camp, while Misty decided to stay with Chiron. The whole place was huge. I wasn't really sure hat I expected, but this wasn't it. And I was probably going to get lost. That was something I was not really looking forward to.

"Here's the Forge," Cassie said, gesturing to a building that looked like a mash-up of a Greek temple and a train. The white marble was stained with soot, and smoke was coming out of the chimneys. I could hear people working inside, pounding away at metal. "The Hephaestus kids—Cabin Nine—are always working in there."

But then the door opened, and someone stepped outside. It was a girl, probably around my age, of Hispanic decent. She had long, pin straight jet black hair pulled back into a high ponytail, with fringe bangs falling down to right above her sea green eyes. Her skin was bronzed with tan, but her natural complexion was probably light brown. She was the first person I've seen not wearing the orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. She was just shrugging on a black leather bomber jacket over a black tank top that said something in white that I couldn't make out, black skinny jeans, and black combat boots. Gosh, even I didn't wear that much black.

"Who's that?" I asked, looking over at Cassie.

"Maia de la Fuente," she answered. "She's one of the exchange campers from Camp Jupiter, a daughter of Neptune."

My eyes widened. "She doesn't seem very… Roman."

Cassie snorted. "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet."

I… wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"Heeey, Maia!" Cassie called to her, catching her attention. "Wait up!"

The girl stopped, looking very much irritated as she crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for us to catch up to her.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Sheesh, I just wanted to introduce you to our new camper," Cassie said. "Maia, this is Eleni Spiros. Eleni, this is Maia de la Fuente."

"It's, um, nice to meet you," I said.

Maia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever."

"What were you doing in the Forge?" I asked curiously.

She let out an annoyed sigh. "Working, duh. I'm a legacy of Hephaestus."

"Legacies are descendants of the gods," Cassie explained. "You'll find them more at Camp Jupiter than here."

Maia scowled. "Yeah, well, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check on the rest of the exchange campers who aren't dead."

Before either Cassie or I could say anything, Maia shoved her hands into her pockets and stormed off. I… got the feeling that she wasn't the happiest nor friendliest person here… I wondered what on earth made her that way.

Cassie grimaced. "Sorry about that. Maia's… a piece of work. And that was her behaving."

...Oh gods. "I'll… keep that in mind."

But, hopefully I'd be able to make more friends here… despite whatever was going on.

Hello everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read this! This is the revamp of a fic I had about two years ago. I wanted to give another oc based PJO fic a go, and decided to use an old fic of mine as the basis.

The story will follow six demigods, and chapters will alternate through their povs, like in HoO. I'm using a lot of motifs from the Trojan War, which you probably have noticed.

I won't have many A/Ns after this, unless there's something I need to say.

Again, thank you for reading, and I would love to hear from you in a review!