I

Cassie

It had been a long 4 days and stuffed in a tight cabin, now I know how anchovies feel. I walked above deck the sun had just poked its head up and I stretched taking in a breath of the warm summer air. I had asked my family for a more luxurious ship, but they wouldn't hold the amount of supplies we would be sending, to the greek camp. I just realized I should probably explain why I'm on a ship with a bunch of building supplies and weapons, and not like normal weapons like guns and missiles, I'm talking about swords, shields, bows and a gatling gun.

Okay so I lied about having automatic weapons but the gatling gun is for Leo he says it's for some strange experiment and I don't ask questions when it comes to Leo. Anyways I'm a demigod, yes I know that sounds crazy but I am the greek gods actually exist and it kind of sucks. I have ADHD and Dyslexia which means my brain is hardwired for battle instincts and reading latin.

You know how I mentioned the greeks earlier well I'm roman which is Greek but better, though our greek counterparts beg to differ. My mother is Venus, Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty, trust me my hair doesn't this good on genetics and hard work alone. If you're reading this which hopefully you are, you should know how demigods work and honestly you can't believe everything that Jackson says though most of what he's said is true. I know that hard to believe because I swear his brain is made of seaweed.

I watched the ship pull up to the dock there were greek campers already waiting to unload the ship. I stood off to the side with a checklist to make sure everything was accounted for, we didn't want our peace offering to make things even worse. Long story I'll explain later, but long story short Octavian was a pompous ass and he belongs in Hades. I continued to check items off not like I was going to do any of the heavy lifting, I push papers for the Roman legion for a reason and not because I'm the crown royalty of some small country in Europe.

I had just checked the last item off the checklist when I felt someone tugging at something in my pocket. I reacted quickly my combat training grabbed the wrist and I spun it around pinned her arm against her back roughly. "What do you think you're doing?" I snap angrily at stranger. I looked at the thief trying to understand just who this crook really was. She had long black hair she kept in a loose ponytail, she wore a pair of plain blue jeans and an orange t-shirt that said Camp Half-blood. They really need a new color scheme, purple is where it's at, but I digress.

I pushed her arm up more causing her to yelp in pain and she finally my wallet. "Thank you, now who are you?" I ask letting her arm go and she turned to face me. The girl was mess, I mean not unattractive, but she totally could use a venus make-over. The girl grumbled and stretched her arm. "I'm Alex Lopez daughter of Hermes and thief extraordinaire at your service" she said giving a cheeky bow.

I just rolled my eyes "Well, what kind of thief gets caught?" I ask as I look around the camp for Chiron wanting to check in and see where I would be staying while I helped with repairs.

"Everyone has an off day" Alex said flashing a toothy smile. I don't know what it was about that smile, but there was I liked about her, not that I could really trust her but, there was something that made me like her. I opened my mouth to speak and then I heard the deep wistful and kind voice of the activities director of Camp Half-blood. I watched as Chiron the centaur trotted towards us, he had curly brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. Look he may be a centaur doesn't he can't take care of himself.

"Ah, Cassia I'm glad you could make it, I really hope Alexandra isn't causing for you?" He asks giving the other girl a warning look. Alex shot him a look back. "It's Alex not Alexandra, you know I hate when you call me that!" She snapped angrily.

"Since you seem to have have so much to say, Alex..." He started putting emphasis her name clearly he was losing his patience with her. "No, she's not causing problems, in fact she offered to show me around camp, since she's in the same cabin as Regina" I interject and he gave me a polite smile then looked at Alex again. "Very well, go ahead and let everyone know there will be a game of Capture the Flag tonight to welcome our guests, our captains will of course be Athena and Ares cabin."

Alex stomped her like a 10 year old. "Chiron, isn't it Hermes cabins turn to be team captain?" She asked as if she already knew the answer to that question. "Alex last time you were captain the entire Aphrodite Cabin, all of them ran into some strange deadly traps and you almost 3 people" He scolded.

"I told you those weren't my traps, I'm pretty sure those bear traps, the electric nets and the bronze spears were all made by Hephaestus." She said. I had to hand it to her she was a good liar, but when your cousin is a Hermes a kid then you learn quick when they are lying. I watched as the two argued back and forth for probably a good 10 minutes before she finally admitted defeat and turned towards me.

"Alright come on, I'll take you forge first" The girl said and kicked her feet together and two wings folded out of her sneakers and she hovered in the air briefly and took off leaving my to play catch-up. I groaned and chased after her soon we arrived at a building near a stream. The white marble pillars were stained black with soot and the sound of hammers and heavy machinery rang in my ears as I followed her inside. The heat hit me like a brick wall I could already feel my hair beginning to get frizzy, my hair and heat don't mix.

Alex walked over to a boy with messy black hair he was working in the largest corner of the forge, not that size matter, but his section was pretty big. Alex smiled and gave the boy a hug, being a daughter of Venus I can read between the lines and I could tell she had a thing for him, and I could tell he had a thing for her, especially because he hugged her back. The boy put down the large hammer and looked at me I couldn't lie he was hot, pun intended not sure if it was the the muscles, or the cocky grin he seemed to have on his face, not really my type but I could see it.

I shook my head snapping out of the moment and finally spoke up. "I have an order for Leo Valdez and I need a signature on it" I say. He walked over and took the clipboard out of my hand and reached into his toolbelt and he pulled out a screwdriver and clicked it turning it into a pen and scribbling on it. Now that he wasn't behind a work a bench I got a better look at him. He was still muscular, but not overly so, he was wearing a coverall that was rolled and tied around his waist so it covered the lower half of his body.

"Leo's not here at the moment, hasn't been here in a while so I'm head counselor." He said and looked over the order form giving me a weird look once he realized what he was signing for. "I'm not gonna ask, though I think I know what he's planning I'll have to look over his blueprints, is there anything else I can do for you, oh I should probably introduce myself, I'm Joseph Archer" He said offering his large calloused hand.

"I'm Regina's cousin Cassie" I said shaking his hand it tough I mean kind of hard not to be when you work with your hands for a living. You know that thing I don't do anymore. It took everything I had to get Alex out of the forge and to show me where I would be staying, next stop Aphrodite cabin, I needed a mirror and at least an hour with my straightener.

I had to chase after Alex again as she lead me to the Aphrodite Cabin it was bright pink and had a painted roof. The smell of perfume I could smell from a mile, no distinct scent as they kind of all blended together kind of like walking past the perfume counter at Bloomingdale's. I walked inside and saw the cabin was fairly empty, most of the campers where probably doing activities. Inside sat one girl, that I knew fairly well. She had uneven and choppy looking hair as if she cut her hair herself, cardinal sin number 1 of hair care, she had 2 thin strands of hair braided on each side. Her eyes were all kinds of different colors like they couldn't decide which color they wanted to be. I knew her immediately as Piper Mclean, girlfriend of my former boss Jason Grace, son of Jupiter and lover of bricks. (Though he won't admit it)

"Hey, Piper Chiron told me I'd be staying here while I helped with repairs after you know...we kinda destroyed your camp, and by we I mean Octavian." I say and look around the immaculate cabin and found my things already by an empty bed. The girl looked up and smiled at me.

"Yeah, you'll be sharing a bunk with Drew" She said her sisters name as if she were spitting poison. Drew was the Head Counselor, but Piper just proved to be the better daughter to be fair I don't really know what happened, I was just glad to hear the bitch got knocked down a peg, now maybe Regina will stop complaining. I walked over to the bunk and grabbed all my beauty supplies and headed into the bathroom and spent the next hour freshening. I'd give the details, but frankly I don't think you care, and 2 a girl has to have some secrets.

The rest of the day was boring I had to help rebuild cabins mostly the minor gods I swear though if Annabeth makes me redo an entire cabin again because one pillar was off she'll have worse problems than a stupid boyfriend. Before long the conch horn echoed throughout camp signaling dinner, which means after was Capture the Flag. I walked to the dining pavilion meeting up with my partner, now please keep in mind I use the term partner very loosely, and platonically, because there is no way in Tartarus I would ever have feelings for a stupid Mars kid.

The smell of barbecue hit my nose and my mouth watered I didn't even realize just how hungry I was,to be fair though I had been working all day. I gathered my plate and scraped off the best bits for my mother and looked around for a place to sit. Now normally I would have to sit at my table while I was here, but Chiron had recently started loosening up on that rule, but I decided to sit next to Piper again who was ignoring the gossip from her sisters.

Piper smiled at me but I didn't say anything it's not that she and I didn't get along but we barely knew each other besides the quiet didn't last long as a girl with Long blonde hair and stormy gray eyes approached me. "Cassie right?, hey I've heard about you from some of the other romans and I want you on my team along with your friend" She said firmly as if she wasn't giving me a choice.

Annabeth was a daughter of Athena and the girlfriend of Percy Jackson and was probably the only reason that Percy was still alive to this day. I thought about it for a moment and even though this wasn't my thing by any means, I can't stand being knocked around in the mud, I figured my best chance of winning was with her. The rest of dinner passed by uneventfully and before long Chiron blew his conch again and announced that the game would begin shortly.

"Athena and Ares cabins are our captains, magical Items are allowed, and please no maiming, I will be acting as medic should anyone need it" He said as he went over the major points. I stood up and sighed knowing this was going to be quite the night.