A/N: I haven't been writing fanfiction for a while, but I've got into the Percy Jackson books recently and this kept bugging me until I started writing it :P So here goes, hope you like it :D

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus, although probably not too much of either. It might not make much sense, though, if you haven't read PJO and some of the characters from HoO are in it.

Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan, only a few characters and the plot are mine.

Summary: Three years have passed since the Heroes of Olympus sent Gaia back to sleep under the earth and closed the Doors of Death, but the Fates haven't finished with Percy yet. Gaia has one last plan, one final shot - this time she's going to destroy Camp Half-Blood from the inside out, and there is more than just lives at stake...

"For God so loved the world,

he gave his only son,

that whoever lives in him

shall not die, but have eternal life."

John 3:16

Ariana opened her eyes slowly and groaned quietly. Someone gave what sounded like a rather forced laugh from next to her.

"That was some entrance, you know."

Ariana sat up slowly and looked round. The speaker was a tall girl with long, wavy blonde hair and serious grey eyes. Her beauty was disconcerting… It seemed effortless, like she hadn't even tried to look good. Ariana immediately felt self-conscious of what a mess she had to be right now.

"I'm Annabeth, by the way," the girl said unsmilingly. It looked like it would take a lot to make her laugh, Ariana thought. "You're Ariana." It wasn't a question.

"I know my own name," Ariana replied curtly, mildly annoyed. This girl was laughing at her.

Annabeth shook her head. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I just thought your head might be a bit scrambled… Some people need a bit of prompting when they get here, just to get their memories back." She scowled and muttered to herself, "Why do I have to do this? Where's Grover when you need him?"

Ariana wondered what she was talking about but decided it wasn't worth asking. Instead, she looked around at the room they were in. It was sparsely furnished, with just a few beds identical to hers along each wall, but it was clearly a sort of hospital.

"This is the infirmary," Annabeth told her, following her gaze. "Normally there are more beds in here, but we don't get them out unless we need them…" Need them? Why would you need an infirmary in the first place? "Anyway, how much do you remember?"

"Pretty much everything," Ariana answered. "Grover coming and taking me to camp, that taxi with those really weird sisters in it… Oh." Her eyes widened. "Oh."

"Yeah." Annabeth nodded grimly. "You nearly destroyed the whole place. Why in Hades did you try to blow that Hydra sky high with raw plastic explosive? Actually, why did you even have explosives in your pockets?"

Ariana shook her head, resisting a smile. "Long story. Seriously long story."

"Don't smile. It's not funny; you could have killed us all."

She sighed deeply and contained her amusement. "That wasn't why I was smiling. I was just remembering one time when a friend first showed me how to use that stuff… But it doesn't matter." She could tell that Annabeth didn't see the funny side of it. "How long do I have to stay here?"

The older girl looked relieved at the change of subject. "Just until you've drunk this." She handed Ariana a cup full of a steaming substance that smelled like… she couldn't decide what it was. It smelled like ice cream on the beach and Flick and the park at home and woodsmoke. It tasted even better. Ariana felt a surge of energy rush through her and set all her nerves on fire. She grinned.

"So what is this place?" she asked.

Annabeth cursed in something that sounded suspiciously like Ancient Greek. "Sorry. I forgot to tell you… I'm really bad at this. Usually Grover or another satyr would be telling you all this stuff but they're all busy doing something or other. This is Camp Half-Blood," she continued. "Um, I don't know how to say this, but you're a demigod, a child of the Greek gods—"

"It's okay, Grover told me all that on the way here," Ariana interrupted.

Annabeth blew out her cheeks. "Thank the gods for that. So yeah, Camp Half-Blood is pretty much a safe place for all of us Greek demigods."

"What about Roman demigods?"

Annabeth looked startled. "How did you know about them?"

Ariana shrugged. "I don't know. I think I read it in a book."

"Okay…" The other girl looked uneasy for a moment but hid it quickly. "There's another camp for Roman half-bloods, called Camp Jupiter, but only the Romans get picked up there. Greeks always go here, Romans always go there. Well, apart from… But that doesn't matter."

"What?"

"No, honestly, you don't need to know." Annabeth paused, suddenly looking worried. "Ariana, how old are you?"

"Fifteen," she replied. "Fifteen going on sixteen. Why?"

"Who's your godly parent?"

Ariana looked blank. "No idea. Should I know?"

"No, it's fine. I'm sure it'll be fine." Annabeth looked anything but fine, but she got up and helped Ariana out of bed. "Come on, I'll show you around. I guess you can stay with the Hermes cabin until… until you get claimed." She strode quickly to the doorway and disappeared.

Ariana followed slowly, but as she was about to leave she thought she heard a horrible laugh just behind her. She spun round. There was no one there. The back of her neck prickled dangerously. Ariana shook her head, dismissing it as paranoia. It's nothing, she told herself. What would a monster want with me?

Annabeth was waiting for her outside what she called 'the Big House'. It was pretty big, Ariana had to admit, but definitely not as big as they came. Together they walked down to the cabins, as Annabeth tried to explain what everything was and answer Ariana's questions.

"Annabeth!" came a yell from behind them. Ariana turned to look but Annabeth kept walking.

"Ignore him."

A boy with wild curly hair and bright dark eyes was running after them, covered in mud and grease. "Annabeth! Oy, Annie!"

At that Annabeth finally spun around, her face dark with annoyance. Ariana felt nervous. "What do you want, Leo?"

The boy, Leo, skidded to a halt in front of them. "Why d'you keep blocking me, Annie?" he asked, sticking his bottom lip out. Ariana felt a smile twitch her lips. She liked this kid; he had a sense of humour.

"Don't call me that!" Annabeth said heatedly.

Leo held up his hands and grinned. "Okay, okay, whatever. I just want to know where Percy is; I can't find him anywhere."

Was it her imagination or did Annabeth glance at her quickly before answering? "He's not here, idiot. He went to Jupiter."

Leo pursed his lips. "When's he back?"

"Tomorrow evening. Why?"

"I need him to give me a hand with something."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "A child of Hephaestus needs help? Surely not."

Leo scowled slightly and then shrugged. "It's Percy. I don't need anyone else."

"I guess," she replied, a hint of light in her eyes for the first time.

Leo turned his attention to Ariana and grinned cheekily again. "So who're you?"

"I'm Ariana," she smiled back.

He glanced at Annabeth. "Has Annie here been in a bad mood? Don't blame her; she's always like this when Percy's gone. Makes her like an old worry-wart," he added in a stage whisper that Annabeth could easily hear. She whacked him on the arm.

"Right, get lost, Repair Boy! I've had enough of you today." With a fleeting laugh and a smile at Ariana, Leo was gone, leaving a faint smell of engine oil behind him.

Ariana met Annabeth's eyes curiously, but she glanced away. "Who's Percy?"

The older girl sighed. "My boyfriend."

Ariana frowned. "Where… where is he?"

"At Camp Jupiter."

"Why?"

Annabeth scowled and didn't answer. Ariana gave up.

"So, Leo is a son of Heffy – Heffa—"

"Hephaestus, yes. I'm a daughter of Athena. There are twelve main Olympian gods: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Ares and Hermes. But there are loads of minor gods, and they all have cabins too. Some of them are empty because the god or goddess swore never to have children, like Hera and Artemis." They rounded a corner and Annabeth pointed to the first cabin in sight. "That's the Artemis one, over there."

"But there are people in there," Ariana squinted into the distance, trying to see.

"Yeah. That's the Hunters."

"The Hunters?"

"Artemis has a band of loyal followers who have all sworn never to fall in love and they're called the Hunters," Annabeth said in a rush, and then gasped as someone clamped a hand onto her shoulder. "Rachel!"

Ariana turned to see a girl with wild red hair standing next to them grinning cheerfully. "Leo's right, you need to lighten up a bit, Annabeth."

"How did you—"

Rachel laughed. "I'm the Oracle, remember?" She glanced at Ariana and held out a hand. "I'm Rachel. I bear the Oracle of Delphi." Okay, weird introduction.

Ariana found her voice. "What, you give prophecies and stuff?"

The girl nodded, waggling her eyebrows at Annabeth, who allowed a hint of a smile to curve the corners of her mouth. "Yeah… hold onto the 'and stuff' part." She turned away again. "I need to talk to you."

Annabeth nodded. "Okay. How about after Capture the Flag? Then I can finish showing Ariana around and—"

"Now. I'll be quick, honestly."

Annabeth looked at Ariana and shrugged. "Do you want to go and have a look at the cabins? I'll be right there." It didn't really seem like she had a choice, but Ariana nodded anyway. Annabeth looked grateful. "Thanks. Go meet the Hunters if you want, Thalia will show you where the Hermes cabin is." She turned away and walked a little way off with Rachel, who was looking more anxious by the minute.

Ariana felt a little hurt at being dismissed so quickly. She wandered up towards the cabins. Afterwards, she always told herself that she would never have gone back if she hadn't heard Annabeth say her name, but whatever the reason, the outcome was the same. Ariana spun on her heel and crept back the way they'd come, keeping to the shadows at the edge of the path.

"-be careful," Rachel was saying. She sounded worried.

"But she's just a kid. An anomaly, maybe, but still just a child. You can't—"

"There's something about her, Annabeth. I don't like it. I just have this feeling that maybe she won't be claimed at all… She's different."
Ariana heard Annabeth sigh. "How so?"

"I don't know. She just has a strange kind of aura about her; like she belongs to everyone and to no one."

Annabeth muttered something that Ariana couldn't catch. She crept closer.

Rachel laughed. "Not like that. Percy's different; you of all people should be able to tell that much."

"Is she evil?"

Ariana winced. It was a very abrupt question and she couldn't quite believe Annabeth had just asked it about her. Surely it was obvious that she wasn't evil?

"No. I'm sure of that. But she's dangerous, or – or someone really close to her is…"

Ariana's mind immediately sprang to Flick. Where was she? At first she'd thought she must be around camp somewhere, but there had been no sign of her yet. Annabeth and Rachel clearly had no idea she existed, otherwise they would have mentioned her… It didn't make any sense. Flick had to be here. Where else could she have gone?

A/N: So, there ya go. Hope you like it. Please review cause otherwise I'll have no idea whether or not to carry on and it's really encouraging to know what people think of my writing... Thanks for reading!