Until about 6 months ago, I had been an ordinary middle school kid. Granted I got into trouble almost every day, but yes I was normal, or, I though I was. But that all changed when the lunch lady tried to turn me into next weeks special. Sarah, my friend, had quickly grabbed my hand and propelled me toward the fire exit. I cleared the door just before the monsters claws racked my back. Then the fire alarm rang and tons of dazed kids walked reluctantly out of the exits, muttering about lunch. Sarah whipped out her cellphone and dialed a number on speed dial, all she said was

"We need to go now." and hung up.

"Go where?" I asked confused.

"Upstate New York" she replied

"But I like New Jersey" I muttered.

About 30 seconds after I said this a white van barreled down the school drive and skidded to a stop in front of us. Sarah pulled open the heavy door and I allowed my self to be pushed inside, more out of curiosity than stupidity.

"Can you explain whats going on here?" I said a little upset, leaning back in the hard leather seats jammed in between boxes of what looked like strawberries.

"Fine, just let me point somethings out," she took a deep breath and said," your dyslexic, ADHD, and your mother is a single parent." I rolled my eyes,

"wow you should be a detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Any way" I pointed out, "what does that have to do with you kidnapping me, right before lunch too" Sarah sighed

"your dyslexic because your mind is hardwired for Ancient Greek, your not really built for english,"

"I knew it" I muttered triumphantly " I've being telling my teachers for years, but they never believe me."

" The ADHD" Sarah continued looking pointedly at me, probably for interupting, "is because your mind is paying more attention to little things, in battle the smallest things can save your life"

"Great, what am I going to war with? Algebra?" Sarah stomped her foot.

"This is not a game Grace!" But I wasn't paying attention, I was staring at her foot, or more accurately her hoof.

"Oh my god" I said gulping, "your a goat"

"yes, but only half, I'm a sayter" she pulled her shoe back on. I stared at her, suddenly taking this seriously.

"Where are we going?"

"Some place safe"

"WHERE?" I shouted " I have a right to know you did kidnap me." She raised her hands

" all right calm down, we'er going to Camp Half Blood."

"What's that"

"A place for demi-gods"

"Whats a demi-god" She rubbed her eyes,

"Demi-gods are children of gods and humans" "are you nuts?" "partially, but this is the truth"

"oh I see whats going on here" I said, "your completly nuts!"

She looked at me, then I realized she was completely serious.

"Gods, and monsters are real?"

"Yep"

"which ones"

"all of them"

"specifically?"

"Greek ones"

"Oh..."An awkward silence past where I processed the information.

"why are you telling me this, I'm normal". She smiled

"no your not"

"Why!" I exploded "I'm not related to any god"

"yeah you are"

"Which one then" I challenged

"I dont know" She answered flatly. The rest of the trip past in an annoyed scilence. As we got out of the car, we were standing at the bottom of a large hill, with nothing in either direction for miles. I inhaled the sweet smell of strawberries and fresh mown grass, letting a wave of calm rush over me, I could smell the salty tang of the ocean, it always made me feel better. Sarah led me past a large pine tree that rustled as I passed it, and down into the beautiful valley. I noticed a circle of cabins, an amphitheater and what might have been a climbing wall, but looked far to dangerous with lava pouring down the side. The Long Island sound glittered in the distance, giving me the sudden urge to go swimming. I followed Sarah past a volleyball pit, and several other normal summer camp things. We soon reached the baby blue house in the center of the valley, Sarah called it the big-house. When I caught up to her, she was talking to a man with brown hair a scraggly beard and a tweed jacket, also he was in a wheelchair.

"hello Grace" he said, his voice was gentle, as if he understood everything that had happened. I smiled in reply but didn't say any thing.

"Grace," Sarah said "this is Chiron" I stared in credulously at the man in the wheel chair before me.

"I thought you were a centaur?" I said a hint of accusation in my voice.

"I am" he said looking at me with a quizzical smile on his face.

"But..." I said looking pointedly at the wheele chair. He laughed.

"I can assure you I am a centaur, Sarah," he called "please show Grace to Cabin 11"

I meet my extended family

Sarah brought me to the large circle of cabins in the center of the camp. As far as I could tell the cabins were completely different, there was absolutely no similarities some were large and marble but others were low and studded with coral. There were gaudy red ones and delicate silver ones, but the one Sarah showed me to looked normal, peeling paint, and looked as if it had been new long before I was born. Sarah creaked open the large wooden door and motioned me inside. The inside looked like a normal cabin, about 20 bunk beds against the wall. There were about 15 kids on the bunks, one rolled of and walked over.
"Travis" Sarah called, then her eyes narrowed "or are you Connor?"
The boy smiled,

" I'm Travis" he was tall with sandy salt and pepper hair, upturned eyebrows, and a very miscevious grin, that made me put my hand over my wallet. He looked over at me

"and you are.." His voice trailed off questioningly.
"Grace" I answered "Grace Taylor"
" well Grace" he smiled "I'm Travis, my twin is Connor," he motioned to a blond headed lump on one of the bunks.
" you can have this bunk" and he patted a top bunk above a small girl with dark brown hair, who he introduced as Megan. She was very, very short, her ahead only came up to my waist, but she was my age, and very sweet. She was undetermined, like me, meaning she didn't know who her mother is. She became my best friend and stuck with me through all the craziness that happened later, but thats another story. I was just getting hungry when a conch shell blew across the valley. Travis, or was it Connor, called for us to 'fall in' everyone lined up and left the cabin for a large open air dinning pavilion. As I walked open my eyes fell on a tall boy with dark hair and green eyes like mine. I looked away quickly, feeling a strong sense of recognition go through me. When we sat down plates of barbecue appeared on the tables and I was about to start eating when I noticed everybody getting up and dumping half their food into the large brasier in the center of the hall. Travis walked up behind me,
"we burn half our food for the gods, they like the smell"
I wrinkled my nose
" they like the smell of burning food?" I asked.
Travis shrugged, telling me he knew no more than me.
When it was my turn to burn my offering all i said was
"Dad... who are you" a light breeze wafted over me, it smelled like beach, and I walked back to my seat. After the meal had been cleared away, Chiron stomped his hoof on the marble floor.
"Campers, I'm pleased to announce we have a new camper today, Grace Taylor"
I sunk my head into my lap, trying to avoid all the eyes trained on me like sniper sights. After that Chiron dismissed us to go to the amphitheater, we sang songs roasted marshmallows, and ate s'mores. But through out the campfire I noticed the dark haired boy occasionally stealing glances at me, as I lied in my bunk and thought about it, and the same shiver of recognition ran through me. My dream that night was interesting. I was sitting on my grandmothers porch, looking out upon the ocean crashing onto the sand, the waves were particularly large and violent and the wind was whipping my hair in every direction. I heard my grandmothers voice inside
"Your going to have to tell her someday"
"Please," my mom begged "she's still to young"
"She needs to know who her father is" my grandmother whispered
"No, it's safer for her not to know"
"I'm going to tell her" grandma said, I heard the scratch of her chair on the floor.
"Mom, she does NOT need to know her father is a god, much less that he is..."
Travis shook me awake. I mumbled and rolled over.
"Grace, it's breakfast"
At that I sat up. I sat at the Hermes table, thinking about my dream but my thoughts evaporated as soon as the plate of waffles was placed in front of me.
My first day of activities started with arts and crafts, which seems a lot more dangerous when you can use power tools. After that I had Pegasus riding, which is a lot easier when you can speak horse, apparently I'm very in touch with my equestrian side. The most life changing class I took that day was canoeing. I stepped into the front of the canoe and grabbed a paddle, several other people did the same, and we were just gathering speed when the idiots from Ares cabin rammed our boat and we capsized. I swam to shore and got out, I turned around, and noticed everyone looking at me.