I don't know where I was born, what my first word was, where I was when I first learned to talk. Pretty much the highlights of my babyhood. And that may not seem so bad, but I'm missing the most important piece of all: who and where my parents are.

I'm a foster child. My life's consisted of being moved around my whole life until I was 2 years old. I had lived in almost 7 homes before I found a family that actually wanted me. Or before they found me. Jackie and Mark Derutyer were the first people that seemed like my parents. They loved me for me, and instead of sending me away they kept me. When they got me, they already had a son named Blake, four years older than me. I'd gotten used to living in their Suburban house in Coconut Cove, California. I had been named Zoe because I had supposedly looked like a Greek goddess when they first held me.

Once I'd turned 6, Haven Marie Derutyer was born. After that came Elliot Grace Derutyer, two weeks before my 10th birthday. Finally, the twins Lucy Ivory Derutyer and Westley "West" Mark Derutyer were born when I was 12 years old. Six children made the household crowded, but I was grateful to have a family. Any kind of family.

"Zoe, come down to eat!" My father yelled from downstairs. I sighed, and reluctantly put down my iPod. I trudged downstairs. Dinner time just always happened to fall on the most inconvenient times.

"Zoe, can you set the table?" my mother appeared from the kitchen. It always seemed to me as though I was the only working human being in the house. "Zoe, clean the laundry", "Zoe, babysit the little ones" Always me. I hurriedly grabbed the plates and accidently let one slide. Crash, the porcelain plate lay on the ground in pieces like a mosaic.

"Zoe!" my mother groaned. She put a hand against her head and sighed as she reluctantly began to pick up the pieces. "Just go eat," she sighed. There I was, always messing things up. Dinner always seemed to be things I hated. Asparagus, Brussels sprouts, casserole. Yuck. And when a day did come around where Mom made something I liked, I was always gone. Soccer practice, French club meetings, link crew, working at Starbucks. And there were never any leftovers. With a family of six, everything was pretty much consumed as soon as it hit the plate. After dinner was over I had to do the dishes, as always. Doing the dishes was actually my favorite job. As soon as the water touched me, I felt stronger and more alive. I could even turn on the water, 5 feet away from the sink. It was spooky, but I was too busy to see if there was a glitch in the plumbing. After I was done, I sat on my bed, reading Alice in Wonderland. Or trying at least. I was dyslexic, but no one knew except my parents. This book was an assignment for English. Over the course of my school years, I would have my parents read to me or try to decipher the jumbled up letters, always moving across the paper in circles. As if they wanted me to fail. I wasn't a good reader or listener either actually. I always blurted whatever came to mind. The words just flew out of my mouth. I would make impulsive decisions and take risks. Music seemed like the only thing I could understand. I gave up trying to read and instead just tuck myself in and stared at the ceiling.

"Hey Zoe!" Indigo and Troy appeared by my side. Indigo and Troy had been my best friends for as long as I could remember.

"Hey guys," I pulled me Jansport over my back and paced myself to walk in sync with them. I reached my class, French 101 and stopped. "Well, here goes" I shrugged. I entered alone since Indigo had taken Russian and Troy had taken Latin instead. I dropped my bag on a desk in the back and looked around. A lot of kids I knew last year were here. Ivy was in front of me, brushing her long nutmeg hair, clutching her signature satchel. Marie and Isobel were hunched over Levi Collin's desk, while the skater guys: Jake, Marcus, Dale etc. were lounging in their seats. In the seat to the left of me was a new girl, cautiously leafing thru her French book as if the teacher would burst in and yell at her for post studying. I sighed. Freshman year was too much like last year, and I was looking for a fresh start.

"Attention!" the teacher burst in the room. I stared at him. Not because of his booming voice, or button down stained in chocolate sauce. No, in the middle of his head was a big, chocolate brown eye.

Indigo

I know there's something wrong with me. I know my mom didn't die like my dad says. No pictures of proof she was even here. It's like he's trying to wipe her out of my mind. The only thing he'll say when I ask is that he really loved her. And in any other case my heart would melt, I'm a sucker for love stories. But, my heart feels like steel because I know my dad is keeping something from me.

My dad is probably the most forgetful person I know. And if it was anything less important I would just blame his memory loss. But, the fear in his eyes tells so much. You can tell a lot by looking at someone's eyes. It's the only place where a person can't shield their feelings.

All I know is this much: I was born April, 20th 1995 in Manhattan, New York. My mother supposedly died in child birth. My father is Gregor Marx, a Greek History professor at NYU. My father was never married to my mother. Not enough to exactly find all my answers.

I finger combed my wispy blonde hair while I walked to Russian 101 with Troy.

"Bye!" I gave Troy a fast hug and went thru the thick oak door. Problems aside, I was excited for freshman year! I hurried to sit in my seat just as the teacher came in. The teacher for Russian was new so no one knew what to expect. Everyone turned their heads as the door opened. 40 mouths hung open. The new teacher was so pretty it hurt. She even had a glow. She had perfect long blonde hair that made my hair look like straw. Her eyes were a pretty shade of blue. She smiled a row of pearly whites. As soon as she walked in, it was like everyone boy in the room had fallen in love and the girls had been filled with envy.

"Hello, I'm your substitute for today. My name's Miss A," she gazed around the room, settling on me and smiled. "You may open your books to page ten and review please," she announced as she briskly walked in my direction. She handed me a note and cautiously went back to the front of the room. Everyone in the room glared at me, filled with jealousy. I carefully unfolded the paper and read. It said:

You need to go to Half-Blood Camp as soon as possible along with Zoe and Troy. You three are in grave danger. As we speak Zoe has some trouble on her hands. A Cyclops precisely. Go get Troy and help her. This may help you. Just press the locket when you need it. '

Below was an address somewhere in Long Island.

I leapt from my seat and went up to Miss A.

"You're really Aphrodite, the goddess of love, aren't you?" she just smiled and showed me to the door.

Zoe

I leapt up, no sure if anyone else saw it. But, no one but me did. I quietly sat back down.

"Zoe, I'd like to speak with you outside" the creature called. Slowly I stood up, clutching my pen in my hand for no reason. After we got outside the door, he grabbed me in his large hands.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!" I screamed. Suddenly Indigo, Troy and something else I had never met before showed up at my side. Indigo ran against the giant, along with one of the kitchen knives. Troy tried to slowly help me out of his clutches while the stranger started playing a pipe? I tried to use my strength to break free and looked around for something I could use. We were right next to four water fountains and I suddenly knew what to do. I concentrated hard on the gurgling water, trying to bring it up to me. I thought hard and suddenly I felt stronger. The wave of water came crashing down, pulling down all of us. The Cyclops was distracted enough to let go. I ran as fast as I could with Indigo, Troy and the stranger behind me.

"We need to go to Half Blood Camp!" the stranger told us. I looked down at the ground where he stood. Where his legs were supposed to be, were goat's hind legs. I stared down, in fear.

"I'll explain everything later; we just need to get all of you to camp!" He led us to the busy sidewalk, right next to Central Park. We followed him down to the subway and hopped on. We camped in a forested region for the night, hoping we would be safe.

"Explain! Now!" Indigo, Troy and I said at once.

"Well, by the way I'm Julian, the satyr. You guys know about Greek gods, right?" We all nodded so he continued. "They're real, every one of them. And you, you guys are their children. Now each of you has a different parent as a god, which makes you demi gods. In the old times, demi gods would protect the gods and go on quests. You guys have human blood and god's blood in your veins."

"No, my parents are human!" Troy protested.

"Your mother is human, but your father is a god,"

"Are you saying my dad, a science teacher named Jack Cox is a god?" Troy asked.

"No, Jack Cox is not your real father. We don't know who your father or mother is until they claim you."

"What! My mother wouldn't lie to me! That's my father! I don't want some heroic god as my father. I want to be normal like my brother and sister. I don't want to be dyslexic or ADHD anymore. Just normal!" Troy sputtered.

"I'm sorry, but your mom was just trying to protect you. Dyslexia and ADHD and symptoms of a demi god. You'll get used to it. And your father, he'll be happy to see you,"

"When will we find out who our mother or father is?" Indigo piped up.

"They will claim you, probably as soon as you reach camp,"

"Tell us about camp," I asked.

"Well Camp Half Blood is a camp for demi gods. It is sealed with magical boundaries to keep monsters out. As a demi god you will constantly attract the attention of monsters. At camp, we teach you how to get ready for the real world. There are archery ares, a battle arena. Each god has a cabin, where his or her children bunk. We have games like capture the flag Greek style, chariot races. You'll love the director Chiron, but Mr. D or Dionysis is… well you'll see,"

"Chiron, as in the Chiron? And Dionysis, the god of wine?" I wondered.

"Yes, but you guys we should get some sleep, we got a big day tomorrow," Julian settled himself against the base of a large oak. I tried to get some sleep, but I couldn't help wonder who my parent was.