Chapter 1

"Go!" I hissed though the smoke, ash and soot that had just been spewed from the hole in the wall, straight at me. Something on the other side of my concrete block jail-cell had exploded. I heard guards and whitecoats running to examine our mess.

Or should I say, our plan.

I slipped into Iggy and Gazzy's cell, pleased to find that they had already gotten out of their straightjackets and weren't doing this with their hands tied.

I bet they still could've.

Anyway, I shielded myself as we blasted away Fang's, Nudge's and Angel's walls, and Total's cage with them. We heard more yelling as more people came sprinting into the room. I motioned the rest of my flock into the teeny cell, and they silently complied. They trusted my plan. After all—it was our only option to get outta here.

The leftover smoke was covering us nicely, but we had to go fast in order to escape all in one piece. I looked at my family, as they looked back up into my face, not a hint of doubt in their eyes.

"Okay," I cleared my lungs quietly. "On the count of three."

I turned and whispered, "One."

And, knowing my life, all hell broke loose.

Five of us, including Total, threw ourselves against the bars, while Gaz and Ig hung back to set the last bomb. Not only would it blow off the cell doors, but hopefully, it would also blow off a section of roof, giving us a clear escape route. Everyone took cover, and my two pyromaniacs let 'er rip.

All I gotta say is thank GOD they calculated correctly.

A 6-foot-square piece of roof was blown sky-high, and my flock shot through the opening, one at a time. As we hit the air, screams of fury echoed from the smoking building behind us. It was kind of beautiful, as weird as that it to say.

But we were free.

I let out a huge whoop. "Take that, you stinkin' whitecoats!"

The Gasman and Iggy were cackling maniacally, high-fiving. I was glad to hear that they hadn't changed much since we got locked up about two months ago. Angel and Nudge were grinning and hugging the living crap out of Total. Fang was smiling too, but his smile made my breath stutter, just the tiniest bit. "Finally," he muttered.

I sighed happily. "Alright, guys. Cool down, just a little. We still gotta get out of here and find shelter."

We were flying, full-speed, near a city. I looked at the sprawl of the buildings and realized that this was...

"Hey gang!" I shouted against the wind, "We're in New York!"

"No way!" Gazzy yelled, his eyes alight.

"Yuh-huh," chirped Nudge, pointing, "There's the Empire State Building."

We all looked and saw the huge skyscraper, looming a few miles away, due northeast.

While my flock was gawking at the scenery (Fang excepted, as usual), my eyes flicked around to see a minor clearing a little ways out from the city.

Perfect. I thought with a slight grin. "Yo guys!" I called up to Nudge and Gazzy, who had both flown out front, enjoying their freedom. "Down and to ten 'o clock."

I saw everyone slow down out of the corners of my eyes. Fang's brow raised about a millimeter. "Why?" Nudge asked.

"Is there trouble or something?" Gazzy was automatically on alert, like the little trooper he always was.

Iggy reacted with a slight shake of his head that looked a lot like something Fang would do, so it almost looked strange. "I got nothin'. Everything seems to be okay, at least."

I confirmed his notion. "Nah, it's not trouble. I just think I might've found us a place to stay, at least for a little while. Look there."

The team followed my finger until they saw the valley that was to the northwest of our current location. "I think it's a—"

"Summer camp," Fang finished for me. "It's a summer camp."

"Abandoned, maybe?" I tilted my head to one side.

"Sure."

I smiled, still high on the winds of freedom blowing my hair back. "Let's go."

Fang and I were right. The little clearing we were going to call home for a short while was indeed a summer camp.

Twelve cabins ranging from medium to large in size made a "U" around a fire in the center of a large pavilion with pretty Grecian columns. Other newer-looking cabins branched off like wisps of smoke, and even cabins that were still under construction dotted the surrounding area, leaves fallen in the grass.

I directed the official landing, and we all stood silently, on alert for any coming sneak attacks. When nothing came after a minute or so, my flock ran in loose formation to the nearest cabin.

But I don't know if "camp cabin" brought the right picture to mind when used to describe this gigantor, majestic, monster of a building with more Grecian columns to boot.

As we slipped inside, this place's interior was just as classy and sweet-looking as its exterior. Four magnificent white bunk-beds stood tall and proud, one in each corner of this…this…stadium-of-a-room.

I nodded absently to the younger kids to go try out the beds as I sat down on one of them myself. The sheets were warm air currents, washed with some kind of detergent that made them smell like the air does right before a rainstorm. The pillows were puffy, filled with creamy feathers and soft as clouds. I looked up at the startlingly high ceiling and saw real, live clouds drifting about way up near the roof.

Then my eyes drifted to the elaborate mural that covered one of the huge walls, depicting a bunch of skyscraper-sized people in what looked like togas. They were all throwing a bunch of stuff at another gigantic man, who had a teenage boy's face with a thick white scar that ran from his cheekbone to his jaw. There were regularly-sized teenagers too, though, an assortment of kids wearing breastplates, gripping swords and shields, and neon orange t-shirts clinging to their fatigued forms with sweat, muck, and dirt. Another guy was set apart from the rest, a black-haired kid with a wicked blade. He seemed to be leading a charge or something.

I barely heard Nudge squeal "Ohmigawd, beds! Dibs on top bunk!" and swoop over to the nearest one, bouncing on the mattress like a chocolate- colored bunny rabbit. I didn't hear the Gasman's ecstatic explanation of our new home to make a picture for Iggy's unseeing eyes, or see the grins on everyone's faces, even Fang's.

All I could see was the mural. The gigantic people in it, I now realized, were the Twelve Olympians. Athena, Aphrodite, Poseidon, those guys. Then, next to it, the remains of a charred orange tee, just like the ones in the painting, but this one was on display. There was a small golden plaque on it that read: LukeCastellan'sCampT-Shirt.Mayhishero'ssoulfinditswaytotheIslesoftheBlest,ashislastwish,andmaythegodsbewithhimalways.

It was dated from last summer. I felt a bead of cold sweat start trickling its way down my back, and I turned slowly to face Fang. "Where are we?" I whispered.

"…A summer camp?" he replied, making the statement sound like a question.

I shook my head singularly. "That's not what I mean. What kind of summer camp is this?"

"An important one," a girl's voice I didn't recognize spoke up from the entryway. My flock jumped collectively and took on defensive postures, but I was the one who spoke next. "What do you mean? Where the heck are we?"

She grinned, making her calculating gray eyes sparkle as she brushed back her honey-blond hair. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood.

For some ominous reason, all I could think was "What have we gotten ourselves into now?"