p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Whalen, Nora." The man behind the window said in a bored voice. "One pack of Trident gum, one blue hair bow, two pocketknives, one container of lipstick." The man turned away from the window to get some more items and another name. The girl walked out of the Juvenile Detention Center, what us 'mistakes' call "Juvey"./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Gronen, Ajax." I stood up and slowly walked to the window. "One pocket knife, one black baseball cap, one hundred dollars cash, one iPhone 6, one ball point pen, one yo-yo, one copy of em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The Iliad/em, one flash drive, one pair of earbuds, one book of Sudoku." I picked up my items ad started walking away. "One more thing." The man said, so I turned around. "One eye lens case." I picked it up and began my long walk home to New York./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"I sighed contentedly as I looked out from my patio on long island, observing the ocean. My stomach growled, a few seconds before I heard a knock at my door. I walked over to my door, clenching my fist around a pistol (I had found it in my dad's safe) that was lying on a table. I looked through the peephole in the door, at a man holding pizza. Strange, I didn't order any pizza… The guy noticed my eye at the peephole and, well, transformed is the best word to describe it. A huge shape crashed through my doorway, with a single eye resting in the middle of its forehead. I shot it in the head with my pistol, emptying the clip of its 12 bullets. The monster barely slowed down, barreling towards me with the obvious intent to kill. I don't know what happened next, it all just seemed a blur before the monster disintegrated in front of me. I looked down at my broken yo-yo, which I had apparently torn the string off of. I looked down at my hand, which was tightly clenched around the yo-yo string… holy crap. I had strangled the monster with a yo-yo string? And then I heard the sound of a man coughing politely behind me. I slowly turned around to face a man with goat legs. Or at least em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"feet/em. I dropped my improvised noose in favor of my gun on the floor. I picked it up and realized with horror that it had no bullets in it. I raised my hands in a placating gesture. "Look, bub, you don't have to do this."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe laughed, shaking his head slowly. "You misunderstand me;" He stated, still chuckling. "I'm here to take you someplace safe."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Where?" I asked suspiciously./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Camp Half-Blood, a home for demigods like you." He answered. "I don't know where you learned to fight like that, but dang that was cool. You have a real faint scent though, I'm surprised that Cyclops hunted you."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""And faint means…?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""You have a weaker god for a parent, which usually translates into a weaker source of food for the monster attacking you."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"It clicked that he was calling me weak. I took a threatening step forward./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Not that anyone's calling you weak, of course." He hurriedly stated, taking a quick step back./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Let's go. Before more of those idiots attack." I said, kicking up the monster's dust. "I'm Ajax. Ajax Gronen." I put my hand forward to shake his./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Gordon Sprout." He confidently replied, shaking my hand./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Where are we going?" I asked, looking out the window of the car we had 'borrowed' from one of the renters in the apartment complex./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141 Long Island, New York." Gordon answered, keeping a calm eye on the road./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I frowned. "But… that hill's empty… right?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Gordon chuckled. "The Mist hides demigods and monsters doings from mortals. Otherwise, mortals would be screwed. None of their weapons have any effect on them. Only Stygian Iron, Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold from Roman times can kill monsters."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""And I'm guessing that this… Camp Half-Blood is protected by the mist from mortals and some magical or material defense from monsters?" I guessed./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Aye. We also train you, and give you the occasional quest. You can stay all year or just the summer, depending on your scent and power. You could probably just stay the summer, 'cause your scent is really weak for most monsters."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""What do you guys have there?" I asked./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""A stable for the Pegasi, a sword-fighting arena, a cabin for each Olympian, an arts and crafts place, an armory, a bunch of forges, and the Big House for our meetings."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Do you have family there?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Nah. I've been doing this job for thirty years. Not much time to settle down and get a family. What about you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I took my time in replying. "My mother was killed in a car accident after I was born. Or so my dad told me. From what you tell me, she's a god. Anyways, when I was six, he remarried to a woman with a kid about my age. She died a year later. Dad fell into drinking and became really angry. He started abusing my sister and I, our only solace was school, where we were treated like freaks because of our twin-like appearance and what had happened to our parents. My sister always got off a little earlier than me, and one day I came home to find her lying on the couch… dead, with bruises all over her body and blood dripping out of her mouth. He had killed her. So I gladly returned the favor to him, killing him with a kitchen knife. That's how I ended up in the Juvey. However, due to the obvious circumstances I didn't get a full life sentence. I was eight when I first entered it. Now I'm what, thirteen? Fourteen? Six years… Time does pass quickly when you're having fun." I chuckled drily. I was impressed with how emotionlessly I had related my life./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The rest of the drive was silence./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"It was night by the time we made it to Half-Blood Hill. And there was a group of monsters chasing us. Gordon called them "Hellhounds" making me think of Black Ops and the dogs… Anyway we were running up the hill, when one of them nipped the back of Gordon's leg, I was carrying him up the hill, when one of them raked its claws across my back. The pain hurt, and when I get hurt I get angry. In a rage, I turned to the Hellhounds and somehow em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"tore/em through them, body parts flying around, only to turn to dust. Before I knew it, I was facing the last one, which whimpered and ran away. I could feel exhaustion spreading over me, so I ran back up to Gordon and carried him through the arbor with some fancy Greek letters across the top. I collapsed onto my knees and fell forward into the dirt, hearing Gordon mutter "You done good, kid. You done good."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I woke up in a room, on a bed./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wake up, princess. /emA voice said. I sat up quickly, getting whiplash from trying to look two directions at once./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No, I'm not standing near you. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Who are you? How did I get here?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"How would I know? I only see what you see. Oh, by the way, I'm Baylor, Baylor Baldwin Elkhart. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Nice to meet you. Now, where are you? And what do you mean you only see what I see?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I'm in your head. And I meant exactly what I said. Now stop talking; I think someone's coming./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Am I insane? Or what? /em/strongI asked Baylor./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No. You're just coming into your bloodline inheritance./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"A tall, blond kid with a scar walked in and came over to my bedside./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Hi, I'm Luke," he said, putting his hand forward for me to shake it./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Ajax," I replied, taking the hand and shaking it./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I don't trust him./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Great. Insane and paranoid./em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Just, just be quiet. I'm thinking./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You're in my head./em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ri-ight…/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I picked myself up out of bed, gaping at the black scars across my chest. I looked in a hanging mirror next to my bed, and almost fell over. All of my veins, my lips, and my eyes were all midnight black. I looked so em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"cool/em!/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""The satyr that brought you here, he said that you fought off a group of five hellhounds, and you had blades and tentacles coming out your body, and all of this with three deep scars across your chest bleeding black blood. What are you?" Luke paused, fingering the sword at his waist./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"My coolness factor just went up em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"insanely/em. My mouth formed an "a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_1; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"O/a."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Little explanation here?/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You aren't completely human./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"We've already covered that base./em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Or Olympian, or even half and half. You are an ancient breed of alien races, three, in fact: Hellborn, Protogenoi, and Dreadlord. Hellborn were master fighters, their children born with an inherent ability to fight, and they also had elemental fire powers. Protogenoi were master inventors, their technology vastly beyond anything the Olympians can cook up. Dreadlords were easily the most dangerous ancient race, with almost complete control over shadow. One Dreadlord could kill a Titan with practical ease, since they view the world with eyes that can pick up any form of a weakness in a duel or fight. Then they could disassemble the target with shadow, and the masters were able to reassemble the bodies in time to allow life to continue./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I'm going insane, I'm insane, I'm going insane… /em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I know, right? /emA new voice spoke with a distinctive growl./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Victor! You weren't supposed to talk yet! /emBaylor spoke in a panicked tone./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"AW, SHADDAP!/em Victor shouted in my head./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Children, children! We need to work together here! Or we might end up monster fodder! /em/strongI said pleadingly./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I think I'm going insane…/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Are you doing the same thing over and over again? /emVictor spoke in his growling drawl./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I paused. strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I don't think so…/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Are you doing the same thing over and over again? /emVictor questioned./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I realized what he was doing, and broke out of my mental reverie on em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"exactly/em how long it would take for me to go insane. Victor wasn't helping either./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I looked up at Luke, who was looking at me with a skeptical raised eyebrow./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;""Eh, just… thinking," I said, picking my jaw a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_2; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"up/aspan class="MsoCommentReference"span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"span style="mso-special-character: comment;" /span/span/span from where it had hit the floor./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"Luke led me around the camp, showing me all the fancy pantsy things a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_3; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"Gordon/aspan class="MsoCommentReference"span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"span style="mso-special-character: comment;" /span/span/span had talked about. When he finished, he took me to Cabin Eleven, the cabin they stick all the unclaimed kids that the gods ignore. I walked in and looked around, at all the kids who a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_4; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"looked/a what I, and the other juvenile delinquents, called 'twitchy,' especially around shiny objects like my iPhone. I whirled around to take my iPhone out of the hands of a young brunette, who grinned insolently at me. I glared back, and she squeaked before running out. "Well, that's useful." I grinned at my new cabin mates, and several of them screamed and drew weapons. I whirled around to look at Luke./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;""What did I do?" I asked./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"He took a few steps back. "Y-you have f-fangs and they're g-glowing!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I yelped and ran out, only to blink and find myself in the shadow of one of the chimneys on the Hephaestus Cabin. I jumped twenty feet into the air. Sobbing, I somehow ended up in front of the Big House, curled up into the fetal position./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I could swear I heard "Animal I Have Become" playing somewhere./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ajax, calm down! /emBaylor pleaded./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You feel angry, no? And afraid? Harness that. Channel this negative energy at the source of your problem. /emVictor encouraged./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I heaved one last sob, before following Victor's instruction and channeling the energy at the source… myself./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Aw, strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"HAIL /strongno! /emBaylor shouted./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Bwahahaha. Will Ajax die? Will Baylor turn out to be a walrus? Is Victor secretly Spiderman? Find out next in,/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Embrace of Death/em. /strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"-Ja'el Nosharik/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Gronen, Ajax." I stood up and slowly walked to the window. "One pocket knife, one black baseball cap, one hundred dollars cash, one iPhone 6, one ball point pen, one yo-yo, one copy of em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The Iliad/em, one flash drive, one pair of earbuds, one book of Sudoku." I picked up my items ad started walking away. "One more thing." The man said, so I turned around. "One eye lens case." I picked it up and began my long walk home to New York./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 27.0pt; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"I sighed contentedly as I looked out from my patio on long island, observing the ocean. My stomach growled, a few seconds before I heard a knock at my door. I walked over to my door, clenching my fist around a pistol (I had found it in my dad's safe) that was lying on a table. I looked through the peephole in the door, at a man holding pizza. Strange, I didn't order any pizza… The guy noticed my eye at the peephole and, well, transformed is the best word to describe it. A huge shape crashed through my doorway, with a single eye resting in the middle of its forehead. I shot it in the head with my pistol, emptying the clip of its 12 bullets. The monster barely slowed down, barreling towards me with the obvious intent to kill. I don't know what happened next, it all just seemed a blur before the monster disintegrated in front of me. I looked down at my broken yo-yo, which I had apparently torn the string off of. I looked down at my hand, which was tightly clenched around the yo-yo string… holy crap. I had strangled the monster with a yo-yo string? And then I heard the sound of a man coughing politely behind me. I slowly turned around to face a man with goat legs. Or at least em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"feet/em. I dropped my improvised noose in favor of my gun on the floor. I picked it up and realized with horror that it had no bullets in it. I raised my hands in a placating gesture. "Look, bub, you don't have to do this."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe laughed, shaking his head slowly. "You misunderstand me;" He stated, still chuckling. "I'm here to take you someplace safe."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Where?" I asked suspiciously./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Camp Half-Blood, a home for demigods like you." He answered. "I don't know where you learned to fight like that, but dang that was cool. You have a real faint scent though, I'm surprised that Cyclops hunted you."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""And faint means…?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""You have a weaker god for a parent, which usually translates into a weaker source of food for the monster attacking you."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"It clicked that he was calling me weak. I took a threatening step forward./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Not that anyone's calling you weak, of course." He hurriedly stated, taking a quick step back./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Let's go. Before more of those idiots attack." I said, kicking up the monster's dust. "I'm Ajax. Ajax Gronen." I put my hand forward to shake his./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Gordon Sprout." He confidently replied, shaking my hand./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; margin: 0in -.25in .0001pt -.25in;""Where are we going?" I asked, looking out the window of the car we had 'borrowed' from one of the renters in the apartment complex./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141 Long Island, New York." Gordon answered, keeping a calm eye on the road./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I frowned. "But… that hill's empty… right?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"Gordon chuckled. "The Mist hides demigods and monsters doings from mortals. Otherwise, mortals would be screwed. None of their weapons have any effect on them. Only Stygian Iron, Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold from Roman times can kill monsters."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""And I'm guessing that this… Camp Half-Blood is protected by the mist from mortals and some magical or material defense from monsters?" I guessed./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Aye. We also train you, and give you the occasional quest. You can stay all year or just the summer, depending on your scent and power. You could probably just stay the summer, 'cause your scent is really weak for most monsters."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""What do you guys have there?" I asked./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""A stable for the Pegasi, a sword-fighting arena, a cabin for each Olympian, an arts and crafts place, an armory, a bunch of forges, and the Big House for our meetings."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Do you have family there?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Nah. I've been doing this job for thirty years. Not much time to settle down and get a family. What about you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I took my time in replying. "My mother was killed in a car accident after I was born. Or so my dad told me. From what you tell me, she's a god. Anyways, when I was six, he remarried to a woman with a kid about my age. She died a year later. Dad fell into drinking and became really angry. He started abusing my sister and I, our only solace was school, where we were treated like freaks because of our twin-like appearance and what had happened to our parents. My sister always got off a little earlier than me, and one day I came home to find her lying on the couch… dead, with bruises all over her body and blood dripping out of her mouth. He had killed her. So I gladly returned the favor to him, killing him with a kitchen knife. That's how I ended up in the Juvey. However, due to the obvious circumstances I didn't get a full life sentence. I was eight when I first entered it. Now I'm what, thirteen? Fourteen? Six years… Time does pass quickly when you're having fun." I chuckled drily. I was impressed with how emotionlessly I had related my life./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"The rest of the drive was silence./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"It was night by the time we made it to Half-Blood Hill. And there was a group of monsters chasing us. Gordon called them "Hellhounds" making me think of Black Ops and the dogs… Anyway we were running up the hill, when one of them nipped the back of Gordon's leg, I was carrying him up the hill, when one of them raked its claws across my back. The pain hurt, and when I get hurt I get angry. In a rage, I turned to the Hellhounds and somehow em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"tore/em through them, body parts flying around, only to turn to dust. Before I knew it, I was facing the last one, which whimpered and ran away. I could feel exhaustion spreading over me, so I ran back up to Gordon and carried him through the arbor with some fancy Greek letters across the top. I collapsed onto my knees and fell forward into the dirt, hearing Gordon mutter "You done good, kid. You done good."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"~*~/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I woke up in a room, on a bed./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wake up, princess. /emA voice said. I sat up quickly, getting whiplash from trying to look two directions at once./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No, I'm not standing near you. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Who are you? How did I get here?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"How would I know? I only see what you see. Oh, by the way, I'm Baylor, Baylor Baldwin Elkhart. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Nice to meet you. Now, where are you? And what do you mean you only see what I see?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I'm in your head. And I meant exactly what I said. Now stop talking; I think someone's coming./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Am I insane? Or what? /em/strongI asked Baylor./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"No. You're just coming into your bloodline inheritance./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"A tall, blond kid with a scar walked in and came over to my bedside./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Hi, I'm Luke," he said, putting his hand forward for me to shake it./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""Ajax," I replied, taking the hand and shaking it./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I don't trust him./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Great. Insane and paranoid./em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Just, just be quiet. I'm thinking./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You're in my head./em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ri-ight…/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I picked myself up out of bed, gaping at the black scars across my chest. I looked in a hanging mirror next to my bed, and almost fell over. All of my veins, my lips, and my eyes were all midnight black. I looked so em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"cool/em!/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;""The satyr that brought you here, he said that you fought off a group of five hellhounds, and you had blades and tentacles coming out your body, and all of this with three deep scars across your chest bleeding black blood. What are you?" Luke paused, fingering the sword at his waist./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"My coolness factor just went up em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"insanely/em. My mouth formed an "a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_1; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"O/a."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Little explanation here?/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You aren't completely human./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"We've already covered that base./em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Or Olympian, or even half and half. You are an ancient breed of alien races, three, in fact: Hellborn, Protogenoi, and Dreadlord. Hellborn were master fighters, their children born with an inherent ability to fight, and they also had elemental fire powers. Protogenoi were master inventors, their technology vastly beyond anything the Olympians can cook up. Dreadlords were easily the most dangerous ancient race, with almost complete control over shadow. One Dreadlord could kill a Titan with practical ease, since they view the world with eyes that can pick up any form of a weakness in a duel or fight. Then they could disassemble the target with shadow, and the masters were able to reassemble the bodies in time to allow life to continue./em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I'm going insane, I'm insane, I'm going insane… /em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I know, right? /emA new voice spoke with a distinctive growl./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Victor! You weren't supposed to talk yet! /emBaylor spoke in a panicked tone./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"AW, SHADDAP!/em Victor shouted in my head./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Children, children! We need to work together here! Or we might end up monster fodder! /em/strongI said pleadingly./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I think I'm going insane…/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Are you doing the same thing over and over again? /emVictor spoke in his growling drawl./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I paused. strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"I don't think so…/em/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. Are you doing the same thing over and over again? /emVictor questioned./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I realized what he was doing, and broke out of my mental reverie on em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"exactly/em how long it would take for me to go insane. Victor wasn't helping either./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I looked up at Luke, who was looking at me with a skeptical raised eyebrow./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;""Eh, just… thinking," I said, picking my jaw a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_2; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"up/aspan class="MsoCommentReference"span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"span style="mso-special-character: comment;" /span/span/span from where it had hit the floor./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"Luke led me around the camp, showing me all the fancy pantsy things a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_3; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"Gordon/aspan class="MsoCommentReference"span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"span style="mso-special-character: comment;" /span/span/span had talked about. When he finished, he took me to Cabin Eleven, the cabin they stick all the unclaimed kids that the gods ignore. I walked in and looked around, at all the kids who a style="mso-comment-reference: lb_4; mso-comment-date: 20150216T1227;"looked/a what I, and the other juvenile delinquents, called 'twitchy,' especially around shiny objects like my iPhone. I whirled around to take my iPhone out of the hands of a young brunette, who grinned insolently at me. I glared back, and she squeaked before running out. "Well, that's useful." I grinned at my new cabin mates, and several of them screamed and drew weapons. I whirled around to look at Luke./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;""What did I do?" I asked./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"He took a few steps back. "Y-you have f-fangs and they're g-glowing!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I yelped and ran out, only to blink and find myself in the shadow of one of the chimneys on the Hephaestus Cabin. I jumped twenty feet into the air. Sobbing, I somehow ended up in front of the Big House, curled up into the fetal position./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; text-indent: 22.5pt;"I could swear I heard "Animal I Have Become" playing somewhere./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Ajax, calm down! /emBaylor pleaded./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You feel angry, no? And afraid? Harness that. Channel this negative energy at the source of your problem. /emVictor encouraged./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"I heaved one last sob, before following Victor's instruction and channeling the energy at the source… myself./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Aw, strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"HAIL /strongno! /emBaylor shouted./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"Bwahahaha. Will Ajax die? Will Baylor turn out to be a walrus? Is Victor secretly Spiderman? Find out next in,/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Embrace of Death/em. /strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"-Ja'el Nosharik/p