I don't dislike Camp Half - Blood.

I hate it.

I suppose you want to know why, since you're probably a fan of it since Percy decided to publish his diary - sorry journal for the world to see. I'm not a hater, I'm a camper.

Back to the why. It's kind of a long story, but whatever. Here we go.

I'm home alone for the weekend, and I had my best friend Amara over. My name's Miranda, by the way. Anyways, we were being totally silly, in nothing but our underwear and hula skirts and leis, dancing to Justin Bieber, the boy I love most.

Anyways, the doorbell starts ringing and won't stop, and her cell phone, my cell phone, and the home phone all go off once or twice. Then we hear a tap tap tap on the windows, and we both look at each other and start to panic. We try to ignore it, convincing ourselves it's a crazy bird, and keep dancing, but the there's a huge smashing sound, and the window breaks. We both scream, and Justin's angelic music is still playing. The curtain falls, and there are three figures: two boys and a girl. One of the boys is holding a sword. The girl has a dagger.

We both stare at each other in silence for a moment, and, looking back, I realize how weird it was. Amara and I look at each other, and then sprint up to my room, slam and lock the door, and push my desk in front of it. We think it might not hold the crazy kids for long, and we have to do something.

"We- we – we have to do something!"

"What!"

"Get help!"

"Not like this!"

Suddenly it dawned on me, and by the looks of it, her too. We see stuff like this all the time, since we were eleven. Monsters, things that shouldn't exist but do, teachers morphing into horrible creatures, everything.

"Run." We say at the same time.

I jerk two backpacks out of my closet and throw things into them. Water bottles, food (I have a minifridge in my room) clothes, our cell phones, everything. We can hear the crazy kids shouting and banging on the door. They're saying something about monsters coming, and saving us.

I throw all of my money into the bag and sprint downstairs and Amara and I throw on jeans, T-shirts, and jackets and baseball caps. I sling my backpack over my shoulder and throw open the window.

"Are you crazy?" Amara asks.

"No, I'm desperate! " I say, and then I climb down the fire escape. She follows.

Just as we hit the ground, the door gives, and we hear the kids bellowing at us from the window. I run, run into the woods behind my house, and I don't look back.

Two days later, Amara and I are still on the run, the kids are still following us, and our clothes are ripped up, we're bruised, bleeding, hungry, and exhausted. And, on top of everything else, it's storming.

Amara and I are about to give up. We can't stand it anymore. I trip and fall in a creek. We're in a different forest.

I try to get back up, but I can't. I literally cannot get back up. It's not because I'm too exhausted to get up, but it's because the water is holding me down. Amara runs over to help me, and the water reaches out and grabs her.

Then the crazy boy with the sword drops out of a tree. The water relaxes, and Amara and I try to get up and run, but something grabs us from behind. Problem is, I can't see anyone.

Amara's arms flail wildly, and she connects with something. A blue New York Yankees cap falls and the crazy girl appears.

The other boy steps from behind a bush, except he's not wearing pants or shoes.

He has the bottom half of a goat.

All I can do is whimper.

After a second, nobody says anything. I realize my face is wet, and it's not the rain. Tears are silently streaming down my face and Amara's too. Neither of us can make a single sound.

The girls grip relaxes, and I try to stop crying. I can't, and somewhere beyond all that desperation, anger wells inside of me. I see red, and I step out of the creek towards the boy.

Percy's P.O.V.

I stare at the girl. The girl glares at me. Her jeans are torn and bloody, and so is her jacket. Her hair is tangled with mud and blood. She's soaked from head to toe, and there's water running down her face. Then I realize it's not rainwater, it's tears. She's crying.

"L- Leave us alone!" she shouts.

"You-"

"I don't care, you stupid monster! What do you want with us?"

"We're NOT monsters. We're trying to save you from them."

"Get away from me!"

"We're going to save you. It's gonna be okay."

She tucks her hands behind her back and stares at the ground.

She looks up at me and says, "R- really?"

My heart melts. Her eyes turn so big, and they well up with more tears. She's so small, so helpless; I can't believe what this poor little angel has been through.

"Oh, you-"I start to say, and reach out my hand to take her arm and make her feel better, and quick as lightning, she stabs my arm.

Well, she tries to stab my arm. You see, since I jumped in the Styx, I'm virtually invulnerable. The blade snaps. She stares at the knife, then back at me.

"M – m- m- monster!" she shouts, and she and her friend make a run for it.

Annabeth grabs her hands and force them behind her back, and Grover does the same with the little girl's friend.

"I'm not a monster. I'm demigod. We're here to save you, and I'd advise you not try to kill us again. Got it?"

Neither girl responds. My temper flares.

"Got it?" I shout.

Both girls stand their ground.

Annabeth says, "Oh, come on, Percy, we don't have time for this."

She Reaches into her bag and ties the girls' hands.

I call Mrs. O' Leary, the hellhound, and she melts out of the shadows. I glance at my watch, and realize it's been half an hour. Annabeth's right, we don't have time for this.

"Annabeth, get Nico."

"But the monsters-"

"Get him."

She reluctantly takes a cell phone out of her pocket and turns it on. She calls him, and after several seconds she says, "Nico, get down here. We need your dark powers."

Then she hangs up and shuts her phone off.

Nico melts out of the shadows.

"What?"

"We need to shadow travel to camp. These two don't wanna go anywhere."

"Fine. But I'm NOT staying."

"Never said you had to."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

I lift the two girls onto the hellhound, and Grover, Annabeth and I all get on. Nico gets on in front and says, "Ready?"

"Yeah."

The world melts into shadow and its over in seconds.

"Bye." Nico says, and he and Mrs. O' Leary vanish.

Both of the girls are weak and shaking. Evidently, they don't enjoy shadow travel as much as I do.

Miranda's P.O.V.

I hate that kid. Whatever he just did, it was the most terrifying experience of my life so far.

Anyway, we're in front of a huge blue house with white trim. Percy cuts through the ropes on my hands with his sword, and does the same to Amara.

I rub my wrists, and a centaur comes out of the house. He has a white horse's hindquarters, and his human hair is brown. A bow is slung over his shoulder.

"Welcome, new campers. I suppose Percy has explained everything?"

"I tried." The crazy boy says.

Suddenly a pack of make up wearing, gossiping kids walks by.

"Who let monsters into the camp again? Was it Clarisse?" one of them says. The girl is Asian, and is wearing pink eyeliner.

A girl about my age says, "Shut up, Drew."

The pack or rabid Barbies all get quiet and look at her.

"It's not their fault. They've had a rough time."

"Whatever, Lacy. Do you want to wear the shoes of shame again?"

"You know what, Drew? I don't care."

And Lacy walked away from the pack of Barbies and pulled me and Amara along too.

She practically ran to the girls' bathroom, and Amara and I followed her.

"Wait here." She said.

She ran out, and came back with an armload of clothes and toiletries.

"No offense, but you two need serious help. I'm Lacy, by the way."

"I'm Miranda."

"I'm Amara."

Two hours later, we were finally clean and dressed in camp clothes. The camp clothes were bright orange T- shirts with the words Camp – Half –Blood across the front and jeans. I looked at Amara then back at Lacy.

"Thanks." Amara said. "But can you, uh, tell us what's going on?"

"You mean they didn't tell you?"

"They didn't."

"Course I'll explain."