Chapter 1:

ELI

Eli couldn't seem to find this place. He had been walking north, from Florida, for the last three days. If it weren't for his acoustic guitar he would be nowhere. He used it to get money, to buy food, and everything else. He would usually stop every few hours and play a couple songs. He got about fifteen bucks every time he stopped at the side of the street and played his guitar to people. It must've looked pretty weird for a fourteen-year-old boy to be playing his guitar to get money, like a homeless guy, but he was kind of desperate so he didn't really care what the people were thinking when they passed by him. The only thing that worried him was if another monster tried attacking him again.

The first day he was attacked by a couple weird looking black dogs. The second day he healed some lady that had been stabbed, which he didn't know how he did that. It was sort of by instinct. He remembered seeing the man, who stole from her, run towards him and then Eli just tripped the guy and got the purse back. Then he saw the lady at the end of the alley. Somehow the wound healed when he touched it. He quickly got away after that. He knew he had to keep walking like his mom told him to. Thinking about his mom made his head hurt. He didn't want to think about it so he kept walking.

He needed to find a map because he had no idea of where he was. He then searched through his coat pocket and found thirty-five bucks. He saw a wooden building and started walking towards it. It was painted blue with white outlining. He got to the building and walked up the porch. He didn't know what to do with his guitar in its hardcover case so he, awkwardly, brought it in with him. The porch creaked while he walked and the door screamed as he flung it open. He slowly walked into a completely wooden room with a bunch of moose, deer, and moons all over its wallpaper. On the left was a bunch of wooden tables and in front of Eli was an about seventeen or eighteen year old girl with short brown hair. He was about to talk to her, but then a hairy looking guy in the back dropped a bunch of trays.

"Troy!" A bunch of angry girls yelled.

"Sorry, ladies." He said in a hippie-like voice. The girl at the front started mumbling angrily something about how the guy shouldn't be working there. She then lifted her head up and noticed Eli.

"What do you want?" She asked Eli with a slight New York accent.

"Ah, hi. Where are we?" Eli asked nervously. He knew that he sounded nervous too so he coughed a little to make his voice easier to talk with. The girl then gave him a look of disgust and then continued back on Eli's question.

"Are you seriously asking that?"

"Ah…"

"Where on Long-Island." She answered.

"Oh, thanks" Eli stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"Are you gunna eat or not?"

"Ah, I don't think so…" He then quickly turned around and walked out of the restaurant. It was an awkward and short conversation, but he didn't care. He got outside with the sun burning on his golden blonde hair and against his tan skin. His eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness and he saw a pathway on the other side of the street. He ran across the street and got on the other side. Before he went on the path he looked back at the restaurant. He saw the wooden sign painted white above the door saying Miss Art's in blue. He then started walking on the dirt path.

He continued on the path for about fifteen minutes. After the first five minutes it brought him into a forest. His feet were starting to hurt. He found a rock on the ground and sat down there. He grabbed his Nike shoes and took them off. He wished he brought more clothes or something. All he brought with him was his coat and guitar. It was all that was with him when he left the hospital three days ago. He put his shoes back on and got up when he heard something behind him. He turned around as quick as possible and saw the giant dog standing over him with its huge teeth. The only strange thing about this dog, not including how big it was, was that it had three heads. Ya, that's pretty scary. Eli knew what the plan was if you met a monster like this. He tightened his guitar case's strap, and then bolted away, jumping through all of the bushes and trees. He thought it would be safer if he put some obstacles in the dogs way, like trees, instead of running down the dirt path.

Eli could hear the dog catching up to him from behind. He needed to go faster. He decided to get rid of his guitar case. He knew he would never get rid of his guitar, so he pulled the case off of him and took the guitar out. It was hard to do because he was literally running for his life. He got the guitar out and was about to chuck the case backwards, but then he fell to the ground. His knee killed and his guitar was annoyingly loud because he hit the strings when he fell. He then remembered what was going on and he looked up to see the three-headed dog looking down at him. The weird thing was that it seemed sleepy. Eli reached for his guitar and pulled it towards him. He then put his hand on the strings so they would stop making sounds. He looked up and noticed that the dog was wide awake now and about to attack him. Eli started playing the guitar to see if the three headed dog would respond to it, and he did. The dog's eyes became droopy and he slowly lay down on the ground. Eli kept on playing the guitar until he heard the dog snoring. Eli slowly walked backwards until his foot hit something and he fell to the ground again. He got up and saw the dog was awake again. Eli grabbed his guitar until he noticed that one of the strings broke. He looked back and forth at the dog and the guitar like he was trying to figure which one was a bigger problem at the moment. Eli then grabbed his guitar and the case and ran.

He had no chance of getting away now. The dog was chasing him at super dog speed and he was running through the middle of a forest. He ran for about another twenty seconds when he was about to give up and fight the three-headed dog. Then he noticed an opening in the forest about fifty yards away. He didn't know if he would make it, but he started sprinting full speed to it. He felt like he was about to die from running, but he kept going. He was almost there just a few more feet. BOOM. He was rolling down a hill. He must've made it to the opening and tripped once he got to the hill. Once he controlled himself he hopped up and got ready for the three-headed dog to jump on him, but there was nothing there.

"What?" Eli said out loud.

He then saw the dog at the top of the hill wanting to get to Eli, but for some reason he couldn't.
"Hey." A welcoming voice said from behind.

Eli jumped and turned around ready to fight, but then it ended up being a guy who looked about a year older than him. He was a short-blonde haired kid with the biggest and whitest smile you would have ever seen.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Eli frantically asked.

"Cool down. My name is Tyler Ryde, and this is Camp Half-Blood."