Chapter 1

Saying Camille loved her life was an understatement. Popular and smart, she wouldn't trade her life for anything else. Sadly, everything turned upside down when her new friend from the cheerleading squad tried to kill her.

"Hmph, stupid empousai," Camille thought as she zipped up her bag of celestial bronze arrows. She arrived at Camp Half-Blood a week ago. She HATES it. Sharing a cabin with other kids (ahem, demigods) and hoping she survives long till college is not her idea of a good time.

She was claimed after 3 days of her arrival (she had recently turned 13) but it was a funny tale:

"Hey nerd! Whatchya doin there?" shouted an obnoxious Ares kid. 'Great, I'm already getting picked on,' Camille thought as Jack and his other friends came towards her. Jack was the best fighter in his cabin next to Clarisse, so he thinks he's a big shot around camp. Though he is nothing compared to THE Percy Jackson. Camille heard stories about him and his friends. She was fascinated on how a bunch of demigods won the Battle of Manhattan.

She was interrupted out of her thoughts as Jack sneered, "Hey! You're the kid who can't shoot an arrow to save her life."

"Yeah? I heard you're the kid who cried like a baby when he got poison ivy rashes," she retorted back.

"Ooooh, burn!" snickered one of his friends. Jack's face turned red with anger and was going to reply but Camille was quicker.

"Don't mess with me," she said with a steely voice. Where was this newfound confidence coming from?

"Oh yeah? And why should I listen to you?" Jack asked with an obnoxious smirk.

"Uh…dude…" another guy cut in while pointing to her head. The symbol of an owl burned proudly above her golden head.

"So? Another scrawny Athena kid, I can still make your life miserable," he sneered.

"I don't think so," Camille said as she pointed to an owl behind the group. "Insulting the children of the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy doesn't sound like a good idea to me," she proudly said.

The owl promptly screeched which made the boys run away muttering apologies to Athena.

"Thanks Mom," Camille softly said with a smile as the owl turned golden and disappeared. She smiled as she found her boots hidden by a stack of books. Off to the woods for practice...

Camille would be an amazing archer, if the target was anything except, you know, the ACTUAL target. After injuring two demigods, a tree and almost a satyr, Chiron told her as gently as possible that it would be best if she had some extra practice without peer pressure. Translated: shoot arrows alone so you don't kill someone. This was why she was trudging through the woods to her special place, a clearing where she had set up targets and practice dummies. She spent so much time here that she even brought books and snacks with her.

Taking a deep breath she aimed her first arrow. She shot and...It whizzed by the target. She winced and shot another arrow. This one managed to hit the most outer ring of the target. Camille's eyes widened as she thought, 'Finally! Progress!' Her third target was in the shadows of a tree. "If I miss, I'm going to make a tree very angry," she thought as she got ready to shoot. Just as she was about to let the arrow fly, a black figure popped out of the shadows in front of the target. "What the Hades!" she exclaimed as the arrow pierced the side of a...jacket? And disappeared.

She heard some rustling behind her and immediately tensed as she reached for her arrow. "Mother, Zeus or any gods that are listening, please help! I can't believe the only weapon I have to defend myself is a bow and arrow!" she thought.

Heart accelerating with adrenaline, she hoped she could get one lucky shot when an Italian twinged voice spoke out from behind her: "You really like to shoot me with arrows, don't you?"