Chapter One
I was used to the fresh strawberry fields and the constant blue sky. I was used to the nymphs flirting with boys and Mr. D always calling me Carly instead of Carrie. Camp Half-Blood, home to young demigods, was where I had fit in ever since I was born. Literally, I'd been there since Day One. Chiron, camp counselor and centaur, had found me in a little bronze basket right beside Thalia's pine tree. I stayed and trained for fourteen years, able to beat almost anyone in a sword match, or fly on a pegasus, or shoot a bullseye with my bow and arrow. I was a pretty bright kid, but I never had dyslexia, only a slight case of ADHD. Weirdly, this separated me from a few other demigods. That Annabeth girl liked to insist that she had been at Camp Half-Blood the longest, but that was untrue. I'd been there almost twice the time she had- the only difference between the two of us is that she was claimed, and I was not.
Unfortunately enough, I was still unclaimed. I'd stayed in the Hermes cabin, where the unclaimed kids were sent to sleep until their godly parent claimed them, for fourteen years. I was never claimed and, ultimately, forgotten. I tried not to dwell on it. I was starting to think that I was a child of Hermes just because I'd been there so long. My beaded necklace was getting to be quite crowded. And then there was that year Percy Jackson came to camp. I first met him at the Hermes cabin when he came, unclaimed.
I found him sitting on his bed, alone, with his head in his hands and his fingers gripping his long, dark hair.
"Percy?" I said, sitting next to him. "Are you okay?"
He shook his head and looked at me. "I don't belong here."
"You're new," I told him, trying to be comforting. "You'll get used to it."
"No, I just mean in this cabin," he said. "I don't want to be unclaimed."
I shrugged. "Me neither."
Percy's sea-green eyes locked quickly on mine. I tried not to stare.
"You're unclaimed?" he said. "When did you get here?"
I frowned. This subject just had to come up. "I've been here my whole life."
His eyes widened. "Wow, does it take everyone that long to get claimed?"
I winced internally. He probably didn't mean for it to sound harsh. "No...maybe a week or a few days if you're lucky."
"Why?" Percy asked.
"Sometimes...our parents forget about us," I said, trying not to cry and breathing through the words. "There are just so many of us...it's easy to forget."
Percy looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he just sighed and slid under the covers.
"See you tomorrow," I told him, walking away to my bed.
My bed, that was supposed to be temporary.