Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, they had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.

We passed a group of archers as they shot their bow and arrows. Chiron ordered them to stop shooting as we walked in front of them...thank the lord. I did not feel like becoming a human shish kabob right now. As we walked by, a few pointed at the Minotaur horn I was carrying. Another one said, "It's him."

Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in brown armor, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.

I looked back at the farmhouse. It was bigger than I realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched...and not just by the other campers...

"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.

He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded, "Just the attic."

"Somebody lives there?"

"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."

I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.

"Come on Percy," Grover said from the other side of me. "Lots to see."

Suddenly, both Grover and Chiron stopped dead in their tracks. I also stopped, confused. I then realized why they stopped when an arrow whooshed past all of us and hit a target right on the bulls' eye, a few feet away from us.

Chiron sighed and Grover rolled his eyes. "Alex, stop showing off!" he yelled. We heard laughter from about twenty feet away.

"What was that?" I asked, looking back to where the laughter came from. All I saw was a patch of red up in a tree. Chiron and Grover kept walking a head of me. I hurried to catch up to them.

"That was Alexandra Greene, daughter of Artemis," Grover explained.

"Didn't Artemis vow not to have any children?" I asked.

"That she did. Alexandra came down from a comet," Chiron said.

I thought about that for a while.

"I'll introduce you to her later, but call her Alex, and don't mention her mom," Grover said.

"I take it they don't get along?" I asked.

"Not really," he replied.

We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played on a reed pipe.

Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained, "and the strawberries almost take no effort."

He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those so they grew strawberries instead.

I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. I looked around at all the boys and girls in the field, picking strawberries and placing them in baskets they were carrying.

"Most of them are daughter and sons of Demeter," Chiron said, noticing I was looking around.

"Capri!" Grover called across the field. A girl with chest length wavy blonde hair looked up from the patch of strawberries in front of her. She smiled and brushed her hair behind her ears. "Can we get a few?" he asked.

"Of course!" she called, throwing three strawberries. Grover caught two, and Chiron caught the other one. Grover handed me one strawberry and bit into his.

"Thanks!" Grover called. She nodded, and we kept walking.

"Who was that?" I asked, also taking a bite of the strawberry. It was sweet and juicy, definitely one of the best strawberries I had ever tasted in my life.

"That was Capri Brooks, daughter of Demeter," Grover said. I nodded and looked back at her. Grover noticed me look back. "Don't let that sweet and innocent face fool you, she's a genius with a sword."

"Nice to know…" I replied, slightly wary now.

"Come on, Percy. Let's see the woods," Chiron said, leading me and Grover.

As we walked I thought about everything. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real…. Does that mean the Underworld is real too?"

Chiron's expression darkened. "Yes. It is," was all he said before he started to walk (...trot?) a bit faster.

"We have our own daughter of Hades here at the camp," Grover explained. I was surprised at that fact, but nodded.

As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been there since the Native Americans.

Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."

"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"

"You'll see," Grover said, making me confused.

"Capture the flag is tonight. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

"My own-?"

"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."

I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw another archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin rang, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.

"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.

"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal... Usually."

That was reassuring.

"Come on, Percy," Grover said, trotting towards the arena. I slowly followed behind. As I got closer, I heard cheering.

I looked around at all the campers that had gathered. Most of them were spitting insults out as others cheered. I looked down to see who was fighting.

"Oh, this is going to be good," Grover said.

I saw a big brunette girl. She had her hair tied back. In one hand she carried a shield and in the other and electric spear. The other girl was smaller. She had waist length black curls, that she left down, and she didn't carry a shield but two long daggers. Both wore brown armor like most of the other kids around. The two girls circled around, neither of them making a move, just eyeing one another.

"Who are they?" I asked to Grover, not taking my eyes off the fight.

"The bigger one is Clarisse La Rue, daughter or Ares. It's best if you avoid her. The other one is Jessamine Darkwood, or Jessi for short, she's the daughter of Hades I was talking about," Grover explained.
The girl, Jessi, said something that made Clarisse charge at her. She ran towards her and right as she was about to hit her with her spear, Jessi dropped to one knee, letting Clarisse run right by her. Jessi swung one of her arms back, the dagger cutting Clarisse on the back of the knee. It went on like this for a while, Clarisse just barely missing Jessi. Jessi, who fought as if the hair in her face wasn't there, finally had Clarisse on the ground. She tried to grab her spear, but Jessi kicked it out of her reach. A lot of people cheered, and others booed. Jessi said one last comment before turning and walking off.

"Come on, Percy, there's still a lot more to see," Chiron said as he walked away from the arena with Grover. I took one last look at Jessi then followed.

Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables...

No roof. No walls.

"What do you do if it rains?" I asked.

Both Grover and Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.

"We still have to eat, don't we?" Chiron said. I decided to drop the subject.

Finally, they showed me the cabins.

(A.N.) Tbc, or not? Review and tell me what you think.