Camp Camp Half-blood

The cliff we were surrounded on was high above the ground, surrounded by all types of monsters. We would suffer the same fate as Camp Half-blood had, smashed to a pulp and burning.

Going back, we had all the opportunities to win that battle. We didn't like the plan, but it was foolproof. Sadly, we lost Leo before we could initiate the main part of the plan. We were making our final stand.

Only three of us were left. Me, being Percy, Annabeth, and Jason. We knew we were going to die here, so we just did our best to fight. We cut through line after line of monsters.

"Percy! Behind you!" Jason screamed. I spun around attempting to slice the attacker, only to have Riptide be thrown out of my hands by a large fist, as another one grabbed me by the neck. "I'll see you in the Underworld." I croaked to Annabeth, as the giant threw me from the cliff side, toward the cold, hard ground.

Before I got the ground, I saw two other shapes fall from the cliff. They had joined me in passing.

I awoke aboard the bus, drooling against the window as I pried my stuck face off of it.

I had survived?

I started crying out of relief, as I lay down in the bus seat. I realized how oddly short I was as I extended all the way across the seat.

"Huh?" I said, as I sat back up and gathered my surroundings. I was short. Around 4 feet and 4 inches. I had frizzy long hair and soft skin. I had pink shoes, sweat pants, a purple sweater, and a purple beanie. "Gods dammit!" I mumbled.

The bus kept rumbling on to wherever we were going, which I hadn't thought about because I had been gathering my surroundings, but we were on a forest trail. "Hey you, purple girl." I heard from across the isle.

"Me?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's your problem?" The boy asked. He looked almost identical to Jason, except for the fact that he looked around 14.

"Erhm... just a little light headed." I responded.

"How old are you?" He asked. I had to come up with an answer pretty quickly, so I did.

"12." I lied.

"You're short." He stated. I rolled my eyes at that. He was still inspecting me when he said "Come sit over here." and patted the seat next to him. I got up out of my seat, stumbled on my new center of balance a bit, and landed face first on his legs. "Bwahahahahahaha!" He bursted, and lifted me up.

"Sorry..." I murmured, red in the face.

"It's okay. I'm Todd by the way. Are you new here? What's your name? Are you excited?" Todd shot out all at once. I had to come up with another lie now.

"I-I'm Pearl." I said. Seriously, Pearl? What was I thinking?

"Pearl? That's a pretty name. I like it." Todd responded, "Have you ever been to Camp Campbell before? It's everything you can imagine in a camp!"

"No, I haven't." I stated.

"Oh... well this is my second year! We are arriving pretty late into the summer though, but it'll be fun!" Todd exclaimed.

I sat the rest of the bus ride in silence, kicking my legs back and forth, which I didn't even notice I was doing until five minutes in to doing it. It must have something new with this... body. Todd made a few comments here and there, mostly really bad jokes and flirting, like "You're cute, and so is your voice." or "I think that beanie is beautiful with your pink hair." Which is how I deduced that my hair was pink.

Good reasoning, I know.

The bus screeched to a halt, right next to a worn out sign that said "Camp Camp", as the "bell" had worn out long ago. Two people walked out from behind the sign, who I assumed were counselors, one a girl wearing short shorts and boots, and the other an exasperated boy with full camping gear and a bandana around his neck.

The door opened as we got up from our seats. There was two other people there with us, who were in the seats in front of us, and they filed along ahead of us towards the door. I wobbled toward the door, still not used to walking on this center of balance, but Todd chuckled and put a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"Still light headed, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah..." I croaked out, trying to sound believable.

We stepped out of the bus and on to the gravel, as it drove away, back to the city.

"Welcome new campers! It's so exciting to see new faces around here! Now, what's everybody's name?" The boy asked. The boy who came off the bus first was named Joel, the second boy was named Bryce, and Todd just said "But you alrea-"

"Todd, just say your name before he waits for you to say it for the next two hours." The girl counselor said.

"I'm Todd." He said, standing up straight. I only realized then that he towered over me, by a good foot and a half.

"Jeez you've gotten tall, Todd." The girl counselor said.

"And who are you, young lady?" The boy counselor asked, kneeling down towards me.

"Pearl..." I whispered.

"Pardon me?"

"Pearl." I said, slightly louder.

"Sorry, I still can't hear you."

"Pearl!" I said.

"That's a wonderful name. Well, I should introduce myself!" He shouted, "I'm David! Your Camp Campbell counselor, and this is my co-counselor-"

"Gwen." The girl finished.

"Right... now let's give them the tour of the camp-except-for-Todd!" Exclaimed David.

"Bye Pearl!" Todd said, as he ran off into the camp. I waved back and trotted behind the group.

"He's like that with everybody."

"Huh?" I said.

"David, he's crazy happy and nice to everybody... in weird and different ways." Said Gwen, "You by kneeling down and patting your head. Max by keeping him out of trouble."

"Who's Max?" I asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Gwen stated wearily.

We went on the tour of the camp, and it was boring and just like any other camp. Mess hall, tents, activity center, et cetera et cetera.

"Alright, now go to your tents, and go out and have fun!" David said, swinging his arm across his chest. "Do you need help with your bag, Pearl?" He asked. I shook my head. Pulling the backpack up my shoulder, as I walked towards my designated tent.

I opened up the bag and found the normal stuff for a lakeside camp in the woods. Bug spray, a bathing suit, first aid, extra clothes, and a toothbrush.

Whatever being packed this second-life bag forgot toothpaste.

I got into the bathing suit that came in the bag. It was a one piece suit, so it wasn't very difficult to get on, but I assumed I looked like a kindergartner because of my size. I opened the tent, zipper, and stepped outside.

"Who the hell are you?" Came a voice from my right. "Are you one of the new kids? What's your name?" It was a boy, a few feet away, next to my tent. He had a blue sweatshirt on, and jeans.

"What are you doing outside my tent?" I asked, wobbling back and forth.

"I need someone to talk to while Nikki and Neil are off doing... whatever. So I ask again, what is your name?"

"P-Pearl, what's yours?"

"I'm Max. If I were you I'd stay clear of David any time of the day, got it?"

"Why? He seems nice." I responded.

"Trust me it'll take you five minutes to start wanting to kill him." Max said. "How old are you, by the way?"

"I'm 12, why?" I responded.

"Wow you really ARE short, and older than me." He laughed.

I turned away from him after that, and marched towards the lake. I wanted just to go into some water.

"I'll be seeing you!" Came the voice from behind me.

I trotted across the dock towards the entering area for the lake, and turned around to do a backwards dive in.

I came face to face with a group of campers as I did that.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, as I stumbled and slipped into the lake.

I emerged to everyone laughing and rolling on the dock, so I just went back under the water.

I then realized I couldn't breath underwater anymore.

I came up wheezing for air, and everyone was off the dock now, except for Todd.

"I'm sorry about that..." he said, rubbing his neck.

"It wasn't your fault." I said, pulling myself onto the dock.

"You're still cute." He said.

I smiled at this one.

The day had been completely wrapped up. We had some sort of oatmeal for dinner, and nothing happened at the campfire.

I was the only person in my tent, so it was roomy and the bed was comfortable.

When I fell asleep, all I saw was white. I felt like "me" though, so this must have been a message of some sort. The floor turned to brick, and a white light appeared in the center of the floor, and it engulfed everything. As ht cleared, I saw two other people. Annabeth and Jason. No one said anything, until a black figure appeared in the center of the room.

"Welcome, my children." The female voice stated.

"Lady Chaos?" Annabeth questioned.

"Indeed, welcome to the dream nexus. Would you like to exchange your rebirths?"

"I'm some sort of dragon fighter in Europe." Annabeth said, as a figure appeared before her. It was who she was reborn as.

"I'm a leader in the Roman Military of old."

An honorable figure stood before Jason.

"I..." I started, "I um... am a camper at a sleepaway camp..." I said, looking at the floor.

The figure appeared before me, and I backed away, embarrassment spilling over my face. I got a good look at the young girl that was my new form. I was slightly taller than what I had though, around 4 foot 7, but I was still very short for the age I had stated.

Annabeth cracked a smile and shook her head.

Jason was laying on the dark brick floor, laughing and snorting.

Lady Chaos motioned for me to follow her. By this point, the entire room was dark brick, and I could make out the detail that was missing.

The door.

I followed Lady Chaos out the door into a separate room, with two chairs and a table.

"Sit down, Perseus." She commanded. I sat in the chair closest to me. "There is much to explain, and little time to do it in this dream world. I will start off with this: Annabeth and Jason were sent to a separate reality. I could not send you in time. They are in a comatose state, but Camp Halfblood survived in that reality, you did not. In the reality you come from, Gaea was stopped by the Romans, but Camp Half-blood is still gone. But you were reborn completely in that world."

"So, Gaea is gone and the Romans survived?" I asked.

"Yes, they did. And I still haven't finished explaining everything." Lady Chaos stated. "You... you are me, and I am you."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean that your new body, is an aspect of me. A great terror is coming that I can't stop in time, with the weights of trouble weighing down on me. You are there to do what I can't, you need to protect that lake. That's where it will start, Perseus."

"Understood, Lady Chaos." I stated.

"Good. Remember, you are me. You will be the fastest, strongest, and smartest person there. Do not use any powers unless necessary."

"Powers?" I questioned.

"Yes. You are an aspect of the creator of the universe, don't you think you could do anything?" Lady Chaos exclaimed.

"Oh... that makes sense." I mumbled.

"Alright. You are waking up now. Remember to wipe the oatmeal off your face before going to the mess hall for breakfast."

What oatmeal did she mean?

I woke up with a metal spoon upside down on my face. That oatmeal. I groaned and rubbed it off my face.

I got up and out of my tent, and stumbled towards the mess hall, sliding open the door.

"Hey Oatfa- dammit she wiped it off!" Came from the corner of the room. Max. I beamed at him mockingly and sat down at an empty table. I didn't have any food, I wasn't really hungry.

A little girl sat down next to me, with a large plate of mush and apple sauce. "Hi, I'm Nikki. You must be one of the new kids. The other two are cool, but there hasn't been any new girls in along time. I normally sit with Neil and Max but Neil is sick today, or he wants to be alone, so I'm sitting somewhere else." She said.

"I'm Pear-"

"Do you like the wilderness?" She asked

"Yes?"

"Same. I love the wilderness. Do you like swimming?"

"Mhm."

"Cool."

She scarfed down all the "food" on her plate and then asked "Have you heard about the bull man yet?"

"No, I haven't."

"Well, they say it's a giant man, with the chest and legs of a human, and the head of a-"

"What are you two talking about?" Asked Max.

"The bull man!"

"Oh yeah, because he is totally real." Max stated sarcastically.

"He is! I saw him on Mount Sleepy Peak Peak!" Nikki exclaimed.

I had heard enough to know what they were talking about.

The Minotaur was here.