"Say what?!" I was furious. My dad had just up and decided to enroll me in some stupid summer camp when I could have stayed home and relaxed.

"Francesca Lin! Do not raise your voice at me!" I clenched my fists and settled on glaring at my dad. Deep breaths. Finally, through clenched teeth, I managed to say something. "When am I leaving?"

My dad's countenance calmed. "Tomorrow."
"To-ugh! Fine, I'm going to pack." I stomped off to my room and packed. Meaning: Stuffing random things from my closet into a bag. Still, by the time I actually finished, it was already 9. I took one tiny look around my room before falling immediately to sleep.

The taxi ride was quiet. I gave the driver the address then sat back, arms folded. A few minutes passed then, "Are you sure it's here, miss? There's nothing there." I glanced up. There was a tree with a golden fur coat and a sleeping dragon. Through the gigantic arch, there were cabins, of different shapes and designs. Campers milled around doing random camp activities. Strawberry fields spread out far to the north, and a pale, blue lake shone under the sun. The sign above the door read Camp Half-Blood. The funny thing was that somehow I knew the words weren't English.

"Um. Yes, I think it's here." The taxi driver gave me a skeptical look, but after awhile, he just nodded. I thanked him, gave him the money and a generous tip just to get back at my dad, then got off. I waited until he drove away before turning to face the arch. "Well. Here goes nothing."

The dragon raised its head when I passed, but otherwise ignored me. When I walked in, a ripple swept through the boundary then I literally popped through. The sound wasn't even that loud, but once I got in, a LOT of heads turned towards me. I never liked being the center of attention, so I stood there, fidgeting. Thankfully, two men saved me from being completely uncomfortable. Well if you could call them "men". The top half of one of the men was human. The bottom half of him, was a horse. I had to remind myself it was rude to stare.

The other guy looked like a pretty stereotypical lazy idiot. A potbelly, loud Hawaiian shirt, khakis, and a Diet Coke in one pudgy hand. However, this guy had power. I don't know how I knew, I just did. And in his eyes, was a harsh, purple fire. A little dimmed, but it was definitely there.
"Hello. You must be the newcomer. This is Mr. D or Lord Dionysus. But he goes by Mr. D." Now I absolutely couldn't stop staring. I mean, was this guy a joke? What sad parents did HE have?

The other guy snapped me out of my staring with a huge sigh. "I supposed I need to give you a welcome. Well, we're DELIGHTED to have you here, blah blah blah, campfire tonight, blah blah, hope you enjoy." With that, he turned away and tromped off. Chiron looked embarrassed. He cleared his throat. "Well, just put your stuff in the Big House. Hopefully, your parent will claim you-"

"Hold up! Claim me? I only have one parent and I'm pretty sure my dad already claimed me. What are you on about?" Chiron sighed like he was tired of explaining this.
"Follow me. I'll tell you." He walked towards the biggest cabin and I followed, feeling everyone's eyes on me the entire time.

Once I got inside, Chiron gestured for me to place my bags down. He stayed standing, but offered me a chair. Hesitantly, I sat down, waiting for him to begin. His first question startled me.
"Have you ever known your mom?"

I frowned, trying to think. "No. My dad vaguely mentions her, once in a blue moon, but she left before I was born. Work issues, my dad said." Chiron nodded then started talking about gods, goddesses, and the world of monsters. By the time he finished telling me I was a demigod, my head was reeling. All the Greek mythology I'd ever learned was now real life.
"I'll give you time to take this all in." Chiron graciously left me sitting there dazedly.
I must have sat there for quite awhile because Chiron came in and told me they were starting the campfire. I got up and let him lead me to the already blazing fire. Strangely enough, the fire was an unnatural bright red and high, but when I passed by it, it flew a few inches higher and emitted orange-red sparks. I sat on one of the empty logs surrounding the fire and watched campers trickle in.

By the time every log was full, I found myself next to a blond with a cheery smile. Spots danced in front of my eyes from staring at the fire too long. "Hi! I'm Mallory! Daughter of Apollo!" I turned towards the voice, trying to remember an Apollo.

"God of the sun?" She nodded ecstatically and opened her mouth to say more, but Chiron called for order.
"Welcome back campers! We have a newcomer this year and I'd like for Francesca Lin to please stand up." I slowly got up and tried not to blush as more than a hundred campers turned to face me. "Francesca, please tell us about you."
"Um. I'm Francesca Lin and I'm um, 15. I like to read and write and sing."
"Thank you. You may sit down. Campers, please make her feel welcome." I walked back to my seat but as my luck would have it, a stone was in my way.

I put out a hand to steady myself as I fell, and purple tendrils of something shot out from my fingers and bounced off the sandy floor, springing me back up. At the same moment, the fire sprang up, turning briefly purple. When I was finally upright, the campers and Chiron gaped at me. A flash of dark purple flashed above my head and the campers' eyes trailed up. Slowly, they all got down on one knee, leaving me completely baffled.

Chiron raised a hand, red fire illuminating his face. "Hail, Francesca Lin, daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic and obscurity."