Let me be perfectly clear: none of this was supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to watch my mom die, or be bullied into stealing cars, or be betrayed by my best friend. I wasn't supposed to be rescued by someone I would later find out was my half-brother, on the godly side of my family. I wasn't supposed to go to the camp in New York while my half-brother dealt with the legal issues of my mother's estate.

I was supposed to go to Hanson's School for the Intellectually Advanced. I was supposed to pass with flying colors and make my mom proud. I was supposed to go with my mom on her book tours over the summer and help her write her next book. I was supposed to be able to completely ignore the godly side of my family, aside from the occasional monster attack. I was supposed to figure out some amazing future occupation for myself and live the rest of my life in contented peace, making hundreds more memories with my mom.

But life doesn't pay attention to what is supposed to happen. It pays attention to what needs to happen.

So, I was at camp. In my father's cabin, cabin eleven. My siblings were okay, trouble makers and pickpockets. I could handle that, I could fit in.

Alice and Julia were the pranksters, though they often sought the advice of our cabin counselor, Connor Stoll, for bigger pranks.

Connor was a little more mellow, with a little glint in his eyes that spoke of trouble, but a gleam in his eyes when he spoke of travel. He was protective of us, his sisters, in a subtle way. He wouldn't directly react, but you could bet if someone looked at us in the wrong way, that person could end up cross-eyed for a month. He also made sure the pranks were strictly on other cabins, and made sure Julia and Alice knew who was boss.

His brother, Travis, was the one who had rescued me and brought me here. Travis had spoken to Connor for close to an hour about me, and I still wasn't sure what had been said, but Connor was more openly protective of me.

Honestly, I was perfectly okay with that.

I had always wanted siblings, and Connor acted like the brother I had never had.

Cecil…poor Cecil, he was just trouble. He messed things up like it was a job.

I did my best to settle into camp life. But I needed a book to read, so Connor took me to the Athena cabin. That's when everything really hit me.

We walked in, and there were only two people in there.

Connor grinned, "Annabeth! Come to visit us, for once?"

She rolled her eyes, "Percy and I wanted to spend our summer here. I noticed Travis isn't here for the summer."

Connor's grinned faded slightly, "He's taking summer classes, trying to get ahead. Anyway, Annabeth, Malcolm, this is Cassandra. She's a bookworm, and she's already read all of the books we have so…"

I was looking at the book in Malcolm's hands. It was one of my mom's.

He glanced at the book, then at the back of the book and saw the picture of my mom and me on the back.

Connor followed my gaze, then put an arm around my shoulders, "Got any books she can check out?" He continued. He squeezed my shoulders, his reminder that he was there for me. That he had promised to be my family.

I glanced at him gratefully, "Especially mysteries."

Malcolm gave me a smile, "Sure thing, you'll have two weeks to get it back." He went over to one of their bookshelves and pulled a stack of books, putting a couple back. He had a kind smile, and his eyes were stormy gray and intelligent.

"It shouldn't take me that long to read it, but thank you." I responded, "I was lucky, born without dyslexia."

Both children of Athena looked slightly jealous.

"Lucky," Malcolm showed me the stack of books.

I picked one out, "Thanks, this should keep me busy for a couple days. Provided Alice and Julia don't steal it."

"Or Cecil." Connor added.

"Or Cecil." I grinned, "Not that I have to worry about you, now do I?"

He just grinned, "Guess you'll never know." He gave Annabeth's ponytail a slight tug and dashed out.

I rolled my eyes, "Thank you, for the loaner."

Annabeth nodded, "Just make sure it gets back in one piece."

Malcolm shrugged, "Or don't, we have three copies of that book. It's a good book, but we do not need three copies." He hesitated, "But you know good books when you read them. Your mom wrote some of the best." He held up the book he was reading.

I blinked, "Um…yeah, she did."

They both studied me a moment.

"I'm sorry. She must have died really recently." Malcolm finally said, setting the book aside. "She has a book that's coming out in a week, doesn't she?"

I nodded, thinking about the first copy of that book that I had back in Cabin 11. And my mother's laptop with all of its finished and unfinished stories. First drafts, revisions, final drafts, ideas, and all of her inspiration. And our photos. Our many, many photos.

Annabeth pursed her lips, "She was an incredible writer."

I nodded my acknowledgment of this sympathy, and then took a deep breath, "I should get going. Thank you, again, for the book."

Malcolm's stormy grey eyes met mine, "You'll have to let me know how you like it."

"You'll have to let me know what you thought of my mom's." I responded softly, then turned and left. I needed the easy smile of my brother to help lift this sadness.

Connor saw me coming and grinned, though it faded only slightly as he read my face, "You okay?"

"I have a new book to read, I'm excellent." I put my book on my bunk, "Are you okay?"

"Excellent, Travis is on his way here." His grin broadened again.

I laughed, "Nothing keeps you down, does it?"

He hugged me, "Not for long."

"That you would tell anyone about." I squeezed him, then pulled away. "One of them was reading one of my mom's books."

Alice heard and crinkled her nose, "That sucks."

Julia elbowed her, "Come on, let's go pull that prank. Hypnos cabin?"

"I'd be eighty before they even noticed it."

"We could do the Neme-"

"You most certainly will not, and if you do, I will make sure they understand that you defied orders and let them get you." Connor said sternly, then looked down at me with a concerned look.

Alice and Julia glanced at each other, "Hebe cabin." Then they ran off.

"Did you hear Travis' voice coming out of my mouth, because…I think I just did. I am in so much trouble." Connor shook his head a bit.

"There are worse people to sound like. What happened last time Nemesis cabin was pranked?"

"Who says there was ever a time?"

"The slight twinge of fear in your eyes."

"Well," He sighed, "It only lasted a month. It was shortly after Jason, Piper, and Leo came to camp. January after, I believe. Cecil pranked the Nemesis cabin, put shaving cream in their shoes and itching powder on their blankets. Nemesis is the goddess of balance…and revenge. The peace was only brokered when Will Solace, he's the Apollo cabin leader, got hit by the nemesis cabin. Will is the best healer in camp, and since there was the threat of war with the giants, there was a tentative treaty."

"Sounds like a royal mess."

"It was, but now we don't mess with each other. Mostly. There are a couple people in there who can take jokes, but we won't tell Alice and Julia that until they learn the difference between who can handle it and who cannot." He frowned, "Shoot, they're going to do the Hades cabin. I better stop them. Enjoy your book."

I watched him jog out, grinning. It was a beautiful thing, being in a cabin that always had so much going on. So many characters passing through.

I looked at the suitcase, still triple locked under my bed. Even though most items seemed to be fair game to my new half-siblings, they didn't seem the slightest bit interested in stealing from each other. Sure, money was frequently exchanged and you never knew when that T-shirt would suddenly be worn by Julia or Alice, but the personal stuff-my journal, my books, my mother's laptop- those all appeared to be off-limits.

Connor had told me that everyone was entitled to a couple secrets. That the most personal ones usually involved family. Family was complicated and messy and most campers didn't want to delve into their own mess, much less someone else's. So, by leaving things alone that have sentimental (he called it real, but sentimental is more specific, I think) value, they "keep that Pandora's Pithos shut tight" and no one gets hurt.

So, like an idiot, I asked about his and Travis' mother.

The light in his eyes had died, "No clue. She was a medic with the marines, went missing while taking enemy fire. They never found a body, or any signs that she had been injured or even taken. Nor any that she was alive. They finally said she was dead when I was ten. We'd been here for about a year by then. Monsters were starting to attack our grandfather, and while he's very strong and capable…" He had shrugged then, and shook his head, "It wasn't fair to him, us running away the way we did, but we did it for his own safety. He understood eventually."

"Cassie?"

I jumped and turned to Cecil, "Yeah?"

"Uhm, nothing, you weren't responding and I was concerned."

I shook my head, "Thinking, a dangerous pastime, I know. Give my money back, now."

Cecil grinned and handed it back, "Fine, but only because you're my sister. Are you ever going to unpack your stuff into your trunk?"

I shivered, "You just want to help me get the locks off, don't you?"

"Well, I could always use a little practice."

"Tell me about Malcolm." I said, kneeling beside my suitcase and starting to pick one of the locks.

"Not much to tell. Son of Athena, bookworm, planner, thinker, strategist…" He plopped beside me and started picking one of the other locks. "I think he's the one that likes chemistry, but honestly I don't pay attention. I only know that Annabeth is into architecture because she's rebuilt half of camp and pretty much all of Olympus."

"She's a pretty big deal around here, then?"

"She is, and Percy, and the rest of the seven plus or minus Nico, and the Roman praetor, Reyna. And Calypso, Leo's girl." He thought for a moment, "Clarisse LaRue is also pretty big deal, she's a daughter of Ares. Dating our half-brother, Chris. They're going to college somewhere in Texas. Others…Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, lieutenant of Artemis. That's about it."

"What about children of Hermes? Our family?"

Cecil started on the last lock, "Well, there was Luke. Connor told you about him."

I nodded.

"But around here…Connor and Travis are well-known, but that doesn't mean that they're a big deal. They should be. I mean, they made it through both wars too. But whatever, they seem fine staying in the background. Helps them keep their own secrets, I guess. Besides, seems to me that people who are a big deal in the Greek world tend to have a lot of bad things happen to them."

"No, it's demigod in the Greek world. It's just the suffering of the major players that everyone hears about," I corrected. "But if it was just the major players suffering, then they wouldn't have anyone here at camp who understood. How does no one have post traumatic stress?"

Cecil frowned, watching me fumble with the lock, "Anyone in the Titan war does. The most recent war wasn't as…traumatizing. I mean, yes, it was traumatizing, but not as much as the Titan war. The Titan war lasted…three days? And we killing monsters, but we were also fighting other demigods. The worst part of the war with…I don't even know what to call it…anyway, the worst part was the lead up to it. For weeks we had to prepare to defend our home, again, while our greatest heroes were off fighting in the Ancient lands. We had to watch as more and more monsters joined the Romans to fight us. We had to wait and hope that all our plans would fall into place. And be prepared to fight if they didn't. That battle lasted maybe two hours, it's hard to say, and we were fighting monsters and trying not to get swallowed by the earth."

I finally picked the lock, "Yes!"

"'Bout time." He set the locks and the lock-picks on my bunk. "I'll leave you to it. Oh, I should probably mention that they're a big deal for a reason and blah blah blah, but you've probably heard most of the stories by now so you know why they're a big deal. Alright, good talk. I'm going to go see how many pockets I can pick before I get caught."

I shook my head, "How did that conversation go from me asking about Malcolm to you telling me about the wars?"

Cecil squinted at the ceiling, "Annabeth…then that…then…Huh. Oh! Malcolm led the Athena cabin during the war because Annabeth was fighting beside Percy."

"Got it, thanks for the info." I waved, "Have fun getting beat up."

He grinned, "Only if I get caught." He ran out.

I unzipped the suitcase and pulled off the blanket that I had covered everything with. I placed it on my bed, remembering the winter my mom had helped me make it. Our quilt.

The next thing was the laptop and charger cord, and a container with about five USB drives in it. I stacked them on my bed, and started putting my clothes into the trunk that Connor had said was mine.

There was an old Polaroid photo in the bottom, left by it's previous owner, no doubt. It was a group photo, with Connor and Travis in it. And Malcolm, and a couple others that O recognized from around camp, and two that I didn't. They were all in the strawberry fields, grouped together, obviously not a candid shot. But it struck me that none of the "major players" were in this photo.

I had seen photos of most of the major players, and heard most of their names. Connor has an extensive collection of photos that he's taken over the years. He called it a hobby, but from the carefulness of the photos and the way all of them seemed to be professional, I was pretty sure it was his passion. He had captured moments that usually are so fleeting. He especially documented couples, probably because they were the least aware of other people's presence. He also keeps them well organized, and is pretty proud that he has at least one photo for every camper who has passed through since he became co-counselor, and some from before.

He had shown me one of Nico Di Angelo, from the first week Nico had been at the camp. The boy in the photo looked so much different than the one that walked around camp.

I set the photo aside to ask Connor about it later. Then I carefully packed my clothes into the trunk so that I could see all of the items with as little fuss as possible.

"Hey," A girl's voice said by the door, "You must be the new girl, Cassandra, right?"

I looked over and smiled, "Or Cassie, just don't call me Sandra and we'll be golden." I stood and held out my hand, "And you are?"

She smiled, "Piper Mclean, leader of the Aphrodite cabin. I was looking for Connor, there's a meeting."

"I'll let him know if I see him before you, try over by the Hades cabin."

"Oh, is Nico back?"

"I don't know, Connor just seemed to think that Alice and Julia were going to prank the Hades cabin."

She blanched, "Gods, I'd hate to be them. Thanks, Cassie." She waved.

I waved back, then watched her go. I liked her hair, all choppy and with feathers in it. She must have some Native American in her. Her confidence spoke volumes.

It was weird here, the campers were so casually friendly. But then there were also casual rivalries and rivalries that were anything but casual. It was all so strange, as if coming to camp automatically made you a friend of everyone here. Maybe it was just my experience so far, but that was my impression of the place.

"Hey, new girl."

I glance over at Sherman Yang, the leader of the Ares cabin, "It's Cassie, Sherman. We met yesterday."

He grunted, "Where's Stoll?"

"Don't know, and if you're looking for him because of the meeting, Piper already came by trying to find him."

He glared at the wall, "Meeting?" He swore, "Alright, you're a child of Hermes, think you can do something for one of my bunkmates?"

I closed my trunk, stood, and faced him with my arms folded, "Depends on what it is and it depends on what's in it for me."

"I don't know what it is, but if he doesn't hold up his end of the bargain you talk to me. It's Vince that has the problem. Think you can handle that, new girl?"

"Cassie."

He rolled his eyes, "Think you can handle that, Cassie?"

I smirked, "I guess I'll find out." I walked past him and toward the Ares cabin.

"Watch the land mines." He called, then jogged toward the Big House.

I rolled my eyes, as if I needed reminding that there were land mines. I had watched one blow up yesterday. Poor Ares kid misstepped when a firecracker when off in his pants for some strange reason.

Someone barreled me over, taking both of us down and rolling together for a couple feet.

"Ow…oh…what the—" I groaned, shaking my head and looking at the groaning person beside me.

Malcolm had a hand on his forehead and wince on his face, "I am so sorry, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine, just a little banged up." I pulled his hand away from his forehead, "You, however, should get that looked at."

"I should have been watching where I was going," he stood up and looking around as he offered me the hand that didn't have blood on it.

I took it and stood, "It must have been awfully important."

His eyes met mine, "Not really, I just wanted to get back to practice quickly."

"Then I better not hold you up." I stepped back.

He opened his mouth, then shut it, "Right, see you around." He pivoted and ran into the Apollo cabin.

I shook my head, trying to shake those gray eyes out of my mind's eye, and continued to the Ares cabin. I made it past the mine field and to the door.

It was open, there was some shouting and the sound of wrestling. The smell of sweat. And two guys wrestling in the middle of the cabin while four others watched.

I knocked, though I knew they wouldn't hear me, then called over the shouting, "I'm looking for Vince?"

There was a pause in the fighting, lasting only a heartbeat, then it started up again.

One of the spectators—a big, burly dude (hang on…that's the whole cabin) with blond hair and a skinned nose—came over. "I'm Vince, what do you want?"

"Cassie, daughter of Hermes. Sherman said you had a problem you need fixed." I said, folding my arms. I would not be intimidated. I would not be intimidated.

He glared a bit, "I was hoping for Stoll, or someone with experience."

"Just because I'm new to camp doesn't mean I'm new to doing any of the things my siblings do. What's the problem?"

He glanced back at his cabin mates, "Got your weapon?"

I arched an eyebrow, "Is that a trick question?"

He grunted, "Beach, it's more private."

I nodded and stepped out of the cabin, "Smells better, too."

"It doesn't smell." He became defensive.

"It really does, it smells like six sweaty boys. Don't the girls in your cabin complain?"

He shrugged, "Sometimes." He had a massive sword, and he stalked through the camp as if expecting to be attacked. He didn't say another word, obviously disinclined to share until we were actually on the beach.

I understood why. The waves on the shore would provide us with a bit of a sound barrier, preventing others from easily ease-dropping on us. Plus the closer we got to the water, the easier the line of sight was, making it hard for enemies to sneak up. Enemies here being people who are inclined to listen in.

As we got as close to the water as we dared, and the overwhelming smell of the sea filed my nostrils, I just wanted to sit in the sand and enjoy the white noise and the sunshine.

He was evaluating me, though, and sitting would just make him walk away. "You can't tell anyone."

"I figured as much." I gestured around us.

He grunted, "I just…I need information. Sensitive information. I figure you can steal something that will help me figure it out."

I blinked, "You need information on a girl, don't you?"

He turned bright red, "Tell Sherman this is what I wanted and I will make you wish I had killed you."

I smirked, "I didn't plan on telling anyone. Who is she, what cabin, what do you want to know?"

"Stacy Krivkov, daughter of Apollo. She's been coming for about three months. I want to know…" He halted, glaring at the sand.

I waited, then realized he didn't even know.

He probably wanted to ask her out, impress her, and wanted to know something about her to do so.

"Her favorite things?"

He shifted, looking me over again, "You're sure you can do this?"

"Yeah, it might take me a couple days to get all the important things, but I can do this. Because I'm a girl. And if she's newer, then I have something to talk to her about. You've heard of my siblings talking themselves out of situations? Well, I talk my way in. Give me until Saturday, if I don't have at least two things you can use to impress her, then I won't make you repay me. Deal?" I stuck my hand out.

He frowned at me, watching me for a while, evaluating the opponent before him. Then he slowly shook my hand, "We'll talk payment on Saturday?"

I nodded, "Sounds good." I turned and started walking back toward the cabins. Time to meet Stacy.