Tessa tugged the light blue hair brush through her wavy auburn locks one last time, before setting it down on the sturdy white dressing table in front of her. Not a strand was out of place now, and she smiled. Then, she opened the dresser drawer and dug through all the headbands and hair accessories that dwelled in there. After a while of searching, she triumphantly emerged with a pretty pale pink and white rose clip. Tessa slotted it into her hair carefully, showing off a little more of her pretty, but completely natural face.

She slipped some purple and white bracelets onto her slim wrist, arranging a pattern with them. They jangled as she carefully stowed all the accessories away neatly. Finally, to finish off her look, she added some lip gloss. The teenager checked her complexion in the mirror, smiling satisfactorily as she saw her appearance.

"Parfait," she muttered to herself, choosing to speak in French. She wasn't sure why, but ever since a young age, she had been able to speak the language of love. Tessa had asked her father numerous times if he had taught her, but she never got a proper answer in response. However, she shrugged it off. It was a good thing, after all. One less class for her to endure.

"Tessa! Breakfast is ready!"

She cast one last glance towards the dresser, before descending down the stairs to the kitchen, taking a seat at the pearly white breakfast bar. A bowl of cereal awaited her on the bench, and she sighed. If only it was the weekend. Then it would be waffles and French toast galore. She grabbed a silver spoon and greeted her father pleasantly.

"Morning Dad."

Zander Corail was pretty handsome, or so people told Tessa. He was the typical muscular blonde surfer guy with warm brown eyes that you found in most romance movies. But to Tessa, he was simply, Dad.

"Hey Tess," he smiled at her, sipping out of a cup of coffee and pouring a glass of orange juice for Tessa at the same time. "Off to school today. Good thing it's Thursday, huh? One step closer to Friday and the end of school and work."

Tessa returned the smile with a grin. "Sure, Dad." She dug into her breakfast with a look at the large, modern black and white clock that hung up high on the wall.

Soon, she had finished the cornflakes, and dumped the bowl into the empty silver sink with a flourish. "Have fun, Dad!" She told him cheerfully, before rushing off to brush her teeth.

As she scrubbed viciously at her teeth with her purple toothbrush, she thought things over. Very rarely was Tessa this giddy and happy.

"Must be a good day," she mused to herself with a shrug, washing her toothbrush under the tap before heading back out to join her father.

"We should go," Tessa told him, grabbing her brightly coloured bag from the hook next to the front door.

Her father nodded, and led the way out to the red car that sat on the driveway.

The drive to school was a short one, five minutes at most. "Bye Dad!" She called, before hopping out of the vehicle and smoothing down her clothes. She wore a pretty blue dress with black netting over it. The velvet netting was patterned with roses, and the dress stopped just above her knee-caps. Yellow flats accompanied this outfit. Immediately she was greeted by her best friend, Samantha.

Samantha was a shorter girl with dirty-blonde hair cut into a bob. She liked to dress up in bright clothes and sparkly accessories.

"Hey Sammy. Are Chris and Jasmine here yet?" Tessa slung her bag over her shoulder and began to walk leisurely towards the school entrance, Samantha tagging along.

"No, not yet," she replied almost mournfully. "Oh, but Jasmine's sick. She's not coming to school today. She has that virus thing that's been going around."

Tessa nodded sympathetically, biting her lip in thought. "Yeah, that flu's been getting to everyone, hasn't it? I'm surprised they haven't set up a quarantine yet, actually."

Samantha nodded in agreement. "Yeah," she said thoughtfully, with a glance down at her wristwatch. She gasped. "Sorry Tess, but I gotta go! Catch you later!"

In the blink of an eye the bubbly teenager was lost in the crowd, no doubt headed to some kind of council meeting with the board or something. Tessa rolled her eyes and adjusted her shoulder bag slightly.

Tessa strolled through the school hallways until she reached her locker. Spinning the combination into the lock, it swung open with a soft click, barely audible over the noise of others chatting in the hallway. She stowed her bag away just as the bell rang. With an alarmed expression, she hurried down the pristine hallways, her bright highlighter shoes squeaking against the freshly mopped floor.

Once at the right place, she tugged at the grey door that was the entrance to the English room. To her surprise, it was locked. She shook the knob slightly, rattling it in an effort to open the door. The frustrated teenager banged on the door several times, hoping for someone inside to hear her, but it was no good.

"Come on," she muttered, as if that would get her access to the classroom. With a sigh, she turned around to see a janitor mopping the floors, a bucket of soap water stationed beside him and a dirty yellow mop clasped in his hands. However, the only thing Tessa saw was the keys jangling from his grimy blue clothes. She hurried over to him, relief washing over her. "Hey, could you please unlock that door for me? I need to get into class, and I'm late enough as it is."

The janitor turned around, and to Tessa's surprise, he wasn't old and grey haired. In fact, he was kind of... handsome. Jet-black hair cut into a buzzcut and piercing amber eyes. She smiled shyly.

"Which door?" He grunted gruffly, looking down at her.

She pointed behind her with a carefully manicured nail. "That one. To the science room."

The janitor nodded, walking over to the door and pulling a set of keys from his pocket. However, instead of unlocking the door like he was supposed to, he whirled around, pointing his keys at her defensively, snarling.

Except they weren't keys anymore. It was a long, golden spear, and it was pointed directly at her. And it looked sharp. Very sharp. Tessa leapt backwards and pressed against the cream school walls.

She stared the spear down in fear. The deadly gold weapon was thrust closer to her, and she swallowed. "Maybe- maybe you should put that down," she suggested. Her voice was strangely confident and soothing as she looked up at the janitor in false hope. What she saw sent chills down her spine. The janitor was no more. In his place, a snarling wolf curled his lip at her. He was a jet-black wolf. Patches of his fur glimmered and shifted, revealing glimmering bronze... scales? His legs were made out of dark bronze, and looked sturdy and strong. They made him tower above the terrified teenager. His image shifted from a heart-throbbing boy to a ghoulish monster.

To Tessa's uttermost surprise - and yet more fear - the wolf monster thing replied back, his voice growly and scratchy.

"Don't try and use your words on me, daughter of Aphrodite." His voice was like a thousand nails scratching against a chalkboard, and they grated her ears. She gritted her teeth at the pain, though she could do little else as she cowered in fear, pinned up against the wall harshly. She didn't even have enough time to puzzle over what he had called her.

Before Tessa even had a chance to blink, the monster had her pinned against the wall, his spear pressed tightly against her throat, constricting her air supply. She choked and clawed at the spear, gagging. Her vision went fuzzy all too quickly and she slumped slightly, weak from loss of oxygen. The edges of her vision darkened, and she felt sure death was near.

Suddenly, the pressure was lifted off her throat, relief and air rushing into her system. Crumpling to the ground in a heap, she swallowed, taking large gulps of air. She had never been so glad of oxygen in her life. She nursed her head, a pounding headache throbbing in her head. Tess looked up, curious to see her saviour. Two teenagers circled the wolf thing, a boy and a girl. One clasped a bow, the string drawn and the arrow notched, ready to fire at a moments notice. The other held a long sword that glinted in the light of the hallway. Both of them had armour overtop their clothes.

She struggled to her feet, listening to their conversation in fear. Perhaps they were on the same side as that creature?

"Empousai," the girl snarled, circling the monster warily.

The wolf laughed hoarsely, his spear now directed at the newcomers. "No, no. They're cousins of mine. Very pretty, don't you think, son of Ares?" He spun and thrust his golden weapon at the boy. The girl let her arrow fly and it struck the wolf, causing him to let out an enraged howl that made Tessa want to drown herself.

The monster flickered between appearances rapidly, like a dying computer screen, or an old lightbulb. One minute he was a harmless school janitor, waving his mop wildly like a mad person, and the next he was a ferocious wolf, baring teeth and stabbing with expert precision. Tessa shivered in fear and huddled agaisnt the locker walls. However, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the battle.

Having had yet more arrows pierce his thick fur, the wolf spin around, a wicked grin on his face and a crazed look in his eye. "Daughter of Demeter!" He proclaimed, poking at the one of the fighters. She let out a shocked cry, but thick armour protected her stomach.

"Why are you here tussling with the experienced ones? Should you not be growing crops back at your lowly little farm?" He extended claws and leapt with surprising speed. However, he was stopped in his tracks by the boy, who leapt up in the air in an amazing flip and within the blink of an eye he had his sword at the wolf's chest, ready to slice at any moment in time.

Tessa blinked in shock as the wolf growled. "Kronos will not be pleased." He disappeared in a cloud of thick grey ash. It coated the two saviours, and some specks rained on Tessa.

All was silent, before the girl strode over, slinging the bow neatly on her shoulder. She extended a hand to Tessa, which she gratefully excepted, getting to her feet, eyes wide in surprise.

"Don't think I've met you before. I'm Kylie." Tessa studied the girl who introduced herself. She had short black hair trimmed into a bob, and crystal blue eyes that seemed to see everything. "That's Glade," she gestured to her accomplice with a warm smile. She had a thick accent.

"Nice to meet you," the boy strode over to Tessa, shoving his sword into the sheath that hung on his shoulder. Glade had neat brown hair that was swept to the side out of his face. He was quite strongly built, and stood slightly higher than Tessa. Bright blue-green eyes blinked at her inquisitively.

"Who- who are you?" Tessa questioned, her voice catching with fear. She pressed against the locker, the lock digging into her back harshly. Tessa saw Glade shoot Kylie an amused glance, which was quickly quenched by the girl's harsh glare in return.

"We just told you," Glade chuckled, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm Glade, son of Ares." He gestured to Kylie with a winning grin. "And Kylie there is the daughter of Demeter. But she's pretty handy with a bow, for a gardener," he said with a cheeky wink.

Kylie scowled. "Just 'cause I'm related to Demeter. She's not all plants and farming. My mother is a god, after all. Plus," she branded her bow with a flourish. "I took some lessons from the Hunters of Artemis. They stopped teaching me after I refused to join them, though."

Tessa shook her head in confusion. Thoughts were whirling around her head in a huge jumbled mess, if she could have, she would have stumbled backwards. "W-what? What was that.." she swallowed. "Thing?"

"Apparently, a cousin of the empousai. I've never seen it before. Have you, Glade?" The boy in plated armour shook his head.

"No, but that thing certainly didn't look good. He's in league with Kronos as well, and that's never a positive thing," he cast a glance towards Tessa as he spoke. "We should head back to camp. What cabin are you? And what's your name?"

"I'm T-Tessa. And what do you mean by... cabin?"

Kylie blinked her chilling blue eyes impatiently. "It's like you don't know anything. Your mother or father?"

"My Dad is Zander Corail. My Mum..." Tessa wasn't quite sure what to say at this point. Her mother had vanished when she was just a little girl, leaving her dad to take care of Tessa by himself. Tessa didn't even know her name, or what she looked like. The only thing she knew was that her mother must have had auburn or red hair, like hers, as her father and his family didn't have that hair colour. She played with a strand of her hair now, biting her lip. "She's... not really here for me anymore."

Kylie rolled her eyes. "Well of course. She would've been a God. They have more important things to do than look after their mortal children." Her tone was rather harsh, but sympathy showed slightly in her eyes. But Tessa didn't really notice this. She was majorly confused.

"God? Did you say God?"

Glade cut in this time, concern and surprise wrinkling his face. "You mean you seriously don't know?"

Tessa responded with a helpless look, and they exchanged glances. Kylie gripped her arm. "C'mon. We have to tell Chiron about this."

Tessa ripped her arm away from Kylie's grasp. "I'm not going off with a bunch of strangers," she exclaimed hotly. "What do you take me for, a fool?"

Kylie let out a snort of impatience and reached out again. "Just-"

But Glade cut her off. "Wait, Kyles." He looked Tessa in the eye, hand on his sword, as if a monster were going to leap out and attack him. "Look. You don't know your Mom, right?"

After a moments hesitation, Tessa nodded. She wanted to correct him and say 'mum' and not 'mom' but she figured that wasn't important right at this moment.

"Yeah, well. Do you know her name?"

"I... we.." Tessa tried to think of a way around the question. The truth was, she didn't know her own mothers name. She had asked her dad countless times, but he had always managed to subtly change the subject. "We didn't really talk about it," she finished lamely.

"Don't you want to know about your Mom?" He didn't let her say anything, continuing rapidly with his speech. "Come with us. You'll get to know all about your parent. And you'll be really powerful. It'll be fun, promise." He looked her in the eyes.

She opened her mouth to say no, but she faltered. How good would it be to learn about her mother? People didn't understand, having a parent missing from their life. Perhaps if she went with them, she'd even get a chance to meet her mother!

"Well, are you coming or not?" Kylie tapped her foot impatiently, hand gripped on her bow even though there was nothing dangerous around anymore. Though the words sounded crude and impatient, she wasn't unkind. Even though Tessa knew this was a stupid idea, wandering off with a couple of strangers, she nodded.

"Yeah. Okay, I'll come."

Glade and Kylie both exchanged a cheerful look, and Glade grinned. "C'mon! Let's go show you your ride! It's sweet, I promise!" He gripped her and Kylie by the arm and began racing up numerous flights of stairs until they reached the roof.

Tessa was panting from exhaustion, though Kylie and Glade didn't even break a sweat. Kylie pushed the door open and Tessa and Glade both followed her. "Where are we.." Tessa's words died on her lips as she saw the sight that awaited her on the school roof.

Two horses were standing side by side, chewing grass out of the school rooftop garden. One was a chestnut brown colour with a white chest, and the other was splotched grey and white. But that wasn't the shocking thing. The two animals both had large feathery white wings tucked into their bodies. Glade chuckled when he saw Tessa's expression, and she couldn't help but notice that Kylie supressed a smile as well. "Woah.."

"They're Pegasi. Pretty cool, right?" Glade smiled. Tessa watched curiously as Kylie walked up to the splotched horse, ruffling it on the head.

"Hey Stormflash, Hazelstreak. Mind going back to Camp and fetching Nightwing for me? She's gentle enough, it'll be good for our beginner over there." The horses nuzzled Kylie before it whinnied, and the two flew off, their large wings flapping and causing Tessa's auburn hair to whip herself in the face. She brushed the strands out of her hair.

Before long, Tessa was high in the sky, clinging onto a jet-black horse with wings for dear life. Strangely enough, she wasn't scared as she thought she'd be, thousands of metres in the air.

"Down there!" Kylie shouted above the whistling wind, pointing down with a finger. Both Glade and Kylie looked completely at home on their Pegasi, something Tessa wished she could look like. Instead, here she was, clinging to her pegasus' mane for support.

She peered down at the ground that was steadily becoming closer. Fields of what she recognised to be strawberries dotted the ground, and there was a forest in the area as well. The sky changed drastically from cloudy and grey to sunny, the perfect day for being outside. A ring of about twenty buildings sat in the centre, as well as many other large buildings and structures off to the side.

Nightwing landed on the ground with a slight jolt, and Tessa slid off, apologising to the Pegasus profusely. She turned around to see a large white archway with the words Camp Half-Blood embedded into it.

Kylie smiled. "Welcome to your new home," she said kindly. Tessa decided that she liked Kylie. Glade led the way in, and Tessa looked around in wonder as she followed. People in bright orange shirts hurried around the place. A group of people were using bows, flinging arrows towards white and red targets. Some were scaling a rock wall.

Seems fun, Tessa thought as she watched them climb expertly. She wanted to try it out for herself. That is, until she saw the lava that started to pour down the wall. Her eyes widened, and she began to question this camp. She hurried after her two guides, not wanting to get lost.

A large marble pavilion was in her sight next. Lots of expensive looking white marble tables dwelled in there. She was so enthralled in the wonders of this new place, she didn't notice when a centaur trotted up to them.

"Hey! Girl!" Tessa was snapped out of trance quickly though, and her pupils grew wide as she saw the half-man half-horse that stood in front of her. He asked Tessa her name politely.

"I'm- I'm Tessa," she stuttered, swallowing nervously. This person seemed to be the boss of this place, and if she couldn't get through to him, she wouldn't be accepted. And she wanted really badly to be accepted, after seeing this wondrous place.

"Well, hello Tessa. I'm Chiron. You are a demigod, correct? You must be some kind of magical being to cross the borders, at any rate."

"A... demigod? I'm sorry, I don't know what that is." She must've looked utterly confused, because Chiron, Kylie and Glade all exchanged glances. She felt slightly irritated by this. They all seemed to share some kind of secret that they won't telling her.

"It seems we have a lot to talk about," the centaur spoke. "Come with me to the Big House. I will explain everything there, and I will leave you to decide whether you want to stay or not." Tessa's heart soared. She would be given an option? "Then, if you agree, we'll give you a tour around the campsite," he smiled warmly, turning around and trotting off.

Good luck, Tessa saw Kylie mouth to her, and she smiled in response.

Thanks, she responded, before scurrying after Chiron before she lost him. Her mind raced as she followed him, full of scrambled thoughts and bizarre ideas. Just one question stuck out like a sore thumb though.

What exactly had she gotten herself into?