I stuck my thumbs through the holes I had cut in the sleeves of my graffiti patterned sweatshirt. I brushed some left over monster dust off my jeans. My combat boots needed to be polished. I made a mental note to do that later. My dad walked into the kitchen. He looked at the suitcase at my feet and the backpack on the table next to me. I stood up. I knew he had seen this coming but had tried to avoid thinking about it. He started his coffee before turning to face me.

"Before you say anything," I said hurriedly, "I want you to know that this has nothing to do with Mariah. She seems really nice and I like her. It's just-"

"The monster attacks," my dad finished. He sighed. "I had hoped there would not be this many."

"Me, too. It was stupid of me to expect there to be fewer."

"So you are going back to camp?"

"Yes."

"Do you need a ride?"

I shook my head. "Norman and Nicholas are picking me up."

"You've already talked this over with your brothers?"

"Yes. We're dropping Norman off at Furrows on the way back to camp."

He nodded. "Nick will be leaving to get back to Jerry's firm in a couple days. I don't know if I want you at camp all by yourself, Nicki."

I had been prepared for this possible over protectiveness. "I won't be all by myself though. Chiron will be there, and Dionysus. Willow and Aaron will be there too. Dad, please let me go back."

"Will my opinion really matter?"

"No," I replied honestly.

"Then have a good trip. Write me or send an Iris-message." His phone went off. He checked the text. "Oh, shoot, there's an emergency at the office. I have to go, sweetie."

"Bye, Dad." I hugged him before he rushed out the door.

I fell back in the seat. I pulled my straight brown hair back in a messy bun. It usually fell to a few inches past my shoulders. I rested my head on my hands on the table. I had woken up at one last night because of a stupid monster attack. I hate Cyclopes. They are so stupid. That makes them easier to defeat, but still, I do not like them. That was the seventh monster attacks since September. Three were dracaena, two were Cyclopes, one was an empusa after a boy in my class, and then there was the Minotaur. I have transferred schools three times already. It was annoying and not needed. I should have never left camp. It did not matter now. I was finally going back.

"Yo! Open the door!"

"Hang on, Norman," I yelled through the house.

I went through the living room to get the door. My twin big brothers, Norman and Nick, were grinning in the door. If I was not their sister, I would have to tell them apart by their hair. Norman has curly hair and Nick has straight hair. They still had some scratches from the battle with Python. The two came in for something to eat. Norman had on his Furrows uniform. I gave it forty seconds before he got whatever he was eating on that stupid tie "by accident".

"Can I use the phone?" he asked. "Never mind. Yes, I can. It's my house." He started dialing.

"Who do you need to call?" I asked.

"Soleil. I want to let her know we're on our way back to Furrows."

"Oh, she's back at Furrows, too?"

"Yeah, why do you think Norman's going?" Nick asked.

Norman threw a banana at Nick as the phone rang on the other end. "Hey, Sol," he said. "Oh, cool…Yeah, I'm on my way back to Furrows…No, I am not on a cell phone. I'm using the landline at my dad's. Do you think I'm an idiot?...It was rhetorical!...Because your soooo smart Ms. I'm-Tracking-Down-A-Monster-of-Chaos."

"More like Ms. Norman St. Vincent," I teased. I caught the banana, unlike Nick.

"Yeah, I know you killed him, I was there…I know, I know…Logan won his meet? That's great!" He covered the mouthpiece and groaned. "Look, we'll just be back soon, okay? Tell Max and Ana I said hey…Yes, Sol, I know…Okay, bye."

He hung up. He put the phone on the hook. He picked up an apple. He started to eat it thoughtfully.

"So, you're still in love with Sol, right?" I asked for clarification purposes.

"Okay, a) I am not in love with Soleil, b) I have a girlfriend and her name is Heidi and she is pretty."

"Pretty stupid," Nick coughed. "Oops, did I say that?"

"Yeah, you did, Hunter lover."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"You heard me."

Nick stood up. "I'll be outside."

After he was gone I asked, "What in Hades was that about?"

"Nothing." Norman tossed the apple core out. "I'll take your bags."

Did he really think that because I was a girl I could not pick up my own suitcase? "No, I've got them."

The ride to Furrows was silent. Whatever Norman had said really bothered Nick. Soleil came out to the parking lot to greet us. She tapped on my window. I rolled it down. It was one of those hand crank windows. Nick's car was a used one from the early to mid nineties. Soleil had a scar on her forearm that looked like a snake if you looked at it the right way.

"Hey," she said. "You going back to camp?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Stupid monsters."

"Tell Chiron I said hi."

"I will. Take care of Norman."

She smirked. "Maybe. Only if he embarrasses himself on a regular basis."

"Fine by me."

Norman pulled Soleil away from the window. "Good-bye, Nicolette," he said impatiently.

"Love you, too, bro."

I fell asleep on our way to camp. I had a weird dream about a cat turning into a flower. Well, at least I was not having a dream that was an omen for my death. That can happen when you are a demigod. I woke with a start when we pulled up along Thalia's tree. It was evening by now. I made a mental note to write a letter to my dad to let him know I was here and to ask for him to send the laptop I got for Christmas so I would not have to keep writing letters. Nick walked with me to the Athena cabin. I tossed my suitcase on my bunk to unpack later. I went straight into my chest. I pulled out my bow and arrow, my sword, and my spear. All dad had let me bring home was my knife. He had learned from Nick and Norman. I tried to decide what to do first. Go to the archery range, go to the arena, or go through the forest and try to find a monster to fight. Nick was already sitting at a table, drawing something. It was probably the blueprint of a building he had gotten inspiration for on the way here. I decided to choose the biggest challenge: fight a monster. Dummies are too easy to demolish.

I kept a knife by my side as I trudge through the forest with my celestial bronze sword glowing faintly in the dim lighting. I heard a twig snap to my right. I turned partially. I used my peripheral vision to see what it was. I could make out a large shadow. I lowered my sword a little. The thing moved forward almost silently. A small square of light fell across the thing. It was a giant red ant. A Myrmeke. I stayed still. I thought all the Myrmekes were gone. They were highly dangerous. They had sharp mandibles that could slice you in half and they were impenetrable. If you tried to stab one the sword would bounce right off. Maybe going into the forest had not been a good idea.

The Myrmeke snapped its pincers. I backed up quietly. If a giant, blood red, practically invincible, metal-hoarding ant can look pleased, it did. I must have been moving out of its territory. I took another step back. There was a metallic screeching sound that came from the Myrmekes throat. It scuttled forward quickly. I should have taken a shield.

I ducked as the thing spit. I sliced off a pincer. It gave another metallic screech. I tried to stab its head. It spun around completely. I jumped over its body. I tried to cut off its other pincer. It charged forward when I was in mid-swing. I jumped to the side. It stopped and turned, getting ready to charge again. It ran at me at full speed. I stood my ground, holding up my sword.

Vines broke through the ground. They wrapped completely around the Myrmeke. After it was mummified I put my sword away. It struggled against the vines. They pulled tighter. I turned. My best friend, Willow Thorne, was leaning against a tree. She had black hair that came to her chin and slanted bangs. The tips were dyed lilac. She had violet colored eyes. She had olive skin. Her mother was Demeter.

"I had it under control," I assured her.

"Sure you did, Nicki, sure you did," she responded.

"I did!"

"Didn't I just say that?"

"Yes, but in a sarcastic manner."

"Is there any other manner I could say it?"

"Most likely not. Can we please stop saying the word manner? I find it irksome."

"It is irksome."

"Very."

We walked along the path. She had skipped archery to find me. She, like many other children of Demeter, was not big into the combat thing. I asked her how camp had been the few months I was gone. She said fine. She told me a story about how one of her brothers got thrown off a pegasus when he was flying over the Sound. Willow's interpretation had me gasping for air by the time we were out of the forest.

"Yay! Dinero time," she said as we walked to the pavilion.

"Dinero means money."

"Oh, who cares?"

We split to join our lines. My other best friend, Aaron Sprint, descended from the sky with his flying sneakers to join the Nike line. He waved to me before tossing some potatoes in the flames for the gods. I sat with my three other siblings at the table. One was my sister Carol, who was nine. Then there was Eddie, fifteen, and Nick, sixteen. I listened as Carol told me all about her Christmas. She was talking about the scarf her aunt had gotten her when she stopped suddenly. She scowled.

"What?" I asked.

"Them," she replied.

I looked to the side. The Enyo cabin was late, again. They were probably off destroying someone's property. They excel at such tasks. Considering there are only three of them, they wreak a lot of havoc. The head camper is not even that bad. He is this eighteen year old materialist who thinks he is too awesome for the world. It is the Speare kids you need to watch out for.

Ivy Speare. She is not as bad as her brother. She has long dark brown wavy hair. Long bangs, too. She is twelve years old and could break you in half in seconds. She is a ruthless fighter that hardly ever gives up. She is actually more personable than you think. Even more shocking, she is an animal lover. All the pegasi love her. I guess she could be worse.

Then there is Shylock Speare. Ah, where do I begin to explain Shylock? Better yet, where do I end? He has long bangs, black hair, and blue eyes. He is horrible, mean, cruel, sarcastic, proud, coldhearted, malicious, cocky, and so much more. He never gives up in a fight. Ever. He has no strategy, but he can kick butt, I must admit. That is part of the reason I dislike him. He can beat me. However, I have beaten him before too. That is why he dislikes me.

"They trashed our cabin in November," Eddie explained. "They broke my bow and tore out all the pages of Carol's marine animal books."

"The twins told me," I said.

I hardly ate any more of my dinner. I skipped the campfire to go to bed early. I passed Aaron on the way to my cabin. We waved again but he had to go. He was friends with Shylock for some reason. They have been neighbors since they were little. So Aaron knew him before he realized he was supposed to be a destructive brute. When I got into my cabin I realized I still had to unpack. I put my backpack under my bed. I put all my clothes in my trunk and slid my suitcase under the bed too. I rested my weapons on top of my closed trunk. I had originally planned on going to sleep, but now I was awake. I grabbed a book off one of the many shelves. It was about the Trojan War.

I woke up around five. I was lying backwards on my bed with my feet hanging off. The book was on my back. I pulled myself out of bed sleepily. I knew at this time I would never get back to sleep. I grabbed some clothes out of my trunk and trudged into the bathroom. I splashed water on my face to wake me up a little more. I pulled on my ripped jeans and the orange camp t-shirt. I tossed my clothes from yesterday in the hamper. I put on a little bit of black eyeliner. It was kind of my signature, along with black painted nails.

I strolled out of the cabin, pulling my hair back. Some Apollo children were already walking to the pavilion to eat. I headed over too. I was done with my meal before any of my siblings woke up. I grabbed my bow and arrow and headed to the archery range. I brought my knife with me in case I wanted to hit the arena before all the cabins started going for lessons.

"Raise your elbow half an inch and pull the string to the tip of your ear," a voice instructed.

I tried this out. My arrow sailed quickly into the center circle. I tried it again just to make sure it was not a fluke. It was not. I turned. "Hey, tha-" I stopped short. It was Shylock. "What do you want?"

"Well, I heard Ivan the Terrible-oh, I mean you, were back so I decided to say hey."

"Really? Last time I came back you demolished my suitcase and everything in it."

"Not everything," he reminded me.

"I have a question: do you get satisfaction knowing what you do is going to get you in trouble or knowing what you do will make the victim either pissed off or devastated?"

He ignored the question. There was even more of an edge in his voice. "How is the big bad real world?"

"You would know if you weren't such a coward and went there sometimes."

His hand went to his sword. "Don't push me, Nicolette."

I pushed him backwards. "What are you going to do about it?"

He drew his sword. Another one blocked his swing. It was his sister. She took the sword away from him. She had grown a couple inches since I last saw her.

"C'mon, you're helping me feed the pegasi," she told him. She glanced at me. "Hey, Nicki. Chiron wants to see you or something."

She dragged her steaming brother behind her. I put my bow and arrow back in my cabin. Nick was waking up. I jogged to the Big House. Dionysus was sipping Coca-cola on the porch. I walked in. Chiron was not in the living room. I checked the kitchen. He was not there either. I looked up the stairs. There was no way he was up there. I went back outside. I circled all the way around to the back of the Big House. When I did not find him I went back to Mr. D.

"Where's Chiron?" I asked him.

"Who knows where that old horse is?" he responded. He grunted a laugh. "Me, that's who. He's at the docks."

I went to the docks. Chiron was standing at the end. I walked over. He nodded at me in acknowledgement.

"Hello," I greeted.

"Do you know who Lamia is?"

"She's that demon that eats little children," I responded. "She has a serpent tail."

He nodded. "Yes. And she is trying to break into camp."

"What?" I looked at Thalia's tree where our watch dragon Peleus was napping.

"She is not here yet. The Oracle, Ana, has foreseen her arrival. It will be later this evening."

"Shouldn't you be talking to one of the older campers about his?"

"I am speaking with every member of the Athena and Ares cabin. I want one of you on border watch at all times, two if possible."

"I'll try."

"Thank you, Nicki."

I went to the arena with my cabin later on for practice. I beat Eddie twice. We went to Arts and Crafts after lunch. I tried to make an arrow but it did not work because I could not get the balance right. It was not until I was cleaning my cabin for inspection that I heard about the Capture the Flag game.

"We're on Ares," Carol said. "We are so going to win."

I high-fived her. "Yeah, we are."

"Maybe not," Nick said, just having to be the voice of reason among the voices of reason. "It's Enyo versus Ares."

"This will be a fair game."

"More like a bloody game," Eddie commented from under his bed where he was searching for a hat.

"Maybe it would be best if Carol didn't play," Nick suggested.

"Are you crazy?" She demanded of him. "I can kick-ass and you know it! I am playing."

I stifled a laugh. "Yeah," I agreed. "Let her play."

"Fine," he consented. "But if you get maimed it is not my fault."

"Cabin inspection," the camper said as she knocked on the door, already looking around.

"Better than last time." She smiled at Nick. "Hey, Nick."

"Hey," he said absently as he put a couple books away. "Has anyone seen The Odyssey? I was reading it the other day and I swear I put it back."

The girl cleared her throat. "Good job guys. Bye." She left, blushing a little.

"Jerk," Carol and I yelled at Nick.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"She was flirting!" Carol pointed out.

"Who?"

"The girl that just came in."

"She was?"

"Yes."

"Oh…Eddie, is The Odyssey under there?"

Eddie stood up with dust all over him and a baseball hat in his hand. "No, and I am not going back to check unless I have an oxygen tank."

Nick groaned. "I know I put it back…" He plopped down at his table, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. After a few seconds he looked up at me. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Never mind, never mind."

I went canoeing with Willow and Aaron later on, both of whom were on Ares' side. Willow was not as excited about it as Aaron and I. I guess having Aaron and his siblings on our team was a kind of good luck charm. Nike was the goddess of victory so that had to mean something, right? My bubble was totally burst when I was walking back to my cabin and Chiron cantered up to me.

"I am sorry to inform you Nicki, but you have border duty during the Capture the Flag game."

Before I could protest he was already running to break up a fight between some sons of Apollo and Ares. I went to the basketball court where Aaron and his sister were playing one on one. He called for a timeout to rest when he saw me. He took a huge swig of his water before asking why I looked so angry.

"I have border duty during Capture the Flag," I said, looking at the ground. "I want to say it's not fair, but I owe it to the camp to protect this place. I'll be fine in a little while."

"Okay. If it makes you feel any better, I'm not playing either."

"Why?"

"There's a chariot race next week." He motioned to his sister. "We're starting the chariot later on. It's gonna be the sickest chariot ever."

"I'm sure it will be."

"Are you going to be in the race?"

"Well, my mom did invent the chariot."

"Oh, yeah, I totally forgot."

With Aaron, forgot usually means he never knew that. I love the kid, but would it kill him to crack open a Greek mythology book? I can name twenty off the top of my head that he could read. "Of course. Let me know who wins the game if I'm not off patrol by the time it ends."

"No problem. Have you seen Shylock?"

"No."

"Neither have I. I need his help with adding the weapons to the chariot."

"If I see him I'll let you know."

"No, you won't."

"No, I really won't." I smiled. "You really need to stop knowing me so well. I'll see you later."

I was on border patrol with two sons of Hermes and a daughter of Iris. I stood the farthest away from Peleus in our line. I paced back and forth about ten yards. Lamia was due any minute. I heard shouting and screaming from the forest. It made me want to play even more. I really hoped the Ares team was kicking the Enyo team's butt. I had a mental image of Carol beating the crap out of campers double her age.

I heard something. I looked down the road at the bottom of the hill. I could see a dust cloud building.

"We have company," I announced.

We watched the car get closer. It stopped at the bottom of the hill. No one got out. The window lowered but no one got out. I motioned for one of the Hermes sons to follow me. We walked down the hill to the rolled down window.