Chapter 1

Well, to anyone who's reading this, HI!!
This is going to be my first story on fan fiction and I'm sorry but it is only a one-shot.
Give me as much feedback as you can since I'm just starting out. I really need it!
Flaming is okay within good reason.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

3:05 p.m.

"Why me, why always me?" I whined while being mercilessly dragged across the very rough, very cold forest terrain by none other than my eternal rival, Harvey Hart.

"Why you? Because you're the unluckiest, and by far the dumbest, camper to ever set foot in Camp Halfblood, of course!" was his matter-of-fact reply as he allowed me to crash into a surprisingly sturdy shrub. As I recovered from the unpleasant experience, we emerged out of the cold, dank, forest into a warm, bright, sunny campground. My favorite place in the world, my only haven and sanctuary, Camp Halfblood was right in sight, but my only thoughts at the moment were about whether I could make it in without anybody noticing me. Sadly, I was wrong and ended up tumbling into camp right before lunch-time. That meant everyone was headed to the mess hall and who else would they notice the most besides me. I was the center of attention, with my wild black hair re-colored by the many twigs and leaves sticking out and my faded blue-jeans covered in cuts and holes. It didn't help matters that Harvey was running around telling everyone who couldn't see me that I had lost a fight with a tree. In a matter of moments, Cary Phelan was the laughing stock of the entire camp and had to run back to his cabin in order to avoid even more embarrassment. Of course, the door was locked, like my fate.

"Why today of all days? Gods, how could I possibly have angered you this time? I haven't even been near a monster for the last month, let alone fought with one!" I began, yelling up to the heavens about how they seem to think of me as their perpetual source of entertainment. I just didn't feel like making anybody laugh using my own personal strife today. This went on for quite awhile, until Chiron came galloping over after hearing the news about what happened.

"Cary, you're finally back! I am dreadfully sorry about the little, erm, mishap earlier," said Chiron who seemed to be having trouble finding the right word for it. "There is a little problem that needs to be attended to and we are going to need you in order to solve it. So, clean yourself up and report to the office immediately. Farewell," was his parting word as he galloped gracefully to the office.

"Why me," I sighed before drudging back to my empty cabin knowing this was not gonna be very fun.

30 minutes later………

"Cary, we have a problem that we are making you do because we are too lazy to do it ourselves," is what I translated as the meaning of portly old Mr. D's droning lecture and quest briefing. What I was able to figure out to be my job was this: The Gods needed someone to deliver the "Christmas Cheer" to everyone in the camp, which meant I was supposed to take all the Christmas presents the gods had sent there kids a few days earlier to them secretly, in the dead of night. I was supposed to carry about a ton of randomly assorted gifts from the enormous Storage Shed to all the kids in each of the 12 Cabins, in the dark, without anyone being woken or helping me? I was about to ask where the punch-line was, because my brain just kept telling me this was a joke. The only good thing about this sick-twisted idea for a prank, I mean "quest", was that most of the campers weren't year rounder's and had gone back to live with there mortal parents. This meant there was barely anyone to pass the presents to.

"Sir, do I need to go talk to the Oracle about this?" I interrupted rather stupidly, secretly hoping this apathetic bowling ball would just deem me too stupid to do this and get one of Athena's kids to do this. She was the goddess of wisdom after all, and a lot of that was passed down to them.

"Boy, are you really that dense!? NO YOU DON'T NEED TO GO TALK TO THE ORACLE!! Now go get started immediately! Such an idiotic little….." Mr. D. had started to mumble to himself what I could only guess were more insults directed at me. Luckily, I didn't have to stay here and be verbally abused. Not today, because I had a quest to do that will probably leave me physically and mentally drained when I'm done with it. Even so, how hard could it be………..

About 8 hours later……

Kicking down the door to the cabin, I collapsed onto the nearest bunk I could. I didn't know how long I would be able to stay conscious after that, which is why I didn't bother to report to Mr. D. about how it went. I would do that in the morning, when I wasn't trying as hard as I could not to faint. I needed to still write the follow-up report. Pushing myself up hard enough, I was able to muster up all the will power I had in order to make it to the tree stump-shaped, wooden table in the center of the cabin. Lifting the hoof-shaped pen into my hands, I scribbled out as much as I thought was needed to get the message across. After that, I forgot what happened, but it was as if I was carried by the late night breeze from my window back to my bunk. The last thing I saw before drifting off was a neatly wrapped package with paper that seemed to give off an eerie white glow. I tried to get up, but it was just too much, and I zonked out right then and there.

Author's Note: So, please criticize and give helpful advice and tips. I wanted to send this out before I start on the REAL story behind this. Also, guess who the obvious Olympian parents of Cary and Harvey are, respectively, if you would. Probably gonna revise this some anyways after the critiquing.