Hey guys, here's Chapter 2 of A Bright Sun. Thanks to all who reviewed, followed, and favorited. I hope you guys enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

If you've seen my name on any of the covers, you seriously need to lay off the happy juice.

Arabella opened her eyes and blinked a few times.

She took in her surroundings, wondering where she was. The last thing she remembered was a bright light, and then the darkness. This certainly wasn't that, it was more like a civil war battlefield hospital. With rows and rows of stretchers and cots, each with a wooden bedside table with a pitcher of water resting on it.

There was a slight difference to Arabella's table next to her cot though. Hers had the similar simple porcelain, but it had a cup of apple juice chilled ice cubes next to it. Her throat was dry, but she didn't dare drink it. She may have blonde hair, but a ridiculous stereotype didn't make her an idiot.

"Ha!" A male voice exclaimed. "That's another win for me, redeal us Aaron."

"Whatever." Arabella could only assume that was Aaron.

There were four boys, as far as she could tell, all sitting around a small table. They each held cards in their hands, Arabella assumed they were playing some guy game like blackjack or poker, but she could see the hand of a boy with blonde hair like her own. The cards had strange makrings that Arabella had never seen before.

She tried to sit up, and sneak out, but an uncontrollable groan escaped from her lips as she fell back against the bed. The blonde haired boy fuzzed for a moment, but Arabella could tell he was coming to her aid.

"Hey." He said.

He placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to like still. Arabella would've smacked his hands away, before socking him for putting his hands on her, but she was too weak and succumbed to the light pressure from his hands.

"Hey." He repeated. "It's okay. You'll be fine, you're safe now. I'll take care of you."

He brushed a piece of hair away from her face, and tucked it behind her ear. Was he flirting with her?

"Who are you?" Arabella croaked.

"My name is Aaron."

"Arabella."

"It's nice to meet you, Arabella." Aaron smiled at her.

"Where am I?"

"The infirmary." Aaron tried, weakly, as if he were trying to delay something.

Arabella looked into his blue eyes, and saw a familiar look. He was hiding something, something he didn't want her to know. She knew that look. Her mother wore it daily.

"Where is the infimary?" Arabella pressed.

Aaron sighed, the smile running from his face, "This is Camp Half-Blood. This is a safe-haven for people like us."

"People like us?"

"Half-bloods." Aaron looked away from her. "Demigods. We are children of the Greek gods, Arabella. They exist and they sometimes hook up with mortals."

Arabella was sure she had a look of disgust on her face. Her mother, hooking up? Ew.

"And then the have kids. You are the child of god, and we all have great power. This is a place where you can train and harness this power."

"Who is your father?" Arabella asked, then quickly added. "Or mother?"

Aaron chuckled, "My mother is a school nurse in Ohio. My father is Apollo, god of the Sun, medicine, music, poetry, and prophecy."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool."

They both stayed silent for a moment. Aaron just sitting there, and Arabella taking in everything he just told her. She debated whether it was some prank show, or reality. And to be quite honest, she was leaning towards prank show.

"Who's my father?" Arabella asked.

"I don't know yet. We just have to wait until his claims you as his." Aaron responded.

"Oh." Arabella wondered when that would be. "Will you help me up?"

"Sure."

Aaron moved towards her, and offered a hand. Arabella grasped it firmly, ensuring she wouldn't fall. He wrapped the hand she gave him around his neck, and gripped it tightly. He wrapped his other arm, around her waist, completely supporting her. As they moved towards the door, Arabella asked another question.

"Aaron?" She asked. "How did I get here?"

"I, honestly, don't know. We found you on Half-Blood Hill about a week ago." Aaron answered.

"A week? I was out for that long?"

"Yeah," Aaron said. "I'm surprised you're not bouncing off the walls, you should be fine since you drank the nectar."

"Nectar?"

"Yeah, it's the drink of the gods. You should be fine."

"You mean the apple juice?"

Aaron looked at her as if she were insane. Then a looked a realization came over his face. Arabella knew he would've facepalmed himself, if he had the hand to do it.

"Aaron." One of the boys called to him, as he dealt the other two in. "She didn't drink it."

"Well, that explains alot." Aaron muttered under his breath.

Aaron guided Arabella back to her bed and allowed her to sit back down. He picked up the glass of nectar, very carefully, as if it were made of gold. The glass was sweating, as if anticipating the moment. He lowered it down to her mouth, and tilted it, so the liquid would slid into her mouth and down her throat as she swallowed.

Arabella was expecting plain old apple juice, and she didn't like apple juice very much. She had been all prepared to spit it out in disgust, but it didn't taste like apple juice. It was lemon squares. Her lemon squares. The ones she used to make with her mother when she was younger for her soccer games. Arabella resisted the urge to tear up at the memory, as she drained the entire glass.

Instead of crying like she thought she would, an overwhelming sense of energy came over her. She pushed herself up and smiled at Aaron. She was new again, there was no more exhaustion or pain. She was just her, perhaps even stronger.

"That's better." Aaron smiled. "Come on, it's just about dinner time."

Arabella followed Aaron and the rest of the boys out of the infirmary and into the camp. Arabella suddenly realized, that there was no way this was a prank show. There were rows of cabins, making out a Greek omega, each personalized in some way. Arabella gawked at it for about two seconds, before Aaron grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

When they arrived at the dining pavilion, it took them both a few moments to realize that their hands where still clamped together. They both blushed and dropped their hands, Aaron rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Aaron led her to a table, overflowing with campers. Arabella looked at him, and then to a few tables that had little to no campers at them.

Aaron caught her train of thought, "You can't sit there. We are divided by our parents. For now, you will sit at the Hermes table, since you are unclaimed. When you are claimed, you can sit with your brothers and sisters."

Arabella looked to the tables that were empty or had a single person at them.

"Or not." Aaron followed her line of vision. "You may be the only person at your table."

Aaron walked off to a table that still had people at it, but it had decent space. Arabella looked longingly at a green table where a black-haired boy sat alone. She sighed and squeezed into the side of the table.

"Hi." A boy with curly brown hair, sitting across from her smiled. "I'm Conner."

Then a similar looking boy next to him spoke, "And I'm Travis. We're the counselors of the Hermes cabin. Are you claimed or unclaimed."

"Unclaimed."

Conner looked relieved. "Good, because we don't have a lot of room left in the Hermes cabin."

Arabella looked down awkwardly, wanting to be sitting with Aaron. Conner's smiled faded, as Travis nudged him. Conner realized his mistake.

"Not that it wouldn't be okay, if you were our sister. We'd welcome you with open arms, and-" Conner tried, before a loud sound cut him off.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Arabella turned, and her shoulders fell as she saw a man who had the lower body of a horse. It was like a major government official saying, "You know what? Let's just forget about logic and science. Screw the millions of dollars we've spent of research to find answers."

The campers continued to talk, loudly. The horse-man continued to bang his hooved against the ground. Everybody quited down, as a pudgy man in the worst Hawaiin shirt ever made began to stand. The man smiled and sat back down.

"Hello everyone." The horse-man spoke. "First matter of business, I would like to address a few things. Conner and Travis, please refrain from placing chocolate Easter bunnies on the roof of the Demeter cabin."

Arabella looked at Conner and Travis, they high-fived each other. Some of the other campers at the Hermes table, starting clamping them on their back, muttering their approval.

"And furthermore, Katie, if they do this again, please refrain from the posion ivy. We must save our nectar and ambrosia for better causes."

Chatter arose from what Arabella assumed to be the Demeter cabin. They all began to congratulate one specific girl, probably "Katie."

"And lastly, we have a new camper. She stumbled onto Half-Blood Hill last week, and she has finally awoken." Chiron looked at Arabella. "Please, grace me with your name. You were unconscious last I saw you."

A few snickers came from the other campers, and the pudgy man began to the stand. The snickers disappeared, and he sat down.

"Arabella."

"Last name?"

"Summers." Arabella said. "Arabella Summers."

"Welcome, Arabella Sum-" Chiron froze mid-sentence as everyone directed their attention to the area above Arabella's head.

Arabella was confused at first. Then, she looked up.

A glowing harp hovered about seven inches from her head. She immediately stood up, the harp moving with her. She attempted to swipe it off, and when it avoided her hand, Arabella began to panic. She tried pushing it off, but to no avail. She scratched at it, and jumped around, hoping to push it off, but it stayed there.

"Get it off!" Arabella cried at.

She looked to Conner, who looked strangely relieved. Travis looked unmoved by everything. Arabella looked to Aaron, her first friend here. He wore a guilty, yet depressed expression like he had won the lottery, but it only turned out to be three dollars.

And then, it just vanished, and Arabella relaxed, catching her breath.

"All hail, Arabella Summers!" The horse-man yelled out. "Daughter of Apollo, god of the Sun, medicine, music, poetry, and Poetry. The Archer. Brother to Artemis. Master of Delphi, and Slayer of the Python."

Well, she had a long title, now didn't she?

A grim feeling came over Arabella, realizing why Aaron appeared so upset. She forced down whatever she had left in her stomach. She felt sick, but she had a reason to. Her own brother had been flirting with her.

"Conner, will you please give a tour to Miss. Summers?" The horse-man asked. "You make eat afterwards."

"Sure, Chiron." Conner responded.

Conner walked up to Arabella, and grabbed her hand.

"Come on Arabella, welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Let's give you a tour."

Arabella really didn't pay attention to Conner the entire tour.

He talked about cabins, camp activities, and recent pranks he pulled on everybody with his brother, Travis. She should've been listening, but she was off in another universe, occasionally nodding. She felt guiltly about it, but she pushed it aside.

She was dealing with a lot right now.

She didn't know what happened to her mother, but a little voice in her head told her that her mother was gone. Arabella knew she was at Camp Half-Blood, but she didn't know where in the world that was.

"And this is one of the best places in all of camp." Conner said, pulling her along. "This is the Long Island Sound."

Long Island Sound? As is Long Island, New York? Her home was back in Georgia, where her mother would type all day with her french nails. Where she would fall out of the old tree in the backyard, and break something new every summer. Where her mother had bought that stupid door, that Arabella had nevered liked. Where her house was probably destroyed by those bird-monsters.

"Arabella?" Conner asked. "You haven't been paying attention at all, have you?"

"How'd you know?" Arabella asked.

"I've said banana, nearly every sentence, and all you've done is nod your head like it was perfectly normal."

Arabella plopped down into the sand, and looked into the setting sun, feeling it's depleting warmth.

"I'm sorry, Conner." She apologized. "I'm just going through a lot, right now."

"You can tell me." Conner sat down beside her, stretching out his legs.

And so she did, with many tears in between words. Conner never interrupted her, just listened, which was more than she did for him. She told him about her life in Georgia, and her school. She told him about all the monsters stalking her, and he never told her to, "suck it," like Melany did.

When she reached the part about the conversation between Honey Boy and her mother, Conner appeared to be paying even more attention. Even when she reached the part about some girl and some curse. She told him about Honey Boy's disappearance, and the bird ladies attacking.

Arabella squeezed her eyes shut, to prevent tears, as she told him about what they did to her mother, and the bright light, and then the darkness. By the time she was done, she was bawling in tears. He didn't tell her to suck it up, or to shut up. He just wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort. She could tell it was a "one-person-hug," he expected nothing in return, so she didn't respond.

"I've met my dad, but only once." Conner spoke, suddenly. "It was on Mount Olympus during the Second Titan War. He only told the entire group what to do. There was no one-on-one time. Even though, he'll live forever, and I know he's there, sometimes it feels like he doesn't care and he doesn't exist. I don't even call him: Dad. He's Hermes."

"I think I know what you mean." Arabella said. "I think Honey Boy was my father, Apollo. He looked really young, you know."

Conner chuckled, but didn't speak.

"I only saw him, I never even spoke to him." Arabella said, sadly.

"It's okay. Us, half-bloods, rarely talk with our parents face-to-face."

"Thanks, Conner."

"You're welcome."

And Conner pulled her into a hug, this one she returned.

The first thing I would like to address is age. I want Arabella to be young, just a little older than Percy when he found out his was a demigod. So I want Conner to be that age too, and of course Travis and Aaron will be that age too.

So, Arabella is 13 or 14, and so are Travis, Conner, Katie, and Aaron. Percy and Annabeth will be the right age of about 16. And the other characters are their usual ages, unless I change it later on so something will make sense.

Anyways, REVIEW!

Never ever stop being such Awesome Possums! :oD