Percy led me down the hill into a wide, long meadow. Dotted here and there were ancient Greek buildings and near the edge of the meadow were twenty or more cabins arranged in a Greek Omega around a green with a large fire pit. Percy pointed out the different Greek buildings explaining that one was the infirmary and another was the forge, and what not.

As we passed the sword fighting arena, I spotted a beefy teenage girl with choppy brown hair and fierce blue eyes swinging mercilessly at a dummy with her sword.

"Clarisse," I said automatically.

Percy raised his eyebrows, surprised.

I blushed. "Yeah... I'm a big fan."

Percy chuckled and led me towards the dining pavilion, which was twice the size as a normal pavilion. White picnic benches ringed the edge and a huge bronze brazer sat in the middle. At one of the picnic tables a teenage girl with blond hair and stormy gray eyes and a Cyclops with short brown dreadlocks and a light brown eye in the middle of his forehead sat together reading a book. The girl spotted us and jogged over.

"Annabeth," I remembered. Annabeth stared at me.
"I guess Rick didn't twist you," I added.

Annabeth gave me another quizzical look, and turned to Percy.

"Hi. This is Cami. She read the books," he said.

Annabeth snorted. "Rick gave me curls, which is ridiculous."

Percy put his arm around her shoulders. "Absolutely. You look much better with straight hair."

Annabeth elbowed him in the ribs playfully. I guess Rick Riordan wasn't making up Percy and Annabeth's relationship.

The Cyclops at the picnic table realized Annabeth was missing and lumbered toward us.

"Tyson?" I said warily. The Cyclops teen looked much smarter than Rick Riordan described him.

Tyson huffed. "Rick made me sound like a big, stupid oaf, didn't he?" he said to me.

"No... I mean, not really... kinda..." I stuttered.

Tyson chuckled. "Relax, I don't bite. I was just joking."

I exhaled with relief.

Annabeth had freed herself from Percy's embrace and walked in front of me, her suspicious expression turning into a kind smile. "I take it you're a new camper? Come with me."

She turned on her heel had headed in the direction of the canoe lake. Percy, Tyson, and I jogged to catch up.

When we reached the canoe lake, a group of friendly-looking teens were skipping stones on the lake's surface, annoying a few black-haired, yellow-eyed teenage girls called naiads. There were five kids in all.

"Hey!" Annabeth called. All of them turned around, except for the naiads who snorted and dove back in their lake. The five teenagers walked over to Annabeth. "Cami," she said, "these are also some newcomers here at Camp Half-Blood. This is Jason, Piper, and Leo. Frank and Hazel are visiting from Camp Jupiter."

The one who must've been Hazel, a girl with light brown skin—fourteen I decided—smiled kindly. She had curly honey brown hair and dark gold eyes. I smiled back.

"Anyway, you guys can get better aquatinted later. A lot of you are late for your activities," Annabeth said. She turned towards the woods on the edge of the property. "Grover!" she called. A few moments later, a satyr ran towards us. He looked about in his late teens with curly brown hair and a small goatee. From the waist up his was a normal kid with an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. From the waist down he had furry goat legs.

"What?" he panted, "Is camp under attack again?"

Annabeth stifled a laugh. "No, Grover. We have a new camper. Her name is Cami. We need you to show her to her cabin."

"Which one?" Grover asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Hermes. She's undetermined."

Grover nodded. "Ok," he turned to me. "C'mon, Cami. I promise the Hermes kids are pretty nice." Grover started to lead me to the cabins, when the kid who was probably Leo piped up.

"Um, ya know, maybe I should come along too. I mean, uh..." he started to blush.

Grover rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just to make you stop talking."

We walked in awkward silence for a long time. Two pegasi soared overhead. I looked up at them with a delighted gasp. "Are those real pegasi?" I asked.

Leo grinned at me. His curly dark brown hair ruffled in the breeze that the pegasi had caused. "Yup. If you want, I could teach you how to ride one..." his face turned red again.

"That'd be awesome!" I said.

Leo kept grinning. Grover glanced at us and groaned. "Gods of Olympus, plan your date another time. We're here."

The Hermes cabin looked like a regular log cabin, nothing fancy, with a cacadus hanging above the door. Grover knocked and a boy with freckles and unkempt brown hair poked his head out. "Another camper?" he complained.

Grover rolled his eyes. "Yes, Travis, another camper."

Travis glanced at me then shrugged. "Fine."

A look of relief washed over Grover. "Perfect. Leo, you showed Cami here, like you wanted, so let's get you to the forge. Even though you're head counselor, that doesn't give you an excuse to be late."

Leo moaned dramatically and waved at me, then followed Grover away from the cabins.

Travis looked at me again. "Ok, you probably want to get settled in and all that stuff. Come with me."

The Hermes cabin was nicer on the outside. On the inside, messy kids were pillow fighting, shooting spit balls, and talking very heatedly. The noise nearly made my eardrums pop.

Travis helped me navigate the maze of shouting and fighting to a bunk in the corner.

"It's empty for now," he said. "But if your godly parent doesn't claim you by tomorrow, pray we won't have any more campers."

I nodded, understanding. The cabin was already too full, and if any other campers came, it was going to overflow.

There wasn't much "settling in" to be done. The bed was already made, and I didn't bring many belongings. As I dug threw my backpack, something landed in my lap. I looked in the direction it came, and saw Travis standing a few feet away from my bunk. I looked at the item in my lap. It was a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt.

I went into the bathroom and put the shirt on. It was exactly my size.

As I left the bathroom, reality finally took its toll on me. I was a half-blood. And this camp was now my home.

For the next hour or so, I engaged in conversation with some of the Hermes kids. Although I didn't appreciate their messy habits, we did seem to share a common interest in jokes and pranks. The majority of our conversations were spent planning these pranks.

Some time later, I absentmindedly looked at my watch. It was 11:00. I figured Leo would be done in the forge pretty soon so I decided to head to the stables. Wherever those were.

I got directions from some Aphrodite girls and headed towards the chariot racing track. Sure enough, the stable was located about a hundred yards from the track. I walked in, breathing in the scent of horses and hay. One of the horses whinnied in a nearby stall. I peered inside to see a gorgeous palomino with a pure white mane, tail, and blaze. It was a female, though I wasn't sure how I could tell. A plaque on the stall door read Summer. "Hey, girl," I said in a soothing voice, stroking Summer's muzzle. The young mare whinnied in bliss.

"She likes you," a familiar voice said near the stable door. I turned and saw Leo leaning against the door frame, grinning impishly, his brown eyes twinkling playfully.

I rolled my eyes as if to say, Obviously. "I noticed," I said instead.

Leo chuckled. "Nice shirt," he remarked, noticing my change of wardrobe. He walked over to a smoky gray stallion. His plaque said Thunder. Thunder nickered at Leo, who started putting on the saddle. He looked at me.

"You need help with the saddle?" he asked.

For some reason, a strong urge told me to do otherwise. "I'm just gonna ride bareback," I told him. Leo arched a brow, but said nothing.

By the time Leo was done saddling Thunder up, I had already trotted a few laps with Summer.

"Ok," Leo said as he cantered outside with Thunder, "the first thing you want to do is make sure you're securely on the pegasus's back."

"Check," I said.

"Next thing, you want to hold on tightly."

"Duh." I wrapped my arms around Summer's neck. "Check."

"Lastly, pull back on the reins—or mane," Leo smiled to himself. "Hey, that rhymes."

"Gotcha." I pulled back lightly on Summer's mane. She spread her wings, and leapt into the air. As Summer flapped upwards, the wind ripped at my face, stinging my eyes, and threatening to blow me off her back. Translation: It was awesome.

Leo came up beside me, the wind slicking back his curly hair. He was grinning like crazy, his pegasus, Thunder, in deep conversation with Summer.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" I screamed.

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" Leo yelled back, his crazy grin still plastered on his face.

Thunder and Summer took us up through the clouds, where the wind was much calmer. I laughed and sat up brushing my hand through a cloud.

"Do you do this every day?" I asked Leo. He had summoned fire and was melting the clouds as they passed. He looked up at me and extinguished the flames. His hand was drenched in water.

"Yeah, pretty much," Leo answered.

I nodded and rested my head against Summer's neck.

"Uh, Cami," Leo said.

"Yeah?"

"You probably shouldn't fall asleep on Summer."

"Why not?"

"Because you'll slip and fall to your death."

"Oh." I opened my eyes and sat up. "Thanks." I glanced over at Leo who was trying hard not to smile.
"What?" I demanded.

We both started laughing.

"That felt good," I said once we've calmed down.

"You've never laughed before?" Leo asked. "That doesn't sound healthy."

I stifled a giggle. "No, it's just that... it's been a long time. I don't have any siblings, and my stepdad is at work all the time. So it's just me and my mom. I had friends, but they weren't real close. I barely found anything to laugh at, so I didn't much."

"You should," Leo said. "Your laugh's cute."

I felt my cheeks get hot. "Thanks."

Leo smiled.

I patted Summer's neck, who whinnied happily. Down below us, in the camp, a horn blew.

"Lunch horn," Leo said. "Let's eat!"