SANDY

What? Wow, Rose is a pretty fast writer. So... my turn then? Well... for starters, I'm Sandy Marie Couslon. And at this moment, cowering in the Big House basement waiting for impending doom, I am really, really hoping the world doesn't end and there are people left to actually read this. Right, but you don't care about the present I suppose. Here's where we left off:

One minute, they were there. Sure, Justin was dying and Rose was going haywire. But they were there. And then, in a flash of leather wings and black smoke, they were gone. I had no idea what to do or what the hell happened. I sat there for... maybe five minutes. Just staring in shock at the place my two best friends once were. Until I felt a hand on my shoulder, I had forgotten about the world.

I looked up to see Danny, watching me sadly from under her Oakley sunglasses. I barely noticed her sword and shield had disappeared. She held out her hand and I took it. Together, I somehow stood up. The shaking in my legs was terrible now. My vision was even shakier. I could barely get the words out when I asked, "Where did they go?"

Danny just shook her head. "Beats me, kid. Lamia must have shadow traveled. They could be anywhere right now."

"But... are they okay? Are they alive?"

Danny frowned. "I don't know. Humans don't usually survive shadow travel, but it's not unheard of that they can make it. I'm sorry. Come on, let's get out of here before the cops come."

I don't remember walking out of the gym. I don't remember standing outside and waiting for Chad to pull a car around. All I remember is when I finally snapped out of it.

"We can't leave yet," I said, and I was surprised by the strength in my voice.

Danny looked up. "Why not?"

"I need to find Nathan. I need to tell him what happened to his sister."

Danny frowned. "That girl wasn't like us. We aren't allowed to just tell humans about monsters."

"Well I don't know who 'we' is, but it certainly isn't 'me.' Rose was my best friend, and Nathan deserves to know the truth."

Chad was now pulling up in a large white van with strawberries painted on the side. He rolled down the window and asked what was going on.

"Allesandra doesn't want to leave yet," Danny said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Don't call me that. My name is Sandy. And I'm not going anywhere with you people until I find Nathan."

Danny rolled her eyes, but Chad just frowned. "Well go on," he said. "Go grab this Nathan of yours and we can fill you both in on the way."

I nodded and ran inside as fast as I could. By now, lunch had ended and Nathan was probably headed to the gym for the indoor games. Hopefully the claw marks on the floor and the bloodstains won't be enough that the school calls the police. I found Nathan just as he entered the gym. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him as fast as I could towards the front doors. He struggled and refused, but I didn't let go.

I threw him in the van, closed the door behind me, and buckled myself in.

"Alright. We're here. Now where are we going?" I asked. I know it's stupid to get in vans with people you don't know, but these two kids just tried to save my life. I decided it was okay to at least trust them a little.

"A little place called Camp Half-Blood. It's a bit of a drive from here, on Long Island. But this can is fast. We should be there in no time."

"Why am I here, Sandy?" Nathan asked impatiently. "I was really looking forward to capture the flag."

I didn't want to be the one to tell him. I couldn't be. I couldn't even get the words out of my mouth. I just stared at him, and suddenly my eyes welled up with thick tears. "Y-you tell him, D-Danny," I whispered shakily.

"Right. Your sister was... taken."

"Taken?"

"Yeah. By a vampire."

Nathan stared at her, his harsh golden eyes scanning her face for any sign of humor. Then he laughed. He laughed, and laughed. It was so high pitched and cheerful, even I wanted to join him. "A vampire? Is this some kind of joke?"

"Don't be your usual jackass self, Nathan," I said, punching him in the arm. "She's serious. I saw the whole thing. Justin and Rose just disappeared. We don't know where they are or if they are even alive. Please don't think we are crazy."

Nathan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, still chuckling to himself. "Sure, let's say I believe you. Why would a vampire be at our school? How would he even get in?"

"The vampire was a 'she,' not a dude," Chad said from the drivers seat. "And she was after Allesan- I mean Sandy."

I looked up, and my heart skipped a best. "Me? Why?"

Chad shrugged. "Not sure of the specifics, but monsters are attracted to us, you see. I mean, besides my devilish good looks, monsters really like scent of demigods. It's like we are wearing their favorite bacon-smelling perfume."

I growled. I was so frustrated I wanted to explode. Putting an angry ADHD girl in a confined space was NOT a good idea. "Why am I not getting a straight answer here?" I fumed. "What is going on?"

"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know. Where is my sister really? Is she in the back of the van, ready to pop out at me or something stupid like that?" Nathan chimed. His stupid brain wasn't making it any easier to calm down.

"Gods, you two are annoying," Danny grumbled to herself. "Alright, I'll start at the beginning. I'm assuming you all know about the Greek gods?"

Nathan yawned. "Oh, not them again. We had a unit on them in sixth grade. Boooring!"

"Don't let them here you say that," Chad said, pointing upwards when he said 'them.'

Danny nodded. "They can be hotheads when they wanna be. As I was saying, the gods of Ancient Greece are real. And very much alive."

"Very horny, too," Chad added.

Danny rolled her eyes. "That, too. Every so often, a god comes to earth to, uh... mate with the natives."

"They have kids with humans," Chad summed up. "Those kids are called half-bloods, or demigods. They are stronger then average humans, but also in a lot more danger."

"See, just as the gods are real, Greek monsters are real too."

I nodded. "I got that when I met the Demon Queen of Libya."

"And those monsters," Danny continued, "like to snack on demigods. We're their favorite junk food. So half-bloods die; a lot. Which is why we go to Camp Half-Blood, so we can train and hopefully not die."

Nathan suddenly seemed interested. "Alright, so your the child of a god, like Perseus and Hercules were?"

"Yup," Chad answered. "I'm the kid of Apollo, and Ms. Loudmouth over there is the daughter of Morpheus."

"Never heard of him," Nathan said.

Danny sighed. "Most humans never do. He's the god of sleep and dreams. He's not an Olympian, so a lot of times he is forgotten."

Nathan sat there thinking. "So... who's my godly parent?"

Danny's slight smile faded. "No one. We didn't bring you along because you're a half blood. You're human. We brought you along to explain that your sister is..."

"Most likely dead," Chad concluded.

"Oh..." Nathan went quiet, mulling this over in his mind. "I-I don't think I believe you. What's your proof?"

Everyone went quiet for a while. We didn't have proof. How could we prove his sister was kidnapped in a puff of all purpose demon shadow? Somehow, the silence made him snap. Tears streamed down his face as he pulled his knees into his chest, rocking back and fourth. I leaned in and tried to hug him, but he swatted my arm away. Watching Nathan sitting there, crying over his sister, I didn't know what to do. So I cried to. I cried for Rose, and for Justin. Oh gods, I had been so unfair to Justin. I really did like the big dope, but I was too embarrassed to tell Rose that. And now I would never see either of them again. The friends I had known since kindergarten. The ones I went to movies, amusement parks, parties, as Christmas dinners with. The ones I'll never be able to take to my beach house with me like I planned.

Danny frowned, but didn't say anything encouraging. "Calm down, you too. I said there is a possibility they're alive. I just need to-" Half way through her sentence, her eyes slammed shut and she slumped over in her seat. A slight snore was produced from her nose.

"Does she normally do that?" I asked, wiping my eyes with the back of my arm.

Chad shrugged. "Narcolepsy is a common side effect of being a child of Morpheus." He chuckled, then continued. "Other side effects may include drowsiness, dreams full of nightmares and fear of sudden death by sleep demons. Consult your doctor with concerns."

"Sleep demons?"

"It's a thing."

Much of the three hour drive to Camp Half-Blood was quiet. The only sound was Chad playing the radio quietly and the steady breathing of Danny. Only when three giant German Shepherds started chasing the van did things get loud. They were as big as horses, maybe bigger. Dark clouds of smoke (which I'd had enough of for one life time) billowed around them like storms. Their black skin had a red tinge to it, making them look like embers from a fire.

And they chased after us at an extremely fast pace.

"Uh, Chad? Looks like somebody let the dogs out," I said, my heart beating too fast in my chest.

"Wha-?" he checked the rearview mirror, then shoved Danny awake. "Don't fall asleep again, girl. It's show time."

Danny looked around groggily, confused at what was happening but becoming more alert by the second. "What hat have we got?"

"Three Hellhounds going about 45 miles an hour. They're a bit of a ways back but gaining quickly," Chad reported like he was a soldier in the army. Maybe that's what this camp was; a place for soldiers to prepare for war.

"How far are we from camp?"

"At this rate? About 15 minutes."

"Cut that in half. I'll distract the overgrown hair balls." Without another word, she took a shot gun out from the glove compartment and opened the sun roof. Now Chad was going double the speed he was before, but it didn't seem to bother Danny. She stood right up and took aim at one of the hounds.

A loud bang, and a miss. The dogs kept coming, at an even faster pace then before. She reloaded, then fired again. This time it was a direct hit. One dog dropped, then exploded in a cloud of gold dust. I thanked God we were on a back road away from traffic. God... I meant gods. I guess I'm not so easily convinced on this matter as I thought.

"Great shot!" Chad yelled, but the whistling from the wind made it hard to hear. She sat back down and shuffled through the glove compartment, possibly looking for more bullets.

"That's it. That's all the amo I have," Danny announced as she closed the sun roof. "Just keep driving and pray to the gods these dogs get tired."

I couldn't take my eyes off the large dogs bolting after us. These things were going to kill us; I knew it. I was going to die before I even reached camp. Before I could ever find out if my friends are still alive. Before I could even say goodbye to my dad. And then Chad slammed on the breaks. We were at the bottom of a hill, with a large tree sitting alone at the top.

"Everyone out. We're making a run for it!" Chad yelled. I threw the door open, and didn't wait and see if Nathan did the same. I hopped down and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Somehow, Chad was already in front of my, followed by Danny. I prayed Nathan wasn't far behind; he was never a good runner and his asthma would not be helping in this situation.

I followed them into the tree line, when they suddenly stopped running. "Why did we stop?" I said, slowing down as I reached them and gasping for breath.

"We're beyond the border now. They can't reach us over here," Chad said, barely out of breath.

Then I saw him. Nathan was just outside the tree line, banging on air. His fist was stopping, like he was hitting glass. A look of pure terror was stuck to his face as he tried to break trough something that wasn't there. "Oh jeeze. What's the kid's last name?"

"Bangdash, but-" I couldn't finish. Danny was already running back to the tree line. The dogs were already on top of him. One scratched his back with its long claws, and Nathan let out a terrified scream.

When Danny reached him, she yelled, "I- Danielle Kalani Iona- give you - Nathan Bangdash- permission to enter Camp Half-Blood." Suddenly, the glass was gone. Nathan fell forward and landed in a smoking heap. The dogs growled in frustration, but turned and left. His clothes were tattered and blood was soaking his back, but he was alive. We all were.

"Well, Chad can carry you to the healers. And then we'll give you the grand tour," Danny says, an exhausted smile spreading on her face. "But first, I think I need a nap."

I was sent to Cabin 11 to drop off what little things I had (basically my backpack, a pair of clothes in case I got wet and my yearbook). According to the Cabin leader there, it was where all the children of Hermes crashed.

"And since Hermes is the god of travelers, we take in all campers without a home," a young kid by the name of Luke answered.

So this was going to be my home away from home for the summer. Until my godly parent claimed me, I was stuck in the cabin of cramped people, trash covered floors and not-enough-bunk beds. Apparently Hermes was also the god of slobs.

"So," one unclaimed kids asked. "Boy or girl?"

I was sitting on the floor in the little space I could find, and the boys voice startled me. He was hanging from the top of a bun bed, smiling at me. "Uh... excuse me?"

"Is your earthly parent a boy or girl?"

"Boy. I have a dad." I sighed, leaning my head against the wooden walls of the cabin. My extremely curly blonde hair hung in my face no matter how many times I tried to tuck it behind my ears, so I decided to put it up in a ponytail.

"Alright," the kids said. "I have a mom. A lot of kids here think it's Demeter, since I grew up on a farm. But she just won't claim me. Really makes a kid feel unwanted, ya know?"

I shrugged. "I can imagine. How long have you been here for?"

"Almost a year now."

I had to suppress a groan. I could be stuck in this rank cabin for a long time. Just the thought of being surrounded by all these germs made my skin crawl. I was kind of a germiphobe.

"My name is Lewis, what's yours?"

"Sandy."

His devilish smile grew bigger. "With a name like Sandy, maybe your a daughter of Poseidon. Only the sea god would name their kid something stu-" I was about to punch this kid when another camper piped up.

"Don't get her hopes up. You know children of Poseidon don't exist."

I decided not to ask. Just when I was getting claustrophobic, there was a knock at the door. The head councilor answered, and a grin grew on his face.

"Well, well. If it isn't Danielle Lancaster. Haven't seen you since last summer. Come to drop off your stuff, too?"

"I already did, Marcus. I'm here for Sandy Coulson," I could tell Danny didn't like this kid. It was made clear to me she hates 'Danielle,' so I would probably hate anyone who called me by my full name, too.

"Right. You want the new meat. Come here, Ms Allesandra. You have a visitor." Right. I hate him, too. I got up and stepped around people until I got to the door. I can't tell you how thankful I was to get out of that demigod deathtrap. I followed Danny out the door.

She was dressed differently before (but then again so was I). She wore torn grey jeans, black boots and a black leather jacket. She wore two necklaces: one had three different beads on a rope, the other was a metal dream catcher. Her purple gloves were still on, but instead of the red camp shirt she had, now it was orange and said Camp Half-Blood. A little black Pegasus sat below the black writing. I wore the same shirt, but I also wore white shorts and gladiator-style sandals. I was given a blank rope to wear around my neck.

"Why do you sleep in Cabin 11, too? I thought you knew who your dad was."

Danny gave an exasperated sigh, and I hoped she wasn't made at me. "I do. But there isn't a cabin here for Morpheus. Only the twelve Olympian gods, plus Hades, get cabins. So I'm stuck there for the rest of my days."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, well... pray your parent is a Major god, kid. It sucks being one of the Minors," the hurt in her voice told me everything. It was easy to assume people looked down on Minor kids here. I promised myself that, if I was a child of the 12, I would never look down on a Minor.

I followed her up a grassy hill to a large white wooden house.

The sun was low in the sky, casting beautiful colors across the camp. It was hard to rewire my brain into thinking that ball of gas burning millions of light years away was actually the father of Chad, the strawberry van driving football player. I tried not to wrap my head around the concept.

"Nathan should be up soon, but for now you need to meet Chiron and Mr. D," Danny announced.

"When do I find out if my friends are okay?"

Danny stopped. "Uh... I had a dream about them during my nap."

"And?"

"It looked like they were alive, but they were unconscious. And inside, so I couldn't tell where they were. But at least they're in one piece, right?"

"Right," I said, but my heart was falling. How could she tell the difference between unconscious and dead in a dream? And on that note, how did she SEE them in a dream in the first place? Sure, I've had my share of dreams that came true, but they happened maybe every other year. But I kept my mouth shut, because maybe I was being to harsh. Maybe I should take any ounce of hope I'm given that my two best friends aren't dead.

We reached the Big House pretty quickly. Let me say, Mr. D and Chiron weren't exactly what I expected. Sure, Rose had told me about Chiron when she went into her Ancient Greek faze back in sixth grade. I knew he was a famous immortal centaur who trained heroes before I got up there. Thing is, I didn't realize he was THAT Chiron. So when I saw a bearded man with a white stallion body, I just about wet myself (don't worry, I didn't. Germaphobe, remember?).

And Mr. D was something to behold all by himself. I was told ahead of time that "D" was for Dionysus, but this was not what I expected the god of parties and alcohol to look like. A chubby man in a Hawaiian shirt and kaki shorts, and drinking a can of... was that coke? Again, not my image of a god.

When Danny saw him, she had to force back a sneer. Apparently, she's native Hawaiian, and I don't think she appreciated his fashion sense.

"Oh, joy. Danielle is back from her errands," Mr. D said, taking a casual sip from his coke. She cringed at the sound of her name.

"You said you wanted to see her," Danny said, straightening her jacket.

Mr. D waved her away like a fly. "Yeah, yeah. Haveta meet all new campers and all that bullshit." Chiron shot him a glance. "Oh, sorry. 'Bullcrap.'" he sighed, and muttered, "I can't drink, I can't curse..."

The centaur extended his hand. I took it and we shook. "I'm Chiron, the camp councilor here. It's nice to meet you, my dear."

"It's an honor to meet the trainer of heroes, sir." Did I always sound like this much of a brown noser? I would need to work on that.

"I heard Danielle and Chad went through much trouble to get you and your human friend."

"More trouble then it's worth, if you ask me," Mr. D chimed in.

I twitched at the mention of Nathan. "Is Nathan alright? Can I see him yet?"

"No, I'm afraid he's still resting. Will probably miss the bonfire tonight, but he's alright," Chiron said. Then, out of nowhere, he asked, "Would you like to use the phone? To call your father, perhaps?"

"I was told phones weren't aloud."

"That's true for cellphones, but I have a home line you can use," Chiron winked at me. "It's just inside, hanging on the wall."

I opened the cabin door and walked in. Inside was a small living room with a fireplace (I tried to ignore the jaguar head hanging above it). The walls were covered with pictures of kids in Greek armor. Smiling, crying, laughing, angry. All the pictures were different. Many were in black and white; some looked like they were from the civil war times. Only a few stood out in color.

Next to a picture of a kid holding some sort of large tooth hung the phone. I grabbed it, and my first instinct was to call my friends. But neither of them had cellphones. So, grudgingly, I called my father.

See, my dad was Arthur Coulson. He rented real-estate on the beach for a living. Lots of fancy houses; most of them like mansions. And all of them were ours. We weren't famous, but we certainly were rich. And, some how, my dad had made all of his original money from owning a fishing company.

I didn't like to talk to my dad. He always talked down to me, like I was a small child. We didn't really have anything in common; except for our love of beaches. It was to the point that I doubted he would even notice if I just spent the whole summer at camp. But I called him nonetheless. Like a good daughter.

It took four rings, but someone finally picked up. "Coulson residence, this is Minnie speaking." I had to stop myself from groaning. It was my stepmom. A gold digger who married my dad two years ago and has not said a nice word to me since.

"Hi Minnie, it's... Allesandra. Is my dad there?"

"Oh, it's just you. Sure, I'll see if Arthur wants to talk."

"Just get him."

There was a ruffling on the other end, then a deeper voice picked up. "Sandy? Are you alright. I heard there was something going down at your school."

"Yeah Dad, I'm fine. I was just calling to tell you that I'm staying at a camp this summer. I hope that's ok."

There was a pause. "Oh, sure. Go ahead. Have fun. I just... I thought we were going to Europe this summer together."

Oh, great. I forgot about our family vacation. It's not like I wanted to go, especially with Minnie there, but it was the only time I got to spend with my dad. "Yeah, I know. It's just... things have changed a bit."

"That's fine. I'll just call and cancel. Is that all you needed?"

I was about to say goodbye when I did remember something. "Dad... what was Mom's name?"

Dead silence. It took him a while, but he finally said, "Amy. She said it was a nickname, but she never told me it full."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye." *Click*

Very loving conversation, as usual. I walked out the front doors, to find only Danny waiting. Mr. D and Chiron were gone.

"Come on, it's time for dinner. You wouldn't want to miss your fist Half-Blood bonfire."