Chapter One: Son of a God

The first thing Aaron saw when he left the tent was a giant.

A hulking Asian man was striding toward them. He had the square jaws of a bulldog and the eyes of a lion. He had to be nearly seven feet tall. His perfect military haircut wisped in the wind as he made his way down the hill.

He was about to duck and cover before Mrs. Zhang and the giant smiled at each other.

"Hazel!" He said happily, drawing her into a kiss. Them he remembered.

Dad's Chinese

"Mr. Zhang?"

Mr. Zhang's eyes crinkled into a smile. "You can call me Frank"

They shook hands "Aaron Fletcher, sir."

"So I've heard" Mr. Zhang chuckled. "Emily is suddenly determined to let the whole world know you are not her boyfriend"

"Oh..." Aaron deflated because how else could he feel about a cute girl denying attraction to him?

Mr. Zhang grinned "Don't take it seriously. It's only her cousin is giving her a hard time. If I know my daughter she will be singing your praises to Sarah in a week. In strict confidence of course." he winked.

"Sarah…?"

"Odie's sister. Speaking of Odie…." he looked past the hill, shading his eyes from the noon sun. "I think he and Em are eating lunch on the hill. You must be starving. Why don't you go and get a bite to eat with them?"

Relived he didn't have to face other demigods he didn't know quite yet when he was still scared and disoriented and slightly nauseuous, he nodded and trudged over to where Mr. Zhang had pointed.

Sure enough, they were sitting on a blue picnic blanket, eating sandwiches, thick soup, and….

"Hey, is that orange chicken?" he blurted out. They looked up and smiled at him (Emily bashfully)

"Yeah, my dad's specialty" she said, patting the space beside her.

He grinned and sat down, helping himself to chicken. Hr e hadn't realized how ravenous he was.

As he ate, he admired a set of seven statutes all of teen demigods, four boys and three girls that stood imposing on the hill. Somehow, the sculptor had captured their wiry awkward statures. They looked like real kids, which comforted him somewhat.

It was a full several minutes of admiring them before he recognized the two at the end, a small black girl with intense eyes and a smiling Asian boy with thick jowls.

He nearly choked on his food.

"Is that...is that your mom and dad?"

Emily rolled her eyes and smiled like it embarrassed her. "Yeah….they're part of the Seven"

"The Seven?"

"Dude, the Seven" Odysseus said through a mouthful of turkey sandwich.

"Odie, he won't know about them, he just got here" Emily chided "Long time ago" she explained "There was a huge war...the giant war. It's complicated but basically a bunch of huge giants anted to take over the world, eradicate humanity, blah blah blah….well whenever that happens a quest had to be called, right? That's how it was in the old days. But this was no ordinary quest...it needed to be the best of the best. So, Hera chose the seven greatest of our parents' generation to stop the war. Two were my parents. Two were Odies'"

She pointed and Aron looked up at a statue of an intelligent looking girl with long messy hair and a boy who looked so much like Odysseus he wondered how he could have missed it.

His throat died. That husband and wife he met...they were heroes, real live heroes who saved the world.

And he was having lunch with their daughter and honorary nephew.

It was then that the enormity of the situation washed over him. H was in a new place, a new home that he had to make his own, and how could he do that with important people like Emily and Odysseus, the children of heroes, when he was the child of noone. Noone to them, anyway.

But his father was a god….that had to count for something….then again, everyone's parent was a god here.

"Don't worry" Emilys said reassuringly, as if reading his thoughts. "Noones anay better than anyone else here, not really. The old families pretend they're bigshots but it's all talk."

"Are you from an old family?"

"Ha, are you kidding?"

A blond boy with glasses wearing a toga had jogged up to them, panting "The Zhangs and the Jacksons are the biggest families in camp.'"

Emily frowned. "Virgil, what do you want?"

"Virgil? Like the poet?" Aaron asked.

The boy nodded vigorously. "Exactly. Named for him. I'm the augur" he shook Aaron's hand. "I just got word about you and..."

He pulled out a stuffed lion toy with a jagged knife in its' tiny fabric chest.

Aaron paled "What the…?"

"The augury" Emily said gently "You know like, prophecy from entrails and birds and stuff? Only now we use toy animals, obviously…."

"And they have indicated you are qualified to join the legion!" Virgil said excitedly, isn't that great news?"

Aaron's throat constricted again. There was a test for joining? That he didn't even know about?

But the real test was muster, which took place right after lunch.

Odysseus lent him an old set of armor. And by armed, Aaron though, they meant a personal tank. He was so covered in chest guard, helmet,greeves, pilum and shield he could hardly walk.

Emily could barely help him in line in time for roll.

A tall boy with straight black cropped hair that looked like a quarterback galloped past on a horse inspecting the troops.

"Today, a new demigod has come to us" he boomed "Aaron Fletcher, come forth"

He tried to take a step, but hit a rock or something and soon he was face down in the muck. Said muck seemed to include manure from the football player dude's horse.

The camp roared with laughter except Odie and Emily who gently helped him up.

"Enough" The football player snapped. "Virgil, what have the auguries said?"

Virgil took a step forward "Yes, Marcus. He is qualified."

"Then, what cohort will have him?"

"Ours!" Odysseus called out.

"Marcus frowned "Are you sure, Centurion Jackson?"

Odie and Emily glared at their cohort until they mumbled consent.

"Fine" Marcus threw him a small necklace with a tablet. It had his name, a roman numeral five and "probatio" written on it.

Obey the rules, uphold the dignity of Rome. Seantus Popoluque Romanus"

The cheer was repeated by the cohorts and to Aaron it sounded like a challenge he could not win.

Fortunately the first camp activity after lunch wasn't a challenge.

It was archery (which Emily explained her father had introduced to camp curriculum-before it was considered barbaric)

And Aaron could shoot. He could shoot a gun, he could shoot a basketball.

And he could sure as hell shoot a bow.

While everyone got a bulls eye or two, some going wide, some at the edge of the targets, he was getting bulls eyes period. All the time.

His quiver was empty of its' hundred arrows before he knew it. And every one had been on target.

He was panting with exertion but smiling "How do you like that?"

Then everyone gasped.

"Oh my gods, Aaron, look" Emily whispered

"Dude," Odysseus breathed "I guess we know who your dad is now."

Aaron looked up.

Above his head was a bright golden light.

In the shape of a harp.

A/N: Son of Apollo! Stay tuned! Thank you for reading!